Carolina Watchman

              fyi-ii — two doixaks per annum in advance i inserted at 1 per square for the first i its for ea h subsequent insertion court or i percent higher tion ol 1'ti per cent will be made to those i from the philadelphia ledger pecoonents accompanying the i'resi i rent's message — the oregon h'egots i the washington union publishes the i pondence with the state depart i with the british minister upon the i question the first letter is from i jfr k to mr webster dated nov 15th i jg42 including an extract of a dispatch i from lord aberdeen in which the wishes i < inmcnt of great britain in re i lo a negotiation tire fully set forth i r webster's answer is dated nov 25 i ich he states he is directed to say i dent concurred entirely in b pi dieney of making the question re i g the < iregon territory of immedi-h tention and negotiation between the i next letters are from mr paken-h ■ nvoy extraordinary to mr upshur.h etary of state informing himh idy to confer with him withh » to ulterior negotiation and mr.h ir's answer appointing a time feb-h h nexl letter is dated july 22d 18-ll.h mr pakenham to mr calhoun in-h ex him of the steps taken in the in i tion which the sudden death of mr.h ur had interfered with and repeat injr^b ■ e desire to proceed lo the ronsideration^b the question to which mr calhoun^b nt a reply aug 22 appointing next ckivh for the conference which was accepted.^b confen nee adjourned to meet mon-^b the 2gth to hear proposals from thch stive governments at the third con-h •■ the american plenitentiary mr.h calhoun presented a written statement otfl ews of the claims of the u states,^b mid declined to accept the british minis-h ter's proposal this letter and the an-h rarer of mr pakenham present ihe argu-^b ments advanced by the two governmentsj^b ning their respective claims mr.h mi declines the proposal of the brit-h ai minister on the ground that it wouldh ■ fleet of restricting the posses-h iotis of ihe united states to limits iaifl circumscribed than their claims entitle them to it proposed toh beir northern boundary by a line i from the rocky mountains alon th parallel of latitude to the nortli nmost branch of the columbia river^b icnce down the middle of that riven^b giving to great britain alrh iiuntry north and to the u slates all b t thai line except a detached ter i lending on the pacific and the i offuca from bui finch's harbor to i i to which it is proposed i . to make free t the u states b porl whieh the united states govern i sire either on the mainland h . rs island south of latitude h this parallel assigns to great i i ahnosl the entire region on it s i side drained by the columbia river i northern hank i mr ('. then brings forward our claim to i of territory drained by ihe co h t river which we possess in our own fl er right and those we derived from h france and spain captain gray a eiti-h f the united states passed the bar i columbia river and anchored lenh tbove its mouth on the 1 lib of may.h i gave its present name thish faun of discovery and entrance is oppos-h ttili ged discoveries of mearesh and vancouver the former live yearsh fore captain ( ray's discovery exploredh of the coast through which thch gambia flows but left a record in hish i journal that he did not discover thel nvpr,andin consequence of the failure called the promonotory king north of thch diet where be expected to discover it .' disappointment and the inlet itselh vancouver in april u'.i2h the same coast ; but it is no les i he failed to discover the rive .. his own journal furnishes th st conclusive evidence he was sub • informed of gray's discovers centered the river on the 20th of oi of the priority of our dis : the head branches of the colum va river and its exploration is eijually con lewis and clarke in the expe ftion in the summer of 1805 reached the d wati rsof the columbia and descen y to the mouth of the river and winter ipe disappointment mr cal ls this important expedition which ■.. the knowledge of the world ' river — the greatest by far on inside of this continent — with branches and the vast re rh which it flows above the 1 which gray and vancouverhad it took place many years be - visited and explored by any great britain or of any other nation so far as we are inform arly entitles us to the claim ';• of discovery as to its head s and the exploration of the river n through which it passes as to : captain gray and the span - ibceta entitled us to pri rence to its moulh and the r:u-ce into its channel '. of settlement is equally cer dishments were formed by ame izens on the columbia as early as vl in the latter year a com j u:ls formed in new york at the which was john jacob astor a i • y merchant of that city the object the oarolim vfrchman bruner k james ) n ,. on • . r " keep a check cpon all your editors 4 proprietors i ,. sife < new series rl'lers do this am liberty gen'l harrison \ number 37 of volume ii salisbury n c january 9 1846 .. of which was to form a regular chain of establishments on the columbia river and the contiguous coasts of the pacific for commercial purposes early in the spring of 1811 they made their first establish ment on the south side of the river