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 THE OREGON QUESTION. 
 
 '% SUBSTANCE 
 
 A LECTURE 
 
 BEFORE THE 
 
 MERCANTILE LIBEAEY ASSOCIATION, 
 
 DELIVERED JANUARY 22, 1845, 
 
 BY WILLIAM STURGIS. 
 
 
 BOSTON: 
 JORDAN, SWIFT & WILEY 
 
 No. 121 Washington Street. 
 
 1845. 
 
^ 
 
 ) 
 
 

 
 Wis. Hiai, Soc. 
 
 PRINTED BY ANDREWS, PRENTISS AND STITDLEY, 
 DEVONSHIRE STREET. 
 
LECTURE. 
 
 Gentlemen of the Mercantile Library Association : — 
 
 I HAVE taken the " Territory of Oregon " for the 
 subject of this evening's lecture. I propose to give 
 you the material facts in relation to the conflicting 
 claims to this territory, shewing their origin — the 
 grounds upon which they are maintained — a sum- 
 mary of the principal arguments upon both sides — 
 the negociations for their settlement — and the 
 present state of the question. I shall take the liberty 
 to add my own views relative to its final adjustment. 
 It would be useless to attempt to conceal — what you 
 will doubtless soon discover — that the subject is a 
 very dry one, and will be treated in a very dry manner. 
 It is however, at the present time, one of great impor- 
 tance ; for there seems to be a determination, among 
 some of those in power, to have immediate action 
 upon it ; and this action may go far to decide whether 
 our present amicable relations with Great Britain are 
 to be preserved. 
 
 Four powerful nations have put forth claims to this 
 territory, viz : — Spain, Russia, Great Britain and 
 
4 
 
 the United States. The claims of Spain have been 
 transferred to this country. Those of Russia have 
 been adjusted by ceding to her the exclusive right of 
 settlement, within ten leagues of the sea, north of lati- 
 tude 54° 40^ ; and the controversy for what remains 
 is now between Great Britain and ourselves. 
 
 It is necessary, at the outset, to understand distinct- 
 ly what is the question really at issue between Great 
 Britain and the United States in regard to this terri- 
 tory. It is not a question of positive, but of relative 
 rights. Not whether either party have exclusive terri- 
 torial rights — for the steps that have already been 
 taken, by mutual consent, amount clearly to an admis- 
 sion by each that the other has some rights — but it is 
 the extent of these rights and the manner in which they 
 shall be defined, that remain to be adjusted and settled. 
 
 It may be well, too, to have a clear understanding 
 of what is meant by the expression "whole territory 
 of Oregon," when used in common parlance, and to 
 fix in your minds the position of certain prominent 
 points that will be often referred to in course of my 
 remarks. 
 
 The territory in dispute is the whole country West 
 of the Rocky Mountains, lying between the latitudes 
 of 42° and 54° 40^ North, and consequently bounded 
 by the Rocky Mountains on the East, the Pacific 
 Ocean on the West, the Northern limits of Califor- 
 nia in Lat. 42° on the South, and the Southern 
 limits of the Russian possessions in America in Lat. 
 54° 40'' on the North — thus extending 760 miles from 
 North to South, and averaging about 500 miles from 
 East to West, and including some 360,000 square 
 
miles. The mouth of the " Columbia River " lies a 
 few miles North of the 46th parallel of latitude. In 
 its course this river receives many tributary streams, 
 both from the North and the South, and, about 300 
 miles from its mouth, is divided into two large 
 branches, one tending towards the North-East, and 
 the other South-East ; the former extending nearly to 
 the Northern limit of the Oregon Territory, at the 
 base of the Rocky Mountains, and the other quite to 
 its Southern boundary ; thus draining nearly all the 
 interior of the territory, and a considerable portion of 
 it that lies nearer to the sea. The entrance to the 
 " Strait of Juan de Fuca" is in Lat. 48° 30^ and it 
 runs Northward and Eastward about 120 miles. 
 " Nootka Sound" is in Lat. 49° 30^ on the South- 
 western side of Quadra and Vancouver's Island. If 
 these facts are kept in mind, frequent repetition of 
 them may be omitted. 
 
 Not to occupy more time than is necessary, I pass 
 by those early voyages in the North Pacific, the 
 accounts of which contain a mixture of truth and 
 fiction, but must take you back to the latter part of 
 the last century, at which time it is admitted that 
 Spanish navigators discovered, and anchored in, 
 Nootka Sound, and explored the coast from Cahfornia 
 to the present Russian boundary, prior to the North- 
 ern Voyage of the celebrated British navigator. Cap- 
 tain Cook, and before the navigators of any other 
 nation had visited these shores. It was upon this fact, 
 and the contiguity of territory, that Spain then founded 
 her claim to the exclusive possession of all the Ameri- 
 can coast, from her settlements in California to the 
 1* 
 
6 
 
 Russian boundary, which at that time was several 
 degrees North and West of the hne now estabhshed. 
 
 Captain Cook discovered and anchored in Nootka 
 Sound in 1778, and gave it the name of "King 
 George's Sound," (which he afterwards changed to 
 " Nootka,") not then knowing that the Spanish com- 
 mander, Perez, had anchored there four years before, 
 and called it " Port San Lorenzo." Cook likewise 
 saw, and gave names to, several prominent points 
 upon the coast, but did not anchor in any other place 
 South of the present Russian boundary. All these 
 points, however, had been previously seen, and named, 
 by the Spaniards ; so that the British gained no title to 
 any part of this coast, by priority of discovery, from 
 the voyage of Captain Cook. The pohcy of Spain, 
 at that period, did not permit the discoveries of her 
 navigators to be made public, and Great Britain had 
 therefore apparent ground for claiming (as she did 
 claim) the discovery of Nootka Sound for Captain 
 Cook ; and the events which followed, occasioned in 
 part by this alledged discovery, brought about the 
 arrangement between Great Britain and Spain, of 
 which I proceed to give an account. 
 
