Hammond to Merivale (Permanent Under-Secretary)

I am directed by the Earl of Malmesbury to request that
HudsonsBayCompany navigationrightsontheColumbia
you will suggest to Secretary Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton, with
reference to your Letter of the 12th
Instant

relative to the right of certain subjects of Great Britain to navigate
the River Columbia, whether it might not be desirable, in the first
instance, to request the Hudson's Bay Company to prepare a full Statement
of the grounds on which they consider the claim to navigate the Columbia
River after the expiration of their trading monopoly is to be maintained,
and after the cession to the United States of their Possessory Rights, if
an arrangement for such cession should be made.