The Arkansas banner., 1846-02-18


 (aith.-Captain Vancouver acted without in- structons, i'll attempting to take possession of the whole Northwestern coast of America E in the name of his sovereign. This officer, sent out from. England to execute the con vention, did not carry with him any authority | to violate 1t in this outrageous manner.
 Without this treaty, he would have been a-mere intruder; under it Great Britain had E right to make discoveries and surveys. not thereby to acquiretille, but merely to enable her subjects 10 select spots the most adyanta- geous, 10 use the language of theeonsention. "tor the purpose of carrying on their com | merce wth the natives of the couhry, or of l making settlements there"
 If this constrnetion oftba Eoolka Sound Convention be correct--and the uhdersi4ne1l i does not preceiye how il can be questioned@ then Vancouyer's passage through the straits of Fuca, i'll l792, and Alexander Mac kenzle's journey -actoss tke continent, ill l793, can never be transformed into clements of tile in favor of Great Beitein.
 But, even if the undersigned could he mis- taken m these positions, il.would be easy toI prove that. Captain John kendrick, in tie Amercansoop Washington, passed through the Straits ot tnca in l7S9, three ears before Capt. Vancouver performed the same voyage. The very instructions 10 the latter, before hes .ieitlsngland, fn January, 1791. refer to tllis .tact, which had been communicated to the British Government by Lieutenant Blearesf. who has rendered his ,lame go notorious bv
 it's connection with the transactions prece- ding the Nootka Sound convention IL. is, moreover, well known that the wholhSmth- ern division of tl1e 'straits had been explored by the Spanish navigatprs, tlsa aud tauin,per --the filst in l790, and the latter n. 179l. E
 After what has been said,i will be. per ceVed how li,le reason the British plenipo. lenliaryshas feI statiag thst his government 1las, sas# far as relates to Vancouyer's Bland, las complete d case ot discoserysexpofatio and settlement, as can well be presented, giy- ing tn Great Britain, ip any arfangelpenllhal -nlay be made in regard to the territory in dsppte, th, strongest possible claim 10 tic exclusive possessioil of that isiand.p :.
 The discovery tids relied upon is that ef Nootta Sound, by Cook, in l77S, wEen.it has been demonstrated that this port was iirsi diseoveredbY Perez, in lz1i. The expIora- ton Is tltQtby Vancouver, in passing tRoaeEi the straits ol l5uea, in 1792, and e2anming tie coasts of tbe territory in eapute, when ee Fuea-- --hialself hal passed through these straits in 1899, and Kendrio again in l7S9; and a complete examination oi tlle Wesiefnl eoast had been made ih l7.z4 and l775, both. by Perez and Qahdfa Aa te pessessian, II Meares was ever actual y festoredsto his pos sessions al Koo,ka Sound, whatever h,ese may have been, the undersigned has neYers seen auy evidence of the fact | is moi to 6a 4ocs3 n ti7s iearGaF os Vaneeaeert, d., though li6s officer was sen, from Explanation. the aYowed purpose of Witaes5iiig such q festorahon The undersigned llnowa not whether any new understanding tenk pIaea. between tLe British and Spanish Govern ments ot this su5jeet; but eae fact IS placed beyond dI doubt,. ihnl tie Spaniartis ceaiin-t lued ln aHdisiffbed possossion of EoolkuI Sound until the year l79s, when they yol- aniarily abandoned tie place. Grtat Bsitaiai has never at apY time since dccnped this CT apys other position on Naaoon9er'5 isla0d--1 T lais, on the score of either discovery, e,,-1 'piofation, or possession, this island seems to1 'he the very last portion of the lterFilofy sin dispute io which sheacan assert just claim
 In the aieap tiipc, lie United States were Peocoedips with the discoveries which served 10 complete and confirm inc Spanish Amer- can iitio to the whole. of the disputed tofri- togy.
 Gapt.sRobcft Cray, in June. I7S9, in the. slaop Wellington, ir.t exploreil il1c whole Eastern ceast of Queen Charlotiesslsland
 iii tifc autumn of thee year, Capt. f,,tn caIi..ye ,l,,, ,,,,.,, surrendered ile conlmana of the Columbia to Capt. Gray-saaet, as Ii:ls been already stated, n the sloep Washington, entirely tilough thq.gtrai!s- of Foea.
 In, l7aI, Capt Gray returned to the North Pacific in the Colulabla; anu in the summer Of that year examined many of the inlels and passages between the 5ttii fsad 55ta degrees of latitude, which tie undersigned consilers it unnecessafy to specify.
 On the 7th of lIhy. l732, he discoycredl and eneged BeliineA's $ harbor, wherc he re- manned at anchor three days, trading with the Indians.
 On the lllh of May, l792, Capfain Gray entered the mouth of lie Columbia, and co1i- pletedlhe discovery of that great river, This river fad been long sought in vain by fornseg navlgalofs. Both Mearess and Vancouver, after examination, had denied its exi-leace. Thus is the world indebted 10 tie enterprise, perseverance and intelligence ofah American captain of trading vessel for their first knowledge of this, Inc gleaiest river On the Western coast of Ameriea--a river whosel head springs How from the gofges of the Rocky mountains, and whose branches ex tend from the 42d to the 53d parallels of lat- inlde.--I'his was the last and most inpor- tant discovery or the coast, and has perpei-l -ua;el the name of Robert Gray. In all fil, ture time, tbis great riYerwill bear the name of his vessel
 }. l. is true that Bano Hcctea, in Che year f775, had been opposite the bay of Coiun- bia; and thesctfrents and eddes of the water caused him, IS he remarks, to believe tbat this was ..ale mouth of some great river, or of some passage to another sea;p and lis opIioli seems decidedly to have Seen tbatl this was the opening of ihe strait discovered by Juan de Fuca ip' 1592. To use his so%nI language: Notwithstanding the great diff ference between the position of this bay andI the passage nleniahed by slaFaea. haze hple difficulty in conceiving that they may h,*lo e,,,,, k. ,,,,,r fr31 e1t,.,l or trreafafs