 Immediately after the publication of Cook's Voyage, 
 which was delayed till the beginning of 1785, Nootka 
 Sound became the common resort of vessels of differ- 
 ent nations, engaged in the fur trade. In 1788, a 
 Mr. Mears, an Englishman, who commanded a trading 
 vessel from Macao, alledged to belong to British 
 subjects though under Portuguese colors, built a small 
 vessel at " Friendly Cove," a snug harbor within the 
 Sound ; and the residence, in a hut on shore, of the 
 
persons employed in building this vessel, was the foun- 
 dation of the British claim to a settlement prior to that 
 made by the Spaniards, on the same spot, the follow- 
 ing year. In May 1789, two pubhc Spanish ships, 
 under command of Don Esteban Martinez, arrived in 
 Friendly Cove and immediately took formal possess- 
 ion of the whole surrounding country as Spanish terri- 
 tory. Shortly after, Martinez captured two of Mears' 
 vessels for alledged infraction of the Colonial laws of 
 Spain. Mears immediately appealed to the British 
 Government, and his exaggerated statement caused 
 great excitement in Europe ; and these proceedings 
 gave rise to the famous " Nootka question," as it was 
 then called, that in 1790 came very near involving 
 Europe in war, for which great preparations, at an 
 immense expense, were made both by Great Britain 
 and Spain. War, however, was averted by a conven- 
 tion made in October 1790, by which Spain agreed to 
 compensate Mears, who received ^210,000, though 
 the actual damage he sustained would have been 
 amply compensated by a tenth part of that sum. But 
 the most important feature of this convention, at the 
 present time, is one of the provisions of the 3d Article, 
 upon which Great Britain now rehes as one of the 
 strong points in support of her claim to equal rights 
 with the United States in the " Oregon Territory." 
 In this 3d Article "it is agreed that their respective 
 subjects shall not be disturbed or molested, either in 
 navigating or carrying on their fisheries, in the Pacific 
 Ocean or in the South Seas, or in landing on the 
 coasts of those seas in places not already occupied, 
 for the purpose of carrying on their commerce with 
 
8 
 
 the natives of the country, or of making settlements 
 there.^^ I must ask your particular attention to this 
 stipulation, as Great Britain relies upon it for resisting 
 our claim to the exclusive possession of any portion of 
 Oregon as derived from Spain ; and it should be 
 remembered that at this period we had no claim what- 
 ever to any territory West of the Rocky Mountains, 
 but subsequently obtained all that Spain was then 
 entitled to. In May 1792, Captain Robert Gray, in 
 the ship Columbia of Boston, discovered and entered 
 a great river, near the Lat. of 46° North, up which he 
 proceeded about 20 miles, and to which he gave the 
 name of his ship, calhng it " Columbia River," a name 
 that is generally still retained, and which ought, and I 
 trust will be retained, though attempts have been 
 made to change it to " Oregon River." fVe certainly 
 ought to retain a name that tends to confirm the fact 
 of its discovery by one of our own citizens — a fact 
 that has been denied by some British diplomatists. 
 V^ancouver, a distinguished British navigator, who 
 was engaged in surveying the Northwest coast of 
 America at the time the river was discovered by 
 Gray, designates it, upon his chart of the coast, 
 " Columbia River ; " thereby doing justice to Gray, 
 and admitting his claim to the discovery. 
 
 Captain Gray, in the summer of 1791, discovered 
 what he then conjectured to be the mouth of a river ; 
 but no certain discovery had been made, and no ves- 
 sel had ever entered the river prior to the entry of the 
 Columbia in 1792 ; and this is one ground of our pre- 
 sent claim to the territory. The discovery of Captain 
 Gray excited little attention in this country for some 
 
9 
 
 years after it was made, because, as I have before 
 remarked, we had then no claim to any territory West 
 of the Rocky Mountains. In 1803 we acquired Lou- 
 isiana, the Northwestern boundary of which had 
 never been clearly defined, and we maintained that it 
 extended in that direction to the shores of the Pacific. 
 At the suggestion of Mr. Jefferson, then President of 
 the United States, Congress authorised him to send 
 out suitable persons to explore the country to the 
 Pacific; and in May 1804, Lewis and Clark started 
 upon their well known expedition across the Conti- 
 nent. 
 
 In October 1805, after crossing the Rocky Moun- 
 tains, they came to one of the upper branches of the 
 " Columbia," upon which they embarked in canoes 
 and reached the Pacific Ocean in course of the fol- 
 lowing month. They remained at the mouth of the 
 Columbia during the winter of 1 805-6, and re-cross- 
 ing the Continent, arrived in the United States in 
 September 1806. This was the first exploration of any 
 branch of the " Columbia''' from the interior to the ocean, 
 and is one of the grounds upon which we rest our claim. 
 In 1806, Simon Frazer, a member of the British North- 
 west Company, crossed the Rocky Mountains several 
 degrees North of Lewis and Clarke's route, and made 
 their first establishment westward of that range, about 
 the Lat. 54° ; but there is no evidence that any British 
 subject was upon either branch of the Columbia pre- 
 vious to 1811, in which year a Mr. Thompson, in the 
 service of the British Northwest Company, came 
 down to the mouth of that river and found it in pos- 
 session of American citizens, who had recently arrived 
 
10 
 
 there from the United States, to estabhsh a settlement. 
 This settlement was projected by John J. Astor of 
 New York, who in 1810 fitted out the ship Tonquin, 
 for the purpose of founding it. I had a good deal of 
 correspondence upon this subject at that time with Mr. 
 Astor, who offered me an interest in the concern, and 
 invited me to take command of the expedition by sea, 
 which I dechned. The ship arrived at the mouth of 
 the Columbia in March 1811, and founded the first 
 settlement made by civilized people upon the Colum- 
 bia River ; and this is another ground of our present 
 claim. The undertaking proved highly disastrous, 
 and it was fortunate for me that I did not accept the 
 proposal of Mr. Astor ; for although my experience 
 might have averted one great misfortune, yet the want 
 of success was mainly owing to causes that could not 
 have been foreseen or guarded against. The particu- 
 lars of this ill-fated expedition may be found in Wash- 
 ington Irving's " Astoria ; " and as his magical pen 
 imparts a deep interest to every subject that it touches, 
 those of you who have not read the work cannot fail 
 to be highly gratified by its perusal. The particular 
 misfortune to which I allude as one that might have 
 been avoided, was the destruction of the ship Tonquin 
 and all her crew. She was commanded by Mr. 
 Thorne, who was or had been, I believe, an officer in 
 the Navy, but wholly unacquainted with the North- 
 west Coast or with the Indian character. At the 
 request of Mr. Astor 1 engaged for him, to go as chief 
 mate of the ship, a young man belonging to Roxbury, 
 who had previously been several times upon the coast ; 
 but he was unfortunately lost, with a boat's crew. 
 
