1826.] NEGOTIATION SUSPENDED. 347 



Columbia, and the right of navigating that river to and from the 

 sea ; though they expressed their willingness to yield to the United 

 States, in addition to what they first offered, a detached territory, 

 extending, on the Pacific and the Strait of Fuca, from Bulfinch's 

 Harbor to Hood's Canal, and to stipulate that no works should at 

 any time be erected at the mouth or on the banks of the Columbia, 

 calculated to impede the free navigation of that river, by either 

 party. The Americans, however, being equally determined not to 

 give up their title to any part of the country south of the 49th par- 

 allel, all expectation of effecting a definitive disposition of the claims 

 was abandoned. 



The plenipotentiaries then directed their attention to the sub- 

 ject of a renewal of the arrangement for the use and occupancy 

 of the territories in question by the people of both nations. With 

 this view, the British proposed that the existing arrangement 

 should be renewed according to the terms of the third article 

 of the convention of October 20th, 1818, for fifteen years from 

 the date of the expiration of that convention ; with the addi- 

 tional provisions, however, that, during those fifteen years, neither 

 power should assume or exercise any right of exclusive sovereignty 

 or dominion over any part of the territory ; and that no settlement 

 then made, or which might thereafter be made, by either nation 

 in those countries, should ever be adduced in support of any 

 claim to such sovereignty or dominion. This proposition was re- 

 ceived by Mr. Gallatin for reference to his government, although 

 he saw at once that the additional provisions were inadmissible ; and 

 the negotiation was, in consequence, suspended for some months. 



During this first period of the negotiation, the claims and pre- 

 tensions of the two nations respecting the countries in question, were 

 developed and discussed more fully than on any previous occasion, 

 not only in the conferences between the plenipotentiaries, but also 

 in written statements,* formally presented on each side. As nearly 



* The statement of the British commissioners is presented entire in the Proofs and 

 Illustrations, under the letter H, in order that no doubt may subsist as to the nature 

 of the claims of Great Britain, and of the evidence and arguments by which they 

 are supported. As a state paper, it will, perhaps, be found unworthy of the nation on 

 whose part it was produced, and of at least one of the persons from whom it pro- 

 ceeded ; many will regret to see appended to it the name of William Huskisson, and 

 to learn that it received the approval of George Canning. 



The counter-statement of Mr. Gallatin, a most able document, is omitted only be- 

 cause its insertion would have too much increased the bulk of the volume. 



