ar. By the
third article of that convention it was--

Agreed that any country that may be claimed by either party on the
northwest coast of America westward of the Stony Mountains shall,
together with its harbors, bays, and creeks, and the navigation of all
rivers within the same, be free and open for the term of ten years from
the date of the signature of the present convention to the vessels,
citizens, and subjects of the two powers; it being well understood that
this agreement is not to be construed to the prejudice of any claim
which either of the two high contracting parties may have to any part of
the said country, nor shall it be taken to affect the claims of any
other power or state to any part of the said country, the only object of
the high contracting parties in that respect being to prevent disputes
and differences amongst themselves.

The negotiation of 1824 was productive of no result, and the convention
of 1818 was left unchanged.

The negotiation of 1826, having also failed to effect an adjustment by
compromise, resulted in the convention of August 6, 1827, by which it
was agreed to continue in force for an indefinite period the provisions
of the third article of the convention of the 20th of October, 1818; and
it was further provided that--

It shall be competent, however, to either of the contracting parties,
in case either should think fit, at any time after the 20th of October,
1828, on giving due notice of twelve months to the other contracting
party, to annul and abrogate this convention; and it shall in such case
be accordingly entirely annulled and abrogated after the expiration of
the said term of notice.

In these attempts to adjust the controversy the parallel of the
forty-ninth degree of north latitude had been offered by the United
States to Great Britain, and in those of 1818 and 1826, with a further
concession of the free navigation of the Columbia River south of that
latitude. The parallel of the forty-ninth degree from the Rocky
Mountains to its intersection with the northeasternmost branch of the
Columbia, and thence down the channel of that river to the sea, had been
offered by Great Britain, with an addition of a small detached territory
north of the Columbia. Each of these propositions had been rejected by
the parties respectively. In October, 1843, the envoy extraordinary and
minister plenipotentiary of the United States in London was aut