a few miles above point george where they visited in july following by mr thomp son a surveyor and astronomer of the northwest company and his party they had been sent out by that company to forestal the american company in occu pying the mouth of the river but found themselves defeated in their object the american company formed two other es tablishments higher up the river — one at the confluence of the okenegan with the north branch of the columbia about six hundred miles above its mouth ; and the other on the spokan a stream falling into the north branch some fifty miles above these posts fell into the poss?ssion of great britain during the war declared the next year but were restored by the treaty of client which placed our possession where it was before it passed into the hands of british subjects to these claims are added the claims of france and spain 1 the former we obtained by the treaty of louisiana ratified in 1803 and the latter by the treaty of florida ratified in 181j by the former we acquired all the rights which france had to louisiana to tin extent it now has imo.'j in the hands of spain and that it had when france pos sessed it and such as it should be after the treatise subsequently entered into hi spain and other states — by the hitter his cath olic majesty ' ceded to the united states all his rights claims and intensions to the country lying west of the rocky moun tains and north of a line drawn on the 42d parallel of latitude from a point on the south brink of the arkansas in that parallel to ihe south sea ; that is to the whole region claimed by spain west of those mountains and north ol that line the cession of louisiana gave us un disputed title west of tin mississippi ex tending to the summit of the rocky moun tains and stretching south between the river and those mountains to the posses sions of spain the line between which and ours was afterwards determined by the treaty of florida he then proceeds to make an elaborate argument on the title which continuity gives and brings forward the contest be tween great britain and france which was terminated by the treaty of 17g3 as having arisen on ihe side of great brit ain on this very right of continuity from her colonies now the united states ex tending westward to the pacific the re sult of this contest he says forecloses great britain ' against contesting the prin ciple particularly against us the treaty of 1753 between england and france after the war ' fixed irrevo cably the mississippi river as the per manent boundary between the possessions of england and france and extinguished in favor of france whatever claim great britain may have had to the region lying west of the mississippi it of course could not affect the rights of spain — the only other nation which had any pretence of claim west of that ri ver ; but it prevented the right of continu ity previously claimed by great britain from extending beyond it and transferred il to france the treaty of louisiana re stored and vested in the united states all the claims acquired by france and sur rendered by great britain under the pro visions of that treaty to the country west ol the mississippi and among others the one in question certain it is that france had the same right of continuity in virtue of her possession of louisiana and the extinguishment of the right of england i by the treaty ol 17g3 to the whole coun try west of the rocky mountains and ly ing west of louisiana as against spain which england had to the country west ward of the alleghany mountains as a gainst france — with this difference that spain had nothing to oppose the claim of france at the time but ihe right of dis covery ; and even that bngland has since denied while france had opposed to the right of england in her case that of dis covery exploration and settlement it is therefore not at all surprising that france should claim the country west of the rocky mountains as may be inferred from her maps on the same principle that great britain had claimed and dispossess ed her cf the regions west of the allegha ny : or that the i states as soon as they had acquired the rights of france should assert the same claim and take measures immediately after to explore it with a view to occupation and settlement but since then we have strengthened our title by adding to our own proper claims and those of france the claims also of spain by the treaty of florida as has been sta ted the claims which we have acquired from her between the rocky moun tains and the pacific rest on her priority of discovery numerous voyages of dis covery commencing with that of maldo nado in 1528 and ending with that under galiano and valdes in 1792 were under taken by her authority along the north western coast of north america that they discovered and explored not only the entire coast of what is now called the or egon territory but still further north is a fact too well established to be controvert ed at this day the voyages which they performed will accordingly be passed over at present without being particularly al luded to with the exception of the ilece ta his discovery of the mouth of the co lumbia river has been already referred to it was made on the 