244 John H. Mitchell—Oregon 
This was a clear and unequivocal recognition of the sovereignty 
of Spain to all territory south of the sixty-first parallel. 
The contention on the part of the government of Great Britain 
that whatever rights the United States acquired in the Oregon 
territory in virtue of the treaty with Spain, known as “ the Florida 
treaty,” in 1819, subject to certain rights of Great Britain as to 
alleged joint occupancy with Spanish subjects existing in virtue 
of the *‘ Nootka treaty ” of 1790, was completely annihilated, 
first, by Secretary Calhoun in 1845, and subsequently, by Secre- 
tary Buchanan in 1845. They demonstrated two propositions : 
First, that not only had Great Britain acquired no rights of sover- 
eignty in virtue of the treaty of 1790 with Spain, but by that 
treaty the sovereignty of Spain was directly conceded ; for the only 
rights fully recognized to Great Britain in the treaty were that 
her subjects should not be disturbed in landing on the coasts in 
places already occupied for the purpose of carrying on trade 
with the natives. Second, that the treaty of 1790 was abro- 
gated by the declaration of war of Spain against Great Britain 
in 1796; that by that war it fell to the ground and was never 
resurrected, and therefore every right which Great Britain had 
in virtue of its provisions vanished. In their discussion the 
principle of public law that war terminates all subsisting treaties 
between the belligerent powers was discussed with great ability. 
It was clearly shown that the only exception to this general rule 
is in case of a treaty recognizing certain sovereign rights as be- 
longing to a nation which had previously existed, independently 
of any treaty engagement; that is, those rights which the treaty 
did not create, but merely recognized, cannot be destroyed by 
war between the governments constituting parties to the treaties. 
The treaty of peace, for instance, between this country and Great 
Britain in 1783, wherein Great Britain acknowledged that the 
United States was “free, sovereign and independent,” is of this 
exceptional character—a right recognized, but not granted by 
treaty, and hence a right which cannot be destroyed by war. 
The claim of Spain to the territory of Oregon—that is, the 
territory lying on the Pacific ocean north of the forty-second 
parallel and extending to 54° 40’—did not rest alone on dis- 
covery and settlement, but also as being embraced within and a 
part of the ancient Louisiana ceded by France to Spain in 1762 and 
by a secret arrangement re-ceded to France in 1800, then ceded 
by France to the United States in 1803 (known as ‘‘ the Louisiana 
