that the navigation of the Strait of Fuca and neighboring waters was left open, while the Columbia remained free to the Hudson's Bay Company till the expiration of its charter. But when the treaty itself reached Oregon the disapproval of the Americans was general; not because of failure to secure the whole of Oregon, but because in the territory claimed by and relinquished to the United States, the Hudson's Bay Company were confirmed in the possession of land or other property occupied by them in the territory,[1] and promised payment for the same in case they relinquished it to the United States.
Man is a preposterous pig; probably the greediest animal that crawls upon this planet. Here were fertile lands and temperate airs; meadows, forests, and mountains; bright rivers and a broad ocean seaboard, enough of earth for half a dozen empires; and all for nothing—all stolen from the savages, and never yet a struggle, never yet a dollar in return, only fevers, syphilis, and the like by way of compensation; and yet these colonial representatives of the great American nation grudge their brethren, but little later than themselves from Great Britain, a few squares of land round the posts which they had built and occupied so long, and that when they could not positively say with truth that these same British brethren had not as good a right as they to the whole of it. And they fell to cursing; they cursed the British, and particularly President Polk for failing to carry out his policy avowed before election. Believing
- ↑ Articles III. and IV. of the treaty ran as follows: 'In the future appropriation of the territory south of the 49th parallel of north latitude, as provided in the first article of this treaty, the possessory rights of the Hudson's Bay Company and all British subjects who may be already in the occupation of land or other property lawfully acquired within said territory, shall be respected. The farm, lands, and other property of every description, belonging to Puget's Sound Agricultural Company, on the north side of the Columbia River, shall be confirmed to the said company. In case, however, the situation of those farms and lands should be considered by the United States to be of public and political importance, and the United States government should signify a desire to obtain possession of the whole or any part thereof, the property so required shall be transferred to the said government at a proper valuation, to be agreed upon between the parties.'
