No. 42.
Mr. McLane to Mr. Buchanan.
Sir: * * * * * * * *
In my last dispatch, dated on the 3d instant, after an interview with Lord Aberdeen, I informed you that as soon as he received official intelligence of the Senate’s vote upon the resolution of notice, he would proceed finally to consider the subject of Oregon, and direct Mr. Pakenham to submit a further proposition upon the part of this government; and also that it was understood that [Page 50] he would not be prevented from taking this course by any disagreement between the two Houses as to the form of the notice.Mr. McLane and Lord Aberdeen discuss the Oregon question.
I have now to acquaint you that, after the receipt of your dispatches on the 15th instant by the Caledonia, I had a lengthened conference with Lord Aberdeen; on which occasion the resumption of the negotiation for an amicable settlement of the Oregon question, and the nature of the proposition he contemplated *submitting for that purpose, formed the subject of a full and free conversation. I have now to state that instructions will be transmitted to Mr. Pakenham by the steamer of to-morrow, to submit a new and further proposition on the part of this government for a partition of the territory in dispute.[47]
The proposition, most probably, will offer substantially—
First. To divide the territory by the extension of the line on the parallel of forty-nine to the sea—that is to say, to the arm of the sea called Birch’s Bay; thence by the Canal de Haro and Straits of Fuca to the ocean, and confirming to the United States—what indeed they would possess without any special confirmation—the right freely to use and navigate the strait throughout its extent.The British government will offer to divide the territory by the parallel of 49°, Birch’s Bay, Canal de Haro, and Fuca’s Straits.
Second. To secure to the British subjects occupying lands, forts, and stations anywhere in the region north of the Columbia and south of the forty-ninth parallel, a perpetual title to all their lands and stations of which they may be in actual occupation; liable, however, in all respects, as I understand, to the jurisdiction and sovereignty of the United States as citizens of the United States. Similar privileges will be offered to be extended to citizens of the United States, who may have settlements north of the forty-ninth parallel; though I presume it is pretty well understood that there are no settlements upon which this nominal mutuality could operate. I have no means of accurately ascertaining the extent of the present British settlements between the Columbia and the forty-ninth parallel. They are not believed by Lord Aberdeen to be numerous, however, consisting, as he supposes, of a few private farms and two or three forts and stations. I have already, in a previous dispatch, taken the liberty to remind you that by their charter the Hudson’s Bay Company are prohibited from acquiring title to lands, and that the occupations to be affected by this reservation have been made either by the squatters of that company, or by the Puget’s Sound Land Company, for the purpose of evading the prohibition of the Hudson’s Bay charter.
They are, in point of fact, also, according to Captain Wilkes’s account, cultivated and used chiefly by the persons employed in the service of the former company, and as auxiliary to their general business of hunting and trapping, rather than with a view, as it has been generally supposed, of colonizing or of permanent settlement.
*Lastly. The proposition will demand for the Hudson’s Bay Company the right of freely navigating the Columbia River.[48]
It will however, as I understand, disclaim the idea of sovereignty or of the right of exercising any jurisdiction or police whatever on the part of this government or of the company, and will contemplated only the right of navigation the river upon the same footing and according to the same regulations as may be applicable to the citizens of the United States. * * * *
It is scarcely necessary for me to state that the proposition as now submitted has not received my countenance.
Although it has been no easy task, under all the circumstances, to [Page 51] lead to a re-opening of the negotiations by any proposition from this government, and to induce it to adopt the parallel of forty-nine as the basis of a boundary, nevertheless I hoped it would have been in my power to give the present proposition a less objectionable shape, and I most deeply lament my inability to accomplish it. I have, therefore, felt it my duty to discourage any expectation that it would be accepted by the President, or, if submitted to that body, approved by the Senate.
I do not think there can be much doubt, however, that an impression has been produced here that the Senate would accept the proposition now offered, at least without material modification, and that the President would not take the responsibility of rejecting it without consulting the Senate. * * * * *
It must not escape observation that, during the preceding administration or our Government, the extension of the line on the forty-ninth parallel to the Straits of Fuca, as now proposed by Lord Aberdeen, was actually suggested by my immediate predecessor, (Mr. Everett,) as one he thought his Government might accept. * * * * * * *The above proposed boundary-line is that suggested by Mr. Everett.
I have myself always believed, if the extension of the line of boundary on the forty-ninth parallel by the Straits of Fuca to the sea would be acceptable to our Government, that the demand of a right freely to navigate the Columbia River could be compromised upon a point of time, by conceding it for such period as might be necessary for the trade of the Hudson’s Bay Company, north or south of the forty-ninth parallel. * * * * *
*I have not the least reason to suppose it would be possible to obtain the extension of the forty-ninth parallel to the sea, so as to give the southern cape of Vancouver Island to the United States.[49]
* * * * * * *
Hon. James Buchanan, Secretary of State.