The Oregon Question

If Fuca's voyage in 1592 could be proved to be an authentic document, this would settle at once the question in favor of the United States; but the voyage was denied in the introduction to the voyage of the Sutil and Mexicano. This was an official document, published under the auspices of the Spanish Government, and intended to vindicate Spain against the charges, that she had contributed nothing to the advancement of geography in those quarters. This negative evidence was confirmed by Humboldt, who says that no trace of such voyage can be found in the archives of Mexico. Unwilling to adduce any doubtful fact, I abstained from alluding to it in the statement of the American case in 1826. Later researches show that, although recorded evidences remain of the voyages of Gali from Macao to Acapulco in 1584, of the Santa Anna (on board of which was, as he says, Fuca himself) from Manilla to the coast of California, where she was captured in 1587 by Cavendish, and of Vizcaino in 1602-1603, and even of Maldonado's fictitious voyage in 1588, yet no trace has been found in Spain or Mexico of Fuca's, or any other similar voyage, in 1692, or thereabout.

On reading with attention the brief account published by Purchas, I will say that the voyage itself has much internal evidence of its truth, but that the inference or conclusion throws much discredit on the whole. The only known account of the voyage is that given verbally at Venice in 1596, by Fuca, a Greek pilot, to Mr. Lock, a respectable English merchant, who transmitted it to Purchas.

Fuca says that he had been sent by the Viceroy of Mexico to discover the straits of Anian and the passage thereof into the sea, which they called the North Sea, which is our Northwest Sea; that between 47 and 48 degrees of latitude he entered into a broad inlet, through which he sailed more than twenty days; and, being then come into the North Sea already, and not being sufficiently armed, he returned again to Acapulco. He offered then to Mr. Lock to go into England and serve her Majesty in a voyage for the discovery perfectly of the Northwest passage into the South Sea. If it be granted that the inlet through which he had sailed was really the same as the straits which now bear his name, that sea into which he emerged, and which he asserts to be our Northwest Sea, must have been that which is now called Queen Charlotte's Sound, north of Quadra and Vancouver's Island, in about 51 degrees of latitude. Our Northwest Sea was that which washes the shores of Newfoundland and Labrador, then universally known as far north as the vicinity of the 60th degree of latitude. Hudson's Straits had not yet been discovered, and the discovery of Davis's Straits might not be known to Fuca. But no navigator at that time, who, like he, had sailed across both the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans, could be ignorant that the northern extremity of Newfoundland, which lies nearly in the same latitude as the northern entrance of Fuca's Straits, is situated sixty or seventy degrees of longitude east of that entrance. The only way to reconcile the account with itself is, to suppose that Fuca believed that the continent of America did not, on the side of the Atlantic, extend further north than about the 60th degree, and was bounded northwardly by an open sea, which extended as far west as the northern extremity of the inlet through which he had sailed. It is true nevertheless that, between the years 1774 and 1792, there was a prevailing opinion amongst the navigators that Fuca had actually discovered an inlet leading towards the Atlantic. Prior to the year 1787 they were engaged in seeking for it, and the Spaniards had for that purpose explored in vain the sea coast lying south of the 48th degree; for it is well known that Fuca's entrance lies between the 48th and 49th, and not between the 47th and 48th degrees of latitude, as he had announced.

The modern discovery of that inlet is due to Captain Barclay, an Englishman, commanding the Imperial Eagle, a vessel owned by British merchants, but which was equipped at, and took its departure from Ostend, and which sailed under the flag of the Austrian East India Company. The British Government, which has objected to the American claim derived from Captain Gray's discovery of the mouth of the river Columbia, on the ground that he was a private individual, and that his vessel was not a public ship, cannot certainly claim anything in virtue of a discovery by a private Englishman, sailing under Austrian colors. In that case, and rejecting Fuca's voyage, neither the United States nor England can lay any claim on account of the discovery of the straits.

Subsequently, the Englishman, Meares, sailing under the Portuguese flag, penetrated, in 1768, about ten miles into the inlet, and the American, Gray, in 1789, about fifty miles. The pretended voyage of the sloop Washington throughout the straits, under the command of either Gray or Kendrick, has no other foundation than an assertion of Meares, on which no reliance can be placed.

