The protest of Gen. Almonte, Mex. minister at Washington, of March 6, 1845, See a communication of the envoy of France at Mexico to the President of As to the events preceding the outbreak of the Mexican war, see Int. Arbitra- 5. OREGON. § 104. In 1792 Capt. Robert Gray, of the American ship Columbia, entered and explored the River of the West, which he named, from his ship, the Columbia River. On January 18, 1803, President Jefferson sent a confidential message to Congress recommending that an appropriation be made for western exploration, and in the following summer Lewis and Clark set out on their memorable expedition, in which, after having traversed the country west of the Mississippi, they entered the main branch of the Columbia and descended the river to its mouth. In 1811 John Jacob Astor, an American merchant, formed at Astoria a fur-trading settlement. This settlement was occupied by the British during the war of 1812, but at the conclusion of peace was restored to the United States, in conformity with the requirements of the treaty. In addition to these acts of discovery and occupation the United States, by the treaty of February 22, 1819, acquired from Spain all her rights to territory on the Pacific north of the 42d parallel of north latitude. On this foundation the United States based its claim to Oregon, a claim which was disputed by Great Britain. The territory in dispute was bounded, according to the claim of the United States, by the 42d parallel of north latitude on the south, by the line of 54° 40′ on the north, and by the Rocky or Stony Mountains on the east. It embraced, roughly speaking, an area of 600,000 square miles. By the treaty of June 15, 1846, the dispute between the United States and Great Britain was terminated by a nearly equal division of the territory. By the first article of this treaty the boundary was continued westward along the 49th parallel of north latitude "to the middle of the channel which separates the continent from Vancouver's Island; and thence southerly through the middle of the said channel, and of Fuca's Straits, to the Pacific Ocean: Provided, however, that the navigation of the whole of the said channel and straits, south of the 49th parallel of north latitude, remain free and open to both parties." For a full history of the dispute and its settlement, and of the grounds of fact and of law involved therein, see Moore, Int. Arbitrations, I. chaps. vii. and viii. See, also, Wheaton, Int. Law, Dana's ed. 250; Twiss, The Oregon Territory. As to San Juan Island, see H. Ex. Doc. 77, 36 Cong. 1 sess.; S. Ex. Doc. 10, 36 Cong. 1 sess.; S. Ex. Doc. 29, 40 Cong. 2 sess. 6. CALIFORNIA AND NEW MEXICO. § 105. After the annexation of Texas to the United States, the boundary between the United States and Mexico, as defined in the treaty between the United States and Spain of 1819, was further changed by the treaty of peace concluded at Guadalupe Hidalgo, February 2, 1848, under which California and New Mexico, which had been occupied by the American forces during the war, passed to the United States, the latter paying to Mexico $15,000,000, and in addition assuming the payment of claims of citizens of the United States against Mexico to an amount not exceeding $3,250,000. By Art. V. of the treaty, the new line was defined as follows: "The boundary line between the two Republics shall commence in the Gulf of Mexico, three leagues from land, opposite the mouth of the Rio Grande, otherwise called Rio Bravo del Norte, or opposite the mouth of its deepest branch, if it should have more than one branch emptying directly into the sea; from thence up the middle of that river, following the deepest channel, where it has more than one, to the point where it strikes the southern boundary of New Mexico; thence, westwardly, along the whole southern boundary of New Mexico (which runs north of the town called Paso) to its western termination; thence, northward, along the western line of New Mexico, until it intersects the first branch of the river Gila; (or if it should not intersect any branch of that river, then to the point on the said line nearest to such branch, and thence in a direct line to the same;) thence down the middle of the said branch and of the said river, until it empties into the Rio Colorado; thence across the Rio Colorado, following the division line between Upper and Lower California, to the Pacific Ocean. "The southern and western limits of New Mexico, mentioned in this article, are those laid down in the map entitled 'Map of the United Mexican States, as organized and defined by various acts of the Congress of said Republic, and constructed according to the best authorities. Revised edition. Published at New York, in 1847, by J. Disturnell;' of which map a copy is added to this treaty, bearing the signatures and seals of the undersigned Plenipotentiaries. And, in order to preclude all difficulty in tracing upon the ground the limit separating Upper from Lower California, it is agreed that the said limit shall consist of a straight line drawn from the middle of the Rio Gila, where it unites with the Colorado, to a point on the coast of the Pacific Ocean, distant one marine league due south of the southernmost point of the port of San Diego, according to the plan of said port made in the year 1782 by Don Juan Pantoja, second sailing-master of the Spanish fleet, and published at Madrid in the year 1802, in the atlas to the voyage of the schooners Sutil and Mexicana; of which plan a copy is hereunto added, signed and sealed by the respective Plenipotentiaries." May 13, 1846, "Congress declared in the preamble of the act providing for the prosecution of the war with Mexico that by the act of the Republic of Mexico a state of war exists between that Government and the United States," and on the same day President Polk made proclamation of that fact." While hostilities were going on Nicholas P. Trist, Chief Clerk of the Department of State, was dispatched to Mexico, and opened negotiations for peace. He was instructed to demand the cession of New Mexico and California in satisfaction of claims against Mexico... The proposals were rejected by Mexico, and the commissioner was recalled on the 6th of October, 1847. He remained, however, in Mexico, notwithstanding the instructions to return, and he succeeded in concluding the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo on the 2d of February, 1848. This was communicated to the Senate on the 23d of February. Sundry amendments