Page:Centennial History of Oregon 1811-1912, Volume 1.djvu/349



THE CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF OREGON 1'17

luittoe was coinposed of Floyd, TJioinas, ^Metcall' ol' Kentucky and Thomas V. Swearingeii ol' Virginia, all anli'iit western men. Within six days they reported a bill to .iiitliorize the innniMJiate occupation of the Columbia River valley, and to rci^iilatc trade with the Indians therein. Jkit no action was taken on their icport.

The ten years of joint occui)aucy expiring in 1S2S, the clit'ort was renewed by our govei'nnieut to secure a settlement of the boundary line west of the Rocky mountains. The Russian government had by ti'eaty, conceded the rights of the United States up to fifty-four degrees and forty minutes north. John Quin^iy Adams had become president and made Henry Clay secretary of state. Clay now renewed the negotiations for a settlement of the northern boundary line with England, being the fifth attempt by the United States to get the vexed question settled.

In an able letter to the American minister at London, Richard Rush, ^Ir. Clay points out that, ' ' Our title to the whole of the coast up to the Russian Pos- sessions is derived from prior discovery and settlement at the mouth of the Col- umbia river, and from the treaty which Spain concluded on the 22nd of Febru- ary, 1819. The argument on this point is believed to have conclusively estab- lished our title on both grounds. Nor is it conceived that Great Britain has or can make out, even a colorless title to any portion of the northern coast. By the renunciation and transfer contained in the treaty with Spain of 1819, our rights extended to the sixtieth degree of nortii latitude."

No conclusion having been reached by these negotiations, the joint occupancy treaty was extended indefinitely, with a proviso that it might be terminated by either party on giving twelve months' notice to the other party to the treaty. On this indefinite, uncertain position Oregon was left by our government from October 2Sth, 1828, to April 28th, 1846, when by direction of Congress, Presi- dent James K. Polk was instructed to notify the government of Great Britain that the treaty of joint occupancy would be terminated in twelve months from that date. And thus we see that for twenty-eight years the legal position and sovereignty of Oregon was up in the air ; and the people did not know to whom, or to what government their allegiance was due. or what government, if any, would protect their rights.

The vacillation and feeling of uncertainty with which Congress, presidents and cabinets had well nigh smothered and buried the first claims of the United States to Old Oregon was in marked contrast to the vigorous efforts of the hand ful of brave pioneers who sought to hold the country for their native land.

It does not appear that either the executive department of the government, or the Congress of the United States, ever took any official notice of the great achievement of Captain Robert Gray in the discovery of the Columbia river. The action of President Jefferson in sending the Lewis and Clark expedition to the Pacific coast in 1805 was very largely the act of Jeffei'son himself. And while Congress did make an appropriation of $2,500 for the expedition, it never otherwise sought to secure to the countrj- any positive or immediate benefits there- from. It was assinned by American business men — Astor, Wyeth, Winship and Bonneville — that because of Gray's discover}-, and the Lewis and Clark explora- tion, that Old Oregon must of right belong to the United States, and therefore it was open to American settlement. And even after Astor 's unfortun