In the year 1790 (1791 according to Vancouver) the Spaniards, Elisa and Quimper, explored the straits more than one hundred miles, discovering the Port Discovery, the entrance of Admiralty Inlet, the Deception Passage, and the Canal de Haro. In 1792 Vancouver explored and surveyed the straits throughout, together with their various bays and harbors. Even there he had been preceded in part by the Sutil and Mexicano; and he expresses his regret that they had advanced before him as far as the Canal del Rosario.

Under all the circumstances of the case, it cannot be doubted that the United States must admit that the discovery of the straits, and the various inferences which may be drawn from it, are doubtful and debatable questions.

That which relates to a presumed agreement of Commissioners appointed under the treaty of Utrecht, by which the northern boundary of Canada was, from a certain point north of Lake Superior, declared to extend westwardly along the 49th parallel of latitude, does not appear to me definitively settled. As this had been assumed many years before, as a positive fact, and had never been contradicted, I also assumed it as such and did not thoroughly investigate the subject. Yet I had before me at least one map (name of publisher not recollected), of which I have a vivid recollection, on which the dividing lines were distinctly marked and expressly designated, as being in conformity with the agreement of the Commissioners under the treaty of Utrecht. The evidence against the fact, though in some respects strong, is purely negative. The line, according to the map, extended from a certain point near the source of the river Saguenay, in a westerly direction, to another designated point on another river emptying either into the St Lawrence or James's Bay; and there were, in that way, four or five lines following each other, all tending westwardly, but with different inclinations northwardly or southwardly, and all extending, from some apparently known point on a designated river, to another similar point on another river; the rivers themselves emptying themselves, some into the river St. Lawrence and others into James's Bay or Hudson's Bay, until, from a certain point lying north of Lake Superior, the line was declared to extend along the 49th degree of latitude, as above stated. It was with that map before me that the following paragraph was inserted in the American statement of December, 1826:

"The limits between the possessions of Great Britain in North America, and those of France in the same quarter, namely, Canada and Louisiana, were determined by Commissioners appointed in pursuance 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 demarcation was agreed to extend indefinitely due west, along the forty-ninth 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."

It appears very extraordinary that any geographer or map-maker should have invented a dividing line, with such specific details, without having sufficient grounds for believing that it had been thus determined by the Commissioners under the treaty of Utrecht. It is also believed that Douglass' Summary (not at this moment within my reach) adverts to the portion of the line from the coast of Labrador to the Saguenay. Finally, the allusion to the 49th parallel, as a boundary fixed in consequence of the treaty of Utrecht, had been repeatedly made in the course of preceding negotiations, as well as in the conferences of that of the year 1826; and there is no apparent motive, if the assertion was known by the British negotiators not to be founded in fact, why they should not have at once denied it. It may be, however, that the question having ceased to be of any interest to Great Britain since the acquisition of Canada, they had not investigated the subject. It is of some importance, because, if authenticated, the discussion would be converted from questions respecting undefined claims, into one concerning the construction of a positive treaty or convention.

It is sufficiently clear that, under all the circumstances of the case, an amicable division of the territory, if at all practicable, must be founded in a great degree on expediency. This of course must be left to the wisdom of the two Governments. The only natural, equitable, and practicable line which has occurred to me, is one which, running through the middle of Fuca Straits, from its entrance to a point on the main, situated south of the mouth of Frazer's river, should leave to the United States all the shores and harbors lying south, and to Great Britain all those north of that line, including the whole of Quadra and Vancouver's Island. It would be through Fuca's Straits a nearly easterly line, along the parallel of about 48½ degrees, leaving to England the most valuable and permanent portion of the fur trade, dividing the sea-coast as nearly as possible into two equal parts, and the ports in the most equitable manner. To leave Admiralty Inlet and its Sounds to Great Britain, would give her a possession in the heart of the American portion of the territory. Whether from the point where the line would strike the main, it should be continued along the same parallel, or run along the 49th, is a matter of secondary importance.

