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*, , : 1 11"- " - ., I, *y * V I. F. DU RIkOE, -" We will cling to the Pillars of the Temple of our LiberTie tfallwe will Perish amidst the Ruins." PUBLISHER. VOLUME XLI. .zr =. .. NE.W TERMS. Two DOLLA"s and FiTs CENTs, per annum. if paid in advance --$3 if not paid within six ;ionths from the date of unbsctiptinn. and $4 if not paid before the expiration of the year. All subscriptions will be continned, unless otherwise ordered before the expira tion of the vear ; but no paper will be did continued until all arrearages are paid, un Rless at the option of the Publisher. 1ny person procuring five responsible Subscri be rs, 'hall receive the paper for one yeatn, gratis. .ADvERTsBIrS'TS ronoicuoaelyinserted at70 'cents per. sqaare. (12 lines, or less.) for the first insertion. and 37j for each nontinuance. 'Thoee published monthly or quarterly, will be chartes $1 er square. Advertisements not having the number of insertions marked on them, will be continued uutil ordered out .and charged accordingly. Cmannucanons. past paid. will be prompt ly and strictly attended to. SPEECH OF MR. McDUFFIE. M . MN:Duffite addressed the Senate, and spoke as follows :-Before I pro ceed to the subject of tie proposed no tice to Great Ba itain in its various mod, ifications, I feel it to be my duty in the peculiar circumstances of this case, to do what, in ordinary circumstances Ishould not be disposed to do-hatt is, to enter into a thorough and dispassionate inves tigation "f the respective titles of the United States and Guea. Britain to the territory of Omegon, and in doing this, to state, from my c<.nscie nc'-, a hat I believe to be the truth, the wol:: truth, and nothing but the truth. The honor able senator from Arka sas, [Mr: Ash. ley,] who favored the Senate with his remarks yesterday, seemed to consider that the discussion of the title of the United States, so far as it might compare 1 with the extent of the claim set upt was not proper; and yet that hunotable sen- I ator, and va iou< other sentors, have t thoroughly and futlv discu.,sed ti-e title of .the United States to its extreme lim- 1 its. Now, Mr. Presidemt, in the exist- I ing state of this negotiation-under the cours" which has been pursued by the I President of the Uuited States, in sub. I sninting the whole of tihe docdanients to t Cingtess,-t is has become a popular < -questin. It is vain to disguise m ; and 1. fear we have more to--pp-ehani, in I .adjusting this great question,. Iron dibi, e culties whics may be itterpbted by our. I selves, than those which may be inter- t posed by Great Britain. It. is my. sin- t -cereecogvict.on that tie public mind of this couttry is laboring under- a delusion t as to the title of the United States; and t .1 believe that the assuinmId unanimity of the people of this country in favor of the title of the Uutedjiates to the par- t allel of 540 40' is fourded entirely up. -on the fact that the discussion has been i altogether confined, or almost altoge'ther I confined, to thost: who have maint.ained I the title of the United States. I believe I no senator on this side of the chamber has pi.-tended to utter a word against the claim of the United. States to 540 t 40' Senators to be sure have indicamed a willingness to adjust this question upon he prineiples of cotapomise on the bom.dary of 490 north; but they seem to suopose tliat, although they might go that far in the way of adjusament, yet that it is not exactly patriotic to din ty thre title beyond that patalleI. Nw, I am clearly of opmnion thai thme title of I the United States and great Buizain should be adjusted on that parallel, I concur entirely with, the Sen Stur from| Massachusetts, (Mr. Webster,) that it| is the increasing opinion 01 both coon tries that thaat is thme true point of cott piomuise., and that the questiona can never be compromised upon any other basis. Tile public mnind is, [ think, made up to that ; and wiale I shall attempt to show tha: this is the extent of the probambility of adjusting the quc-ion, -1 shall also atItmpt to show