15th of august 1775 — many years anterior to the voyages of meares and vancouver and was prior to cook's who did not reach the northwes tern coast until 1778 the claims it gave to spain of priority of discovery were transferred to us with all others belong ; ing to her by the treaty of florida which added to the discoveries of captain gray places our right to the discovery of the mouth and entrance into the inlet and ri ver beyond all controversy it has been objected that we claim un der various and conflicting titles which mutually destroy each other such might indeed be the fact while they were held by different parties : but since we have right fully acquired both those of spain and france and concentrated the whole in our hands they mutually blend with each other and form one strong and connected chain of title against the opposing claims of all others including great britain lie next refers to what has occurred since the treaty of ghent between the u states and g britain in reference to the territory during the negotiation of the trea|y"of ghent in 1818 the united states were admitted by lord castlercagh as entitled to be considered as the party in possession ; and the convention which stipulated that the territory should be free and open for the term of ten years from the date of its signature to the vessels citizens and subjects of the two countries without prejudice to any claim which ei ther party may have to any part of the same preserved and perpetuated all our claims to the territory including the ac knowledged right to be considered the party in possession as perfectly during the period of its continuance as they were the day the convention was signed after an abortive attempt to adjust the claims of the two parties to the territory in 1824 another negotiation was com menced in 182g — which terminated in re newing on the gth of august 1827 the third article of the convention in 1818 prior to its expiration it provided for the indefinite extension of all the provisions of the third article of that convention ; and also lhat either party might terminate it tit any time it might think fit by giving one year's notice after the 20th of octo ber 1828 it took however the precau tion of providing expressly that " nothing contained in this convention or in the third article of the convention of the 20th october 1818 hereby continued in force shall be construed to impair or in any manner affect the claims which either ol the contracting parties may have to anv part of the country westward of the ston or rock mountains that conventior is now in force and has continued to be so since the expiration of that of 1818 — by the joint operation of the two our right to be considered the party in possession i and till the claims we had to the territory while in possession are preserved in as , full vigor as they were at the date of its restoration in 181s without being affect ed or impaired by the settlements since made by the subjects of great britain time indeed so far from impairing our claims has greatly strengthened them since that period ; for since then the trea ' ty of florida transferred to us all the rights claims and pretensions of spain to the whole territory as has been stated in consequence of this our claims to the por tion drained by the columbia river — the point now the subject of consideration — hliave been much strengthened by giving hus tht incontestable claim to the discove hry of the mouth of the river by ileceta — hliut it is not in this particular only that it has hoperated in our favor our well-founded hclaim grounded on continuity has greatly hstrengthcned during the same period by ithe rapid advance of our population to ; hwards the territory — its great increase es hpeeially in the valley of the mississippi — has well as the greatly increased facility of hpassing to the territory by more accessi hhlc routes and the far stronger and rapid llv swelling tide of population that has re ticently commenced flowing into it h next follows mr pakenham's reply to ithe above dated 12th september 1814 i after briefly stating the grounds on hwhit-h mr calhoun declines his offer mr ii observes that he has not been able to any evidence that louisiana ex westward to the bacitic but has reasons to suppose the acknowledg hcd boundary was the rocky mountains hand quotes president jefferson as having hentertained that belief if however lou hisiana did extend westward over the hllocky mountains france transferred that hclaim to spain in 17g2 and it became sub to the provisions of the treaty of 1790 great britain and spain which the claim of spain to exclusive over the unoccupied parts of the continent i he says as to continuity " it may more be considered as demonstrating the greater degree of interest which the u states possess by reason of contiguity in acquiring territory in that direction than affecting in any way the question of right he acknowledges that spain conveyed by the treaty of 1819 all the rights she had the power to dispose ot north of 42 degrees : " but she could not by that trans action invalidate the rights which she had by a previous transaction acknowledged to belong to another power and the trea ty