The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1846-03-02
to answer as 40 estoppei 10 any such claim. Here,
then, is the grant made TO Virginia in 1909 ...

and company and their successors ali those lands, coan
" ,ms snS ssd osp land called
Cape or Point Comfort III along the ssseoss TO the norm
ward two hgndred miles and from the sad peini o iss
bred miles and all that space and circuit OF land lying nom
the ssacosst Of the precinct aforesaid up into the and
from Vssf and aOrhOss and also an
the islands lying within hundred miles along the coast
Of both Of the precinct aforesaid to have ana 70 hoa
possess enjoy all and singular, the said lands eonn
es and territories, with all and singular other the
premises by these presents granted or mentioned DC
granted TO them their successors, and assigns lof
ever"
The first charter Of 1906 extended along the sea-
coast from the 34th TO the 4lst degree OF north lat.
ituds, but only fifty miles inland. The nrd, dated
in 1912, annexed to Virginia all the islands within
three hundred leagues Of the coast; and although
their charter Of 1908, with the other two, were
vacated by quo pnranio in 1924, yet commission
issued for the government Of the colony of Vir-
ginia under the royal seal without making any
alterations in the boundaries as established by the
charter Of 1903.
Grants to Lord Baltimore and to William Penn
curiaied this colony on the north, but the western
limit was not restricted.
By running a line from a point 1.-TWO hundred
miles from Cape Comfort" on the Atlantic coast, in
northwest direction, II will be found 10 pass
TO the east Of the Lake of the Woods and to strike
the Pacific coast near or at the 82d degree Of north
latitude, and that this northwest limo should run
from that point, and not from the point on the coast
200 miles south Of Cape Comfort; but that the west
line should start from this southern point il
manifest propriety, for in no other way could the
limits Of the colony extend from TO sea; and by
doing il, no violence Is done TO the lsDgusge and
the object Of the grant carried out and the cardinal
rule observed so to construe instruments, posi-
bls.. AS that eyesypart may stand. NJ.
This grant was made by the British king in viz
tue Of the discovery, under his auspices, Of the
American Atlantic coast one hundred and foasieen
years before. This charter is evidence that he
claimed not only the right Of presumption OF the
tive occupants Of the soil, but absolute jurisdiction
and sovereignty over all the territory covered by il
from sea TO sea, by Anticipated discovery, not fol-
lowed up, for more than century, by any effort
at settlement whatever, and by continuity Of terri
tory there being nothing to break that chain.
Pope Alexander 9th had, the year after the dis
eovery Of America, granted this same country to
Ferdinand and Isabella, by his memorable bull is
sued from ST. Peters, at Rome, in 1893, as Gods
yicegerent on earth, TO whom all kings were sub
ject The right of these two potentates 10 make
the grants will rot be inquired no as il is unneees-
sary to a true understanding Of the question. The
fact Of making the grant is alone important in this
discussion.
Great Britain assumed to own by virtue Of her
prior discovery not only the British settlements on
the coast and rivers and the land Immediately con-
tguous to, or drained by, the waters Of the rivers
which flowed through her inhabited places, but she
insisted upon excluding France and all other nations
from coOnizng any Of the country west of the
Alleghany range to the Pacific, on the ground alone
that prior discOynry and settlement Of small part
of the Atlantic coast gave " Great Britain a rig ht
of sovereignty and soil by continuity and contigui-
ty from ocean 10 ocean.
France made an unsuccessful effort to resist by
war, this British principle OF International law. The
parent country called upon her American colonies
the United States of America-to Join the Brit
ish forces end sustain this great principle of her
tional policy; and after long and desolating war;
in which British and American blood and treasure
were freely expended, victory crowned the arms Of
the confederates.
The treaty Of peace Of the 10Th Of February,
1863, made between Great Britain, Spain, and
France, ratified this British principle Of intena-
tional law, by implication at least. BY the 4th ar
tice Of the treaty the king Of France the aggres-
sor and unfortunate in the field "Tenounces all pre-
tensions which he has HERETOFORE formed or might form,
10 Nopa Scotia Acadia in all its parts and guaran-
tees the whole Of it, and with its dependencies to
the king Of Great Britain; moreover his most Chris.
tian majesty, esdes and guarantees To his said Britain
mic majesty, in full rights, Canada, with all its de-
Tendencies, as well as the island of Cape Breton,
and all the other islands and coasts in the Gulf OF
the river ST. Lawrence. and in general, everything
that depends the said countries, lands, islands,
and coasts with the ,opsrsgniy, property possession,
and all rights acquired by treaty or otherwise"
France had commenced settlements at Acadia, and
in dependency Of Canada northeast Of the Ohio,
and on the Ohio river; and being beaten in the field
do So She was forced to acknowledge the British
doctrine, for the American continent, that prior re.
mote discovery, and subsequent partial settlement
on the Atlantic, and few of its rivers afforded a
lust and suficicn, ground for extension by CONT
guilty and continuity from that coast to the Pacific
The same rule of public law she had applied
long previously to the Dutch in their colony of New
Netherlands, afterwards colony, now State of New
York.
Great Britain claimed to have first discovered the
Hudson in 1905 by Dutch navigator in their SER
vice. and although the Dutch first settled it, prior to
the settlement of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, and oc-
cupled 1t for half century, they fell under the
operation of the American principle of inter-
national law and conquest, justified by Britain on
prior discovery and continuity, finally added New
York to the British colonies in North America, ex-
tending from the to the great lakes. Apply this
conjont British and American exposition of public
law to the Spanish discovery by Perez in l774, of
the Pacific coast Of Oregon as claimed by the
United States including Nootka-of Heceta and
Quadra in ITS, Of the mouth Of the Columbia
river and OF other parts of the coast, related by
Humboldt in his New Spain - to the fact of an
actual Spanish occupation Of Nootka from 1889 to
1885, when the Spaniards voluntarily abandoned il,
and that no British settlement has since been made
there; apply it to the American discovery and
sailing up of the principal river by Captain Gray in
his good ship, the Columbia, whose name the river
bears; apply It to the prior settlement by Spain of
California, and other points Of the coast Of the Pa.
ci6c, with steady and unyielding claim of title
from 1774 to the whole coast from California to
latitude north Of $40 40; apply it to the explora-
tons Of Oregon by Lewis and Clarke from the head
waters Of the Columbia to it's mouth the line of
continuity, and to the American settlements made in
1909 and 1871 the latter being Astoria at ito mouth
and the post on the Okonegan, 600 miles up the
river, and one on the Spokan still further advanced
and on the Koeskooska and the Willamette, and to
the surrender of Astoria to the United States by
Great Britain in virtue Of the first article Of the
treaty of Ghent, and without any qualification or
reservation whatever; and consider that all these
and foundations Of title, Spanish and American, be-
long to the United States, and find our title per-
feet to the whole Of Oregon upon those principles Of
public law established by Great Britain herself on
the American continent prior to our revolution in
l776. ...
Another view Of the subject is equally conclu-
sivo
Great Britain, by virtue Of prior discovery, and
OF small and detached settlements made after the
lapse Of more than century, claimed perfect title
to- and jurisdiction over the region stretching
from the Atlantic to the Pacific, including Oregon,