1818-9] Treaty with Great Britain. Spanish delays. 365 to ownership and absolute jurisdiction, grounds which may be briefly stated as those of discovery, exploration, and settlement. Great Britain denied the claim of the United States to absolute jurisdiction, founding her pretensions on the discovery of Nootka Sound by Captain Cook (1778); the building of a small vessel in a harbour in the Sound in 1788; the fact that the persons who built the vessel resided in a hut on shore ; the Nootka Sound Convention with Spain (1790) ; the discovery of the Frazer river by Sir Alexander Mackenzie (1792); and the establish- ment of a fur-trading post west of the Rocky Mountains (1806). She claimed the right of her subjects to navigate the waters of the Oregon country, to settle in it, and to trade freely with its inhabitants and occupiers; and she conceded the same rights and no others to the United States. These disputes were shelved for a time by an arrangement made in 1818. As to the fisheries, it was agreed that citizens of the United States might for ever catch fish on certain parts of the coasts of Newfoundland and Labrador, and of the Magdalen Islands ; and that American fishermen might for ever dry and cure fish on any of the un- settled bays, creeks, and harbours of certain parts of Newfoundland and Labrador ; while the United States renounced for ever the claim of its citizens to take, dry, or cure fish within three miles of any other of the coasts, bays, creeks, or harbours of the British possessions in North America; and agreed that the fishermen of the United States should never enter any of these harbours, bays, and creeks for any other purpose than procuring water, buying wood, seeking shelter, or repairing their vessels. As to the northern boundary it was agreed that the line of demarcation between the British possessions in North America and the United States should be the 49th parallel of latitude, running from a point south of the Lake of the Woods to the summit of the Rocky Mountains ; and that in the Oregon country, for ten years to come, the harbours, bays, and creeks, and the navigation of the rivers should be free and open to the vessels, citizens, and subjects of the two Powers. It was, in short, an agreement for joint occupancy, leaving undecided the claims of either party to absolute control of the country. Trouble next arose with Spain over the delivery of the Floridas. Early in 1818, while the negotiations were still going on, Ferdinand of Spain granted to three Court favourites areas of land so extensive that it seemed likely that every foot of Florida, not already given away, had been alienated by the Crown. The King's intention seemed to be to deprive the United States of the ownership of the soil and to leave to that country nothing but the jurisdiction. Adams was determined to prevent this, and inserted in the treaty the words, "All grants made since the said 24th January, 1818, are hereby declared and agreed to be null and void." But when the treaty reached Madrid (in May, 1819), the King, on one pretext or another, put off the ratification. The six months 1 time-limit expired; and eight months elapsed before a minister appeared CH. XI.
