*No. 46.[52]
* * * Sir, if anything could have induced me to regret that decision on the part of the House which terminates the government, it would have been the wish that we should survive the day when intelligence might be received from the United States as to the result of our last attempt to adjust the differences with that country; differences which, unless speedily terminated, must probably involve both countries in the necessity of an appeal to arms. The House will probably recollect that after we had offered to leave the dispute respecting the territory of the Oregon to arbitration, and that offer had been rejected, the President of the United States sent a message to Congress, which led to discussions with regard to the termination of the convention entered into several years since, which provided for a temporary adjustment of our differences—at least, for a temporary avoidance of quarrel—and enabled the two countries jointly to occupy the territory of the Oregon. The two Houses of the American Congress advised the President to use his unquestionable power, and to signify to this country the desire of the United States to terminate, after the lapse of a year, the existing convention. They, however, added to that advice, which might, perhaps, otherwise have been considered of an unsatisfactory or hostile character, the declaration that they desired the notice for the termination of the convention to be given, in order that an amicable adjustment of the dispute [Page 54] between the two countries might thereby be facilitated. It appeared to us that the addition of that conciliatory declaration—the expression of the hope that the termination of the convention might the more strongly impress upon the two countries the necessity of amicable adjustment—removed any barrier which diplomatic punctilios might have raised to a renewal by this country of the attempt to settle our differences with the United States. We did not hesitate, therefore, within two days after the receipt of that intelligence—we did not hesitate, although the offer of arbitration made by us had been rejected—to do that which, in the present state of the protracted dispute, it became necessary to do, namely, not to propose renewed and lengthy negotiations, but to specify frankly and *without reserve, what were the terms on which we could consent to a partition of the country of the Oregon. Sir, the President of the United States met us in a corresponding spirit. Whatever might have been the expressions heretofore used by him, however strongly he might have been personally committed to the adoption of a different course, he most wisely and patriotically determined at once to refer our proposals to the Senate—that authority of the United States whose consent is requisite for the conclusion of any negotiation of this kind; and the Senate, acting also in the same pacific spirit, has, I have the heartfelt satisfaction to state, at once advised acquiescence in the terms we offered. From the importance of the subject, and considering that this is the last day I shall have to address the House as a minister of the Crown, I may, perhaps, be allowed to state what are the proposals we made to the United States for the final settlement of the Oregon question. In order to prevent the necessity for renewed diplomatic negotiations, we prepared and sent out the form of a convention, which we trusted the United States would accept. The first article of that convention was to this effect, that—The words of the treaty were chosen by the British ministry.[53]
From the point on the forty-ninth parallel of north latitude, where the boundary laid down in existing treaties and conventions between Great Britain and the United States terminates, the line of boundary between the territories of her Britannic Majesty and those of the United States shall be continued westward along the said forty-ninth parallel of north latitude to the middle of the channel which separates the continent from Vancouver’s Island, and thence southerly, through the middle of the said channel, and of Fuca’s Straits, to the Pacific Ocean; provided, however, that the navigation of the said channel and straits, south of the forty-ninth parallel of north latitude, remain free and open to both parties.
Those who remember the local conformation of that country will understand that that which we proposed is the continuation of the forty-ninth parallel of latitude till it strikes the Straits of Fuca; that that parallel should not be continued as a boundary across Vancouver’s Island, thus depriving us of apart of Vancouver’s Island, but that the middle of the channel shall be the future boundary, thus leaving us in possession of the whole of Vancouver’s Island, with equal right to the navigation of the straits. * * * Sir, I will not occupy the attention of the House with the mere details of this convention. I have read the important articles. On this very day, *on my return from my mission to Her Majesty to offer the resignation of Her Majesty’s servants, I had the satisfaction of finding an official letter from Mr. Pakenham, intimating in the following terms the acceptance of our proposals, and giving an assurance of the immediate termination of our differences with the United States:Sir Robert Peel’s interpretation of the treaty.[54]
Washington, June 13, 1846.
My Lord: In conformity with what I had the honor to state in my dispatch, No. 68, of the 7th instant, the President sent a message on Wednesday last to the Senate, submitting [Page 55] for the opinion of that body the draught of a convention for the settlement of the Oregon question, which I was instructed by your lordship’s dispatch, No. 19, of the 18th of May, to propose for the acceptance of the United States.
After a few hours’ deliberation on each of the three days, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, the Senate, by a majority of thirty-eight votes to twelve, adopted yesterday evening a resolution advising the President to accept the terms proposed by Her Majesty’s government. The President did not hesitate to act on this advice, and Mr. Buchanan accordingly sent for me this morning, and informed me that the conditions offered by Her Majesty’s government were accepted by the Government of the United States, without the addition or alteration of a single word.
I have the honor to be, &c.,
R. PAKENHAM.
The Right Hon. the Earl of Aberdeen, K. T., &c.
Thus, sir, the governments of two great nations, impelled, I believe, by the public opinion of each country in favor of peace—by that opinion which ought to guide and influence statesmen—have, by moderation, by mutual compromise, averted the dreadful calamity of war between two nations of kindred origin and common language, the breaking out of which might have involved the civilized world in general conflict. A single year, perhaps a single month, of such a war would have been more costly than the value of the whole territory that was the object of dispute. But this evil has been averted consistently with perfect honor on the part of the American Government, and on the part of those who have at length closed, I trust, every cause of dissension between the two countries. * * Sir, I do cordially rejoice that, in surrendering power at the feet of a majority of this House, I have the *opportunity of giving them the official assurance that every cause of quarrel with that great country on the other side of the Atlantic is amicably terminated.Sir Robert Peel declares every cause of dissension between Britain and America at an end.[55]