11 
 
 upon the bar at the entrance of the " Columbia," upon 
 the first arrival of the ship. After landing her passen- 
 gers and part of her cargo at the mouth of the river, 
 the Tonquin proceeded to visit the Northern ports for 
 the purpose of trading vv^ith the Indians, and was 
 shortly afterwards cut off, and the whole crew mas- 
 sacred by the natives at Clayoquot, near Nootka 
 Sound. 
 
 Soon after the departure of the Tonquin from New 
 York, Mr. Astor despatched another party over land 
 for the Columbia, under the command of Mr. Wilson 
 P. Hunt ; the survivors of which, after suffering almost 
 incredible hardships, reached " Astoria" (for so the 
 establishment at the mouth of the Columbia was called) 
 in the spring of 1812. Early in 1813, the party at 
 Astoria received news of the war between the United 
 States and Great Britain, and in December of that 
 year the British Sloop-of-war Racoon arrived at the 
 mouth of the Columbia and captured the fort and set- 
 tlement. A few weeks previous to this occurrence, 
 and in apprehension of it, those in charge of the 
 establishment had sold their whole stock of furs and 
 merchandise to the agents of the British Northwest 
 Company for the sum of ^40,000, and taken payment 
 in bills upon Montreal; so that Captain Black, 'of the 
 Racoon, got only the empty honor of capturing a 
 defenceless and unresisting fort. The gallant captain 
 was greatly incensed at the loss of his expected booty, 
 and is said to have exclaimed — with some coarseness 
 of expression — that " it was a Yankee trick ! " 
 
 The first article of the Treaty of Peace between 
 the United States and Great Britain, concluded at 
 
12 
 
 Ghent in December 1814, stipulated "that all terri- 
 tory, places and possessions whatsoever, taken by 
 either party from the other during or after the war, 
 except certain Islands in the Atlantic claimed by both, 
 should be restored without delay." Under this stipu- 
 lation " Astoria," the port at the mouth of the Colum- 
 bia, was, in due form, delivered by the British author- 
 ities to Mr. Prevost, the agent of the United States 
 appointed to receive it. The act of delivery is as 
 follows : — 
 
 " In obedience to the commands of his Royal High- 
 ness the Prince Regent, signified in a despatch 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 obe- 
 dience to a subsequent order, dated the 26th of July, 
 from W. H. Sheriff Esq., Captain of his Majesty's 
 Ship Andromache, we, the undersigned, do, in con- 
 formity to the 1st 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, (Co- 
 lumbia River) this 6th day of October, 1818. 
 
 F. HicKEY, Capt. of H. M. Ship Blossom. 
 
 J. Keith, of the Northwest Company.'^'' 
 
 To which Mr. Prevost, returned this acceptance : — 
 " I do hereby acknowledge to have this day re- 
 ceived, in behalf of the Government of the United 
 States, the possession of the settlement designated 
 
13 
 
 above, in conformity to the 1st Article of the Treaty 
 of Ghent. — Given under my hand, in tripHcate, at 
 Fort George, (Columbia River) this 6th of October, 
 1818. 
 
 J. B. Prevost, Agent for the United iStates.'^'' 
 
 In this transfer the place is designated as " Fort 
 George," that being the name bestowed upon it by 
 Captain Black of the Racoon, at the time of striking 
 the American and hoisting the British flag. This un- 
 conditional restoration of Astoria is another circumstance 
 urged in support of our claim. 
 
 The first attempt to settle, by negociation, the 
 boundary between territory claimed by the British and 
 the United States, West of the Rocky Mountains, was 
 made at London, in 1818, by Messrs. Rush and Galla- 
 tin, Commissioners on the part of the United States, 
 and Messrs. Goulburn and Robinson, on the part of 
 Great Britain. These Commissioners agreed in 
 taking the parallel of 49° as the boundary line from 
 the Lake of the Woods to the Rocky Mountains, as it 
 now stands, and a proposition was made by Messrs. 
 Rush and Gallatin to continue the same to the Pacific 
 Ocean, as between the contracting parties, with a res- 
 ervation as to the rights of other claimants, having 
 reference doubtless to the claims of Spain and Russia, 
 at that time. This was declined by the British Com- 
 missioners, and the negotiation, upon this point, ended 
 in the following stipulation, which is the 3d Article of 
 the Convention of 1818. 
 
 " It is agreed that any country that may be claimed 
 by either party on the Northwest Coast of America, 
 2 - 
 
14 
 
 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, from the date of the signature of the 
 present Convention, to the vessels, citizens and sub- 
 jects, of the two Powers ; it being well understood that 
 this agreement is not to be construed to the prejudice 
 of any claim which either of the two high contracting 
 parties may have to any part of the said country, nor 
 shall it be taken to affect the claims of any other 
 Power or State to any part of the said country ; the 
 only object of the high contracting parties, in that 
 respect, being to prevent disputes and differences 
 among themselves." 
 
