348 CLAIMS OF THE UNITED STATES. [1826. 



every point touched by either of the parties has been already ex- 

 amined minutely in the foregoing pages, it only remains now to 

 recapitulate them, and to add some remarks, which could not 

 have been conveniently introduced at an earlier period. 



Mr. Gallatin claimed for the United States the possession of the 

 territory west of the Rocky Mountains, between the 42d and the 

 49th parallels of latitude, on the grounds of — 



The acquisition by the United States of the titles of France 

 through the Louisiana treaty, and the titles of Spain through the 

 Florida treaty ; 



The discovery of the mouth of the Columbia, the first explora- 

 tion of the countries through which that river flows, and the estab- 

 lishment of the first posts and settlements in those countries by 

 American citizens ; 



The virtual recognition of the title of the United States, by the 

 British government, in the restitution, agreeably to the first article 

 of the treaty of Ghent, of the post near the mouth of the Columbia, 

 which had been taken during the war ; 



And, lastly, upon the ground of contiguity, which should give the 

 United States a stronger right to those territories than could be 

 advanced by any other power — a doctrine always maintained by 

 Great Britain, from the period of her earliest attempts at coloniza- 

 tion in America, as clearly proved by her charters, in which the 

 whole breadth of the continent, between certain parallels of lati- 

 tude, was granted to colonies established only at points on the 

 borders of the Atlantic* 



Messrs. Huskisson and Addington, on the other hand, declared 

 that Great Britain claims no exclusive sovereignty over any portion 

 of the territory on the Pacific between the 42d and the 49th paral- 

 lels of latitude ; her present claim, not in respect to any part, but 

 to the whole, being limited to a right of joint occupancy, in com- 

 mon with other states, leaving the right of exclusive dominion in 

 abeyance. They then proceeded to examine the grounds of the 

 claims of the United States, none of which they admitted to be 



* "If," says Mr. Gallatin, "some trading factories on the shores of Hudson's Bay- 

 have heen considered by Great Britain as giving an exclusive right of occupancy as 

 far as the Rocky Mountains ; if the infant settlements on the more southern Atlantic 

 shores justified a claim thence to the South Seas, and which was actually enforced to 

 the Mississippi, — that of the millions already within reach of those seas cannot con- 

 sistently be rejected." This argument, it may be added, has been since constantly 

 increasing in foree. 



