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Hall Jackson Kelley 13

with Mexico and South America, and with the Asiatic peoples demanded investigation, and the possibility of a practicable route overland invited attention. No less important was the question of title to the territory itself. Besides, there was the immediate, personal matter of a livelihood. As we have seen, Kelley became a master in the Boston public schools in 1818 and continued in that employment until 1823, when he left it not at his own desire. The prudent man when he finds himself out of one position, looks for another; not so Kelley, who now took up the matter of Oregon to the practical exclu- sion of lesser interests.

Meanwhile, events had been shaping themselves in such a manner as to emphasize the need for action. In 1818 by the joint-occupation treaty it was agreed that the disputed territory west of the Rocky mountains should be "free and open for the term of ten years" thereafter ; thus leaving the question of title unsettled while putting a premium upon early occupa- tk)n. By the Florida treaty, Spain in 1819 ceded' to the United States all claims to the Northwest country. Russia, however, in 1821 asserted a claim to lands in that territory as far south as the fifty-first parallel. Within the year, by act of parliament, the North- West company was merged with its great rival, the Hudson's Bay company, thus strengthening and consolidating British interests in that region. Already, December 19, 1820, the expediency of occupying the Columbia river had been brought to the attention of the house of representatives by John Floyd of Virginia, and a committee had been appointed to in- quire into the situation, but "more through courtesy to a respected member, than with any view to business results";* and the attitude of the succeeding congress was no more favor- able to positive action.

We have no means of knowing as to how familiar Kelley was with contemporaneous developments on the Columbia, or even with the proceedings of congress, but we may safely assume that he knew of Floyd's activity and of the disposition

5 6«nton, Thiriy Years* V^tw, I, ij.