that the respective titles of. the Iwo countries bring us vxatctly to that as the prnper point of adijus~mena. The bonrorable Senator from Arkanasas (Mr. Aley) dealt very largely--as our Secretary 9f State has likewide done--in discussing 'Ihis question, upon the Nootka Sound Cor~vawtion; and I most con less 1 have never been able to perceive, on any prinmciple,-whetheor as it regards the claims of Great Britain or those of the United Stattes, how so moch importance can be attached to that convetion in -the question now peeding. I agree pdr fectly witha those wheormaitainm thrat the war -of- 1796, between: Gr-Eat Britain and Spain, terrminatedt that Convention, so:far ,as -any' tightse to Great -Britinm wete derived in: it'andsflo~m it.< It is perfectly: clear .thatheeconventional ;ighmts cof: commerce wiifrw he -Indians, and -tempeiay .privileges to-make-set,. tteambtts;vtotally unknownotdathe -laws of1 atinis,.dwere teihminatedhbyt the war ofr1l796.p.Weti,:ssirthere werea'rilghts ond which'ithras ftdd ightsrasd claimedbyGreat' -iaiisand rights which bMonged ~ (GedgB ri taing btrevery1' - dinnieot th30' 'nrkbr-Aaan~u 't4 tltat-conven tion, existing before it, and now existing totally independent of it. It -has been assume-d by my friends on this sile of the honse, in the wh.de course of the debate, that the N.,oka Sound Conven, tion canferred certain rights on Gjreat Britain that she did not before possess, and that she received it and entered into it with that construction. Now, my opinion is, that the sentiment expressed by Mr. Fox on that subject is the true one. Gaeat Britain delinrwately and inrentionally limited her rights. Previ ous to hat convention-as she always bebeved, and as i shall proceed to show she rightiully believedt-she had an un, questionable right to make settsements in th country precisely on the same tooting with the Spaniards. If I do not show by the law oi nations, as it :-x.sts in all the authoritik, without doubt or questi.-n, that Gr.-a Britain, and the United States. and France, and Russia had tne same right to make settlements at Nootka sound, I will abandon the question. I have to regret, Mr. Presi dent, that in the discussion QI this sub j-et all those who have participated in it have seemed to rely upon the auttior it. of their o*Ai assertions; and even where they could be sustained by a di rect appeal to the Unequivocal provis ions of the law of nations as untversully recognised, they appear to have prefer, red the annunciation of then own opin iuns. I l-ivet takers the trouble to bring n few books here for the mere purpuse: of quoting a few sentences W!tich will, I think, be perfectly conclusive on .his juestion. WVhat I asser- tthen, and what she British have- always contended for from 1790, tn all their negotiations is, hat discuvery, however ancient, gives 2i title at all, unless lollhewed by settle -eitt. Now, I appeal to myp friends ori his side of th:- hous , one and all-..ni et me temind them that we all have a ;oletmt duty to perform in endeavoring o ascet'tin the t. uth of this qnestion - ask th-:m to consuit the athorities, (if h..y have not done so, bet .1 have no i.ubt they have,) a:;d state, if they can, has there is one solitary writer on the aw of nations vho his over maintained hat, discovery without settlement and touSsession gives any title at all ? That his nay not rest merely on my asser ton allow me to read the only- extract which I shali quote, frm an author of itqus-stionabit: authority and universally -nferred. to in questions of this sort. I vill ask the secretary to .read it, as it is ont wlh-it le..gtltedled. [ ['he scr--tatrV -ead as follows from Vattel. chap. xitin:] " All mankind h,:ve an equal right to hings that 'ave not yet fallsn into he sossession of any.one; and those things ]long to the person who first takes ossession of them. Waen, therefore, i nation finds a country uninhabited, nnd without at oener, it may lawfully tike possession of it; and afiet it has ulTiciently made known its Will in this espect, it cannot be deprived of it by int se- nation. Thus, navigatoasgoing