1827.] NEGOTIATION AT LONDON RESUMED. 353 



The British plenipotentiaries, having entered on the protocol of 

 the conferences a declaration with regard to the previous claims 

 and propositions of their government, similar to that made on the 

 part of the United States . by Mr. Gallatin, then intimated their 

 readiness to agree to a simple renewal of the terms of the existing 

 arrangement, for ten years from the date of the expiration of the 

 convention of 1818; provided, however, that, in so doing, they 

 should append to the new convention, in some way, a declara- 

 tion of what they considered to be its true intent, namely, — that 

 both parties were restricted, during its continuance in force, from 

 exercising, or assuming to themselves the right to exercise, any exclu- 

 sive sovereignty or jurisdiction over the territories mentioned in the 

 agreement. The objections to this arrangement were nearly as 

 strong as to that which had already been proposed and refused ; 

 Mr. Gallatin, however, desired to know what species of acts the 

 British would consider as an exercise of exclusive sovereignty or 

 jurisdiction. In reply, he was informed that Great Britain would 

 not complain of the extension, over the regions west of the Rocky 

 Mountains, of the jurisdiction of any territory, having for its eastern 

 boundary a line within the acknowledged boundaries of the United 

 States ; provided — that no custom-house should be erected, nor 

 any duties or charges on tonnage, merchandise, or commerce, be 

 raised, by either party, in the country west of the Rocky Mountains 

 — that the citizens or subjects of the two powers residing in or 

 resorting to those countries, should be amenable only to the juris- 

 diction of their own nation respectively — and that no military 

 post should be established by either party in those countries ; or, 

 at least, no such post as would command the navigation of the 

 Columbia or any of its branches. 



To the first of these conditions, Mr. Gallatin saw no strong reason 

 to object. With regard to the second, he considered it indispensable 

 that the respective jurisdiction of the courts of justice should be 

 determined by positive compact, as it would scarcely be possible 

 otherwise to prevent collisions ; and upon the third condition, he 

 believed it would be very difficult to arrive at a correct under- 

 standing, as the British government would not admit the posts of 

 the Hu'ison's Bay Company to be military establishments. On all 

 these points, the two governments might afterwards negotiate ; 

 but the American minister refused to assent to any declaration or 

 explanation whatsoever respecting the terms under which the terri- 

 tories in question were to remain open to the people of the two 

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