, 1855-01-20

ment of this question, by sGuatting any
where they choose on the lands claimed by
the Puget Sound Company, and which
are not fenced If they will DO this, they
may rely confidently upon the support and
protection of our Government. | speak
advisedly in saying this.
The Russian Government, il is well
known, formerly had manufacturing colo
ny at Bodcga Bay, on the coast north oI
San Francisco, under grant from Mexico
aud before giving up this settlement--not
long indeed before the discovery of gold in
California-she sent Admiral Wrangel out
to examine the country and report upon its
value, and the propriety of maintaining the
colony. He reported the country as Of no
value, and the settlement not worth main
tanning. The consequence was that the
| Russian Government sold out for q song
to private parties, only year before the
gold discovery. This grant was on the
coast, directly in front of what has proved
to be the richestgold district Of your State (;
and although its limits north and south
were fixed by the terms of the grant, there
was no restriction as to its extent inward.
If Russia had maintained her possession
until after the discovery Of gold in Calfor-
MIA, and then, under the loose terms of her
grant, had attempted to monopolize the
entire gold region of Northern California,
is it to be supposed that the United States
would have submitted TO such an interpre-
tation? :? Surely not. And yet it is under
very similar preteXt that Great Britain,
through the agency of the Puget Sound
Company, seeks to rob us Of the best part
of what is now known as Washington Ter
ritory.
Art. I'd Of the treaty comedies the navi-
CATION of the great northern branch Of the
Columbia rver,-from the point where it
ntersccts the 49th parallel down to the
main stream and so to the ocean--to the
Huison's Bay, and to all British subjects
trading with the same" An important
controversy arises under this article. How
far may the Hudson's Bay Company use
tho Columbia river for purposes of trade. 7
for uhat trade are they entitled to the
privileges of this articley May the COM
pany bring in, under the cited stipulation,
goods to sell In Oregon in competition with
United States merchants aud traders p
That is against our Navigation and Reye-
nue. laws. Does the stipulation authorize
them to trade with our Indians This is
against our Indian Intercourse laws. Can
any Englishman that chooses 60 up TO the
Columbia river with his vessel laden with
dutiable goods, (dutiable beyond question
if in an American bottom), and sell his
goods to the Hudson's Bay Cympany, and
then they sell them again to other people !
The proposition is absurd, because such an
Interpretation is to make the treaty open
the river to general European trade. And
yet on each Of these points, the British
Government insists upon the construction
most regardless Of tho rights Of the United
States and Of common sense.
Is it not intolerable that great foreign
corporation, having political powers, should
exist in the United States The East In
dia Company is nominally the Sovereign Of
the whole Of India, with a population Of
$50 100000, and we say 1t Is horrible
outrage and oppression there. The Hud-
sons Bay Company is nominally the Sow
ereign in the largest part Of British North
America, and in all that territory Great
Britain has the impudence to ask us to re-
cognize the Hudson's Bay Company as an
independent power, when il suits her pur-
pose so to do. That is to say, we can
make no treaty with Great Britain in re-
lation to British Oregon, because, as we are
told, all the subject matter Of the proposed
treaties is the concern of the Hudson's Bay
Company | This Company is mere con-
trivance on the part of Great Britain by
which she may encroach upon us, while
seeming not to lie encroaching; and when
ever there shall be an absolute necessity
for so doing, England will disavow the en-
croachment, and tell us to look for redress
to the interminable Hudson's Bay Com
pany. The administration is anxious to
get rid Of this monopoly altogether, and
American settlers in the Hudson's Bay
Company's precincts may help the negotia-
tions by rigidly enforcing our Indian Inter
course laws, and navigation laws, and by
every other possible means Of practically
using up the advantages fraudulently as
Sumod by the company named, under the
treaty.
There is still another point in connection
with this subject, Of vital Importance to
California You know that Australia ha:
been used up as penal colony by the
. discovery Of gold and that the British
Government quite recently made an at
tempt to eEablish penal colony at the
Cape Of Good Hope instead which wai
defeated by the armed interference and de
termined resistance Of the people Of the
Cape. England is consequently in greai
deal Of trouble to find new Australia
In this extremity her attention is turned
: towards America; and l learn the fac
from three different sources, all concurring
, in the statement that the British Govern
: meut ooatemPlates Takt4g Eancouper's Islam
t penal eoI0Hy. She may not carry ou
: this design, but you may be sure it is ii
] contemplation. Such an establishment o
: course would be equivalent to the shipmen
n ac ko, roouac IN Nolifnrn;o Oraoon anf