the work until the rainy season set in and closed his operations for the year. This survey will give a new aspect to the map of this part of the space between the continent and Vancouver's Island, though probably it will not cover a greater number of square miles than the archipelago as laid down on the Coast Survey chart. The large islands as there represented will be broken up into smaller ones, and greatly increased in number. The island of Saturna will be divided into three or more islands, embracing a splendid harbour large enough to accommodate the navy of Great Britain. The passage connecting the Gulf of Georgia and the inner channel, through which we passed in the Active (which we named the 'Active Passage'), is between the small islands into which Saturna Island is disintegrated.

"Although a channel navigable for the largest vessels will undoubtedly be developed by the survey, it is not likely that it will, in all respects, be so situated as to answer the purposes of a boundary channel as well as the broad channel of the Gulf of Georgia, which averages twelve miles in width, at and south of the forty-ninth parallel. And yet if the letter of the treaty, and the motive which induced the departure of the boundary line from the forty-ninth parallel, be alone looked at, there can be no doubt that the inner channel may be claimed as the channel which separates the continent from Vancouver's Island, on the same ground with the Canal de Haro, viz., that it is the nearest channel to Vancouver's Island, and that the object of the line in the treaty was simply to avoid cutting off the southern end of Vancouver's Island, and to give the whole of it and its harbours, and nothing more, to Great Britain.

"But the Canal de Haro is not claimed alone on the ground of its being the nearest channel to the island; although a legitimate construction of the treaty, the evidence of Mr. McLane is added to support it. It is also the main channel, and, in connection with the Gulf of Georgia, constitutes the main channel from the forty-ninth parallel to the Straits of Fuca. This channel is the true and natural boundary between the continent and Vancouver's Island, and undoubtedly is the

channel understood between Mr. McLane and Lord Aberdeen, and intended in their general description of the line. Had the maps of that day represented the space between the continent and Vancouver's Island as it is now known, the Gulf of Georgia and Canal de Haro would have been designated by name in the treaty as the boundary channel, on the 'generally admitted principle' that they constitute the main channel,' although it would be conceding to Great Britain, in addition to "Vancouver's Island and its harbours,' an extensive group of islands south of the forty-ninth parallel.

"At the time they agreed upon the line, they were ignorant of, or at least our Government was ignorant of the existence of the archipelago in the vicinity of the forty-ninth parallel and immediately south of it. It, therefore, would be questionable policy to claim the channel west of the Gulf of Georgia. It would weaken the position already taken in regard to the main channel, though it may be brought with much force as an argument against the British Government, who, without the slightest show of right, have claimed the channel nearest the continent, and all the islands west of it, in the very face of the letter and spirit of the treaty; while the United States, in their attempts to carry the treaty into effect, have waived the rigid construction of the letter of the treaty, and even its plain and obvious meaning, by a liberal interpretation of it, as well as the intentions of the negociators, so as to make the main channel the boundary between the territories of the United States and Great Britain. In this respect the contrast between the course of the two Governments is most striking.

"I have the honour to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

"ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL,

"Commissioner North-west Boundary Survey.

"Hon. Lewis Cass, Secretary of State."

Mr. Campbell annexed to his letter the following (amongst other) Enclosures:

(Enclosure A.)

"Copy of Proposition for Partition of the Oregon Territory, &c.

"The following is a copy of the proposition for a partition of the Oregon territory, in so far as regards the boundary line, which Lord Aberdeen authorised Mr. Pakenham to submit to the United States in his instructions of May 18, 1846, as written down from memory shortly after a careful perusal of the original in the archives of the British legation :

:

"The forty-ninth parallel to the sea-coast, thence in a southerly direction through the centre of King George's Sound and the Straits of Fuca to the ocean-thus giving to Great Britain the whole of Vancouver's Island and its harbours.'

