32*2 long's expedition to the rocky mountains. [18] 9. 



nations from the sovereignty of the regions traversed by the Co- 

 lumbia, in which her subjects had made no discoveries, and which 

 had been first occupied by the United States, unless upon the 

 ground of conquest during war; and this ground became untenable 

 after the treaty of Ghent, as distinctly acknowledged by the British 

 government in the fact of the restoration of Astoria. 



Thus, whilst the title to the countries north of the 42d parallel 

 of latitude, derived by the United States from Spain, through the 

 Florida treaty, was undoubtedly imperfect, — though not from any 

 possible effect of the Nootka convention, as insisted by the British 

 government in 1826, — yet that title, in addition to those previously 

 possessed by the Americans, in virtue of their discoveries and set- 

 tlements in the Columbia countries, appears to constitute a right in 

 their favor, stronger than could be alleged by any other nation, if 

 not amounting to an absolute right of sovereignty. 



Immediately after the signature of the Florida treaty, an expedi- 

 tion for the purpose of examining the country drained by the Mis- 

 souri and its branches was organized by Mr. Calhoun, then secre- 

 tary of war of the United States, who had been, for some time pre- 

 vious, assiduously endeavoring to regulate the intercourse with the 

 Indians,* and to extend the military posts of the United States 

 through those regions. The party, comprising a large number of 

 officers and men of science, passed the summer of 1819 in exam- 

 ining the Lower Missouri, and the following winter in cantonment 

 at Council Bluffs, on the west side of that river, eight hundred and 

 fifty miles above its junction with the Mississippi. In June of the 

 following year they proceeded up the valley of the Platte, to the 

 confluence of its north and south branches or forks, and then 

 continued along the south fork, to its sources in the Rocky Moun- 

 tains, near the 40th degree of latitude. Here Dr. James, the bota- 

 nist of the expedition, ascended a mountain, named after him James's 

 Peak, the height of which was estimated, though on data by no 



* See Mr. Calhoun's report on this subject to the House of Representatives, dated 

 December 5th, 1818, in which he reviews the system of intercourse with the Indians 

 then pursued, and recommends, as the only means of protecting them against the cu- 

 pidity of the traders, and of securing the United States against the deleterious influ- 

 ence exercised over those people by the British trading companies, that the whole 

 trade in the regions beyond the organized states and territories of the Union should 

 be vested, for twenty years, in a company, subject to such regulations as might be 

 prescribed by law. This document merits attention, from the accuracy of the details 

 and the force of the reasoning ; and we may now regret that the plan proposed by 

 Mr. Calhoun was not carried into effect. 