 In 1819, the "Florida Treaty," as it is usually 
 called, was concluded between Spain and the United 
 States ; by the 3d Article of which Spain cedes to the 
 United States all rights, claims, and pretensions to any 
 territory upon the Western Coast of America north of 
 Lat. 42° ; and this cession forms another ground of our 
 claim to the Oregon Territory. By a Convention 
 between the United States and Russia, signed at St. 
 Petersburg in 1824, the Lat. of 54° 40'' was agreed 
 upon as the boundary, (controlling the right of mak- 
 ing settlements,) between territory claimed by the 
 contracting parties upon the Northwest Coast of the 
 American Continent. We having succeeded to all 
 the rights of Spain, and the claims of Russia being 
 adjusted, the claimants — as before remarked — to 
 territory west of the Rocky Mountains, lying between 
 the parallels of 42° and 54° 40'', were reduced to two, 
 viz. : the United States and Great Britain. 
 
15 
 
 Prior to the Convention with Russia in 1824, a 
 proposition was made by the American envoys at 
 London and St. Petersburg, for a joint Convention to 
 settle the claims of the three Powers — Russia, Great 
 Britain, and the United States — to territory West of 
 the Rocky Mountains ; but the proposition was de- 
 clined by Great Britain and Russia ; each preferring 
 to negociate with us and each other separately. In 
 1824 another attempt at negotiation upon this subject 
 was made at London, by Mr. Rush in behalf of the 
 United States, and Messrs. Huskisson and Stratford 
 Canning on the part of Great Britain, which failed. 
 There is reason to believe that this failure may be 
 ascribed in part to the dissatisfaction manifested in 
 Europe at the extraordinary declaration made by Presi- 
 dent Monroe, in his annual message to Congress in 
 December 1823, " that henceforth the American Con- 
 tinents are not to be considered as subjects for coloni- 
 zation by any European Power" — a declaration, per- 
 haps, at that time, savoring more of patriotism than of 
 wisdom. Near the close of 1826 negociations were 
 again commenced at London between Mr. Gallatin, 
 on the part of the United States, and Messrs. Hus- 
 kisson and Addington on the part of Great Britain, 
 which continued till August 1827, without effecting a 
 settlement of the question, but resulted in an agree- 
 ment to continue the 3d Article of the Convention of 
 1818 for an indefinite time; either party, however, 
 being at Hberty to abrogate and annul it by giving 
 twelve months notice to the other party at any time 
 after 20th October 1828, when the Convention of 
 
16 
 
 1818 would expire by its own limitation. And this is 
 the present state of the question. 
 
 In all these negotiations our Commissioners have 
 uniformly proposed the parallel of 49° to the shores of 
 the Pacific Ocean, as the boundary between the terri- 
 tories of Great Britain and the United States, West of 
 the Rocky Mountains. The British Commissioners 
 offered to take this boundary across these mountains, 
 and West of them until it intersected the upper branch 
 of the Columbia, thence to continue the boundary line 
 along the middle of this branch to the main stream, 
 and down that to the Pacific Ocean ; the United States 
 to possess all South and East and Great Britain all 
 North and West of it, — the navigation of the river to 
 remain open and free to both parties. The American 
 Commissioners declined yielding to Great Britain any 
 territory South of 49°, but Mr. Gallatin, in 1 826, pro- 
 posed " that if the said line (the parallel of 49°) should 
 cross any of the branches of the Columbia at points 
 from which they are navigable by boats to the main 
 stream, the navigation of such branches, and of the 
 main stream, should be perpetually free and common 
 to the people of both nations." This proposition was 
 rejected by the British ; but they expressed their will- 
 ingness to yield to the United States the whole terri- 
 tory lying North of the Columbia as far as the Straits 
 of Juan de Fuca, and East from the Pacific to Admi- 
 ralty Inlet. The British, however, have uniformly 
 insisted upon the joint occupancy and free navigation 
 of the Columbia, from its mouth to the point of inter- 
 section of the forty-ninth degree of latitude ; and upon 
 this point the negotiation has hitherto failed. It will 
 
17 
 
 1 
 
 be perceived, that throughout these negotiations, we 
 have claimed the exclusive possession South of 49°, 
 — offering to Great Britain, conditionally, the right to 
 navigate a part of the Columbia w^ithin that limit. 
 Great Britain on the contrary disclaims any preten- 
 sions to exclusive sovereignty over any portion of the 
 territory between 49° and 42°, but insists upon a 
 right of joint occupancy and of making settlements in 
 any part of it not already occupied ; a right admitted 
 by Spain in the Convention of 1790, and at present 
 secured to her by the 3d Article of the Convention of 
 1818, and one which she has already exercised to a 
 considerable extent. A part of these claims she has 
 been wilHng to relinquish, and we have insisted upon 
 her relinquishing the whole ; and thus the matter 
 stands. 
 
 The grounds of our claim are thus summed up by 
 Mr. Greenhow, from whose very able Memoir, pre- 
 pared for the use of Congress in 1840, I have taken 
 some facts : — " the first discovery and entrance into 
 the Columbia, by Captain Gray, in 1792 — the first 
 exploration from its source to its mouth by Lewis and 
 Clark in 1 805 — the first settlement upon any portion 
 of its borders made by Mr. Astor's party at Astoria in 
 1811 — the unconditional restoration of this post, 
 which was captured by Great Britain during the war, 
 and restored under the 1st Article of the Treaty of 
 Ghent, thereby virtually recognizing the territorial 
 right of the United States — the acquisition by the 
 United States, under the Florida treaty, in 1819, of 
 all the titles of Spain, which titles were derived from 
 the discovery and exploration of the regions in ques- 
 2* 
 
18 
 
 tion, by Spanish navigators, before they had been seen 
 by the people of any other civihzed nation — and, 
 lastly, upon the ground of contiguity — we already 
 possessing the territory up to its Eastern boundary." 
 
