460 PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. [fr 



The king had reserved to himself, in Crozat's grant, the right of enlarging 

 the government of Louisiana. This was done by an ordonnance dated in 

 the year 1717, which annexed the Illinois to it; and, from that time, the 

 province extended as far as the most northern limit of the French posses- 

 sions in North America, and thereby west of Canada or New France. 

 The settlement of that northern limit still further strengthens the" 

 claim of the United States to the territory west of the Rocky Moun- 

 tains. 



The limits between the northerly possessions of Great Britain, in 

 North America, and those of France, in the same quarter, namely, Can- 

 ada and Louisiana, were determined by commissioners appointed in pur- 

 suance of the treaty of Utrecht. From the coast of Labrador to a certain 

 point north of Lake Superior, those limits were fixed according to certain 

 metes and bounds, and from that point the line of demarkation was 

 agreed to extend indefinitely due west, along the 49th parallel of north 

 latitude. It was in conformity with that arrangement that the United 

 States did claim that parallel as the northern boundary of Louisiana. It 

 has been, accordingly, thus settled, as far as the Stony Mountains, by the 

 convention of 1818, between the United States and Great Britain; and 

 no adequate reason can be given why the same boundary should not be 

 continued as far as the claims of the United States do extend ; that is to 

 say, as far as the Pacific Ocean. This argument is not weakened by the 

 fact, that the British settlements west of the Stony Mountains are solely 

 due to the extension of those previously formed on the waters emptying 

 into Hudson's Bay ; and it is from respect to a demarkation, considered as 

 binding on the parties, that the United States had consented to confine 

 their claim to the 49th parallel of latitude, namely, to a territory of the 

 same breadth as Louisiana east of the Stony Mountains, although, as 

 founded on prior discoveries, that claim would have extended much farther 

 north. 



2dly. The United States have an undoubted right to claim, by virtue 

 both of the Spanish discoveries and of their own. ""Setting aside all those 

 which are not supported by authentic evidence, some of the most impor- 

 tant were made by Spanish navigators prior to Cook's voyage. In 1774, 

 Perez, in the Spanish corvette Santiago, discovered Nootka Sound, in 

 latitude 49° 30', and sailed to the 55t.h degree, discovering Lougara 

 Island and Perez (now called Dixon's) Entrance, north of Queen Char- 

 lotte Island. In 1775, Quadra, in the Spanish schooner Felicidad, of 

 which Maurelle was pilot, discovered various ports between the 55th 

 and 58th degrees, and explored the coast from 42° to 54°, landino- at 

 several places, imposing names to some, and not beinor, at any time, 

 hardly more than ten leagues from the shore. 



In other Spanish voyages of a subsequent date, those of Arteaga and 

 Quadra in 1779, and of Martinez and Haro in 1786, various other parts 

 of the north-west coast were explored, as far north as the 60th degree of 

 north latitude. 



The Straits of Fuca were discovered, or again found, in 1787, by Cap- 

 tain Barclay, of the Imperial Eagle, a vessel fitted out at Ostend. The 

 entrance was, in 17S8, again visited by the English Captains Meares and 

 Duncan. In the same year, Captain Gray, of the American sloop Wash- 

 ington, (who arrived at Nootka in September, coming from the south, 

 where he had landed,) penetrated fifty miles up the straits. They were 



