Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1846-01-24

cent grounds to sustain the exclusive preensons of
either Government.
Ii the claim Of the United States to the whole Of
the contested territory can be sustained against
Great Britain, or if the pretensions of this Power
can to their full extent be maintained against the
United States it must be, by either party assuming
that the other has no opposite claim of any kind
whatever, that there are doubtful and debatable
questions pending between the two countries. This,
if true and maintained, must necessarily lead to
war, unless one Of the two Powers should yield
what il considers sits absolute right. But if there
be any such debatable questions, the way is still
open for negotiations and both Powers may recede
from their extreme pretensions, without any aban-
donment Of positive rights, without disgrace, with
out impairng national honor and dignity.
1t has been asserted that the title Of the United
States to the whole Oregon territory maintain
ed by irrefragable facts and arguments. These must
be sought for in the correspondence lately publish
ed. They consst-frst, of the assertion of the an
cient claim Of Spain to the absolute sovereignty over
the whole northwest coast of America far north as
the els degree Of north latitude Secondly Of the
cumulated proofs which sustain the claims Of the
United States to the various portions Of the territory,
whether in their own right, or as derived from the
acquisition of Louisiana and the Spanish discove-
ries, and Of the reutation of the arguments adduc-
ed by the other party. The first mentioned posi-
ton would, if it could be sustained, be sufficient to
prove, and is, as think, the only one that could
prove, the absolute and complete right Of the United
States to the whole contested territory. #9
II is undoubtedly true that "Spain considered
the northwest coast of America as exclusively her
own;' that this claim " had been asserted by her,
and maintained with the most vigilan jealousy, ever
since the discovery Of the American continent or
nearly three centuries, as far north her settle
ments or missions extended" There were two ways
of examining the soundness of that claim; aninves
tigation of the principles on which it was founded,
and an appeal to precedents The Secretary Of
State has abstaned from discussing the principle ;
but he has said that the claim Of Spain to sove-
regnty "had never been seriously questioned by
any European nation that it had been acquesced in
by all European Governments" This appears to
me the most vulnerable part Of his arguments.
The early charters Of the British monarchs to the
colonies bordering on the Atlantic, extended from
sea to sea- from the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean,
with the single exception which excluded from the
grants the places actually occupied by the subjects of
any christian nation. The right of prior occupancy
was recognised but the general claim of Spain to
the sovereignty of the whole bordering on the
Pacific was utterly disregarded. Had that claim
been considered as unquestionable had it been ac-
quesced in, il never could have been supposed that
in any case whatever, England could have right
to bestow to her subjects single foot of land bor
dering on the Pacific.
Coming down to modern times, the only nations
which have set up any claims or attempted any set
dement's on the Pacific north of the country actual
ly occupied by the Spaniards, are Russia, Great
Britain, and the United States. All three have
serted claims the northwestern coasts Of America
rreconciable with the universal sovereignty claim
ed by Spain Russia and England from the time
when their flags first foated along the coast and
their subjects landed on its shores the United States
from similar date, or at least from the time when
they acquired Louisiana
If the right of Spain was absolute and exclusive
to the whole, there was no reason why it should
not have extended beyond the sxty-fr degree of
latitude. The right of Russia was founded only on
her discoveries and the establishment of ira
ding factories. She respected the right of Spain
only as far as it did not interfere with her own
claim. She has, in fact extended this more than
six degrees further south; and to this the United
States, who had acquired all the rights of Spain,
have assented by solemn treaty. Whatever might
be the boundary acquiesced in by Spain, it not
Russia which recognised the claim OF Spain it was
Spain which recognised that her claim was not un-
limited And, let it be also observed, that, since
Spain still claimed far north the sixty-frst de-
gree of north latitude, (the southern limit of the
vigators,) the United States, if they believed the
Spanish right absolute and exclusive ought not to
have coded to Russia a country extending more
than six degrees Of latitude along the shores of the
Pacific.
Great Britain contested the exclusive claim Of
Spain from the year 1878, the date of Cooks third
voyage; and he was the first British navigator that
had for more than two centuries appeared on those
coasts This doctrine she has maintained ever
since. She did not resist the exclusive claim Of
Spain by virtue of the Nootka convention, but prior
to it. 1t was on that ground that she imperiously
demanded indemnity and restoration for the pro-
perty and factory of one Of her subjects which had
been forcibly taken by the Spanish Government.
She even threatened war and the Nootka conven-
ton was the result of those transactions. What
ever construction may at this time be given to that
instrument, it is certain at least that Spain by il con-
she had till then asserted that she yielded the right
Of trade with the natives on all that part Of the
coast lying north of her actual settlements; and
that, by suffering the ultimate right Of sovereignty
to remain in allegiance, she made that pretension
questionable which she had contended could not be
called in question.
With respect to the United States, without recur-
ring to former negotiations which were not attend
ed with any result, it is sufficient to advert to the
convention between them and Great Britain of the
year 1885, concluded prior the date Of the treaty
by which they acquired the claims Of Spain to the
territory north of the AID degree of north latitude
The United States at that time distinctly claimed,
in their own right and independent Of the Spanish
claims that the boundary alono the Aoth y,aratlol