 Great Britain resists our claims, and maintains her 
 own, by denying the discovery of the mouth of the 
 Columbia to Captain Gray in 1792, and claiming it 
 for one of her own navigators, Mr. Mears, in 1788, 
 four years before the alledged discovery of Gray.* 
 She asserts, too, that some of her subjects, then in the 
 service of the British Northwest Company, explored a 
 part of this river, and formed establishments upon its 
 borders, about the same time that similar acts were done 
 by citizens of the United States. She insists that the 
 restoration of " Astoria," even if made without reser- 
 vation, which is denied, amounts only to an admission 
 of our co-ordinate right to make, and retain, settle- 
 ments within the limits of the disputed territory ; a 
 right which she has never questioned. She admits 
 
 * Heceta, a Spanish navigator, sailing along the coast in 1775, discov- 
 ered, about the parallel of 46*^, a bluff head-land, or promontory, to 
 which he gave the name of Cape St. Roc, or Roque, and immediately 
 South of it an opening, which he conjectured to be the entrance of a 
 River, and called it the " River St. Roc." It is, to say the least, extra- 
 ordinary that any one should claim the discovery of the "Columbia," or 
 any other River in its neighborhood, for Mears, after reading his own 
 journal of his Voyage, published in London in 1791. From this journal 
 it appears that Mears coasted along the shore, from Lat. 48'' to Lat. 45®, 
 in the hope of finding the opening seen by Heceta. In Lat. 46", IC he 
 discovered the Cape, and south of it the supposed entrance to a River, 
 and after a careful examination decided that " no such River as that of 
 St. Roc exists, as laid down in the Spanish charts." He called the 
 " supposed opening" " Deception Bay," and the head-land, " Cape Dis- 
 appointment," a name that it bears to the present day, and one that 
 clearly indicates the result of Mears's attempts at discovery. 
 
19 
 
 that the 3d Article of the " Florida Treaty" vests in 
 the United States all the rights which belonged to 
 Spain at the time this treaty was made, but maintains 
 theit equal participation in all these rights had been 
 secured to Great Britain by the 3d Article of the 
 Convention of 1790, commonly called the " Nootka 
 Convention." The Government of the United States 
 aver that the stipulations in this 3d Article were abro- 
 gated by the declaration of war by Spain against 
 Great Britain in 1796. The British deny that such 
 was the effect of the war, but assert, that, even if it 
 were so, the treaty of peace between Spain and Great 
 Britain in 1814 virtually renewed or revived those 
 stipulations, and insist that they are now in full force. 
 In course of the negociation in 1826, Messrs. Huskis- 
 son and Addington presented the following summary 
 of the pretensions of Great Britain. — " Great Bri- 
 tain claims no exclusive sovereignty over any portion 
 of the territory on the Pacific between the 42d and 
 the 49th parallels of latitude ; her present claim, not 
 in respect to any part, but to the whole, is limited to a 
 right of joint occupancy in common with other States, 
 leaving the right of exclusive dominion in abeyance ; 
 and her pretensions tend to the mere maintenance of 
 her own rights, in resistance to the exclusive character 
 of the pretensions of the United States." 
 
 " The rights of Great Britain are recorded and de- 
 fined in the Convention of 1790 ; they embrace the 
 right to navigate the waters of those countries, to 
 settle in and over any part of them, and to trade with 
 the inhabitants and occupiers of the same. These 
 rights have been peaceably exercised ever since the 
 

 20 
 
 date of that Convention ; that is, for a period of nearly 
 forty years. Under that Convention valuable British 
 interests have grown up in those countries. It is ad- 
 mitted that the United States possess the same rights, 
 although they have been exercised by them only in a 
 single instance, and have not, since the year 1813, 
 been exercised at all ; but beyond those rights, they 
 possess none." 
 
 " In the interior of the territory in question, the 
 subjects of Great Britain have had, for many years, 
 numerous settlements and trading-posts ; several of 
 these posts are on the tributary streams of the Colum- 
 bia ; several upon the Columbia itself; some to the 
 northward and others to the southward of that river ; 
 and they navigate the Columbia as the sole channel 
 for the conveyance of their produce to the British 
 stations nearest the sea, and for the shipment of it 
 from thence to Great Britain. It is also by the Co- 
 lumbia and its tributary streams that these posts and 
 settlements received their annual supphes from Great 
 Britain." 
 
 " To the interests and establishments which British 
 industry and enterprise have created. Great Britain 
 owes protection ; that protection will be given, both 
 as regards settlement and freedom of trade and navi- 
 gation, with every attention not to infringe the co- 
 ordinate rights of the United States ; it being the 
 desire of the British Government, so long as the joint 
 occupancy continues, to regulate its own obligations by 
 the same rules which govern the obhgations of every 
 other occupying party." 
 
 Some of the objections made by the British Com- 
 
21 
 
 missioners to our claims to the exclusive possession of 
 the whole territory cannot be easily and satisfactorily 
 answered, and some of their objections are unfounded 
 or frivolous, the mere skirmishing of diplomacy, and 
 unworthy of high-minded diplomatists ; but it must, I 
 think, be evident to any one who looks carefully and 
 impartially into the whole matter, that some of the 
 pretensions of each party are, to say the least, plausi- 
 ble ; and that according to the rules established among 
 civihzed nations in similar cases, each has some rights 
 which should be adjusted and settled by compromise 
 and mutual concession. How ought this question to 
 be settled, and how is it likely to be settled? To 
 answer these inquiries understandingly it is necessary 
 to look at the objects which the respective parties 
 probably have in view by the acquisition of territory 
 west of the Rocky Mountains. It seems to me appar- 
 ent that Great Britain wants it only as an extended 
 field of action for her great hunting and fur-trading 
 corporation, the " Hudson Bay Company." Thus 
 far, with one exception, perhaps, she has made no 
 other use of any portion of this vast region, in which 
 her movements have been unrestricted for nearly fifty 
 years ; and Messrs. Huskisson and Addington, the 
 British Commissioners, speak of the importance of 
 the free navigation of the Columbia River only with 
 reference to the establishments of the Hudson Bay 
 Company. In fact, by existing laws of Great Britain, 
 British subjects, except servants of this Company, 
 are virtually excluded from the whole territory. 
 
