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+Project Gutenberg's A History of Oregon, 1792-1849, by William Henry Gray
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: A History of Oregon, 1792-1849
+       Drawn From Personal Observation and Authentic Information
+
+Author: William Henry Gray
+
+Release Date: January 18, 2012 [EBook #38607]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A HISTORY OF OREGON, 1792-1849 ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Adam Buchbinder, Pat McCoy and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+(1st-hand-history.org)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: ASTORIA IN 1811.]
+
+
+
+
+A HISTORY
+
+OF
+
+OREGON,
+
+1792-1849,
+
+DRAWN FROM PERSONAL OBSERVATION AND AUTHENTIC INFORMATION.
+
+BY
+
+W. H. GRAY,
+
+OF
+
+ASTORIA.
+
+PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR FOR SUBSCRIBERS.
+
+PORTLAND, OREGON: HARRIS & HOLMAN.
+
+SAN FRANCISCO: H. H. BANCROFT & CO.
+
+NEW YORK: THE AMERICAN NEWS COMPANY.
+
+1870.
+
+
+
+
+CORRECTIONS:
+
+
+FIRST LETTER.
+
+4th page, 2nd line from bottom, after the word horror, read _at_.
+
+6th page, 2nd line from bottom, " quote.
+
+7th page, end of paragraph, ".
+
+23rd page, in place of 283, page 273.
+
+24th page, after zealous priest of, read _the_.
+
+26th page, 5th line, for missionaries, read _missions_.
+
+
+SECOND LETTER.
+
+5th page, first word, for abrogate, read _arrogate_.
+
+8th page, in this letter, read in _his_ letter.
+
+23rd page, for unmbers, read _numbers_.
+
+29th page, 1st paragraph, for dispersing, read _dispensing_.
+
+30th page, 2nd paragraph, for barely, read _basely_ betrayed.
+
+32nd page, for mith, read _with_ many thanks.
+
+
+
+
+Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1870, by
+
+W. H. GRAY,
+
+In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the
+District of Oregon.
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTORY.
+
+
+The reader will observe that when we commenced furnishing the historical
+articles for the _Marine Gazette_, we did not know that they would be of
+sufficient interest to justify arranging them in book form; but few
+articles had been given, however, before there was a call for back
+numbers of the paper, which were not on hand. It was then decided to
+continue the articles, giving an opportunity to correct errors in
+statement of historical facts, and collect such as were printed, with
+all just criticisms, review the whole, and complete the manuscript for
+publication.
+
+As will be seen, we have endeavored to narrate events in plain language,
+and as nearly in the order of occurrence as possible.
+
+We make no claim to literary merit or attractive style; the facts we
+have collected, the proofs we are able to give of the policy and
+practices of one of the most gigantic frauds ever continued for a series
+of years by one professedly civilized and Christian nation upon another,
+in chartering and continuing to license a monster monopoly; and the
+manner in which they have sought for a series of years to prevent
+American trade and settlement of the western portion of our country, is
+contained in the following pages. We can only give the principal events,
+which in the future may be better arranged in an interesting and
+authentic history, which we must leave for others to write. The reader
+will find in the following pages:--
+
+I. The American history of the Hudson's Bay and Puget Sound Agricultural
+companies.
+
+II. The causes of failure of the Protestant missions, the causes of
+Indian wars, and the causes that must tend to the utter destruction of
+the Indian race on the American continent.
+
+III. The adverse influences that the early settlers had to contend with
+in coming to and settling in the country, fully explained.
+
+IV. A concise history of the early settlement of the country, a short
+sketch of many of the public men in it, their public character and
+proceedings, and the organization of the provisional government.
+
+V. The mining and agricultural interests of the country.
+
+There are two grounds upon which every fact is based:--
+
+1. Personal knowledge, observation, and participation in what is stated
+for one-third of a century.
+
+2. The written and printed statements of others, so compared that
+conclusions are intended to be without a possibility of truthful
+contradiction; thus making this a standard history of the country for
+the time included within the period from its discovery by Captain Robert
+Gray to 1849.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+    First discovery of the river.--Natives friendly.--British
+    ship.--Brig _Jennet_.--Snow _Sea Otter_.--The _Globe_.--
+    _Alert._--_Guatimozin._--_Atahualpa._--Lewis and Clarke.--
+    Vancouver.--Hamilton.--Derby.--_Pearl._--_Albatross._--First
+    house built in 1810.--Astor's settlement.--The _Tonquin._--
+    Astor's Company betrayed to the Northwest Company.
+                                                                 Page 13
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+    The country restored.--The order.--Description of Astoria.--
+    Different parties.--Northwest Fur Company.--Astor's
+    plan.--Conflict of the two British fur companies.--The
+    treaties.--The Selkirk settlement.--Its object.--The company
+    asserts chartered rights as soon as united.
+                                                                 Page 20
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+    English Hudson's Bay effort to secure Oregon.--British claim
+    to Oregon.--Dr. McLaughlin's relation to the company.--
+    Treatment of Red River settlers.--A mistake.--Sir Edward
+    Belcher.--Duplicity of the Hudson's Bay Company.--A noble
+    man.--An Englishman's opinion of the Hudson's Bay
+    Company.--Sir James Douglas's testimony.--J. Ross
+    Browne.--Duty of an historian.--Cause and effect.
+                                                                 Page 27
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+    Care of Great Britain for her fur companies.--Columbia Fur
+    Company.--Astor's second fur company.--Major Pilcher's fur
+    company.--Loss of the ship _Isabel_.--Captain Bonneville's
+    expedition.--Cause of his failure.--Captain Wyeth's,
+    1832.--Indians ask for missionaries in 1833.--Methodist
+    Mission.--Fort Hall established.--Fort Boise.
+                                                                 Page 36
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+    Extent and power of Hudson's Bay Company.--Number of
+    forts.--Location.--Policy.--Murder of Mr. Black.--McKay.--
+    Manner of dealing with Indians.--Commander of fort kills
+    an Indian.--Necessity of such a course.--Hudson's Bay
+    Company not responsible for what their servants do.
+                                                                 Page 42
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+    Murder of John McLaughlin, Jr.--Investigation by Sir George
+    Simpson and Sir James Douglas.
+                                                                 Page 46
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+    Treatment of Indians.--Influence of Hudson's Bay
+    Company.--Rev. Mr. Barnley's statement.--First three
+    years.--After that.--Treatment of Jesuits.--Of Protestants.--
+    Of Indians.--Not a spade to commence their new mode of
+    life.--Mr. Barnley's statement.--Disappointed.--His
+    mistake.--Hudson's Bay Company disposed to crush their own
+    missionaries.
+                                                                 Page 55
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+    Petition of Red River settlers.--Their requests, from 1 to
+    14.--Names.--Governor Christie's reply.--Company's
+    reply.--Extract from minutes.--Resolutions, from 1 to
+    9.--Enforcing rules.--Land deed.--Its condition.--Remarks.
+                                                                 Page 61
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+    Puget Sound Agricultural Company.--Its original stock.--A
+    correspondence.--No law to punish fraud.--A supposed trial of
+    the case.--Article four of the treaty.--The witnesses.--Who
+    is to receive the Puget Sound money.--Dr. Tolmie, agent of
+    the company.--The country hunted up.--Difficult to trace a
+    fictitious object.--Statement of their claim.--Result of the
+    investigation.
