modification that may be proposed on our part; but that he will, in such case, be instructed to refer the modification to his Government.

It is not to be disgnised that, since the President's annual message, and the public discussion that has subsequently taken place in the Senate, it will be difficult, if not impossible, to conduct the negotiation in its future stages without reference to the opinion of Senators, or free from speculation as to the degree of control they may exercise over the result. Whatever, therefore, might be prudent and regular in the ordinary course of things, I think it of the utmost importance, upon the present occasion, if the President should think proper to propose any modification of the offer to be made by Mr. Pakenham, that the modification should be understood as possessing the concurrence of the co-ordinate branch of the Treaty Power.

It is not easy to conjecture, with any certainty, the extent to which this Government might be induced to modify the proposition, even if they should be assured that the Senate, no less than the President, demanded it. It must not escape observation that, during the preceding administration of our Government, the extension of the line on the forty-ninth parallel to the Strait of Fuca, as now proposed by Lord Aberdeen, was actually suggested by my immediate predecessor as one he thought his Government might accept; and that, in regard to those English subjects who would be left within American jurisdiction by adopting that boundary, he considered that the provisions of Article II of Jay's Treaty as a precedent for a convenient mode of dealing with them. By Article II of Jay's Treaty, however, British subjects would not only be secured in the absolute title to all their lands and effects as fully as by Lord Aberdeen's proposition, but would be allowed the option to continue as British subjects, and without any allegiance to the Government of the United States; which, according to Lord Aberdeen's offer, as I understand it, they would not possess. In point of fact, therefore, the substantial points of the present offer, and those which may be expected to be regarded as most objectionable, are little more than the embodiment of the various offers or suggestions which, at different times, have, in some form or other, proceeded from our own negotiators.

I have myself always believed, if the extension of the line of boundary on the fortyninth parallel by the Strait of Fuca to the sea would be acceptable to our Government, that the demand of a right freely to navigate the Columbia River would 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. Entertaining great confidence in that opinion, and deeming it only reasonable, I confess that, from an early period, I have used every argument and persuasion in my power to reconcile Lord Aberdeen to such a limitation, and, although I am quite aware that, with a portion of the British public, an importance which it by no means deserves is attached to the navigation of the Columbia River, and in that of others it is undeservedly regarded as a point of pride, I have been disappointed by the pertinacity with which it has been, at so much risk, insisted upon. Feeling very sure, however, that the present offer is not made or intended as an ultimatum, I think it only reasonable to infer an expectation on the part of those who are offering it, not only that modifications may be suggested, but that they may be reasonably required. And therefore I still entertain the opinion, that although, from a variety of causes--in part, perhaps, from an expectation that in the United States this point may not be absolutely insisted upon, and in part from deference to interests and impressions at home-they could not be induced in the first instance to make an offer with such a qualification; yet, if the adjustment of the question should be found to depend upon this point only, they would yield the demand to the permanent navigation of the river, and be content to accept it for such a number of years as would afford all the substantial advantages to those interests they have particularly in view that could be reasonably desired. If the only question upon which the adjustment of the Oregon question depended should be whether the navigation of the Columbia River should be granted for a period sufficient to subserve all the purposes of British subjects within the disputed territory, or whether the right should be extended indefinitely to a particular class of British subjects, I must believe that no English statesman, in the face of his denial of a similar privilege to American citizens in regard to the St. Lawrence, would take the hazard upon this point alone of disturbing the peace of the world. Indeed, if the same Ministry from whom the present offer proceeds should continue masters of their own proposition by remaining in office until the qualification I am adverting to would have to be dealt with, I should feel entire confidence in the belief I have now expressed.

I regret to say, however, that I have not the least expectation that a less reser[xvi] vation than is proposed in favor of the occupants of land between the Colum

bia and the forty-ninth parallel would be assented to. I may repeat my conviction, founded upon all the discussions in which I have been engaged here, that in making partition of the Oregon Territory, the protection of those interests which have grown up during the joint occupation is regarded as an indispensable obligation on the score of honor, and as impossible to be neglected. I am quite sure that it was at one time in contemplation to insist upon the free navigation of the Columbia River for

British subjects and British commerce generally, and that it has been ultimately confined to the Hudson's Bay Company, after great resistance, and, in the end, most reluctantly. Being so confined, however, it would be only reasonable to limit the enjoyment of the right to a period beyond which the company might have no great object to use the river for the purposes of their trade. But the interests of the British subjects who have settled upon and are occupying lands north of the forty-ninth, are considered as permauent, and entitled, when passing under a new jurisdiction, to have their possession secured. This, at least, is the view taken of the subject by this Government, and not at all likely, in my opinion, to be changed.

I may add, too, that 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's Island to the United States.

