Show the sail san juan difficulty the following is the nature of the controversy which has occasioned the seizure by our out our oui government of the island of san juan off the mouth of fraser river and which calls for settlement between the british government and our own the treaty of 1846 provided that the line separating the british and american territory should commence at the summit of the rocky mountains in latitude 49 deg to which point it had previously been brought from the est east thence run westward with the tie parallel to the middle of the gulf of georgia thence southward with the main channel to the straits of fuca and through the middle of those straits to the ocean now it so happens that between be the point where the line leaves the parallel and the point where it enters the straits of fuca there is the archipelago de haro through which several large channels run the two main ones being the rosario strait and the canal de haro the former is the one used by vessels going from the ocean to the mouth of fraser eraser river but the latter is the wider though obstructed by some small islets both are wide channels dee deep enough for the largest ships between them fie tie lie lle a dozen islands the chief of which are san juan lopez and orcas islands and altogether her they may include about square miles mues of land or acres san juan island ia is the most valuable and has about acres much of it is good soil covered with fine line grass the british assert that the rosario rosanno strait is the c main maln ain aln chan channel channels nill 5 meant by the treaty and the americans say the canal de haro is meant and the settlement oe of that dispute will determine who is to be the owner of the islands some british subjects already occupy san juan island filand as a sheep pasture |