Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 19.djvu/212

 200 LESTER BURRELL SHIPPEE Although backed by whatever rights the Spanish had ever gained through their explorations on the Northwest Coast, Adams realized that his reaching to 51 would encounter more than perfunctory opposition on the part of Great Britain, so he closed his instructions to Minister Rush with these words : "I mention the latitude of 51 as the bound within which we are willing to limit the future settlement of the United States, because it is not to be doubted that the Columbia River branches as far north as 51, although it is most probably not the Tachutche Tesse of Mackenzie. As, however, the line already runs in latitude 49, to the Stony Mountains, should it earnestly be insisted upon by Great Britain, we will consent to carry it in continuance, on the same parallel to the sea." For the negotiations with Great Britain we have more than the official dispatches with which Rush kept his government informed of the course of events: in his Memoirs he had preserved a more intimate view of the whole proceeding. 26 In December, 1823, upon the request that some hint of the views of the United States might be given as useful in later dis- cussions, and especially valuable in assisting in framing the instructions for Bagot at St. Petersburg, Rush outlined to Canning the proposals of the United States. This division of the western part of the continent between the three claimants along the 55th and 51 parallels was reasonable, Rush stated, the more so because of the extinction of the exclusive pre- tensions of Spain by the independence of the colonies on both American continents. Furthermore, Rush, in the course of his remarks, quoted from Adams' instructions the doctrine then promulgated in Monroe's message that "the American continents, henceforth, will no longer he subject to coloniza- tion." 27 Canning took the information under advisement, and a few days later (18 December, 1823) in a familiar note complained that it appeared that the United States was proposing to settle not only its own questions but those of Great Britain and Russia. 26 Residence at the Court of London, 26. Series. II, 82-88 27 The proceeding was recounted in Rush to Adams, 19 Dec., 1823, Am S P. For. Rel., V, 470.