Rensselaer Gazette, Volume 3, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 May 1859 — Another Boundary Dispute with Grint Britain. [ARTICLE]

Another Boundary Dispute with Grint Britain.

A boundary dispute with Great Britain is growing up in the North-west. It is whether the boundary line between the United States and Great Britain, as defined by the Oregon treaty of 1846, was intended to run through the straits of Rosaria or the Canal de Haro. This arises from the indifinite language of the first article of the treaty, which declares that the line “fiiall be continued westward along the 39th parallel * to the middle of the channel which sepa- . rates the continent from Vancouver’s Island, and thence southerly through the middle of the said channel, ’ &.c. There are several channels, no one deserving the title- ot '-the channel.” The English claim that the boundary should run through the'straits of Rosaria, eastward of the Orcas and Lopez Islands; the Americans that it should run through the Canal de Haro, between San Juan and Vancouver’s Islands. This difference of understanding gives { rise to a disputed Government claim "to a number of islands, of no great value commercially or agriculturally, but of some importance consequent upon the discovery of gold in Frazer river, and the influx of sellers, many of whom desire to pre-empt lands on the islands. The English have a notion that they are valuable for' military purposes, and to the location of n >val arsenals. English settlers on Vancouver have used thern as sheep pastures. Both classes of settlers are anxious to claim the lands, believing there is speculation in them, and large profits to be realized in som° manner yet unexplained. The papers in that quarter are discussing the matter vigorously-, and the Americans and English taking sides as their interests dictate. As President Buchanan was ajparty to the negotiation, he will be fully prepared to say- what was the understanding on the hart oi our Government, at least.