It may not be amiss, before leaving this subject, to call your attention to the position of the present Ministry. The success of their measures respecting the proposed commercial relaxations is quite certain; and the Corn Bill, having now finally passed the House of Commons, may be expected, at no remote day, to pass the Lords by a majority no less decisive. From that time, however, the tie which has hitherto kept the Whig party in support of Sir Robert Peel will be dissolved; and the determination of the Protectionist party, who suppose themselves to have been betrayed, to drive him from office, has lost none of its vigor or power. Indeed, it is confidently reported, in quarters entitled to great respect, that they have even offered to the leader of the Whig party to select his own time, and that, when he is ready, they will be no less prepared to force Ministers to resign.

I have reason to know that, at present, Ministers themselves believe a change to be inevitable, and are considering only the mode and the time in which it will be most likely to happen. It will not be long, after the success of the measures for the repeal of the Corn Laws, before opportunities enough for the accomplishment of the object will occur. The Factory Bill, regulating the hours of labor, will afford one, and most probably that on which the change will take place. With a knowledge that the change, sooner or later, must be unavoidable, and that the offer has been made to the probable head of a new Ministry to select his own time, may it not be expected that, instead of waiting quietly to allow the Whig leader to select the time of coming in, the present Premier will rather select his own time and mode of going out, and, with his usual sagacity, so regulate his retirement as to leave as few obstacles as possible to his restoration to power? In that case it is not very unlikely he would prefer going out upon the Factory Bill, before taking ground upon more important measures; and, if so, it will not surprise me to witness the coming in of a new Ministry by the end of June, or earlier. With a knowledge of the proposition now to be made, I am not prepared to say that one more objectionable might have been apprehended from a Whig Ministry; unless, indeed, the present Goverument may be supposed to be prepared to accept qualifications, when proposed by the President, which it was unwilling at first to offer. Upon that supposition, it might be desirable that the modifications should be offered before the coming in of a new Minister, who, finding only the acts of his predecessor, without a knowledge of his intentions, might not be so ready to take the responsibility of assenting to a change.1

I have, &c.,

*

LOUIS MACLANE.

The following was Mr. Pakenham's report after receiving Lord Aberdeen's dispatches of 18th May:

[No. 68.]

WASHINGTON, June 7, 1846.

MY LORD: Her Majesty's Government will necessarily be anxious to hear as soon as possible the result of my first communications with the United States Government, in pursuance with your Lordship's instructions of the 18th of May, on the subject of Oregon. [xvii] *I accordingly take advantage of the departure of the Great Britain steamship to acquaint your Lordship that I had yesterday morning a conference, by appointment, with Mr. Buchanan, when the negotiation for the settlement of the Oregon Question was formally resumed.

As the best explanation which I could offer of the motives which had induced Her Majesty's Government to instruct me to make a fresh, and, as your Lordship hoped, a final, proposition for the solution of these long-existing difficulties, I read to Mr. Buchanan an extract from your Lordship's dispatch No. 18, beginning with the words, "In this state of affairs, it is a matter of some anxiety and doubt what steps," &c., to the end of the dispatch. It seemed to me that there was nothing in the observations

The last three paragraphs of this letter are omitted here. They have no relation to the question before the Arbitrator, and they have not (as far as Her Majesty's Government know) been published by the United States Government.

contained in this part of your Lordship's instructions which might not be advantageously made known to the American Government.

Your Lordship's language appeared to make a good deal of impression upon Mr. Buchanan. After I read to him the extract which I had prepared from the dispatch, he requested to be allowed to read it over himself, in my presence, with which request I of course complied. I thought it best not to leave a copy of it in his hands, having in view the possible, although not probable, failure of the negotiation which might render it desirable to deliver to him a copy at length of the dispatch, with a view to its ultimate publication.

I then laid before him a copy of the draught of a Convention which accompanied your Lordship's dispatch No. 19, which Mr. Buchanan said he would immediately submit to the President for his consideration. A minute of what passed between us was then drawn up and signed, with the draught of the proposed Convention formally annexed to it.

Mr. Buchanan frankly told me that, in his opinion, the only part of the proposed arrangement likely to occasion any serious difficulty, was that relating to the navigation of the Columbia, for he said that the strongest objection existed to granting the perpetual freedom of the navigation of that river. I did not fail to point out to him the great difference which existed between a perpetual and general freedom of navigation, and the qualified right of navigation contemplated in your Lordship's proposition. He admitted the force of my observations in this sense, but I collect, from what fell from him on this point, that an attempt will be made to limit the proposed concession to the duration to the existing charter of the Hudson's Bay Company.