were made by the Senate and accepted by Mexico, and the ratifications were exchanged on the 30th of May, 1848. On the 6th of July, 1848, the President communicated the treaty to Congress, with a message asking legislation to carry it into effect." (S. Ex. Doc. 60, 30 Cong. 1 sess.) . Davis, Notes, Treaty Volume (1776–1887), 1355–1356. The learned author See, as to the claims against Mexico and their settlement, Moore, Int. Arbitra- No treaty or convention is found granting the use of Pichilinque Island and Bay to the United States as a coaling station. The privilege of such use seems originally to have been granted by Governor Pedrima, of Lower California, in a communication to Mr. Elmer, United States consul at La Paz, Dec. 3, 1866. Jan. 21, 1868, Governor Galvan, of the same province, wrote to Mr. Elmer: "Coal may continue to be deposited at Pichilinque for the exclusive use of your war vessels until the Supreme Government may otherwise dispose." Dec. 27, 1867, the Mexican Secretary of State informed Mr. Plumb, United States chargé d'affaires in Mexico, that the General Government, assuming the unauthorized grant of the governor of Lower California, had issued orders forbidding the collection of duties upon the coal already deposited and directing that coal intended for vessels of war of the United States be allowed at any chosen point in the port of La Paz, or the adjacent port of Pichilinque, without paying duty of any kind. (Mr. Olney, Sec. of State, to Sec. of Navy, Oct. 18, 1895, 205 MS. Dom. Let. 392, inclosing copy of a dispatch from Mr. Elmer to Mr. Seward, Dec. 16, 1866.) 7. THE MESILLA VALLEY. § 106. By the convention concluded at Mexico Dec. 30, 1853, by James Gadsden, on the part of the United States, and the secretary of foreign relations and two scientific commissioners, on the part of Mexico, the latter power, in consideration of the sum of 10,000,000 dollars, released the United States from any liability on account of certain stipulations of the treaty of 1848, touching the incursions of savage tribes, and made a further cession of territory; and it was agreed (Art. I.) that the boundary should be as follows: "The Mexican Republic agrees to designate the following as her true limits with the United States for the future: Retaining the same dividing line between the two Californias as already defined and established, according to the 5th article of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the limits between the two republics shall be as follows: Beginning in the Gulf of Mexico, three leagues from land, opposite the mouth of the Rio Grande, as provided in the fifth article of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo; thence, as defined in the said article, up the middle of that river to the point where the parallel of 31° 47′ north latitude crosses the same; thence due west one hundred miles; thence south to the parallel of 31° 20′ north latitude; thence along the said parallel of 31° 20' to the 111th meridian of longitude west of Greenwich; thence in a straight line to a point on the Colorado River twenty English miles below the junction of the Gila and Colorado rivers; thence up the middle of the said river Colorado until it intersects the present line between the United States and Mexico. "In consequence, the stipulation in the 5th article of the treaty of Guadalupe upon the boundary line therein described is no longer of any force, wherein it may conflict with that here established, the said line being considered annulled and abolished wherever it may not coincide with the present, and in the same manner remaining in full force where in accordance with the same." By conventions of July 29, 1882, February 18, 1889, and August 24, 1894, provision was made for the relocation, by an International Boundary Commission, of the line under the treaties of 1848 and 1853, in places where the monuments of prior surveys had been destroyed or displaced. By another series of conventions, provision has been made for the examination and decision, by an International Boundary Commission, of all questions growing out of changes, either from natural or from artificial causes, in the channels of the Rio Grande and Rio Colorado, where they form the boundary. The conventions in question were concluded November 12, 1884; March 1, 1889; October 1, 1895; November 6, 1896; October 29, 1897; December 2, 1898. "One of the causes [of the conclusion of the treaty of Dec. 30, 1853], it is evident to the umpire, was the complaints constantly made by the Mexican Government to that of the United States, from an early date after the conclusion of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo till near the end of 1853, that the stipulations of the 11th article of that treaty [relat ing to the prevention of Indian incursions] had not been fulfilled by the latter Government and that it consequently owed indemnity both to the Mexican Government and to citizens of Mexico, on account of the damages incurred through this failure. The correspondence between the two Governments was of an irritating nature and seemed likely to excite angry feelings on both sides. It was therefore the interest, as it was the desire, of both Governments to put an end to this state of their relations, and the umpire can not doubt that this was one of the causes of disagreement which were referred to in the preamble of the treaty of 1853, and which the two nations desired to remove. "By the unratified treaty of 1853, as negotiated by Mr. Gadsden in Mexico, that Republic ceded to the United States a certain portion of territory and agreed that the 11th article of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo should be annulled, and that the United States should be exonerated from all claims by Mexico or Mexican citizens, whether on account of the alleged failure to fulfill the obligations of the 11th article of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo or on other accounts, which might have arisen since the date of that treaty. In consideration of these stipulations the United States agreed to pay fifteen millions of dollars and further agreed to assume all claims of United States citizens against Mexico and to pay them to the extent of five millions. "But the Senate of the United States altered the terms of this treaty, and the amendments proposed by that body were accepted by Mexico. By the amended treaty Mexico ceded a smaller portion of territory, released the United States from all liability on account of |