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L'axamplaira fllmA f ut raprodult grica i la g4n4roait* da: Library Division Provincial Archivas of British Columbia Laa Imagaa aulvantaa ont Ati raprodultaa avac la plua grand aoln, compta tanu da la condition at d9 la nattat* da l'axamplaira filmA, at an conformity avac laa conditlona du contrat da filmaga. Original copiaa in printad papar covara ara fllmad baglnning with tha front covar and anding on tha laat paga with a printad or illuatratad Impraa- alon, or tha back covar whan appropriata. All othar original copiaa ara fllmad baglnning on tha f Irat paga with a printad or illuatratad impraa- aion, and anding on tha laat paga with a printad or illuatratad impraaaion. Tha laat racordad frama on aach microficha ahall contain tha aymboi — »> (moaning "CON- TINUED"), or tha aymboi y (moaning "END"), whichavar appliaa. 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Tha following diagrama illuatrata tha mathod: Laa cartaa, pianchaa, tablaaux, ate, pauvant Atra filmia A daa taux da reduction diff*ranta. Loraqua la documant aat trop grand pour Atra raproduit an un aaul ciichA, il aat filmA & partir da I'angla aupAriaur gaucha, da gaucha a droita. at da haut an baa, an pranant la nombra d'imagaa nicaaaaira. Laa diagrammaa auivanta illuatrant la mithoda. rata 3 elure, a J 32X 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 m 19 ii< V.--- 19th CONGRESS, [DoC. No. 65.] 1st Session. HO. OF REPS. Executive. BOUNDARY ON THE PACIFIC OCEAN. mi^^^iK^H FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, TRANSMITTING The Correspondence with the British Government, IN RELATION TO THE 3SounTiairj;» of tije mniurt ^tuuu ON THE PACIFIC OCEAN. January 31, 1826. IJead, and rommitted to the Committee of tlie Whole House, to which i.s committed the nil! to authorize the establishment of a Military Post, or Hosts, on the Pacific Ocean, and to provide for the exploration of its coasts and waters. washingtox: I'HINTKD Kr GALKS of SEATOf . 182fi. j>- T of w tl l\ [Doc. No. 65.] To the House of Representatives of the United States. Washington, Slst January f 1826. In compliance with a Resolution of the House of Representatives, of the 18th instant, I transmit a Report from the Secretary of State, with the Correspondence with the British Grovernraent, relating to the Boundary of the United States on the Pacific Ocean, desired by the Resolution. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. I\: [Doc. No. 65.] Department of State, Washington, 30th January, 1 826. The Secretary of State, to whom was referred the Resolution of the House of Represeutatives, of the 1 8th of January, 1 826, requesting the President to roiriinuuicate to tiiat House all tlie correspondence between the Government of the United States aud the Governmeni of Great Britain, respecting the Boundary of that part of the Terri- tory of the United States which is situated upon the Pacific Ocean, and which has not already been communicated, or so much t!iPi*eof as niiiv be compatible with the public interest to disclose, has tlie lionor to leport to the President, as coming within the purview of the Reso- lution, copies of 1. A Letter from Mr. Adams, late Secretary of State, to Mr. Rush, under date the 22d day of July. 1823. 2. An extract from a des(>atch of Mr. Rush to the Secretary of State, under date the 12th day of August, 1823. S. Copy of the Protocol of the llth Conference of the American and British Plenipotentiaries, held at the Board of Trade, (in London.) on the 1st April. 1824. 4. Copy of the Protocol of the 12th Conference. 5. Copy of the Protocol of the 20th ditto. 6. Extract from the Protocol of the 23d. 7. Copy of Paper marked F. American Pajier, on the North- west Coast of America. S' Copy of Paper marked P. British Paper, on the Northwest Coast of America. Resi)cctfully submitted, H. ILAY. [Doc. No. 66.] ! I S'(? Mr, Mams to Mr, Rush, Department of State, JVashingteUy July 2Qd, 1823. Sib : Among the subjects of negotiation with Great Britain which are pressing upon the attention of this Government, is the present condition of the Northwest coast of this continent This interest is connected, in a manner becoming, from day to day, more important, with our territorial rights; with the whole system of our intercourse with the Indian tribes; with the boundary I'elations between us and the British North American dominions; with the fur trade; the fishe- ries in the Pacific Ocean; the commerce with the Sandwich Islands and China; with our boundary upon Mexico; and, lastly, with our political standing and intercourse with tlie Russian Empire. By the third article of the Convention between the United States and Great Britain, of 2Uth October, 1818, it is agreed, that, < 's Government, that the respective territorial