30 Fred Wilbur Powell, A. M.
should be free and open to the citizens and subjects of the two powers, for a term of years ; and to grant them such other rights and privileges, as may contribute to the means of estab- lishing a respectable and prosperous community/*^
Everett was not prepared to give his unqualified endorse- ment to the memorial, and' he took care to get into the record the following statement as to his attitude:
"Lest his opinions on the matter involved should be mistaken from the fact of his having presented the petition, he con- sidered it a duty to state that he could not urge the granting of the prayer of the petition at this time; because it would be impossible to grant it, without violating the stipulations of the treaty on the subject with Great Britain. There was, how- ever, one view of the subject in which it required the considera- tion of the House. It is Stated in the memorial that flourishing settlements of British subjects existed in the Oregon terri- tory. If this were so, it was in violation of a stipulation agreed to between Great Britain and the United States, that, during the convention, no settlement should* be authorized to be made on the debatable lands, by the citizens of either country. This was a matter that required to be looked to, and was an appro- priate subject of inquiry for the Committee on Foreign Relations."i<>
It was as a writer that Kelley was most effective in spread- ing broadcast information as to the Oregon country and arous- ing interest in its immediate settlement by Americans. In 1830 he published A Geographical Sketch of That Part of North America Called Oregon.*^ In the preface he ascribed to Jefferson the honor of having been the first to suggest the
9K«Iley, General Circular, 8-11.
102a cong. I aess. Register of Debates, VIII, 1433; Niles' Register, XLI, 285; Settlement of Oregon, 93*6.
II Kelley, A Geographical Sketch of That Part of North America Called Oregon: containing an account ot the Indian title; the nature of a right of sovereignty; the first discoveries; climate and seasons; face of the country and mountains, natural divisions, physical appearance and soil of each; forests and vegetable productions: rivers, bays, &c.; islands, &c.; animals: the disposition of the Indians, and the number and station of their tribes; together with an essay on the advantages result- ing from a settlement of the territory. To which is attached a new map of the country. Boston, 1830. 80 pp.
