years on a twelvemonth's notice by either party. During the war of the Rebellion, owing partly to the predominance of protectionists in Congress, who objected to the comparative free trade with Canada, and partly to the feeling against the Canadians arising out of various incidents connected with the war, the United States gave notice for the termination of this treaty, and the treaty accordingly came to an end on March 17, 1866.

The question remained in this state until the negotiations at Washington, which resulted in the treaty of May 8, 1871. Among the various subjects treated by the high commissioners was the navigation of the St. Lawrence River. We still claimed that navigation as a right. The British commissioners were willing to yield it as a concession, provided that we should give the right of navigation of Lake Michigan as an equivalent. This our commissioners absolutely refused. The subject was several times discussed, and finally they were asked whether, if the St. Lawrence were declared free, we would admit the same rights to certain rivers rising in the British territories, passing through the province of Alaska, and emptying into the Pacific Ocean. This the United States took under consideration, and the result was the twenty-sixth article of the treaty, which stated that

"The navigation of the river St. Lawrence, ascending and descending, from the forty-fifth parallel of north latitude, where

it ceases to form the boundary between the two countries, from, to, and into the sea, shall forever remain free and open for the purposes of commerce to the citizens of the United States, subject to any laws and regulations of Great Britain, or of the Dominion of Canada, not inconsistent with such privilege of free navigation."

The rivers of which we granted the free navigation to British subjects were the Yukon, the Porcupine, and the Stikine. The British government engaged to urge upon the Dominion of Canada to secure to the citizens of the United States the use of the Welland, St. Lawrence, and other canals in the Dominion on terms of equality with the inhabitants of the Dominion. The United States gave the use of the St. Clair Flats' Canal on equal terms, and engaged to urge upon the State governments to secure for British subjects the use of the several State canals connected with the navigation of the lakes or rivers traversed by the boundary line. We also granted the use for ten years of the navigation of Lake Michigan, as an equivalent for certain fishing rights on the coast, and terminable with them. Those rights having now terminated, the privilege of navigating Lake Michigan has also ended.

PSTLERSITY

C. THE NORTH PACIFIC OCEAN.

American Enterprise in the Pacific.-The Russian-American Company. The Russian Ukase of 1821.-Negotiations.— Treaty of 1824.-Further Proposals.-Public Opinion.— Negotiations of 1834.-Treaty of 1867 ceding Russian America.

YEARS before the United States possessed a foot of land on the Pacific coast, adventurous American seamen had doubled Cape Horn. In the autumn of 1788 the ship Columbia, of two hundred and twenty tons, and the sloop Washington of ninety tons, arrived in Nootka Sound from Boston, passed the winter there, explored Queen Charlotte's Sound and the Strait of San Juan de Fuca. The Columbia took a cargo of furs to Canton, and thence a cargo of tea to Boston, being the first vessel to carry the American flag round the world. From that time on until 1814 the direct trade between the American coasts and China was almost entirely carried on in American vessels. The opposition of the East India Company prevented British merchants from engaging in this trade; entrance to the Chinese ports was forbidden to Russian ships; and there were few ships of other nations in that part of the Pacific. After the fur-trade on the northwestern coasts had been reorganized by the foundation, in 1798, of the Russian-American

Company, there were complaints against the Americans of furnishing arms and ammunition to the natives, and had it been possible for the Russians to carry on their commerce without our aid, they would gladly have excluded our vessels. In 1806 the question of expelling the Americans was settled for the time by the fact that the Russian garrison and settlers at Sitka would all have died of hunger, but for the opportune arrival of the American ship Juno. Three years later the Russian government made representations to the United States on the subject of the illicit trade, which, it was alleged, our citizens carried on with the natives of the North Pacific coasts, and desired that we should make a convention, or at least pass an act of Congress to hinder the sale of spirits, arms, and ammunition in those parts. Finally, Russia proposed an arrangement by which American vessels should supply the Russian settlements on the Pacific with provisions and manufactures, and should do the carrying trade to Canton, on condition of abstaining from intercourse with the natives. There were several reasons for not accepting this proposition, but especially because it was claimed that the Russian possessions extended southward to the mouth of the Columbia River. We were then engaged in a dispute with Great Britain about this

History of Oregon and California, by Robert Greenhow.

very coast, and naturally could not admit the claims of Russia.*

The trading post of Astoria, founded by Mr. John Jacob Astor, was taken by the British during the war; it was found impossible in the treaty of Ghent to settle the boundary line westward of the Lake of the Woods; and by the Convention of 1818 the northwest coast westward of the Rocky Mountains was, for ten years, left free and open to the vessels, citizens, and subjects of the two powers, without prejudice to their respective claims. In December, 1820, immediately after the ratification of the Florida treaty, a resolution was passed by the House of Representatives "that an inquiry should be made as to the situation of the settlements on the Pacific Ocean, and as to the expediency of occupying the Columbia River." A favorable report was made, and a bill was introduced for the occupation of the Columbia River, which was, however, suffered to lie on the table for the rest of the session.

Such was the state of affairs when suddenly, at least to us, in September, 1821, the Emperor Alexander issued a ukase to the effect that

"The pursuits of commerce, whaling, and fishery, and of all other industry on all islands, ports, and gulfs, including the whole of the northwestern coast of America, beginning from

* For the papers, see Foreign Relations, folio, v., pp. 432-471.