 Since the last negociation in 1827, it has become 
 evident that the country South of 49° is much less 
 
22 
 
 valuable for the purpose of procuring furs than it was 
 supposed to be at that time. The fur-bearing animals 
 are not so abundant as they are further North, and 
 the employment of procuring furs — unlike most other 
 pursuits — being a work of destruction rather than of 
 production, its success destroys its permanency ; and 
 this result has already, to some extent, been realised 
 by the Hudson Bay Company. The importance and 
 value of the fur business West of the Rocky Moun- 
 tains and South of 49° is greatly overrated. Mr. 
 Wyeth, a gentleman of intelligence who now resides 
 in the neighboring town of Cambridge, has, since 
 1832, led two parties, at different times, across the 
 Rocky Mountains — and resided West of them for 
 several years. His character, and his thorough 
 knowledge of the ^subject, inspire full confidence in 
 his statements ; and he is of the opinion that the nett 
 profits realized by the Hudson Bay Company, from 
 their collection of furs within the before-named hmits, 
 did not, in 1836, exceed the sum of ^10,000. And 
 it seems highly probable that the British Government, 
 wanting the country mainly for its furs, would be 
 more willing to yield the portion of it lying South of 
 49° at the present time than they were in 1827. 
 
 Our Government, on the contrary, seek the acqui- 
 sition of the region West of the Rocky Mountains as 
 an extension of the territory of the United States, to 
 be used hereafter in the same manner as any other 
 portion of our territory — for the formation of new 
 States ; and for this purpose the country South of the 
 49th parallel of latitude is most conveniently situated. 
 Being the portion best adapted to agricultural and 
 
manufacturing purposes, it might be reasonably ex- 
 pected that we should be content with this division ; 
 but I am not quite sure that our Government will so 
 readily accede to it. 
 
 The people of this country are both covetous and 
 ambitious in regard to territory. They covet and are 
 ready to grasp at all that lies upon their borders, and 
 are ambitious of extending their empire from sea to 
 sea — from the shores of the Atlantic to the borders 
 of the Pacific. 1 do not participate in this feeling, 
 and have little sympathy with those who cherish it. 
 Settlements scattered over a vast extent of territory — 
 very likely to be badly governed in time of peace, and 
 certain to present remote and exposed points to be de- 
 fended in time of war — will not, in my belief, add to 
 the power or promote the prosperity of the United 
 States. The true policy of the country is tersely and 
 forcibly expressed by that veteran statesman, Andrew 
 Jackson, in a letter to President Monroe : " Concen- 
 trate our population, confine our frontier to proper 
 limits, until our country, to those limits, is filled with 
 a dense population. It is the denseness of our popu- 
 lation that gives strength and security to our frontier." 
 
 There can be little doubt that the country in 
 question will be settled at no distant day — probably 
 by the Anglo-Saxon race — and we may find it expe- 
 dient for a time to extend over a portion of these 
 settlers our protection and our laws; but he must 
 have a greater share of credulity than has fallen to 
 my lot, who can beheve that such population, when 
 it shall have become able to govern and protect 
 itself, will submit to be governed by others, and 
 
vJ:*-5Wm^^ 
 
 24 
 
 look to the shores of the Atlantic — some two or 
 three thousand miles distant — for their laws and 
 regulations. The Rocky Mountains, and the dreary 
 deserts on either side, form a natural barrier between 
 different nations, rather than a connecting link be- 
 tween parts of the same nation ; and I care not how 
 soon they form the boundary between the United 
 States, as they noiv are, and an independent nation, 
 comprising the ivhole of what is now called the " Ter- 
 ritory of Oregon." Such were the views of Mr. 
 Jefferson, and whatever some may think of him as a 
 jwlitician, few are now disposed to deny that he was a 
 sagacious and far-sighted statesman. Writing to Mr. 
 Astor, respecting his undertaking, he says, " I consid- 
 ered as a great public acquisition the commencement 
 of a settlement on that point of the Western coast of 
 America, and looked forward with gratification to the 
 time when its descendants should have spread them- 
 selves through the whole length of that coast, covering 
 it with free and independent Americans, unconnected 
 ivith us but by the ties of blood and iriterest, and 
 enjoying hke us the rights of self-government." 
 
 I will add, as my own views, that rather than have 
 new States formed beyond the Rocky Mountains, to 
 be added to our present Union, it would be a lesser 
 evil, so far as that Union is concerned, if the unoccu- 
 pied portion of the Oregon Territory should sink into 
 Symmes's Hole, leaving the western base of those 
 Mountains and the borders of the Pacific Ocean one 
 and the same. But as this consummation — however 
 devoutly it may be wished — can hardly be expected, 
 1 deem it very desirable that the question of boundary 
 
23 
 
 should be speedily adjusted, and that the limits and 
 the rights of each party be so clearly established and 
 defined as to prevent all danger of colhsion hereafter. 
 In this opinion I doubt not that the distinguished 
 statesmen, Messrs. Packenham and Calhoun, who now 
 have charge of the negociation, will cordially concur ; 
 and it seems to me that each party will attain their 
 object, and justice be done to both, by adopting as 
 the boundary a continuation of the parallel of 49*^ 
 across the Rocky Mountains, to tide-water, say to the 
 middle of the " Gulf of Georgia ; " thence by the 
 northernmost navigable passage (not north of 49°) to 
 the Straits of Juan de Fuca, and down the middle of 
 these Straits to the Pacific Ocean ; the navigation of 
 the Gulf of Georgia and the Straits of Juan de Fuca 
 to be forever free to both parties — all the islands and 
 other territory lying South and East of this line to be- 
 long to the United States, and all North and West to 
 Great Britain. By this arrangement we should yield 
 to Great Britain the portion of Quadra and Vancouv- 
 er's Island that hes South of Latitude 49°, which, in 
 a territorial point of view, is of too little importance 
 to deserve a moment's consideration ; and both parties 
 would secure, for a considerable extent, a well-defined 
 natural boundary, about which there could hereafter 
 be no doubt or dispute. Will Great Britain accede to 
 this ? I think she will. Up to the close of the last 
 negotiation, in 1827, the free navigation of the Co- 
 lumbia was declared to be indispensable to Great 
 Britain, by the British Commissioners ; but subsequent 
 developments will probably render the British less 
 pertinacious upon this point. The " summary" pre- 
 sented by the Commissioners in 1827, shows that the 
 3 
 
