Oregon boundary dispute

“ As to the justice of the cause of the American people against the companies, or the companies against the United States, there will be always two opinions, as there have always been two opinions concerning the Oregon boundary question. Sentiment on the American side as enunciated by the Oregon pioneers was as follows: They held that Great Britain had no rights on the west shore of the American continent ”

“ A. B. Roberts and Mr. Allen, formerly of the Hudson Bay Company. (This correspondence is now in the possession of Mr. E. H. Kilham, of Portland, Or.) The work as written made more than two volumes, and condensation was necessary. A chapter on geology and mining was omitted by Mr. Bancroft; the disposal of the manuscript on the "Oregon Question" has already been noticed, and matter on the San Juan boundary dispute and the Modoc war was also incorporated in other volumes. ”

“ They declined to address a petition to the United States, as solicited, until the boundary should be established. They were opposed to the land law in contemplation by the supporters of the government scheme, because they had no guaranty that all would not be changed by the succeeding government. They objected to a provisional form of government as being cumbersome instead of helpful to the colony. Men of laws and science, they said, were still few in the country, and had enough to do without legislating. ”

“ Now, if Congress, in establishing the boundary between Washington and Oregon, had simply named the middle of the river, or the center of the channel, doubtless it would be ruled that the center of the main channel, varying, as it might, from year to year through the processes of accretion, was the boundary between the two states. ”

“ That there are others like it will readily appear. For the effort to demonstrate the superiority of the Bancroft histories over others, we must accordingly make due allowance when attempting a critical estimate.
Furthermore, the editor-manager began the work with certain theories and notions of history that have found their way into the pages which he has published. From the beginning, he adopted the British side in dealing with the dispute over the Oregon boundary. In his treatment of Indian wars, the same tendency to adopt ready-made theories asserted itself. In the manuscript of Mrs. ”

“ It has been often stated, and by persons who should have known the facts in the case, that in 1842, when the Webster-Ashburton treaty took place between England and the United States with reference to our northeastern boundary, the northwestern boundary to the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Coast was deliberately put aside as of little consequence, and that our government then was so indifferent to the whole question that it stood ready to trade away our rights to the better portions of the Oregon Territory for some fishery considerations on the Atlantic Coast. Let us look at the facts. ”

“ Neither did they intend to expatriate themselves by emigrating to Oregon. But when they had reached this distant country they found themselves in embarrassing circumstances—in the midst of a jealous and predatory Indian population, among the subjects of Great Britain in the height of the excitement over the boundary question; without law or protection, except as they governed and defended themselves, which they had done amid many trials; it being much more difficult to administer temporary laws than a fixed system of government. ”

“ Chiefly unfavorable to peace of mind in this life of primitive self-sufficiency were the inevitable isolation and ever-present fear of the Indians. Of these, the former was perhaps the harder to endure.
Attempts to form an organized government in Oregon antedated the settlement of the boundary question by several years. When Jason Lee went east in 1838, he carried a paper signed by 36 settlers petitioning Congress for Oregon's admission to the Union. ”

“ McLoughlin was then a British subject, and was not entitled to hold a land claim in Oregon. But British subjects and citizens of the United States had equal rights under the conventions of joint occupancy ; and the boundary treaty of June 15, 1846, pro- vided that the possessory rights of land of British subjects in Oregon should be respected. ”

“ They denied that the Puget Sound Company, which derived its existence from the Hudson's Bay Company, could have any title to land, which was evident. They were quick to perceive the intentions of the parent company in laying claim to large bodies of land on the north side of the Columbia, and covering them with settlers and herds. They had no thought that when the boundary was settled these claims would be respected, and felt that not only they but the government had been cheated—the latter through its ignorance of the actual facts in the case. ”

“ The Territory of Oregon lies far north of 36° 30′, the Missouri and Texas compromise line. Its southern boundary is the parallel of 42°, leaving the intermediate distance to be 330 geographical miles. And it is because the provisions of this bill are not inconsistent with the laws of the Missouri compromise, if extended from the Rio Grande to the Pacific Ocean, that I have not felt at liberty to withhold my sanction. ”

“ THE ASHBURTON TREATY. BENTON'S OPPOSITION TO IT. WEBSTER'S POSITIVE ASSERTION OF HIS INFLEXIBLE ADHERENCE TO 49 DEGREES AS THE NORTH LINE OF OREGON, AND REV. M. EELLS' TREATMENT OF THIS MATTER.
We have already seen (pp. 32-34 ante) how carefully Dr. Mowry avoids giving his readers any information about Lord Ashburton's instructions on the Oregon boundary question, and Webster's positive denials January 18 and February 3, 1843, that he had made, entertained or meditated accepting the Columbia river, or any other line south of 49 degrees as a negotiable boundary line for the United States. ”

“ They declare that if in ten years the boundary is not settled, they will erect themselves into an independent state." The annual fresh importation of patriotic Americans served to discourage the independent movement; but the legislature of 1845 would not adopt the name "Oregon territory," because congress had not erected any such organization. ”

“ This is due to the fact that their boundaries were made according to physical conditions,—the situation of mountains, rivers, and streams, which make, what may be called, natural boundaries. In addition, when the population of Oregon was small, the size of the counties was of little moment, for the white population was mostly in small settlements west of the Cascade Mountains. When Wasco County, comprising all of Eastern Oregon, was created in 1854, its population was small and mostly living near the Columbia River, a part of its northern boundary. ”