+                                                                 Page 67
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+    Case of The Hudson's Bay Company v. The United States.--
+    Examination of Mr. McTavish.--Number of witnesses.--Their
+    ignorance.--Amount claimed.--Original stock.--Value of land
+    in Oregon.--Estimate of Hudson's Bay Company's
+    property.--Remarks of author.
+                                                                 Page 81
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+    Quotation from Mr. Swan.--His mistake.--General Gibbs'
+    mistake.--Kamaiyahkan.--Indian agent killed.--J. J. Stevens
+    misjudged.
+                                                                 Page 92
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+    Review of Mr. Greenhow's work in connection with the conduct
+    and policy of the Hudson's Bay Company.--Schools and
+    missionaries.--Reasons for giving extracts from Mr.
+    Greenhow's work.--Present necessity for more knowledge about
+    the company.
+                                                                 Page 96
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+    Occupants of the country.--Danger to outsiders.--Description
+    of missionaries.
+                                                                Page 106
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+    Missionary outfit.--On the way.--No roads.--An English
+    nobleman.--A wagon taken along.--Health of Mrs.
+    Spalding.--Meeting mountain men and Indians.--A feast to the
+    Indians.
+                                                                Page 113
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+    Arrival at American rendezvous.--An Indian procession.--
+    Indian curiosity to see white women.--Captain N. Wyeth.--
+    McCleod and T. McKay.--Description of mountain men.--Their
+    opinion of the missionaries.
+                                                                Page 121
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+    Missionaries travel in company with Hudson's Bay Company
+    party.--The Lawyer's kindness.--Arrival at Fort
+    Hall.--Description of the country.--The Salmon Indians.--The
+    Hudson's Bay Company's tariff.
+                                                                Page 130
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+    An explanation.--Instructions of company.--Their
+    tyranny.--Continuation of journey.--Fording rivers.--Arrival
+    at Boise.--Dr. Whitman compelled to leave his wagon.
+                                                                Page 136
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+    Arrival at Fort Wallawalla.--Reception.--The fort in 1836.--
+    Voyage down the Columbia River.--Portage at Celilo.--At
+    Dalles.--A storm.--The Flatheads.--Portage at the Cascades.
+                                                                Page 142
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+    Fort Vancouver in 1836.--An extra table.--Conditions on which
+    cattle were supplied to settlers.--Official papers.--Three
+    organizations.
+                                                                Page 150
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+    Settlers in 1836.--Wallamet Cattle Company.--What good have
+    the missionaries done?--Rev. J. Lee and party.--The Hudson's
+    Bay Company recommend the Wallamet--Rev. S. Parker arrives at
+    Vancouver.
+                                                                Page 154
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+    Arrival of Rev. Mr. Beaver and wife.--His opinion of the
+    company.--A double-wedding.--Mrs. Spalding and Mrs. Whitman
+    at Vancouver.--Men explore the country and locate
+    stations.--Their opinion of the country.--Indian labor.--A
+    winter trip down Snake River.
+                                                                Page 162
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+    The French and American settlers.--Hudson's Bay Company's
+    traveling traders.--The Flatheads.--Their manner of
+    traveling.--Marriage.--Their honesty.--Indian fight and scalp
+    dance.--Fight with the Sioux.--At Council Bluffs.
+                                                                Page 169
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+    Re-enforcement to the Methodist Mission.--Re-enforcement to
+    the mission of the American Board.
+                                                                Page 175
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+    Arrival of Jesuit missionaries.--Toupin's statement about
+    Rev. A. B. Smith.--Death of Mrs. Jason Lee.--First
+    express.--Jesuits at work.--The first printing-press.--The
+    Catholic tree.
+                                                                Page 180
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+    Independent missionaries arrive.--Their troubles.--Conversion
+    of Indians at the Dalles.--Their motives.--Emigrants of
+    1839.--Blubber-Mouth Smith.--Re-enforcement of the Methodist
+    Mission in 1840.--Father De Smet.--Rev. Harvey Clark and
+    associates.--Ewing Young.--Names of missionaries and
+    settlers.
+                                                                Page 185
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+    1840.--Petition to Congress of United States.--British
+    subjects amenable to the laws of Canada.--Mr. Douglas as
+    justice of the peace.--Mr. Leslie as judge.
+                                                                Page 193
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+    Death of Ewing Young.--First public attempt to organize a
+    provisional government.--Origin of the provisional
+    government.--First Oregon schooner.
+                                                                Page 199
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+    Lee and Hines explore the Umpqua River.--Mr. Hines tells a
+    story.--Massacre and plunder of Smith's party by the
+    Indians.--Sympathy of the Hudson's Bay Company.--Extract from
+    the San Francisco _Bulletin_.
+                                                                Page 205
+
+CHAPTER XXIX.
+
+    Missionaries leaving.--Hudson's Bay Company's Gold
+    Exchange.--Population in 1842.--Whitman and Lovejoy start for
+    the States.--The Red River emigration.--American merchants.--
+    Settlers not dependent on the Hudson's Bay Company.--Milling
+    Company.--The Oregon Institute.--Dr. Elijah White.--
+    Proceedings at a public meeting.--Correspondence with the
+    War Department.
+                                                                Page 211
+
+CHAPTER XXX.
+
+    Dispatch of Dr. White to the Commissioner of Indian
+    Affairs.--He praises the Hudson's Bay Company.--His account
+    of the Indians.--Indian outrages.--Dr. White's expedition to
+    the Nez Perces.--Indian council.--Speeches.--Electing a
+    chief.--Laws of the Nez Perces.--Visit to the Cayuses.--
+    Doings of the missionaries.--Drowning of Mr. Rogers and
+    family.--George Geere.--Volcanoes.--Petition against
+    Governor McLaughlin.
+                                                                Page 218
+
+CHAPTER XXXI.
+
+    Letter of H. H. Spalding to Dr. White.--Account of his
+    mission among the Nez Perces.--Schools.--Cultivation.--
+    Industrial arts.--Moral character.--Arable land.--Letter
+    of Commissioner of Indian Affairs to the Secretary of War.
+                                                                Page 234
+
+CHAPTER XXXII.
+
+    Dr. E. White's letter to the Secretary of War.--Excitement
+    among the Indians.--Visit to Nez Perces, Cayuses, and
+    Wallawallas.--Destitution and degradation of the Coast
+    Indians.--Dr. White eulogizes Governor McLaughlin and the
+    Hudson's Bay Company.--Schools and missions.--Mr. Jess
+    Applegate.--Dr. White's second letter.--Letters of Peter H.
+    Hatch and W. H. Wilson.--Seizure of a distillery.--Search for
+    liquor.--Letter of James D. Saules.--Fight with Indians.--
+    Death of Cockstock.--Description and character of him.--The
+    Molallos and Klamaths.--Agreement with the Dalles Indians.--
+    Presents to Cockstock's widow.--Dr. White's third letter.--
+    Letter of Rev. G. Hines to Dr. White.--Letter of W. Medill.
+                                                                Page 241
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII.
+
+    First council to organize a provisional government.--Library
+    founded.--Origin of the Wolf Association.--The Methodist
+    Mission influence.--Dr. White exhibits his credentials.--First
+    "wolf meeting."--Proceedings of the second "wolf meeting."--
+    Officers.--Resolutions.--Bounties to be paid.--Resolution to
+    appoint a committee of twelve for the civil and military
+    protection of the settlement.--Names of the members of the
+    committee.
