THE NORTHWESTERN BOUNDARY - LINE. 219 



tensions of proprietorship founded upon license, to 

 trade; its license was revoked; it w^as compelled to 

 yield up Oregon to the United States; and it w^as 

 half- persuaded and half- constrained to sell its char- 

 tered rio;hts to the Canadian Dominion, and to shrink 

 into comparative insignificance in America. 



When the Government of the United States enter- 

 ed into neo-otiations with Great Britain for termina- 

 ting the joint occupation of Oregon, the machinations 

 of the Hudson's Bay Company were the great disturb- 

 ing fact which for a long time prevented the conclu- 

 sion cf a treaty and its due execution. 



Meanwhile the two Governments, after extraordi- 

 nary contention, at length arrived at a settlement of 

 another boundary question, which had remained open 

 ever since the Treat}^ of Independence, namely, the 

 boundary-line on the northeast between the British 

 possessions and the United States [Treaty of Novem- 

 ber 20, 1842]. 



The duration of the Treaty of 1818 was limited to- 

 ten years. As the expiration of this time approached, 

 the American Government offered to settle the ques- 

 tion of Oregon by extending the line of -49° to the 

 Pacific Ocean, and announced this as "our ultimatum." 

 The British Government objected that this line w'ould 

 cut off the southern part of Vancouver s Island. We 

 replied by proposing to yield this part for an equiv- 

 alent. But it w\as for the interest of the Hudson's 

 Bay Company, which was in practical possession of the 

 whole country, to defeat this attempt at settlement, 

 and it was defeated, and the United States reluctant- 



