Page images
PDF
EPUB

Mr. (or General) Cass replied as follows :(1)—

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small]

"MY LORD,-I have had the honour to receive your lordship's note of the 10th instant, in which you recall my attention to your previous note of the 12th of May, on the subject of the recent occupation of the island of San Juan by troops of the United States.

"In several conversations with your lordship, I have endeavoured to place you fully in possession of such information on this subject as the President has received, and of the general views of this Government with respect to it. You are aware that on the 14th July, 1855, Mr. Marcy, the late Secretary of State, addressed a letter to Governor Stevens, of Washington Territory, with the special purpose of preventing any conflict on the island pending the settlement of the title. to it, which was in dispute between the two countries. While this Government had no doubt whatever that the island belonged to the United States, it was quite willing, for this very reason, to await the result of negotiation which might be expected to lead to this conclusion. A copy of Governor Marcy's letter was communicated to Mr. Crampton, then Her Majesty's Minister in Washington, and on the 18th of July, 1855, he replied, 'entirely concurring in the propriety of the course recommended' to Governor Stevens, and expressing his intention to advise a similar course on the part of the local authorities of Great Britain. Nothing had been done on the part of the United States to change this condition of affairs at the time when General Harney thought it necessary, for the protection of American citizens, to direct a military force to take position on the island. In verbally communicating to you these facts, I also informed your lordship that General Scott had been ordered to Washington Territory with a view to ascertain the precise condition of affairs in that region, and with instructions calculated to prevent any further conflict of

(1) American State Papers, p. 230.

jurisdiction on the island, pending the negotiation between the United States and Great Britain, on the subject of their mutual claims to it under the treaty of 1846. The President fully concurs in the opinion expressed by Governor Marcy, that the island is a part of the possessions of the United States, and he confidently hopes that this may be soon established by friendly discussion, without further collision of any character between the citizens and subjects of the two countries residing in the vicinity of the island.

"Thinking it quite right that what has thus been stated in conversation should be repeated in a more distinct and formal manner, the President has instructed me to address to you this note, and to enclose to you copies of the instructions recently issued on the subject by the [acting] Secretary of War to General Scott,) and by this department to the Governor of Washington Territory. In the transmission of these copies, I trust you will see renewed evidence of the desire of this Government to maintain the most frank and friendly relations with that of Great Britain.

"I embrace this opportunity of renewing to your lordship the assurances of my high consideration.

"Lord Lyons, &c. &c. &c.”

"LEWIS CASS.

Subsequently Mr. Cass wrote to Mr. Dallas, United States Minister at the Court of St. James, a long despatch, reviewing the whole question ab initio.(*)

"Department of State, Washington,

"October 20, 1859.

"SIR,-When the treaty of 1846 had been concluded between the United States and Great Britain, it was believed that all controversy concerning the boundary between their respective possessions on the north-west coast of America was

(1) These instructions have been set out above.

(*) American State Papers, p. 231.

for ever set at rest. In order to accomplish this result, the United States had relinquished its title, which it regarded as clear and unquestionable, to all that portion of Oregon Territory which was included between the parallels of 49° and 54° 40′ north latitude, and, for the sake of peace, consented to a deflection from the forty-ninth parallel, so as to leave Vancouver's Island undivided to Great Britain. After these concessions, I need not explain to you with what regret and disappointment this Government now finds its title drawn in question to still other territory, south of the parallel of 49°, its right to which, it was thought, was beyond any possible dispute. When the first doubt concerning it was suggested, it was hoped that it might be readily determined by the Com missioners who should be appointed on the part of both Governments to survey and mark out the treaty line. You are aware, however, that the Commissioners appointed for this purpose were unable to agree as to that part of the boundary which lies between the point of deflection on the forty-ninth parallel and the Straits of Fuca, and that they reported their disagreements to their respective Governments. A new subject of difference has thus arisen between the two countries, the adjustment of which, we are admonished by recent events, cannot be long delayed without serious hazard to their friendly relations. It is doubtless in this view of it that the British Government has recently proposed to the United States to adopt what it regards as a compromise line of boundary between the conflicting claims of the two Commissioners. This proposal is made in a despatch from Her Majesty's principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to Lord Lyons, the British Minister, in Washington, dated August 24, 1859, a copy of which he was directed to furnish to this department, and of which a copy will also accompany this note.

