January 25, 1821.
Read twice, and, with the bill, committed to a committee of the whole House tomorrow. The Committee to whom was referred the resolution of the 19th of December, 1820, to inquire into the situation of the settlements upon the Pacific Ocean, and the expediency of occupying the Columbia River,
REPORT:
That they have carefully examined the subject referred to them, and, from every consideration which they have been able to bestow upon it, believe, from the usage of all nations, previous and subsequent to the discovery of America, the title of the United States to a very large portion of the coast of the Pacific Ocean to be well founded; nor have they been able to ascertain that any other government than Spain has made claim to any part of it, from Cape Horn to the sixtieth degree of North latitude.
- ↑ On December 19, 1820, on motion of John Floyd, of Virginia, a committee was appointed to inquire into the situation of the settlements upon the Pacific Ocean, and the expediency of occupying the Columbia River. Mr. Floyd, Mr. Metcalfe, and Mr. Swearingen were appointed the said committee. Annals of Congress, Sixteenth Congress, second session, p. 679.
The report of that committee is given in that volume, pp. 946-959. It was the work, no doubt, mainly, if not solely, of John Floyd, and is the pioneer con-
