again been called to the probable wishes of the Hudson's Bay Company to get some of the islands on our side of the line in the Straits of Fuca. I speak only from my own judgment and inductions from what I observe and hear; but it would not surprise me if a formal proposition should soon be made on the part of the British Government to run the line between the two countries at the west from the point where it first meets the water through the straits to the Pacific Ocean. "Such a proposition is in itself very proper, if there be no ulterior motive to raise unnecessary doubts and to claim islands that are properly ours. The Ministry, I believe, has no such design. Some of its members would be the first to frown on it. But I am not so well assured that the Hudson's Bay Company is equally reasonable, or that on the British side a boundary commissioner might not be appointed favouring the encroaching propensities of that Company. "Mr. Bancroft to Mr. Buchanan. "United States Legation, London, August 4, 1848. "The Hudson's Bay Company have been trying to get a grant of Vancouver's Island. I inquired, from mere curiosity, about it. Lord Palmerston replied that it was an affair that belonged exclusively to the Colonial Office, and he did not know the intentions of Lord Grey. He then told me what I had not known before, that he had made a proposition at Washington for marking the boundaries in the north-west by setting up a landmark on the point of land where the fortyninth parallel touches the sea, and for ascertaining the division line in the channel by noting the bearings of certain objects. I observed that on the mainland a few simple astronomical observations were all that were requisite; that the water in the channel of Haro did not require to be divided, since the navigation was free to both parties; though, of course, the islands east of the centre of the channel of Haro were ours. He had no good chart of the Oregon waters, and asked me to let him see the traced copy of Wilkes's chart. He spoke of the propriety of settling definitively the ownership of the several islands, in order that settlements might not be begun by one party on what properly belongs to the other. On returning home I sent him my traced copy of Wilkes's chart, with the note of which I enclose a copy. "Mr. Bancroft to Lord Palmerston. "90, Eaton Square, July 31, 1848. "MY DEAR LORD,- As your Lordship desired, I send for your inspection the traced copy made for me at the Navy Department of Wilkes's chart of the Straits of Juan de Fuca, Puget's Sound, &c., &c. Unluckily this copy does not extend quite so far north as the parallel of 49°, though it contains the wide entrance into the Straits of Haro, the channel through the middle of which the boundary is to be continued. The upper part of the Straits of Haro is laid down, though not on a large scale, in Wilkes's map of the Oregon Territory, of which, I am sorry to say, I have not a copy, but which may be found in the atlas to the narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition. "I remain, my dear Lord, very faithfully yours, "Viscount Palmerston, &c., &c. (Enclosure I.) "Mr. Bancroft to Mr. Buchanan. "United States Legation, London, October 19, 1848. "SIR,-I send you a map of Vancouver's Island, recently published by James Wyld, geographer to the Queen. It purports to mark by a dotted line the boundary between the United States and Great Britain. You will see that this map suggests an encroachment on our rights by adopting a line far to the east of the Straits of Haro. You may remember that Mr. Boyd, more than two years ago, suggested to you that a design of preferring some such claims existed.(1) I inferred, from what I could learn at that time, that this design grew up with the Hudson's Bay Company, and I had no reason to suppose it favoured by the Colonial Secretary. "I am, &c., "GEORGE BANCROFT. "James Buchanan, Esq., "Secretary of State, Washington. (Enclosure J.) "Mr. Bancroft to Lord Palmerston. "108, Eaton Square, November 3, 1848. "MY LORD,-I did not forget your Lordship's desire to see the United States surveys of the waters of Puget Sound and those dividing Vancouver's Island from our territory. "These surveys have been reduced, and have just been published in three parts, and I transmit for your Lordship's acceptance the first copy which I have received. "The surveys extend to the line of 49°; and, by combining two of the charts, your Lordship will readily trace the whole course of the Channel de Haro, through the middle of which our boundary line passes. I think you will esteem the work done in a manner very creditable to the young navy officers concerned in it. "I have the honour, &c., "GEORGE BANCROFT. (1) See letter of Mr. Boyd to Mr. Buchanan, 19th October, 1846, ante, p. 208. (Enclosure K.) "Lord Palmerston to Mr. Bancroft. "Foreign Office, November 27, 1848. "SIR,-I beg leave to return to you my best thanks for the surveys of Puget's Sound and of the Gulf of Georgia, which accompanied your letter of the 3rd instant. "The information as to soundings contained in those charts will no doubt be of great service to the commissioners who are to be appointed under the treaty of the 15th of June, 1846, by assisting them in determining where the line of boundary described in the first article of that treaty ought to run. "I have the honour to be, with high consideration, sir, &c., George Bancroft, Esq." "PALMERSTON. On the 14th of June, 1859, Mr. Campbell addressed a letter to Mr. Cass, the language of which appears to justify in some measure the charge subsequently made against him by British residents in Victoria, that he had instigated the violent proceedings on the part of General Harney which I am about to describe. "United States North-west Boundary Commission, (') "Camp Simiahmoo, June 14, 1859. "SIR,-I regret to be obliged to inform the department that no further progress in the determination of the water boundary has been made since the proceedings of the 3rd of December, 1857, when, after a full discussion of the question, Captain Prevost, upon a fictitious issue of disagreement between us as to the meaning of the words of the treaty defining the boundary between the continent and Vancouver's Island, proposed a reference of the whole matter to our respective Governments. As I did not concur in this proposal, for reasons which are obvious, whatever reference Captain Prevost may have made to his Government was made upon his own responsibility. And it seems to me that, after the (1) American State Papers, p. 88. lapse of eighteen months, he should be instructed by his Government either to adopt the boundary channel according to my interpretation of the treaty, sustained by contemporaneous evidence showing it to be in accordance with the intention of the negotiators, or be provided with counter evidence of equal weight to sustain the correctness of his remarkable construction of the language of the treaty. "Captain Prevost's studious avoidance of the production of any evidence showing the understanding of his Government as to the boundary channel intended by the treaty, his repudiation of that which I laid before him, proving the absurdity of his interpretation, and his blind adherence to the mere letter of the treaty as he chooses to construe it, taken in connection with his proposal to split the difference between us by a division of the group of islands (artfully involved in dispute), is the very best evidence that his Government have not the shadow of foundation for claiming the boundary channel he professes to derive from the very peculiar wording' of the treaty. "I have recently learned from Captain Prevost that he has not received any instructions from his Government upon the subject of the reference made by him on account of the contrary views entertained by us,' nor is he aware when it is probable that he may receive instructions. "Several citizens of the United States have recently settled on San Juan Island, one of the disputed islands, and the nearest to Vancouver's Island. As the Hudson's Bay Company also occupy it, difficulties may be anticipated if the question of the boundary channel be not speedily settled. I would therefore respectfully urge upon the department the importance of calling the attention of the British Government to the subject. "I have the honour to be, very respectfully, "Your obedient servant, "ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL, "Commissioner North-west Boundary Survey. "Hon. Lewis Cass, Secretary of State." |