open to the subjects of both nations to carry on their trade without disturbance or molestation. It becomes important to ascertain what was the most northern point "occupied" by Spain in 1790. Lieutenant Meares, a subject of Great Britain, establishes conclusively that eighteen months before the convention of 1790 was signed, the Spaniards occupied Nootka,* and that place is north of latitude 49°. All that England can make, then, out of that convention, is a joint right of trade with Spain in the country north of latitude 4910. At the time this treaty was made between England and Spain, the former power was only anxious to enable her subjects to trade with the Indians, and engage in the fisheries; there is not the slightest evidence to be gathered from the terms of the convention, that she was desirous of securing for her subjects the permanent possession of the country. This is apparent from the fact that the principal object of the convention appears to have been to place restrictions upon the right of trade and fishing, so that the subjects of the two nations might not interfere with each other, and the limits of these rights were defined by the settlement of the two powers. This convention contained no provisions impairing the sovereignty of Spain.

All the rights which Spain possessed upon the

* Meares' expressions are that Martinez "took possession of the lands belonging to your memorialist, hoisting thereon the standard of Spain, and performing such ceremonies as your memorialist is informed are usual on such occasions. He then proceeded to build batteries, storehouses, &c."-Memorial of LIEUT. MEARES to the British Government.

northwest coast were ceeded by that power to the United States by the treaty of 1819.*

The title which we acquired to that country from Spain does not preclude us from joining to it the claim which was made by the United States upon the ground of discoveries, explorations, and settlements. In May, 1792, Captain Grey, in the ship Columbia from Boston, entered the mouth of the Columbia River, sailed up the stream for sev eral miles, and gave it the name which it has since borne. It is true that the British commissioners in 1826, in the statement annexed to the protocol of the sixth conference, asserted that Lieutenant Meares, in 1788, entered the bay of the Columbia. That he had never entered the mouth of the Columbia River is evident from the statement which he made in his journal.+ Tradition had located the mouth of that stream in the latitude where it was afterwards found by Captain Grey, and Lieutenant Meares having failed to discover it, expressed his dissatisfaction by giving to the promontory

* "The two high contracting parties agree to cede and renounce all their rights, claims, and pretensions to the territories described by the said line that is to say, the United States hereby cede to his Catholic Majesty, and renounce for ever all their rights, claims, and pretensions to the territories lying west and south of the above described line, (42°,) and in like manner his Catholic Majesty cedes to the United States all his rights and claims and pretensions to any territory east and north of the said line, and for himself, his heirs, and successors, renounces all claim to the said territories for ever."-Treaty of 1819, between the United States and Spain.

"He can now safely assert that there is no such river as that of St. Roc existing, as laid down in the Spanish charts."-Journal of Lieut. MEARES.

the name of Cape Disappointment, and the bay obtained the appellation of Deception Bay. But admitting that he did discover the mouth of the Columbia River, the Portuguese and not the English were entitled to its benefits.*

The next question is, whether we followed up our discovery soon enough by exploration and settlement, to perfect our title; and in coming to a conclusion upon this subject, we must take into consideration the great distance to that country, and the obstacles which nature has thrown in our way. The valley of the Mississippi was not then, as now, thronged with a hardy and adventurous population. Those vast prairies which spread out far to the westward, had never been traversed by the white man. The solitude of those gloomy forests had never been disturbed by any thing but the Indian warwhoop, and

"For the expedition in question, two vessels were fitted out at the Portuguese port of Macao, near Canton, in China, from which, as already mentioned, several voyages had been previously made to the northwest coasts of America, in search of firs. They were both placed under the direction of John Meares, a lieutenant in the British navy, on half pay, who sailed in the ship Felice, as supercargo; the other vessel, the brig Iphigenia, also carried a British subject, William Douglass, in the same capacity; both vessels, were, however, commanded, ostensibly at least, by Portuguese captains; they were both furnished with passports and other papers in the Portuguese language, granted by the Portuguese authorities of Macao, and showing them to be the property of Juan Cavallo, a Portuguese merchant of that place. The instructions for the conduct of the voyage were written only in the Portuguese language, and contained nothing whatsoever calculated to afford the slightest grounds for suspicion that other than Portuguese subjects were interested in the enterprise. Finally, the vessels sailed from Macao on the 1st of January, 1788, under the Portuguese flag, and there is no sufficient proof that any other was displayed by them during the expedition."-Greenhow's History of Oregon, p. 172.

over the trackless regions of the Rocky Mountains the grisly bear roamed unmolested. With all these difficulties, common sense would lead us readily to the conclusion, that in the exploration and settlement of Oregon, it was done in a reasonable time, after the discovery of the mouth of the St. Roc by Captain Grey. In May, 1804, Lewis and Clark, commissioned by the Government of the United States, began the ascent of the Missouri, and on the 15th of November, 1805, they arrived at the mouth of the Columbia. This was evidence to the nations of the earth, that our Government had asserted her title to the territory. In March, 1811, Astoria was settled by a colony sent from New-York.

From the admissions and acts of England, our title to the whole of Oregon can be adduced. First. When the negotiations of 1818 were in progress between this country and England, no claim was urged by the latter power to the territory of Oregon under the Nookta Convention. As eager as the English are to seize every pretext for the extension of their boundaries, it is not to be supposed that they would suffer any opportunity to pass, without apprising the nations of the earth of the rights which they possess.

Second. Astoria was surrendered to the United States under the first article of the Treaty of Ghent, and was accepted by the American Commissioner.*

"In obedience to the commands of his Royal Highness, the Prince Regent, signified in a dispatch from the Right Honorable the Earl Bathurst, addressed to the partners or agents of the Northwest Company, bearing date the 27th of January, 1818, and in obedience to a subsequent

Third. In 1819 we acquired all the rights of Spain to the northwest coast, north of the 42d degree of north latitude, without any protest upon the part of Great Britain, who well knew that Spain claimed the sovereignty of the soil as far north as latitude 61°.

Fourth. By the convention between the United States and Russia in 1824, the boundary between the two powers was fixed in latitude 54° 40'*. We thus ceded to Russia 60 and 20', or an extent of country along the coast of 360 miles. If England

order, dated the 26th of July, from W. A. Sheriff, Esq., captain of his Majesty's ship Andromache, we the undersigned, do, in conformity to the first article of the Treaty of Ghent, restore to the Government of the United States, through its agent, J. B. Prevost, Esq., the settlement of Fort George, on the Columbia river.

"Given under our hands, in triplicate, at Fort George, (Columbia river,) this 6th day of October, 1818.

"F. HICKEY,

Captain of his Majesty's ship Blossom. "J. KEITH,

"Of the Northwest Company."

"I do hereby acknowledge to have this day received, in behalf of the Government of the United States, the possession of the settlement designated above, in conformity to the first article of the Treaty of Ghent. Given under my hand, in triplicate, at Fort George, (Columbia river,) this 6th day of October, 1818.

* "It is moreover agreed, that, hereafter, there shall not be formed by the citizens of the United States, or under the authority of the United States, any establishment upon the northwest coast of America, nor in any of the islands adjacent to the north of fifty-four degrees and forty minutes of north latitude; and in the same manner, there shall be none formed by Russian subjects, or under the authority of Russia, south of the same parallel."-Convention between the United States and Russia, 1824.