Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 19.djvu/215

 FEDERAL RELATIONS OF OREGON 203 and the 42d, which forms the Northern Boundary of the Spanish Territory, as acknowledged by the United States. Within that space is Nootka; and we may be allowed to ask, under what pretence the American Government can expect that Great Britain should, in their favour, surrender Her Claim to a part of the Coast, from which, when Spain attempted to exclude her, in 1790, she main- tained Her Right in opposition to that Power,. . ^. and maintained it successfully. Within the same space is situated the Mouth of the Columbia, or Oregon River, the only Navigable Communication, hitherto ascertained to exist, with the Interior of that part of the Country. The entrance of this River was surveyed by British Officers, at the expense of the British Nation, many years before any Agent of the American Government had visited its Shores, and Trading Ports of the Hudson's Bay Com- pany are now, and have been for some time, stationed upon its Waters." Canning was unwilling to admit that the American title could rest upon a combination of (1) American claims, (2) Spanish claims, and (3) claims arising from the possession of Louisiana, as put forth by the Minister from the United States. The Spanish title was overshadowed by that of the English, for Drake had been upon those coasts before any Spaniard; a government exploring expedition under Vancouver was the ground of a much stronger claim than any based upon a chance discoverey of a private citizen (Captain Gray) ; and the single settlement of Astoria, which had been sold to the North- west Company, and formally restored by "a liberal construction of the First Article of the Treaty of Ghent," could weigh little against the extensive establishments of British merchants. On the basis of these considerations Canning outlined the British counter-proposals : "You are therefore authorized, in conformity with the Principles already laid down, to propose that the Boundary Line shall be carried due West across the Rocky Moun- tains, along the 49th Parallel of Latitude, until it strikes the main North-East Branch of the Columbia, designated in the Maps as M'Gillivray's River, and thence down along the Middle of the said River, through the whole of