FEDERAL RELATIONS OF OREGON 207 It was, however, not alone the form in which the restoration had been made that disturbed the Prime Minister; the return of Astoria under the terms of the Treaty of Ghent was the first and colossal mistake. . . . "The truth is, that all our difficulties in argu- ment upon this case arises from our own blunder. I am glad to be able to say our own ... I find that the date of that unlucky transaction was 1818, when I was a member of the Cabinet ; and as the Cabinet must have been consulted upon such a measure, I am entitled to my full share of the responsibility for it. "As such I do not hesitate to say that our decision on that occasion was absolutely unjustifiable, and will not bear the light of discussion." The blunder, according to Canning, consisted in viewing the transfer of Astoria, in 1813, as a case of "taken in war," whereas actually the treaty could not apply to Astoria at all, for it had not been taken, it had been sold. The restoration, however, gave a hold to the Yankees, a fact which they had seized upon. Nevertheless, Astoria lay south of the Columbia and already an offer had been made by which that river would form the boundary at that point, so "it now makes our present ground stronger by showing how willingly we departed from that part of it which we thought untenable." But further yielding would make the restoration of Astoria appear as the first of a series of "compliances with encroachments" which were bound to continue. Two points must be emphasized, said Canning; the "ambitious and overbearing views of the States are becoming more developed, and better understood in this country;" the trade between the Eastern and Western hemis- pheres directly across the Pacific was the trade of the world "most susceptible of rapid augmentation and improvement." At the moment the East India Company prevented others from entering that trade but in ten years its monopoly would no longer exist, and it was the duty of English statesmen to see that this channel of gainful enterprise should not be closed to future generations of Englishmen. 37 Canning to Liverpool, 7 July, Ibid., II, 71-5.
