British subjects arrested within the territory were to be delivered to the nearest British tribunal, up to a period twelve months after the United States should have served a notice on Great Britain of abrogation of the treaty. It was provided that the future grants of land contemplated by the act should be subject to the settlement of the title with Great Britain, and the extinguishment of the Indian title; also, that nothing in the act should be construed as closing or obstructing any of the navigable waters within the limits of the territory organized by the bill, or any part of the country claimed by either government on the Northwest Coast, against the vessels, citizens, or subjects of Great Britain.[1] As an indication of the growing importance of another question which was to enter as a factor into the destiny of Oregon, Winthrop of Massachusetts proposed as an amendment a proviso "that there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said territory, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted." But already the provisional government of the Oregon colony entertained the principle of a free state. And the people of Oregon were, for obvious reasons, better off with their simple organization than they would have been had either of these acts passed.
It is not necessary to the purposes of this history to pursue the action of congress through the 29th session. It was a period of great excitement and increased freedom of expression. President Polk in his message declared that "beyond all question, the protection of our laws, and our jurisdiction, civil and criminal, ought to be immediately extended over our citizens in Oregon." The legislative committee of Oregon for 1845 memorialized congress upon the subject of their temporary organization, reciting the griev-
- ↑ Under this law McLoughlin's claim, at Oregon City would have been respected
