Britain concerning the northwest boundary of the United States. By the Treaty of Ghent, concluded between the two governments, December 24, 1814, provision was made for the appointment of two commissions to determine the northern boundary from the Saint Lawrence River to Lake Superior, and from Lake Superior to the Lake of the Woods. At the same time the American commissioners proposed the 49th parallel from the Lake of the Woods to the Rocky Mountains as a continuation of the northern boundary between the United States and Canada. This proposition, however, was not acceptable to the British negotiators, nor was any agreement upon the subject reached at the time. Meanwhile the occupation of Oregon had extended the boundary dispute to the territory west of the Rocky Mountains. Russia, which claimed part of Oregon, ceded her claims of all territory south of 54° 40′ N. lat. to the United States in 1824. Spain also claimed Oregon on the ground of discovery, but by the treaty of 1819 quitclaimed her title to land north of the 42d parallel to the United States, leaving Great Britain and the United States as the only disputants. By the convention of 1818 the two governments accepted the 49th parallel as the boundary between Canada and the United States from the Lake of the Woods to the Rocky Mountains. The proposition of the United States to accept a continuation of that line to the Pacific as a suitable division of the Oregon country between the two claimants was rejected by Great Britain on the ground that it would give the Columbia River to the United States. After fruitless negotiations, the United States agreed to accept an arrangement by which the two Powers were to occupy the Oregon territory jointly for a period of ten years. This was embodied in the convention of 1818. By a convention concluded at London, August 6, 1827, the two governments agreed to extend indefinitely the stipulation of 1818 for joint occupation, with the reservation that the convention was subject to abrogation after October 20, 1828, by either party giving twelve months' notice. During the administration of President Tyler negotiations for the permanent settlement of the dispute were carried on between Secretary of State Calhoun and the British Minister Pakenham, who offered to accept the 49th parallel as far as the Columbia River, and from thence onward the Columbia River itself, as the boundary. The Government of the United States declined to accept this proposition, as well as a proposition to submit the question to arbitration. The American public, moreover, was very insistent that no essential rights be waived, and the popular opposition to the making of any concession gave rise to the political watchword, “Fifty-four forty, or fight.” Matters thus stood when the Presidential election of 1844 occurred. The Democratic Party, in its national platform, asserted the right of the United States to the whole of Oregon, and won the election partly on this issue. Notwithstanding this emphatic position of the party, the new administration resumed the negotiations, offering substantially the same proposition as Calhoun had offered. This was refused by the British Government, whereupon negotiations were broken off. The President formally withdrew the proposal and reasserted our “rightful claim to the whole of Oregon.” In April, 1846, Congress authorized the President at his discretion to give the notice required by the convention of 1827 for its abrogation, and this was accordingly done. Finally the dispute was amicably settled by a treaty concluded in July following (1846), by which it was provided that the boundary line should be the 49th parallel to the middle of the channel which separates Vancouver's Island from the continent, and thence southerly through the channel, and the Straits of Juan de Fuca to the Pacific Ocean, the navigation of the channel and straits to remain free and open to both parties. A subsequent dispute between the two governments as to the meaning of the provisions in respect to the channel was referred to the German Emperor (1871) as arbitrator. He decided the following year in favor of the American claim. See San Juan Boundary Dispute.
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY. A co-educational institution at Evanston-Chicago, Ill., in affiliation with the Methodist Episcopal Church, founded in 1851. It comprises a college of liberal arts, and schools of law, medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, and music and oratory. The college of liberal arts and the school of music are at Evanston, the professional schools in Chicago. Students are admitted on certificate from accredited schools or on examination in three groups of studies. The courses in the college lead to the bachelor's and master's degrees in arts, philosophy, science, and letters, and to the degree of doctor of philosophy. The college course is largely elective after the second year, and provision is made for advanced credits by which the time required for subsequent professional studies may be shortened. Advanced courses in certain departments are offered to graduate students, but this work is not organized into a distinct graduate school. Two schools of preparatory instruction are maintained by the university, the Academy, in Evanston, and the Grand Prairie Seminary at Onarga. The Garrett Biblical Institute, under Methodist Episcopal control, forms the theological department of the university, and maintains close relations with the Norwegian-Danish Theological School and the Swedish Theological Seminary, both at Evanston. In 1903 the university had 305 instructors and 3691 students, of whom 769 attended the college. The college campus covers about 45 acres, on the shores of Lake Michigan, with well-equipped buildings, including the Dearborn Observatory and the Library building, the latter containing the general and Greenleaf libraries, with about 52,000 volumes and 33,000 pamphlets. The endowment in 1902 was $4,000,000, the income $465,000, and the total value of property under the control of the colleges, $6,761,250.
NORTHWEST FRONTIER PROVINCE. A province of British India, bounded on the west and north by Afghanistan, on the east by Kashmir and the Punjab, and on the south by Baluchistan. It was formed in 1901 by separating from the Punjab the District of Peshawar and other portions lying mainly west of the Indus. These districts, which are directly under British administration, have an area of 16,466 square miles, and had a population in 1901 of 2,125,480. The Chief Commissioner of the province has also political control over the remaining region along
