USA > California > The history of Oregon and California & the other territories of the northwest coast of North America > Part 52
USA > Oregon > The history of Oregon and California & the other territories of the northwest coast of North America > Part 52
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" And we do hereby require that the said Governor and Company, and W. McGillivray, S. McGillivray, and E. Ellice, shall, as soon as the same can be conveniently done, make and submit, for our consideration and approval, such rules and regulations for the management and carrying on the said fur trade with the Indians, and the conduct of the persons employed by them therein, as may appear to us to be effectual, for gradu- ally diminishing or ultimately preventing the sale and distribution of spirituous liquors to the Indians, and for promoting their moral and religious improvement. - And we do hereby declare that nothing in this our grant contained shall be deemed or construed to authorize the said Governor and Company, or W. McGillivray, S. McGillivray, and E. Ellice, or any person in their employ, to claim or exercise any trade with
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the Indians on the north-west coast of America, to the westward of the Stony Mountains, to the prejudice or exclusion of any citizen of the United States of America, who may be engaged in the said trade : Pro- vided always, that no British subjects other than and except the said Governor and Company, and the said W. McGillivray, S. McGillivray, and E. Ellice, and the persons authorized to carry on exclusive trade by them on grant, shall trade with the Indians within such limits, during the period of this our grant."
Under this license, the parties to whom it was granted continued their operations until 1824, when the claims of the North-West Company were extinguished by mutual consent ; the Hudson's Bay Company then became the sole possessor of the privileges conceded, which were enjoyed by that body until the expiration of the grant. Previous to that period, however, a new grant was made to the company, entitled,
(5.)
" Crown Grant to the Hudson's Bay Company of the exclusive Trade with the Indians in certain Parts of North America, for a Term of twenty-one Years, and upon Surrender of a former Grant,"
which, after recapitulating the terms of the first grant, continues thus :
" And whereas the said Governor and Company have acquired to themselves all the rights and interests of the said W. McGillivray, S. McGillivray, and E. Ellice, under the said recited grant, and the said Governor and Company have humbly besought us to accept a surrender of the said grant, and in consideration thereof to make a grant to them, and give to them our royal license and authority of and for the like exclusive privilege of trading with the Indians in North America, for the like period, and upon similar terms and conditions to those specified and referred to in the said recited grant : Now, know ye, that, in consideration of the surrender made to us of the said recited grant, and being desirous of encouraging the said trade, and of preventing as much as possible a recurrence of the evils mentioned or referred to in the said recited grant, as also in consideration of the yearly rent hereinafter reserved to us, we do hereby grant and give our license, under the hand and seal of one of our principal secretaries of state, to the said Governor and Company, and their successors, for the exclusive privilege of trading with the Indians in all such parts of North America, to the northward and to the westward of the lands and territories belonging to the United States of America, as shall not form part of any of our provinces in North America, or of any lands or territories belonging to the said United States of America, or to any European government, state, or power, but subject, nevertheless, as hereinafter mentioned : And we do, by these presents, give, grant, and secure, to the said Governor and Company, and their successors, the sole and exclusive privilege, for the full period of twenty-one years from the date of this our grant, of trading with the Indians in all such parts of North America as aforesaid, (except as hereinafter mentioned : ) And we
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do hereby declare that no rent shall be required or demanded for or in respect of this our grant and license, or any privileges given thereby for the first four years of the said term of twenty-one years; and we do hereby reserve to ourselves, our heirs and successors, for the remainder of the said term of twenty-one years, the yearly rent or sum of five shillings, to be paid by the said Governor and Company, or their successors, on the 1st day of June, in every year, into our exchequer, on the account of us, our heirs and successors : And we do hereby declare that the said Governor and Company, and their successors, shall, during the period of this our grant and license, keep accurate registers of all persons in their employ in any parts of