The San Juan Island Standoff
Tensions between American settlers and British authorities on San Juan Island flare in the territorial legislature, sparking a debate over sovereignty and the treatment of American interests.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
In a recent number of the British Colonist, an article entitled 'Washington Territorial Legislature' gives an improper impression of a short editorial note, accompanying the report of certain remarks made by Mr. Hyatt, in our Legislative Assembly. Mr. Hyatt is a representative from Whatcom County, which Americans in this Territory as unanimously believe includes the Island of San Juan within its boundaries and limits, just as Victoria is situated upon Vancouver Island. We took occasion to approve the general vein and sentiment of Mr. Hyatt's speech, but we expressed a doubt as to the policy of that gentleman using terms of reproach against individuals entrusted with the administration of British Colonial affairs. Had we then known that several of that gentleman's constituents had recently been removed from their settlements on San Juan Island by the 100 marines on duty there, as an 'army of occupancy,' making a reservation of some eighteen miles square, we could have found extenuation for the feeling he displayed. But as it was, we expressed no doubt whatever that the British authorities deserved unqualified condemnation by every American. Our only doubt was whether any good would result by calling their officials hard names. We regard the claim of Great Britain to San Juan Island as rapacious as it is unjust. We would unsparingly condemn the citizen who attempts to wrong his neighbor out of his farm or strip of land, without other title than mere coveting its possession. Why then palliate in a nation, what we condemn as criminal in an individual?
“We regard the claim of Great Britain to San Juan Island as rapacious as it is unjust.”
This editorial captures the height of the 'Pig War' era, a multi-year border standoff between the U.S. and Britain over the San Juan Islands. Today, the San Juan National Historical Park preserves the remains of the very camps where these 'armies of occupancy' once faced off, serving as a reminder of when the Pacific Northwest was a volatile site of international brinksmanship.
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