neither the objection of chance or private adventure can justly be made. The expedition of Messrs. Lewis and Clarke was fitted out by the government at considerable expense for the purpose of exploring the courses of the great rivers from the Mississippi to the Pacific. Three years were devoted to the undertaking, and the service was faithfully and effectually performed.

"It had been ascertained, that the Columbia, extended by the river Multnomah to as low as 42 north, and by Clarke's River to a point as high up as 51, if not beyond that point, and to this entire range of country, contiguous to the original dominion of the United States and made a part of it by the almost intermingling waters of each, the United States considered their title, as established by all the principles, that had ever been applied on this subject by the powers of Europe to settlements in the American hemisphere. A nation, discovering a country, by entering the mouth of its principal river at the sea coast, must, necessarily, be allowed to claim and hold as great an extent of the interior country, as was described by the course of such principal river and its tributary streams; and that the claim to this extent became doubly strong, where, as in the present instance, the same river had, also, been discovered and explored, from its very mountain springs to the sea,"

Then, in the third place, the United States possess the full advantage of a right, resting in actual possession and settlement; a sort of sovereignty more solid and effectual, than the bottle, or bunting confers. We shall conclude this brief exposition of facts with the remark, that whatever latitude north Drake, the English navigator, in the 17th century, might have reached, this ground of claim is certainly impeached by the stipulation of the treaty of 1763, by which England agreed to make the Mississippi her western

the American government in the years 1804, 5 and 6, by Capt. Lewis and Clarke. London 1815-3d vol. 800. The principal discoveries of these intelligent and entertaining travellers, as to the course of rivers, have been incorporated in Mellish's 1819 map of the United States,

boundary. And Cook in the last century did not see the Columbia, nor any part of the coast near it.*

* An account of the American settlement of Astoria.

"I beg leave, briefly, to state, that, contemplating to make an establishment at the mouth of Columbia river, which should serve as a place of depot and give further facilities for conducting a trade across this continent to that river, and from thence on a range of northwest coast, &c. and to Canton in China, and from thence to the United States, arrangements were, accordingly, made in 1810 for a party of men to cross the continent for the Columbia River. At the same time, I fitted the ship Tonquin, carrying twenty guns and sixty men, commanded by the late captain Thorn, lieutenant of the United States navy. This ship sailed in September 1810, having on board the means of making an establishment at Columbia, where she arrived on the 22d March 1811. They landed, found the natives friendly, and built a fort, erected a house, store, &c. &c. This being accomplished, captain Thorn left thirty men in possession of the place to await the party, which were to make a voyage over land; these, also, happily arrived, though not till several months after. On about the first of June captain Thorn left Columbia River with a view to make some trade on the coast, and then to return to the river, but unfortunately captain Thorn never returned. At about two hundred miles north of the Columbia he put into a bay to trade with the natives. Not attending to the precautions necessary, as he had been instructed to do, to guard against an attack, he suffered a whole tribe of Indians to come on board his ship; an attack was made, he was overpowered, fire was communicated to the magazine, the ship was blown up, and every soul on board, or near her, perished.

"In 1811 I fitted out another ship, the Beaver, carrying twenty guns, 'with a duplicate cargo of the ship Tonquin and sixty to seventy men. The captain (Sowle) was instructed to sail for Columbia River, and in search of the men, which were sent across the continent, as also the Tonquin. The Beaver sailed from this in October 1811, arrived in Columbia the May following, found the establishment, landed such men, goods, provisions, &c. as the establishment was in need of. My instructions to the captain were, that after supplying the establishment he should proceed to Chatka, a Russian settlement, for the purpose of trade, and then to return to Columbia, take what furs we had, and proceed to Cauton and from thence to New-York. He accordingly left Columbia and most unfortunately Mr. Hunt of Trenton, NewJersey, my chief agent, left the river with him, sailed as directed for

In accordance with these general grounds, the minister at the court of St. James proposed, in the spring of 1824, to the British plenipotentiaries, (Mr. Huskisson and Mr. Can