+                                                                Page 260
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV.
+
+    First meeting of the committee of twelve.--All invited to
+    participate.--The Rev. J. Lee and Mr. Abernethy ridicule the
+    organization.--Mr. Lee tells a story.--Letter from Governor
+    Abernethy.--The main question at issue.--Drowning of
+    Cornelius Rogers and party.--Conduct of Dr. White.--Methodist
+    Mission.--Catholic boasts of conversions.
+                                                                Page 263
+
+CHAPTER XXXV.
+
+    Meetings to oppose organization.--Address of the
+    French-Canadians.--Criticisms on it by the author.--The
+    Jesuits.--Jesuit oath.--Article from Cincinnati _Beacon_.
+                                                                Page 273
+
+CHAPTER XXXVI.
+
+    The meeting at Champoeg.--Tactics of the Jesuit party.--
+    Counter-tactics of the Americans.--A division and its
+    result.--Public record.--Opposition to clergymen as
+    legislators.--Mr. Hines as an historian.--His errors.--
+    Importance of Mr. Hines' history.--Difficulty among the
+    Indians.--Cause of the difficulty.
+                                                                Page 279
+
+CHAPTER XXXVII.
+
+    Whitman's visit to Washington.--A priest's boast.--A taunt,
+    and Whitman's reply.--Arrival in Washington.--Interview with
+    Secretary Webster.--With President Tyler.--His return.--
+    Successful passage of the Rocky Mountains with two hundred
+    wagons.--His mill burned during his absence.
+                                                                Page 288
+
+CHAPTER XXXVIII.
+
+    Petition of the citizens of Oregon in 1843.--Complaints
+    against the Hudson's Bay Company.--The Milling Company.--
+    Kicking the half-bushel.--Land claims of Dr. McLaughlin.--
+    Names of the signers.--Reasons for not signing.--Notice,
+    deed, and bond of John McLaughlin.--Claim of Alvin F. Waller.
+                                                                Page 292
+
+CHAPTER XXXIX.
+
+    Extracts from Mr. Hines' history.--Attempt to capture an
+    Indian horse-thief.--Dr. McLaughlin refuses to sell supplies
+    to the signers of the petition.--Excitement in the
+    settlement.--Interview with Dr. McLaughlin at Vancouver.
+                                                                Page 304
+
+CHAPTER XL.
+
+    A combination of facts.--Settlers alive to their danger.--Mr.
+    Hines' disparagement of the Methodist Mission.--Indians want
+    pay for being whipped.--Indian honesty.--Mr. Hines' opinion
+    of the Indians' religion.--Mr. Geiger's advice.--Dr.
+    McLaughlin's answer to yellow Serpent.--Baptiste Doreo.--Four
+    conflicting influences.
+                                                                Page 309
+
+CHAPTER XLI.
+
+    Governor Simpson and Dr. Whitman in Washington.--Interviews
+    with Daniel Webster and President Tyler.--His cold reception
+    in Boston by the American Board.--Conducts a large emigration
+    safely across the Rocky Mountains into Oregon.--The "Memorial
+    Half-Century Volume."--The Oregon mission ignored by the
+    American Board.--Dr. McLaughlin.--His connection with the
+    Hudson's Bay Company.--Catholic Cayuses' manner of
+    praying.--Rev. C. Eells.--Letter from A. L. Lovejoy.--
+    Description of Whitman's and Lovejoy's winter journey
+    from Oregon to Bent's Fort on the Arkansas River.
+                                                                Page 315
+
+CHAPTER XLII.
+
+    Assembly of the Nez Perces, Cayuses, and Wallawallas.--Mock
+    fight.--Council with the Indians.--Speeches by Yellow
+    Serpent, Tilokaikt, the Prince, and Illutin.--The secret of
+    the whole difficulty.--John, the Kanaka.--A cow for a
+    horse.--Killing of a medicine woman.
+                                                                Page 328
+
+CHAPTER XLIII.
+
+    The Legislative Committee of nine.--Hon. Robert Moore,
+    chairman.--Description of the members.--Minutes of their
+    proceedings.--Dr. R. Newell, his character.--Two specimens of
+    his speeches.--The dark clouds.
+                                                                Page 336
+
+CHAPTER XLIV.
+
+    Fourth of July, 1843.--Oration by Mr. Hines.--Meeting of July
+    5.--Debate on the land law.--How the Jesuits and the Hudson's
+    Bay Company secured their land claims.--Speech of the Rev. G.
+    Hines against the proposed Executive Committee.--The
+    committee supported by O'Neil, Shortess, and Lee.--W. H. Gray
+    closes the debate.--The report of the committee
+    adopted.--Committee appointed to report to Congress, another
+    to make a Digest of Territorial laws, and a third to prepare
+    and administer an oath of office.
+                                                                Page 346
+
+CHAPTER XLV.
+
+    Organic laws.--Resolutions.--Districts.--Militia law.--Land
+    claims.--Certificate.
+                                                                Page 353
+
+CHAPTER XLVI.
+
+    Description of the State House.--Conduct of the French
+    settlers.--Arrival of Dr. Whitman's party of immigrants.--
+    Prosperity of the settlers.--Change in the policy of the
+    Hudson's Bay Company.--Their exorbitant claims.
+                                                                Page 360
+
+CHAPTER XLVII.
+
+    Actions speak louder than words.--Efforts of the Hudson's Bay
+    Company to discourage immigration.--Account of the two
+    Jesuits, F. N. Blanchet and P. J. De Smet.--Protestant
+    missionaries discouraged.--Important position of the Rev. G.
+    Hines.--Recall of the Rev. Jason Lee.--Efforts of the
+    Hudson's Bay Company to prevent emigration to the
+    Territory.--Statement of General Palmer.--Indian
+    combinations.--The Donner party.--Extent of Oregon at this
+    time.
+                                                                Page 363
+
+CHAPTER XLVIII.
+
+    1844.--The settlements alarmed.--Indian attack.--Death of G.
+    W. La Breton.--Meeting at Mr. La Chapelle's.--Volunteer
+    company formed.--The _Modeste_ in the Columbia River.--The
+    Legislative Assembly.--Names of the members.--Peter H.
+    Burnett.--Mr. David Hill.--Oregon social standard.--M. M.
+    McCarver.--"Old Brass Gun."--A. L. Lovejoy.--Daniel
+    Waldo.--Thomas D. Keizer.--Black act.--Prohibitory liquor
+    law.
+                                                                Page 371
+
+CHAPTER XLIX.
+
+    Message of the Executive Committee.--Observations on the
+    message.--Generosity of the Hudson's Bay Company.--The
+    Methodist Mission.--The Oregon Printing-press
+    Association.--George Abernethy, Esq.
+                                                                Page 380
+
+CHAPTER L.
+
+    Dr. White's report.--Seizure and destruction of a
+    distillery.--Homicide of Joel Turnham.--State of the
+    Territory.--Trials of Dr. White.--The liquor law.--Revenue
+    act.--Case of the negro Saul.--The Indians kill an ox.--Other
+    Indian difficulties.--Indian expedition to California.--Death
+    of the Indian Elijah.--State of the Territory.--Claim of the
+    Hudson's Bay Company on the north bank of the Columbia.--
+    Letter of Peter H. Burnett.--The Nez Perces and
+    Cayuses.--Extract from the report of the United States
+    Senate.
