220 THE TREATY OF WASHINGTON. 
ly consented to the ee of the nominal joint 
occupation. . 
But the discussions in Cuusles 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 1846 was at length concluded, yielding to 
Great Britain the southernmost. extremity of Van- 
couver’s Island. 
It was the question of Vancouver'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 Haro and Straits of Fuca to the 
ocean,” 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 opposition 
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 Rus- 
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. 
