The Canadian Boundary 



89 



although our title to it had been declared 

 unquestionable by a national conven- 

 tion, by the President in his annual mes- 

 sage, by Congress through joint resolu- 

 tion, and by some of the highest author- 

 ities on international law. 



Still one more step was necessary be- 

 fore our chain of title to a fixed and 

 unquestioned line from the Atlantic to 

 the Pacific Ocean should be complete. 

 In describing the Oregon boundary, 

 Article I of the treaty of 1846 provided 

 that the line should be ' ' along the 49th 

 parallel of north latitude to the middle 

 of the channel which separates the con- 

 tinent from Vancouver's Island ; and 

 thence southerly through the middle of 

 the said channel, and of Fuca's Straits, 

 to the Pacific Ocean." The treat}' had 

 hardly been proclaimed before this water 

 boundary began to be a matter of dis- 

 pute. Between the Gulf of Georgia on 

 the east and the Straits of Fuca on the 

 west lie a number of islands, and it was 

 not clear what was " the middle of the 

 channel ' ' among these islands. In this 

 state of uncertainty the islands w r ere 

 being populated by both Americans and 

 Canadians and conflicts of authority 

 arose. Efforts were made to reach an 

 agreement as to the channel by diplo- 

 matic negotiations, but they failed. In 

 1856 Congress passed an act authorizing 

 a commissioner on the part of the United 

 States to act with one to be appointed 

 by Great Britain. These commissioners 

 met, and after visiting in person the 

 region in question were unable to reach 

 an agreement. The subject went back 

 into diplomacy, and for more than ten 

 3'ears it was a frequent topic of discus- 

 sion, but no method of settlement could 

 be attained. 



In 1 859 the settlers on San Juan Island 

 came into conflict, the troops of the two 

 countries became involved, and a collis- 

 ion seemed imminent. A second time 

 the services of General Scott were in- 



voked, and he arranged for a joint and 

 peaceful occupation by troops of the two 

 nations, but with difficulty were they 

 able to prevent conflicts of the civil au- 

 thorities. Finally, when the Joint High 

 Commission met in Washington in 187 1, 

 the question of the true channel was sub- 

 mitted to the arbitration of the Emperor 

 of Germany, and he rendered an award 

 in favor of the contention of the United 

 States. 



The foregoing review shows that ever 

 since the independence of the United 

 States the boundary with Canada has 

 been a subject of almost constant consid- 

 eration between the United States and 

 Great Britain, and that every step of the 

 frontier line from the initial point on the 

 Atlantic coast to the last water channel 

 on the Pacific has been a matter of con- 

 troversy, and sometimes of such bitter 

 contention as even to threaten war. It 

 also shows that three courses of ac- 

 tion have from time to time been taken 

 by the Government of the United States, 

 to wit, treaty adjustment, joint and 

 equal commissions, and arbitration. In 

 the case of the important question of 

 the northeastern boundary, resort was 

 had successively to all three of these 

 methods. It is seen that where adjust- 

 ment by treaty has failed, a resort has 

 been had to either joint commissions or 

 to a foreign and neutral arbitrator. 

 Treaty adjustment has not always been 

 found the most acceptable method in 

 popular estimation, as instance the Ore- 

 gon boundary treaty. We have suffered 

 less, in loss of territory claimed, by the 

 action of joint commissions and by arbi- 

 tration than by treaty settlement. Our 

 public men and the Government have 

 not found a strong title to territory a 

 bar to the submission of boundary ques- 

 tions to the adjudication of a commis- 

 sion or an arbitrator. 