North America, and shall, once in each year, return to our secretary of state accurate duplicates of such registers ; and shall also enter into and give security to us, our heirs and successors, in the penal sum of five thousand pounds, for insuring, as far as in them may lie, or as they can by their authority over the servants and persons in their employ, the due execution of all criminal and civil processes by the officers and persons legally empowered to execute such processes within all the terri- tories included in this our grant, and for the producing or delivering into custody, for the purposes of trial, all persons in their employ or acting under their authority, within the said territories, who shall be charged with any criminal offence : And we do also hereby require that the said Gov- ernor and Company, and their successors, shall, as soon as the same can conveniently be done, make and submit for our consideration and approval, such rules and regulations for the management and carrying on the said fur trade with the Indians, and the conduct of the persons employed by them therein, as may appear to us to be effectual for diminishing or pre- venting the sale or distribution of spirituous liquors to the Indians, and for promoting their moral and religious improvement : But we do hereby declare that nothing in this our grant contained shall be deemed or con- strued to authorize the said Governor and Company, or their successors, or any persons in their employ, to claim or exercise any trade with the Indians on the north-west coast of America, to the westward of the Stony Mountains, to the prejudice or exclusion of any of the subjects of any foreign states, who, under or by force of any convention for the time being, between us and such foreign states respectively, may be entitled to, and shall be engaged in, the said trade: Provided, nevertheless, and we do hereby declare our pleasure to be, that nothing herein contained shall extend or be construed to prevent the establishment by us, our heirs, or successors, within the territories aforesaid, or any of them, of any colony or colonies, province or provinces, or for annexing any part of the afore- said territories to any existing colony or colonies to us in right of our imperial crown belonging, or for constituting any such form of civil government, as to us may seem meet, within any such colony or col- onies, or provinces :
" And we do hereby reserve to us, our heirs and successors, full power and authority to revoke these presents, or any part thereof, in so far as the same may embrace or extend to any of the territories aforesaid, which may hereafter be comprised within any colony or colonies, province or provinces, as aforesaid :
" It being, nevertheless, hereby declared that no British subjects, other than and except the said Governor and Company, and their successors, and the persons authorized to carry on exclusive trade by them, shall
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trade with the Indians during the period of this our grant, within the limits aforesaid, or within that part thereof which shall not be com- prised within any such colony or province as aforesaid."
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TREATIES AND CONVENTIONS RELATIVE TO THE NORTH-WEST
TERRITORIES OF NORTH AMERICA.
(1.)
Convention between Great Britain and Spain, (commonly called the NOOTKA TREATY, ) signed at the Escurial, October 28th, 1790.
ARTICLE 1. The buildings and tracts of land situated on the north- west coast of the continent of North America, or on the islands adjacent to that continent, of which the subjects of his Britannic majesty were dis- possessed about the month of April, 1789, by a Spanish officer, shall be restored to the said British subjects.
ART. 2. A just reparation shall be made, according to the nature of the case, for all acts of violence or hostility which may have been com- mitted subsequent to the month of April, 1789, by the subjects of either of the contracting parties against the subjects of the other; and, in case any of the said respective subjects shall, since the same period, have been forcibly dispossessed of their lands, buildings, vessels, merchandise, and other property, whatever, on the said continent, or on the seas and islands adjacent, they shall be recstablished in the possession thereof, or a just com- pensation shall be made to them for the losses which they have sustained.
ART. 3. In order to strengthen the bonds of friendship, and to pre- serve in future a perfect harmony and good understanding, between the two contracting parties, it is agreed that their respective subjects shall not be disturbed or molested, either in navigating, or carrying on their fish- eries, in the Pacific Ocean or in the South Seas, or in landing on the coasts of those seas in places not already occupied, for the purpose of carrying on their commerce with the natives of the country, or of making settlements there; the whole subject, nevertheless, to the restrictions specified in the three following articles.
