cluyese su comision pensaba largarse, lo que verificó el dia 20, saliendo à la mar sin pasar por el Castillo pues lo ejecutó por el brazo de agua salada que va por dentro de este puerto à la Bahia de Buena Esperanza, que se halla 10 leg. al Nte de esta entrada de Noca, que tiene su entrada ó boca al mar sobre la misma costa, siendo toda ella una gran isla, como en el adjunto plano se manifiesta, del mismo modo que todo lo que se ha descubierto, pues para ello el espresado plano va en Carta Esférica y comprende solo desde la punta de Bosse hasta lo mas Sur del Estrecho, con todos los interiores de la costa que se han reconocido. No. 63. Extract from the Instructions to Commander George Vancouver, by the Commissioners for executing the office of Lord High Admiral of Great Britain and Ireland, &c. [Vancouver's Voyage, I. Introduction, page XXII.] Vancouver followed the lead of The particular course of the survey must depend on the different circumstances which may arise in the execution of a service of this nature; it is, however, proper that you should, and you Americans. His in are therefore hereby required and directed to pay a particular attention to the examination of the supposed Straits of Juan de structions. Fuca, said to be situated between 480 and 49° north latitude, [102] and to lead an opening through which the sloop Washington is reported to have passed in 1789, and to have come out again to the northward of Nootka. The discovery of a near communication between any such sea or strait, and any river running into or from the lake of the Woods, would be particularly useful. If you should fail of discovering any such inlet, as is above mentioned, to the southward of Cook's river, there is the greatest probability that it will be found that the said river rises in some of the lakes already known to the Canadian traders, and to the servants of the Hudson's bay company; which point it would, in that case, be material to ascertain; and you are, therefore, to endeavor to ascertain accordingly, with as much precision as the circumstances existing at the time may allow; but the discovery of any similar communication more to the southward (should any such exist) would be much more advantageous for the purposes of commerce, and should, therefore, be preferably attended to, and you are, therefore, to give it a preferable attention accordingly. No. 64. Extract of Voyage of Captain Vancouver. Soundings in some places only could be gained close to the shore; and in the middle no bottom had anywhere been found with 100 fathoms of line, although the shores were in general low, and not half a league asunder.-(Vol. 1, p. 240.) No soundings appear on Vancouver's map where the water is of great depth. As we stood to the westward, our depth soon increased to fifteen fathoms, after which we gained no bottom until we reached the western shore of the gulf.-(Vol. 1, p. 299.) No. 65. Extracts from the remarks of Mr. Daniel Webster in the Senate of the United States, March 30, 1846. The Government of the United States has never offered any line south of forty-nine, (with the navigation of the Columbia,) and it never will. It behooves all concerned to regard this as a settled point. [103] As to the navigation of the Columbia, permanently or for a *term of years, that is all matter for just, reasonable, and friendly negotiation. But the forty-ninth parallel must be regarded as the general line of boundary, and not to be departed from for any line further south. As to all straits, and sounds, and islands in the neighboring sea, all these are fair subjects for treaty stipulation. If the general basis be agreed to, all the rest, it may be presumed, may be accomplished by the exercise of a spirit of fairness and amity. What I meant, and what I said, was, that if 49° should be agreed on as a general basis, I was satisfied to negotiate about all the rest. But the gentleman from Ohio and the Senate will do me the justice to allow that I said, as plainly as I could speak or put down words in writing, that England must not expect anything south of 49°. I said so in so many words. * * No. 66. By Commander Four Years in British Columbia and Vancouver Island. The breadth of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, at its entrance between Cape Flattery, its southern point upon American territory, and Bonilla point in Vancouver Island, is thirteen miles. It narrows soon, however, to eleven miles, carrying this breadth in an east and northeast direction some fifty miles to the Race Islands.—(P. 20.) strait ends. At the Race Islands the Strait may be said to terminate, as it there Where Fuca's opens out into a large expanse of water, which forms a playground for the tides and currents, hitherto pent up among the islands in the comparatively narrow limits of the Gulf of Georgia, to frolic in.