i voyages of discovery, furnished with t etntmission from their sovereign, and it: cuing with I.hands or other lands in a Jesert state, have taken possession of hem en she nanme of thteir nation ;and his tithe haas been usually respected, pro rideed i- whts soaon after followed by a etl possession. But it is q-sioned whbethier a nation an, by ttte ba're act of iaking posses. iota, tppJiopariate to itself countries vhicht it does tnot really occupy, an'i htis etngreass a mutch gteater extent nf erritory- than it is ahl. to people or cul ivate, It is not diffr-uit to) determine tar such a pretenstitn would be an b rlute infringement of the natural righis at tmen, and repugnant to the views of aire,.whtch, having destined the whiole arth to stupply the wants of mankind in general, gives no nation a right to ap propriate to stself a country, except for th purpose of making use of* it, andi not 01 hindiering others fronm deriving tdvaitage from it. The law of nations, will, therefore, - not acknowledge the property and sovereignty of a nation over any uninhabited countries, except those of whiich it has really taken actual possession, in which it has formed set tlements, or of which it inakes actual use ln effect, when navigators have met with desert countries in which those at other nations had in their transient visits, erected some monument to show their having taken possessiotn of them, Lhey. have paid as little-regard to that Bapty ceremony, as to the regulation af the- Popes, whoe divided a great part af the world betwveen the crowns of Castile and Porrugal." -You see-that t'nis writer, Vattel-one of he most authoritali;ve wtiters on the law- ofenations--sets down, as feimpty ceremnontils"' these very thinigs on whGich soi& oucoureiblic ien, and Uimongst theuro Stritayof; Stater, fuud the iFis.ofpaig,4aaid',thlough Sjin an early stage of these 'exploralions, very far south to be sure, nmade some discoveries, and set up some ionuments, and to this an appeal has been made to establish a claim in the face of art at thority which declares that they were idle ceremonies, aid give no title at all. Now let me state .to you in a very few words the. great historical fact in regard to the whole'of the Oregon territory. Several gentlemen, particularly my friend from New York in my rear, [Mr. D.x]-went through a very interesting detail of then several discoveries made by Spanish navigators on the coast. Bt it is a remarkable fact, that, al though that narrative has extended from the eat lies' period of the Spanish pos= sessions in America, there is not one that has any appiation to this subject before 1774. The distoverv of Per t in that year, and Heceta in 1775, were the first Spaneish discovecies that gare them a semblance of rigit-even if dia covery alone could confer a right-to any portion of the northw.est coast of America, except in California. Now this question is one of grave inhortance; and it is so vitally itnpot tant that the people of the United States should real ly unders.aia it, as it has become in some resp-cts, i question for their de cision, that I will not test upon my own bare assertion even as to this great hi3 tot ical fact to which I allude. I have before ue a very full :ol!ection of all the discoveries made by Sp :in on the north west cost of America-made by Mr. Greenhow, a gentleman employed in the office of Secretary of State. It is here stated broadly and unequivocally that from the first-dis-:overy of Aneris ca to the taking possession of N"aotka Sound in 1789, no civilized nation ever made any settlement, however slight, on toe northwest coast of America frnm the bay of San Francisco to Nootka Soundl; and at that period the country was open and uninhabited. This fact is so very important, stated, too, by a writer who certainly is not unfavorable to the claims of the Uaiited States, that. I oeg leave :o quote from hiin.; "r. McD. -here 1uted -QA ewket Now, I have heard it declared on this flouor, by gentlemen parolessing geat-ent for the maintenance of our rights, and no doubt entertaining conscientions con victions