of 1790 " acknowledged in great brit ain certain rights with respect to the claims urged for ileceta and gray to the discovery of the columbia both vesting in the u states be it remembered he says they conflict ; but allowing them both to be vested in the united states if heceta's claim be good then great britain has a joint claim by the treaty of 1790 he then proceeds to a consideration of the british claim says the united states had no claims when they became a na tion and that those of france are worth nothing urges the commercial intercourse lof great britain with the northwest coast ithe voyages of cook the discoveries of imeares and survey of the coast and isl lands by vancouver and says that by these igreat britain has as strong a claim by idiscovery and exploration as could be im i he sets the accuracy and authenticity lof cook's and vancouver's survey of the imouth of the columbia by gray i on exploration he says that mackenzie la british subject crossed the rocky moun itaius to the pacific in 1793 and discover led the upper waters of frazier's river iwhich in process of time was traced to ithe sea near latitude 49 and this he puts las a counterpoise to lewis and clarke's idiscovery of the upper waters of the co llumbia i priority of settlement he says amounts ito a trading post in 1811 which has not bbeen occupied by the americans since its bsurrender after the war b in counterpoise to 1 he declaration of blord castlereagh to mr rush he puts bthat nobleman's despatch to the british bminister at washington at the time of giv bing up astoria claiming the whole terri btory b he says that the state of the question is bthat the piirties are in joint occupancy band great britain can only be divested of ihcr right to that joint occupancy by an lequivalent partition of the whole between ithe two powers i he says great britain in adhering to ithe line of the columbia " is not influenc mcd by motives of ambition with respect to lextent of boundar but by considerations lof utility not to say necessity which can inot be lost sight of c i he concludes by requesting a proposi tion from the american plenipotentiary hand also a statement of the claims which hthe united states may have to other por htions of the territory as alluded to in mr hcalhoun's statement h on the 20th september 1841 mr cal hhoun rejoins to this counter statement by mr pakenham i the statement of mr p has not weak lened hisconiidence in the american claim illc docs not understand mr p to deny lhat the spanish navigators were the ifirst to discover and explore the entire icoasts of the oregon territory or the iclaims of ileceta and gray to the dis icovery of the columbia on the other lhand he understands him as admitting ithese claims but that spain divested her hself of her exclusive rights resulting from them by the treaty of 1790 but hav ling thus pm aside the claims of spain by ithis assumption the counterstatement op hposes the claim of the united states by hhose founded on the voyage of cook and hmenres c h it will not be expected that he will un hdertake to repel what he regards as a hmere assumption unsustained by any rea hson in his opinion there is nothing in hthe nootka sound convention to warrant ithe assumption on this assumption the statement rests its objection to the hwell founded american claims without hit there would not be left a plausible ob to them i as to mckenzie's discovery of frazier's it is an inferior stream and cannot hailed the discovery of the columbia i it is not denied that we had the first hsettlement ; that it was restored or that iwe had a right to be considered in posses bimi while treating of the title he an hswers mr p most forcihly on this point has also on our title from fiance and de the superstructure he had raised hon mr jefferson's letter explodes what he about continuity and contiguity and that the right of continuity west aid is one claimed and enforced by great hb itain herself mr calhoun cannot assent to the con state of the question stated lin the counter statement ' he claims and thinks he has shown a clear title on the hpart of the united states to the whole ter drained by the columbia with the hriirhl of being reinstated and considered hthe party in possession while treating of ithe title in which character he must in hsist upon being considered in conformity hwith positive treaty stipulations he therefore consent that they shall hbe regarded during the negotiation mere ly as occupants in common with great britain nor can he while thus regard ing their rights present a counter propo sal based on the supposition of a joint oc cupancy merely until the question of ti tle to the territory is fully diseussed it is in his opinion only after a discussion which shall present the titles of the par ties respectively to the territory that their claims to it can be fully and frankly ad justed the united states desire only what they deem themselves justly enti tled to and are unwilling to take less — with their present opinion of their title the british plenipotentiary must see that the proposal which he made at the second conference and which he more fully sets forth in his counter statement falls far short of what