+                                                                Page 387
+
+CHAPTER LI.
+
+    1845.--Public meetings to elect delegates to convention.--
+    Candidates for governor.--Members elected to the Legislative
+    Committee.--Oath of office.--Mr. Applegate's announcement.--
+    Dr. McLaughlin's amphibiousness.--Description of the members
+    of the Legislative Committee.--Business of the session.--
+    Ermatinger's election contested.--Mr. Garrison's
+    resolutions.--Anti-slavery resolution.--Organic law
+    revised.--Improvements and condition of the country.
+                                                                Page 421
+
+CHAPTER LII.
+
+    1845.--Second session of the Legislative Committee.--Mr.
+    McCarver removed from the office of Speaker.--Mr. Applegate's
+    resolutions.--Protest of Gray, Foisy, and Straight.--A
+    legislative incident.--Law against dueling.--Dr. White
+    addresses the Legislature.--Resolutions.--Dr. White denies
+    the right of the settlers to organize a provisional
+    government.--McCarver signs documents without authority.--
+    Resolutions by the house on the subject.--Impertinent
+    letter from Dr. White to the house.--White cornered by
+    President Polk.--Incidents in White's temperance
+    movements.--Proposition to repeal all laws for the collection
+    of debts.--The Currency act.--Adjournment of the Legislature
+    in August.--Meets again in December.--Proposal to locate the
+    capital.
+                                                                Page 428
+
+CHAPTER LIII.
+
+    The liquor law.--Amended act of 1845.--Message of the
+    governor on the same.--Repeal of the prohibitory and passage
+    of the license law.--Letter of James Douglas.--Reply of Mr.
+    Samuel Parker.--Dr. Tolmie's resolution on the judiciary.--
+    The governor's veto of the license law.--Immigration for
+    Oregon and California in 1846.--Arrival of the brig
+    _Henry_.--The Oregon Printing Association.--The _Spectator_,
+    the first newspaper in Oregon.--W. G. T. Vault, first
+    editor.--H. A. G. Lee, second editor.--G. L. Curry, third
+    editor.--Judge Wait, fourth editor.
+                                                                Page 440
+
+CHAPTER LIV.
+
+    The Whitman massacre.--Narratives of, by J. B. A. Brouillet
+    and J. Ross Browne.--Extract from the New York
+    _Evangelist_.--Statements of Father Brouillet criticised.--
+    Testimony of John Kimzey.--Dr. Whitman at Umatilla.--Returns
+    home.
+                                                                Page 457
+
+CHAPTER LV.
+
+    Occupations of the victims immediately before the
+    massacre.--Description of the mission buildings.--The Doctor
+    called into the kitchen to be murdered.--Joe Lewis, the
+    leader in the massacre.--The scene outside.--The Doctor's
+    house plundered.--Mrs. Whitman shot.--Brutalities to the dead
+    and dying.--Escape of some and murder of others.--Safety of
+    the French Papists and the servants of the Hudson's Bay
+    Company.--Fate of Joe Lewis.
+                                                                Page 466
+
+CHAPTER LVI.
+
+    Comments on Vicar-General Brouillet's arguments against the
+    Whitman massacre being the act of Catholics.--Joe Stanfield:
+    Brouillet's story in his favor.--Murders on the second
+    day.--Deposition of Daniel Young.--More murders.
+                                                                Page 472
+
+CHAPTER LVII.
+
+    How the country was saved to the United States.--Article from
+    the New York _Evening Post_.--Ingratitude of the American
+    Board.--Deposition of Elam Young.--Young girls taken for
+    Indian wives.--Statement of Miss Lorinda Bewley.--Sager,
+    Bewley, and Sales killed.
+                                                                Page 480
+
+CHAPTER LVIII.
+
+    Vicar-General Brouillet's statement.--Statement of
+    Istacus.--The priest finds the poison.--Statement of William
+    Geiger, Jr.--Conduct of Mr. McBean.--Influence of the Jesuit
+    missions.
+                                                                Page 490
+
+CHAPTER LIX.
+
+    Continuation of Miss Bewley's evidence.--The priests refuse
+    her protection.--Forcibly taken from the bishop's house by
+    Five Crows.--Brouillet advises her to remain with her Indian
+    violator.--Indecent question by a priest.--Mr. Brouillet
+    attempts to get a statement from her.--Two questions.--Note
+    from Mrs. Bewley.--Bishop Blanchet's letter to Governor
+    Abernethy.--Comments on the Jesuits' proceedings.--Grand
+    council at the bishop's.--Policy in forcing Miss Bewley to
+    Five Crows' lodge.--Speeches by Camaspelo and Tilokaikt.--
+    Killing of Elijah and the Nez Perce chief commented on.--The
+    true story told.--Dr. White's report.--The grand council
+    again.--Review of Brouillet's narrative.--Who were the real
+    authors of the massacre.
+                                                                Page 497
+
+CHAPTER LX.
+
+    The Hudson's Bay Company's and the priests' part in the
+    massacre.--McBean's messenger.--Plot divulged to Hinman,
+    Ogden, and Douglas.--Douglas's remark to Hinman.--McBean's
+    letter.--His perversion of facts.--Comments.--Sir James
+    Douglas's letter to Governor Abernethy.--His Sandwich Islands
+    letter.--Its falsehood and absurdity.--Mr. Hinman's letter to
+    Governor Abernethy.--The dates.--Assertion of Robert
+    Newell.--Hudson's Bay Company _v._ United States.
+                                                                Page 517
+
+CHAPTER LXI.
+
+    Preliminary events of the Cayuse war.--Message of Governor
+    Abernethy.--Journal of the house.--Resolutions.--Assembling
+    of the people at the call of the governor.--Enlisting of
+    men.--Names of the volunteers.--Names of the officers.--Their
+    flag.--Their departure.--Letter to Sir James Douglas.--His
+    reply.--Commissioners return.--Address to the citizens.--
+    Public meeting.--Report of commissioners to the
+    Legislature.--Messenger sent to Washington.--Memorial to
+    Congress.--Champoeg County tax.--Strength of the settlement
+    called for.--Bishop Blanchet's letter to Governor Abernethy.
+                                                                Page 535
+
+CHAPTER LXII.
+
+    The Cayuse war.--Letter of Captain Lee.--Indians friendly
+    with the Hudson's Bay Company.--Conduct of Mr. Ogden.--His
+    letters to Mr. Walker and Mr. Spalding.--Note of Rev. G. H.
+    Atkinson.--Sir James Douglas's letter to Governor
+    Abernethy.--A rumor.--The governor's reply.--Another letter
+    from Sir James.--Mr. Ogden.--Extraordinary presents to the
+    Indians of arms and ammunition.--Colonel Gilliam's
+    campaign.--Indian fight.--Property captured.--The Des Chutes
+    Indians make peace.--Captain McKay's company of British
+    subjects join the army.--A nuisance.--"Veritas."--Nicholas
+    Finlay gives the signal for battle.--Running fight.--Captain
+    McKay's company.--Council held by the peace commissioners
+    with the Indians.--Governor Abernethy's address.--Speeches of
+    the Indians Camaspelo, Joseph, Jacob, Old James, Red Wolf,
+    Timothy, Richard, and Kentuck.--Letters of Joel Palmer, R.
