, 1859-10-07

been going up that river since the jointust
3 convention Of lSlS) are small batteauS
= light enough to be carried on the shoulder,
over the portages at the different falls anC
rapids, and shallow enough of draft to pen
etrate the head streams of the river tC
their sources in the mountains. 1t is il
favor of these little barks that the privl
ege Of navigation is granted, and it is lin
tied to them; for the priIcge only extend,
to the river and the carrying places; Sc
that when canals are made are made
around the fails and rapids, it is to the
ril er and the carrying places that the priv
ilcge will still be confined, aud of course
restricted to the light batteauS now in use
Such trade, in such vessels, cannot do us
much damage during the seventeen years
it may be carried on To a certain extent,
all our rivers, and the rivers of all civilized
nations, are entered by foreign vessels.
All our seaports, within practicable dis
tance Of the sea, are so entered. In time
Of peace they come under the treaties, aud
it Is joyful sight to behold them. In time
OF war hostile vessels are excluded. The
Columbia in this respect will be, to 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 it is not to be expected that this at,
tenuated privilege will even be used for
seventeen years. The trade is diminishing
now, and as it must Immediately cease on
all the waters of the Columbia, south of
49o, it must soon become quite insignf,
cant. The bulk of the goods brought to
Fort Vancouver go to Frazer's river; and
when these pay duties at the mouth Of the
Columbia, they cannot stand land and
water carriage Of seven or eight hundred
miles. Some other mode of reaching Fra
zer's river, where alone any valuable trade
! is now carried on-sOme way shorter in
distance and free from duties-must be
found and it is probable that the prepara-
tions now making for a new port high up
on the northwest coast, il is intended by the
Hudson Bay Company TO be their channel
of communication with Frazer's river
Simpsons river, just under the famous line
of $40 49,, where the Hudson Bay Com
pany haze buitt>Fort Simpson, and which
the British Government made it point to
obtain from Russia in 1926, will, in all
probability, be the new ronte for the trade
which now reaches Frazer's river through
the Columbia, the Okanagan and Thomp.
sons river. It would be shorter distance,
free from duties to foreign government,
and from foreign port regulations
Thus this free and perpetual navigation
of the Columbia, with the sovereignty of
the right bank of the river, which the ca
pacious mind Of Sir Alexander Mex Kenzie
conceived, as 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 temporary and lin
tied privilege, under our own Jurisdiction,
aud will probably be abandoned before the
time is out. As for back as 1901, Mr.
Mckenzie proposed to get the sovereignty
of the Columbia, that through it, and the
lakes connected with Hudson's Bay, a new
commercial route to India might be opened.
His government has struggled for it ever
since 1t now yields; and it will now be
for the American Government to make the
Columbia and the Missouri the new line Of
that commerce with India, which, since the
time of the Phenecians, has aggrandized
every power TINT possessed it, 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 occupation Of land law
fully acquired. 1t is in these words:
I'm the future appropriation Of the ter
ritory south Of the 49th parallel Of north
latitude, as provided in the first article Of
this treaty, the possessory rights Of the
Hudson's Bay Company and of all British
IAubjects who may be already in the occu-
patton of the land or other property law
fully acquired within the said territory,
shall be respected"
| i The limitation Of lawful acquisition to
all these rights would seem to exclude them
all, as neither our own laws nor those Of
Great Britain admit the validity Of Indian
sales TO individuals; and as for possessory
rights under the joint occupation conven'
tion, they could only continue to the end o.
the company (lS63) The whole object oi
this article would seem 10 be for the quiet
of the company, and the other British sub
ects until they can remove. The whole
language Of the article is technically pre-.
else. and equally explicit in admitting the
dominion of the United States over the oc
cupied places, and the absence of all pres
ent or expected title in the possessors.-
The first words Of the article Culture ap
propriation,) admit our right to dispose oI
these possessions; the last words (shall be
respected stipulate that the occupant:
shall not be disturbed At the utmost thi,
undisturbed possession can only extend tc
seventeen years; for it is still of the new
licensed company, and not Of the old char
tered company, that the article speaks
would wish the time to be shorter, and be
lieve it will be; for, the trade being stop
ped, there is no earthly inducement to re
main upon the land, with mere possessorJ
right, doomed to certain and speedy ter
I-... 3.