The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1846-08-20


have TO wait ill 1863 when fine will bring an argu
T. ment which no one can misunderstood .
Limited az TO lime, the limitation is as III,
> number OF character Of persons who are TO enjoy
this navigation. This Is restricted To the Hudson
: Bay Company and the British subjects trading witt
them. The company can only consist Of few
g hundred persons, and, as for British subjects
e trading with them, know of no trade which any
e such subjects now have, or ever can have, with
Z the company, The Indian trade is the only trade
and OF mat the company has the monopoly, import
E lngIts own goods aud exporting It's own furs. II
There Is any exception Il must be the Pugets Sound
Agricultural Company, from whom provisions may
be Purehasedj but this would amount to nothing, as
! tha, company may be removed on any day that the
United States please 10 take their possessions at vau
} alion' The few hundred persons who compose the
company, their servants, and engages, are then the
! only persons who can enjoy this naylgation-yery
different from the twenty-five millions of European
and American British subjects, 10 say nothing OF
; the hundred and 6hy millions Asatic quasi sub
jeets,) who could have enjoyed this nayig ga
! ton under the offer made during Mr.. Adams's add
minlstralon, and repeated sincel The number OF
these nayigators is thus reduced TO handful; and 10
enjoy their privilege, this handful, IN every instance
of It's USE must justify their right to II. If Of the
company, they must prove themselves to be sol il
not Of the company, they must prove themselves TO
; be British subjects and trading with the company.
And, of all this proof, our own officers, under the
Small is the chance for the abuse Of the privilege or
the annoyance Of our citizens under such restric
tons
The kind of commerce which the company car.
res on is another and further limitation upon the
use Of the privilege. II is a commerce in furs and
goods. The goods carried up the river in the
spring, and the furs arc brought down in the fall
and thus two voyages per annUm will he about the
maximum Of this formidable navigation.
The kind OF vessels which are TO be usel IN this
navigation is further restriction upon IL. These
vessels land they have been going upon that river
since the loint-use convention of 1879 are small
batieaus light enough W be carried on the shoulders
over the porages at the different falls and rapids,
and sha)w enough Of draught to penetrate the head
streams Of the river 10 their sources In the mountains
IL is in favor Of these ttle barks that the privilege OF
navigation is granted, and il is limited to them-for
the privilege only extends 10 the river and the carry
ing places so that when canals made around the
falls and rapids is to the river and the carrying
places that the privilege will still be confined,
and OF course restricted to the light bateaus ia
use. Such a trade, in such vessels cannot do US
much damage during the seventeen years it may be
carried on. To certain extent all our rivers, and
the rivers Of all civilized Nations entered by for.
I eign vessels All our seaports, within practicable
distance from the sea, are 50 entered. In time OF
peace they come under treaties, and il is a Joyful
sight to behold them In time Of war hostile vessels
are excluded. The Columbia in this respect will be
10 the head OF ship navigation, like the Mississippi
the Potomac, the Delaware, and others; and proud
will be the day when the flags Of all nations shall be
=, seen in its port
But il is not to be expected that this attenuated
privilege will even be used for seventeen years The
trade is diminishing now, and il must Immediately
cease on all the waters Of the Columbia south Of 49c
il must soon become quite insignificant The bulk
Of the goods brought to Fort Vancouver go TO Fra.
zers river and when these pay duties at the mouth
of the Columbia, they cannot stand land and water
carr age Of seven eight hundred miles. Some 9TH
err mode of reaching FraZer's river where alone any
valuable trade is carried on-some way shorter
in distance and free from dutes-must be found; and
il is probable that the preparations now making for
a new port, high up the northw coast, il in
tended by the Hudson Bay Company to be their
channel of communication with Frazer's river.
Simpson river Just under the famous line $40 40,
where the Hudson Bay Company have built Fort
Simpson, and which the British government made it
a point to obtain from Russia IN 1895, will, IN all
probability, be the new route for the trade which
now reaches Frazer's river through the Columbia,
the Okanagan, and Thompson's river. Ii will be a
shorter distance, free from duties TO foreign gov
ernmest, and from foreign port regulations.
i Thus this free and perpetual navigation OF the
Columbia with the sovereignty Of the right bank Of
the river which the capacious mind OF Sir Alexan-
der Mckenzie conceived, the substitute for the
north west passage, and which has been the real
point Of contention between the United States and
Great Britain for thirty years, has dwindled down
to a temporary and limited privilege, under own
jurisdiction, and will probably be abandoned before
the time is out. As far back 1901 Mckenzie pro-
posed to get the sovereignty OF the Columbia, that,
through II and the rivers and lakes connur.ed with
Hudson's bay, a new commercial route TO India
might be opened His government has struggled
for il ever since. IL yields; and it will be for
the American government TO make the Columbia
and the Missouri the new line of that commerce
with India, which, since the time ofthe PhGncians,
has aggrandized every power that possessed II, and
enriched every country through which it flowed.
The third article Of the treaty provides for the
possessory rights of the Hudson Bay Company and
other British subjects who may be in the occupa-
ton Of land lawfully acquired. 1t is in these
words:
"In the future appropriation of the territory south
of the 49th parallel of north latitude, provided in
the first article Of this treaty. the possessory rights
of the Hudson Bay Company and of all British sub
jects who may be already in the occupation of land
or other property lawfully acquired within the said
territory, shall be respected" ...
The Limitation of a lawful acquisition to all these
rights would to exclude them all, as neither
our own laws nor those of Great Britain admit the
validity OF Indian sales to individuals; and for
possessory rights under the JOINT occupation con-
venton, they could only continue TO the end of
the company, QS63) The whole object Of this
article would seem TO be for the quiet Of the COM
pany and the other British subjects until they can
remove. The whole language Of the article is tech
nically precise and equally explicit in admitting the
dominion Of the United States over the occupied
places and the absence Of all present or expected
title in the possessors. The first words of the arti
Gle Culture appropriations) admit right to dis.
pose of these possessions; the last words (sha be
respected) stpulate that the occupants shall not be
disturbed. At the utmost this undsturbed posses
sion can only extend to seventeen years; for 1t is
, still of the new licensed company, and not of the
old chartered company, that the article speaks
would wish this time to be shorter, and believe it will
be; for the trade being stopped there is earthly
inducement to remain upon the land, with mere
possessory right, doomed TO certain and speedy
termination. These possessions are few in number
! and small in extent, Fort Vancouver exceeds all
the rest put together, and it only amounts to a few
hundxed acres. The fence is the limit of the pos
sessiofkspr there s fee-smple title to give con-
structive possession to what is not enclosed. ] am
willing to understand the article literally, and to
execute il generously, but in strictness there be
no lawful possessions in Oregon, (uness the defunct
treaty would impar that character, the persons nov
there being, in the eye Of our law, intruders and