IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) // €V/ :a ^ ^.^ ''.•^*, A 1.0 I.I 2.0 u m "« 140 1.25 U 1 1.6 4 6" ^ Va ^ /a 4W ^^v ^ % ^'' '-^i y PhotDgrapMc Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBST£R,N.y. ;4SsO (716) 872-4S03 V ■6^ v a condition et de la nettet6 de l'exemplaire film6, et en conformity avec les conditions du contrat de filmage. Les exemplaires originaux dont la couvdrture en papier est imprimde sont filmds an commengant par le premier plat et en terminant soit par la dernidre page qui comporte urie enipreinte d'impression ou d'itlustration, soit par le second plat, salon le cas. Tous les autres exemplaires originaux sont film6s en commen'^ant oar la premiere page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration et en terminant par la dernidre page qui comporte une telle empreinte. Un des symboles suivants apparaltra sur la dernidre image de cheque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbole — ♦■ signifie "A SUIVRE", le symbole V signifie "FIN". Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent §tre film6s d des taux de reduction diff^rents. Lorsqua le document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul clich6, il est film6 & partir de Tangle sup6rieur gauche, de gauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images ndcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la m^thode. 6 s v; SPEECH OF HON. JOHN A. DIX, OF NEW YORK, ;--^c'- ON THE OREGON QUESTION. DELMERED IN THE SEXATE OF THE UNITED STATES, FEBRUARY 18 & 19, 1846. WASHINGTON: PRIIfTED AT THE OFFICE OF BLAlR AND RIVESr 184G. J 0'^'^%«\U <^c^^ 7 / JIJN15 i955 THE OREGON QUESTION. The Resolution giving the twelve months' notice for the termination of tiie joint occupancy of tlie Oregon Territory, beinj; under consiilcrulion as in connnittec of the wliole — Mr. DIX rose, nnme degree, rests. I am I miwilling either to pass by these statements in j sileiKT, or to meet them with sui.imary declara- I tioiis of right. It is natural that Senators, who j have been long on this floor, and who have already ! borne a par' in the discussion of this question, I should f- el dilTereiitly. But for my.self, having never even listened to a debate on the subject — a , subject until rccenily entirely new to me— I feel lioiiiid to state the grounds on which I act. This j is what I propose to do — not by the analysis of [ any particular treati.se, or by the examination of any parii(;ulir view of the subject— but by exhibit- in:: some of the 'listorical facts on which the Span- ish title and o own rest. I shall endeavor to perform tiiisdu.y in the plainest manner, adhering rigidly to the subject, and, if jiossible, without ad- dressing a single word to prejudice or passion. The region which now constitutes the territory of Oregon was .seen, and ajiart of its coast reconnoi- tred— I will not say exjjiored — half a century after thediscovery of America. In consequence of its remoteness from the course of trade which was opened by the voyagesof Columbus, the supposed rigor of its climate, and the certainty derived from the expeditions sent oi,' from Mexico, that it con- Uiincd no sources of wealth like iliose by which Sf)ain had been enriched in the more southern por- tions of this continent, it remained, for more than two centuries and a half, without any permanent setiJe. mcnt by civilized men. During this long period, Spain c.ons<.^n«!y.^Ps^rtcdhcrright of proptieiorship in It by virtue of disco very, and had formed tempora- ry establishments in its neigliborhood from time to Tli'-cluimsof Russm liav.' I.rtn a.lj.i.sud will, tiniil ' llir ii would 1,.; ii,innou.i to in- ter, the wl.ole iiorlliw.'si ...iislor Ai.uriru iionliof , .sulil.iiirm:^ .11 N.w /.alaui', w .idi .it i.'' >iiy )uc latitude 540 40', as far l>ark as the fust iaii^<' of huiidrtd mil. s distaiit Ironi thrin. 1 pioiiosc now to Ml' wliat arts have Ixcii pcr- formrd 111 ns|n!C'ltot)n::oii liy dill't iciil nations; or, tiior wold.-:, to txaniinc tin- natme of l!if dis- lavc bcciiiiiadf, and llif cstablir.li- III o lii"liluiids ; and liv virtue of a coinnilioii betwn 11 hc^ mid us, we liavc a::iTcd to lonii no srttlt-- liients nortliof that jiaralld. Tlio south' ni hue of ^ Orc'on wc liohl to be fixed, bv til" setthini'iit of I tovtius wUi. ,■ , the "boundary lii.e between the'Unitcd States mid inents whi.ii Imv.- b.eii fonmd 111 -liat re-i. Mexico, at 4-». Tlie territory in disinite has, tlure- 1 plyin- to them as 1 proceed the pnn.iiiles fore, a coast of twelve | aiall< is and Iwo-tl.irds of eoiicisily staterl latitude, running; back into the iiitirior toilii- Uoeky mountains; mid the United Stales and Great liritain are the only claiinmits to tlie rislil of proprietorship ill i<- ... Before I proceed to examine tliiir respective lat rejiion, ap- 1 have The fiist di.-covi rerofaiiy part of ihe norll.v.es., coast of America iiorili of, or in iinmcdiatf -01111- •'uity with, the bouiidarv between us and Meyico, was I'Vrrelo. He was'tlie jiilot of Cabrdio, tlic nandcr of an expedilion Ctled out in Mexico ■■ ' '■ ry •"'-• (1 on the overy 01 hail claim.s it may be i.roper, as tiie subject lias bem ; in ir,43, fifty-one year.-.' after tlie di..rove referred to on tliis floor, briefly to state the condi- Doniinso by Columbus. abriilo itie. ions under which, l.y the usa^e of nalio.is, a ri,?lit voya:;.-, and Fern lo succe, ded to the ;"> ;».m.J. of property in lands tininhabited, or unoccupied by He ;ui a l.a.ba a '■'• ' < --< : > islrtllds, 111 latitude 34" to the 4.!d |iaiallel of latl- •wiinderiiij; tribes, may be accpiired. , The basis usually relied on to support a riu;ht tude, but the latter |>art ot Ins voyage of this nature is discovery; but it is a -round of 1 believ,., without landui-, and by aineiejnspec. was made, right which become.* untenable, unless followed by an actual occupation of the discovered lerril )ry. Tf a title is not perfected liy occupation, a second discoverer may appropriate the territory thus iie;^- loc.ted by the first. I'.ut this must be upon reasou- ftble evidence of the intention of the first discoverer not to take posses.sion of it. If a > tion of the coa.st fnun his vessel. In 1535, eii;lit years before this exi)loralion was made, pos^u.s- sion had been taken of California liy I'Vrnando Cortes, in the name of Spain, and an rslablish- nient had been t'oinied in '.M'^ (d" north latitude. This eslabli^limenl was ke]il up for several years; second discoverer i and ilie Liulf of California to its northern exlrenii- wistern coast ns liifjli as 3!5^ north were to seize uiion and appropriate the di.scov.red 1 ty, with the western coast "-^ hiKli i'-'^ 3&^ "">■"' terrilorv, before the first h.id time to fi>rin an eslab- ] h-.litmle, had been .xplon ,1. 1 h( .se exi.lorations, lishment within it, such an act of interference would , and th.' est;,blishnienis f.rnied 111 carryin- them be -e-iirded as an unwanant.ible intrusion, which : on, were all made in pursuance of a settl.d purpose the latter niisht justly resist. On the other hand, if the first discoverer 'lu^lecis within a reasonable time to take actual pos.se.ssion of, to form settle- ments in, or make some actual use of, the re:;ions he has diseo\cred, the hiw of lu.tions will not ac- knowledge in him any absolute riirht of properly in or soveivi.'iity over it, even tlioii;;li he ni;\_\ have set up nionumenis or memorials of his dis- covery at the time it was made. Such is the .spirit of the rules in relation to the discovery and occupa- tion of uninhabited territory, as stated by writers on international law. It is certainly not easy to lay down any inviiriable rule in respect to the time within which, or tiie circumstances under wliieli, a title by discovery must be perfected by occupation. The rules and maxims of international law are but a practical application of the primiph s of universal equity and justice; and in the riettlemeiit of f|ues- tions of this natu'e, the real objects and intentions of the liarties are to be sou2;lit tor in a reasonable interjiretation of their acts. 1 believe, however, the doctrine may be considered fairly inferrible' from the whole body of the law on this subject, that rights by discovery remain good uniil superseded by rights of occupation. With regard to Great Brit- ain, 1 think I may .safely s;iy, that her pr. ctical rule pushes this doctrine farther. She resists all j examination, winch was a mere m.^ euion iioi allempus by others to acquire rights by occm.ation his ves.sel, at 430. the supposed bourdary of I-e tn territories which she has discovered, anil thus rclo's inspcc on nio/e than t. .puo-.e,- of a centur in territone renders her own rights by discovery perpetual Lieutenant Broughton, in the armed tender Chat n the ])art of Spain to extend her dominion ov( r the uninhabiled territory on ihc northweslern c'.,a.-,t of America. The discoveries to which these ex- lilorations led wire theiefoii' not accidental. The expeditions wi re fitted out for the single object re- ferred to. In the pro:-(culion of ibis design, it is true the most arrou'anl and aiisuid pieteiisiiins were set up by Spain in respect to the exclusive navi'iaticni i.f the Pacific; but these must not be pernulted to pr< judice li' r just claims to [jortions of the continent washed by its waters on the irround of disc-overy and occujiation, and the declared pur- poses she had in view. The next navii^ator who appeared on the norlli- west coast was Sir Fnuwis 1 trake. He left Eng- land in ].'>77,on a iiredatory expediti'ii airainst the dominions of Sjiain in the'l'aeific. In 157'.>, after having aii'omi>lislied his object, and carried devas- talioirand terror into the unprotected Spanish set- tlements rl oftl.r IkisIh of their • rli.,m, I will not dwrll upon it, rxrriitiii;; to nJd I llmt liiM exuniiiKitidiis \viir|i'>se i)f cxplora- j tion n- srilliiiicnt: ihoy led to tiie discnvorv nf no ' nc.v IciTiiorv; Mild ihf'y ^^< re not tollowtd up l)y | nn liMli;d orniicitioii of' the soil. For two rchtn- Tirs no rliiim to irrritorial ii:,'lits thiit I am luviirr I of WHS set iii> liv liiv't l!iii:iin on tlir j,'round of Dr-kp'M prct. Piled discoveries. j '; :ic ne::t -"r^iilLrer wns tlio Greek pilot, Junn de Fiiea, who wns sent to the nortliwesi eoasl in ITi^'i, I thirteen ynrrn after r)iMUe, hy the Vieeroy of Mex- | iro, for the purpose of disroveriii',' the iinn^inary I Strait of Aiiinn, snppo.«eil, at that day, to (•innieet I the luMlh l';"Mfie with the norili Atlaiilie ocean. In | the proseciilioii of his vovaire he eiitei-ed an exten- sive iii'et from the sen,V.s he supposed, hetween th • 47lh and 4Sih parallels of latitude, and sailed More than twenty days in it. Sucli is his own nr- count iis detailed l.y Michael l.nvk- and itacrords, as well iir his di ■'(■riplions, so nearly with the ac- tual nature of tiie localities, that it is now -rene- rallv conceded to he .erioil of time. Ill I(i(i:<, Vizcaino, n dislinLniislied naval eorii- mamler, under an order from the Kiii^ <;f Spain, mad' a careful survey of the coast of Californta to Mo ,crev, in the mill i-arallel of latitude; and he n'so ev;|dored the coast as far north as the 4."