ART. 4. His Britannic majesty engages to take the most effectual measures to prevent the navigation and the fishery of his subjects in the Pacific Ocean or in the South Seas from being made a pretext for illicit trade with the Spanish settlements; and, with this view, it is moreover expressly stipulated that British subjects shall not navigate, or carry on their fishery, in the said seas, within the space of ten sea leagues from any part of the coasts already occupied by Spain.
ART. 5. As well in the places which are to be restored to the British subjects, by virtue of the first article, as in all other parts of the north-
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western coasts of North America, or of the islands adjacent, situate to the north of the parts of the said coast already occupied by Spain, wherever the subjects of either of the two powers shall have made settlements since the month of April, 1789, or shall hereafter make any, the subjects of the other shall have free access, and shall carry on their trade without any disturbance or molestation.
ART. 6. With respect to the eastern and western coasts of South America, and to the islands adjacent, no settlement shall be formed here- after by the respective subjects in such part of those coasts as are situated to the south of those parts of the same coasts, and of the islands adjacent, which are already occupied by Spain : provided, that the said respective subjects shall retain the liberty of landing on the coasts and islands so situated for the purpose of their fishery, and of erecting thereon huts and other temporary buildings serving only for those purposes.
ART. 7. In all cases of complaint or infraction of the articles of the present convention, the officers of either party, without permitting them- selves to commit any violence or act of force, shall be bound to make an exact report of the affair and of its circumstances to their respective courts, who will terminate such differences in an amicable manner.
(2.)
Convention between the United States of America and Great Britain, signed at London, October 20th, 1818.
ARTICLE 2. It is agreed that a line drawn from the most north-western point of the Lake of the Woods, along the 49th parallel of north latitude, or, if the said point shall not be in the 49th parallel of north latitude, then that a line drawn from the said point due north or south, as the case may be, until the said line shall intersect the said parallel of north latitude, and from the point of such intersection due west along and with the said parallel, shall be the line of demarkation between the territories of the United States and those of his Britannic majesty ; and that the said line shall form the northern boundary of the said territories of the United States, and the southern boundary of the territories of his Britannic majesty, from the Lake of the Woods to the Stony Mountains.
ART. 3. It is agreed that any country that may be claimed by either party on the north-west coast of America, westward of the Stony Moun- tains, shall, together with its harbors, bays, and creeks, and the naviga- tion of all rivers within the same, be free and open for the term of ten years from the date of the signature of the present convention, to the vessels, citizens, and subjects, of the two powers; it being well understood that this agreement is not to be construed to the prejudice of any claim which either of the two high contracting parties may have to any part of the said country, nor shall it be taken to affect the claims of any other power or state to any part of the said country ; the only object of the high contracting parties, in that respect, being to prevent disputes and differences among themselves.
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(3.)
Treaty of Amity, Settlement, and Limits, between the United States and Spain, (commonly called the FLORIDA TREATY,) signed at Washing- ton, February 22d, 1819.
ARTICLE 3. The boundary line between the two countries west of the Mississippi shall begin on the Gulf of Mexico, at the mouth of the River Sabine, in the sea, continuing north, along the western bank of that river, to the 32d degree of latitude; thence, by a line due north, to the degree of latitude where it strikes the Rio Roxo of Natchitoches, or Red River ; then, following the course of the Rio Roxo westward, to the degree of longitude 100 west from London and 23 from Washington; then crossing the said Red River, and running thence, by a line due north, to the River Arkansas ; thence following the course of the southern bank of the Arkansas, to its source in latitude 42 north; and thence, by that parallel of latitude, to the South Sea; the whole being as laid down in Melish's map of the United States, published at Philadelphia, improved to the 1st of January, 1818. But, if the source of the Arkansas River shall be found to fall north or south of latitude 42, then the line shall run from the said source due south or north, as the case may be, till it meets the said par- allel of latitude 42, and thence, along the said parallel, to the South Sea ; all the islands in the Sabine, and the said Red and Arkansas Rivers, throughout the course thus described, to belong to the United States; but the use of the waters and the navigation of the Sabine to the sea, and of the said Rivers Roxo and Arkansas, throughout the extent of the said boundary, on their respective banks, shall be common to the respective inhabitants of both nations.
