The Oregon Territory, Its History and Discovery

The Oregon Territory, Its History and Discovery

The object which the author had in view, in instituting the accompanying inquiry into the historical facts and the negotiations connected with the Oregon Territory, was to contribute, as far as his individual services might avail, to the peaceful solution of the question at issue between the United States of America and Great Britain. He could not resist the conviction, on reading several able treatises on the subject, that the case of the United States had been overstated by her writers and negotiators; and the perusal of Mr. Greenhows Official Memoir, and subsequent History of Oregon and California, confirmed him in this impression, as they sought to establish more than was consistent with the acknowledged difficulty of a question, which has now been the subject of four fruitless negotiations. He determined, in consequence of this conviction, to investigate carefully the records of ancient discoveries and other matters of history connected with the North-west coast of America, concerning which much contradictory statement is to be met with in writers of acknowledged reputation. The result is, the present work, which has unavoidably assumed a much larger bulk than was anticipated by[Pg vi] the author when he commenced the inquiry: it is hoped, however, that the arrangement of the chapters will enable the reader to select, without difficulty, those portions of the subject which he may deem to be most deserving of his attention. The expeditions of Drake and of Gali have thus necessarily come under consideration; and the views of the author will be found to differ, in respect to both these navigators, from those advanced by Mr. Greenhow, more especially in respect to Drake. Had the author noticed at an earlier period Mr. Greenhows remark in the Preface to the second edition of his History, that he has never deviated from the rule of not citing authorities at second-hand, he would have thought it right to apologise for attributing the incorrectness of Mr. Greenhows statements as to the respective accounts of Drakes expedition, to his having been misled by the authority of the article Drake, in the Biographie Universelle. He would even now apologise, were not any other supposition under the circumstances less respectful to Mr. Greenhow himself. In regard to Juan de Fuca, if the author could have supposed that in the course of the last negotiations at Washington, Mr. Buchanan would have pronounced that De Fucas Voyage no longer admits of reasonable doubt, he would have entered into a more careful analysis of Michael Locks tale, to show that it is utterly irreconcileable with ascertained facts. As it is, however, the author trusts that enough has been said in the chapter on the Pretended Discoveries of the North-west Coast, to convince the reader that both the[Pg vii] stories of Juan de Fuca and Maldonado[1], to the latter of whom, Mr. Calhoun, at an earlier stage of the same negotiations, refers by name as the pioneer of Spanish enterprise, are to be ranked with Admiral Fontes account, in the class of Mythical discoveries. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 38942
Author: Twiss, Travers
Release Date: Feb 21, 2012
Format: eBook
Language: English