of their justice-that the. dis coveries of Spain were valuable on ac count of their antiquity. Hei seems to think that there is peculiar torce in the fact, that thes; discoveries were made three ceetuties ago. Now, Mr. Piesi dent, I have always understood that an cient possession constitutes title, but that ancient discovery not followed by settlement should gibe any right, is what I confess I am totally incapetbte of coin prehe'ndtg ; and I would be very happy if some senator on this side of the house would inform me on what ground such a claim can rest. It is in vain, M:. President, to disguise the fact ; and I believe that if the Spaniards wete now claiming, their ti-le would nut be regard ed as wurth anything at all by any civ i'tzud nation on the face of the globe. 'hPis is in fact, the merest figment ever biought forward, and gravely urged in any discussio~n. I Spain was now as much in possa.ssion as shte ever was, I repeat hter tilke wvould riot br' cosnsidered of'the siightest value. Hie. first ailleg- d disove'ry was that of dle FE'cai in 1592; tiut that discovery can neuver be adv..t eto as affording any geounid of title in Spain, fot Sp unish authiorities thiemselves treat the whole story ais d f'abrication, and deny that such a moan as de Ftna ever existed. Nub.>dy, thei efore, in any of thme previ.uus neg'oiations-nio minis tern of the United States attached anty cunsrquence at all to this Party discove ry. But put tin~g that out of the question, as a neete fable, as it unquestionably is, and woerthi notfhing e'ven if made, as Spain never claimed it, bw- on the coa trary deied it, the first Spanish discov ery en the n-.rthwest coa't of Amneriia wvae ine the year 1774. Bmt the Secreta% ry of State says, and says correctly, that Spain had claimed this country. fain three centuries; and he alsio says, upcn what authority 1 do not know-for I have not been able to find it--that -all the nations of Europe conceded to Spa in the right to this territory Now, if there is. any evidence in hbistory 'thft the nations of Europe acknowledged this claim, I should be happy to see .it.a The Secretary 'if State, to be sure,.rn. fers to an acknowledgment made hy the Queen of Russia. But that amounts ma nothing. The Spanisti government coml plainedl that their subjects had been-ina tmttriptad'imn their peaceable possessiones by the Russians, and'the;ueen replied that she hiad given general orders- that her subjects weie not to- interfere-witlii those of Spain ; 'and .that if the right of the-htttter had..bein ifiolitted 1she is usrey fon ir-:she-nedorinirbfdt.M lIsto ..hat i have been able t( (is.. iv ihe slightest evidente thal any" O, r Europe hating a right tL cOt tJ (aim, or any interest to do soution having no such right, had' . nowledged the title of the Spsii ' ivernment. The antiquity of these iGijries, therefore, even il made, lly destroys alliclaims founded upon To be sure, in 1774, Pe rez dise ered, very superficially, Noot ka Soai4-he made no exploration. In 1775, -fecta landed at the mouth of the Co bia -river, or rather the bay, nnd.infe? that there must be a river. These w the first Spanish discoveries; but it be r emembered that they wete' rd . blished to th:, world until 1802 ftrrwards4, Cook discovered Nootka ound and explored it ; and if this were amere.question of discovery, which it'is not, I should regard the British cshim about as good as the Span ish to No.tka Sound, for the Spaniards notoriously kept their discoveries secret; never' plished them till lung after wards; ,d before they were published cook discovered and explored Nootka Sound.. The narrative of his discovery was published, and it then became fre un ated Eby navigators of the United States and England, Spain and Russia a'so; and'it was nut until the Spanish amnlhorities tn Mexico had a rumor that the Rassians were making settlements at Nootka Sound, that they sent out an expedition,. unier %artinez, to take possession.. In 1789, Meares, an Eng% (ish captait, m-idr a settlement a+t Niot k-. Sound: H repres-en:s that he pur chased a urge tract of land, and erected