At 4 o'clock yesterday evening I again met Mr. Buchanan, by appointment, when he told me that the President had come to the determination to submit our whole proposition to the Senate for their advice, and that it would accordingly be sent to the Senate at an early day with a Message, which Message might, and probably would, suggest some modifications of it. What these modifications might be, Mr. Buchanan said, had not yet been determined; but I imagine they will not involve anything essentially hostile to the adoption of the proposed arrangement, or which may not be overcome by friendly negotiation and explanation between the two Governments.

As relates to the Senate, my Lord, when we consider the moderate and conciliatory spirit in which the entire question of Oregon has been treated by a large majority of that body since the opening of the present session of Congress, I think it may be fairly expected that their advice to the President on the reference which is about to be made to them will rather favor than impede an early and satisfactory termination of the Oregon difficulties.

I should add that, in addition to what Mr. Buchanan said about the navigation of the Columbia, he gave it as his opinion that it would be necessary, and even advisable, with the view to avoid future misunderstanding, to define, or provide for the early definition of, the limits of the farms and lands now in the occupation of the Puget Sound Agricultural Company, and which it is proposed shall be confirmed to the Association in perpetuity. To such a proviso, if conceived in a spirit of liberality and fairness, I imagine that Her Majesty's Government will have no objection. But upon this point, as well as what relates to the navigation of the Columbia, I will act with due caution, and, to the best of my humble judgment and ability, in conformity with the spirit and intention of your Lordship's instructions, as set forth in your Lordship's dispatch No. 19.

I have, &c.,

R. PAKENHAM.

On the 10th of June, the President of the United States sent this Message to the Senate:

I lay before the Senate a proposal, in the form of a Convention, presented to the Secretary of State on the 6th instant, by the Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of Her Britannic Majesty, for the adjustment of the Oregon ques[xviii] tion, together with a protocol of this proceeding. I submit this proposal to

the consideration of the Senate, and request their advice as to the action which, in their judgment, it may be proper to take in reference to it.

In the early periods of the Government, the opinion and advice of the Senate were often taken in advance upon important questions of our foreign policy. General Washington repeatedly consulted the Senate, and asked their previous advice upon pending negotiations with foreign Powers; and the Senate in every instance responded to this call by giving their advice, to which he always conformed his action. This practice, though rarely resorted to in latter times, was, in my judgment, eminently wise, and may, on occasions of great importance, be properly revived. The Senate are a branch of the Treaty-making Power; and by consulting them in advance of his own action upon important measures of foreign policy which may ultimately come before them for their consideration, the President secures harmony of action between that

body and himself. The Senate are, moreover, a branch of the war-making Power, and it may be eminently proper for the Executive to take the opinion and advice of that body in advance upon any great question which may involve in its decision the issue of peace or war. On the present occasion, the magnitude of the subject would induce me under any circumstances to desire the previous advice of the Senate; and that desire is increased by the recent debates and proceedings in Congress, which render it, in my judgment, not only respectful to the Senate, but necessary and proper, if not indispensable, to insure harmonious action between that body and the Executive. In conferring on the Executive the authority to give the notice for the abrogation of the Convention of 1827, the Senate acted publicly so large a part, that a decision on the proposal now made by the British Government, without a definite knowledge of the views of that body in reference to it, might render the question still more complicated and difficult of adjustment. For these reasons I invite the consideration of the Senate to the proposal of the British Government for the settlement of the Oregon question, and ask their advice on the subject.

My opinions and my action on the Oregon question were'fully made known to Congress in my annual Message of the 2d of December last; and the opinions therein expressed remain unchanged.

Should the Senate, by the constitutional majority required for the ratification of Treaties, advise the acceptance of this proposition, or advise it with such modifications as they may, upon full deliberation, deem proper, I shall conform my action to their advice. Should the Senate, however, decline by such constitutional majority to give such advice, or to express an opiuion on the subject, I shall consider it my duty to reject the offer.

I also communicate herewith an extract from a dispatch of the Secretary of State to the Minister of the United States at London, under date of the 28th of April last, directing him, in accordance with the joint resolution of Congress "concerning the Oregon Territory," to deliver the notice to the British Government for the abrogation of the Convention of the 6th of August, 1827 ; and also a copy of the notice transmitted to him for that purpose, together with extracts from a dispatch of that Minister to the Secretary of State, bearing date on the 18th day of May last.

WASHINGTON, June 10, 1846.

JAMES K. POLK.

On the same day the President's Message was considered, and a motion that the Message and documents communicated therewith be referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations was negatived, as was also a motion to postpone the further consideration thereof until 15th June.

On the two next following days the consideration of the Message was continued, and an amendment proposing the addition of a proviso to Article II was moved; but ultimately it was resolved on a division, by 38 votes to 12, that the President should be advised to accept the proposal of the British Government.

