can claim "to the Columbia river and the interior territory washed by its waters," as resting (1) upon Gray's discovery and naming of the river; (2) Lewis and Clark's exploration; (3) the Astoria settlement, and the restoration of Astoria in 1818; (4) the acquisition of the Spanish title. Spain, he held, was the only European power who had any territorial rights on the northwest coast prior to the discovery of the river itself. The river was supposed to rise as far north as the fifty-first parallel, giving us a good right to territory up to that line. But, since the forty-ninth parallel had been already adopted to the Rockies, he was willing to extend that boundary west to the Pacific.
Canning's Oregon policy. At the time of the negotiation of 1824 the brilliant and not always amiable George Canning was British foreign secretary. Canning disliked Mr. Adams personally, and besides, for reasons of policy, he was in no mood to humour him in the Oregon matter. Accordingly, when he learned the extent of the American claims, Mr. Canning wrote the famous dispatch of May 31, 1824, to the British commissioners, which established the British Oregon policy for many years to come on a basis that made agreement with the United States impossible. Briefly stated, that policy was to claim (1) an equal right with the United States and all other powers to make use of the entire territory from 42° to 54°40′. This right was based on the fact that when Spain tried to exclude Britain from Nootka Sound in 1789–1790 Great Britain, at the risk of war, compelled Spain to recognize
