Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 19.djvu/222

 210 LESTER BURRELL SHIPPEE objection to a straight line for a boundary on the grounds that it would cut off the end of Quadra and Vancouver's Island, 43 and Gallatin's suggestion that perhaps the United States would entertain a proposal for an exchange of territory north of 49 for what would be lost on the island. A slight concession was actually offered by the British com- missioners at the third conference (1 December, 1826) after the American offer had been declined. This consisted of an offer of a detached bit of territory bounded by a line from Cape Flattery running along the shore of Fuca's Inlet, thence across the entrance of Hood's Inlet to a point of land forming the north-eastern extremity of that inlet; from here the line would follow the east shore of the inlet to the southern ex- tremity thereof, then by a straight line to the south point of Gray's Harbor, and from there along the ocean to Cape Flattery. 44 This area would contain Port Discovery. The offer, however,, was accompanied with the stipulation that neither party should erect along the Columbia or at its mouth any works which should be calculated to hinder or impede the free navigation of the river. Gallatin considered the con- cession wholly inadequate and rejected it forthwith. Despite all these feelers Gallatin saw at an early date that there was no hope of reaching an agreement on the boundary. He ascribed his inability to accomplish the object of his mission in this respect in part to Baylies' Report, which he considered typical of Congressional agitation, to the language of the United States in its diplomatic intercourse with Great Britain, and to the feeling on the part of the British government that the Americans were trying to take advantage of them while they were laboring under temporary distresses. However, he felt that there had been a disposition to come to a settlement up to the time of the receipt in England of Mr. Baylies' re- port which struck beyond the mark and only succeeded in exasperating. 45 Gallatin was not able to make Canning see 43 Northwest Boundary Arbitration, 420! Cong., 3 Ses., V, 25 44 Protocol of the Third Conference, Am. S. P., VI, 660. 45 Gallatin to Clay, Dec., 1826, Ibid., 655. See also Gallatin to Clay (private) Writings, II, 248, 9.