NEGOTIATIONS RESULTING IN TREATY OF 1818. 51 



hereafter be wanted. Whatever may have been the motive which 

 prompted Mr, Adams' expressions, they are, as coming from him, 

 somewhat extraordinary, and it is certainly my duty to report them 

 to your lordship.** 



THE NEGOTIATIONS RESULTING IN THE TREATY OF 1818. 



The Commercial Convention of Jul}' 3, 1815, between the United 

 States and Great Britain was, by its terms, to remain in force for 

 four years from that date, its period of duration thus extending to 

 July 3, 1819. In anticipation of the expiration of this treaty, in- 

 structions were issued as early as November, 1817, by Mr. Adams, 

 then Secretary of State, to Mr. Rush, the American Minister at 

 London, authorizing him to enter upon negotiations with the British 

 Government for a new commercial treaty ; and subsequentl}-, in May, 

 1818, Mr. Rush was authorized to propose to Great Britain an im- 

 mediate general negotiation for a commercial treaty covering the 

 continuance of the treaty of 1815 for a further term of years, and also 

 to embrace the following unsettled questions then in discussion be- 

 tween the two Governments: the impressment of seamen and the 

 regulation of maritime neutrality; commercial intercourse between 

 the United States and the British West Indies and North American 

 Colonies; indemnity to the owners of the slaves carried away from 

 the United States by British officers after the ratijScation of the 

 treaty of peace of Ghent and contrary to the stipulation in the first 

 article of that treaty ; the location of the international boundary line 

 from the northwest corner of the Lake of the Woods to the Rocky 

 Mountains and beyond; the title to the American settlement at the 

 mouth of the Columbian River ; and the fisheries.^ At the same time 

 the Secretary of State sent instructions to Mr. Gallatin, the Ameri- 

 can Minister to France, authorizing him to take part with Mr. Rush 

 in these negotiations. The "reasons for entering upon the negotiations 

 at that time are stated in the letter of instructions, dated May 22, 

 1818, from Mr. Adams to Mr. Gallatin as follows : 



Appendix, p. 301. ^ Appendix, p. 302. 