the Russian settlement, effected their object, but instead of following instructions to return to Columbia, he sailed direct for Canton, leaving Mr. Hunt at one of the Sandwich Islands to await the arrival of another ship, which I had promised to send from this in 1812. The ship Beaver arrived in Canton and received there the news of war. I had sent orders to the captain to return to Astoria, but he was fearful of being captured, and remained safely at Canton till the war was over, when he came home. In consequence of the war, I found it inconvenient to send a ship in 1812, but I did send one (the Lark) early in 1813, with directions to the captain to sail for Columbia River and to stop at the Sandwich Islands for information. Being within a few days sail of those islands, the ship, in a squall of wind was upset and finally drifted on the beach of one of those islands, a wreck, ship and cargo totally lost. Here was met Mr. Hunt, who, after all the information he received, and my great desire to protect the establishment of Columbia River, procured an American vessel, took some provisions, sailed and arrived at Columbia River. Here he learnt that Mr. McDougall had transferred all my property to the Northwest Company, who were in possesson of it, by a sale, as he called it, for the sum of about $58,000, of which he retained $14,000 for wages, said to be due to some of the men. From the price obtained for the goods, &c. and he having, himself, become interested in the purchase, and made a partner in the Northwest Company, some idea may be formed as to this man's correctness of dealing. It will be seen by the agreement, of which I transmit a copy, and the inventory, that he sold to the Northwest Company 18,170 1-4 lbs. of beaver at $2, which was, at about that time, selling in Canton at $5 and $6. 907 Otter skins at 50 cents or half a dollar, which were selling at Canton at 5 to $6 per skin.

"I estimated the whole property to be worth nearer $200,000 than $40,000, about the sum which I received by bills on Montreal. Previous to the transaction of McDougall, we had already established trading ports in the interior, and were in contact with the Northwest Company. It is now to be seen, what means have been used by them to counteract my plan. It is well known, that as soon as the Northwest Company had information of my intentions and plan for conducting my commercial operations, they despatched a party of men from the interior with a view to arrive before my people at Columbia,

ning) that the third article of the convention of 1818 should be extended for a term of ten years, embracing a stipulation on the part of Great Britain, that, during the aforesaid term, no settlements should be made by their subjects on the northwest, or islands adjoining, either south of the 51st degree, or north of the 55th, the United States entering into the same agreement on their part.

Neither the proposition of the American envoy, nor the principle, arguments, or facts, by which it was vindicated, met with the least favourable countenance from the British ministers; the one was absolutely declined, the other as fully denied. In the opinion of that government, the whole of the northwest, from the 42d degree, was still open to colonization. They neither yielded to the exclusive claim of the United States as to territory, nor were they prepared to relinquish the system of settlement, hitherto practised in all portions of the continent, not yet occupied. The validity of

*

In

These men were obliged to return, without effecting their object. the mean time representation was made to their government, as to the probable effect of my operations on their interest, and requesting to interfere in their behalf. This being in time of peace, the government did not deem it advisable so to do. Soon, however, as war was declared, these representations were renewed, aid was asked from the government, and it was granted. The Phoebe frigate and sloops of war Racoon and Porcupine were sent from England with orders to proceed to Columbia River and destroy my property. They sailed from England early in January 1813: arriving at Rio de Janeiro, admiral Dickson ordered the Phoebe frigate with one of the sloops to pursue captain Porter in the frigate Essex, and the sloop of war Racoon to the Columbia. She arrived there, took possession in the name of the king, and changed the name of the place Astoria to Fort George. Previous to this, the Northwest Company had despatched another or second party of men to the Columbia. They arrived there in the absence of Mr. Hunt. McDougall gave them support and protection, and they commenced after some time to negotiate with this gentleman."

*Charter of Louis XIV. to Crozat, "all the country drained by the waters emptying directly or indirectly into the Mississippi" is declared to be comprehended within the limits of Louisiana,

the discovery by Gray was disputed, as not including all the territory, through which the river flows, whose mouth he entered; particularly, this principle could not be made to extend to portions of the coast above and below the Columbia, both discovered and explored by expeditions under Captain Cook, prior to the voyage of Gray. Great Britain had, also, made purchases of territory of the natives, a few degrees north of the Columbia, before America existed as an independent power, and upon that river, or upon rivers flowing into it, west of the Rock Mountains, her subjects had formed settlements, at least as early as the American settlement at its mouth. And though a priority of some of the Spanish discoveries on a portion of that coast could not be denied, the pretensions of Spain to forbid colonization and commerce along the whole reach of the shores, according to the spirit of her colonial laws, had always been resisted, particularly at the negotiations concerning Nootka Sound in 1790; nor could it ever be allowed, that their pretensions to territories, north of the 42d degree, had been transferred to the United States by the treaty of 1819 with Spain. This exposition was followed by a counter proposition on the part of the British commissioners in April 1823;-that the third article of the convention of 1818 should now be at an end;— that the boundary line between the two parties, westward of the Rock Mountains, should be drawn due west along the 49th parallel of latitude, to the point where it strikes the northeasternmost branch of the Columbia, and then down the middle of the Columbia to the Pacific, the navigation of the river being, forever, free to both parties, and that the subjects and citizens of the respective countries should not be allowed to form settlements within the territories, assigned to each other. But this arrangement, not being satisfactory to the American commissioners, the matter still remains subject to negotiation. The convention of 1818 was renewed at London in the summer of 1827 by Mr. Gallatin for ten years without alteration, so that the question of boundary and limits on the west is not yet settled.

In 1793, Sir Alexander McKenzie was sent by the British