H.] PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 453 



" In obedience to the command of H. R. H. the prince regent, 

 signified in a despatch from the right honorable the Earl Bathurst, 

 addressed to the partners or agents of the North- West Company, bearing 

 date the 27th of January, ISIS, and in obedience to a subsequent order, 

 dated the 26th July, from W. H. Sheriff, Esq., captain of H. M. ship 

 Andromache, We, the undersigned, do, in conformity to the first article 

 of the treaty of Ghent, restore to the government of the United States, 

 through its agent, J. P. Prevost, Esq., the settlement of Fort George, 

 on the Columbia River. 



" Given under our hands, in triplicate, at Fort George, (Columbia 

 River,) this 6th day of October, 1818. 



" F. Hickey, Captain H. M. ship Blossom. 



" J. Keith, of the N. W. Co." 



The following is the despatch from Earl Bathurst to the partners of 

 the North-West Company, referred to in the above act of cession : — 



" Downing Street, 27th January, 1818. 



" Intelligence having been received that the United States sloop of 

 war Ontario has been sent by the American government to establish a 

 settlement on the Columbia River, which was held by that state, on 

 the breaking out of the last war, I am to acquaint you, that it is the 

 prince regent's pleasure (without, however, admitting the right of that 

 government to the possession in question) that, in pursuance of the first 

 article of the treaty of Ghent, due facility should be given to the reoccu- 

 pation of the said settlement by the officers of the United States; and I am 

 to desire that you would contribute as much as lies in your power to 

 the execution of his royal highness's commands. 



" I have, &c. &c, 



" Bathurst. 

 " To the Partners or Agents of the North-West Company, 

 residing on the Columbia River." 



The above documents put the case of the restoration of Fort Astoria 

 in too clear a light to require further observation. 



The case, then, of Great Britain, in respect to the country west of the 

 Rocky Mountains, is shortly this : — 



Admitting that the United States have acquired all the rights which 

 Spain possessed, up to the treaty of Florida, either in virtue of discovery, 

 or, as is pretended, in right of Louisiana, Great Britain maintains that the 

 nature and extent of those rights, as well as of the rights of Great Britain, 

 are fixed and defined by the convention of Nootka ; that these rights are 

 equal for both parties; and that, in succeeding to the rights of Spain, 

 under that convention, the United States must also have succeeded to the 

 obligations which it imposed. 



Admitting, further, the discovery of Mr. Gray, to the extent already 

 stated, Great Britain, taking the whole line of the coast in question, with 

 its straits, harbors, and bays, has stronger claims, on the ground of prior 

 discovery, attended with acts of occupancy and settlement, than the 

 United States. 



Whether, therefore, the United States rest their claims upon the title 