+    Newell, James Douglas, and William McBean.--Who is
+    responsible for the Cayuse war?
+                                                                Page 549
+
+CHAPTER LXIII.
+
+    Letter to General Lovejoy.--Call for men and ammunition.--
+    Yankama chief.--His speech.--Small supply of ammunition.--
+    Letter of Joseph Cadwallader.--Claim and a girl.--Combined
+    Indian tribes.--Ladies of Oregon.--Public meeting.--A noble
+    address.--Vote of thanks.--Address of the young ladies.--
+    Death of Colonel Gilliam.--His campaign.--Colonel Waters'
+    letter.--Doubtful position of Indians.--Number at Fort
+    Wallawalla.--Results of the war.--Jesuit letters.--Fathers
+    Hoikin and De Smet.--The Choctaws.--Indian confederacy.--Last
+    hope of the Indian.--Jesuit policy.--The Irish in the war of
+    the Rebellion.--Father Hecker.--Boasts of the Jesuits.--
+    Letter of Lieutenant Rogers.--Priests supply the Indians with
+    arms and ammunition.--Ammunition seized.--Oregon _Argus_.--
+    Discovery of gold.--No help for the Indian.--Withdrawal of
+    the Hudson's Bay Company to Vancouver.--The smooth-tongued
+    Jesuits yet remain.
+                                                                Page 568
+
+CHAPTER LXIV.
+
+    Missions among the Western Indians.--The Coeur d'Alene
+    Mission.--Protestant and Catholic missions compared.--What
+    the American Protestant missionaries have done for the
+    country and the Indians.--Extent of their influence,
+    progress, and improvements.--Patriotism of Dr. Whitman.
+                                                                Page 593
+
+CHAPTER LXV.
+
+    Description of the face of the country.--Agricultural and
+    mining productions.--Timber.--The Wallamet.--Columbia.--
+    Dalles.--Upper Columbia.--Mountains.--Rivers.--Mineral
+    wealth.--Climate.--The Northern Pacific Railroad.--
+    Conclusion.
+                                                                Page 610
+
+
+
+
+HISTORY OF OREGON.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+    First discovery of the river.--Natives friendly.--British
+    ship.--Brig _Jennet_.--Snow _Sea Otter_.--The _Globe_.--
+    _Alert._--_Guatimozin._--_Atahualpa._--Lewis and Clarke.
+    --Vancouver.--Hamilton.--Derby.--_Pearl._--_Albatross._--First
+    house built in 1810.--Astor's settlement.--The _Tonquin_.--Astor's
+    Company betrayed to the Northwest Company.
+
+
+In all countries it is difficult to trace the history of their early
+discovery and settlement. That of Oregon is no exception. The Spanish
+claim, and it is generally conceded, that they were the discoverers of
+the coast, and gave names to the principal capes and to Fuca's Straits.
+No evidence can be found in national archives, or among the native
+tribes of the country, that gives the discovery of the Columbia River to
+any civilized people but to the Bostons (Americans); so that, so far as
+civil history or national testimony is concerned, we are without any,
+except the conjectures of men as ignorant as ourselves. Hence we are
+left to the alternative of searching the old logs of vessels and such
+old books as have been written, and, in connection with the legends and
+statements of the aborigines of the country, form an opinion as to its
+discovery, and from such dates and conclusions commence its civil
+history. That of Oregon begins eight years previous to the commencement
+of the present century.
+
+A ship, owned by Messrs. Barrell, Bulfinch & Co., of Boston, and
+commanded by Captain Robert Gray, discovered and entered the mouth of
+the third great river upon the American continent. It then had no name
+known to the civilized world. This unselfish American, instead of
+following the example of many contemporary British navigators by giving
+his own name to the majestic river he had discovered, gave it that of
+his noble ship, _Columbia_.
+
+On the 7th of May, 1792, he discovered and ran in abreast of Cape
+Hancock, and anchored, and on the 11th ran ten miles up this river on
+the north side, which is now known as a little above Chinook Point, and
+at 1 P.M. they came to anchor. On the 14th they weighed anchor and
+ran, according to the ship's log, fifteen miles, which would bring them
+up abreast of Tongue Point, where their ship grounded upon a sand bar
+for a short time, but they backed her off into three fathoms of water
+and anchored. By sounding they discovered that there was not sufficient
+water to pass up the river in their present channel. Having filled all
+their water-casks, repaired, painted, and calked the ship, and allowed
+the vast numbers of Indians that thronged around them in the most
+peaceable and friendly manner, to visit and traffic with them, on the
+20th of May, 1792, they went to sea again.
+
+On the 20th of October of this year, the _Chatham_, commanded by Captain
+Broughton, of the British navy, entered the river. He grounded his ship
+on what is now called the Sulphur Spit, and found in the bay the brig
+_Jennet_, Captain Baker, from Bristol, Rhode Island. Captain Broughton
+explored the river in his small boat as high up as the present site of
+Vancouver, and left the river with his ship on the 10th of November.
+
+In 1797, five years later, the snow _Sea Otter_, Captain Hill, from
+Boston, visited the river.
+
+In 1798, the ship _Hazard_, Swift, master, owned by Perkins, Lamb & Co.,
+Boston, visited the river. This same ship visited the river again in
+1801.
+
+In 1802, this same Boston company sent the ship _Globe_, Magee, master,
+to the river.
+
+During the year 1802, a brisk, and something like a permanent American
+trade appears to have been in contemplation by this Boston company. They
+sent the ship _Caroline_, Derby, master, from Boston, and the ship
+_Manchester_, Brice, master, from Philadelphia.
+
+In 1803, Lamb & Company sent the ship _Alert_, Ebbets, master; also the
+ship _Vancouver_, Brown, master. This year, the ship _Juno_, Kendricks,
+master, from Bristol, Rhode Island, owned by De Wolf, entered the
+Columbia River for trade.
+
+In the year 1804, Theodore Lyman sent the ship _Guatimozin_, Bumsted,
+master, from Boston. The Perkins Company sent the ship _Hazard_, Swift,
+master, to the river the same year.
+
+In 1805, Lyman & Company sent the ship _Atahualpa_, O. Potter, master,
+from Boston. Lamb & Company sent the ship _Caroline_, Sturges, master,
+from the same place.
+
+On the 15th of November, 1805, Lewis and Clarke, with their party,
+having crossed the Rocky Mountains under the direction of President
+Jefferson, of the United States, arrived at Cape Hancock; remaining but
+a few days, they crossed the Columbia River and encamped near the mouth
+of a small river still bearing the name of these two explorers. They
+left their encampment in March, 1806, and returned across the continent
+and reported the result of their expedition to the government.
+
+This expedition consisted of one hundred and eighty soldiers or enlisted
+men. On arriving at the Mandan Village, on the Missouri River, in 1804,
+they encountered the influence of the Northwest British Fur Company,
+who, on learning their object, at once made arrangements to follow and
+get possession of the country at the mouth of the Columbia River.
+
+In 1806, soon after Lewis and Clarke left their encampment on their
+return to the United States, the ship _Vancouver_, Brown, master,
+entered the river, having been sent out by Thomas Lyman, of Boston, in
+expectation of meeting Lewis and Clarke's party at the mouth of the
+river. The Lamb Company sent the ship _Pearl_ the same year, under the
+command of Captain Ebbets. Lyman, in addition to the _Vancouver_, sent
+the brig _Lydia_, Hill, master, to the river, making three American
+ships from Boston in the year 1806.
