452 PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. [H. 



In the year 1815, a demand for the restoration of Fort George was 

 first made to Great Britain, by the American government, on the plea 

 that the first article of the treaty of Ghent stipulated the restitution 

 to the United States of all posts and places whatsoever, taken from them 

 by the British during the war, in which description Fort George (Astoria) 

 was included. 



For some time the British government demurred to comply with the 

 demand of the United States, because they entertained doubts how far it 

 could be sustained by the construction of the treaty. 



In the first place, the trading post called Fort Astoria (or Fort 

 George) was not a national possession ; in the second place, it was not 

 a military post ; and, thirdly, it was never captured from the Americans 

 by the British. 



It was, in fact, conveyed in regular commercial transfer, and ac- 

 companied by a bill of sale, for a sum of money, to the British company, 

 who purchased it, by the American company, who sold it of their own 

 free will. 



It is true that a British sloop of war had, about that time, been sent 

 to take possession of that post, but she arrived subsequently to the trans- 

 action above mentioned, between the two companies, and found the British 

 company already in legal occupation of their self-acquired property. 



In consequence, however, of that ship having been sent out with 

 hostile views, although those views were not carried into effect, and in 

 order that not even the shadow of a reflection might be cast upon the 

 good faith of the British government, the latter determined to give the 

 most liberal extension to the terms of the treaty of Ghent, and, in 1818, 

 the purchase which the British company had made in 1813 was restored 

 to the United States.* 



Particular care, however, was taken, on this occasion, to prevent 

 any misapprehension as to the extent of the concession made by Great 

 Britain. 



Viscount Castlereagh, in directing the British minister at Washington 

 to intimate the intention of the British government to Mr. Adams, then 

 secretary of state, uses these expressions, in a despatch dated 4th of 

 February, 1818 : — 



" You will observe, that, whilst this government is not disposed to 

 contest with the American government the point of possession as it 

 stood in the Columbia River at the moment of the rupture, they are not 

 prepared to admit the validity of the title of the government of the United 

 States to this settlement. 



" In signifying, therefore, to Mr. Adams the full acquiescence of your 

 government in the reoccupation of the limited position which the United 

 States held in that river at the breaking out of the war, you will at the 

 same time assert, in suitable terms, the claim of Great Britain to that terri- 

 tory, upon which the American settlement must be considered as an 

 encroachment." 



This instruction was executed verbally by the person to whom it 

 was addressed. 



The following is a transcript of the act by which the fort was 

 delivered up, by the British, into the hands of Mr. Prevost, the Amer- 

 ican agent : — 



• See p. 309. 



