No. 21.
Sir E. Thornton to Mr. Fish.
Sir: In compliance with an instruction which I have received from Earl Granville, I have the honor to inform you that on the 7th and 8th instant His Lordship caused letters to be addressed to the Colonial Office and to the Admiralty, inclosing copies of the award of the Emperor of Germany on the San Juan WaterBoundary, and requesting that effect may be given to it with as little delay as possible by the withdrawal of the detachment of Royal Marines from the Island of San Juan, and the due notification of the award to the proper Colonial Authorities.Effect to be given to the award without delay.
In accordance with the tenor of these letters a copy of the award will be forwarded to the Governor-General of the Dominion of Canada and to the Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia, with a request that proper notification of it may be made and effect given to it.Measures to this end.
The Admiralty will also communicate a copy of the award, with as little delay as possible, to the Admiral in command of the Pacific Station or to the Chief Naval Officers at Vancouver’s Island, with the instructions that, in accordance therewith, the detachment of royal marines now stationed at the Island of San Juan should be at once withdrawn. The Admiral or Chief Naval Officer will also be requested to convey to the officer in command of the detachment, and to the men under his orders, the appreciation of Her Majesty’s Government of the harmonious manner in which the joint occupation has been conducted, which reflects the greatest credit on the officers and men of the occupying force of both countries.
Earl Granville has further instructed me to propose to the Government of the United States that the work of the Boundary Commission, which was interrupted in 1859, should be resumed and completed by the preparation of a map or chart showing the exact position of the boundary-line from the Gulf of Georgia through the Haro Channel to the ocean, under the Treaty of 1846 and the award of the Emperor of Germany.Boundary-line through the Haro Channel.
Her Majesty’s Government considers that, in compliance with the Thirty-fifth Article of the Treaty of Washington, this should be done with as little delay as possible in order to give effect to the Emperor’s award. It presumes that the surveys which have already been made will render it unnecessary for another commission to meet on the spot, but it leaves the details of the arrangement to be made for the completion of the work of the commission for further consideration.
I have, &c.,