or other claims of the United States and Russia, as well as of Great Britain and Rus- sia, regarding the country westward of the Rocky Mountains, were to be matter of separate discussion at St. Petersburgh: yat, that those of the United States and Britain were now, according to the under- standing in the same conversations, to be taken up for formal discus- sion in London. My Government was aware, that the convention of October, 1818, between the United States and Great Britain, one article of which contained a temporary regulation of this interest, had still four years to run; but the President, nevertheless, was of opinion, that the pre- sent was not an unsuitable moment for attempting a new pnd more definite adjustment of the respective claims of the two Powers to the country in question. It was a counti-y daily assuming an aspect, political, commercial, and territorial, of more and more interest to the United States. It bore upon their relations with other States, upon their fisheries as well as their commerce in the Pacific, upon their fur trade, and the whole system of their intercourse with vast tril»es of the Indians. I reminded tlie British Plenipotentiaries, that, by the third article of the treaty of Wasliington, of February the twenty-second, 1819, between the United States and Spain, 'ihcloun- dary line between the two countries was fixed, in part, along tho Southern Bank of the Arkansas, to its source, in latitude 42 north, and thence, by that parallel of latitude, to the South Sea; and that Spain had also renounced to the United States, by the same article, all her rights north of that parallel. I then made known, at tliis and other conferences — for, from the extent of the subject, I was unable even to open it all at one conference — what I understood to be the na- ture of the title of the United States to the whole of the country north of the parallel stated. I said, that, apart from all the right as thus 14 [Doc. No. 65.] acquired from Spain, which, however, was regarded by my Govern- ment as surpassing the right of all other European Powers, on that coast, the United Slates cJaimed, in their own right, and as their ab- solute and exclusive sovereignty and dominion, the whole of the coun- try west of the Rocky Mountains, from the 42d to at least as far up as the 51st degree of north latitude. This claim they rested upon their first discovei*} of the river Columbia, followed up by an efi'ectivo settlement at its mouth — a settlement which was reduced by the arms of Britain during the late war, but formally surrendered up to the United States at the return of peace. Their right, by first discovery, they deemed peculiarly strong, hav- ing been made not only from the sea, b)- Captain Gray, but also from the interioi-, by Lewis and Clarke, who first discovered its sources, and explored its whole inland course to the Pacific Ocean. It had been ascertained that the Columbia extended, by the River Multnomah, to as low as 42 North; and, by Clarke's river, to a point as high up as 51, if not beyond that point: and to this entire range of country, contiguous to the original dominion of the United States, and made a part of it by the almost intermingling waters of each, the United States, I said, considered their title as established, by all the principles that had ever been applied on this subject by the Pow- ers of Europe, to settlements in the American hemisphere. I assert- ed, that a nation, discovering a country, by entering the mouth of its principal river at the sea coast, must necessarily be allowed to cl aim and hold, as great an extent of the interior country as was dcscrihed by the course of such principal river, and its tributary streams: and that the claim, to this extent, became doubly strong, where, as in the present instance, the same river had also heen discovered and explor- ed from its very mountain springs to the sea. Such an union of titles, imparting validity to each other, did not often exist. I remarked, that it was scarcely to be presumed that any European nation would henceforth project any colonial establish- ment on any part of the Northwest Coast of America, which, as yet, had never been used to any other useful purpose than that of trading with the aboriginal inhabitants, or fishing in the neighboring seas; but that the Uniteci States should contemplate, and at one day form, permanent establishments there, was naturally to be expected, as proximate to their own possessions, and falling under their immediate jurisdiction. Speaking of the Powers of Europe, who had ever ad- vanced claims to any i)art of this coast, I referred to the principles that had been settled by the Nootka Sound Convention of 1790, and remarked that Spain had now lost all her exclusive colonial rights, that were recognized under that Convention, first, by the fa( t of tiio Independence of the South American States and of Mexico, and next, by her express renunciation of all her rights, of whatever kind, above the 42d degree of North Latitude, to the United States. Those new States would, themselves, now possess the riglits incident to their condition of political independence, and the claims of the United States above the 42d parallel, as high up as 60, claims, as well in their own ( i hav- also I its pDoc. No. 65.] 