222 ANDREW FISH
give Great Britain the Island of Vancouver and that only. The foundation of the British claim, a verbal ambiguity, was essentially weak.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION.
The point of highest interest in this story as I have told it is the forcible military occupation of San Juan in 1859 by General Harney's soldiers. I treated it as an incident in the westward movement of the white man's civilization in the Europeanization of America in the supersession of barbar- ism. This truly was the important process taking place at the time. The struggle for possession of San Juan was a minor affair between groups of whites with their more or less serious causes of disagreement. I traced sketchily the spread of the dominion of the United States across the continent and showed how the Oregon Question was raised and settled, leaving the disposition of the islands of the Gulf of Georgia somewhat uncertain. Something of the part taken in these matters by the Hudson's Bay Company has been indicated. I showed them migrating from the Columbia to Vancouver Island. We saw how the opposed economic interests of the Company and the American farmers aggravated national animosities. An- other disturbing factor was the gold discovered on British soil and eagerly sought by American adventurers. I recounted the disabilities of American miners in the situation and the efforts of their government to provide a remedy. The history of San Juan Island and how it came to be the scene of the explosion of American exasperation has been told. We have followed together the details of the occupation, the reasons given for it, and the response of the British authorities to it. Particular attention was given to the parts played by General Harney, Governor Douglas, and Admiral Baynes. We saw a satisfactory settlement effected by General Scott on the one side and Admiral Baynes on the other. I have tried to find out