“In a despatch of the same date (May 18, 1846) from Mr. McLane to Mr. Buchanan, the foregoing proposition is referred to and communicated as follows:

“The proposition most probably will offer substantially— “First—To divide the territory by an extension of the line on the parallel of forty-nine to the sea-that is to say, the arm of the sea called Birch's Bay; thence by the Canal de Haro and Straits of Fuca to the ocean, and confirming to the United States (what indeed they would possess without any special confirmation) the right freely to use and navigate the strait throughout its extent."

(Enclosure B.)

(6 ANALYSIS OF THE FIRST ARTICLE OF THE TREATY. "Analysis of the First Article of the Treaty, by a comparison of its terms with the terms of the Proposition contained in the Instructions of Lord Aberdeen to Mr. Pakenham, and the terms of the same Proposition, as stated in Mr. McLane's Despatch to Mr. Buchanan of the same date (May 18, 1846).

DIRECTION

Proposition of Lord Aberdeen in regard to Boundary Line, as described by Mr. McLane, May 18, 1846.

PARALLEL OF FORTYNINE TO THE sea-that is to say, the arm of the sea called Birch's Bay;

THROUGH BY

THE CENTRE OF King the

THENCE SOUTHERLY THENCE IN A SOUTHERLY THENCE
THROUGH THE MIDDLE
OF the said channel AND
OF FUCA'S STRAITS TO
THE PACIFIC OCEAN.

"PROVIDED, HOWEVER, THAT THE NAVIGATION OF THE WHOLE OF SAID CHANNEL AND

STRAITS South of the fortyninth parallel of north latitude REMAIN FREE AND OPEN ΤΟ BOTH PARTIES.

George's Sound AND THE Canal de Haro AND
STRAITS OF FUCA TO STRAITS OF FUCA TO
THE OCEAN-thus giving THE OCEAN,
to Great Britain the whole
of Vancouver's Island and
its harbours.

"NOTE.—The words of the treaty describing the boundary line, and those of Lord Aberdeen and Mr. McLane, are in SMALL CAPITALS when they are identical, or nearly so, and in italics when they differ but have the same meaning, viz., the channel nearest Vancouver's Island. The language of the proviso and of the statement of its conditions by Mr. McLane is in SMALL CAPITALS, so far as it may be considered identical in meaning. Where they appear to differ in that respect it is in italics. It will be observed that Mr. McLane uses the comprehensive word 'strait,' covering the entire length of the navigable space between Vancouver's Island and the continent, from ocean to ocean, and such undoubtedly was the understanding between himself and Lord Aberdeen of the conditions that were to be introduced into the proviso.

"A. C."

Correspondence showing the Early Pretensions of the British Government to the Islands east of the Canal de Haro.

(Enclosure C.)

"Mr. Boyd to Mr. Buchanan.

"London, October 19, 1846. "SIR,-Through channels not strictly official, yet I conceive entitled to implicit reliance, it has recently come to my knowledge that an idea is entertained of certain British subjects of founding a settlement upon Whidbey's Island, one of the islands situated within the Straits of Fuca, south of the fortyninth parallel. Whether formal application has yet been made to Government for its sanction, I am not informed, but there can be little doubt that Government has been led to expect such an application, and in this expectation has been thrown into some doubt whether, according to the boundary described in the late Oregon treaty, viz., the mid channel through the Straits of Fuca, Whidbey's Island would fall within British or American jurisdiction.

66

Being unauthorised to pursue this subject officially, and obliged, even unofficially, to approach it in a very distant and cautious manner, I am unable to ascertain who are the parties proposing the settlement in question, what would be its nature and objects, or whether the position of Whidbey's Island would render its possession a matter of military or political importance.

"I deem it proper, however, to mention the supposed possibility that the ascertainment of the main channel through the Straits of Fuca may be a matter of some doubt, in order that if the department be not already in possession of evidence clearly defining this line, it may take the occasion through our cruisers in those seas, or otherwise, at once to collect, if desirable, such information as to meet the question whenever it may be formally presented.

"It may not be improper, moreover, to report certain inferences from the conversations in which this subject was brought to my notice which it was probably intended I should