{d par- allel, dvmc names to several hays and promonto- ries as he advanced. Duriiii: ihe'seventeeth centu- ry, at least seven diU'erent altcm|its were niade hy the Spaniards to form esiaMishmeiits in Culiforma; hut from the hosiiliiy of the natives, and other j causes, thi'se a'ii'inpls failed, so far as any perma- ■ iient settlement is concerned, excepting' the last, ■ which was made in If.'.t?. P.iit, within sixty years ! from this time, sixteen jiiiiicipal estaMishmenls | were fiirined hy the Jesuits on the we^tern coast | nf America, l.etween the Gulf y permanent tstab- i lisliMien's. In 1771, Perez was ordered hy the Viceroy of | Mexico to proceed to QP north latitude, and ex- plore the coast south to Monterey, and to take possession, in llie name of the Kiiiic of Spain, of the places where he should land. lie succeeded^ in reachiiu^ the :)4tli pa'-alhl, within two-thirds of ade-ree of the northern boundary of the disputed territory, whence he returned aloiej: the coast to Waslunu'toil's Islatiil, as it was calhul by Captain Gray, or Uiiceii ChuiloUe's Is'.iinJ, as it wasiU'ier- wards natned by the Hriiish navijntors. In Inti- tiide 49° 30' ho entered n capacious bay, where he remained for some lime, trading' with the natives— the same bay, beyond all n<">s<''*"' which was tour years afterwards called Kin- Geor-e's Sound by Cant Cook, and is now known as Nootka Sound. ' 'hie next year, (177:.,) Heecla sailed as far north as the 4Hth'de!;iTe of latitude, and explored the roast south, fillm'. np the outline which Perez hml left incomplete. He had T>revionsly landed at 41^ ItV and erected a cross with an in'^^ ription setting for-'h that he had U.ken p.:..i'efsion of the <-"<"i'ry in the name of his sovereiirn. In latitude 4»)" li he discovered a rapid curr.Mit outward ir.mi the land opposite to an openinir, whi'-h he nnmediale- ly pnmonnced to bothe mouth ofariver. tronl , liiin it was first ealhd the Kntrada de Hecetn, and afterwards the river St. Roc He made repeated attempts to enter it, but was conslmiily balHed by the violence o.' the current. This is now eonceded to have been the month of the river Columbia, which was discovered and entered by Captain Gray, of Boston, seventeen years afterwards I )urin" the same year the coast was also explored from the .50111 to the .'Sitth de-ree of latitude by i Cluadra (v Hodc-a) and Maiirelle, who erected ■ crosses in "testimony of their discoveries. On their I return, they visited the coast at the 47th de-ree of I latitude. an'd explored it from the 45ili southwardly j to the 42d. , ., L- u 1 1 It will be perceived hy these detads, \vhich 1 ' have deemed it necessary to state with some par- 1 ticiilariiy, that previous to 1778, the year m which I Captain Coidv visited the northwest coast, the Span- ! iar.ls had examined it with threat care and persever- ' aiire from 'M° to 4<.)0 'MV . They had also exam- ined it from the .'■)4th to the .Wth parallels, and vis- 1 ited it at intermediate jioinls. And in these explo- i rations they were wholly without coii'petitors, ex- ; cepliii" on' the part of some Russian naviirators, I who had madediscovcries north of iheoliih parallel, and Drake, who had visited the coast at the 38ih. Duriii" the two centuries which intervened from the ex"peditioii of Drake to the third voyase of Cook, no attempt li;id been made, nor any (leaign iii.iicaled on the part of (treat P.ri tain, to avail her- self of ar.y pretended claim by virtue of the tran- sient visit' of the fm-mer to the coast; while Spam constantly asserted hci ri-hi to it by virtue of pre- vious iuid subsequent discoveries. And in Cali- fornia and its nei-:hborliood she had, after repeated elforts, succeeded in eirectin^' the permanent occu- pation of the country, which was her earnest oo- ject— an object which no other power during that loinr period' had even in contemplation. ^ » The third voya^'c of Captain Cook, undiTta:en in 1777, '""'!• ''> ''•'« "'i'liiier, Mcares, a lieutenaiu in the British navy, though in the service of a Portu- guese merchant, and sailin- under the fla-j of Por- tugal, sent a boat a few miles into the strait in 17KtS, having learned from Berkeley that he had re-dis- covered it the preceding year. Meares also ex- plored the coa.n ill the vicinity of the mouth of the Columbia river, and came to the conclusion, to ut^e his own language, that " no such river as that of .St. Roc exists, as laid down in theSnanish charts." "Voyages, Ac., John .Mcares, Esl^., page IGH. As the transai^tions in which Meares was en- gaged, on the northwest coast, are intimately con- nected with the claim ot Great Britain to a right of joint occupancy in respect to Oregon, I i,ust it will not be deemed superfluous if 1 examine them sniiie- what in detail. Before making the explorations above referred to, Meares had landed at Nootka Sound, and left a party to build a small vessel. He had, for a trilling consideration, obtained the !;rant of "a spot of ground" from Maquinna, the King of the surround- ing country, to build a house for the accommoda- tion of the party. U'lie occupation was avowedly for a temporary purjiose; and he had stipul ited with Maquinna to restore the po.ssession to lim, when he (Meares) should finally leave the const.* In the autumn of the .same year, he left No itka Sound with his vessels, one of which winterel in China, and the two othei-s in the Sandwich Islands. I should have before observed 'hat he arrived nt Nootka Siiind with two ves.scis, the Felice and the Iphigema; and the third, the Noithwest America, was built there during the summer. In the mean- time, the C'idumbia and the Wa.ihington, two America;i vessels from Boston, entered the sound and |)ass 'd tbe winter; and from all the t(siimony nlating to the subject, there is no doubt that the lot occupied by Al.arcs wiis abandoned, or restored to Ma(|i;nina, in pursuance of the asreement be- tween iluni. During all this time, it is to be re- collected, Meares was .sailing' under the Portu- guese flag; .iiid it is a curious fact, that he carried Willi him instructions to rr jiel by f.uve any attempt *"" •■■■• 'f. Russian, Spanish, or English vcs- *'-M;«|uinnii liail not only most rciiilily consented in g nut us a spot of i-rouiiil in liis icrntnry, whrTcoii a iinnse iin^lit be built lor tlie acooiinniMlutiiin ol the pi'opli' we inten(le(''to leave ttiere, but hail pronnsrd us also his a.ssi.-jance in ( >t- tvariiiiig our worlv.s ami liis protection of the partv, w 10 Were dc.-tintd to rcm.nn at Nootka during our absence."--- Koi/ ca.se they molested bun, the British Governmee:.doesnot scruple to found ils title to Oregon on his voyage. Tliough the vess.ls of Meares sailed under "the Portuguese flair, and under the name of a Portu- guese subject, he lusserted, in his menioriMi to Par- liament, that the jiarties in interestwere British mer- chants. I desire to state the whole truth, and there- fore 1 give a fad I have not seen noticed. At page 173 of his Voyages, it will be seen that he took pos- session of the Snails of Juan de Fuca, ill the name of [ the kmgof Gnat Britain, in July, 17SH. But inde- priideiiijy of the olijection to claims founded upon the transactions of an individual, who, under the most favorable view that can be taken of him, had soui;iit the protection of a foiei-n flag to perjietrate frauds on the revenue la'vs of China, this unau- thorized act of taking ])o.s.sessioii under such a flag was preceded^ many years by similar firmalities on the part of the Jipaiiish navigators, under ex- jiress ordeis from their sovereign. The twofold character which Meares united in his person cer- tainly gave him manifest advanta;,'-'S, both as a tiiuler and a discoverer. He was a Portuguese captain when defrauding the revenue laws of China for 'lie bc'iefit of British .subjects, and a British liruteiuint wl.eii eiicror.;'.hiiig on the tla(e,and to the adjacent coasts. The lplii:;eiiia, and the Northwest Anicrica, two of Mr.ires's vcs- sal.s had returned from the Sandwich Is' uids, still sailing under Porluijuese colors, and arrived in the Sound on the i>Otli of April, sixteen days before Martinez. The Northwest America sailed eiirht days afterwards on a trading voyage, and the Iphigenia was a short time subsequently seized by Martinez, on the ground that her instriic'tions were hostile to Spam. She was, however, soon restored, and continued to trade under Portuijiiese colors — a (act which shows coneiusively that no claim can justly be set up by Great Bri'tain on the basis of thu voyage of Meares to Nootka, and his tempo- *Appendix to Moarei'i Voyages, papcni No. 1. rtiry rstaMislmicnt there. The Northwest Amer- ica was nlsosri/.(il,for reasons not dire.tly con- nroti'd with any qurstion of sovereignty, tuid was employed for nearly two years in Uie Spanish Bcrvice. , .. « III the month of Jun", 17S9, two vessrls, the Ar- .'onaut nil.! Prinrrss Royal, sailing under Rritish n.l..i-s,arrivrdntN(>otka,and were scizid liy Mar- tiii.z. It is unnecessary to entrr into tlie details of this transaction. It is Kufficicnt to say that it led to an nnimatcd discussion between the Govern- ments of Great Britain and Spain, in respect to their ri"lits in tlio racific.aiid tlif wtMern coast of America, which, for several months, threatened to produce a war l)etween the two countries, but which was finally terminated in Octdx r, 17m), by the treaty of tlu; Kscurial, or the Nootka S-und convention, as it is more frrciuently denominated with us. Hd'ore the iie^oiiatinns were concluded, both vessels were voluntarily released by the Span- ish nuihorities in Mexico. As the Nootka Sound convention constitutes an essential in-redient in the claim r,f Great Britnin, it will bo necessary to advert to such of its provis- ions as are made the foundation of her title to the qualified exercise of soverei;;nty which she asserts over the northwest coast of America, and to e.m sider them in connexion with the circumstances und( r which they were framed. The articles which relate particularly to the (piestion under discussion are the 1st, 3d, 5lh, and Gth. The ht arii( le provides that " the buildings and ' tracts of land situated on the northwest coast of « the continent of North America, or on the islands ' adjacer.t to that continent, of which the .subiects • ofhis nriuuinic. Majesty were di.iiossesscd about • the month of Aj.ril, 1789, by a Spanish oinccr, ' shall be restored to the said nntish subjects. The third article provides, that, " in order to ' slreni;th( n the bonds of friendship, and to pre- ' serve^in future a perfect harmony and v'ood un- « derstandint; between the two contracting; parties, • it is a<:re( d that their lespeclive subjects shall not ' t)o disturbed or mole d, either in navigating or « carryin;: on their fisheries in the Pacific ocean, or ' in tlu: South seas, or in lauding on the coasts of ' tliose seas in jilaces not already occu))ied, for the ' iiurpose of canying on their commerce with the ' natives of the country, or of making settlements ' there; the whole, sul jcct, nevertheless, to the rc- • striciions specilied in ihe tliree following articles. The Sth article provides that " as well in the « places which arc to be restored to the British ' subjects by virtue of the first article, as in all ' other parts of the nortliwesi"rn coast of America, « or of the islands adjacent, situate to the north of < the i)arts of the said coast already occupied by « Spain, wherever the subjects of either of the two « Powers shall have maile settlei.ienls since the «in..nth of April, 17S9, or shall hereafter make ' any, the subjects of the other shall have free ac- ' cess, and shall carry on their trade without any ' disturbance or molestation." tlons in "the three following articles," one of which ia the sixth.