was authorized to cooperate with the Government of Great Britain in the appointment of a joint commission to determine the boundary between these points. On the part of the United States, Archibald Campbell was appointed commissioner; on. the part of Great Britain, Maj. D. R. Cameron; and engineeer officers were detailed for the performance of the work. The labors of the commission were concluded in 1876. The final records and maps were signed in London on the 29th of May in that year, and a protocol was drawn up and signed setting forth the commission's final proceedings. "At the time of the passage of the act of 1872 the boundary from the Atlantic to the northwest angle of the Lake of the Woods, and the land line from the summit of the Rocky Mountains to the Georgian Bay" had "been surveyed and adjusted." 1 Report of Mr. Fish, Sec. of State, Feb. 23, 1877, S. Ex. Doc. 41, 44 Cong. 2 sess. The statement that the line from the Atlantic to the northwest angle of the Lake of the Woods had been "surveyed and adjusted” was not entirely accurate. Of the line from the Pigeon River to the Lake of the Woods there has been no joint survey. (H. Report 1310, 54 Cong. 1 sess.) "The Canadian government has not waited for a joint survey to inform itself concerning the actual condition of the boundary, but it has quietly sent out a party of surveyors at its own expense to trace the line from Pigeon Point to the Lake of the Woods. The work was ordered by the commissioner on international boundaries, and is in charge of A. J. Brabazon, for the past three years engaged on the Alaskan boundary survey, who is now on the way to Ottawa to report. He is satisfied that the Treaty of Washington is in agreement with the physical features." (Statement of July 27, 1896. See Minnesota's Northern Boundary, by Alexander N. Winchell, Minnesota Historical Society Collections, Vol. VIII. part 2, p. 212.) CHAPTER VIII. CLAIMS OF THE HUDSON'S BAY AND PUGET'S SOUND AGRICULTURAL COMPANIES: COMMISSION UNDER THE TREATY OF JULY 1, 1863. Legal Status of the In the treaty of June 15, 1846, the history of which has just been narrated, certain stipulations were inserted for the protection of the Hudson's Bay Company and the Puget's Sound Agricultural Company, two British organizations, whose interests the division of the Oregon territory between two independent powers necessarily affected. The Hudson's Bay Company had large possessions in the territory, and exercised important powers of government. It possessed, under its charter, the power to make ordinances for the government of the persons employed by it, and also power to exercise jurisdiction in all matters, civil and criminal. It obtained a grant in 1838, for a period of twenty-one years, of an exclusive license to trade with the Indians in all such parts of North America north and west of the territories of the United States as should not belong to the British provinces in North America or to a foreign power, subject to the proviso that nothing in the grant should be construed to authorize the company "to claim or exercise any trade with the Indians on the northwest coast of America to the westward of the Stony Mountains, to the prejudice or exclusion of any of the subjects of any foreign States who, under or by force of any convention for the time being between us and such foreign States respectively, may be entitled to and shall be engaged in the said trade." The Puget's Sound Agricultural Company, which was an accessory organization formed for the purpose of conducting agricultural operations, was organized in December 1840 under the protection and auspices of the Hudson's Bay Company. The Companies' Within that part of the Oregon territory which fell to the United States by the treaty of 1846, the Hudson's Bay Company then had thirteen establishments, the chief of which was Fort Vancouver, a fortified settlement, with the governor's house and various other buildings. Besides this there were, in what became the Territory of Washington, establishments at Cape Disappointment, Chinook Point, Caweeman, Fort Colville, Flat Heads, Kootenais, and Okanagan; and, in what became the Territory of Oregon, at Fort Umpqua, Champooeg, Walla Walla, Fort Hali, and Fort Boisée. The Puget's Sound Agricultural Company had two establishments in Washington Territory, Nisqually and the Cowlitz farms. For the protection of the interests of these Treaty of 1846. companies three articles-those numbered II., III., and IV.-were inserted in the treaty of 1846. By Article II. it was provided that the navigation of the great northern branch of the Columbia River, where it lies within the United States, down to its entrance into the main stream of the Columbia, and of the latter to the ocean, should be free and open to the Hudson's Bay Company and to all British subjects trading with it, and that such subjects should, with their goods and produce, be treated on the same footing as citizens of the United States. By Article III. it was provided that "in the future appropriation of the territory south of the forty-ninth parallel of north latitude, as provided in the first article of this treaty, the pos sessory rights of the Hudson's Bay Company, and of all British subjects who may be already in the occupation of land or other property lawfully acquired within the said territory, shall be respected." With respect to the words "future appropriation of the territory, *** as provided in the first article of