The two high contracting parties agree to cede and renounce all their rights, claims, and pretensions, to the territories described by the said line; that is to say, the United States hereby cede to his Catholic majesty, and renounce forever, all their rights, claims, and pretensions, to the terri- tories lying west and south of the above-described line; and, in like man ner, his Catholic majesty cedes to the said United States all his rights, claims, and pretensions, to any territories east and north of the said line ; and for himself, his heirs, and successors, renounces all claim to the said territories forever.
(4.)
Convention between the United States and Russia, signed at St. Peters- burg, on the Fr of April, 1824.
ARTICLE 1. It is agreed that, in any part of the great ocean, commonly called the Pacific Ocean, or South Sea, the respective citizens or subjects of the high contracting powers shall be neither disturbed nor restrained, either in navigation or in fishing, or in the power of resorting to the coasts, upon points which may not already have been occupied, for the purpose of trading with the natives: saving always the restrictions and conditions determined by the following articles.
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ART. 2. With the view of preventing the rights of navigation and of fishing, exercised upon the great ocean by the citizens and subjects of the high contracting powers, from becoming the pretext for an illicit trade, it is agreed that the citizens of the United States shall not resort to any point where there is a Russian establishment, without the permission of the governor or commander; and that, reciprocally, the subjects of Russia shall not resort, without permission, to any establishment of the United States upon the north-west coast.
ART. 3. It is, moreover, agreed that hereafter there shall not be formed by the citizens of the United States, or under the authority of the said States, any establishment upon the north-west coast of America, nor in any of the islands adjacent, to the north of 54 degrees and 40 minutes of north latitude ; and that, in the same manner, there shall be none formed by Russian subjects, or under the authority of Russia, south of the same parallel.
ART. 4. It is, nevertheless, understood that, during a term of ten years, counting from the signature of the present convention, the ships of both powers, or which belong to their citizens or subjects, respectively, may reciprocally frequent, without any hinderance whatever, the interior seas, gulfs, harbors, and creeks, upon the coast mentioned in the pre- ceding article, for the purpose of fishing and trading with the natives of the country.
ART. 5. All spirituous liquors, fire-arms, other arms, powder, and munitions of war of every kind, are always excepted from this same com- merce permitted by the preceding article; and the two powers engage, reciprocally, neither to sell, nor suffer them to be sold, to the natives, by their respective citizens and subjects, nor by any person who may be under their authority. It is likewise stipulated, that this restriction shall never afford a pretext, nor be advanced, in any case, to authorize either search or detention of the vessels, seizure of the merchandise, or, in fine, any measures of constraint whatever, towards the merchants or the crews who may carry on this commerce; the high contracting powers recipro- cally reserving to themselves to determine upon the penalties to be incurred, and to inflict the punishments in case of the contravention of this article by their respective citizens or subjects.
( 5.)
Convention between Great Britain and Russia, signed at St. Peters- burg, February 26, 1825.
ARTICLE 1. It is agreed that the respective subjects of the high con- tracting parties shall not be troubled or molested in any part of the ocean commonly called the Pacific Ocean, either in navigating the same, in fishing therein, or in landing at such parts of the coast as shall not have been already occupied, in order to trade with the natives, under the restrictions and conditions specified in the following articles.
ART. 2. In order to prevent the right of navigating and fishing, exer- cised upon the ocean by the subjects of the high contracting parties, from becoming the pretext for an illicit commerce, it is agreed that the subjects
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of his Britannic majesty shall not land at any place where there may be a Russian establishment, without the permission of the governor or com- mandant; and, on the other hand, that Russian subjects shall not land, without permission, at any British establishment on the north-west coast.
