No. 30.

Mr. Buchanan to Mr. Pakenham.

[Extract.]

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,

Washington, August 30, 1845.

Such a proposition as that which has been made never would have been authorized by the President had this been a new question.

Mr. Buchanan withdraws his offer.

Upon his accession to office he found the present negotiation pending. It had been instituted in the spirit and upon the principle of compromise. Its object, as avowed by the negotiators, was not to demand the whole territory in dispute for either country; but, in the language of

the first protocol, "to treat of the respective claims of the two. [33] countries to the Oregon territory, with a view to establish a permanent boundary between them westward of the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean."

Placed in this position, and considering that Presidents Monroe and Adams had, on former occasions, offered to divide the territory in dispute by the forty-ninth parallel of latitude, he felt it his duty not at once abruptly to arrest the negotiation, but so far to yield his own opinion as once more to make a similar offer.

Not only respect for the conduct of his predecessors, but a sincere and anxious desire to promote peace and harmony between the two countries, influenced him to pursue this course. The Oregon question presents the only intervening cloud which intercepts the prospect of a long career of mutual friendship and beneficial commerce between the two nations, and this cloud he desired to remove.

These are the reasons which actuated the President to offer a proposition so liberal to Great Britain.

And how has this proposition been received by the British plenipotentiary? It has been rejected without even a reference to his own gov ernment. Nay, more; the British plenipotentiary, to use his own language, "trusts that the American plenipotentiary will be prepared to offer some further proposal for the settlement of the Oregon question, more consistent with fairness and equity, and with the reasonable expectations of the British government."

Under such circumstances, the undersigned is instructed by the President to say that he owes it to his own country, and a just appreciation of her title to the Oregon territory, to withdraw the proposition to the British government which had been made under his direction; and it is hereby accordingly withdrawn.

In taking this necessary step, the President still cherishes the hope that this long pending controversy may yet be finally adjusted in such a manner as not to disturb the peace or interrupt the harmony now so happily subsisting between the two nations.

JAMES BUCHANAN.

Right Hon. RICHARD PAKENHAM, &c., &c., &c.

[34]

*No. 31.

Mr. McLane to Mr. Buchanan.

LONDON, October 3, 1845.

SIR: I received, on the 29th ultimo, your dispatch No. 9, dated the 13th September, transmitting a copy of your last note (30th August, 1845) to Mr. Pakenham, relative to the Oregon question.

Lord Aberdeen censures the rejection of the American proposition by Mr. Pakenham.

On the day following I was invited by Lord Aberdeen, in the note hereto appended, to an interview at his house in Argyll street, which I granted accordingly. The object of the interview, as I had anticipated, related exclusively to the posture in which the negotiations between the two governments had been placed by your note of the 30th August to Mr. Pakenham, and the withdrawal of the proposition which the President had previously directed.

Lord Aberdeen not only lamented but censured the rejection of our proposition by Mr. Pakenham, without referring it to his government. He stated that if Mr. Pakenham had communicated the American proposition to the government here, as he was expected to have done, he, Lord Aberdeen, would have taken it up as the basis of his action, and entertained little doubt that he would have been enabled to propose modifications which might ultimately have resulted in an adjustment mutually satisfactory to both governments.

*

*

*

I did not fail, however, to take the occasion to press upon Lord Aberdeen the great difficulties with which, in the present state of public sentiment in the United States, the President could concede even that which he had done in the position he had authorized.

*

It was quite obvious to me that Lord Aberdeen had become convinced in his own mind, though in what way I do not pretend to conjecture, that the terms which it was his intention ultimately to propose or assent to would be accepted by the President, and that on this account he particularly regretted the interruption in the negotiation without affording an opportunity for that purpose.

SIR: Although it is well understood here that in the present posture of the Oregon question my connection with it must be in a great degree informal, the Earl of Aberdeen occasionally makes it a subject of conversation.

Lord Aberdeen would have taken Mr. Buchanan's offer as the basis of nego tiations.

