i6 Joseph Schafer It is very desirable that Lord Aberdeen should instruct Mr. Pakenham to communicate with me confidentially on the state of the neg-otiations respecting the Oregon boundary in order that I might be prepared to act according to circum- stances without the loss of time necessary for communicating with England. (Signed) George Simpson, March 29, 1845. Hudson's Bay House. To Sir J. H. Pelly Bart, Gov. of the H. B. Co. [No. 2.] Foreign Office, April 3, 1845. Confidential, to James Stephen, Esq. Sir : I am directed by the Earl of Aberdeen to request that you will state to Lord Stanley that Lord Aberdeen is of opin- ion that, considering the excitement which appears to exist in the United States on the subject of the Oregon Territory, the uncompromisingf boldness with which the claims of the United States to that Territory have been put forward, and the dec- laration recently made by the new President in his inaugural address, that he considers the right of the United States to that country "clear and unquestionable," it will be necessary to take without delay proper measures for obtaining a general knowled<?re of the capabilities of the Oregon Territory in a military point of view, in order that we may be enabled to act immediately and with effect in defense of our rights in that quarter, should those rights be infrinsred by any hostile ao^gression or encroachment on the part of the United States. With this object Lord Aberdeen would propose to Lord Stanley that an instruction should be prepared -for Lord Met- calfe [Gov. Gen. of Canada] to be sent out by this next packet which sails on the 5th instant, directing him to communicate confidentially with Sir Richard Jackson [Commander of the Forces, Canada,], with a view to obtaining from him some
capable officer, or, if it should be thought necessary, two offi-----
