Page 358 - Merchants and Mandarins China Trade Era

344.

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Nothing resulted from the "diplomatic measure except
tremendous profits for Astor. After the incident, no other

President until the late l830's expressed concern for China.

Jefferson's dream of connecting America with Asia did not com­

pletely fade after 1807 though. Within a decade, China and

its market appeared in Congress as part of the debate regard­

ing the future of the Pacific Northwest. During the War of

1812 English forces had seized Fort Astoria, the trading

post founded by John Jacob Astor's Pacific Fur Company in 1811.

Throughout the War the Northwest Company, a Canadian fur-trad­

ing operation, occupied and used Astor's establishment. The

Treaty of Ghent in 1815 stipulated that Astoria should be

returned to the United States, and in 1817 the American govern­

ment sought to effect this claim. A year after restoring its

title to the fort, the United States entered into negotiations

with England over general boundary questions in the Northwest.

These talks resulted in the Convention of 1818, in which the

two countries agreed to allow American and English citizens

occupy the Northwest for ten years. Shortly thereafter con­

cern for American rights on the Northwest Coast first appeared
in Congress. In December 1820 Representative John Floyd of

Virginia proposed that the House "inquire into the situation

of the settlements upon the Pacific Ocean, and the expediency
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of occupying the Columbia River.11

Floyd, the major proponent in the 1820's of American

18
The House appointed a cornrr,ittee of Floyd, Thomas Metcalfe
of Kentucky and Thomas Swearingen of Virginia to consider the
matter. U.S., Congress, House, 16th Cong., 2d sess., Dec. 19,