Page:Centennial History of Oregon 1811-1912, Volume 1.djvu/346



In 1815 our government notified the British that immediate possession would be taken of Astoria and the mouth of the Columbia river, and ordered the sloop of war, Captain James Biddle, to make ready to sail for the Columbia. The British minister at Washington objected and remonstrated, but finally agreed to the unconditional surrender of Astoria by the British, and that the status quo before the war should be restored ; and that in treating about the title to Old Oregon, the United States should be in possession.

And again for the third time, 1817, negotiations were renewed to establish the boundary line. President Madison offering to extend the 49th parallel of north latitude boundary from the Lake of the Woods through to the Pacific ocean, but without prejudice to the rights or claims of Spain. But to this propo- sition, the British would not agree unless they could have free navigation of the Mississippi river. And this was again rejected by the Americans.

And again, for the fourth time, 1818, negotiations were renewed to settle the northern boundary, James ]Monroe having become President, he appointed the two able statesmen, Albert Gallatin, and Richard Rush to manage the business. The whole history of the discovery and exploration of the North Pacific coast was again gone over, and every argument and consideration that could be pro- duced or invented was brought forward. Agreement was impossible and the negotiations brought to an end by the treaty of October 20, 1818, which deter- mined the boundary line of the United States westward to the Rocky mountains, but no further; and then adopting the following third article of the treaty: "It is agreed that any country that may be claimed by either party on the north- west coast of America, westward of the Stony (Rocky) mountains, shall, to- gether with its harbors, bays and creeks, and the navigation of all rivers within the same, be free and open for the term of ten years from the date of this treaty to the vessels, citizens and subjects of the two powers. It being well understood that this agreement is not to be construed to the prejudice of any claim, which either of the two high contracting parties may have to any part of said coun- try." This is the treaty of joint occupancy.

Immediately after the treatj^ of joint occupancy with England, President Mon- roe renewed negotiations with Spain, and on February 22, 1819, concluded the treaty by which the 42nd parallel of north latitude from the meridian north of the head of the Arkansas river, Avest to the Pacific ocean, was made the boundary line between Spain and the United States, and in this treaty Spain ceded to the United States "all rights, claims and pretensions to any country north of the said forty-second parallel." And this gave to the United States all the rights of prior discoverj^ to all the country west of the Rocky Mountains and north of California, clear up to the Arctic ocean AND MADE PERFECT THE TITLE OF THE UNITED STATES TO THE WHOLE OF OLD OREGON.

Thus far the question of title had been left to the executive department of the Government. But in the winter of 1820-21 the matter was called up in Con- gress for the first time by John Floyd, who was an officer in the army in the war of 1812, and a member of Congress from Virginia in 1820. Floyd had met Ram- say Crooks and Russell Parnham of the Astor Expedition to Astoria, and be- came imbued with the great value of the Oregon country. He moved the ap- pointment of a committee to repoi-t on the subject. The committee was granted more out of courtesy to a patriotic man than an interest in the subject. The com-