If such division should take place, the right of the inhabitants of the country situated on the upper waters of the Columbia to the navigation of that river to its mouth, is founded on natural law; and the principle has almost been recognized as the public law of Europe. Limited to commercial purposes, it might be admitted, but on the express condition that the citizens of the United States should in the same manner, and to the same extent, have the right to navigate the river St. Lawrence.

But I must say that, whatever may be the ultimate destinies of the Oregon territory, I would feel great regret in seeing it in any way divided. An amicable division appears to me without comparison preferable to a war for that object between the two countries. In every other view of the subject it is highly exceptionable. Without adverting for the present to considerations of a higher nature, it may be sufficient here to observe, that the conversion of the northern part of the territory into a British colony would in its effects make the arrangement very unequal. The United States are forbidden by their Constitution to give a preference to the ports of one State over those of another. The ports within the portion of territory allotted to the United States would of course remain open to British vessels; whilst American vessels would be excluded from the ports of the British colony, unless occasionally admitted by special acts depending on the will of Great Britain.

NUMBER III

Beyond the naked assertion of an absolute right to the whole territory, so little in the shape of argument has been adduced, and so much warmth has been exhibited in the discussion of the subject, that it cannot be doubted that the question has now become, on both sides, one of feeling rather than of right. This, in America, grows out of the fact that, in this contest with a European nation, the contested territory is in America and not in Europe. It is identical with the premature official annunciation, that the United States could not acquiesce in the establishment of any new colony in North America by any European nation. This sentiment was already general at the time when it was first publicly declared; and now that it has been almost universally avowed, there can be no impropriety in any private citizen to say, as I now do, that I share in that feeling to its full extent. For the Americans, Oregon is or will be home: for England, it is but an outpost, which may afford means of annoyance, rather than be a source of real power. In America all have the same ultimate object in view; we differ only with respect to the means by which it may be attained.

Two circumstances have had a tendency to nourish and excite these feelings. The British fur companies, from their position, from their monopolizing character, from their natural influence upon the Indians, and from that, much greater than might have been expected, which they have constantly had upon the British Government in its negotiations with the United States, have for sixty years been a perpetual source of annoyance and collisions. The vested interests of the Hudson Bay Company are at this moment the greatest obstacle to an amicable arrangement. It is at the same time due to justice to say that, as far as is known, that company has acted in Oregon in conformity with the terms of the convention, and that its officers have uniformly treated the Americans, whether visitors or emigrants, not only courteously, but with great kindness.

If the British colonies on the continent of America were an independent country, or were they placed in their commercial relations, at least with the United States, on the same footing as the British possessions in Europe, these relations would be regulated by the reciprocal interests and wants of the parties immediately concerned. Great Britain has an undoubted right to persist in her colonial policy; but the result has been extremely vexatious, and to the United States injurious. All this is true. But feelings do not confer a right, and the indulgence of excited feelings is neither virtue nor wisdom.

The Western States have no greater apparent immediate interest in the acquisition of Oregon than the States bordering on the Atlantic. These stand in greater need of an outlet for their surplus emigrating population, and to them exclusively, will for the present, the benefit accrue of ports on the Pacific, for the protection of the numerous American ships employed in the fisheries and commerce of that ocean. It is true that in case of war the inhabitants of the Western States will not, if a naval superiority shall be obtained on the Upper Lakes, feel those immediate calamities of war to which the country along the seashore is necessarily exposed; but no section of the United States will be more deeply affected, by the impossibility of finding during the war a market for the immense surplus of its agricultural products. It must also be remembered that a direct tax has heretofore been found as productive as the aggregate of all the other internal taxes levied by the General Government; that, in case of war, it must necessarily be imposed; and that, as it must, in conformity with the Constitution, be levied in proportion to the respective population of the several States, it will be much more oppressive on those which have not yet accumulated a large amount of circulating or personal capital. The greater degree of excitement which prevails in the West is due to other and more powerful causes than a regard for self-interest.