 
 .-*> i tJ^ i ^i 
 
26 
 
 Columbia was then supposed to be the most conven- 
 ient — in fact the only — navigable channel of com- 
 munication between the Ocean and most of the nu- 
 merous establishments of the Hudson Bay Company, 
 West of the Rocky Mountains. Within a few years 
 past, however, several rivers, of considerable magni- 
 tude, have been explored from the interior to the 
 seas into which they empty, North of Latitude 49°. 
 These are " Frazer's River," which disembogues 
 about that parallel — the river called by Harmon the 
 " Nachaottatain," in about the Latitude 53° — " Simp- 
 son's River," a little North of Latitude 55'^ — and 
 " Stickene River," in 56^ 50\ All these would be 
 within the British territory, or are so situated that the 
 British, by their Convention with Russia, would have 
 the right of navigating them ; and they would afford 
 convenient communication with most of their estab- 
 lishments North of 49° ; and if this adjustment should 
 be made they would retain none South of that line. 
 I should be reluctant to cede to Great Britain the free 
 navigation of the Columbia, for there are serious 
 objections to giving to any nation the unlimited right 
 of using a narrow stream where it flows wholly 
 through the territories of another. For obvious rea- 
 sons, the exercise of such a right must endanger the 
 harmony and peace of the parties ; and, especially, at 
 such a remote point, would be a fruitful cause of 
 jealousy, and very likely to occasion collision. But 
 Great Britain will not relinquish the right to the free 
 navigation and use of the Straits of Juan de Fuca if 
 she retains the territory North of 49°. The use of 
 these Straits would, in fact, be indispensable to her, 
 for through them is the only convenient access to a 
 
27 
 
 
 
 considerable portion of this territory. The Strait of 
 Juan de Fuca is about three leagues wide at its 
 entrance, within which the width increases. Near its 
 head are numerous islands, and some of the finest 
 harbors in the world. "Admiralty Inlet" branches 
 off to the South, and runs towards the main stream of 
 the Columbia to the Latitude of 47°, and all these 
 islands, harbors and inlets would be within our hmits. 
 This Strait, with all its branches, being easy of access, 
 safe, and navigable at all seasons and in any weather, 
 while the mouth of the Columbia is at all times dan- 
 gerous to enter, and for a considerable part of the 
 year almost inaccessible, I cannot but think that the 
 Strait will ultimately be the great channel through 
 which will pass most of the products of the whole 
 region drained by the Columbia and its branches — 
 both that part of it which would fall to us in the pro- 
 posed division, and a considerable portion of that 
 which would fall to Great Britain, lying North of 49°. 
 Very different and conflicting representations have 
 been made by different writers in regard to the gen- 
 eral aspect of the whole territory, and its adaptation 
 to agricultural purposes : some have described it as a 
 perfect paradise, while by others it has been repre- 
 sented as wild and sterile. According to my observa- 
 tion both have exaggerated. Those who have painted 
 its beauty in glowing colors probably looked at it in 
 contrast with the dreary regions they had passed 
 through in reaching it, while others may not have 
 made sufficient allowance for the repulsive appearance 
 which a large portion of an uncultivated country, in a 
 high latitude, usually presents. A Memoir, prepared 
 by Mr. Wyeth, a few years since, at the request of 
 
 ^%T^^ 
 
 
 ¥,p. 
 
' ' >"''■■.■' ■'■'\^'^^-'---i'-li'^ 
 
 
 28 
 
 a committee of Congress, contains the clearest and 
 most impartial representation of the appearance and 
 capabilities of the country that I have met with. 
 South of the parallel of 49°, near the borders of Ad- 
 miralty Inlet and Puget's Sound, and in the valley of 
 the Wallammette, or Multnomah River, which empties 
 into the Columbia, and upon the banks of which the 
 principal settlements of emigrants from the United 
 States have been made, and in some other places, the 
 appearance of the country is attractive, the soil good, 
 and well adapted to agricultural purposes ; and so like- 
 wise is the eastern side of Queen Charlotte's Islands, 
 and some other places North of 49°. But I have 
 neither seen nor heard of lands in any part of this ter- 
 ritory that are superior to the millions upon millions 
 of uncultivated acres within the limits of the United 
 States, on this side the Rocky Mountains ; and I doubt 
 if those who are dissatisfied with the state of things 
 eastward of these mountains, will find their condition 
 much improved by emigration to the Oregon Territory. 
 They will find — as emigrants to a new and unsettled 
 country have too often found — that " 'Tis distance 
 lends enchantment to the view." 
 
 The climate, however, is altogether milder, and the 
 winter less severe than in corresponding latitudes on 
 this side the Continent, and more nearly resembles the 
 climate of Europe. As proof of its mildness I may 
 mention that I have passed seven winters between the 
 latitudes of 51° and 57°, frequently lying so near the 
 shore as to have a small cable fast to the trees upon 
 it, and only once was my ship surrounded by ice suf- 
 ficiently firm to bear the weight of a man. 
 
