MESSAGE

OF

THE PRESIDENT OF THE

ERRATA.

UNITED STATES,

Page 5, 5th line, for "Belgium, Denmark," read "Netherlands, Sweden, and Norway."
Page 6, 30th line, for "commissioner," read "Commission."

Page 12, 49th line, for "Stewart," read "Stuart."

Page 26, 22d line, for "United States government," read "United States and Mexican
governments."

Page 27, 23d line, for "the chart," read "his chart."

Page 41, 16th line, for "require," read "acquire."

Page 58, 7th line, for "and to give," read "so as to give."

Page 76, 22d line, for "could not," read "refused to."

Page 115, 4th line, for "as implied," read "as is implied."
Page 115, 30th line, after "upon," read "an."

Page 225, 39th line, after "note," read "in."

Page 227, 4th line, for their," read "the."

Page 237, 45th line, for "negotiation," read "negotiator."
Page 245, 53d line, for "suffered," read " supposed."
Page 246, 9th line, for "anything," read "nothing."

The Secretary of State, to whom has been referred the resolution of the
Senate of the 18th of December last, requesting the President to communicate
to the Senate, if not incompatible with the public interests, " "any agreement
between the government of the United States and that of Great Britain in re-
lation to the occupation of San Juan Island, in Puget Sound, with copies of
any correspondence on the subject of the claims of the respective governments
to said island, and a statement of the reasons why the government of the
United States has permitted a joint occupation of the same to Great Britain,"
has the honor to submit a copy of such of the papers called for by the resolu
tion as are in the possession of this department.

These papers consist of the reports and correspondence of Archibald Camp-
bell, the commissioner on the part of the United States to carry into effect the
first article of the Treaty of the 15th of June, 1846, between the United States
and Great Britain, with a copy of his correspondence with Capt. Prevost, the com-
missioner on the part of her Britannic Majesty's government in relation to the boun-
dary line between the continent and Vancouver's Island, and a general discussion of
the subject of the claims of the United States and Great Britain to San Juan and
other islands of the Haro Archipelago; correspondence between Lewis Cass,
Secretary of State, and Lord Russell, the secretary of state for foreign affairs

MESSAGE

OF

THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES,

COMMUNICATING,

In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of December 18, 1867, information in relation to the occupation of the island of San Juan, in Puget Sound.

FEBRUARY 22, 1868.-Read, referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations, and ordered to be printed.

To the Senate of the United States:

In answer to a resolution of the Senate of the 18th of December last, requesting information in regard to the island of San Juan, in Puget sound, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State and the papers which accompany it. ANDREW JOHNSON.

WASHINGTON, February 20, 1868.

Report of the Secretary of State accompanying the President's message of February 20, 1868, in answer to Senate resolution of December 20, 1867, in relation to the island of San Juan, in Puget sound.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE.
February 20, 1868.

The Secretary of State, to whom has been referred the resolution of the Senate of the 18th of December last, requesting the President to communicate to the Senate, if not incompatible with the public interests, "any agreement between the government of the United States and that of Great Britain in relation to the occupation of San Juan Island, in Puget Sound, with copies of any correspondence on the subject of the claims of the respective governments to said island, and a statement of the reasons why the government of the United States has permitted a joint occupation of the same to Great Britain," has the honor to submit a copy of such of the papers called for by the resolu tion as are in the possession of this department.

These papers consist of the reports and correspondence of Archibald Campbell, the commissioner on the part of the United States to carry into effect the first article of the Treaty of the 15th of June, 1846, between the United States and Great Britain, with a copy of his correspondence with Capt. Prevost, the commissioner on the part of her Britannic Majesty's government in relation to the boundary line between the continent and Vancouver's Island, and a general discussion of the subject of the claims of the United States and Great Britain to San Juan and other islands of the Haro Archipelago; correspondence between Lewis Cass, Secretary of State, and Lord Russell, the secretary of state for foreign affairs

of Great Britain, in regard to the disputed boundary; Senate executive document No. 10 of the thirty-sixth Congress, first session, containing a mes sage of the President of the United States, "communicating, in compliance with a resolution of the Senate, the correspondence of Lieutenant General Scott concerning the island of San Juan, and papers relating to his mission to the territory in dispute." The papers transmitted include also recent correspondence between this department and the War Department concerning the manner in which the joint military occupation, at first declined by the governor of Vancouver's Island, pending instructions from his government, was subsequently ef fected; and still later correspondence between the two departments in reference. to the existing condition of affairs at San Juan, all of which papers are enumerated more in detail in the subjoined list.

From the papers contained in the Senate document above mentioned, and the communication of the 16th of January, 1868, from the War Department, it appears that General Scott, under the authority of James Buchanan, President of the United States, proposed to the governor of Vancouver's Island a joint military occupation of the island of San Juan "for the temporary adjustment of any present difficulty until the two governments should have time to settle the question of title diplomatically;" but the governor did not then assent to the proposition, for the reason, as stated by himself, that he could not do so, "without the sanction and express instructions of his government;" but that in the ensu ing spring of 1860, Admiral Baynes, in command of the British squadron on that station, sent a detachment of marines to the northern part of San Juan Island for the purpose of establishing a joint military occupancy agreeably to the proposition of Lieutenant General Scott."