+
+In 1807, the ship _Hamilton_ arrived in the river, sent by Thomas Lyman,
+of Boston, L. Peters, master. The Perkins Company sent the _Hazard_,
+Smith, master.
+
+In 1808, the ship _Derby_, Swift, master, sent by the Perkins Company.
+Lyman sent the ship _Guatimozin_, Glanville, master; both made
+successful trips in and out of the river.
+
+In 1809, the Perkins Company sent the ships _Pearl_ and _Vancouver_ into
+the river, the former commanded by Smith, the latter by Whittimore.
+
+In 1810, the ship _Albatross_, from Boston, T. Winship, master, entered
+the river and sailed as high up as Oak Point, where the captain erected
+a house, cleared a piece of land for cultivation, and planted a garden.
+This year, John Jacob Astor, of New York, organized the Pacific Fur
+Company, in connection with Wilson Price Hunt, of New Jersey. These two
+gentlemen admitted as partners in the fur trade, Messrs. McKay,
+McDougal, and David and Robert Stewart. These four last-mentioned
+partners, with eleven clerks and thirteen Canadian voyageurs, and a
+complete outfit for a fort, with cannon and small-arms, stores, shops,
+and houses, with five mechanics, were all embarked on the ship
+_Tonquin_, Captain Jonathan Thorn, master, in September, 1810, and
+sailed for the Columbia River, where they arrived, March 24, 1811.
+
+The present site of the town of Astoria was selected as the principal
+depot for this American Fur Company, and called by them, in honor of the
+originator of the company, ASTORIA. This establishment was soon in full
+operation. The timber and thick undergrowth within musket range of the
+establishment were cleared away, and a kitchen-garden planted outside
+the stockade.
+
+In the highly-interesting narrative of Gabriel Franchere, we read that,
+"in the month of May, 1811, on a rich piece of land in front of our
+establishment [at Astoria], we put into the ground twelve potatoes, so
+shriveled up during the passage from New York that we despaired of
+raising any from the few sprouts that still showed signs of life.
+Nevertheless, we raised one hundred and nineteen potatoes the first
+season. And, after sparing a few plants to our inland traders, we
+planted fifty or sixty hills, which produced five bushels the second
+year; about two of these were planted, and gave us a welcome crop of
+fifty bushels in the year 1813."
+
+They were cultivated at Astoria, by the old Northwest and Hudson's Bay
+companies, in their little fort gardens. A few Indian chiefs were
+presented with the seed, but no general distribution was made among
+them, as they were considered as the Bostons' root, and no better than
+those of the Indians, abounding in the country, which required less
+labor to cultivate. Up to the time of the arrival of the American
+missionaries, there never was an extra supply of potatoes in the
+country. In other words, the potato was a luxury enjoyed by none except
+the highest grades of the Fur Company's servants and distinguished
+visitors; its cultivation was not generally encouraged by the company.
+
+In October, 1810, after dispatching the _Tonquin_, Mr. Astor fitted out
+the ship _Beaver_, twenty guns, Captain Sowles, master, with Mr. Clark,
+six clerks, and a number of other persons, to join the establishment at
+Astoria. The ship touched at the Sandwich Islands; Mr. Clark engaged
+twenty-six Kanakas as laborers for the establishments on the Columbia
+River, where the ship arrived, May 5, 1812.
+
+On the 15th of July, 1813, Mr. David Thompson, under the direction of
+the Northwest Canadian British Company, arrived at Astoria. I use the
+word Canadian, as applied to the Northwest Fur Company, that was
+established by the charter of Louis XIII. of France, 1630, in what was
+then called Acadia, or New France, forty years before Charles of England
+gave his charter to the Hudson's Bay Company. This Northwest Fur
+Company, in the transfer of the sovereignty of Acadia, or New France, to
+England, in 1714, at the treaty of Utrecht, was acknowledged as having a
+legal existence, by both nations, and was allowed to transfer its
+allegiance and continue its trade under the protection of the British
+sovereign, as it had done under that of France.
+
+As soon as the government and people of the United States entered upon
+active measures to explore and occupy the country west of the Rocky
+Mountains, this Canadian Northwest Fur Company dispatched Mr. Thompson
+to explore the Columbia River, and make an establishment at its mouth;
+but, on account of delays and mistaking the course of the various rivers
+through which the party traveled, Mr. Thompson did not arrive at Mr.
+Astor's American establishment till in July, 1813; his object was to
+forestall Mr. Astor in the settlement of the country. He was received,
+kindly treated, and furnished with such goods and supplies as he and his
+party required, by Mr. McDougal, who was then in charge of Fort Astor,
+and, in company with David Stewart, returned as high up the Columbia as
+the Spokan,--Mr. Greenhow says Okanagon,--and established a
+trading-post, while Mr. Thompson went among the Kootenai and Flathead
+tribes, and established a trading-hut. It is due to those parties to
+state that as late as 1836, a square, solid, hewed log bastion, erected
+by Stewart's party, was still standing at Spokan, while no vestige of
+the Thompson huts could be found in the Flathead country. At Spokan,
+garden vegetables were produced about the fort, which the Indians in
+that vicinity learned to appreciate, and continued to cultivate after
+the fort was abandoned in 1825, having been occupied by the Northwest
+and Hudson's Bay companies till that time.
+
+In the spring of 1811, the chief agent of the Pacific Fur Company, Mr.
+Hunt, with other partners, Crooks, McKenzie, and McClellen, with a party
+of sixty men, started across the continent. They were extremely annoyed
+by the opposition fur traders on their route, and also by hostile
+Indians. Such of the party as did not perish by famine and hostile
+Indians, and British fur traders, arrived at Astoria on the 28th of
+January, 1812.
+
+On the 5th of May following the arrival of Mr. Hunt's party, the ship
+_Beaver_ arrived with the third installment of traders, clerks, and
+Kanaka laborers. In consequence of the loss of the ship _Tonquin_, and
+all on board except the Indian interpreter, in the Cliquot Bay, near the
+entrance of the Straits of Fuca, by the treachery of the Indians in the
+vicinity, Mr. Hunt embarked in the _Beaver_ for the Russian
+establishment in August, 1812, effected an arrangement of trade with
+them, and dispatched the ship to China. He continued in her till she
+reached the Sandwich Islands, where he remained until June, 1813, when
+the ship _Albatross_ arrived from Canton, and brought the news of the
+war between the United States and Great Britain, and also that the ship
+_Beaver_ was blockaded at Canton by a British ship of war. Mr. Hunt at
+once chartered the _Albatross_ and sailed for the Columbia River, where
+he arrived on the 4th of August, 1813.
+
+On his arrival at Astoria he learned that it was the intention of his
+partners, all of whom claimed to be British subjects (McDougal and
+McKenzie having formerly been in the employ of the Northwest Company),
+to sell to McTavish, of that company. Hunt embarked in the _Albatross_
+for the Sandwich Islands, and from thence to the Washington Islands,
+where he learned from Commodore Porter, then at those Islands, in the
+frigate _Essex_, of the design of the British to seize all American
+property on the Pacific coast. From thence he returned to the Sandwich
+Islands, and chartered the brig _Pedler_, and arrived at Astoria in
+February, 1814, and learned that soon after his departure in the
+_Albatross_, in August, 1813, McTavish, with a party of the servants of
+the Northwest Company, had arrived at Astoria, and, in connection with
+McDougal, McKenzie, and Clarke, on the part of the American Pacific Fur
+Company, and McTavish and Alexander Stewart, on the part of the Canadian
+Northwest Company, had completed the sale of Astoria to that company,
+and secured for themselves important positions in the service of the
+latter company.
