Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 18 Part 2c.djvu/353

 346 PUBLIC TREATIES. GREAT BRITAIN, 1863. r · ‘ B ‘ ‘ ‘ I OF AMERICA AND HER BRITAN- -JEYIKEE;-3L-— T1h'1I<lTMA1?1E:'[s!I‘vil: ¥CI'l}¥Hl·iN{¤1i§A:A)LSi8`I`?$l‘rlI2IiEA1EN'r OF THE CLAIMS QF THE HUDSON’S BAY AND PUGEPS SOUND AGRICULTURAL COMI Al\lLS, LON- CLUDED AT WASHINGTON JULY 1, 181:1; RATIL ICATION ADI IS‘l;D BT sENA’1‘1~1 JANUARY Is, 1864; RATIFIHD BY PRESIDEN1 MARCH J, 1864, RATIFICATIONS EXCIIANCED AT WASHINGIOIN MARCH .s, 1864, PRO- CLAIMED MARCH 6, 1864. . C··¤¤l¤‘¤¤¤¤¤s Im- The United States of America and Her `Majesty the Queen of the ll"- United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. being desirous to provide l$°° A-"“°l°° HI lor the iinal settlement; of the claims of the Hudson’s Bay and l"uget’s wg,Q{°fty °f Sound Agricultural Companies, specified in Articles III and IV of the ’ p` ° treaty concluded between the United States of America and Great Britain on the 15th of June, 1846, have resolved to_conclude a treaty for this purpose, and have named as their Plenipotentiaries, that iswto say: N,,,;,,;,;,,;,,,,-,_ The President of the United States of America, Vhlham H. Seward, Secretary of State; and Her Majesty the Queen of the_Un1ted Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Right Honorable Richard Bickerton Pemell, Lord Lyons, a peer of her United Kingdom, a Knight Grand Cross of her most honorable Order of the Bath, and her Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the United States of America; Who, after having communicated to each other their respective full powers, found in good and due form, have agreed upon and concluded the following articles: Anrrcnn I. Preamble- Whereas by the IIId and IVth articles of the treatyconcluded at Washington on the 15th day of June, 1846, between the United States ot' America and Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, it was stipulated and agreed that in the future appropriation of the territory south of the 49th parallel of northlatitude, as provided in the nrst article of the said treaty, the possessory rights of the Hudson’s Bay Company, and of all British subjects who may be already in the occupation of land or other property lawfully acquired within the said territory, should be respected, and that the farms, lands, and other property of every description, belonging to the Puget’s Sound Agricultural Company, on the north side of the Columbia River, should be confirmed to the said company, but that in case the situation of those farms and lands should be considered by the United States to be of public and political importance, and the United States Government should signify a desire to obtain possession of the whole or of any part thereof, the property so required should be transferred to' the said Government at a proper valuation to be agreed upon between the parties; And whereas it isdesirable that all questions between the United States authorities on the one hand, and the Hudson’s Bay and Puget’s Sound Agricultural Companies on the other, with respect to the possessory rights and claims of those companies, and of any other British subjects in Oregon and Washington Territory, should be settled by the transfer of those rights and claims to the Government of the United States for an adequate money consideration: Commissmmto It is hereby agreed that the United States of America and Her Briexemine claims. tannic Majesty shall, within twelve months after the exchange of the ratifications of the present treaty, appoint each a Commissioner for the purpose of examining and deciding upon all claims arising out of the provisions of the above quoted articles of the treaty of June 15, 1846. Anrromn II. Meeting and The Commissioners mentioned in the preceding article shall, at the q u ali ncntwn c f earliest convenient period after they shall have been respectively named, - °°"“'“°“’°”°"- meet at the city of Washington, in the I)istrict of Columbia, and shall, before proceeding to any business, make and subscribe a solemn declara-