ART. 3. The line of demarkation between the possessions of the high contracting parties, upon the coast of the continent, and the islands of America to the north-west, shall be drawn in the manner following: Com- mencing from the southernmost point of the island called Prince of Wales's Island, which point lies in the parallel of 54 degrees 40 minutes north latitude, and between the 131st and the 133d degree of west longitude, (meridian of Greenwich,) the said line shall ascend to the north along the channel called Portland Channel, as far as the point of the continent where it strikes the 56th degree of north latitude. From this last-men- tioned point, the line of demarkation shall follow the summit of the moun- tains situated parallel to the coast, as far as the point of intersection of the 141st degree of west longitude, (of the same meridian.) And, finally, from the said point of intersection, the said meridian line of the 141st degree, in its prolongation as far as the Frozen Ocean, shall form the limit between the Russian and British possessions on the continent of America to the north-west.
ART. 4. With reference to the line of demarkation laid down in the preceding article, it is understood -
Ist. That the island called Prince of Wales's Island shall belong wholly to Russia.
2d. That whenever the summit of the mountains which extend in a direction parallel to the coast, from the 56th degree of north latitude to the point of intersection of the 141st degree of west longitude, shall prove to be at the distance of more than ten marine leagues from the ocean, the limit between the British possessions and the line of coast which is to belong to Russia, as above mentioned, shall be formed by a line parallel to the windings of the coast, and which shall never exceed the distance of ten marine leagues therefrom.
ART. 5. It is, moreover, agreed that no establishment shall be formed by either of the two parties within the limits assigned by the two preced- ing articles to the possessions of the other ; consequently, British subjects shall not form any establishment either upon the coast, or upon the border of the continent comprised within the limits of the Russian possessions, as designated in the two preceding articles; and, in like manner, no estab- lishment shall be formed by Russian subjects beyond the said limits.
ART. 6. It is understood that the subjects of his Britannic majesty, from whatever quarter they may arrive, whether from the ocean or from the interior of the continent, shall forever enjoy the right of navigating freely, and without any hinderance whatever, all the rivers and streams which, in their course towards the Pacific Ocean, may cross the line of demarkation upon the line of coast described in article 3 of the present convention.
ART. 7. It is also understood that, for the space of ten years from the signature of the present convention, the vessels of the two powers, or those belonging to their respective subjects, shall mutually be at liberty to frequent, without any hinderance whatever, all the' inland seas, the gulfs, havens, and creeks, on the coast, mentioned in article 3, for the purposes of fishing and of trading with the natives.
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ART. 8. The port of Sitka, or Novo Archangelsk, shall be open to the commerce and vessels of British subjects for the space of ten years from the date of the exchange of the ratifications of the present convention. In the event of an extension of this term of ten years being granted to any other power, the like extension shall be granted also to Great Britain.
ART. 9. The above-mentioned liberty of commerce shall not apply to the trade in spirituous liquors, in fire-arms, or other arms, gunpowder, or other warlike stores; the high contracting parties reciprocally engaging not to permit the above-mentioned articles to be sold or delivered, in any manner whatever, to the natives of the country.
ART. 10. Every British or Russian vessel navigating the Pacific Ocean, which may be compelled by storms or by accident to take shelter in the ports of the respective parties, shall be at liberty to refit therein, to provide itself with all necessary stores, and to put to sea again, without paying any other than port and lighthouse dues, which shall be the same as those paid by national vessels. In case, however, the master of such vessel should be under the necessity of disposing of a part of his merchan- dise in order to defray his expenses, he shall conform himself to the regu- lations and tariffs of the place where he may have landed.
ART. 11. In every case of complaint on account of an infraction of the articles of the present convention, the civil and military authorities of the high contracting parties, without previously acting, or taking any forcible measure, shall make an exact and circumstantial report of the matter to their respective courts, who engage to settle the same in a friendly manner, and according to the principles of justice.
(6.)
Convention between the United States and Great Britain, signed at London, August 6th, 1827.
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