they believe themselves jusf lly entitled to in reply to the request for la statement of the claims to other parts lof the territory mr c states in general iterms that they are derived from spain iby the florida treaty and gives us a right ito the extent to which they can be estab lished unless a better can he proposed i mr fakenham tu mr calhoun i washington loth january 1815 — istates that he has sent till that has pass led heretofore to her majesty's government land that they have it under consideration ; ibut in the mean time he is instructed to ipropose arbitration leaving the choice lof the arbiter to be subsequently deter imincd upon | mr calhoun to mr pakenham i washington january 21 1845 — states ithat he has laid his proposal before the president and is instructed to inform him i he cannot accede to the offer waiving bail other reasons for declining it it is suf llicient to state that he continues to enter itain the hope that the question may be isettled by ihe negotiation now pending be itween the two countries ; and that he is lof the opinion it would be unadvisable to lentertain a proposal to resort to any otb ler mode so long as there is a hope of ar iriving at a satisfactory settlement by ne igotiation ; and especially to one which imight rather retard than expedite its ri inal adjustment m mr buchanan to mr pakenham i washington july 12 1815 the sec bretary of state resumes the negotiation band proceeds in reply to mr pakenham b note of september 11 to answer his re bquest for a proposition from the unitei bstates government and also for a state bment of title he commences with the i title first and rests it upon the cessior blrom spain contending ' that at the date bof this cession spain had a good title as bagainst great b ritain to the whole oregon bterritory and if this be estab hed tin iquestion is then established in favor of the lunited states i he proceeds first to ascertain the mean ling of the nootka sound convention anc imaintains that it conferred no rights upot igreat britain but to trade with the in idians was transient in its nature and die inot interfere with the sovereignty ofsn hover the territory and above all hwas annulled by the war bet wet i , < ■• • hbritain and spain in 1798 and has ni ei hsince been renewed and consequently hthat the claim of great britain to an hport ion of the territory is destitue of foun hdation mr buchanan proceeds to e hforce these positions with great ability anc hat great length h having established these positions he istates the positions which he considers mr icalhoun has proved of our right to the iwhole of the territory drained by the co llumbia and maintains that the treaties lof joint occupancy specialy exempt this ititle from being impaired by them or any isubsequent action of great britain our lown title is older than that acquired iby the florida treaty and admitting the lapplication of the nootka convention las now sought to be enforced by great ibritain it cannot affect our title to this iterritory the grounds are maintained land enforced with great ability and at length i he then says that the president enter itaining these views of our title would not hhavc consented to yield any portion of the horegon territory had he not been embar hrassed if not committed by the action of ins predecessors in office and with a view ito manifest to the world that he is actua iteil by a spirit of moderation be offers the hl9th parallel to the ocean without any hport on vancouver's island south at iparaliel h mr pakenham to mr buchanan — hwashington july 29 1815 in this com hmunication which is of considerable length hmr pakenham combats most strenuously hthe position of mr buchanan particu hlariy that claiming the american title to hthe valley of the columbia to be older hthan the treaty of lslo inasmuch as in hanother part mr b bad said that the ti htle of spain so far north as 61st degree hhad never seriously been questioned by hany european nation ; and if this were hthe case the americans could not acquire hany title to that to which the spanish ti htle was perfect ; while if the spanish ti htle were not perfect and the american ititle bv discoverv is good against that title hthen he claims that there were earlier hbritish discoveries h he also brings forward the american boiler to divide the territory previous to the htreaty with spain in 1819 and he main itains that the united states can found nc claim on discovery exploration and set tlement prior to the florida treaty with out admitting the principles of the noot ka convention and the consequent validi ty of the parallel claims of great britain founded on like acts he maintains that he has shown that the nootka convention has continued in force until the present time and also that if lhat convention had never existed the claims of great britain are at hast as rood as those of the united states he states the various dis coveries s:e the amount of which appears to be lhat british navigators and travel lers discovered vancouver's island and leaser's river : and american columbia river he maintains however the brit ish claim to the whole and declines ihe offer made by mr buchanan some-what contemptuously