, 1859-04-22
PUGET SOUND HERALD.
'STEILlCOON, ". +, FRIDAY, APRIL %, 1859.

QrARTERNAsTER GENERALS OFFICE,
Wasbihgton City, August ls, ls5s.

Vancouver and the officers and agents of the
Hudson Bay Co., on the subject Of fishing
house Of but little value, the site Of which is de-
sirable for establishing wharf, as q landing e r
the garrison, and the supplies for the post, and
for their Claim to which the Company demand
thirty thousand dollars
This correspondence was received from the
General commanding the Department on the Pa
ciic in February last; but twas understood that
the whole matter Of the claim Of the Hudson Bay
Company was then before Congress, and 1t was
not thought necessary 10 take any action on the
subject here until it should be seen how that body
would act The session having passed, and no.
thing having been done, there seemed to be no
useful purpose to be served by troubling you with
the correspondence But | have been informed
withina few days past, nnotiically, that the claim
of the Company is either now before, or Is soon
to be brought before, the Executive. / therefore
consider Il my duty to submit the papers to you,
with such remarks as the careful examination Of
claim so extravagant and extraordinary has
suggested.
iinfer, from the letter Of Gov Douglas, that
the Hudson Bay Co. claim a fee-simpe title 10
the lands which they occupied south Of Columbia
River, prior to the treaty Of Washington, Of the
18th Of June, 1916. Now, to hold fee-simple,
the Company must have derived its title from an
individual, q number Of individuals, or from a
government having the right to grant such title.
The third article Of the treaty Of Washington,
before referred to, provides that sin the future
appropriation Of the territory south Of the forty
ninth parallel Of north latitude, the possess0ry
rights Of the Hudson Bay 20. and all Of British
subjects who may be already in the occupation
ofland or other property hgfatly acquired within
the said territory shall be respected" The pos
sessOry rights secured by this article doubtless
include all property taken into the territory,
whether to be used in the fishery, the chase, or
n the Indian trade or acquired there in either Of
those branches Of business; for, whether taken
in or accumulated there, all was property law
fully acquired; so Of the improvements made
upon the sites temporarily occupied in carrying
on either branch Of business. But, the whole
country west Of the Rocky Mountains being in
the possession Of Indian nations, TO no part Of
: which had the Indian title been extnguished,
neither the subjects Of Great Britain nor the cit
izens Of the United States could, under the laws
Of either nation, or Of the treaties between them,
acquire any other than the temporary occupancy
Of the sites necessary in carrying on their busl.
ness To the land the Company, as well as all
other British subjects, being mere squatters, or,
at least, tenants at will they could have other
Just claim TO tho respective sites beyond the oc-
cupancy for a reasonable time to close their bus
iness, and fair compensation for the improve.
mcnts made, and these, not Of original legal right
but under the provisions Of the treaty.
{. That Great Britain could not rightfully grant
lands in fec simple west Of the Rocky Mountains
% the Hudson Bay Company, nor to any other
British subjects, subsequent to the treaty Of
Paris Of lI6S, whatsoever might have been her
rights previously, reference 10 her own history,
and TO her treaties with other nations, will abun-
dainty prove. ..a
Cabot, in the service Of Henry the Seventh,
first discovered the coast Of Moth America In
the fifteenth century and Drake, in the service
Of Elizabeth, visited the northwest coast Of
America in the sixte'nth century. According
to the principles recognized at that carly period
by all civilized nations, the prior discovery Of
the one coast Of the continent and the carly visit
to the other, justified the sovcregrs Of Great
Britain In granting charters to their subjects cx.
tending from the Atlantic 10 the Pacific.
James the First granted charter TO Virginia
on the Esd Of March, 1000, extending from sea
to sea, west and northwest, the southern boun-
diary bcginnin on the Atlantic, in latitude thirty.
four north, and running on that parallel to the
South Sea or Pacific Ocean, the northern boun.
daEy beginning also on the Atlantic, about lati-
tude thirty eight, and running in northwest di
rection to the Pacific, and striking that ocean
above the sixteth degree Of north latitude. BY
tho treaty Of Madrid, between Great Brittin AMI
Spain usually called the American treaty, nego-
uatcd about 1870, Spain admitted Great Britain
to certain rights on the Pacific.
lnNovembCr, 1909, before the close Of the
seven years war, France ccded to Spain the
whole Of Louisiana, these nations being at war
with Great Britain; and in February, 1868, in
the treaty Of Paris, which terminated that war,
the Mississippi River was made, not only the
British boundary west on this continent, but by
the use Of one Of the strongest words in the Eng
lish language, an irTerOedbIe boundary, one which
under no circumstances could ever be changed.
BY the treaty Of Paris, Of 1888, by which the
Independence Of the United States was acknowl-
edged, We obtained all south Of Canada, and cast
Of the Mississippi, which was English; and by
the Louisiana treaty we obtained from France
lshe having previously acquired Il from SPAIN
Louisiana in its whole extent
To determine what VIC really obtained by the
purchase Of Louisiana, VIC must bear in mind,
not only the treaties above referred to, but the
eoufse Of the northern line Of the charter Of
Virginia, and the point where 1t touched the Pa
cihci for Great Britain could mover, after agreeing
70 the treaty Of Paris Of 1703, hold single spot
on the Pacific, south Of that point, without such
. breach Of faith as, were Il case in chancery
between individuals, hor own Lord Chancellor
would pronounce case Of fraud. Whatsoever
her claim was worth, therefore, south Of her
chartered line, It had become French and Span
ish, and became ours with the possession Of
Louisiaus. f"-
But Spain had in her o.sn right far better title
70 the country on tic Pacific than either France
or Great Britain, and Russia much better title
than tho latter. Spain held the shores Of tho
Pacific, by actual possession from about latitude
hhy degrees south to thirty-seven degrees north,
and Russia from Behring's Straits to California,
overlapping the Spanish posts. Spain and Russia
were then the only nations on the globe who
could claim under the laws Of nations on that
coast BY continuity; for Great Britain could not
with any justice, or even plausibility, claim by
~ fH0r,1 a.1