15 I'iglit, as by their succession to the title of Fnain, would henceforth neci'ssaril} preclude other nations from forming colonial osiahlish- inents upon any part of the American continents. I was, therefore, instructed to say, that my Government no longer considered any part of those Continents as open to futui'e colonization by any of the Pow- ers of Euro|)e, and that this w as a principle upon which I should in- sist in the course of the negotiation. it was in this manner that 1 first laid down, for the information of this (i<»vcrnment, the princi[iles contained in your despatch, or flow- ing from tliem. 1 combined, w itii what you had written to me, the contents of the Message of the l*resi(tent, to Congress, of the 2d of December last, a document v " '.cli 1 could not but regard witb the highest solemnity towards marking out my duty. I added, that the United States did not desire to interfere with the actual settlements of other nations on the Northwest Coast of America, and that, in re- gard to those which tJreat Britain might have formed above the 51st degree of latitude, they would remain, with all such rights of trade with the natives, and riglitsof lishery, as those settlements had enjoy- ed hitherto. As regarded future settlements, by either of the parties, I said that it was tlie wisii of my G«)vertmjent to regulate these upon principles that might be mutually satisfactory, and tend to prevoit all collision. I was, tliercfore. instructed to propose, first, the extension to a further term of ten yesirs, of the third article of the Convention of October, 1818: and, secondly, that Britain should stipulate, during the like term, that no settlement siiould be made by any of her sub- jects on the Northwest Coast of America, or the Islands adjoining, either South of the fifty-first degree of latitude, or North of the fifty- fifth degree: the United States stipulating that none should be made by their citizetjs North of the fifty-first degree. This proposal I drew up in form, and annexed it (marked F) to the Protocol of the twelfth conference. I said, that these limits were supposed to be suffici«'nt to secure to Great Britain all the benefit to be derived from tlie settlements of her Northwest and Hudson's Bay Companies on that coast, and were indicated with that view. The insertion of a limit often years, which I introduced as applicable to the above restriction upon futui'e settlements, may require expl»nation. In your despatch to me, as I understood it, there was no such limit of time specified. But, in your i'lstructions to Mr. Middlcton. of the 22d of July, 1823 which you enclosed to me, I perceive that there was this limit introduced, and that it was under this limit the proposal was de- scribed to him as the one which I was to submit to the British Go- vernment. I C(mchided that it would be erring on the safe side, to take, in tliis particular, the instructions to Mr. Middlcton, as my guide, and I did so accordingly. It is proper now, as on the question of the St. Lawrence, that I should give you faithful information of the manner in which the Bri- tish Plenipotentiaries received my proposal, and tlie principles under which I had introduced it, I may set out by saying, in a word, that tlicy totally declined the one. and totally denied the other. I'hey said 16 [Doc. No. 65.] that Great Britain considered the whole of the unoccupied parts oi America, as heing open to her future settlements, in like manner as heretofore. They included within these parts, as well tliat portion of the ^iorthwest Coast, lying between the 42d and 31st degrees of lati- tude, as any other parts. The principle of colonization on that coast, or elsewhere, on any portion of those continents not yet occupied, Great Britain was not prepared to relinquish. Neither was she pre- pared to accede to the exclusive claim of the United States. She had not, by her convention with Spain, in 1790, or at any other period, conceded to that Power any exclusive rights on that coast, w here ac- tual settlements had not been formed. She considered the same pi'in- ciples a])plicablc to it now, as then. She could not concede to the United States, who held the Spanish title, claims which she had felt herself obliged to resist, when advanced by Spain, and on her resist- ance to which, tlie