Bordering through the whole of their northern frontier on the British possessions, the Western people have always been personally exposed to the annoyances and collisions already alluded to; and it may be that the hope of getting rid of these by the conquest of Canada has some influence upon their conduct. Independent of this, the indomitable energy of this nation has been and is nowhere displayed so forcibly as in the new States and settlements. It was necessarily directed towards the acquisition of land and the cultivation of the soil. In that respect it has performed prodigies. Three millions of cultivators of the soil are now found between the Lakes and the Ohio, where, little more than fifty years before, save only three or four half Indian French settlements, there was not a single white inhabitant. Nothing now seems impossible to those men; they have not even been sobered by fresh experience. Attempting to do at once, and without an adequate capital, that which should have been delayed five-and-twenty years, and might have then been successfully accomplished, some of those States have had the mortification to find themselves unable to pay the interest on the debt they had contracted, and obliged to try to compound with their creditors. Nevertheless, undiminished activity and locomotion are still the ruling principles: the Western people leap over time and distance; ahead they must go; it is their mission. May God speed them, and may they thus quietly take possession of the entire contested territory!

All this was as well known to the British Government as to ourselves. A public and official declaration by the President of the United States was unnecessary and at least premature. Mr. Rush's correspondence of 1824 bears witness of its unfortunate effect on the negotiations of that year. These feelings had gradually subsided. But, whatever may be the cause, the fact that an extraordinary excitement on this subject has manifested itself, and does now exist on both sides, cannot be denied. Time is absolutely necessary in order that this should subside. Any precipitate step now taken by either Government would be attended with the most fatal consequences. That which, if done some years ago, might have been harmless, would now be highly dangerous, and should at least be postponed for the present.

The first incipient step recommended by the Executive is, to give the notice that the convention of 1827 shall expire at the end of one year. This measure at this time, and connected with the avowed intention of assuming exclusive sovereignty over the whole territory, becomes a question of peace or war.

The conventions of 1818 and 1827, whilst reserving the rights of both parties, allowed the freedom of trade and navigation throughout the whole territory to remain common to both; and the citizens or subjects of both powers were permitted to occupy any part of it. The inconveniences of that temporary arrangement were well understood at the time. The British fur companies had established factories on the banks, and even south of the river Columbia, within the limits of that portion of the country which the United States had, whenever the subject was discussed, claimed as belonging exclusively to them. The conditions of the agreement were nominally reciprocal; but, though they did not give, yet they did in fact leave the British company in the exclusive possession of the fur trade. This could not be prevented otherwise than by resorting to actual force: the United States were not then either ready or disposed to run the risks of a war for that object; and it was thought more eligible, that the British traders should remain on the territory of the United States, by virtue of a compact and with their consent, than in defiance of their authority. It is but very lately that the Americans have begun to migrate to that remote country: a greater number will certainly follow; and they have under the convention a perfect right to occupy and make settlements in any part of the territory they may think proper, with the sole exception of the spots actually occupied by the British company.

What is then the object in view, in giving the notice at this time? This has been declared without reserve by the President: "At the end of the year's notice, should Congress think it proper to make provision for giving that notice, we shall have reached a period when the national rights in Oregon must either be abandoned or firmly maintained. That they cannot be abandoned without a sacrifice of both national honor and interests, is too clear to admit of doubt." And it must be recollected that this candid avowal has been accompanied by the declaration that "our title to the whole Oregon territory had been asserted and, as was believed, maintained by irrefragable facts and arguments." Nothing can be more plain and explicit. The exclusive right of the United States to absolute sovereignty over the whole territory must be asserted and maintained.

It may not be necessary for that purpose to drive away the British fur company, nor to prevent the migration into Oregon of British emigrants coming from the British dominions. The company may, if deemed expedient, be permitted to trade as heretofore with the Indians. British emigrants may be treated in the same manner as the other sixty or eighty thousand who already arrive yearly in the United States. They may at their option be naturalized, or remain on the same footing as foreigners in other parts of the Union. In this case they will enjoy no political rights; they will not be permitted to own American vessels and to sail under the American flag; the permission to own real property seems, so long as Oregon remains a territory, to depend on the will of Congress. Thus far collision may be avoided.

