56 DESPATCH FROM MR. ADAMS TO MR. RUSH, JULY 22, 1823. 



[The extracts from this despatch which appear on pp. 6 and 7 of Vol. IT, Part 2, of the Appendix to 

 the J5ritish Case were taken from pp. 212 and 213 of Senate Ex. Doe. Ko. 106, 50th Congress, 2nd 

 Session. The following is the complete version given at p. 496 of the United States State Papers, 

 Vol. v.] 



Mr. Adams to Mr. Rush. 



(No. 70.) DEPART3IENT OP STATE, 



Washington, July 22, 1823, 



Sir: Among tlie subjects of negotiation with Great Britain which 

 are pressing upon the attention of this Government is the present con- 

 dition of the north-west coast of this continent. This interest is con- 

 nected, in a manner becoming from day to day more important, with our 

 territorial rights; with the whole system of our intercourse with the 

 Indian tribes; with the boundary relations between us and the British 

 North American dominions; with the fur trade; the fisheries in the 

 Pacific Ocean; the commerce with the Sandwich Islands and China; 

 with our boundary upon Mexico; and, lastly, with our political standing 

 and intercourse with the Russian Empire. 



By the Ilird Article of the Convention between the United States 

 and Great Britain of the 20th October, 1818, it is agreed that any 

 "country that may be claimed by either party on the north-west coast 

 of America, westward of the Stony Mountains, shall, together with its 

 harbours, bays, and creeks, and the navigation of all rivers within the 

 same, be free and open, for the term of ten years from the date of the 

 signature of the Convention, to the vessels, citizens, and subjects of 

 the two Powers, it being well understood that this Agreement is not to 

 be construed to the prejudice of any claims which either of the two 

 High Contracting Parties may have to any part of the said country, 

 nor shall it be taken to afiect the claims of any other Power or State 

 to any part of the said country, the only object of the High Contract- 

 ing Parties in that respect being to prevent disputes and differences 

 amongst themselves." 



On the 6th October, 1818, fourteen days before the signature of this 

 Convention, the Settlement at the mouth of Columbia lliver had been 

 formally restored to the United States by order of the Britisli Govern- 

 ment. — (Message of the President of the United States to the House 

 of Representatives, loth April, 1822, p. 13. Letter of Mr. Prevost to 

 the Secretary of State of 11th November, 1818.) 



By the Treaty of Amity, Settlement, and Limits between the United 

 States and Spain of the 22nd February, 1810, the boundary-line between 

 them was fixed at the 42nd degree of latitude, from the source of the 

 Arkansas River to the South Sea, by which Treaty the United States 

 acquired aU the rights of Spain north of that parallel. 



379 