* . , . . 1 now pioeced to stixte eertain facts in respect to this convention, and to draw from them con- clusions at which 1 have arrived with some difii- dencc. The facts 1 shall endeavor to prcsen'. with a ri"iil re"ard to accuracy. If my conclusions are I erro'necnis", the better jud;-mcnt of the Senate will correct them; and I shall have the consolation of reflect in" that my errors— if they shall prove such- have led"to the discovery of truth, which 1 am sure is the "rcat object of evory Senator op this floor. The" first article vas practically inopcrauve, from a total nisapprchension of the facts which it supposed. There is no evidence that subjectt of his Britannic Majesty had been dispossessed of buildings or tracts of lands in April, 1789, or at any other time, by a Spanish officer. Inthemca- The sixth article relates to the eo.ist of South Ameri>'a; but it has an importani e in containing a definition of the erections whi<-h may be made, i confining them to such as may .serve the purposes of fishini,'; and the provisions of the third article are expressly declared to be subject to the rcstric- 1 -On thn Ist of March, Irti'., Colonel Benton mmle iin»M« KlHccli ill the S« imte of the I'nitcil Stiitei, in liivor of Uie oc- cupation of Ih.' Orci-on (Coliiinhin) river. In thi" »peech heVxnn.incI the trciity of the Escnrii.1, (the Noo ka Aound f.mv.nlioii,) nn.1 insisted that it wao proved by its tcrmi. tc he •• a treatv of ronce.sioii, and not of acquisition of nijhti on the part of Gre.1t Hr 'ain," and " that tlic permission to la-nd niul to make scul, -nts, so far from contemplaung an BC- •lUiMtion of tcrritot., was limite.: hy sulwcqiicnt rcstricuons to the erection of tcniporarvhiiu for the personal accommo- d.ition of fishermen and traders only.- '•hcse po*'Uon» were enforced in his araun.cnt by a refore ''' «" ""f <"""- Ih.ns of Mr. ,"X, i-nd the .idmissions of Ml. Pitt, when the Noolka Sound controversy was under discussion in the Brit- ish I'arhaniei.t. Tlie following are some of the passages to which he referred : .^ . . r ^.i,,. " Mr. Fox ! aid : What, then, was the extent of o ir nghts < before the convention, (wliellier admitted or denied liy Spain ' was. of no r.msc.iuence,) and to wliat extent v ere Uicy ' now secured to us > We pos-essed i»id exercised the free • naviualio.i of tin- Pacific ocean, without restraint or limit- ' atioii. We possess.d and exercised the rirflit of ennT">f ' on fisheries in the South seas equally unlimited." "This ' estate we had, and were daily improving ; it was not to bo ' discraced bv the name of an aciiuisition. The admission ' of part of tliese riulits was ail we had obtiiintd. Our right ' belore was to settle in aiiv part of the south o' northwest • ec, ^l of Ameiica not fortified apiiiist us l)y p.cvious occu- ' nancy; and we were now restricted to settle m certain ' places onlv, and under ceruain restrictions. Phis was an ' iniportant'eoncession on our part. Our nghu of fishini ' evtcndcd to tlie whole ocean ; and now it w.w limited and • to he <'arried on within certain distances of Uic Spanisti ' scltli'ments. Our riaht of making settlements was not, as « now, a iuhi to build huts, but to plant colonics if we ' thoiiaht proper. Surely these were not acquisitions, or ' rather conquests, as tliev must be considered, it we were to ' iud'e bv the triumphant language respecting them, but 'grt.iiioo which, thoujli no new right, was a new ad- ' vantage."— B. page lOtS. . This Biibjeet has recently been further illiistratt.-' in a close and well-reasoned argument by Mr. Owen, of Indiana, in the House of Reprebcntalives. r-v r \i 6 U^ of the nri'isli Kinn; to Pnrlinmcnt, and in thr. earnest (li.ttMiRxiiiii.s hrtwcrn the iwo c( untrii.i in ' I rennccl to tlic seizure of tin; Drilish shi.is, I find no mc.ition of iu>li dispn.^.stssion. Wlicn Vancouver wn:. sent out, in 1793, to receive iwy- ■ession of the luiildin^'s, iVc. lo be rerton 'I, none CouIJ bt found exeepiin^ those en cttd \>y ilie Spaniards. No Imildins; ocrupird by Driiisji sub- jects remained lU Nootlta in l1Hy Mcares, wlule actio;; in tlie name of r. Portiii^uisc citizen, and .saihno; under llic lla": ol Portuijal, to occupy temporarily a. very small lot, whi^ch h.; himself ndmits he had ajjrccd to rchtorc when lie should leave the coast. After a long controversy on this subject between Vancouver and Quadra, the Siiacish eonini.inder at Nootka, tl\e former departed without receiving any restitution of buildin;;,'s or i,:nds, and the sul^ ject was referred to their respective Goverrnient.s. In 1796, Captain Brought-n arrived at Nootka, and found the j lace unoccupied. (See his Voy- age of Discovery (J the North Pacific Ocean, paijc 50.) lie nowhere states that he was .sent oiit witii in.structions to adjust the ditSruiiy. Hut he says he was informed, by letters left with Ma(iuin- na, the Indian King, iliat "the Spaniards had de- livered up the port of Nootka, Ac, to Lieutenani Pierce, of the marine.'!, aijrccably to the niocje of restitution settled between the two CouU.>s." Bui there is no proof of such restitution. The -nly authority relied on to show sach a restitution, is one recently produced by ;!ie London Tiiucs. I allude to De Koch, vol. 1, page 1:20. He .says: " The execution of the convcntioti of the 28ih • October, 1790, [the Nootka convention] expc- • ricnced some diinci'lties which delayed it till ' 1795. Tliey were terminated the 23d of Marcli • of that year, on the sjwt itself, by the Spanish • Brigadier Alavaand the EiiglisliLieutenant Poarn, • who exchanged declarations in the bay of Noot- • ka, after which the Spanish fort was destroyed; 'Die Spaniards embarked, and the Eii^'lisli Hag • was planti d there in sign of possessioii."* De Koch has the reputiition of being accurate; but there is certjuiily one er;'or in his st.Ttement.' There was no such name a.s Poara in the British Registers of that year. He doubtless m.;ant Pierce. In opposition to this testimony of a foreio-ri writer, we have the assertion, twice repeated, of the British historian, Belsham, that the Spanish flag at Nootka was never struck, and that the place was virtually relinquished by Great Britain. t If * See Hi^toire AbriTg^e cU s Tr.iiuSM Uc I'aix, &c. par .M de Koch, coiitiiiu^, Sic. par F. .-^oliocll. " L'exdoutioii de \n convoiuioii dii a'l Octohre, 1790 «prouvn, au reste, do-- diiricult«?s .]iii \:i retarddrcnt jus(|ii'eii 179.). EllBH funnt i. rniinees I,; ii') .Vl.irs de eetto aniiee, sur les lieux ni6ni(^s, pur le Uri<-:i(Utr Ks|)iisiiol Alav.i, et Ic Lieu- tenant Ani-lois P.iara.qui <;cliangerciitV here are the declarations uk iitic d by De Kocli as having I.een exchanged ? Why, I repent, has the evidence not been produced? Probably '..ecause, if there IS any such evid-nre, it must prove a condi- tio;ml and not an abs.dute mnrejuler— sui h a sur- render as she is unwilling to sho ,v_n surrender rcservin."' to Sj.ain iier rights of sovcrci-nty. If there w.is .•; restitution, nd she nos.se.ssis' the evi- dence of It, she probably secretes it, as she secrc;. d the nia]) of the iiortheaslerii territory with the red iiie, because .t would have been a witness against licr When Vancouver went out in I71<^:, he li administration, win cannot e-eape some censure for encouracins ll'.ose vexatious en- eroachnients on the territorial riuhls of .Mpain,"— W'&Aam't IluUry ij Great Britmn, vol. H, 'Appendix, ya^c 40, 41. 9 rr.ndo to rrocru] y it l>y rivilizrd mm. Caiitain Helclirr, n IJrilish iinvul ntfii'cr, vij<'t<'d iho jil.ii'" i;i 1H37, V liilu iniikiiii; u voynj^n roiiiid ilu, wnilJ. I.' Iiin nivirulivo, p!i>;c 11,3, vol. 1, lie snya: " .\<» vrsiiuf rcrnainit of the i«eillK>l(sti'd I'lijoyiilfiit of tlw li^lit of ii!ivit;atiti:j and fishin:; in the I'acitir 'uul S.iiilh Sunn and iandiri!; on the coa.st, coiiri'dcd in cxpir.xM It-rnis . •! <• .sulj- jccls of l>otli nations ilir riirlii to form .'• rmrnLs in plai'i'M not .ilrcady orcupit'd; but tnis rii^iit was sul)j«'ct to the rr.' orllicrn point occujiii^d by Spain in 171)0 ? This becaim: a matter of dis- a<;reement b'tween the Spanii'li and rintish author- ities at a very early day after the No(.tka Sranu coiiienlioii was foinn!(l. Vancouver e'aimtd not only 1. 10 whole of Xootka Sound, l<".t I'.l.so Port f'ox, NO'iih of it; and he insisted, I.) uho hia own pliia!lo;;y, lliat " the northernmost spot oii tiie ' Paiifio coast of America, occupied by the Spaii- ' iards previous lo the mouth of May, 17i^!), v.-i>s 'the I'residioofSan Francisco, inlalit'i dc 3*<^4f)'." rs'iiw, it will be observed that ail atleiiipl was made to ^ive to the X' oil;a Sound '■oiivention n con- Mnieiion wholly uiiwari'anled by iis trrins. Van- couver endeavored to fix the month of A|ril, )7r J, as the time when the cpiestion of the most norlheni Occupation of Spain was to be settled. The Ian- iruaije of the cinvention, in respect lo the riijlit of formiiiLj selllemenls, is, " north of the parts of ihe Said coast a'rcaily occupied by Spain; fixinij the time, a lidne^ to every just rule of i onslruclion, at the dale of ij-.e treaty, tlieljf^th of October, 17".M(. This conslrueiion is strenu;theiied liy the fact, that a KubseijMint article concedcr, the riL;ht of fnrmiiiij tem]>orary eslablishmeius on the coast >if Soulli Aiiierica, south of parts "already occuiiied" by Spi ii), and 'eferriiii; indisputably to the date uCiIh' tiv, ty. The words "already oci'n]iied" am the same in both articles, and they tnust be considered as rtrtr:'iiJ:; to tli'; sninc period of time. The rpiestioii then rears, what WiwS tlic most northerly point occupied by Spain in October, l7')0, at the conclusion of the treaty ? Martinez, as has been seen, took possession of Nootkn Sound on the (iili of May, Hr^il; and ini- me'Iiately landed materials and cannon for build- iiii; and nrmiii;; a fort on a small island, at the en trance of Friendly Cove. In Ni>vember he reti"'n- cd to St. Bias, and in the srrina; of 1790 Captain Elisa took his place. A permanent establishment Was t'ormed, vessels were sent out on exjdoriiig expeditions; and, during the nesotintions between Vancouver and Quadra in 1792, the Spaniards were in pnH.=.eRsirin of hov.scs .-md cii!tiv.".trd !;i!id;, Vancouver again found them in possession in 1793, under Seiior FidiJgo, and in 1794, under Scfior Sanvndra, nml tlie po.H yns mainlninrd without in- terruption until nrt.l.* By turning to pn:^e 33d, volume '2, of Vancouver's Jou'iud, a vic\«' of the S|)anish cstabli.«hmcni at Friendly Cov, on Noot- ku Sound, will be »cen, frmn n sketch tnkj.t on the 8]'ot liy one of Vancouver 't party, in Septem- ber or Oi-tober, 1792, and. it e.uildin<;fl, »vi'h «evcml enclomircs of cultivuied land. It also exhibitH, toliiliy distinct fioin the8€ liuiils and buildiii'.'s, a cove udjoiniii:;, and a refer- ence lo it, staiinj; that it iinlude.s " t!ic territoriea wliii-h, in September, 1"92, were olTired by SfHiin lo l,e ceded to Ureal llritaiii." This was the sito of '.he hut occupied by Meares, mid the Spi.liish eonimandet refused to make a formal and a!i'4olute surrender to Great Uritiiiii of any other land. Thus it is established, by proof i. it to be im- peached, that the S])ani:irds \ci re in the occupation of -I post at >footk I .Sound in 1790, wliea the con- vention was nes;otiated iiid concluded; and I sub- mit, tlier«fore, whether thi.