year after the other members had resigned) not to take up that of the Oregon boundary, but to be content if they were able to dispose of the others.
By these two diplomates, who were previously on friendly terms (Lord Ashburton having been in the United States, and Mr. Webster in England). the north-eastern boundary of the United States was finally settled by a treaty known as the Ashburton treaty, concluded August 9, 1842.
As is usually the case after a controversy so long continued, the critics on both sides were dissatisfied. In England the opposition party named the treaty the "Ashburton capitulation," while in the United States Mr. Webster was assailed for conceding anything in dispute. Those who knew the difficulties in the way of a perfectly satisfactory statement were pleased to accept the arrangement. The English Parliament, in both houses, thanked Lord Ashburton, and certainly Mr. Webster's part in the Ashburton treaty has been considered highly creditable to him.
That a private citizen like Dr. Whitman should have had any influence in determining questions that had baffled the skill of the greatest diplomatists for over half a century, is not susceptible of belief. He could say nothing they did not already know; and as to the folly said to have been contemplated by Mr. Webster, of "trading off Oregon for a cod-fishery," it will be seen by the treaties quoted, that the fishery question had been settled, as it was supposed, "forever," by the convention of 1813. It was, however, brought up again in 1852, after the Oregon boundary was settled, in order in force the United states into a reciprocity treaty with the British Provinces, when the United States secured greater privileges on the fishing grounds than they had before enjoyed; but which it is now said they are again in danger of losing.
So much for the origin and purpose of the Ashburton treaty. But there still remains the romantic, though unfortunately foundationless, story of Dr. Whitman's visit to Washington with a political purpose. Dr. Whitman left the Cayuse country on business connected with his mission early in October, 1842, and performed a tedious and remarkable winter journey to the States. The treaty he is said to have influenced was signed before he left Oregon, and he arrived at his destination in the following spring, after Lard Ashburton had returned to England, and about the time Mr. Webster retired from the Cabinet of President Tyler. He may have seen the great statesman, and may have given him his opinion of the Oregon country; but his doing so could not affect a treaty that was already made, tier one that was to be made, several years after, by different plenipotentiaries. Both Great Britain and the United States knew the value of the Oregon territory, and that was why it was so difficult for them to come to a settlement. Immediately after the Ashburton treaty, the negotiations concerning the "Oregon Question" were transferred to London, and there remained until 1844, when they were retransferred to Washington. Polk, who was a candidate for the Presidency, made the Oregon boundary the principal issue on which he was elected. It was Polk who set going the cry of "Fifty-four forty or fight," so popular at one time. Nevertheless, he very cheerfully signed the Oregon treaty or June 15, 1846, which made the forty-ninth parallel the northern boundary of the United States, west as well as east of the Rocky Mountains. As in the case of the Ashburton treaty, both governments were glad to be well rid of the controversy without a war. Perhaps no similar question was ever clothed with the real romance that has clung to and colored the Oregon Question. It less needs the adventitious aids of invention than Any modern history. There was a good deal of the old adventurous and hardy spirit of the Spanish colonists of America in the deeds 1nd discoveries of the rival nations contending for possession. That Dr. Whitman was, while "a soldier or the cross," equally fit to have been a soldier of the sword, there is no doubt. He was a valiant and true man, and would have scorned to claim for himself honors which he had never won. it, therefore, is no kindness to his memory to place him in a false position, from which the reader of encyclopaedias could easily rout him. The author of "How Dr. Whitman Saved Oregon," is only one of a number who have given credence to this well-invented historical romance, without taking the trouble to look up his authorities. He is too good a writer to be so careless of his facts, and too sensible a gentleman not to be glad of being set right.