the treaty," it should be observed that the first article merely provided for the drawing of the boundary line along the fortyninth parallel to the sea. By Article IV. it was provided that the "farms, lands, and other property of every description belonging to the Puget's Sound Agricultural Company, on the north side of the Columbia River, shall be confirmed to the said company," but that in case "the situation of those farms and lands should be considered by the United States to be of public and political importance, and the United States Government should signify a desire to obtain possession of the whole, or of any part thereof, the property so required shall be transferred to the said Government at a proper valuation, to be agreed upon between the parties." Companies' Complaints. Soon after the conclusion of the treaty both companies began to complain of the invasion of their rights and the destruction of their property by settlers, and of the failure of the United States to protect them in the rights and privileges which had been guaranteed to them. They maintained that the ordinary resort to the courts, to which they were recommended, was insufficient, and that special measures should be adopted for their protection. Offer of Sale to Meanwhile, they offered to dispose of their interests to the United States. They offered to "dispose of all their lands, buildings, live stock, and other property of every description, together with any rights or privileges attached thereto." In the estimate of its "possessory rights" the Hudson's Bay Company included "the right to cultivate the soil, to cut down and export timber, to carry on the fisheries, to trade for furs with the natives," and generally all other rights enjoyed at the time of the conclusion of the treaty. Negotiations were begun with Mr. Buchanan, as Secretary of State, in 1848, and were continued with his successor, Mr. Clayton, in 1849, and with Mr. Webster in 1850, but without definite result. But as time wore on and the country became more populous the difficulties of the companies increased, and at length provision was made for the adjustment of the whole subject. Treaty of Arbitration. A treaty "for the final settlement of the claims of the Hudson's Bay and Puget's Sound Agricultural Companies" was concluded by Mr. Seward and Lord Lyons at Washington on the 1st of July 1863. By this treaty it was recited that "by the 3d and 4th articles" of the treaty of 1846 certain rights (which were described in the language of those articles) were guaranteed to the companies, and that it was desirable that all questions between the United States and the companies with respect to the "possessory rights and claims" of the latter should "be settled by the transfer of those rights and claims to the Government of the United States for an adequate money consideration." And to this end it was agreed that the two governments should, within twelve months after the ratification of the treaty, each appoint a commissioner "for the purpose of examining and 1 S. Ex. Doc. 20, 31 Cong. 2 sess. 2S. Ex. Doc. 37, 33 Cong. 2 sess. deciding upon all claims arising out of the provisions of the above-quoted articles of the treaty of June 15, 1846." The commissioners were, at the earliest convenient period after they were named, to meet in Washington and make and subscribe a solemn declaration, and then to proceed to the selection of an umpire. If the commissioners could not agree in this matter, the two governments were to invite the King of Italy to make the selection, and the person so chosen was to make and subscribe a solemn declaration in the same form as that prescribed for the commissioners. Provisions were also made in regard to procedure, the appointment of clerks, and the payment of all sums of money which might be awarded. sioner. On the part of the United States the post American Commis- of commissioner was offered to Daniel S. Dickinson, of New York, but he declined it. The appointment was then conferred on Alexander S. Johnson, of New York. His commission, which was dated July 6, 1864, was issued during the recess of the Senate. A new commission was issued to him, with the advice and consent of the Senate, on the 9th of January 1865, after which he again made and subscribed the solemn declaration prescribed by the treaty." On the part of Great Britain the commis British Commis- sioner was Sir John Rose, the eminent Canadian statesman who afterwards rendered important diplomatic services as a confidential agent of the British foreign office in the informal negotiations leading up to the establishment of the Joint High Commission by which the Treaty of Washington of May 8, 1871, was concluded. sioner. The commissioners held their first meeting Organization of the .in the city of Washington on the 7th of JanCommission. uary 1865, and after making and subscribing the declaration required by the treaty chose as clerks George Gibbs on the part of the United States and William Finlay Gairdner on the part of Her Britannic Majesty. Counsel. Mr. Charles Dewey Day appeared as counsel for the Hudson's Bay and Puget's Sound Agricultural Companies, Mr. Caleb Cushing as counsel for the United States. They each filed with the commission a written authority, Mr. Cushing's being in the form of an official letter from Mr. Seward of January 9, 1865, saying: 1 Life, Letters, and Speeches of Daniel S. Dickinson, I. 16. 2 MS. Journal of the Commission, January 10, 1865. |