^ n.ust not bi; regarded :;s the southern.limit of the region, within which the rii^lit of t'ormin:; scttV lents, .•ecof;nised or con- ceded by tl.3 conve'Moii, was to lie exercised. This point was sirenuously^and persevcriiiL^ly in- sisted on by (Inadia in h's ne'.,folia'ioii with Van- couver, and with ebvK.us justice. To use Van- <:oaver's own laiii;iia2;e, jia'^jc 342, 2d voli'iriC of his .Tournal, Quadra observed thai " Xoolka ought ' to l)e the lust or most northwardly Spanisli set- ' tieiiieiit; that iliere the dividini; li.ie should be 'fixed, and that from tlieucc to the northward ' should b(' iVee for eiitniiice, use, and commerce ' to both I nitii's, rnnt'r.nimbly with the fifth !irlicle ' of the convention; that establishr.u'iils should rot ' I'c formed without peruiisshui of the respoctive ' Courts, and that the Kiv^'lisii si ould not nn.ss to 'the Moalh of Fiica. ' Such was Quadras con- struction of the treaty; and he uiiit'ormly refused to mak"! anv formal surrendiT of territory or build- in;;:', exceplin;: tlie sm.dl cove referred to. Noot- ka Scmiid is midway bi'tween the 49th and .50th |iarallel.> of latitude; and south of tliis point, if Quadra's position was will taken. Great Britain could "laim no riirht by virtue of the convention, tliouu:h it wi'i'e siill in force. That Gieat Britain vould have had the right, under tin convention, at any time during; its con- tinuance, ti> form a temporary cstaDlishment on any part of tlie northwest coast, north of the Span- ish post at Nootkn, will not l)e disputed; though it wo;)ld have been subject to the riglit of free access ' Vniicouvcr iirrived at Noolka Sniind on the 20Ui . .ay, 179:1, ami loiiml tlic SpiiMianU in pcisses.-ion. lie says: •• .\ii iiircer wiiH iniriii'diately despatclieil on whore to ac- •inaint Seiior Fiilr.leo ul'Diir arrival,. iiid limt I would .alu.o tlie liiii it' lie v.iiii! 1 make an ijiial reiiirn ; lliis was aceord- inalv ildiie Willi 'li'v i guns." — fancouter's Journal, vol, 3, i-'iKC M-}. Vaneimver arriv I ,it \iintka Sound on the .•:'h of Ooto- iier, I79;J, and, to u-f liiw own word.;, '• lie u.-iual c 'lemonies ol's.ilutes.and oili.Tl"iiriiialili«w,lKiviii;.'p.'>ideriii:;lliis opening uortiiy I of more attention, 1 eonlniuwd our pur.- lii," Ste Ihiil. I •' The several lar^'e rivers and eapaeioiis inlets that have been de.-erilied as disehargiiig their eoiiteiits into the l'[eili<', I heUveeii the fortieth and forty ei.;litli ilearecs of iiorlh lati- tude, were red i<'ed to limoks iiiMUlieient liir our ve.-se|s to . naviL'ate, or to bays inapiiheahle, as harbors, fur ref tiiiL." ! —IH,l., pa-. 41). j '• lie [( aptJiu <;iay] likewise inlt appearance of a sate or secure harbor, either in that laliludi! or from it to Cape !>Iendoeino; tiotwiih>taiiding that, in that sp;;ee. geogra|iliers have thoUi;lit it e.vpedienl In fuiliisll many." — tliitl., pa;;e 41. Vaneouver states that his in<|Uiries had been lately em- ployed under the most favorable eireuinstanees of .vind and we.ither.and tliat the .-iirf had eonstaiith hicii seen from the mast-head, lie then add : '■The river Mr. tiray inen- tioniil should, from the latitude he a-si^'iied to it, have ex- i-tenee in the bay Mintli oft 'ape lli>app >iMnieiit. This wn passed on the f ireiioon of the oTth; .ml, ui I then oh^erved, if any inlet or river should be foiiiiil, it must be a very in- tre ate one, and inaeeessible to vessels of our burden, ouing to the reefs and broken valer which Iheii appeared in its neighbnrliooil. Mr. (;ray stat^ d that he had been sev- eral days am inpting to enter it, wliieh lie w as unable to efleei, in eoiisi ipienee of a vry ; troiig outlet. 'I'his iti a phenoinenoii dillieiilt to aceount for, as. in ino~t eases, where there are outlets of siieli sirenutli on a seaeoast, there are corresponding tides .ietting in. He that, however, as it may. I was thoroughly eonvineed, as were al>o most per- sons of observation on board, that we could not possibly have passed any safe navigable opening, harbor, or place of stciirity for shipping (ui this coast, from fape .Mendoeino to the pi'iinonl.uy of Classet; nor had we any reason to alter our opinions, notwillistanding that theoretical ge.ig- rapliers have thought proper to assert. ,n that space, the eJLiiiteuuu of urmij uf Uiv oceiui euumiauicatiiigwitli a medi- 11 Only ci^ht d-ws nfter pMlinij ivith Vanroiivcr, Gray discovered' Biilfimth's ll;irl)nr, lif-tv/ren llie moulh of tlic Coliimlii:\ and llie Strait of Fuca, and remained tlirec days in it. On tlie lltli May, 179-2, the day after lie left BiilP-.eU's Harbor, he saw, to use his own words, "the entrance of our desired port," and in a few hours was nncliorrd in " a lar<;e river of fresh water," as he terms it, to wliieh he gave the name of the Coluiubia. He remained in the river nine days, and sailed, as he stul.^s, more than twenty miles up the channel from the liar at its entrance. Thus was verified the rtMijectuic of Heecta, who, seventeen years berore, saw an openinjr in the coast, which on the S[i luish maps was called the river St. Roc. Meares and Van- couver had asserted, in the most positive manner, their conviction lliat no such river existed; yet ■when the fact was clearly ascertained by Cnpuiin Gray, who had <;iven copies of his charts to Cluad- ra, the Spanish commander at Nootka, Vancouver, havius; procured copies from the latter, sent Lieu- tenanr I'rouirhton to examine the river, and take formal possession of it. Hrouo;hton not only per- formed Itoth these services, but, for the purpose of earning for himself the reputation of a discoverer, he laliined, in his account of his expedidon, to rob ("aiituin Gray of the merit of discovering the river, by the unworthy device of drawins; a dis- tinction' between the bay in which it deoouches and the upper part of the 'stream Public opinion has rejected this unmanly attempt; and Captain Gray is admitted by all fair-minded me.i to have been the first person who entered the river and solved the doubt which had loiiij; prevailed with rei^nrd to its existence, while Vancouver, twelve days bifore the discovery, h<.d not hesitated to deny, "n the strength of his own jiersonal exam- ination, made "under the most favorable cir- cumstances of wind and weather," to use his own Ian?-iia','e, that no such irreat river existed. This attempt on the part of Hrouijhton is the more unmanly, frni.i the fact that he actually entered the month of the Columbia with the aid of Gray's chart. I am disposed to acquit Vancouver, in a j j;reat degree, from all parlicipati^h Plenipote'iliaiv appears ; and otlicr purlicnlars ndative to" the inlet of the bHefl"v ;;fen-;f;"" ^' "■' •''^"^''"'■''.' ^^'l' J^'";'"'"-' ' -'"- whi.hVontain.d hIs,. that part of the nei.'h- KLL I '' r exaniinat.ons by the : l.ormo- coast extending northwVstward from the 1. m" 11- .l," , , ^'"" -"^ '• "^''^J^'/'y Vai.couvt^r ; Straits of Ue Fu.a, bcyor J Aooti^a, to llie latitude c ' J )i ^.■.^., ... ,.,,.^...^ ..,„ii ii.iwirv.i III riica." It is proven Dv ^red.U?r''y 1 '?^'''''''' 'J'- ^'■-'''' "'■■'"?'",'''■ ' "•'" ""^ Spaniards had partially «urvevrd""nnd gated tl c isKuid uluoli hears hi.s nairie, and tlien mapped tiie shores of the str,ut a.s hi-h as .'iOO a returned to Nootka. feir Vancouver had nev.'r year Ixforo lie arrived on the coa.st. And if we seen Hootka Sound when he surveyed the Straits ' turn to his Journal, vol. 2, pa-e 339, it will he .snm A n. iw^ '■"^'^1 '"" ';"■''*"•' "-^ "'*'. -''•*' "'' ' ""'' f^""'""" ""'• VnlJes arrived at xNooika on the Apiil, the eveimi-ot the day he met Captain Gray. I 1st of September, three days after liii »ie volume. 1 Ins correction is only important ! stronirest possi!,le claim to the ox.lusive posses- repe lin- the inference which nii-ht have been ' sion of the island," to i;se Mr. Pakenham's Ian- drawn tmm the fact, ^f it nad been as stated by I guaije, is not, therefore, as he asserts, in Great Mr. Pakenham, that Vancouver had been previ- ; Britain; but, as shown 'by Vanciuv ously established at jSooika, and had departed ' was in Spain then, and is in us now. er himself, it from it, as from a reirular station, on a voyage of I exploration to the Straits of Fuca. | But there are more important errors to be cor- rected. Out, sir, I have a word to .say in relation to the whole subject of Vancouver's exjilorations. It woulc'i seem that the Spaniards, in the autumn of 1793, had become cstrustful of Vancouver's While Vancouver was surveyins: the Strait of ; objects in llie survey of the northwest coast. At I'uca, and the extensive inland waters connected , the bay of St. Francisco, although he had every- witl. It, Galiano and \al,!es, two Spanish officers, ^ where before been treated with a civility by the sent out from ^oolka Sound, were euiraired in the ' Spaniards, for which his Journal abounded in ex- same service. Ihe two parties met on the 2i2d of ; pression/ of gratitude, he was subjected to rtstric- June, about the middle of the strait, near Point , tions, wliicii he denmninates " unexpected, un-ra- Urey, above I- raze r;. river, and proceeded to- ' cious, and degradin-." On his arrival at Mon- gether northerly, uniting their i-bors, and .sur- < terey on the l.st of November, the Spanish com- vey.ng,i.sshorestoaponit nearthetxlreniilyofiniaiide., Arrillaga, declined li<.lding any verbal the Island of auadra and Vanc.iuver, between the communication with him, but ad.lresse.l to him auth and the ol.st dcL'rcc of north latitude, where ' (piestions in writiniras to the objects of his voya-e; they separated. And here I desire to call tlie special : to which Vancouver promptly replied— attention of the Senate to the Journal ..f Vancouver, I " That the voyii-e in which we were eiiira-ed Who stat<>s that Senor Galiano, who spoke a little i ' was for the -etieral use and beiielit of mankind, Knghsh, informed him " that they had arrived at | ^ and iha., under these circumstances, we ou-bt JNootkaonthe Ilth of April, from wlience they had j ' rather to be considered as laborinjr for the wod sailed on the 5lh of this month," (June,) " in order ' of tiie world in general, than for the advanfe^e of to complete the examination of this inlet, which I « any particular sovereign, and that the Court of had, in the preceding year, been partly surveyed j ' Spain would be more eaWy informed, and as by some S5|)anish ofhcers, whose chart they pro- j ' much benefited bv my labors, as the kinsdom of duced. Observe, sir, the miet (i.e. the Strait ' Great Hritain. "•—»«/. 4, i». 