But no foreign jurisdiction can be permitted, from the moment when the sovereignty of the United States over the whole territory shall be asserted and maintained. To this, all those who reside in the territory must submit. After having taken the decisive step of giving the notice, the United States cannot, as the President justly states, abandon the right of sovereignty without a sacrifice of national honor.

It had been expressly agreed by the convention that nothing contained in it should affect the claims of either party to the territory. The all-important question of sovereignty remained therefore in abeyance. Negotiations for a division of the territory have failed: the question of sovereignty remains undecided, as it was prior to the convention. If the United States exercise the reserved right to put an end to the convention, and if, from the time when it shall have expired, they peremptorily assume the right of sovereignty over the whole, it cannot be doubted that Great Britain will at once resist. She will adhere to the principle she had asserted prior to the Nootka convention, and has ever since maintained, that actual occupancy can alone give a right to the country. She will not permit the jurisdiction of the United States to be extended over her subjects: she will oppose the removal, arrest, or exercise of any other legal process, against her justices of the peace, against any other officers who directly or indirectly act under her authority, against any of her subjects; and she will continue to exercise her jurisdiction over all of them throughout the whole territory. Whatever either Power asserts must be maintained: military occupation and war must necessarily ensue.

A portion of the people, both in the West and elsewhere, see clearly that such must be the consequence of giving the notice. Such men openly avow their opinions, prefer war to a longer continuation of the present state of things, are ready to meet all the dangers and calamities of the impending conflict, and to adopt at once all the measures which may ensure success. With them, the discussion brings at once the question to its true issue: Is war necessary for the object they have in view? Or may it not be attained by peaceable means? It is a question of war or peace, and it is fairly laid before the nation.

But many respectable men appear to entertain hopes that peace may still be preserved after the United States shall have assumed, or attempted to assume, exclusive sovereignty. The reverse appears to me so clear, so obvious, so inevitable, that I really cannot understand on what grounds these hopes are founded.

Is it thought that the President will not, after the assent of Congress has been obtained (and whether immediately or at the end of this session, is quite immaterial), give the notice which he has asked Congress to authorize? Or is it supposed that a change in the form which, in order to avoid responsibility, would give him a discretionary power, could lead to a different result, or be anything else but a transfer by Congress to the Executive of the power to declare war?

Can it be presumed that when, after the expiration of the term of notice, the convention shall have been abrogated, the President will not assert and maintain the sovereignty claimed by the United States? I have not the honor of a personal acquaintance with him; I respect in him the First Magistrate of the Nation; and he is universally represented as of irreproachable character, sincere, and patriotic. Every citizen has a right to differ with him in opinion: no one has that of supposing that he says one thing and means another. I feel an intimate conviction of his entire sincerity.

Is it possible that any one, who does not labor under a singular illusion, can believe that England will yield to threats and defiance that which she has refused to concede to our arguments? Reverse the case: Suppose for a moment that Great Britain was the aggressor, and had given the notice; declaring, at the same time, that, at the expiration of the year, she would assume exclusive sovereignty over the whole country, and oppose the exercise of any whatever by the United States: is there any American, even amongst those who set the least value on the Oregon territory, and are most sincerely desirous of preserving peace, who would not at once declare that such pretension on the part of Great Britain was outrageous and must be resisted?

It is not certainly the interest of Great Britain to wage war against the United States, and it may be fairly presumed that the British Government has no such wish. But England is, as well as the United States, a great, powerful, sensitive, and proud nation. Every effusion of the British press which displays hostility to the United States, produces an analogous sentiment, and adds new fuel to excitement in America. A moment's reflection will enable us to judge of the inevitable effect of an offensive and threatening act, emanating from our Government; an act which throws, in the face of the world, the gauntlet of defiance to Great Britain. Her claims and views, as laid down in her statement of December, 1826, remove every doubt respecting the steps she will take. "Great Britain claims no exclusive sovereignty over any portion of that territory. Her present claim, not in respect to any part, but to the whole, is limited to a right of joint occupancy in common with other States, leaving the right of exclusive dominion in abeyance. * * * * The pretensions of Great Britain tend to the mere maintenance of her own rights, in resistance to the exclusive character of the pretensions of the United States. * * * * These rights embrace the right to navigate the waters of those countries, the right to settle in and over any part of them, and the right freely to trade with the inhabitants and occupiers of the same. It is fully admitted that the United States possess the same rights. But beyond these rights, they possess none. To the interests and establishments which British industry and enterprise have created Great Britain owes protection. That protection will be given, both as regards settlement and freedom of trade and navigation, with every attention not to infringe the co-ordinate rights of the United States."

