Brooks: Diplomacy and the Borderleads 151
traders might set up seasonally. The firt-named place had re-
mained under the control of the Northwest Company since its
transfer to the firm in 1813. So far as the active fur trade (the one
great reason for interest in the territory) was concerned, the region
continued to be dominated by the British even after Special Com-
missioner John B. Prevost, on October 6, 1818, received at Fort
George the official British act of surrender in accordance with the
terms of the Treaty of Ghent.
 Nothing appears in the documents to explain definitely why
Adams was led to propose in July, 1818, the inclusion of the Ore-
gon country in the treaty negotiations. He later claimed with pride
that the initial suggestion was his own. Perhaps the current bound-
ary negotiation with England caused him to meditate upon the
desirability of a treaty title to the region. But with economic inter-
est in the area so dominated by one industry it is only natural to
wonder if there might not have been at that time something com-
parable to the present-day "lobbies" of private interests in Wash-
ington.
 Such a speculation must center about John Jacob Astor, the one
 outstanding figure in the United States in the fur-trapping and fur-
 carrying trade. Considering his intimate connection with Astoria,
 he may very possibly have guided Adams' attention toward the
 Northwest. Surely he was in frequent touch with the State De-
 partment during the Adams-Onfs negotiation. One of his ships
 which was engaged in the Pacific trade, the "Beaver," had been de-
 tained at Taleahuano, Chile, on charges of violating Spanish colo-
 nial maritime regulations by carrying contraband goods destined
 for Valparaiso, then in the hands of the insurgents. The matter
 became the subject of a diplomatic complaint and worried Onis
 because he feared that an offense to such a rich and prominent
 citizen might arouse adverse public opinion throughout the United
 States.
 Furthermore, Astor did believe that title should be obtained to
 the Northwest Coast. It is said that he greeted Albert Gallatin on
 the latter's return from Ghent with the remark that there was one
 thing the commissioners should not have left undone. "You should
 have settled more definitely the question of the Columbia terri-
 tory," said Astor; and when Gallatin suggested that their great-
 grandchildren would be the ones to talk about that, Astor answered,