+
+As a matter of fact and general historical interest, the amount and
+value of property thus transferred is here given: Eighteen thousand one
+hundred and seventy and one-fourth pounds of beaver, at two dollars per
+pound, selling in Canton at that time at from five to six dollars per
+pound; nine hundred and seventy otter skins, at fifty cents each,
+selling at that time in Canton for five and six dollars per skin.
+
+The expense of building Mr. Astor's establishment at Astoria, including
+those at Okanagon and Spokan, with boats, _bateaux_, tools, cannon,
+munitions, goods, transportation and salaries of clerks and men, etc.,
+etc., was near two hundred thousand dollars, for which he received in
+bills on Montreal about forty thousand, including the appraised value of
+the furs at the fort, which was thirty-six thousand eight hundred and
+thirty-five dollars and fifty cents; this would leave less than three
+thousand one hundred and sixty-four dollars and fifty cents for the
+improvements, boats, munitions, cannon, etc., for which the Hudson's Bay
+Company, in 1865, claims of our government, for the old, rotten, and
+abandoned post at Okanagon, nineteen thousand four hundred and sixty-six
+dollars and sixty-seven cents; the post at Colville, still held in place
+of the one built by Astor's company at Spokan, eighty thousand three
+hundred dollars; the post at Fort George (Astoria), abandoned in 1849,
+four thousand one hundred and thirty-six dollars and sixty-seven cents;
+in all, for the three establishments, one hundred and three thousand
+nine hundred and three dollars and thirty-four cents--quite a contrast
+between the valuation of American property when in possession of British
+fur traders, having been used for forty years by British subjects, and
+abandoned as of little or no use to their trade, and that of American
+property but lately brought into the country. It will be remembered
+that Mr. Astor's Pacific Fur Company was commenced in 1810; that at the
+time it was betrayed into the possession of this Canadian Northwest Fur
+Company it had been in operation but two years, hence was new, and but
+just ready to commence a profitable trade in the country.
+
+The contract transferring this valuable property from American to
+British owners, was signed on the 16th day of October, 1813, by Duncan
+McDougal, J. G. McTavish, and J. Stewart, and witnessed by the principal
+clerks of the establishment. On the 1st of December following, the
+British sloop of war _Raccoon_, Captain Black, arrived in the river, and
+proceeded to take formal possession of Astoria, by lowering the American
+flag and hoisting that of Great Britain in its place, and changing the
+name of the fort to that of Fort George.
+
+Previous to the landing of the British soldiers, or King George's
+warriors, an interview took place (as related by Ross Cox) between the
+Indian warriors, with Concomly, their chief, at their head, and McDougal
+and McTavish. On the arrival of the British war vessel in Baker's Bay,
+the Indians, having learned that there was war between the King George
+people and Bostons (Americans), they said, as they had always found the
+Bostons friendly and liberal toward them, they were their friends, and
+were ready to fight for them, to prevent the King George men from making
+them slaves. They proposed to conceal themselves behind the rocks and
+trees outside of the fort and to kill the King George soldiers with
+their arrows and spears, while the men of the fort fought the ship and
+small boats which they came in, with their big guns and rifles. McDougal
+assured them that the King George warriors would not hurt them, and
+advised them to be friendly with them, as they would do the people of
+the fort no harm. Concomly and his warriors were only convinced that the
+Bostons would not be made slaves by the King George warriors when they saw
+the sloop leave the river without taking any of them away as prisoners
+or slaves.
+
+The treachery of the Canadian part of Astor's company, which was not
+known to Mr. Astor, but provided for by the Northwest Canadian Company
+before the party left Montreal, and consummated by McDougal and his
+associates, in the absence of the American partners from the post, is
+proved by journals, letters, and facts still extant.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+     The country restored.--The order.--Description of
+     Astoria.--Different parties.--Northwest Fur Company.--Astor's
+     plan.--Conflict of the two British fur companies.--The
+     treaties.--The Selkirk settlement.--Its object.--The company
+     asserts chartered rights as soon as united.
+
+
+As stated in our first chapter, the English government, by its Canadian
+Northwest Fur Company, and the arrival of the British sloop of war,
+_Raccoon_, during the war of 1812-13, took possession of Oregon, and
+held it as British territory till it was formally restored to the United
+States on the 6th of October, 1818, in these words:--
+
+     We, the undersigned, do, in conformity to the first article of the
+     treaty of Ghent, restore to the government of the United States,
+     through its agent, J. P. Provost, Esq., the settlement of Fort
+     George, on the Columbia River.
+
+     Given under our hands in triplicate, at Fort George (Columbia
+     River), this 6th day of October, 1818.
+
+                                F. HICKEY, Captain H. M. Ship _Blossom_.
+                                J. KEITH, of the N. W. Co.
+
+The order from the Prince Regent of England to the Northwest Company to
+deliver up the country to the American government, was issued on January
+27, 1818, and complied with as above.
+
+On the 17th of April, 1814, the Canadian Northwest Fur Company's ship,
+_Isaac Todd_, reached Astoria, called Fort George.
+
+According to the description sent to Washington by Mr. Provost, it
+consisted of a stockade made of fir-logs, twenty feet high above the
+ground, inclosing a parallelogram of one hundred and fifty by two
+hundred and fifty feet, extending in its greatest length from northwest
+to southeast, and defended by bastions, or towers, at two opposite
+angles. Within this inclosure were all the buildings of the
+establishment, such as dwelling-houses, magazines, storehouses,
+mechanics' shops, etc.
+
+The artillery were two heavy 18-pounders, six 6-pounders, four
+4-pounders, two 6-pound coehorns, and seven swivels, all mounted.
+
+The number of persons attached to the place besides the few native women
+and children, was sixty-five; of whom twenty-three were white,
+twenty-six Kanakas, and the remainder of mixed blood from Canada.
+
+Of the party that crossed the Rocky Mountains with Mr. Hunt in 1811-12,
+six remained in the country, and but five returned to the United States;
+the remaining forty-five that started with him in his first expedition
+were mostly destroyed by the influence of the two British fur companies
+acting upon the Indians for that object.
+
+These men, as independent trappers and petty traders among the Indians,
+were considered by those companies as intruders and trespassers upon
+their French and British chartered rights; hence none were allowed to
+remain in the country but such as were under their control, or subject
+to their rule.
+
+From the time the Northwest Fur Company took possession of the country,
+with few exceptions, we have no authentic account of the number of
+vessels of any nation that visited the river, but we have reason to
+believe that they would average two each year; and, from known facts, we
+conclude that as soon as the post at Astoria was betrayed into the
+possession of the Canadian Northwest Fur Company by McDougal and
+associates, and the British government had taken formal possession of
+the country, this Northwest Company, with McDougal and others equally
+prominent, commenced to instill into the minds of the Indians a strong
+hatred of American traders by sea or land, and to change as much, and as
+fast as possible, the friendly feeling of the former toward the latter,
+so as to continue to hold the permanent and absolute sovereignty of the
+country, and make the Indians subservient to their commercial interests.