-(Pages 21, 22.) Facts and Figures relating to Vancouver Island and British Columbia. By J. Despard Pemberton, Surveyor-General of Vancouver Island. Lon don, 1860. Limited extent of Fuca's straits. Steaming for the first time eastward into the Straits of Juan de Fuca, the scene which presents itself to a stranger is exceedingly novel [104] and interesting. On his right hand is Washington *Territory, with its snowy mountain range stretching parallel to his course for sixty miles, flanked with Mount Ranier and culminating in the center with Mount Olympus. Of these mountains the base is in some places at the coast, in others many miles from it. This range is occasionally intersected with deep and gloomy valleys, of which the Valley of Angels is the gloomiest and most remarkable; and every suc cession of cloud and sunshine changes the panorama. On his left is Vancouver Island, in contrast looking low, although even there as late as June some specks of snow may be detected on distant mountain tops. Straight before him is the Gulf of Georgia, studded with innumerable islands.-(P. 8.) Victoria was selected by Governor Douglas, whose intimate acquaintance with every crevice in the coast ought to carry considerable weight, as "the site" in 1842, when he expressed his confidence "that there was no sea-port north of the Columbia, where so many advantages could be combined;" an opinion which was confirmed by Sir George Simpson in his dispatch of June 21, 1844, in which he states, "The situation of Victoria is peculiarly eligible, the country and climate remarkably fine, and the harbor excellent." And again: "June, 1846.-Fort Victoria promises to become a very important place.”—(P. 50.) No. 67. Extract from a letter of Sir J. Pelly, Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company, to the Lords of the Committee of Privy Council for Trade. HUDSON'S BAY HOUSE, February 7, 1838. Americans from the MY LORDS: For many years previous to the grant of exclusive trade to the Hudson's Bay Company, the trade of that coast was The Hudson's Bay engrossed by the subjects of the United States of America Company expel and Russia, the only establishment occupied by British fur-trade. traders being "Astoria," afterward named "Fort George," at the mouth of the Columbia River, while no attempt was made, through the means of shipping, to obtain any part of the trade of the coast; and so unprofitable was it in the years 1818, 1819, 1820, 1821, and 1822, and so difficult of management, that several of the leading and most intelligent [105] persons in the country strongly recommended that the Company should abandon it altogether. The Company, however, felt that the honor of the concern would, in a certain degree, be compromised were they to adopt that recommendation; holding as they did under Government the License in question, and with a degree of energy and enterprise which I feel assured your Lordships will admit reflects much credit on themselves and on their officers and servants in the country, they directed their efforts so vigorously to that branch of the business, that they compelled the American adventurers, one by one, to withdraw from the contest. The outlay and expense attending this competition in trade are so heavy that the profits are yet but in perspective, none worthy of notice having been realized, the result showing some years a trifling loss, and in others a small gain, fluctuating according to the degree of activity with which the contest is maintained. Affidavit of W. H. Gray. In a conversation had with Dr. John McLaughlin, while he was in charge of the affairs of the Hudson Bay Company, (time I cannot state, except I am confident it was before the news of the treaty of 1846 reached us,) Dr. McLaughlin said to me in relation to Captain N. Wyeth, who left this country in 1836, "That if he (Captain Wyeth) had not accepted his proposition for the purchase of his goods and Forts, the Company would have insisted on other means to get rid of his (Captain Wyeth's) competition in the fur trade." I have always understood this intimation to mean that the Company would insist upon letting loose their Indian or Aboriginal allies upon Captain Wyeth or any other American furtrader that might presume to compete with them in the fur trade, the same as I am fully satisfied they did in the case of a Mr. G. Smith, the partner of Sublit & Jackson, in 1828. The Indians were informed that in case they robbed or killed the Americans, the Company would not punish them or take any notice of it. Smith's party were, eleven of them, killed, his furs received by the company, who paid a nominal price for them, as per testimony of G. L. Meak, Hudson's Bay Company, V. S. U. S. God. [106] I solemnly swear that the first part of the foregoing state*ment is true, and that I