At his request, I have recently had an interview with him, when he put in my hand, to read, two dispatches from Mr. Pakenham, one in explanation of his rejection without reference to his government of the President's proposition; the other containing a statement of his subsequent attempts to induce you to allow the President's proposition

*

to stand as the basis of further negotiation, or to have some assurance of the answer which a new proposition from the British government would receive. * * The principal object of Lord Aberdeen in seeking the interview, appeared to me to be to point out the embarrassment in which he thought the President's withdrawal of his proposition had placed this government. It was quite evident, indeed he expressly said, that he was not prepared to accept the President's proposition, but desired only to make it the basis of further negotiation and modified propositions from this government, which he would have done, notwithstanding the rejection of it by Mr. Pakenham, if it had not been withdrawn by direction of the President.

*

*

* Although I am quite sure that the Earl of Aberdeen has no idea at present of accepting the compromise contained in the President's proposition, it would not surprise me if an arrangement upon that basis should prove acceptable to large and important classes in this country, indeed complained of principally by the Hudson's Bay Company, and those in its interest.

That the ministry would find it difficult and hazardous to prefer war to such a settlement may well be imagined, although you may assume it to be certain that when war becomes inevitable it will receive the undivided support of the British people.

I believe the government and people here are quite prepared for the re-assertion in the message of the President's opinions expressed [36] in his inaugural address, and, perhaps, for a recommendation *by him to terminate the joint occupation in the manner provided by the existing treaty.

And I also think that unless the recommendation in the message should be such as to discourage further negotiation, and to manifest a determination to insist upon our whole right, they would not lead to any immediate measures upon the part of this government, or materially add to the embarrassment in which the relations between the two countries appear to be at present involved.

JAMES BUCHANAN, Esq.,

Secretary of State.

*

*

*

LOUIS MCLANE.

SIR: *

No. 33.

Mr. Bates to Mr. Sturgis.

[Private.]

LONDON, December 2, 1845.

Hudson Bay company prevent settle

ment. No American

will concede more

and Fuca's Straits.

Our relations with the United States.-When I last wrote to you on this subject, I gave you to understand that the negotiations were going well, but I soon after learned that there had been than the line of 49 a hitch at Washington, and a very awkward one it is, for the British government must now make the first move, and whether they will make that move remains to be seen. thing is consolatory, viz, that after the publication of Mr. Webster's speech here yesterday consols improved. The stock jobbers say that "the 490 is about right, and there can be no difficulty." That will be the

One

feelings of nine-tenths of the people of Great Britain; but this has been refused by so many ministers previously, that Lord Aberdeen may hesitate; the western members of Congress will rail, and the merchants will be kept in hot water another year. The Hudson Bay Company prevent a settlement, I have no doubt-they might have twenty years' occupation and the right of pre-emption to their lands under cultivation, and to become Americans or not at the expiration of the time, as they may choose, always conforming to any laws the United States may establish for the government of the territory. This, with the 49° to the [37] strait, giving Vancouver's Island to Great Britain, is *as much as any American, be he Bostonian or Carolinian, will, I think, consent to give up. If Great Britain is not satisfied with that, let them have war if they want it.

Hon. WM. STURGIS.

*

*

JOSHUA BATES.

No. 34.

Mr. McLane to Mr. Buchanan.

LONDON, February 3, 1846.

*

*

approved in England.

SIR: It will be perceived from the remarks of Lord John Russell, and Sir Robert Peel more particularly, that the observations I have Mr. Pakenham's heretofore made of the effect upon public opinion in this conduct strongly discountry of the President's proposition for compromise are fully confirmed, and that the rejection of the proposition by Mr. Pakenham, without sending it to his government, at least as the basis of negotiation, is strongly disapproved by both parties. I have reason to know, also, that there is an expectation with all classes here that this disapprobation should have its influence in disposing our Government to give a favorable and amicable reception to any future overtures which may be made for resuming the negotiation.

*

*

On the subsequent night, Friday, the 23d of January, the subject was again introduced to the notice of the House of Commons by Lord John Russell. He said:

Lord John Russell calls Mr. Pakenham's rejection of the Amer

ceeding.