66

A recapitulation of some of the more striking facts in relation to the northwestern boundary which appear in the accompanying documents, and in the earlier diplomatic correspondence preceding the treaty, may be useful and convenient.

In the various negotiations which took place between the United States and Great Britain for the settlement of the Oregon controversy, the United States made the proposition that the boundary line should run along the 49th parallel. This line was proposed as a compromise of their conflicting claims to the territory west of the Rocky mountains, between the latitudes of 42o and 54° 40'. For a long period the British government persisted in asserting a claim to the territory lying to the westward of the Columbia river. This pretension was adhered to until a short time previous to the conclusion of the treaty of 1846, when they so far receded from their position that they were willing to adopt the proposed compromise, provided that Vancouver's Island were left to the undivided jurisdiction of Great Britain. The United States finally consented. to this concession, and a boundary was adopted having in view this object. This boundary is defined in the first article of the treaty of June 15, 1846, in the language following:

ARTICLE I.

From the point on the forty-ninth parallel of north latitude, where the boundary laid down in existing treaties and conventions between the United States and Great Britain terminates, the line of boundary between the territories of the United States and those of her Britannic Majesty 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 whole of the said channel and straits, south of the forty-ninth parallel of north latitude, remain free and open to both parties.

Every officer of the government, so far as the sources of information open to this department show, who had any part in the negotiation, adoption or ratification of the treaty, assented to it with the full understanding that the deflection of the boundary from the 49th parallel was consented to for the sole purpose of

ISLAND OF SAN JUAN.

giving the whole of Vancouver's Island to Great Britain, and that to effect this
purpose
the line was to be carried through the Canal de Haro to the Straits of
Fuca, on its way to the Pacific Ocean. This line gives to the United States the
Haro Archipelago, of which San Juan Island forms a part.

The treaty having been concluded, and the exciting controversy of forty
years having been settled, the government of the United States remained, for
a time, without any further interest in the boundary, awaiting the settlement of
the country before exhibiting any anxiety to have the line definitively marked.
In November, 1846, Mr. Bancroft, then minister of the United States at
London, communicated to this department his apprehensions of a design on the
part of Great Britain to claim the boundary line to be through the Rosario
Strait instead of the Canal de Haro, so as to throw the island of San Juan and
the other islands of the Haro Archipelago within the limits of British jurisdiction.
Mr. Bancroft met this pretension promptly, and for a time it was apparently aban-
doned. He was then under the impression that the Hudson's Bay Company
were the parties who sought to possess that valuable group of islands, and that
the British ministry did not favor their proceedings.

In January, 1848, Mr. Crampton, the British diplomatic representative accredited to the United States, under instructions from his government, made a proposition to the United States to appoint joint commissioners for the purpose of determining the water boundary. With this proposition was presented a draught of joint instructions to the commissioners, framed so as to leave but little for them to do except to run the line through the channel, which would give to Great Britain all the islands of the Haro Archipelago.

In 1852, the Territory of Oregon, by an act of their legislature, included the Haro Archipelago in one of its counties; and after the passage of this act, the Hudson's Bay Company established a post on San Juan Island. When the Territory of Washington was created these islands were declared by the legis lature of that Territory to form a part of Whatcom County. In 1855 the property of the Hudson's Bay Company on San Juan Island was assessed in the same manner as other property within the Territory, and upon their refusal to pay the taxes, their property was advertised and sold, in the usual way, to satisfy the demand. This led to a correspondence between the governors of Vancouver's Island and Washington Territory, in which the former declared that he had the orders of her Majesty's government to regard the islands of the Haro Archipelago as a part of the British dominions. This correspondence, with a heavy claim for damages, was laid before this department by John F. Crampton, esq., the British minister here at the time, with a renewal of his proposition for the appointment of a joint commission to determine the boundary line, and in the event that the proposal could not be met by the government of the United States without difficulty or delay, he suggested "the expediency of the adoption, by both governments, of the channel marked as the only known navigable channel by Vancouver, as that designated as the treaty." In other words, the United States were requested to run the line through Rosario Strait and give up to Great Britain the Haro Archipelago.

The Executive complied with Mr. Crampton's proposal so far as to recommend to Congress the creation of a commission to determine the boundary line, and on the 11th of August, 1856, an act was passed authorizing a commission, on the part of the United States, to unite with similar officers to be appointed on the part of the British government. Instead of adopting the proposed joint instructions to the commissioners, each government instructed its own commis sioner as to the duties he was to perform.

In 1857 the commissioners met at Esquimalt harbor, Vancouver's Island, and exchanged credentials, with the understanding that they were mutually invested with full powers; and the discussion of the boundary question took place with. this understanding on the part of the United States commissioner.