1814. had, therefore, merely to close the concerns of the former association in that part of America, and to receive the bills given in payment for its effects. Having done this, he re-embarked in the Pedlar; and, taking with him three of his former companions in trade, he sailed for the United States, by way of Canton. Of the other persons who had been connected with this enterprise, some engaged in the service of the Northwest Company, and some returned across the continent to the United States.

Such was the termination of the Astoria enterprise, for no attempt has been since made by the Pacific Company, or by any of its members, to form a trading establishment on the northwest coast of America. The scheme was most wisely projected, and its failure can scarcely be attributed to any circumstances, the occurrence of which might have been anticipated when its execution was begun. That ships might be lost at sea, and that the adventurers might suffer from cold, or hunger, or the attacks of savages-casualties such as those were to be expected, and provision was made against them; but in 1810, when the Tonquin sailed from New York, no one anticipated that before the end of two years the United States would have been at war with the most powerful maritime nation in the world. The war traversed every part of the plan. Communications between the ports of the United States and the Columbia by sea, were rendered difficult and uncertain; while those by land were of little advantage, and were liable to interruption by the Northwest Company; besides which, the furs could no longer be transported with safety to Canton. Moreover, all the most active and skilful persons in the employment of the Pacific Company, except Mr. Hunt, were British subjects, whose feelings of attachment for their native land and its cause naturally rendered them discontented, when they were thus placed, in a manner, consicuously among the ranks of its enemies. If Mr. Astor may be considered as having acted imprudently in any part of his arrangement, it was certainly in engaging so large a proportion of persons unconnected with the United States by birth, citizenship, or feelings, in the formation of establishments which were so essentially American in character and objects. That those establishments' should have fallen, must be a subject of regret to every American, as there can be little if any doubt that, had they been maintained until the termination of the war, the enterprise would have succeeded, and the whole region drained by the Columbia would now be in the quiet and undisputed possession of the people of the United States.

CHAPTER IX.

Restoration of the settlement at the mouth of the Columbia to the United States, agreeably to the treaty of Ghent, and subsequent assertions of the British Government with regard to that act-Convention of October, 1818, between Great Britain and the United States, relative to the countries west of the Rocky Mountains— Florida treaty between Spain and the United States, concluded in 1819-Remarks on the convention of 1790-Proceedings in the Congress of the United States relative to the northwest coasts, in the year 1820 and in subsequent years-Measures adopted by Great Britain with regard to those territòries, in 1821-Act of Parliament establishing jurisdiction of British courts throughout the Indian countries of North America-Coalition of the Hudson's Bay and the Northwest Companies-Decree of the Russian Emperor in 1821, and negotiations between the Governments of the United States, Great Britain, and Russia, for the settlement of their several claims-Conventions of 1824 between Russia and the United States, and of 1825 between Russia and Great Britain-Renewal, in 1827, of the convention of 1818 between Great Britain and the United States-Negotiation between the American and the Russian Governments relative to the renewal of the fourth article of the convention of 1824.

THE capture of Aia was not known to the plenipotentiaries 1814. of the United Stat Ghent, when they signed the treaty of December 24, 1814. That treaty contained no allusion to boundaries west of the Lake of the Woods; the subject, however, had been discussed during the negotiation, and the American ministers were instructed by their Government to consent to no claim on the part of Great Britain to the post at the mouth of the Columbia, or to any other territory south of the line forming the northern boundary of the United States, which was considered as running along the 49th parallel of latitude. The representatives of the Republic at Ghent accordingly proposed that the said parallel should form the dividing-line between the British territories on the north and those of the United States on the south, to the westward of the Lake of the Woods, "as far as the said respective territories extend in that quarter: Provided, That nothing in the present article shall be construed to extend to the northwest coast of America, or to the territories belonging to, or claimed by, either party on the continent of America, to the westward of the Stoney Mountains." The British accepted the proposition; but they insisted on adding to it a stipulation, that their subjects should at all times have access through the territories of the United States to the Mississippi, and the right of navigating that river; which being rejected by the Americans, the subject of boundaries west of the Lake of the Woods was dropped.