by the way mr buchanan lo mr taienhmm washington aug 30 is 15 mr.b.pro ceeds to reply at great length to m r pa kenbam's statement and quotes the decla ration of messrs huskisson and adding ton on the 10 h december lt-20 that great britain claims no exclusive sover eignty over any portion of that territory mr b makes a long and elaborate argu ment in reply to mr 1 restates most for cibly the american title and enforces it to the whole of oregon and concludes by withdrawing the proposition he had made giving mr p however one ortwosevere raps in relation to his despatch and the fact that he ha rejectedthe offer without submitting it to his government such is a very brief abstract of the cor respondence respecting the oregon terri tory during the negotiation which has been terminated the statement of the contents of the three last documents is however compressed in a very small space and hardly docs justice to the arguments but the length to which this abstract would have been extended had any attempt been made to give it more in detail precluded the idea suspension bridges the rochester american gives tin results of an examination made l»y mi charles ellett a philadelphia engineer of the localities near niagara falls where it i proposed to erect a suspension bridge over the i i t-r mr ellet lias constructed several bridges upon this prin ciple in europe and one at fairiiiotitit and his estimates arc thought therefore to be entitled to credit the american says : — •' there is a point about a mile and a half below the cataract and near the whirlpool where the distance from one high hank to tho other does not exceed tan feet the o-t of a hanging bridge at that point of sufficient strength to sustain the weight of a railroad train or any other burthen which may be placed upon it and made in the best and securest manner is estimated by mr ellet at 8200,000 he offers to construct such bridge foi that sum and to subscribe 20,000 to its stock this if ever it be constructed will he a magnificent work it is thought to c peculiar ly important in connection with the proposed railroad from rochester via lockporl lo tin falls the distance being 80 miles and the esti mated expense 1,000,000 as the nature and efficiency of suspension bridges are not generally known in this coun try ihe following extract of a letter from eu rope in the newark advertiser concerning those at berne will not hi without interest : the suspension bridges of berne ar rank ed am ing the wondi rs of the world ti>r their remarkable length and height one was open ed in 1834 which was 905 fee long 17 1 feet high and 28 feet broad and cost 8125 000 — as serious doubts existed as to it solidity and strength notwithstanding the vastness of ha supports extraordinary means were used to lest its powers first fifteen pieces of artillery drawn by fifty horses with 300 hundred men accompanying them were marched across ; then thev were crowded as compactly as possi ble on various portions of it the ends and centre sustained the enormous pressure without any important change though a depression oc curred in < ue case of 39 inches in the centre within a very short time another bridge has been built not so long as the first hut much higher being 705 feet in length and 285 led above tin ground the impossibility of con structing any ether species t architecture lo span the river aar whose lofty bluffs rise on i both ides has caused ihe erection of this work which is at once an object ol cariosity and an ornament to the city the eye beholds the stream and rod th houses and people below and while the brain grows dizzy with tie dis lance tl'ars are excited on observing thai the whole stupendous mass i suspended on four apparently frail cables of iron wire — courier clj enquirer tin businessofa christian nation du rin'j oia hundrt d and tin nty si ei n years — great britain has pent 65 y ars in war and 62 in peace she borrowedin seven wars which occupied the 65 years 634 000.000 in the same time she raised by taxis 1,189,000,000 thus forming a to tal expenditure of 88,982,120,000 in our currency this enormous sum extorted from the taut strained mews of labor would have constructed fifteen railroads around the globe allowing 825,000 per mile ! to raise another such sum would require a tax ol 10 on every human be ing on the globe the interest of this sum for one month at five per cent ex ceeds the whole amount contributed by the whole christian world for preaching the gospel to the heathen for the last thou sand years 1 a whig judge elected by a dcmorratic le gislatvre the tallahassee papers state that the ibn samuel w carmack a whig has i been elected by the legislature of florida i judge of the superior court for the southern i circuit of that state the judge ays the i charleston new is spoken of as a sound law iyer and a man of sterling integrity and it is on i ly such men who adorn and dignity the bench jtiiis is one among the very rare instances oc curring in which the majesty of truth and prin i ciple triumphs over parly intolerance and tho i legislature of florida have evinced their wis idom and patriotism in having kept the ermine i of justice unpolluted by its baneful influences