credit of Great Britain had been thought to depend. Nor could Great Britain at all admit, the Plenipotentiaries said, the claim of tlie United States, as founded on their own first discovery. It had been objectionable with her in the negotiation of 1818, and had not been adnniitcd since. Her surrender to the United States of the j)ost at Columbia River, after the late war, was in fulfilment of the provisions of the first article of the Treaty of Ghent, witliout af- fecting questions of right on either side. Britain did not admit the validity of the discovery by Captain Gray. He had only been on an enterprise of his own, as an individual, and the British Government wasycttobcinformed under whatprinciples or usage, among the nations of Europe, his having ilrst entered or discovered the mouth of the river Colimibia, admitting this to have been the fact, was to carry after it such a portion of the interior country as was alleged. Great Britain entered her dissent to such a claim; and. least of all, did she admit that the circumstance of a merchant vessel of the United States hav- ing penetrated the coast of that continent at Columbia River, was to be taken to extend a claim in favor of the United States along the same coast, both above and below that river, over latitudes that had heen previously discovered and explored by Great Britain herself, in expeditions fitted out under the authority and with the resources of the nation. This had been done by Captain Cook, to speak of no others, whose voyage was at least prior to that of Captain Gray. On the coast, only a few degrees South of the Columbia, Britain had made purchases of territory from the natives before the United States were an independent power; and upon that river itself, or upon rivers tliat flowed into it. West of the Rocky Mountains, lier subjects had formed settlements coeval with, if not prior to, the settlement by American citizens at its mouth. Such is a summary of the grou)ids taken at the very outset by the British PlenJ])otentiaries, in opposition to our claims. On my re- marking, immediately, and before proceeding to any discussion of them, that I had not before heen aware of the extent and cliaracter of all these objections, they replied, that it was also for the first time tjiat they had heen apprised, in any authentic and full way, of the i i r Doc. No. 65. ] 17 ts of r as mn of liiti- oast, )ied, pre- had iod, ac- I nature of the claims, as I had now stated them, on behalf of the United States; claims which they said they were bound to dechire. at once. Great Britain was wholly unprei)ared to admit; and, especially, that which aimed at interdicting her from the right of future colonization in America- Resuming the subject, I said, tliat it was unknown to my Govern- ment, that Great Britain had ever even advanced an\ claim t«) terri- tory on the Northwest Coast of America, by the right of occupation, bctbre the Nootka Sound controversy. It was clear, that, by the treaty of Paris, of 1763, her territorial rights in America, v\ere bounded Westward by the Mississippi. The claim of the United States, under the discovery by Captain Gray, was, therefore, at all events, sufficient to overreach, in point of time, any tliat Great Bri- tain could alleg.^ along that coast, on the gi-ound of prior occupation or settlement. As to any alleged settlements by her subjects on the Columbia, or on rivers fulling into it. earlier, or as early as the one formed by American citizens at Astoria, I knew not of them, and was not prepared to admit the fact. As to the discovery itself of Captain Gray, it was not for a moment to be drawn into ([uestion. It was a fact before the whole woi'ld. The very geographers of Britain had adopted the name which he had given to tliis river. Vancouver himself, undoubtedly the first British navigator who had ever entered it, admitted that he found Captain Gray thei-e; and the very instructions to this Britisli officer, drawn up in March, 1791, and to be seen among the records of t.'-e British admiralty. ejq)ressly referred by name, to the previous expedition in that quarter of the American sloop, the Wasliington. Was this, I asked, to be account- ed nothing? Did it lie with a foicign Pov.er, whose own archives might supply her with the esseiitiar incontestlble fact of the first dis- covery by the vessel of another Power, of a vast river whose waters, from their source to the ocean, had remained until then, totally un- known to all civilized nations — did it lie with such foreign I'ower to say, that the discovery was not made by a national ship, or under national authority? The United States, I said, could admit no such di-tinction; could never surrender, under it. or upon any ground, their claim to this discovery. The ship of Captain Gray, whether fitted out