3()9.» Of Fuca,) ; bout latitude ")(|0, partly surveyed and mapped a year before Vancouver came' on the coast. Vancouver then continues, (p 210, v. 2:) " I cannot avoid acknowledging that, on thisoc • casion, I experienced no small degree of mortifi- • cation, in finding the external shores of the gulf •had been visited, and already examined a few ' miles beyond where my researches durinir the 'excursion had extended, making the land I had ' been in doubt about, an i.slaiui; continuing nearly 'in the same direction about four leagues further ' than had been seen by us, and by tl^e Spaniards • named Favida, [Feveda.] " By turning back to jiage 204, vol. 2, it will ap- pear that Vancouver's examination terminated at 50° 6' north latitude; so thattheS-jani.o.ids, lieOirc * 'I'lie correspondence hetweeti Vancouver and Si iior Arrill;i;,-i, as repnrlcd 'ly the forinir, tlioniih too long to lie inserted liere, is will .vorlli a pcriisnl. (In landing, Van- couver called on the .■^;iaiii-li <"iiiniaiiilant, and w.m prc- parini to slate his nasons tor haviM({ entrred the po.-ts un- der ids coverMinciil, wlnn, as he says, '• he [.ncou.er's vessel, and delivered him two lillirs from the ,si|in,iis|, coinmaiidant. '-The tenor of llirsr let- t. rs [says Vancouvir| heiiiij very ditreriiit Iro-n what my ciMiversHlion with Senor .Arrillaga bad given 'ne reasi„i to expect 'vh:'n I visited him at the I'residio, I was reduced to the ni icssityol'si'ncliiighirii lleiiexl day (Si.lnrday, the 2d) a full evplanation of tie ohjeet« of our vovage and of the motivea that liad induced me to enter the 'iwirtx under his juri::dietiun." The subsUncti of Uiia uJipiuiiuUuii ii, (jut-u iu 13 f. Here is the confession of Vnnronver himself, that thiTC WHS no intention of inlLrftrins witli the territorial ri<;hls of S|w'.i, and that no s|ieoinl ad- vaniatres we're son^ht for l)y Great Britain. It is the highest evidence, the evidence of cotempora- neous fxposition, against the claims ^'"the Pi.-itish Plenipotentiary , and it demolishes the whole fahric of the British title, so far us it is built on Van- couver's exj>lorations. While on this pa.t of the si'.hject, I desire aiso to call the attention of the Senate to the manner in which the Oregon question has been discnsKcd in the Uiitish Parliament l)y some of the most di^tin- uished members of both branches of that body. . wish to do so, for the purpose of (orrecting ^reat inaccuracies, and also for the purpose of showing how imperfectly the subject ajipears to be under- stood by tho.i^e w ho, from their elevated positions, are under the stron2;est moral obligations to pos- sess themselves of the truth, in order that the pub- lic mind of Great Britain may not be misled and inflamed on their hiirb authority. In the House of Lords, on the 4lh of April last, immediately aftci the reception of the President's iiiangiiral s|)eecli, the subject was brought forward by the Earl of CMarendnn, not in the usual form of a call on her Majesty's Ministers for information, but in pursuance of a noiicc which iit, had given on the preceding day of his design to invite the attention of the House to the question. In the course of his remarks, he undertook to give a sketch of the claims of Great Britain and the ITni- tod States to tiie territory of Oregon. I shall, in respect to the former, quote his own words from the London Times, a source to which we may confidently look for an accurate report of liis lord- ship's remarks. I s'.iall c(mfine myself strictly to the qr';r,tion of title in all I have to say in refer- ence to these debates, avoiding carefully all allu- sion to the offensive language with which they were in some instances connected: " In the first place, my Lords, if priority of dis- ' covery could constitute title, our claim would ' be unquestionable; for Sir Fiv.ncis Drake, when 'he first visited thrt country in l.')')l^, found all the ' lam' unappropriated, and took possession of it, ' giving it the title of Xew Albion. I do not mean 'ill say !i. at this constitutes a claim: but owing, ' subsecpieiitly, to a seizure of British vcs.sels at ' Nootka, and to a dispute which arose in conse- ' (pience, it was arranged by the treaty of the Ks- ' curir.l that the si-.bjec'ts of the contracting jiarties ' should not be molested in fishing and making ♦settlements in parts not hii no occupied. In ' 171)2, the cminlry adjacent to me Columbia river ' was taken possession of by Cook, and was ex- ' plored in lHi:j by the Northwestern Company, ' now called the Hudson Bay Company, who (s- ' tabli.shed themselves in Port St. Gemge, under 'the government of Br.'.irh laws, continuinir to ' the present day, and being the f.rsl cstablish- ' ment in that count y of a lawful and national ' character, and recognised as such by foreign « SUlt-8." (he p\;nict in the teit, dcnyinu the iiitei t'on ef laboiina "lor \\u' ailvanlanu III" any particular Hciverciiin." And it wa< ^'ll >ali>tiielory tliai. a» Vaiii'miver siay, •' I'M Mimilay. till' -liii, I ri'ciiviii ;i !, Iter Iroiii Sefiiir Arriltapn in reply to my lettrr, in wliicn lie was pleased to coiiiplimcnt me upon Uiy illgetiUuUAlluab," &c« In the paragraph I have read, th»re are nume- rous errors in the statement of facts, and I must ask tne indulgence of the Senate whUe I point some of them out. 1. Sir Francis Drake ar.-ived on the northwest coast of America in 15T9, and not in ir>.i8, as sta- ted by Lord Clarr-ndon, making a diflference o. twentv-one years in point of time. If this error of date, Which may possibly be typographical, were the only one, I should not have troubled the Senate with aiiy reference to it. But there are graver misapprehensions in this .siutcment. It will be seen, that though Lord Clarendon does not ven- tu'c to refer to Sir Francis Drake's visit to the northwest coast as constituting a title of itself, he presents it as evidence of" prioriiy of discovery.' Sir, that navigator can, in no just sense, be s. '. to have visited the disputed territory of which Lord Clare ;don was speaking. The territory commences at the 42d parallel of latitude, and runs north tp .540 40'. Sir Francis Drak. landed a'- 38°. He .sailed along the coast north of this parallel, accord- in" to the best authorities, only as high as 43°. Nor can his visit, in any just sense, be regarded as a discovery. The country, including the bay of St. Fmncisco where he landed, was previously known. It had been seen tliinv years before as high as the 43d parallel by Ferrelo, who was sent out by the Viceroy of Mexico, for the expres? purpose of ex- ploring' and extending the dominion of Spain over If, and it was t;iken posscssiim of at or near the very point where Drake landed, and at various others, long before the Government of Great Brit- ain claimed any right of possession, growing out of this pretended discovery, and the visits of her navigators to the northwest coast. Besides, Drake's expedition was in the nature of a piratical enterprise, and not an enterprise of legitimate warfare. England and Spain were at pelice. It is true, the two sovereigns, Elizabeth and Philip, were engaced in secret plots against each other— the tbrmer by fomenting disturbances in the Low Cmintries. an'd the latter by setting on foot rebellions in Ireland: but it was several years later before these intrigues broke out into the open hostility, of which the chief incident was the de- struction of the invincibl.? Armada. (Sir, the con- tradiction of terms is the work of history, not mine.) Yet Elizabeth, after Drake's return to England, on the application of the Spanish ambas- sador complaining of his piracies, restored a por- tion of the booty he had taken, and by this n.'ili- tiiiion admitted theunlawfnlncs.i of hisexpedilioi. It is only necessary to look into Hume to see in what lisrfit it has always been viewed by 'he eye of legitimate history. Sir, it should need some boldness, one would think, to set up a claim even to " priority of discovery" on the basis of a trans- action like this. 2. Lord Clarendon sUites that the country adja- cent to the '^•diimbia river was taken possession of in 1792 by Captain Cook. Sir, Captain Cook never .saw the Columbia river, or landed in the inimedi- atelv-iuljacent country. His visit was to Nootka Sound, on the island of auadra and Vancouver, s-'pariited from the continent by ilie Strait of Fuca. His voyage is referred by Lord Clarendon to the year IT.ti. It was, in fact, made in 1778, fourteen years before the Columbia river was entered or even certainly known to exist. Ten years oSm 14 I ; Cook s voyage to the coast, Meares, on whose ex- plorations ilie British Government partially rcsis ita •jtle, reported he could say with certainty, no such river ns the St. Roc (the Colunihia) existed. i-our years Inter still, Vancouver, after £> most careful examination of the coast, came to the same conclusion, as we have seen. Sir, Lord Claren- don evidently confounded the voyage of Cook with that of Vancouver, without an accurate reference to either. 3. It is equally erroneous to say, that the North- west Comnany explored the country in 1813, and established themselves in Port St. George. Ex- plorations had been made, first by Lewisand Clarke, military o.Ticfrs in the service of the United States, *"oj*'en by Thomn.sor and others, in the service of the British and American Fur companies. But no particular exploration.s, I believe, were made in the year referred to. The stock and property of the American Company at Astoria were sold to the ^orthwest Gom|)any in that year; but the place was restored to the United States in 1818, and no attempt was made by the Government of Great Britain to extend its laws over any part of the tenitorv until 1821, eight ytais after the time at which Lord Clarendon rcjiresents Astoria as being under the government of British la.vs, hav- ing the character of a national establishment ot Great Britain, and recognised as such by foreign nations. Sir, it has never possessed such a nalioTi- al character, or been s.. recogni.sed. If liis lord- ship had taken the trouble to look at the statement of the British commissioners, (Messrs. Huskissoii and Addington,) in 1826, he would have found they distinctly denied that it was a "national pos- session" or a "military post" in the hands of the Americans; and they endeavored to show by ar- gument that it was not such in the hands of the Northwest Company after its purchase. Its res- toration to us in 1818 is incompatible with tho as- siirnption that it has such a national character now. The assumption is equally inconsistent with the conditions of the treaties between Great Britiin and the United States, which viitually preclude such a.i exclur.ive exercise of sovereignty on her part as to give any establishments made by her subjects a character of nationality. Nay, sir, it 13 inconsistent with the claims of Great Britain herself, whose commissioners, in 1826, expressly renounced all pretensions to a right of exclusive sovereignty over any portion of the Oregon terri- tory. It IS difficult to fancy a paragraph of as many words so replete with error as the one on which I am commenting. I regret to say that the subject was presented to the House of Commons with, if possible, still greater misrepresentations, and from an equallv distinguished source; though I migiit not have felt myself called on to notice them, but for their con- nexion with the incidents I have been examinin- and particularly the question of title. '"" The subject was introduced into the House of Commons by Lord John Russell, much in the same manner as it was presonated— an excitement which needs, perhaps, but little provocation to break out into open hostilities; and no man, who appreciates as he ou-ht the calamity of an interrupuon of the amicable relations which exist betv.