Thus, the United States declare that they give notice of the abrogation of the convention, with the avowed determination of asserting their assumed right of absolute and exclusive sovereignty over the whole territory of Oregon. And Great Britain has explicitly declared that her pretensions were, in resistance to the exclusive character of those of the United States; and that protection will be given both as regards settlement and freedom of trade and navigation to the interests and establishments which British industry and enterprise have created.

How war can be avoided, if both Powers persist in their conflicting determinations, is incomprehensible. Under such circumstances negotiation is morally impossible during the year following the notice. To give that notice, with the avowed determination to assume exclusive sovereignty at the end of the year, is a decisive, most probably an irretrievable, step. "After that period the United States cannot abandon their right of sovereignty without a sacrifice of national honor."

The question of sovereignty has never been decided. Simply to give notice of the abrogation of the convention, would leave the question in the same situation: it would remain in abeyance. But when the President has recommended that the notice should be given with the avowed object of assuming exclusive sovereignty, an Act of Congress, in compliance with his recommendation, necessarily implies an approbation of the object for which it is given. If the notice should be given, the only way to avoid that implication and its fatal consequences, is to insert in it, an explicit declaration, that the sovereignty shall not be assumed. But then why give the notice at all? A postponement is far preferable, unless some other advantage shall be obtained by the abrogation of the convention. This must be examined, and it is necessary to inquire whether any and what measures may be adopted, without any violation of the convention, that will preserve the rights and strengthen the position of the United States.

NUMBER IV

The acts which the government of the United States may do, in conformity with the convention, embrace two objects: the measures applicable to the territory within their acknowledged limits which may facilitate and promote migration; and those which are necessary for the protection of their citizens residing in the Oregon territory.

It is a remarkable fact that, although the convention has now been in force twenty-seven years, Congress has actually done nothing with respect to either of those objects. Enterprising individuals have, without any aid or encouragement by Government, opened a wagon-road eighteen hundred miles in length, through an arid or mountainous region, and made settlements on or near the shores of the Pacific, without any guaranty for the possession of the land improved by their labors. Even the attempt to carry on an inland trade with the Indians of Oregon has been defeated, by the refusal to allow a drawback of the high duties imposed on the importation of foreign goods absolutely necessary for that commerce. Thus the fur trade has remained engrossed by the Hudson Bay Company; missionaries were, till very lately, almost the only citizens of the United States to be found in Oregon; the United States, during the whole of that period, have derived no other advantage from the convention than the reservation of their rights, and the express provision that these should in no way be affected by the continuance of the British factories in the territory. And, now that the tide of migration has turned in their favor, they are suddenly invited to assume a hostile position, to endure the calamities and to run the chances and consequences of war, in order to gain an object which natural and irresistible causes, if permitted to operate, cannot fail ultimately to attain.

The measures applicable to the territory within the acknowledged limits of the U. States have generally been recommended by the President. A very moderate appropriation will be sufficient to improve the most difficult portions of the road: and block-houses or other temporary works, erected in proper places and at convenient distances, and garrisoned by a portion of the intended additional force, will protect and facilitate the progress of the emigrants. However uninviting may be the vast extent of prairies, destitute of timber, which intervene between the western boundary of the State of Missouri and the country bordering on the Stony Mountains, it seems impossible that there should not be found some more favored spots where settlements may be formed. If these were selected for military posts, and donations of land were made to actual settlers in their vicinity, a series of villages, though probably not a continuity of settlements, would soon arise through the whole length of the road. The most important place, that which is most wanted, either as a place of rest for the emigrants, or for military purposes, is one in the immediate vicinity of the Stony Mountains. Reports speak favorably of the fertility of the soil in some of the valleys of the upper waters, within our limits – of Bear's river, of the Rio Colorado, and of some of the northern branches of the river Platte. There, also, the seat of justice might be placed of the new territory, whose courts should have superior jurisdiction over Oregon.