It would appear that a proposition for a compromise had been made an offer a hasty profrom the President to Her Majesty's government, and he (Lord John Russell) conceived that that proposition had changed the state of the question. The proposition itself might be satisfactory or not satisfactory; but, having been made, it did appear to him to require a statement from those in authority in this country of the terms on which they would be satisfied to settle this question. That proposition, he understood, had not been received by Her Majesty's government, but had been declared to be wholly inadmissible by our minister in America. He (Lord John Russell) confessed he thought that was a hasty proceeding on the part of the representative of Her Majesty in the United States, but what he wished to ask was, whether the negotiations had recommenced or were going on.

Sir Robert Peel

On the subject of the Oregon territory, I have to state that a proposal was made by Mr. Buchanan, with the authority of the President of the United States, to Mr. Pakenham, and that the proposal so made suggested a division of the territory. Whether or not that proposal ought to have been accepted, I cannot say. Mr. Pakenham thought that the terms proposed were so little likely to be acceptable, that he did not feel

says that Mr. Pakenham ought Amere can offer to his gov

referred the

ernment.

himself warranted in transmitting the proposal to the government at home; and, on signifying this to Mr. Buchanan, the latter immediately stated that the proposal was withdrawn. This is the state of the negotiation at present, so far as I am informed, respecting the proposal submitted by Mr. Buchanan. I have the highest opinion of Mr. Pakenham; I have the greatest respect for his talents, and the greatest confidence in his judgment; yet, I must say, that it would have been better had he transmitted that proposal to the home government for their consideration, and if found in itself unsatisfactory, it might possibly have formed the foundation for a further proposal. [Hear!]

Sir Robert Peel for

We have no hesitation in announcing our sincere desire for the interests of this country, for the interests of the United States, and for the interests of the civilized world, in continuing to strain every effort which is consistent with national honor for the purpose of amicably terminating those disputes. [Hear!]

peaceable settle ment of the Oregon

question.

*

I think it would be the greatest misfortune if a contest about the Oregon between two such powers as England and the United States could not, by the exercise of moderation and good sense, be brought to a perfectly honorable and satisfactory conclusion. [Cheers.]

Mr. McLane re

government will ac

and the Straits of Fuca.

After these observations, I owe it more particularly to myself to state that, believing from the history of our previous negotiations ports that the British as to the Oregon question that it may now be settled upon eet the line of the basis of a compromise, and, with reference to interests which have grown up during the joint occupation of the territory, without a violation of any duty which a public man owes to the rights and honor of his country, I would not be unwilling, taking the President's proposition of the 12th July as a basis, to urge a final adjustment of the question according to that proposition, but conceding to the Hudson Bay Company a continuance of the privileges of joint oc

cupation, including the navigation of the Columbia, for a period [39] of seven or ten years longer; and I hope that *I may be allowed

to add that I would be willing to assume the responsibility of assenting to an adjustment by extending the boundary to the Pacific by the forty-ninth parallel and the Strait of Fuca with free ports to both nations, or by extending the free navigation of the Columbia River for a longer period, provided similar advantages upon the Saint Lawrence could thereby be secured to the United States.

I believe that upon one of these grounds, perhaps upon either, an adjustment may be concluded, and I have a strong conviction that the first indicated is entirely practicable.

I am, however, constrained at the same time to state, from all that has come to my knowledge here, that I have no reason to believe that more favorable terms than those I have above adverted to would under any circumstances be consented to by this government.

Hon. JAMES BUCHANAN,

*

LOUIS MCLANE.

Secretary of State.

No. 35.

Extract from the speech of Mr. Calhoun, of South Carolina, in the Senate,

The line of 49 the

March 16, 1846.

"The past history of the affair, the fact that it had been frequently offered by us substantially as an ultimatum, only line admissible. added to the fact that 490 was the boundary on this side of the Rocky Mountains, left no doubt on my mind that, if settled by compromise, it must be on that basis.”

*