this be done by congress with as little delay as possible to the full extent to which the British parliament have proceeded in regard to British subjects in that territory. * * * The British proposition of compromise, which would make the Columbia River the line, south of the forty-ninth degree, with a trifling addition of detached territory north of that river, can never for a moment be entertained by the United States.” Considerable space in the message was given to this subject, and recommendations were made for Indian agencies, custom houses, postoffices, and post roads, a surveyor of lands, liberal grants to settlers, the jurisdiction of the United States laws, and the required year’s notice to England of the expiration of the treaty of joint occupancy. With considerable of the jingo spirit in the house, and with commendable moderation in the senate, a notice was finally prepared which would accomplish the result without giving offense. England, realizing that longer delay might only injure her cause, finally took the initiative and proposed the conference which met in 1846, and settled the boundary by a compromise at the forty-ninth degree of latitude. The settlement of the boundary line was the result that had been looked for so many years, and it would seem that nothing longer stood in the way of a realization of the hopes of all who favored the extension of the national government as far as the Pacific Ocean. One after another the obstacles had been falling away. The knowledge and facilities of travel which enabled yearly trains of emigrants to cross the plains were eliminating the element of distance. The advance of a sturdy population carrying westward breadth of views and force of character was deciding the national policy, and the settlement of the boundary line removed a multitude of difficulties which filled the whole period of joint occupancy. Why then should there be longer delay? Action was expected by the people, the needs were growing greater every day.