Page:Centennial History of Oregon 1811-1912, Volume 1.djvu/350

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ture, and the loss of liis property and the capture of his fort by the British, our Congress took no action to assert its paramovint rights to this country.

In the treaty with Great Britain made by Secretary of State, John Quincy Adams, in 1818, in the third article of said treaty : " It is agreed that any coun- try that may be claimed by either party on the northwest coast of America west- ward of the Stony (Rocky) mountains, shall together, 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 signature of the present convention, to the vessels, citizens and subjects of both powers. It being well understood that this agreement is not to be construed to the prejudice of any claim which either of the two liigh contracting parties may have to any part of the said country; nor shall it be taken to affect the claim of any power or state to any part of said coun- try ; the only object of the high contracting parties in that respect being to pre- vent disputes and differences."

The provisions of the above article were renewed between the two nations in 1827, and continued in force down to the 28th day of April, 1846, three years after the formation of our Provisional Government at Champoeg, when, in per- suance of a resolution of Congress, President James K. Polk notified the Britisla government that the period of joint occupancy of the Oregon territorj' had been terminated.

When the venerable Adams, who had, as Secretarj^ of State under President James Monroe, negotiated the treaty of 1818, and afterwards as President of the United States in 1827, renewed that treaty, was called on as a member of Con- gress in 1846 to explain the treaty, said: (February 9, 1846) "There is a very great misapprehension of the real merits of this case, founded on the misnomer which declared that treaty to be a treaty of joint occupation. It is not a con- vention of joint occupation. It is a convention of non-occupation — a promise on the part of both parties that either of the parties will occupy the territory for an indefinite period ; first, for ten j^ears ; then until the notice should be given by the one party or the other that the convention shall be terminated, that is to say, that the restrictions, the fetters upon our hands, shall be thrown off, which pre- vents occupation."

Here, then, is a treaty that deliberately renounced the right of the American emigrants to come here and establish homes. They might come and catch fish, trap wild animals for furs, and trade with the Indians, but "they must not hoist the American flag, they must not open farms, they must not build homes or school houses, or do anything to establish a settlement ; Oregon was a country for free trade, but not for free settlement. England, Spain, France, Russia, and every- body else had the same rights in Oregon as the Americans. Oregon is thus dis- tinguished as the first and only free trade country that now belongs to the Union of States.

And while this treaty of 1818 tied the hands of the respective governments, it did not provide for the arrest of independent movements of traders or settlers. It left the question of occupancy and final disposition of the country right where Daniel Webster, Secretary of State, under President Tyler, predicted it would be when he wrote to the American minister at London (Edward Everett) in 1840, saying : ' ' The ownership of Oregon is likely to follow the greater settlement and the larger population."