"The President has not failed to consider this despatch with all that attention that is due to the importance of its subject, and he cordially reciprocates the desire expressed by Her Majesty's Government for a 'mutually satisfactory and honourable settlement of the question' in controversy. He

concurs also with Lord John Russell, that after the gradual disappearance, one after another, of so many of these points of difference which have disturbed the relations of the two countries, no reasonable doubt should be entertained that this new question which has arisen will, in like manner, be amicably adjusted. It is impossible, however, to reconcile these just and friendly sentiments of his lordship with the declaration which is made in another part of the same despatch, that the British Government is already determined, under any circumstances whatever, to maintain its right to the island of San Juan:- The interests at stake in connection with the retention of that island are too important,' it is said, 'to admit of compromise, and your lordship will consequently bear in mind that, whatever arrangement as to the boundary line is finally arrived at, no settlement of the question will be accepted by Her Majesty's Government which does not provide for the island of San Juan being reserved to the British Crown.'

"If this declaration is to be insisted on, it must terminate the negotiation at its very threshold; because this Government can permit itself to enter into no discussion with that of Great Britain, or any other power, except upon terms of perfect equality. And when Her Majesty's Government declares that it will never yield its right to the Island of San Juan, this Government has only to declare a similar determination on the part of the United States, in order to render any further discussion of the subject entirely fruitless. I cannot persuade myself, however, that any such result as this was contemplated by Her Majesty's Government, or that the United States could have been expected to enter upon a negotiation where its own claim was excluded in advance, and the only adjustment possible was that claimed by the opposite party. But for this confidence which he feels in the good intentions of Her Majesty's Government, the President, I am instructed to say, would not feel himself at liberty to entertain the proposition of Lord John Russell, even for the purpose of discussion; and it is only because he believes that the objectionable declaration by which it is accompanied will receive a prompt

explanation or withdrawal, that he has instructed me to offer some observations in respect to it.

"The proposition being a proposition of compromise, assumes, of course, that the difference between the two Governments, as to the meaning of the treaty, in that part of it which is in controversy, is wholly irreconcilable. The President is not prepared, however, to reach this conclusion until every reasonable effort has been exhausted to avoid it, and he cannot help expressing his regret that the British Government should have thought it necessary to abandon the treaty line for a line purely arbitrary, before any discussion whatever had been had on the subject with the United States. It is quite true that the Commissioners of the two countries, who were appointed in 1856, failed to reach an agreement as to the water boundary between Vancouver's Island and the continent, but this very failure may have been induced by the conviction-with which the British Commissioner seems to have entered upon his work-that a disagreement was inevitable. Such a result was even contemplated in the original instructions under which Captain Prevost commenced his labours, and he was authorised, in view of it, to propose the very compromise which is now suggested by Lord John Russell, while he appears to have received substantially the same caution with respect to the island of San Juan, which is given to Lord Lyons in the annexed despatch. Without entering into any comment upon the peculiar character of these instructions, or undertaking to determine how far they influenced the course of the British Commissioner, I think they are calculated to explain, in some measure, the failure of the commission, and to justify the hope which the President still entertains, that the true line of the treaty may yet be agreed upon by the two Governments. The treaty provides that the boundary line shall be continued westward along the said forty-ninth parallel of north latitude to the middle of the channel which separates the continent from Vancouver's Island, and thence southerly through the middle of said channel, and of Fuca Straits, to the Pacific Ocean; provided, however, that the navigation of the whole

« ՆախորդըՇարունակել »