Page:Oregon, her history, her great men, her literature.djvu/61

58 again occupy the Columbia. Two years later, September 1817, our government ordered Captain Biddle of the "Ontario" to go to Astoria and assert the claims of the United States to the Oregon country in a friendly an peaceable manner.

American Title to Oregon Acknowledged. At once the British minister registered objections to the request of the Americans. In the treaty of peace which was now signed, the two nations agreed that they would restore the territory they had taken from each other during the war. The British minister, however, claimed that Astoria was not taken during the war, but that it was purchased by British subjects. In answer, the American Secretary claimed Oregon: first, as a portion of the Louisiana Purchase from France; second, by reason of the discovery of the Columbia by Captain Gray; third, by reason of the Lewis and Clark expedition; fourth, the establishment by the Pacific Fur Company of the forts of Astoria, Okanogan, and Spokane, and by other rights. The Secretary further argued that the American traders sold their stock in Astoria through fear of a British man-of-war which threatened to enter the harbor. After a sharp conflict of words, however, the American flag was permitted to float over Astoria, October 6th, 1818. While American rights to Oregon were thus acknowledged, the north boundary line was yet to be determined.

Joint Occupation of Oregon. The Oregon Question was again discussed by the diplomatic representatives of Great Britain and America, October 20, 1818, the British claiming the Columbia as the north boundary of Oregon. and the Americans claiming the forty-ninth parallel as the true boundary. Therefore the Oregon Question involved the territory lying between the Columbia River and the present north boundary of the United States. The repre-