-een us, should be willin'' to incur the responsibility of m..sleading the public judgment of either country; or if he does misdirect 'it, he should at least have the consola- tion of reflecting that it was through erroneous de- uctions, and not a misstatement of facts fiurly within his knowledge. , . , t , n j j The misrepresentations to which I have alluded are the more to be regretted, for the reason, if I do not err, that tliey-constitute almost the only views or the subject which reach the great mass of Ihe Biitish people. In this country, statemerits of both sides of great national questions are equally diffused. Look at our newspapers, and they will be found filled with the diidomatic correspondence between the British and American Plcpipoten- tiaries. The letter'^ o,' Mr. Pakenham are puD- lished with those of Mr. Calhoun and Mr. Bu- chanan, and are as widely circulated. All read, comoare, anJ judge them. It is not so in Great Britain. As a general rule, the British side of the question only is presented to the British public. Nor is it the official argument of the Go\er iment, drawn up by the diphimatist, under a sense of his iTsponsibility to the criticism of other nations, and the general judirment of mankind. No, sir. It is more frequently the " tirade" of the iiolitician, by which Ihe pul)lic mind of Great Britain is made to pronounce judgmeiu upon great questions of inter- national risht and duty. These misivpresentalions are still more to be regretted, because they constitute the basis of the statements which find their way to the continent. Through Galignani's Messenger, the echo of the Britisirpress, they are translated into French, and widely circulated.' poisoning the whole public mind of the continent, and exciting prejudice against i will only adela- j ware, [Mr. J. M. C.avto.v,] who followed him no tnovy n his seat. Both took the -round, and I with equal pereiaptonness, that the titfe to Ore-on ; ought not to be discussed, but for totally diffenrt , reasons-the Senator from Ohio, because the time for distu.-.smg it had gone by, and the Sena- tor from Delaware, becau^^e tlu; time for di^sc'iis- sing it had not arrived. With tbe unfei-ned re- spect which I entertain for them, I dissent from their opimon witn great ditfidence of my own " • As the Senator said, he (Mr. C.) was tem.io- \ , rarily absent from Ins scat, but came in a f-w min- ; Utes after the Senator had made that remark. He , had mistaken his (Mr. C.'s) po.sition. When he had tlie lionor of addressing the Senate on the ]->i' instant, he did object to the discu.'ness to go into It then, if his associates in the Senate wi.she.l j to do so— but in executive session. And he be."-- < ged the Senator to recollect tho reason which l7e ' assigned why the dis.u.s.sion should be so condurt- 1 J , ^'"^'^ ''"''' ''"'■'^ questi.m were to be - •- tied by treaty between the two Govermnent.s. the remarks made in open session were calculated to i prejudge, and must necessarily prejudge, tiie I ouestion which would arise u|)(,n the treaty He ' thought then, and he thou-ht so still, that if ih- j ouestion \vere to be settled in that manner, .-real ■ danger niight arise from these jiublic discussions because it would be recollected that it took but ' nineteen of them to defeat any treaty; and if the discussion became extended, a.s wa.s very likely, there was danger that nineteen Senators iiiiHit be- come so committed before the whole country in regard to the title, and differing from the Execu- tive, why, then, was it not obvious that t'^e^r con eiderauoii of Uio treaty would be seiiousiy tnun- mellcd ? f)n the otlier hand, he thought then, and thought still, that If discussed in executive te.ssion no such diihcuhy could occur; no man would be then committed before the country. But o,)en discussion was attended with the dan-er of so many men cnmutting themselves on some i)aral. lei of latitude dUlcrent from tluu presented in the treaty. If the Senator would pardon liim a few mo- , nienls longer, he would make a sin:rle reference to ; a remark which fell from the honoiable Senator trom Indian,., [Mr. Has-.vecan-.] He seemed to apprehend tl at tliere was greater danger of stran- gling Oregon in that chamber than elsewhere How so? He (Mr. C.) could not possibly c-.m- prehend that. If the title to Oregon be clear— if it be such a title as the country could .stand up for and fight for--:t was one that would bear discus- sion in executive .session as well as anywhere else, and the only dilfereiice was, that it would be much more safely discussed in executive session than in open session. The honoraljle Senator, however, at the conclusion of his eloquent address, seemed to apprehend that if the Senate took fhe resi.onsi- bihty of discussing this question in .scv-ret session, lierhaps some Cains Gracchus might drive us from our .scats, and forcibly expel our President from Ills elevated seat. Mr. HANNEGAX. If the Senator from Dela- ware will allow me, I will restate w hat I uttered in this particular, and a misreport of which wis given 111 both the Union and Intelligencer, so gross as to be ridiculous. Mr. J. M. CL '\YTON yielded the floor, when Mr. H. said, that the language he uttered was, tjiat the withdrawal of so nioinentous a question ] (rom the jtublic eye for .secret deliberation an.: dis- cussion, to be followed— as perchance it mi-ht be— I by a silent and sudden death of the measine in di- rect violation of tl,.- will of three-fifths of the Amer- ican tieople, woi,!d be a most .serious, if not a ic. I- and'oly liour in the history of the country. It inight prelude the entrance oV some CaiusGra'cchus into that hitlRrto consecrated chamber, whose heart, big with the fins of freedom, and roused by •such an outrage upon jmblic ri-hts, would lead him to address the mighty i.ibunal without, and by this •Simple chan::e of attitude, (here Mr. H. pointed to the doors of the Senate, and rai.sed his hands to the galleries,) turning from that venerated chair, re- verse thenceforth the cherisluil forms of this body, impair its di-nity, and destroy its lofty and coni- j mandinir attitude. Mr. CLAYTOX was glad to hear that explana- tion.] ' Mr. DIX then proceeded with liis remarks, and said: I beg the Senator from Delaware to be assured that nothing would give me more pain than to nii-;- state any Senator on this floor; and I accept with great pleasure the explanation which he has made. I desire also to say, injustice to him, as well is to tlie Senator from Ohio, tiiat I did n..i use the term "perem|)tonness" in referring to the manner in which they had insisted that the (luestimi of title ought not. 111 their oj>inion, to '.e di.scussed. I said they had Uiken the position m equally strong lan- guage. ° I now resuinr the coiisideralioii of the important question oil which I had the honor to address the 17 Rrnntc ycstcrJay; nnd in doins: f"^» ^ cannot -vith- liolJ i.lie I'Xprt ssinn of my sotise ofthn kind indul- 11 ncc wliir.h li.is been extended to mc. I will cn- dciivor to aflord llie Senate a sulistantial proof of that sense of oblij^ation on inv pari, by briniiin;? my remarks to a. close in the Griefcst poosible pe- riod of time. Tiic historical sketoli wliich I was makinj of the disi ovcrits and establishments in Orri;oii, when the Senate adjourned yesterday, ended witli the year 1792. The discovery of Bulfincli's Harbor and the Columbia river by Grav, and the explorations of Galliano, Valdes, and Vancouver, in tlie Strait of Fina, in that year, terminated the scries of maritime discoveries in the disputed territory, which had commenced two centuries and a half before. From tliat time to the present, noiliinff has been done on the coast l)ut to fill up the smaller details of the great outline completed by the labors of these nav- igators. In the same year, (1792,) Mackenzie, leaving Fort Chippewyan, on the Athabasca lake, in the iiSih parallel of latitude, and nearly midway be- tween the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, proceeded westward to tiic Rocky mountains, where he )iass- cd the winter. The next spring', he resumed his journey, struck the Tacoutche Trssee, (now Fra- z.er's river,) in the r»4th parallel of latitude, and de- scended it .some 230 miles. He then contnuied his course to the west, and reached the Pacific in north latitude ')-2P 20' — about adci^ree north of the island of duadra and Vancouver. Frazer's river, which takes its rise near the .IjiIi parallel of latitude, was for nineteen years supposed to be the northern branch of the Columbia: but in 1812, it was as- certained by Frazcr to debouch in the Strait of Fuca, at the 49th parallel of latitude. It waters the district of country immediately west and north of the valley drained by the iijiper branch of the Columbia. This district is n )iart of the jrreat sec- tion of the northwest coast, bounded on the ca.st by the llo :ky mountains, and on the west by the Pacific, of which the main channels of access had been laid open by previous discoveries. In 1804, Captains Lewis and Clarke set out on their ixpeuition to Or<"j:on; and. in 1811."), after incredible liardshi|»s ami labors, thcv established tlicmsclves on the liorth side of the Ci>Iumbia river, near its mouth, and subsequently on the south side, and pa.ssed the winter there. In tlie S|)rin2: of 1^01), they commenced their journev homeward, and reached the Mississippi in the fall oflliat year, hav- inj^ travelled over 9,000 miles. This expedition was fitted o\it under the direction of the Govern- ment of the United States, and executed by officers in its .service at the public expense. It was under- taken on the recommendation of the President, communicated in n messajre to Con2;ress in 180.1. One of its objects was to examine the country watered by the Columbia river, which had been discovered by a citizen of the United States, and it resulted in a survey — necessarily cursory — of the main southern branch of the river, of the principal stream to its mouth from the jiniction of the latter with it, and of a portion of Clarke's river, which empties into the northern branch between the 48ih and 49th parallels of latitude, litis was the first exploration of the Columbia made subsequently to 1792, when it was ascended by Gray, its discov- erer, some twenty mile?, and five months after by a deuichment Vrom Vancouver's parly, under Droui;hton, about one hundred miles, from iU mouth. . It is also to be considered 'hat the expedition or Lu\i is and Clarke was luidertaken immediately after the cession of the territory of Louisiana to the United States by France— a territory admitted to inciuile all the country drained by the Missis- sippi and its tributaries to their head waters. It was also the understandin;;; at the time that it was sepanited from the Briiisli possessions in North America by the 49tli parallel of hititude extended westward li-om llie Lake of the Woods indefinite- ly. Mr. Monroe, in a paper presented to Lord Ilarrowby in 1804, at Loii'on, stated that it had been so settled by commls^,^rie^ appointed by Fnuicc and Englaml under the treaty of Utrecht; and the statement was not impugned or objected to. I am aware tliat a doubt has recently been raised as to tiie fact of such a line having been agreed on; liut after nearly a century and a half, it is oues- tionablo whether an arrangement which had been acquiesced in [Colonel Bf.xton here added—" and acted on"] as having been made by the compe- tent authority at the proper time, can be denied, even thoui and the tacific ocean. .. , ,^ , In 1806 Mr. Frazer, an agent of the Northwest Company, formed an estaldishment on Frazer's lake in the .'