Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 19.djvu/213

FEDERAL RELATIONS OF OREGON 201 "What can this intend?" he wrote. "Our northern question is with Russia, as our southern with the United States. But do the United States mean to travel north and get between us and Russia ? and do they mean to stipulate as against Great Britain in favor of Russia ; or reserve to themselves whatever Russia may not want?" To the claim as far north as 51 Canning (2 January, 1824) objected strongly; it ignored the fact that Nootka, south of that line, had been the occasion of a dispute with Spain, and what had been insisted upon with Spain could not be yielded now to the United States. Even more difficult was the proposition about future colonization (5 January) and upon this issue Canning was constrained to hope that Rush was inclined to allow the negotiations at St. Petersburg to proceed separately. Rush was entirely willing to agree to this proposal so far as he had any authority to speak, 28 first because the principle of non-colonization would remain a sub- ject of contest, and as Russia shared England's views the negotiations at St. Petersburg might place both Russia and Great Britain against the United States ; it was wiser to avoid the issue in this form. Moreover a preliminary and detached discussion of this great principle, if carried on when Great Britain was willing to waive it, might endanger all the other parts of the negotiation. Again, nothing was given up, and the force of the American contention would remain un- diminished. Joint negotiation was therefore impossible, and the two gov- ernments each pursued its course at St. Petersburg, while in London Rush continued his efforts to clear up the issues be- tween his government and that of Great Britain. No definite statement of his country's stand on the Oregon controversy was made by Canning during the preliminaries, but Rush was able to report to Adams his conviction that England would claim to some point north of 55 and with great firmness as far south as 49 and possibly farther, at the same time being especially tenacious of the right to colonize all parts of the 28 Residence at the Court of London, II, 88.