by tiie Government of the United Stales or not, was a na- ti(Mial ship. If she was not so in a technical sense of the word, she was in the full sense of it, applicable to sucii an occasion. Slie boro at her stern the Hag of the nation, sailed forth under the protection of the nation, and was to be identified with the lights of the nation. The extent of this interior country attaching to this discovery, was founded, I said, upon a princi[)le at once reasonable and moderate— re;isonable, because, as discovery was not to be limited to tlie local spot of a first landing place, tiiere must be a rule botli for enlarging an''i circnmscriliing its range; and none nioi-c proper tiian tiiat of tuking the watercourses whicli nature had laid down, both as the fair li.'iit ! of the country, and as indis|)ensa!.>!e (o its use and value — .moderate, hecan^c the nations u^ Kurope had "U'ten, under thvir rights 18 [J)oc. No. 65.] of discovery, ciiniccl tlieir claims mucli I'artlicr. Here 1 instanced, as siitHcientCoriny piirpoHc, and pci'tinent t(» it, the tonus in wliicli many ot* the royal charters and letters patent had been gi-anted, by the C^o\^n in England, to individuals proceeding to the discovery or set- tlement of new countries on the American Continent: Among others, those from Ell/abetli, in 1578. to Sir Humphi-ey Gilbert, and, in 1584, to Sir Walter Raleigh: those from James I, to Sir Thomas Yates, in HiOfi and 1607, and the Georgia charter of 17^2. All these, extracts fi'()(n which 1 produced, comprehended a range of counii-y fully justifying my lemark. By the words of the last, a grant is passed to all territories al(»ng the seacoast, from the river Savannah to the most southern stieam '-of another great river, called the Ala- tamaha, aiul westwai'd from the heads of the said rivers, in a direct line, to the South seas." 'J'o show that Britain was not the only liuropean nation, who, in her territorial claims on this continent, had had an eye to the rule oi' assuming water courses to be the fittest boundaries, 1 also cited the charter of Louis XIV, to Crovat, by which " all the country drained by the waters emptying directly or indirectly into the Mississippi," is declared to be comprehended under the name, and within the limits, of Louisiana. If Britain had put f(U*th no clain)Sonthe Northwest Coa.st, founded on jn'ior occupation, before the Nootka Sound contest, still less could she ever have estal)lished any, 1 remarked, at any period, founded on prior discovery. Claims of the latter class belonged wholly to Spain, and now. consefpiently, to the United States. The superior title of Spain on this ground, as well as others, was. indeed, capable of de- monstration. Russia had acknowledged it in 1790, as the State pa- pers of the Nootka Sound controversy would show. The memorial of the Spanish Court to the British Minister, on that occasion, ex- pressly asserted, tluit, notwithstanding all the attemj)ted encroach- ments upon the Spanish coasts of the Pacific Ocean, Spain had pre- served her possessions there entire, possessions which she had con- stantly, and before all Europe, on that and other (iccasions, declared to extend to as high at least as the sixtieth degree of North latitude. The very first aiticle of the Nootka Sound convention, attested, I said, the sui)eriority of l:er title: for, whilst, by it, the nations of Eu- rope generally were allowed to make settlemeiits on that coast, it was only for tlie purposes of trade with the natives, thereby excluding the right of atiy exclusive or colonial establishments for other purposes. As to any claim (ui tiic ])art of Britain under the voyage of Captain Cook, I remarkegulation with respect to the above mentioned « ' timH, had Ntill four years to con- tinue, his Government was of opinion, that the present was not an uiisiiitabie moment for attempting a settlement of the boundary outhe Northwest Coast of America, westward of the Rocky Mountains; and lie therefore proceeded to explain the nature of the claims which his Government thought itself entitled to advance. This statement not being completed in the present conference, Mr. llush undertook to resume it on tho following day. UICIIAKD RUSH, W. HUSKISSON, STRAxl^ORD CANNING. '■ < PROTOCOL OF THE TWELFTH CONFERENCE Of the American and British PlenipotentiarieSf held at the Hoard of Trade, on the 2d of Jipril, 1324. Present, Mr. Rush, Mr. Huskisson, Mr. Stratford Canning. The protocol of the preceding conference was i-ead over and signed* The American Plenipotentiary resumed the commu')ication which he had commenced in that conference, on the subject oi the territorial claims on the Northwest Coast of America, westward of the Rocky Moiintainn, and concluded by giving in tiic paper marked B\ annexed hei-eto, as containing the proposal of his Government on that head. Adjourned to Monday, the 5th of April. RICHARD RUSH, W. HUSKISSON, STRATFORD CANNING. ' ';v PROTOCOL OF THE TWENTIETH CONFERENCE (Jf the American and British Plenipotentiaries, held at the Board of Trade, on the Q9th of June, 1824. Present, Mr. Rush, Mr. Huskisson, Mr. Stratlord Canning. Tlie protor»)l of the preceding conference was road over and signed. The Rritish Plenipotentiaries stated and explained, at length, the sentiments of their Government with respect to the conflicting claims Mf Great Britain and the U. States to the tcn-itories in North America. 