450 PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. [H. 



part of the coast in question, including the bay of the Columbia, {into 

 which the log expressly states that Meares entered,) is minutely laid down, 

 its delineation tallying, in almost every particular, with Vancouver's sub- 

 sequent survey, and with the description found in all the best maps of 

 that part of the world, adopted at this moment; thirdly, the account in 

 question actually contains an engraving, dated in August, 1790, of the 

 entrance of De Fuca's Straits, executed after a design taken in June, 

 1788, by Meares himself. 



With these physical evidences of authenticity, it is as needless to 

 contend for, as it is impossible to controvert, the truth of Meares's 

 statement. 



It was only on the 17th of September, 1788, that the Washington, 

 commanded by Mr. Gray, first made her appearance at Nootka. 



If, therefore, any claim to these countries, as between Great Britain 

 and the United States, is to be deduced from priority of the discovery, the 

 above exposition of dates and facts suffices to establish that claim in favor 

 of Great Britain, on a basis too firm to be shaken. 



It must, indeed, be admitted that Mr. Gray, finding himself in the 

 bay formed by the discharge of the waters of the Columbia into the 

 Pacific, was the first to ascertain that this bay formed the outlet of a 

 great river — a discovery which had escaped Lieutenant Meares, when, 

 in 1788, four years before, he entered the same bay. 



But can it be seriously urged that this single step in the progress of 

 discovery not only wholly supersedes the prior discoveries, both of the 

 bay and the coast, by Lieutenant Meares, but equally absorbs the subse- 

 quent exploration of the river by Captain Vancouver, for near a hundred 

 miles above the point to which Mr. Gray's ship had proceeded, the formal 

 taking possession of it by that British navigator,* in the name of his 

 sovereign, and also all the other discoveries, explorations, and temporary 

 possession and occupation of the ports and harbors on the coast, as well 

 of the Pacific as within the Straits of De Fuca, up to the 49th parallel 

 of latitude? 



This pretension, however, extraordinary as it is, does not embrace 

 the whole of the claim which the United States build upon the limited 

 discovery of Mr. Gray, namely, that the bay of which Cape Disappoint- 

 ment is the northernmost headland, is, in fact, the embouchure of a 

 river. That mere ascertainment, it is asserted, confers on the United 

 States a title, in exclusive sovereignty, to the whole extent of country 

 drained by such river, and by all its tributary streams. 



In support of this very extraordinary pretension, the United States 

 allege the precedent of grants and charters accorded in former times to 

 companies and individuals, by various European sovereigns, over several 

 parts of the American continent. Amongst other instances are adduced 

 the charters granted by Elizabeth, James I., Charles II., and George II., 

 to sundry British subjects and associations, as also the grant made by 

 Louis XIV. to De Crozat over the tract of country watered by the 

 Mississippi and its tributaries. 



But can such charters be considered an acknowledged part of the 

 law of nations ? Were they any thing more, in fact, than a cession to 

 the grantee or grantees of whatever rights the grantor might suppose 



* See p. 248. 