 1 have thus endeavored to give you the material 
 
29 
 
 facts in relation to our claim to territory West of the 
 Rocky Mountains, and to the present state of the dis- 
 pute with Great Britain in relation to it. There is 
 evidently a lamentable ignorance upon the subject, 
 both among those who call loudly for action and those 
 whose position gives them the power to act ; and it 
 seems to me that many, both in and out of Congress, 
 who are most clamorous for taking immediate pos- 
 session of the " whole Territory of Oregon," know 
 little if anything about the real merits of the question. 
 There are. at the present time, numerous establish- 
 ments of British subjects — all in the service of the 
 Hudson Bay Company — scattered from the mouth of 
 the Umqua River, in Lat. 43° 30'', northward to the 
 Russian borders. Over these, by act of Parliament 
 in 1821, Great Britain extended the laws of Canada 
 and the jurisdiction of her Courts, and authorized the 
 appointment of the necessary officers for executing 
 these laws and enforcing this jurisdiction. But this 
 was done with express reservation of all the rights 
 secured to the United States by the Convention of 
 1818, and no attempt has ever been made by British 
 authorities to interfere with American citizens in that 
 quarter. The Americans are settled in the immediate 
 vicinity of the British establishments; in fact the 
 people of both nations are in a manner mingled 
 together. The number of American settlers is on the 
 increase, by continual immigration from the States. 
 They hold the lands upon which they settle only by 
 the tenure of possession, and are governed only by 
 such laws, or regulations, as they choose to adopt. If 
 the controversy about this territory is to remain in 
 abeyance, it may be necessary for Congress to pass 
 
'^U, 
 
 m 
 
 30 
 
 laws for the government of American citizens residing 
 within it ; but how such laws are to be executed cannot 
 readily be perceived, and what is to be the result of 
 such an anomalous state of things f will not venture 
 to predict. No stronger proof need be adduced of 
 the ignorance, or something worse, that has prevailed 
 upon this subject in our national councils, than the 
 fact that since 1818 repeated attempts have been 
 made in Congress — bills reported and debated — for 
 estabhshing a territorial government, and extending 
 the laws and jurisdiction of the United States over the 
 wliole " Territory of Oregon." Such a measure would 
 have been a gross violation of existing treaty stipula- 
 tions, and fraught with all the consequences of a 
 hostile act against a friendly and powerful nation. 
 
 The first day of the present Session of Congress, 
 Dr. Duncan, a member from Ohio, gave notice of 
 his intention to bring in a bill for taking immediate 
 possession of the whole "Territory of Oregon." He 
 subsequently introduced a bill for this purpose, which 
 was referred to the Committee upon the Territories, 
 and by them amended and reported to the House, 
 where it was ordered to be printed. This bill pro- 
 vides for taking possession of the whole region West 
 of the Rocky Mountains, from Lat. 42° to 54° 40^ 
 and extending over it our laws and jurisdiction. Can 
 any man in his sober senses believe that Great Britain 
 will stand tamely by and see such a measure carried 
 out? She has repeatedly claimed and maintained 
 rights in this territory before the whole civilized world 
 — she has enjoyed these rights, and exercised undis- 
 turbed authority within the disputed limits, nearly half 
 a century. Hundreds of her subjects have settled, 
 
31 
 
 and are now living there under her laws. Is it proba- 
 ble — is it within the scope of possibilities — that a 
 nation, that more than fifty years ago expended mil- 
 lions of dollars in preparing to redress an ailed ged 
 wrong done to one of her subjects, under doubtful 
 circumstances, and to regain a single spot, said to 
 have been taken from that subject at Nootka, within 
 the territory in question — is it possible, that with her 
 pride and her power apparently undiminished, she will 
 now permit the lohole territory to be taken possession 
 of, and her subjects compelled to submit to foreign 
 authority, or be forcibly expelled from their homes, 
 without even a struggle ? There is not the shadow of 
 a doubt in my mind that such an attempt — made and 
 persisted in — would cause an immediate rupture, and 
 bring on war between the two countries as surely as 
 if we were to take possession of the island of Jamaica, 
 or the city of Montreal. There are, I doubt not, in 
 some parts of the Union, political aspirants and politi- 
 cal demagogues — men of desperate fortunes — who 
 believe that any change would, to them, be for the 
 better, and therefore desire to provoke a war with 
 Great Britain, reckless of consequences to the country 
 so long as their individual interests are promoted. But 
 I hope that the number of such is small, and trust that 
 their counsels will not be listened to. This contro- 
 versy may easily be made the pretext for a war with 
 Great Britain, if war is desired ; but I repeat that it is 
 eminently one to be settled by negociation. If this 
 cannot be done, let no other steps be taken at present. 
 The British have now a decided superiority in that 
 quarter, but emigration is constantly changing the rel- 
 ative situation of the parties in favor of the United 
 States ; and a few years hence she will be better able 
 
 
32 
 
 to support her pretensions by force than she is at the 
 present time. But it is idle to speak of force. A 
 resort to it can never be necessary. Let the able ne- 
 gociators, who now have this matter in charge, exam- 
 ine it with reference solely to its own merits, — 
 regardless of the clamors of ignorance, or the sugges- 
 tions of selfishness, — and let them discuss it with the 
 manly frankness and conciliatory spirit that guided 
 the distinguished diplomatists who settled the North- 
 eastern boundary, and it can scarcely fail to be ad- 
 justed to the satisfaction of a vast majority of the intel- 
 ligent people of both nations. 
 
 There is a third party interested in this matter, of 
 whom I have not spoken, and who have not been 
 mentioned or even alluded to in the discussions and 
 negociations that have been going on, in relation to 
 this territory, among four civilized nations, for more 
 than fifty years. The claims of this party do not 
 depend upon discovery, or exploration, or contiguity, 
 but rest upon actual, undisturbed, undisputed possess- 
 ion — by themselves and their fathers — from a period 
 to which the history of this continent does not reach. 
 But these claimants are powerless, and have neither 
 fleets nor armies to maintain their rights ; and 'tis not 
 the practice of civilized and Christian nations to listen 
 to the claims, or respect the rights, of savages and 
 heathens ! The rights of the Indians, from one 
 extremity of this continent to the other, have been dis- 
 regarded, are now disregarded, and will, 1 fear, con- 
 tinue to be disregarded until the day of retribution 
 comes, when equal justice will be meted out to the 
 Christian destroyer and his heathen victim — and that 
 will be a woful day for the white man. 
 
■, '..•.':*i,S'i:v' 
 
 
 ^rnoTtS 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 i nil I! 
 
 017 187 377