Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 19.djvu/295

SURRENDER AT ASTORIA IN 1818 277 governor of the Hudson's Bay Company to remove their Columbia River headquarters from Fort George on the south side to some point on the north side of the river, which was done; 8 and even in 1821 Lord Castlereagh intimated the will- ingness of Great Britain to accept the Columbia River as her southern boundary. This much the surrender at Astoria may be said to have positively accomplished; and this concession disturbed the argument for the whole of the Columbia River or Northwest Coast country. Mr. J. B. Prevost to the Secretary of State. Monterey, New California, 9 November 11, 1818. Sir: In conformity with mine of the 27th July, which I had the honor to address to your Department from Lima, I proceeded to His Britannic Majesty's sloop of war Blossom to the mouth of the Columbia, and entered the river on the 1st of October following. A few days thereafter, to wit, on the 6th, as you will perceive by referring to a copy of the act of surrender, (marked A), I received in the name, and on the part of the United States, the possession of the establishment at Fort George, made under the first article of the Treaty of Ghent, by Captain Hickey, of the royal navy, in compliance with the orders of the Prince Regent for that purpose, signi- fied to him through the medium of Earl Bathurst. The British flag was, thereupon lowered, and that of the United States hoisted in its stead; where it now waves, in token both of possession and of sovereignty. The establishment, of which the annexed sketch (marked B) will give you a correct idea, has been considerably extended and improved by the agents of the Northwest Company of Canada, who will continue to occupy and protect it, under our flag, until it shall please the President to give orders for their removal. I will, however, suggest that, when such disposition shall take place, time ought to be granted, in a ratio with the distance, to enable them to obtain the means of transporting __ _____ ' ' -i r .T .'-rT.]"prj I ll^BBLHI 8 See letter of J. H. Pelly, Gov. of H. B. Co., to George Canning dated Dec. 9, 1825, in H. B. Co. Journal No. 721, p. 255. 9 Annals of Congress. i7th Cong., 2d Sess., 1822-1823, col. 1206-1210. Copied through the courtesy of J. Franklin Jameson.