Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 19.djvu/117

 FEDERAL RELATIONS OF OREGON 105 Since there was no prospect of reaching an agreement the American plenipotentiaries were of the opinion of Adams, that "the minuteness of present interests" of both nations would allow the matter to lie over. Hence they were willing to ac- cept the British proposal of 13 October to the effect that the country lying west of the Rocky Mountains should be "free and open" to both parties, with the qualifying statement that the claims of neither country nor of any other power should be prejudiced thereby. Consequently the convention as signed at London, 20 October, 1818, after defining the boundary be- tween the territories of the United States and those of His Britannic Majesty as the 49th parallel of north latitude from the Lake-of -the- Woods (or from a point where a line drawn due north from the northwestern extremity of the lake should tersect 49) to the "Stony Mountains," contains these words : "Art. III. It is agreed that any country that may be claimed by either party on the northwest coast of America, westward of the Stony Mountains, shall, together with its harbors, bays, creeks, and the navigation of all rivers within the same, be free and open for the term of ten years from the date of the signa- ture of the present convention, 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 the said country, nor shall it be taken to affect the claims of any other power or state to any part of the said coun- try; the only object of the high contracting parties, in that re- spect, being to prevent disputes and differences among them- selves." 21 It was obvious to all that the whole question was merely de- ferred, although there is little evidence that many persons out- side governmental circles bestowed even passing attention upon the whole topic. Not only did other features of the convention seem much nearer the everyday interests of the average man, 21 Among other places the Convention is given in Am. S. P., For. R*l. t VI. 642-3.