The measures which the United States have a right to carry into effect within the territory of Oregon must now be considered.

The only positive condition of the convention is, that the territory in question shall, together with its harbors, bays, and creeks, and the navigation of all rivers within the same, be free and open to vessels, citizens, and subjects of the two Powers.

For the construction put on this article by Great Britain, it is necessary to recur again to the statement of her claim, as given by herself, and to her own acts subsequent to the convention.

The acts of England, subsequent to the convention of 1818, are to be found in the various charters of the Hudson Bay Company (observing that some of their most important provisions, though of a much earlier date, stand unrepealed), and in the act of Parliament of the year 1821, which confirms and extends a prior one of the year 1803. It must also be recollected that, by grants or acts subsequent to the convention, the ancient Hudson Bay Company and the Northwest Company of Montreal have been united together, preserving the name of Hudson Bay Company.

This Company was and remains a body corporate and politic, with provisions for the election of a Governor and other officers, who direct its business; and amongst other powers, the Company is empowered to build fortifications for the defence of its possessions, as well as to make war or peace with all nations or people, not Christian, inhabiting their territories, which now embrace the entire Oregon. By the act of Parliament of 1821, the jurisdiction of the courts of Upper Canada is extended, in all civil and criminal cases, to the Oregon territory; provision is made for the appointment of justices of the peace within the said territory, with a limited jurisdiction, and power to act as Commissioners in certain cases, and to convey offenders to Upper Canada.

It must also be observed that, although the Company is forbidden to claim any exclusive trade with the Indians, to the prejudice or exclusion of any citizen of the United States who may be engaged in the same trade, yet the jurisdiction above mentioned is, by the letter of the act, extended to any persons whatsoever residing or being within the said territory. The British Plenipotentiaries did, however, explicitly declare, in the course of the negotiations of 1826-1827, that the act had no other object but the maintenance of order amongst British subjects, and had never been intended to apply to citizens of the United States.

It is perfectly clear that, since it has been fully admitted that the United States possess the same rights over the territory as Great Britain, they are fully authorized, under the convention, to enjoy all the rights which Great Britain claims for herself, and to exercise that jurisdiction which she has assumed as being consistent with the convention.

The citizens of the United States have, therefore, at this time a full and acknowledged right to navigate the waters of the Oregon territory, to settle in and over any part of it, and freely to trade with the inhabitants and occupiers of the same. And the Government of the United States is likewise fully authorized to incorporate any company or association of men for the purpose of trading or of occupying and settling the country; to extend the jurisdiction of the courts of any of its territories lying within its acknowledged limits, in all civil and criminal cases, to the territory aforesaid; to appoint within the same justices of the peace and such other officers as may be necessary for carrying the jurisdiction into effect; and also to make war and peace with the Indian inhabitants of the territory, including the incidental power to appoint agents for that purpose.

On the other hand, it seems to be understood that, so long as the convention remains in force, neither Government shall lay duties in the Territory on tonnage, merchandise, or commerce; nor exercise exclusive jurisdiction over any portion of it; and that the citizens and subjects of the two Powers, residing in or removing to the territory, shall be amenable only to the jurisdiction of their own country respectively.

It has been contended by the British Government that the establishment of any military post, or the introduction of any regular force under a national flag, by either Power, would be an act of exclusive sovereignty, which could not be permitted to either whilst the sovereignty remained in abeyance. Under existing circumstances, it is believed that such an act would be highly dangerous, and prove unfavorable to the United States.

But the establishment by the United States of a Territorial Government over Oregon is also objected to on the same principle. The want of such government appears to be the only serious inconvenience attending a continuance of the convention, and requires special consideration.