■)4th parallel of latitude; and this was the first establishment ever made by British sub- jects west of tlie Roc'.-y mountains. In March, 1811, the Pacific Fur Company, of which .John Jacob Astor, of New York, was the principal, formed an establishment at Astoria, on the south bank of ihe Columbia river, about ten miles from its mouth, having first estfiblished them- si-lves on the north bank; a;id this was the first settlement ever made on the Columbia or in the territory watered by that river or its tributaries, excepting two temporary establishments in 1809 an'. 18T0", formed also by American citizens, which \\ ere soon abandoned in coi-sequence of the diffi- culty of obtaining provisions, and other cmbarrass- men'ts. The Astoria company also formed an es- tablishment in 1811, on the Okanagan, a tribuUry entering the Columbia on the north side, between the 48th and 49th parallels of latitude; and in 1812 another near it on the Spokan, also a tributary jf the great river. In 181.3 the Pacific Company, in imsequence of ilu eml)arrassments growing out of the war of 1812 with Great Hritain. sold " its est-blishmcnts, furs, and stock in hand" (including .he posts on the Okanagan and the Spolcan) to the Northwest Com- pany ; "(ind a few days afterwards the British sloop- of-war Raccoon arrived, took possession of the place, and hoisted the British f.ag. By the treaty of Ghent, ratified by_us^in 1815^ * Sen iin cliiliorate examinaticn of Uie question in Green- i liow's Oregon, page 'JTli. 18 was stipulated that "all territory, placrs, nnd pos- sessions whatsoever taken by either party from the other during the war, or which may be taken after the signing of this treaty , excepting only tiie, islands hereinafter mentioned, shall be restored without delay." In compliance with this siipulatior, the establish- n.ent at Astoriy was restored to the United Suites. liie compliance was full, unconditional, and with- out reservation of any sort. No claim was set up by Great Britain in her written communications with the United SUttes on this subject, at the time of the restoration, in respect to any ri^'ht of sover- eignty or domain in the territory thus restored. The British Minister at Washington had, it is true, a year before objected to the restoration, on the jround that the |)iacc had been purchased by the Northwest Comfiai.y.and that it had "been Uiken possession of in his Majesty's rame, and had been since considered !is forming part of his Majesty's dominions." The objection .vas virtually aban- doned by the restoration ; and as the place was re- stored without .1 written protest or reservation, the f round of the objection may be regarded as having een considered wholly untenable by those who took it. In this transaction, as in all others rela- ting to the territory of Oregon, the Government of I'le United Suites mai>Uained, in clear and uiuMjuiv- :.cal term", its right of .sovereignty. In its instruc- tions to apUiin Biddle in 1817, it directed him to proceed tc the mouth of the Columbia, and there "to assert the claim of the United States to the sovereignty of the adjacent country, in a friendly and peaceable manner, and withoiit the enijiloy- ment of force." This order he executed on the 9th of August, 1818, by taking; formal possession of the country on the river. The formal restora- tion of Astoria was made on the 6th of October, 1818; and in foi-rteen days afterwards (on the 20th October) a convention was agreed on by the Uni- ted States and Great Britain, containing the follow- ing article: "Art. 3. It is agreed that any country that may ' be claimed by either party on the nortliwest coast ' of America, westward of the Stony mountains, • shall, together with its harbors, bays, and creeks, ' and the navigation of all rivers within the same, ' be free and open for the term of ten years fn in ' the date of the signature of the present conven- • tion, to the vessels, citizens, and .subjects of the ' two Powers: it being well understood that this • agreement is not to be construed to the preju(li<;e • of any clann which either of the two high con- ' tracting parties may have to any ]iart of the said « country, nor shall it be taken to nfFect the claims • of any other Power or State to any piirt of the ' said country; the only object of tl e high contract- ' ing parties in that respect being n prevent dis- • putes and diflerences among them.solves." On the 6th of August, 1827, the main provisions of the foregoing article were renewed by the fol- lowing convention: "Art. 1. All the provisions of the third article ' of the convention concluded between the United ' Suites of America and his Majesty the King of • the United Kingd-'m of Great Britain and Irc- • land, on the 20th of October, 1818, shall be, and • they are hereby, further indefinitely extended and • continued in fjirce, in the same manner as if all ' the provisions of the Baid article were herein spc- ' cifically recited. "Art. 2. It shall be competent, however, to ' either of the contracting parties, in case either ' should think fit, at any time after the 20ih Octo- ' bei, 1828, on giving due notice of twelve months ' to the other contractir.g party, to annul and al.ro- ' gate this convention; and it shall, in such rase, be ' accordingly entirely annulled and abro;;ated, after ' the expiration of the said term of service. "Art. ;>. Nothing contained in this convention, ' or in the third article of the convention of the ' 20th October, 181H, hereby continuid in force, ' shall be construed to impair, or in any manner ' aflect, the claims which either of the contracting ♦ parties may have to any part of the country wcsl- ' ward of the Stony or Kooky niountauis." On the basis of these two treaties the relations of the two eountrics in respect to Oreijon now list; and in order to a.scertain what are the rights of the contracting parties to the territory in dispute, we must revert to the year 1818, to the sialii quo be- fore they were entered into; for if, as has been seen, nothing contained in the treaties can preju- dice in any manner their respective claims, no acts dune since by settlement or otherwise can create, in respect to the territory in question, any righta which did not exist then. This jiosition wa.s taken with characteristic vigor and brevity by the distinguished Senator from South Carolina, [Mr. C m.hoi'v,] sitting Ix'Torc me, in a note dated the 3d of September, 1814, and ad- dressed to Mr. Pakenhani, wliili' t'\c Senator was acting in the capacity of a negotiator. Sir, I wish to be distinctly unders'ood on this point, for the reason that the IIuds(,n's Bay Com- p;. 'y, in which the Northwest Con.pany has been merited, has for several years been extending its establishments; and because, in the negotiations between the Briti.«h Government and ours, it has been once, at least, if not more than oni-e, intimti- ted liy the former that British subjects had interests there which it was bound to protect. These estab- lishments have been made with full knowh dge of the stipulations of the conventions entered into be- tween the two countries; and on no ground, even the ground of equity, can any claim be set up on the basis of these newly-created interests. To agree to suspend the settlement of the controversy, and then to draw from acts done by (me of the par- ties during the suspension new arguments in favor of its own .side of the question, is not only repug- nant 1 ) every rule of fairness, but it is a violat'on of the letter as well as the spirit of the agreement, and tends to the defeat of the very oliject in view in making it. Let us see, then, what di.^eoveries had been made, and what establishments formed, in liil>^. Those of Spain were paramount to all others. She had visited and explored the whole coast from California, where she had permanent eslalihsh- mcnts, to the nost northerly line of the territory in dis[)ute. Sue had discovered the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and formed an establishment wiiliin it, I tliink, in 170:}. She had discovered Nootka Sound, and established herself there. And she was . trengthencd in her claims to the absolute sover- eigntv of the country by its irnmcdii'te conti':;uity to CaJifuriiia, of which she had tiic uiulis^iuted and ^ W. uniliviJc (1 pnssc.'!:iion, with the exrpption of two . ttiiipoiaiy cst;vblisliiiiciilsl)y tlic Ilussiuns between the hay of St. Fnincisco and Ciipe Mcnilonno, | wliirli were ni.ulc to facilitate their trade in I'urii, nnd by perniissinn of ihc Spanish Government. It is true slie had not kept up her establi.slinients j north of Cape Mendorino; but no ntluTs had been J formed in tiic .same localities; and lier rif;lits of dis- | c.:very, therefore, were not sunerseded l)y rights ^ of oerup.ilion on tlie part of other nations in any portion of the territory in dispute, excepting so far a.s they may liave been derived from tiie Ameriean ; nnd Critish tstablishniciits, to -.vhich I urn about to ' refer. | The United States had discovered the Cohimbia river, nnd asrended it at the lime of the discovery to the distance of twenty-five miles from its mouth. She had also discovered "Biilfmch's Harbor, between ^ llie Columbia and the Strait of Fuca. She liad ; rxamined the country watered by the Coliunl)ia nnd sonic of its tributaries, and slic had formed establishments within it at fo\ir difft rent periods — , in my.), lyl(», ISll, and ]81'J— tlie most southerly near the mouth of the Columbia, and tlic most north- erly between thcforly-eifjhth and forty-ninth jiaral- Ie!s oT latitude. Spain claimed to have discovered the Coliunbia seventeen years liffore Gri.y entered it; but in IHiJl she ceded all herri^'htsto the country north of 4"JO to the United Suites, by treaty, and thus pave us a title to the territory -vatered by the river, , wliiili Greet nritainou;;ht never tohavei|ucstioned. Hy virtneof the s(U)ic act of cession, hcrentire right ' to the coast became vested in us. I In the course of the jaiblic discussions in re.spcet | to Orei^on, the United Slates lias been charged ' with dishonor and bad faifli in setting up a claim to that territory, Isl. by discovery, through the a -oin-cr in the Strait of Fuca — formalities a long t. , lefore performed in number- less localities by the apaniurds— especially ns those of iho Briti.sh luuigntors wen. unaccompanied by actual settlement nnd occupation, and were in di- rect violation of n treaty which those officers were sent out to execute. I have endeavored, Mr. President, in the first liart of my remarks, to maintain the Sjianlsh title to the northwest coast of Americn. I regard all at- tempts to disparage it ns antiquated and obsolete, to be founded upon partial nnd illiberal views of the subject. It is unnecessary to say to you, sir, or the f^i natp, that antiquity i.s the highest clement of title, if the chain can be 'traced down urbrokcn and entire to our own times. The Spnnish titl« to the northwest coast is almost coeval with the voy- ages of C^ohimbns. It is consecrated liy discovery as high ns the 4nin Cape liohcris about seven miles. Capi Kolicrts is the siiiithcrn pniiit ol'thc rivi'r, and it is in- ti iseelcd by the4'Jlh parallel ol latitiid.