_WASHINGTON, December 22, 1837_.
The PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES:
The Secretary of State, to whom has been referred the resolution of
the Senate of the 16th of October last, requesting the President of
the United States to communicate to that body "at the next session
of Congress (if not inconsistent with the public interest) any
correspondence between the Government of the United States and any
foreign government relative to the occupation of the territory of the
United States west of the Rocky Mountains and bordering on the Pacific
Ocean, and whether any, and, if so, what, portion of the said territory
is in the possession of any foreign power," has the honor to report to
the President that no correspondence between this and any foreign
government on the subject referred to has passed since the negotiation
of the existing convention of 1827 with Great Britain, by which the
provisions of the third article of the convention of the 20th of
October, 1818, with His Britannic Majesty, leaving the territory claimed
by either power westward of the Rocky Mountains free and open to the
citizens and subjects of both, were extended and continued in force
indefinitely, but liable to be annulled at the will of either party, on
due notice of twelve months, at anytime after the 20th of October, 1828,
and that the papers relating to the negotiation to which allusion has
just been made were communicated to the Senate in confidence in the
early part of the first session of the Twentieth Congress.
With regard to the second clause of the resolution above cited, the
Secretary has to state that the trading establishment called "Astoria,"
at the mouth of the Columbia River, formerly belonging to John Jacob
Astor, of New York, was sold to, and therefore left in the possession
of, the British Northwest Company, which subsequently united with the
British Hudson Bay Company; that this company has now several depots in
the country, the principal of which is at Fort Vancouver, on the north
bank of the Columbia River, and about 80 or 100 miles from its mouth.
It appears that these posts have not been considered as being in
contravention of the third article of the convention of 1818, before
referred to; and if not, there is no portion of the territory claimed
by the United States west of the Stony Mountains known to be in the
exclusive possession of a foreign power. It is known, by information
recently obtained, that the English company have a steamboat on the
Columbia, and have erected a sawmill and are cutting timber on the
territory claimed by the United States, and shipping it in considerable
quantities to the Sandwich Islands.
Respectfully submitted,