220 THE TREATY OF WASHINGTON. 



ly consented to tlie prolongation of the nominal joint 

 occupation. 



But the discussions in Congress heretofore men- 

 tioned, and the disposition of Americans to settle in 

 Oregon, had, in 1842, rendered the joint occupation 

 intolerable to the people of the United States, and 

 the negotiation ■ for settlement was renewed on the 

 premises of the 49th parallel. The baleful influence 

 of the Hudson's Bay Company caused the negotiation 

 to drag on for the period of four years; when the 

 Treaty of 184G was at length concluded, yielding to 

 Great Britain the southernmost extremity of Van- 

 couver's Island. 



It was the question of Vcowouvey^s Island which 

 chiefly occupied the succeeding negotiators. To run 

 the line on the 49th parallel to the sea, and " thence 

 by the Canal de Ilaro and Straits of Fuca to the 

 oceaft," was Lord Aberdeen's proposition to Mr. 

 McLane. And the same understanding of the ques- 

 tion, — that is, to concede to Great Britain "Vancouver's 

 Island, and nothing else south of latitude 49°," — per- 

 vades the dispatches and debates on both sides. And 

 on such premises, notwithstanding much 02')position 

 in Congress and out of it, the United States acceded 

 to these terms as a measure of peace and of concilia- 

 tion toward Great Britain. 



But strife was unexpectedly renewed two years 

 afterward by Lord Palmerston, or by Lord John Bus- 

 sell, who had succeeded as Premier to Sir Robert Peel, 

 and their action has kept up dispute on the subject 

 between the two Governments for more than twenty 