*By the first article of the treaty of Ghent, it was nevertheless agreed, "that all territory, places, and possessions whatsoever,

* See President Monroe's message to Congress of April 11, 1815, with the documents annexed; also, the statement presented by the British ministers at London to Mr. Gallatin, on the 26th of December, 1826, among the documents accompanying President Adams's message to the House of Representatives of March 15, 1828.

1815. taken by either party from the other during or after the war," except certain islands in the Atlantic claimed by both, "should be restored without delay;" and Mr. Monroe, then Secretary of State of the United States, accordingly announced to the British chargé d'affaires at Washington, in July, 1815, the intention of the President to cause the post at the mouth of the Columbia to be reoccupied immediately. No measure for that purpose was, how1817. ever, taken until the latter part of 1817, when Mr. J. B. Prevost and Captain J. Biddle, the commander of the sloop of war Ontario, were jointly commissioned to proceed to the mouth of the Columbia, and there to assert the claim of the United States to the sovereignty of the country, in a friendly and peaceful man-ner, and without the employment of force. Mr. Astor had, in the mean time, made several applications to the Government for its aid towards the re-establishment of his factories in that quarter; and it was chiefly in consequence of his solicitations that these measures were adopted.

The Ontario sailed from New York for the Pacific on the 4th of October, 1817, under the command of Captain Biddle, carrying out also the other commissioner, Mr. Prevost. In the following month Mr. Bagot, the British envoy at Washington, addressed to the Secretary of State some inquiries reting the destination of that ship, and the objects of her voyand having been informed on those points, he, in a succeeding communication, reNov. 26. monstrated against any attempt by the United States to occupy the country adjacent to the Columbia, contending that the whole region belonged to Great Britain, "having been early taken possession of in his Majesty's name, and been ever since considered as part of his Majesty's dominions ;" and that the establishment there made by American citizens had been voluntarily abandoned, "under an agreement with the Northwest Company, which had purchased their effects, and had ever since retained peaceable possession of the coast."

1818. As soon as the news of the departure of the Ontario and of the objects of her voyage reached London, Lord Bathurst, the British Secretary for the Colonial Department, despatched an order to the agents of the Northwest Company at the mouth of the Columbia, directing them to give due facility for the re-occupation of that Jan. 26. settlement by the officers of the United States, in pursuance of the first article of the treaty of Ghent; and a similar order wassent from the Admiralty to the commander of the British naval Feb. 1. forces in the Pacific. About the same time, Lord Castlereagh proposed to Mr. Rush, the American envoy at London, that the question respecting the possession of the post on the Columbia should be referred to commissioners. To this Mr. Rush objected, on the simple grounds that the spot was in the possession of the United States before the war, and that it fell by belligerent capture into the hands of Great Britain during the war; which facts being notorious, there could be no doubt that it should be restored agreeably to the treaty. Lord Castlereagh, upon this, admitted the full right of the Americans to be reinstated, and to be the party in possession while treating of the title; although he

expressed his regret at the manner adopted by the United States _1818. to obtain the restitution, which he feared might occasion some dif- February. ficulty. Mr. Rush assured him that the intentions of the American Government were in every respect amicable, and that particular care had been taken to avoid all cause of ill feeling.

* The Ontario entered the Pacific early in 1818; and it was agreed between the two commissioners, that Captain Biddle should proceed in her to the Columbia, and take possession of the territory, while Mr. Prevost should remain in Chili to attend to some other business. Conformably with this arrangement, Biddle sailed to the Columbia, which he entered in August; and on the 19th of that month he, without any opposition, displayed the flag of the United States, and asserted their claims to the river and the surrounding territory; after which ceremonies, he returned to the South Pacific.

