454 PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. [H. 



of Spain, or upon that of prior discovery, or upon both, Great Britain is 

 entitled to place her claims at least upon a parity with those of the 

 United States. 



It is a fact, admitted by the United States, that, with the exception 

 of the Columbia River, there is no river which opens far into the interior, 

 on the whole western coast of the Pacific Ocean. 



In the interior of the territory in question, the subjects of Great 

 Britain have had, for many years, numerous settlements and trading 

 posts — several of these posts on the tributary streams of the Columbia, 

 several upon the Columbia itself, some to the northward, and others to 

 the southward, of that river ; and they navigate the Columbia as the sole 

 channel for the conveyance of their produce to the British stations nearest 

 the sea, and for the shipment of it from thence to Great Britain. It is 

 also by the Columbia and its tributary streams that these posts and 

 settlements receive their annual supplies from Great Britain. 



In the whole of the territory in question, the citizens of the United 

 States have not a single settlement or trading post. They do not use 

 that river, either for the purpose of transmitting or receiving any produce 

 of their own, to or from other parts of the world. 



In this state of the relative rights of the two countries, and of the 

 relative exercise of those rights, the United States claim the exclusive 

 possession of both banks of the Columbia, and, consequently, that of the 

 river itself; offering, it is true, to concede to British subjects a conditional 

 participation in that navigation, but subject, in any case, to the exclusive 

 jurisdiction and sovereignty of the United States. 



Great Britain, on her part, offers to make the river the boundary ; 

 each country retaining the bank of the river contiguous to its own ter- 

 ritories, and the navigation of it remaining forever free, and upon a foot- 

 ing of perfect equality to both nations. 



To carry into effect this proposal, on our part, Great Britain would 

 have to give up posts and settlements south of the Columbia. On the 

 part of the United States, there could be no reciprocal withdrawing from 

 actual occupation, as there is not, and never has been, a single American 

 citizen settled north of the Columbia. 



The United States decline to accede to this proposal, even when 

 Great Britain has added to it the further offer of a most excellent harbor, 

 and an extensive tract of country on the Straits of De Fuca — a sacrifice 

 tendered in the spirit of accommodation, and for the sake of a final 

 adjustment of all differences, but which, having been made in this spirit, 

 is not to be considered as in any degree recognizing a claim on the part 

 of the United States, or as at all impairing the existing right of Great 

 Britain over the post and territory in question. 



Such being the result of the recent negotiation, it only remains for 

 Great Britain to maintain and uphold the qualified rights which she now 

 possesses over the whole of the territory in question. These rights are 

 recorded and defined in the convention of Nootka.* They embrace the 

 right to navigate the waters of those countries, the right to settle in and 

 over any part of them, and the right freely to trade with the inhabitants 

 and occupiers of the same. 



These rights have been peaceably exercised ever since the date of 



* See considerations on the Nootka convention, at p. 213. 



