It was, in fact, conveyed in regular commercial transfer, and accompanied by a bill of sale, for a sum of money, to the British company, who purchased it, by the American company, who sold it of their own free will.
It is true that a British sloop of war had, about that time, been sent to take possession of that post, but she arrived subsequently to the transaction above mentioned, between the two companies, and found the British company already in legal occupation of their self acquired property.
In consequence, however, of that ship having been sent out with hostile views, although those views were not carried into effect,[86] and in order that not even a shadow of a reflection might be cast upon the good faith of the British government, the latter determined to give the most liberal extension to the terms of the treaty of Ghent, and, in 1818, the purchase which the British company had made in 1813 was restored to the United States.
Particular care, however, was taken, on this occasion, to prevent any misapprehension as to the extent of the concession made by Great Britain.
Viscount Castlereagh, in directing the British minister at Washington to intimate the intention of the British government to Mr. Adams, then secretary of state, uses these expressions, in a despatch dated 4th February, 1818:—
"You will observe, that, whilst this government is not disposed to contest with the American government the point of possession as it stood in the Columbia River at the moment of the rupture, they are not prepared to admit the validity of the title of the government of the United States to this settlement.
"In signifying, therefore, to Mr. Adams the full acquiescence of your government in the reoccupation of the limited position which the United States held in that river at the breaking out of the war, you will at the same time assert, in suitable terms, the claim of Great Britain to that territory, upon which the American settlement must be considered as an encroachment."
This instruction was executed verbally by the person to whom it was addressed.
The following is a transcript of the act by which the fort was delivered up, by the British, into the hand of Mr. Prevost, the American agent:—