buildings ; There is a controversy on this subjeht, but it is wholly immaterial whether l erected a hut, or a fort, or a palace-whether he purchased an acie or the whole bay, is, in my jude inent, entirely immaterial. What is aterial,:however, is what was done afterwards by the ;Spanish and- British overnniieits. Meares presented a me nrial to ihe Parliament of Great Bri aif, relsrtinjg that his ships had been s to avenge the in jrywlidhsie supposed had been inflict d, and-to restore the fights taken away. Ind -here I shall call the attention of the Senate distinctly to the grounds upon which.Great B.itain acted in that pro. :eding. She did ndt merely claim an indemnity fon injuries done -not mere ly a restoratidn of the ships captured ;he claimed--as all the members o" parliament who participated in the dis cussion declared that Spain should re inurco her false and ridiculous right of .xilusive dominion in that country. Sue then claimed, and las ever since laimedi that the country was open to lhe settlendent of all nations-that Spain lad no right whatever parattlount to the i:le of other nations-she never had ;ettled the country. I have been sur prised at the universal assumption of Lhnse who have discussed this question on this side df the house, in favor of the igh.-r clainn of the United States, that the Nnork-i Sound convention was un erstood and intended by thne parties as onferring cernain rights upon Great ritain who had none befor.; and if hat convent ion was terminated by tihe ar of 1796, then with it terminared alli he righis which Great Biiitain had on he northwest coast of Amenrica.. Pre, isnfy the contrary. Great Britain, romi 'he very beginning,.contendod that Spain had no exclusive right of posses ion-she contended correctly, that ac ording to the law ofrnations, discovery without settlement, gave no tido; and he lhas been sciupulous in all her nego tiations since, . to maintain, on that yound, not .only her own rights, but those of other nations. Let this matter hie understood. .Great Britain never ad any other object-sho has not noiv, I .believe, any ottier, object-than to car rv on the fur trade in. this part of the :otient. I -believe that when that trade isexhausted'she will be quite rea y to alianlon thie countrg if let alone, nii if ahythihg~ induces her to make a per manent. agricultui~l* settlement there, I bolieve it will.:be the contest with the United States..-lt hans been said in this discussion thatu thiis ,territory is iWenity thousantl miles-at least fifteen thousannd miles-disfanit from England, and that it is'50 reinote thatiit is hardly coniceivable ha itcould lbe iada.the ifoundation of acolny. 1ihold lik' to. kino~wwhat porion of nhesglobe,suafferintg advantages for-s olonisatiPun .;would be deemed so remote by Giean.Britain~i .>But:to. pr.0 ced- Sofar fromGiea. Britain sup oing thsattlie Spedisfhitd the undoubte ~~ghtsVaBignty, and tinat that y eii 'dd by the dnventoAD ppnosihe madesi thegourse cdts o Fox, although opposed to the ministry in this case:, sustained the address to the king, distinctly upon the ground, not that Eng~land should maintain nierely an indemnification for the vessels taken and the property seised, but that Spain should be made to renounce the pretended and I absurd title which she had set up. The fact is undoubtedly true, as the Secreta ry of State has declared that, in all her discoveries, Spait did not send her nav igators to acquire a title, but to ascer; tain the chatacier of the country to whith she thought she had a title under the grant of Pope Alexander VI. (Here Mr. McDuffie read an etiract fre.m the speech of ?Mr. Fox, in the House of Commons, sustainling the view just giv en.) I will not trouble the Serrate with reading the remarks made by any of the other Speakers on this octasion in the British Parliament ; but they all concur in the same view. Mr. Pitt himself de - clares expressly tho' the property of the subjects of Great 9:itain had been ses ed in a country to which she had as clear i a right as Spain, and that the pretension. 