-. .At pa!xi-212of tlie same volnincii will be seen that, alter incctiii!; Gahanonnil Vald's i-.\T I'oint (Jrcv. (a tew mihs north of tlie river.) as he s: at pai.'c 0119. VanconviT r ays : '• I sliewed them the slicu .ad made oi' our excursion, and pi.iiited out tlie only spilt wiiicli I iiinccivcd wo. had lift iinexan.incd, nearly at tbelnad ot"I!eriiard"s channel: tln'V seemed nmi'li surprised that we had nm I'ound a river said to exist in the region we had been expleriei, and named by oiiortion of territory which she deemed of vital importance as n means of military eominunication between the r'anailas and her Atlantic provinces, and which will ;;ivc her a great advantage in a contest with us. The men.i- ure was sustained by the constituted authorities of the country, and I have no desire or intejilion to call its wisdom in question. Hut it jiroves tint we were not unwilling to afford Great Hritain any fi- eility .she required for consolidating her .^Jorth American possessions — acting in pence as though war was not to be exjtected between tlu; two coun- tries. If we had cherished any ambitiocs designs in resj)ect to them— if we had had ai.y other wish than that of continuing on terms of amity with her and them — this great miliuiry advantage would never have been conceded to her. On the other haiul, I regret to say thai her cotirsc tow-ards us has been a course of perr.etual encroach- ment. Hut, sir, I will not look back upon what is jiast for the purpose of reviving (iisiurSing recol- Icetions. Yet I am conslri,iii''d to s ly, that in re- spect to Oregon, I cor.aderher legislation as a vir- ttial infraction of the .•onventions of 1S|8 and 1H'J7. By an act of Parliain n*. panned iti IHSI, she has extended tlie jurisdiction, power, and autliority of content, so far as I am concerned, to leave the whole qiicstion where it now is, in the hands of the Ad- ministration, relying on its firmness and its sense of rectitude to sustain our just rights, and to respect the just rights of others. So conscious is Great Britain of the invalidity of her title, that she docs not venture to as.sert a right to the exclusive sovereignty of any jiortion of the territory. In 182C she ciaimcd only a right of joint occupancy, in common with orl.er powers; but denied the right of exclusive dominion in the Uni- ted States. While insisting that she was j'lUitled "to place her claims at least upon a jiarity with I her courts of judicature in'Upper Canada over'llie those of tlie United States, "she has con«t,^ntly re- ' whole Indian territory in North Amcric.i, "not fused to divide the territory at the 49th parallel of within her i-wn provinces, or witliiii any civil gov- latif.Je, the boundary bctv.-cen her and us from the ' ernment of the United Slates," and r)f course l-in- Lake of the Woods to the Rocky mountains — a \ bracing the territory of Oregon. She has "-iven line which would have severed the coast, and the ihtin to'mir.ance of every wrTing and injury to the country in iniiricdiate contiguity v.ith it, into two ' person and to property, fenl or personal, comniit- parts so nearly equal, as to leave her no reasonable ' ted within the territory', and has declared that every g:round, even on the score of an c(|uitable division. : jierson wlKsisoever (not British sulijects alone, but for the continuance of a controversy. Her desire ' every person whatsoever) residing in it shall bn for territorial extension in Uiis quarter is fen- the ' amenable to these courts. 3Vay, sir, s'le has nu- purpose of establishing her colonial doniiiiion over il.ori/.ed the Crown to rslablisli courts within the districts of country bordering on us, and confining territory itscli", with power to try criminal ofl'eni^es our settlements within narrower limits. Our con- not puni ihable with d. atli, and .also civil causes to test tor territorial rights, which we consider indis- a limited amount — I believe .i'2( 10— about §1,0(10. putable, has no object but to enable our citizens to ' She has thus assumed to exercise over this tcrri- cxtend them.selves to our natur.al boundary — the tory one of the highest attributes of national sov- Pacific. Her interest is remote and contingent; | ereignty — that of deciding upor. rights of prop'riy ours is direct and certain. Hers is the interest of' and punishing violations of the cnniinal l;iv. s .•-•he a State in a distant country which she wishes to ' has extended over them. She could harcllv have colonize; ours is the interest of a country in its i asserted a more r-bsolute sovereignty tlian slie has own proper territory and settlements. She is not ; '"one by this unqualified extension of li"r laws and content with subjecting to her sway the fertile and the jurisdiction of her courts over i territory in opulent regions of the Rist; but she comes now ' which she ai'mits that she has no other ri;;!it but thousands of miles across the ocean to dispute with ' that of a joint occupancy. I am aware that she has us the dominion of the uninhal)ited wilderness, and ' disavowed the intention of enforcing li'''> '- .^^ ,,,^„j i ,,l^ve ,io hesitation in sayn.g that she 8o, 1 would, while the convention is ' ' J"; ''' « "^ „„" cv^^r capable of greater cflorU than she is at cia'lly except Br l.sh subjects, »'"^ J' ^^^ ^ '^' ; r, el^.u ?„^o„,ent. "l know that her inordi.iato when charsed with '''f™'''"|r.;.'*^, ',,;;;"•,''' , ! d stui^ion contams within itself an element of vi- delivered up to.the -H'arest Lrit..h uuthonm ^'y;^^,,,,..^,,. „ j, „,„ i„ ,i.e order of human so- cicty that so cxtendtd a dominion should remain Ion-' unbroken. But I have not yet been able to 3ctcct, in the condition of her body politic, the uncrriii!; symptoms of that ueeay which pre- redes and works out the c ^ssohilion of empires. She has f^rcat abures to Si.ug^lc against. The would make this iL:.ervalion, for (he express pur- pose of prcvcniins, as far as possible, a conflict of urisdictlon, and U, avoid all cause for .mputi.is to us adisre-ard of treaties, or a desire to produce col- lision or disagreement of any sort. A-.d m order to facilitate the extension ot" the authority of he Union over ,.ur IVllow •^j''^-; "J^^'^;^'-^:;!':^ X ' ^--to^ f^^mCT;!;;' l^^s weM mid' graphically de- tercoursc between us and them, I would cslab isli at once a chain of military posts with c.mipetent {rarris..ns and arnK.ments, from ll... remotest navi- cnble waters which flow into the Mississippi, to the ea.stern face of the Rocky n.ountaiiis, sloi_.pini:: there so Ion- as the conveniion conlimies iii lorcc Duty, honor, policy-all demand these measures atom-hands: an.l.-I trust they will be executed with promptitude and decision. ■\Vill these mensurcs produce war ? 1 earinoc '■ licvc that they ^yill. I (numol ;.e!icve it, because scribed them. .She has enormous burdens lO sus- tain ; but she has great strength to bear them. Her soldiers are not like those of Rome in her lat- ter days, enervated in vigor luid relaxed in dia- i-ipline. Yim will find them in every quarter of the .'lobe, under the fiery heat of the equator, and amid the frosts of the arctic circle, braving the ele- ments, and >;ettiii:' dau'^cr and toil, in every form, at defiance. But, sir, I pretend not, with iny nar- row foresi..,'ht, to look intn the future. It is pos- I sible that her hour may be near at hand. But we ' know that the last struggle of the strong man is ., - . I c ,.rf,v,„"iti.m The always the most desperate, and somctinvs the most ;^:Zt^; ;^;':;:;i^ is'i :;;vi:n:;;"a;;: Se : dani-ous to tl. a..Lgonist who has brought him right of extendi,,, our ';«- <--r;;;7;;!;r4ea; y i " 1 " f "^hls hi no spirit of timidity. I say it in similar to that which ^;-^^, ,, '"'^i"^^;; ^ fj „ «piriU forccast-with the desire U.at exercLsed f,.r a quai-ter "^^ ' ' > .^/^'A^,^ ,, 'i , we may go into the contest, if it shall come, with ment of n chain <'' l'"f 1 ;. '' /^ ^^j ; , o^^ the asL?anee that we have to deal with a strong wholly within our " 1^ '7^ ;',,'' "essi;,. adversary and no. a weak one; mid that our prep- ,„ others. It has been .'"';''\ .v' ' V ;,.'^ /^,, {„. ,,,:uion may be commensurate with il... means of 11, a public document, ''^''V'';' ,;;J :;;',; ,tck. „flenee to wliich we shall Lc exposed. I have no mediate war. and tlia a sudden ' ^.^^ \' '^V^^^ ^oxM „f our ability both to defen-' .urselves, and Sir, I cannot believe it ^^^ ;=<;;•'-; '":;'^f,;^^^^^ t„, ,„ give back effective blows in return. We were ac..oimiofa,.y one ..rail "<^''''\"" ^ ,'J,'^,^; "''^^^ „c.?er so .strong as we are at the present moment: would be a^varof plain unmix d.Sg^^^^^^^^^ >ie ^^^^ ^^ .^^ ^l^^ means, strong nation, in the r'^'''^^"-' ', n J. 1 c 'el^^^^ in the spirit and energy of our peoole. Our dc- coiUcst,with..utdiaNyingdownupoihti.vel tneeon 1 ^.j„jiti,,„ ,,fj i,„,„ g-eaiy overstated. demnationofallc,vil,.edc...mm^^^ We ha4 beeJ told that our co^ast is^dcnuded. I find herself opposed »;'J;[^!V^'^'.,iySJ ",",'"« have heard, whether on this floor or elsewhere I ion, which, in our ay, she onm a na ^^^^^^ ^^^^^^ .^ ^^ ^ ^^^^^^^ more powerfully llmntle urn of .e^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^ ^ _^^^ ^^^. ^^^^ ^ ^^^^J^^ metropolis of therefore, imuRdiate ^/^.^^ ^^ °" ' j^^^^^se - my own State. There caimot be a greo'er error. Nor can evoniua wa t^ik^ J"' Sciblyn sited. There are hundreds of guns, of heavy calibre, in tion of our just rights ^''■^'l ""^ *^^ "^^^^^^^^^^ wlru the the city of N'-w York, ?eady, at the very hour in Bull will m.i venture to pass J u^^^^^^^^^ ^^ receive 'an assailant', and as fimire may bring fm^tl.Colhsun^^ ^,^^^ ^^ ^^^^^ .^ ...^^ .,^ ofthesemeasures-<-.ollMonsripemn .tl.iOT^^ emergency, and this independently of guns ^:S^^^r^-^^ ^^^^ -«-'■ .n.tlLy days;. believe the city might be plore such a rc.sult. The interests of humanity, great principles of j.olulcui nght self-govr.-nmeiit, freedom, individual rights, all sufTer when the voice of the law is silenced by the tumult of war. "in- rendered, with 'a skilful engineer, and with the . meaiis which might be placed at his command, J prepared — well prepared — against a maritime as- , sault. But, sir, I turn away from all these fore- ' f ''i 22 bodinp, of rv.l. I hnvc confidence in the contin- uance of peace. I belicc the good senw of both counir •» will revolt at a contest which ran brin^ Tvl.!"' ^'-^ ""■■■' *"'' ""''""» «" .fjt.Minent of existing diffi.uhics on terms hon-,r,il,le to both touch M my conv.cUon. Uut, sir, if 1 am deceiv- ed, then I hnre only to say tnat, wliilel would b« con.stramcrl l.y nothing but overruling necessity to tak up the sword, yet, if the neressiy shall come, I trust we shall never consent to lay it down until the rights and 'he honor of the count, v shall nave been fully vindicated. 1 i^-,. , .^ f... I would be : nrcewrity nii y nhall ay it down uiti) ahall .41.. i