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 T. C. ELLIOTT

26

In the course of his personal research the archives of the

Hudson's Bay Company at their head office in London were examined and he was permitted to make copies of certain These were later printed by the Canadian letters therein. Government in a confidential volume and the seal of confidence has now been removed for the use of this Quarterly, being of special interest to residents of Oregon and pertinent to

now appearing in Federal Relations of Oregon.

the series of articles

its

pages upon The

Hon. George Canning, to whom this particular document was from 1822 to 1827 the most influential man in England, if not in all Europe. He was connected with political life in England from 1793 on, with various vicissitudes, and following the suicide of Lord Castlereagh became the Secretary of the Foreign Office in Sept., 1822, and continued is

addressed,

From the as such until his sudden death in August, 1827. statements in this letter it is evident that his attention was early directed to the relatively unimportant question of British In the United States in 1817, interests in far-away Oregon.

when

President

Monroe contemplated sending

the "Ontario"

to the Columbia river to assert publicly our claim of national sovereignty he directed that John Jacob Astor of New York,

be informed of the plan Mr. Astor was the leading fur trade merchant in America. In England in 1822, when, following the coalition with the "Northwesters," the Hudson's Bay Company contemplated the expansion of operations on the Pacific

Coast the ear of the Foreign Secretary was sought to urge some permanent arrangement be made as to British auThus we thority over the Northwest Coast of America. find that it was the prime beaver skin of the Columbia

that

river basin in its abundance which attracted the attention of both England and America to Oregon; the symbol of the pound sterling and American dollar preceded both the flag in both discovery, and exploitation. And the interests involved also undoubtedly occacommercial purely

and the cross

sioned the delay in final determination of the dispute by means of the treaties of joint policy.