burton was instructed to settle the less impor^nt question relating to Oregon provided this could be done in a manner satisfactory to Great Britain. There is no evidence that Lord Aberdeen, British Secretary for Foreign Aflfairs, made an independent study of the Oregon question at this time. It seems, rather, that in his instructions to Ashburton he simply followed in the footsteps of Canning. In any event, the concessions Ashburton was permitted to make were those Canning had offered; the boundary he might agree to was the Canning boundary along the Columbia and the forty-ninth parallel. On the other hand, he was instructed to reject, outright, the thrice offered American boundary, along the forty-ninth parallel to the sea.
Webster desired Northern California. When Webster and Ashburton reached the Oregon question in their discussions it seemed at first as if a chance of agreement existed. For, although Webster complained that the Columbia boundary, demanded by Ashburton, would leave the United States without a good harbour on the Pacific coast, he yet suggested that the matter might be adjusted provided the United States could secure from Mexico Northern California together with the great harbour of San Francisco.
Did he mean to exchange Northern Oregon for Northern California? This remark of Mr. Webster, which was reported by Ashburton to Lord Aberdeen, seems to indicate that Webster would have been willing to abandon Northern Oregon. But Webster later de