21 [Doc. No. 65.] lying bolwccii the Rocky MoiintHins and the Pacific Ocean. They declined the proposal made oi! tliis subject by the American Plenipo- tentiary, and annexed to the 12th piotocol, because it would sul)stan- tially have the effect of limitini; tlic clainjs of their (lovernment to a degree inccntsistent, as they thought, uith the credit and jnst inter- ests of tlie nation. Alter much discussion and mutual explanation of the claims on eacli side, wheji taken in their lull extent, it was agreed that, following the exam[»le given by the American Plenipo- tentiary ill his proposal, it would be advisable to attempt a settlement on terms of mutual convenienre, setting aside, for that purpose, the discordant principles on which the lespective claims were founded. Whereuj>on, the British IMenii)otent4iiries stated, in general terms, that they were ready eitlier to agree on a boundary line, to be drawji due west from the Uocky Mountains, ah^ng the 49tli parallel of lati- tude, to the northeastej'nmost branch of the Columbia or Oregon Iti- ver, and thence, down the middle of that river, to the ocean, or to leave the third article of the convoition of 1818 to its natural course. The American Plenipotentiary, in remarking upon the boundai-y, declared his utter inability to accede to it; but finding tliat tfie line olfered in his formei* j)roposal, was considered wholly inadmissable by the IJrilish Plenipotentiaries, said that, in the hope of adjusting Mie question, he would so far vary his former line to the south, as to <;onsent that it should be the 49th, instead of the 51st degree of north latitude. In the course of the conference, the American Plenipotentiary stated, ihat he was instructed to insist on the principle, that no part of the American continent was henceforward to be open to colonization from £uro|)e. To explain this principle, he stated that the indepen- dence! of the late Sjianish provinces precluded any new settlement within the limits of their respective jurisdictions : that the United States claimed tiie exclusive sovereignty of all the territory within the parallels of latitude which include as well the nn)uth of the Co- lumbia as the heads of that i-ivcr, and of all its tributary streams: and that, with resjiect to the whole of tlie reujaimier of tnat coiitinent not actually o( cupied, the I'owers of Eui-ope weiv deliarred from making new settlements, by the claim of tlio United States, as derived under tlieir title fi'om Spain. The British I'hMupotentiarlcs asserted, in utter denial of the above jirinciple, that tliej considered the unoccupied parts of America j.ist as much open as heretofore, to colonization by (.ri-eat lii-itain. as we'll as by other Europeiin Powers, agreeably to the conventi(m of IT'JO, between tlie Briti.sh and Spanish Governments, and tliat the United Slates would have no right whatever to take umbrage at the c'-lab- lishment of new colonies iVom Europe in any sudi parts of the Ame- I'ican contitient. The Hi'itish Plenipotentiaries added, that they felt themselves more particularlv called upon to express their distinct denial of the ]|)rin(iple and claims Vhus stt forth by the American Plenipotrntiaey, as his claim L'tiim; tlie terrltyrv watered bv tlie i-lver Columbia a!ul itstribu- T'es Pi' [Doc. No. 65.] 2S taiy .streams, bcsirlcs being essentially objectionable in its general bcai-ing. Ir.ul the eifoct of intcrfei-ing directly with the actual righto ol*(«reut Britain, ilciivcd ironi use, occupancy, and settlement. RICHARD RUSH, W. UUSKISSON, STRATFORD CANNING. EXTRACT FROM PRCrrOCOL OF THE TW ENTY-THIRD CONFERENCE, Of the Amcrkau ami Britiali Plenipotentiaries, held at the Board nj Trade, on the 13//t July, 1824. Present, — Mr. Rush, Mr. Huskissdti, Mr. StiatCord Canning. The protocol olthe preroding conference was read over and signed. Tlic Bt*itish Plenipotentiaries, in more complete explanation of the statement made by them, in the twentieth confejence, gave in an article comprising the counter proposals of their Govermncnt, as to the North- west boundary in America, I'rom the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean. They observed, at the same time, that, if their article were