9f Spain to exclusive sovereignty were i totally unfounded. I think I have shown c that Spain had no right by virtue of her < discov.-ries; I think I have also shown I that Great Britain has denied the right e of Spain from the imonient she had any i occasion to contest it. Se fir as our r claim rests on that of Spain, I really i regard it not at all ; and believe thut a previous to the convention and during t thu discussion with Great britain-in 1818; s neither she nor the Unired State's, gave, c for one toment, the sligiitest c.nsidera.- e tion to the Spanish tlaci. For it will e be remembered, and I no* assert it, u that Spain never did nake a settlenientt on that coast. Mr. G:eenhow states a that she nevei m:de a s.ttlem.-nt until v 1789. Without going into that, I con. c tend that in any just sense of the term e she never made a settleJntnn! neter in= t ten.ded to make a settleaiet-never in- "e dicated a design to make a s.ttlement. " Well, let it be remembered that previ. t ous to 1789, or a few yeart previous, nobodyssupposedt tih estlemient of. rha iat 4ape sbismie: vi at* ier-:a sally regarded as an 'I n-lyoiind lcoast, without bay or inlet, or any place where I a vessel could obtain even temporary- t relief. Nobody had ever aiteitapted to 4 land north of a very southern latitudo Spain had never designed to make a settlement there. I have heard it said i in the course of this debate, that the sei - ,t'mnients of Gr: at B-itan wete for tra ding purposes, but inat Spain Intended I to settle it for agricultural purposes; Where is th'e evidedce that Spain intend- I ed to settle it for agricultural purposesi or f or any othet put pose? " She had I hundreds of thousands of square miles i of territory south of that country, infin itely more valuable, which to this day I she has not been able to people, and e perhaps never will. But the settlement of Nootka Sound-let me call to that the attention of the Senate, *iih a view I to the argumedt advanced yesterday by the honorable senator from Arkansas, and which has been v-ry ingeniously made use of in another quartet some time ago. Ic is contended that odd~ of :lh# clans es of the Necoika Sound convention, which refers to the captitres m .de sub scqtuent to the final ratification of the treaty, the claims which Englanud deria ed under the Nootka Sound conven tioti were north of Noocka Sou. d, be caiuse Nocotka Soeund was tho northern Spaunish settlement. Nowv a settle ment, according to thie law of nations, is that in the sense evidently used in the. convention of Nootka, and mecas a bo dy of people sctlinig dow' with-a view1 to reside ini thie country. Tf int is a set-< tlement. What was tcle charadter ol the Spanish set tlement at Nootka sond? Meares had indicated some ientioinof makingsa settle ment. He iad gond therei and built houses-as he alleges-andr another English captain who caine in there afterwyards, says he wvas directed to make a permanent settlement there. Be that as it may, what was the dlature t or the Spanish settlement Why ther~e were one or two arnmed vessels sent s there'by the Spanish authorities for thea sole and exclusive pur~pose of. driving out the~ English and Russians, or any j others whomn they might find there. They I; tookt military. possession, and i-etained that possession-how long? Why exact- lI y up to the period .when, according to ~ that ;onventtion. she gave it up to Greata Briin, distinctly ackniowledged by the,e act of surrender that she liaid no title ,o n. herself. Now, I beg the Senate for I one moment to take up the Nootka con- A venion and read it, and if-there is otde wrd or syhiable in it which irtplieagreat-< er right in. Spainitan existed in Lnngiatid' I willgaliandon tiaditi I s0 rf~congtr a ic poii 6ua it otm uI pocitsp - sect aquahity; neither shall be distUr..d in carrying on trading operations;-ithe right of sovereignty is -not, conceded either to Spain or. Great:Britain, batsis to remain in abeyance.: And yetciris assumed in. this discussion; that if t-he treaty of Nootka had been teriniast d by the war of 1796, all the . lalins 'f England have terminated. [Here a i - tence was lost.] Now, permit me to say, that we are blinding ourselves by argu ments plausible enough; we..are im posing upon ourselves and the:people.tif the United States. I believe the' Nobt ka Sound convention was terminaed'by iho war of 1796. I believe that 'it has never been revised. And i'believe-ti4 he claims of Great -Britain ate justlhat much stronger. Nooika Sound, onvenr ion, so far as it recognised the.historie -al and great leaditig fact that the court rv was open to sottlemeni by all nations, ins not bean repealeda There stands he acknowledgient of Spain' and ili urronder of Nootka Sodd=-the rende t ng up of that to the Btitish captain is 795, and the abandonment bb the Span ards. There is a clear acknowledgment in the part of Spain heiself that.the :.untry was open to settlement by Great 3ritain and all other nations .equally vith Spain. What results,' then, frotn lie termination of that-coiventiont It ilaces the two countries exactly wliere hey stood before. In 1796, Spain lied bandonn:i the country. She never. it urned. I believe even the ttading.ves - els of. Spain never teturned to that :ast after 1795, when it was abanddn-' d by her to the Btitish. We putchaBs d what c'ain she had, She c.ded to is in 1819 all her rights, dialdis end, retensions. What were theyt.Olains; ,nd pretensiii are ddthing What Ore the rightst She had aiaime *lkb ountry-.she had abaidoned it--a lotted it'f&i25'or 3(iats } w r ,anddnine6t-- indicagtit'Jbo iatetnoi "6 ' her retatito l io r dcl idg'deyf. p he i 'hjnr.hinsto angia df i'fg yaas isega~ 4~~ -Mlis idj fan. adffe Poi-r, the claims of the .nited Shis ii he t-eat with Spain as:of no- vaetae'iF Ill; add if *e det r hadsheedii6tre y Gray, and the iibs#entfl ' ion u L:-wis and Clarke, I do not oii' !hat the United States would eei'cavh. Ireanied of brettin1g up a claim tottl :ountry. I shall dwell nd longer onithii )art of the subject. I 'shall iio.prdeeeda 'o express my .>pinion with r"gard toitha' mits of the title of the two conntli" L shall say nothing about- the Freaid itle. Sotie are of opidion thar the'ili le of Ft ance extends to the' acific,; rhat may be so. I confess I have never teen able to see it. If it be so, hto*-.. er, it flies the parallel of 49 degreos is the boundary. My own dpiition r oweuer, is, that we have no title at-lb zcept front the discovery of Gray; and r think our title, if not clear and unse fuivocal, is certainly a title sufficienit" o stand upon, and even to fght tLe. I ama aware that there is sonie difchl.=. 'y to encounter in mainttaining this title. he writers on the laiv of nations 3peak: >I discoveries nmade by oflicers commis loned by the sovereign -auithoritr as' :onferring this righit, and it htas beeud :uitended, I kno*, that Gray, although a citizen of thie United Slates,' was erely the mastet of 'a tradirig vede, id could not"'comc under thitapplicai ion of the law j that, the efor'e.haisfis~ :very wazs not of so mauch value si 't had been made by a commnissionedofl icer. But even admitting that .thero-' vas force in that objection~ the subse" uent exploration- of Lewis and .Clatka's xtending' I believe up to 49 dekrees., iaces thison unequivocal groundsmas tuch as 'hat -exploration wvasfooW ) i a reailooably sho-t tie.b the seIede ent of Astoria. Now, sir,,ttmus far putE ilk-as- I proved three, years ago-is-a2 dry clear and satisfactory' -title.' i dda t say. that' it is a title 'of that charits hich-we have in the 'city of"Washitf -~ sn, to the' soil on which thii~asiifo tands, it is an triinhabited .cosntry nd'Whatever title we have of kyevn. erfectly clear, wvould st'illbe a fair'ehb act for negotiation apd resnbese r omise. Bysthat I mean thatawesosIodk ot absolutely claimnanythingsouttofthbe .'t ind, butupon certainr priuetpl~s ofa4it essionatid lib'erality;' .certtii'forhtt dvntages add iwater privilegdoiibs. - d to Great Bmtain.' And liading Jhdi. ed my clear' igno di16'inlf'2in Jnted. States undler, theadijn.e oft 3ray and "she,susequenssplerofg: mdrthe aathtority~adthe1.geiesue f- the United-States4Vlalrcds 19'trie" ras al dghthnot'to ti l o