On 13th June Mr. Pakenham reported to his Government as follows: No. 77.] WASHINGTON, June 13, 1846. MY LORD: In conformity with what I had the honor to state in my dispatch No. 68, of the 7th instant, the President sent a Message on Wednesday last to the Senate sub

mitting for the opinion of that body the draught of a Convention for the settle[xix] ment of the Oregon question, which I was instructed by your Lordship's dispatch

No. 19, of the 18th of May, to propose for the acceptance of the United States. After a few hours' deliberation on each of the three days, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, the Senate, by a majority of 33 votes to 12, adopted, yesterday evening, a resolution advising the President to accept the terms proposed by Her Majesty's Government. The President did not hesitate to act on this advice, and Mr. Buchanan accordingly sent for me this morning, and informed me that the conditions offered by Her Majesty's Government were accepted by the Government of the United States, without the addition or alteration of a single word.

At the beginning of our conversation, Mr. Buchanan observed to me that the privilege of navigating the Columbia River, which, by the second Article of the Convention, is secured to the Hudson's Bay Company, and to British subjects trading with the same, was understood by the Senate to be limited to the duration of the license under which the Company now carry on their operations in the country west of the Rocky Mountains; to which I replied, that the Article proposed by Her Majesty's Government spoke for itself; that any alteration from the precise wording of that Article which

the United States Government might wish to introduce would involve the necessity of a reference to England, and consequently, to say the least of it, some delay in the termination of the business. This, he seemed to think, under all the circumstances of the case, had better be avoided, and it was finally agreed that fair copies of the Convention should be prepared, and the signature take place on Monday next.1

On Tuesday, probably, the Convention will be submitted to the Senate, where its approval may now be considered as a matter of course, so that the Treaty, with the President's ratification, may be forwarded to England by the Great Western steampacket, appointed to sail from New York on the 25th of this month.

I have, &c.,

R. PAKENHAM.

On 16th June a further Message was sent by the President to the Senate, stating that, in accordance with the resolution of the Senate, a Convention was concluded and signed on 15th June, and that Convention he then laid before the Senate for their consideration, with a view to its ratification.

On the same day and the two next following days the Message was before the Senate. Mr. Benton's speech was made on the 18th. Ultimately, on a division, by a majority of 41 votes to 14, it was resolved that the Senate advised and consented to the ratification of the Treaty. Mr. Pakenham then further reported as follows:

No. 79.]

WASHINGTON, June 23, 1846.

MY LORD: I have the honor herewith to transmit a Convention for the settlement of the Oregon Boundary, which was signed by the United States Secretary of State and myself, on Monday, the 15th of this month. The terms of this Convention, it will be seen, are in the strictest conformity with your Lordship's late instructions.

On Tuesday, the 16th, the Convention was communicated to the Senate, and on Thursday, the 18th, it received the approval of that body by a vote of 41 to 14.

The American counterpart of the Convention, with the President's ratification of it. is forwarded to London by a special messenger, to whose care, with Mr. Buchanan's permission, I commit the present dispatch.

I have, &c.,

R. PAKENHAM.

Lord Aberdeen's dispatch, in answer to Mr. Pakenham's of 13th June, was as follows. It is the document which proves that Mr. MacLane had seen the project of the Treaty :

[xx]

*No. 30.]

FOREIGN OFFICE, June 29, 1846.-P. S. July 1, 1846.

SIR: Her Majesty's Government have received this day, with the greatest satisfaction, your dispatch No. 77, of the 13th instant, in which you announce the acceptance by the Senate of the dranght of Treaty for the settlement of the Oregon question, which was conveyed to you in my dispatch No. 19, of the 18th of May, and also the intention of the President to proceed forthwith to the completion of the proposed Convention.

In your dispatch you state that Mr. Buchanan had observed to you that the privilege of navigating the Columbia River, which, by the second Article of the Convention, is secured to the Hudson's Bay Company, and to British subjects trading with the same, was understood by the Senate to be limited to the duration of the license under which the Company now carry on their operations in the country west of the Rocky Mountains; to which observation you very properly replied that the Article proposed by Her Majesty's Government spoke for itself.

Nothing, in fact, can well be clearer than the language of that Article. In drawing it up I had not the smallest intention of restricting the British right to navigate the Columbia in the manner supposed, nor can I comprehend how such a supposition could have been entertained by the Senate, for I have reason to know that Mr. MacLane fully and faithfully reported to his Government all that passed between himself and me respecting the navigation of the Columbia. In every conversation that we held on the subject of the proposed Treaty, I not only declared to Mr. MacLane that we must insist on the permanent right being secured to us to navigate the Columbia, but I even showed him the project of the Treaty, and, on his expressing an apprehension that the provision contained in the second Article would not be accepted unless the right of navigation were limited to a term of years, I positively declined to accede to this suggestion.

1Appendix No. 5.