University of Virginia Library

592. ASTOR'S SETTLEMENT, Territory and.—

On the waters of the Pacific, we
can found no claim in right of Louisiana. If
we claim that country at all, it must be on
Astor's settlement near the mouth of the Columbia,
and the principle of the jus gentium of
America, that when a civilized nation takes
possession of the mouth of a river in a new
country, that possession is considered as including
all its waters.—
To John Melish. Washington ed. vii, 51.
(M. 1816)