NEGOTIATION BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND GREAT BRITAIN IN 1818.
Treaty of Ghent, 1814.--Negotiations respecting the Restoration of Fort George.--The United States replaced in Possession of the Post at the Mouth of the Columbia River.--General Negotiations in London, in 1818.--Proposal on the Part of the United States.--Convention of 1818.--No exclusive Claim on either Side.--Western Boundary of the United States by the Treaty of 1783.--Treaty of 1794.--Sources of the Mississippi in 47° 38'.--Convention of 1803, respecting the Boundary, not ratified.--President Jefferson's Letter.--Cession of Louisiana to the United States.--Convention of 1806.--First Allusion to the Country west of the Rocky Mountains.--Convention not ratified by the United States.--Boundary Line according to the Treaty of Utrecht.--Opinion of Mr. Greenhow.--Anderson's History of Commerce.--Treaty of Ryswick.--Limits of Canada, as surrendered to Great Britain.--Difficulty of Boundary Treaties from incorrect Maps.--Treaty of 1783.
The Treaty of Ghent, between Great Britain and the United States of America, was signed on the 24th of December 1814, and it was agreed in the first article, "that all territory, places, and possessions whatsoever taken by either party from the other during the war, or which may be taken after the signing of this treaty, excepting only the islands hereinafter mentioned [in the bay of Passamaquoddy,] shall be restored without delay." By virtue of this article, Mr. Monroe, the Secretary of State at Washington, wrote to Mr. Baker, the British chargé d'affaires, on July 18, 1815, to inform him that measures would be taken by the United States to occupy without delay the post on the Columbia river, which a British expedition had succeeded in taking possession of during the war, as not being within the exception stipulated. [British and Foreign State Papers, 1821-22, p. 459.] To this communication an indecisive reply was made by Mr. Baker, and the affair was allowed to rest till 1817, when it appears that the United States despatched the Ontario sloop of war to resume possession of this post, without giving previous notice to Mr. Bagot, the British minister at Washington. This led to an inquiry on the part of Mr. Bagot, relative to the destination of the Ontario, and the object of her voyage, and to a statement from him, that "the post in question had not been captured during the late war, but that the Americans had retired from it under an agreement made with the North-west Company, who had purchased their effects, and who had ever since retained peaceable possession of the coast." He further observed, that no claim for the restitution of this post could be grounded upon the first article of the Treaty of Ghent, and that "the territory itself was early taken possession of in his Majesty's name, and has been since considered as forming a part of his Majesty's dominions."