ac- cepted, in substance, by tlie American Government, it would be ne- ressary, on framing it into a convention, to give its details and accompa- nying arrangements a more distinct and expanded shape. They added^ that, in making the annexed proposal, they had departed jonsiderably from the full extent of the British right, agreeably to the readiness which they had before expressed to settle the Northwest boundary, on grounds of fair compromise and mutual accommodation. The American Plenipotentiary, in receiving the above article from the Britisli Plenipotentiaries, remarked, that he wished it also to bo nude vitood. that, in proj)osi!ig a njodification of the article originally subm.tted by him, on this subject, he had been governed by the same view.*' F. AMERICAN PAPERS, On the J^'hrthtcest coast of America Ctwdfth 'protocol,) Whereas, by the third article of tlie Convention between the United States jind his Britannic Majesty, signed at Lond(m, on the twentieth of October, 1818, it was agreed, th.it any country that might be claimed by either pai'ty cm the Northwest Coast of America, west- ward oftlie Stoney Mountains, should, together with its harboi^, bays, and creeks, and the navigation of all rivers within the same, be free and ojicn for the term of ten years from the date of the said Conven- tion, to the vessels, citizens, and subjects of the two Powers, it having been understood, that such agreement was not to be construed to the piH'judice of any claim which either of the parties might have to any t 36 [Doc. No. 65. J pa "t of the said country, or taken to affect tl»e claims of any otiicv Power, but only to prevent disputes and differences between the parties themselves; and whercjis it is desirable that the provisions of the said article should be continued for a longer term tlian as therein spe- cified, it is, therefore, agreed, by the high contracting parties, that the same shall continue in force for the full term often years from the signature of the present Convention. The high contracting parties further agree, that, during the like term, no settlement shall be made on the Northwest Coast of Ameiica. or on any of the islands there- unto adjoining, by citizens of the United States, north of the fifty-first degree of north latitude, or by British subjects either south of the said fifty-first degree, or north of the fifty -fifth degree of north latitude. r. BRITISH PAPER, On the JS''orthwest Coast of America, (twenty-third Protocol.} It is agreed that the third article of the Convention concluded at London, on the 20th of October, 1818, between His Britannic Majesty, and the United States of America, sliall cease and determine from tho date hereof; and instead of tiie stipulations contained in that article, it is further agi'eed, that the boundary line between the territories claimed by His Britannic Majesty, and those claimed by the United States, to the West in both cases of tlic Rock Mountains, shall be drawn due west, along the 49Ui parallel of north latitude, to t!ie])oint where that parallel strikes the great Northeasternmost branch of the Oregon, or Columbia River; marked in tiic maps as M-Gillivray's River; thence, down, along the middle of the Oregon or Columbia, to its junction with the Pacific Ocean : the navigation of the whole channel being perpetually free to the subjects and citizens of both parties; the said subjects and citizens being also reciprocally at liberty, during the term of ten years from the date hereof, to pass and repass by land and by water; and to navigate, with their vessels and merchandise, all the rivei-s, bays, harbors, and creeks, as hereto- fore, on either side of the abovementioned line, and to trade with all and any of the nations free of duty or impost ofany kind, subject ojily to such local regulations, as, in other respects, either oftiietwo contract- ing parties may find it necessary to enfoice within its own limits, and prohibited from furnishing the natives witli fire arms and other ex- cepti(mable articles to he hereafter enumerated; and, it is fui'ther es- pecially agreed, tliat neither of the high contracting parties, their re- spective subjects or citizens shall henceforward form any settlements within the limits assigned hereby to the other, west of the Rocky Mountains; itbeijig ai the same time understood, that any settlen»ent3 already formed by the British to the South and East of the boundary line above described, or by citizens of the United States to the North and West of the same line, shall contiujseto he occupied and enjoyed at the pleasure of the present pi-opiietors or occu])ants, without let or hindrance of any kind until the exj>iration of the above mentioned term of ten years fi-om the date hereof. jpi B s a^ ( r i j^SSfS^ .',Ttr"T?rT^'''^"^' ►^■•.4.*- •^■■■. 5^-*'»