In the mean time Commodore Bowles, commanding the British naval forces in the river of La Plata, received an order from his Government to aid in the surrender of the post on the Columbia to any American officer who might be commissioned to receive it. This order was transmitted, with directions to see it July. executed, to Captain Sheriff, the senior officer of the British ships in the Pacific, who detached Captain F. Hickey in the frigate Blossom for that purpose; and the latter gentleman, meeting Mr. Prevost at Valparaiso, offered him a passage to the northwest coast, with the object of effecting the proposed transfer. The American commissioner accepted the offer, and embarked in the Blossom in August. On the 1st of October the ship entered the Columbia; and on the 6th, the settlement of Fort George, or Astoria, was surrendered to Mr. Prevost, in due form, by Captain Hickey, and James Keith, the superintendent for the Northwest Company at this place.

That no reservation of rights on the part of Great Britain was made on this occasion, the following copies of the acts of delivery and acceptance, the only documents which passed, will fully show. The act of delivery is as follows:

"In obedience to the commands of his Royal Highness the Prince Regent, signified in a despatch from the right honorable the Earl Bathurst, addressed to the partners or agents of the Northwest Company, bearing date the 27th of January, 1818, and in obedience to a subsequent order, dated the 26th of July, from W. H. Sheriff, Esq., captain of his Majesty's ship Andromache, we, the undersigned, do, in conformity to the first article of the treaty of Ghent, restore to the Government of the United States, through its agent, J. B. Prevost, Esq., the settlement of Fort George, on the Columbia River. Given under our hands, in triplicate, at Fort George, (Columbia River,) this 6th day of October, 1818.-F. HICKEY, Captain of his Majesty's ship Blossom.

J. KEITH, of the Northwest Company."

The following account of the restoration of the settlement at the mouth of the Columbia to the United States, is taken from Mr. Prevost's letter to the Secretary of State, written from Monterey, November 11, 1818, and published with President Monroe's message to Congress of April 17, 1822.

1818.

To which Mr. Prevost returned this acceptance?

"I do hereby acknowledge to have this day received, in behalf of the Government of the United States, the possession of the settlement designated above, in conformity to the first article of the treaty of Ghent. Given under my hand, in triplicate, at Fort George, (Columbia River,) this 6th of October, 1818.

"J. B. PREVOST, Agent for the United States."

It was nevertheless maintained by the British plenipotentiaries at London, in 1826, during the negotiation between their Government and that of the United States relative to the northwest territories that the restitution of Astoria could not have been demanded as a right by the Americans, agreeably to the treaty of Ghent, because the place was not a national possession, nor a military post, and it was not taken during war; but that, in order to prevent any imputation on the good faith of Great Britain, the most liberal extension had been given to the terms of the treaty; and, in 1818, the purchase which the British company had made in 1813, was restored to the United States; but that particular care was taken, on the occasion of this restitution, to prevent any misapprehension as to the extent of the concession. Whether or not Astoria were a national possession, according to the rules of civilized nations in general, it is unnecessary to inquire, as there can be no doubt that it was such, agreeably to the principles always supported by Great Britain. In proof of this, nothing more is necessary than to repeat, that the chief cause of the dispute between that Power and Spain, in 1790, was the occupation by Spain of a territory on the northwest coast, which was supposed to have previously become the property of British subjects. Whether the establishment of the Columbia were a military post, or not, was of no consequence, as the treaty provided for the restoration of "all territory, places, and possessions, whatever, taken by either party from the other during the war ;" and that the said establishment was so taken by the British from the Americans, has been already sufficiently shown. The flag of the United States was flying over the fort at Astoria, on the 12th of December, 1813, when the British ship Raccoon appeared in the Columbia; and it was hauled down by the commander of that vessel, after the surrender of the place by the chief agent, McDougall. The sale of the effects of the Pacific Fur Company to the British traders, at a moment when an overpowering force was daily expected, cannot be, in justice, regarded in any other light than as a capitulation, such as are frequently made during war, for the purpose of preserving lives or property, which might otherwise be destroyed. Circumstances precisely similar might have occurred, if Astoria had been situated in Virginia or Maine; but would the British have been thereby justified in retaining the sovereignty of the place?

In proof of the assertion that particular care had been taken on the occasion of this restitution to prevent any misapprehension as to the extent of the concession made by Great Britain," the British plenipotentiaries cited-first, a despatch from Lord Castle