A proposition was accordingly made, which was rejected by
the British plenipotentiary, who, without submitting any other
proposition, suffered the negotiation on his part to drop, expressing
his trust that the United States would offer what he saw fit to call
"some further proposal for the settlement of the Oregon question more
consistent with fairness and equity and with the reasonable expectations
of the British Government." The proposition thus offered and rejected
repeated the offer of the parallel of 49 deg. of north latitude, which had
been made by two preceding Administrations, but without proposing to
surrender to Great Britain, as they had done, the free navigation of the
Columbia River. The right of any foreign power to the free navigation of
any of our rivers through the heart of our country was which I was
unwilling to concede. I also embraced a provision to make free to Great
Britain any port or ports on the cap of Quadra and Vancouvers Island
south of this parallel. Had this been a new question, coming under
discussion for the first time, this proposition would not have been
made.
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