believe the latter part to be true. So help me W. H. GRAY. Subscribed and sworn to before me this 8th day of April, 1872. [L. S.] A. VAN DUSEN, Notary Public for Clatsop County, State of Oregon. Extract from a letter of Sir J. Pelly, Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company, to the Earl of Aberdeen. [Precise date not stated, but from internal evidence certainly later than May 16, 1846.] The Hudson's Bay I have been considering the subject on which I had the honor of con. versing with your lordship on Saturday last, [May 16, 1846,] Company suggest to and feeling that, in the multiplicity of business which comes draw the boundary before your lordship, some parts may have been overlooked, channel used by Van- or that I may not have been sufficiently explicit, I have thought it advisable to trouble you with a few lines. Lord Aberdeen to line through the couver. In the first place, I assume that the forty-ninth degree of latitude, from its present terminus, will be continued across the continent to the waters known as the Gulf of Georgia, and be the line of demarkation of the continent between Great Britain and the United States. The next question on which the government of the two countries will have to decide will be as to the islands abutting on and in the Gulf of Georgia, viz, one, Vancouver Island, intersected by the parallel of 49°, and others which are wholly on the south of that parallel. With respect to the former, I think upon the principle of mutual convenience, (and which I think should form the foundation of the treaty,) Great Britain is entitled to the harbor on its southeast end, being the only good one, those in Puget Sound being given up to the United States; that with respect to the other islands, the water demarkation line should be from the center of the water in the Gulf of Georgia in the forty-ninth degree along the line colored red, as navigable in the chart made by Vancouver, till it reaches a line drawn through the center of the Straits of Juan de Fuca. [107] *No. 68. Mr. Crampton to Mr. Buchanan. [Extract.] WASHINGTON, January 13, 1848. Bat in regard to this portion of the boundary line a preliminary question arises, which turns upon the interpretation of the The British gov treaty, rather than upon the result of local observation and survey. ernment wishes the American to agree on the channel used by Vancouver as the boundary. The convention of the 15th June, 1846, declares that the line shall be drawn through the middle of the "channel" which separates the continent from Vancouver's Island. And upon this it may be asked what the word "channel" was intended to mean. Generally speaking, the word "channel," when employed in treaties, means a deep and navigable channel. In the present case it is believed that only one channel-that, namely, which was laid down by Vancouver in his chart-has in this part of the gulf been hitherto surveyed and used; and it seems natural to suppose that the negotiators of the Oregon convention, in employing the word "channel," had that particular channel in view. If this construction be mutually adopted, no preliminary difficulty will exist, and the commissioners will only have to ascertain the course of the line along the middle of that channel, and along the middle of the Straits of Fuca down to the sea. It is, indeed, on all accounts, to be wished that this arrangement should be agreed upon by the two governments, because otherwise much time might be wasted in surveying the various intricate channels. formed by the numerous islets which lie between Vancouver's Island and the main-land, and some difficulty might arise in deciding which of those channels ought to be adopted for the dividing boundary. The main channel marked in Vancouver's chart is, indeed, somewhat nearer to the continent than to Vancouver's Island, and its adoption would leave on the British side of the line rather more of those small islets with which that part of the gulf is studded, than would remain on the American side. But these islets are of little or no value. JOHN F. CRAMPTON. Extract from Additional Instructions to Captain Prevost. The Pritish government in 1866 does not claim the 80 boundary. If, however, the commissioner of the United States will not adopt the line along Rosario Strait, and if, on a detailed and accurate survey, and on weighing the evidence on both sides of the question, you should be of opinion that the claims of called Rosario as the Her Majesty's government to consider Rosario Strait as the channel indicated by the words of the treaty cannot be substantiated, you would be at liberty to adopt any other intermediate channel which you may discover, on which the United States commissioner and yourself may agree as substantially in accordance with the description of the treaty. Captain PREVOST. |