+
+Mr. Astor says: "The plan by me adopted was such as must materially have
+affected the interests of the Northwest and Hudson's Bay companies, and
+it was easy to be foreseen that they would employ every means to
+counteract my operations, and which, as my impression, I stated to the
+executive of your department as early as February, 1813." This hatred of
+Americans had been so assiduously impressed upon the minds of the
+Indians, that one of their own vessels arriving in the river, being cast
+away on Sand Island, all on board were murdered by the Indians, who
+mistook them for Americans. The company sent a vessel from Vancouver (to
+which place they had removed their stores and principal depot) to punish
+the Indians, who had secured most of the wrecked property. The vessel
+came down and sent shell and grapeshot into the Indian village,
+destroying men, women, and children, landed their men and took such of
+their goods as they could find, having gained satisfactory evidence of
+the murder of the crew of the ship.
+
+This view of the policy and practice of this Northwest and Hudson's Bay
+Company, is further sustained by the inquiries which Mr. Keith felt it
+incumbent on him to make of Mr. Provost, on the restoration of Astoria
+to the Americans by the British authorities.
+
+Mr. Keith was anxious to learn the extent of the rights of his company
+to remain and trade in the country. It would seem, from the whole
+history of these companies, that they felt their rights in the country
+to be but temporary, that they were trespassers upon American interests,
+and shaped all their arrangements accordingly.
+
+It is an admitted historical fact that, while the Northwest Fur Company
+of Montreal was extending its trade across the Rocky Mountains and
+supplanting the American Pacific Fur Company of Mr. Astor, the Hudson's
+Bay Company, with the assistance of Lord Selkirk's Red River settlement,
+was cutting off their communication with these western establishments,
+and that, in consequence of this Red River interference with their
+trade, a deadly feud sprang up between the rival companies, in which
+both parties enlisted all the men and Indians over whom they had any
+influence, and frequently met in drunken and deadly strife, till they
+had quite destroyed all profits in their trade, and rendered the Indians
+hostile alike to friend and foe of the white race. So that, in 1821, the
+British Parliament was compelled to notice their proceedings, and, on
+the 2d of July, 1821, in an act bearing date as above, says of them:--
+
+    "Whereas, the competition in the fur trade between the governor
+    and company of adventurers of England trading into Hudson's Bay,
+    and certain associations of persons trading under the name of the
+    Northwest Company of Montreal, has been found, for some years
+    past, to be productive of great inconvenience and loss, not only
+    to the said company and association, but to the said trade in
+    general, and also of _great injury to the native Indians_, and of
+    other persons subjects of _his Majesty_; and whereas, the
+    _animosities_ and _feuds_ arising from such competition have also,
+    for some years past, kept the interior of America, to the
+    northward and westward of the provinces of Upper and Lower Canada,
+    and of the _Territories of the United States of America_, in a
+    state of _continual disturbance_; and whereas, many breaches of
+    the peace and violence extending to the _loss of lives_ and
+    considerable destruction of property have continually occurred
+    therein," etc. (See Greenhow's History of Oregon, p. 467.)
+
+The broad policy of British fur traders is here stated in plain language
+by their own government in a manner not to be mistaken. Their influence
+upon the Indians was injurious. Their policy toward each other was war
+and destruction to all opponents. The life and property of an opposing
+trader must not come in competition with the profits of their trade with
+Indians in any country.
+
+How absurd it is for our government to spend millions of dollars to form
+treaties with Indians who are constantly visited by these foreign Indian
+traders and teachers, emissaries of a foreign power, who never breathed
+an honest breath or spoke a truthful word! Feeble and insignificant as
+they were, from 1813 to 1821 the whole Indian country of North America
+fell under their blighting and withering influence. Divided as they
+were, they were able to crush all honest competition, and _combine_ in
+deadly combat against their own countrymen for the supremacy of the
+Indian trade. Have they lost their power and influence by uniting the
+elements of opposition in one vast fur monopoly? Nay, verily, as we
+shall see.
+
+To gain a correct understanding of the foreign policy relative to the
+western portion of our country, it will be necessary to refer to the
+early history of the two fur companies, and trace their connection with
+France and England, which, notwithstanding the English government had
+given up the country to France in 1696 in the treaty of Ryswick, and no
+reservation was made on account of the Hudson's Bay Company--as they did
+Oregon to the United States in the treaty of Ghent, in 1815, and made no
+reservation on account of the Northwest Fur Company--still the Hudson's
+Bay Company held on to a single post, called Albany, on the southwest
+part of James Bay, for twenty-six years, as the Northwest and Hudson's
+Bay fur companies did to Astoria and Oregon for forty-nine years.
+
+In the wording of the treaty of Utrecht, in 1714, in which the country
+was given back to England by France, there is one proviso that is not to
+be overlooked, viz.: "It is, however, provided, that it may be entirely
+free for the company of Quebec, and all others the subjects of the most
+Christian king whatsoever, to go, by land or by sea, whithersoever they
+please, out of the lands of the said bay, together with all their goods,
+merchandise, arms, and effects, of what nature or condition soever,
+except such things as are above reserved in this article," etc., the
+exceptions referring to forts, cannon, and permanent war materials.
+
+This French stipulation in the treaty of Utrecht, in 1714, is repeated
+by the English diplomatist upon the Americans, in the third article of
+the treaty of June 15, 1846, forming the basis of the claim urged
+against our government in the treaty of 1864.
+
+In the treaty stipulations between France and England in 1714, the
+commercial rights of the French company of Quebec were secured to them.
+From that time forward, the aggressive and oppressive policy of the
+British Hudson's Bay Company was brought into collision, not only with
+the French Northwest Fur Company, but with the United States and all
+American fur companies and missionary and commercial enterprises coming
+within their fur-trade influence.
+
+It will be remembered that the Hudson's Bay Company, who claim their
+existence and privileges from the charter of Charles II., as early as
+1670, had, in forty-four years' time, only established (as Mr.
+Fitzgerald says) "four or five insignificant forts on the shores of
+Hudson's Bay to carry on a trade in furs with those Indians who resorted
+thither;" while the French, for many years previous, had carried on an
+active trade with the Indians, and had explored the country and extended
+their posts up to the shores of the Saskatchewan, and over the Rocky
+Mountains, on to the waters of the Columbia. The French carried on the
+traffic by way of the St. Lawrence and the lakes to Fort William, on
+Lake Superior, and through the Lake of the Woods into Lake Winnipeg, or
+further south along the plains, crossing the course of the Red River;
+this being the direct and only line of posts kept up by the French
+Northwest Company, by which their food, goods, and furs were
+transported. The Hudson's Bay Company carried theirs by way of Hudson's
+Straits, around the coast of Labrador. In order to destroy and cut off
+as much as possible the trade of this Northwest Company, Lord Selkirk,
+in 1811-12, became a shareholder, and was allowed to claim, through the
+directors of the company, sixteen thousand square miles of territory in
+the Red River country, for the professed purpose of colonization.
+
+This colony was planted directly in the line of the fur traffic of the
+Northwest Company, against which the Hudson's Bay Company had encouraged
+and carried on the most bitter hostility, enlisting both men and Indians
+in a deadly feud between the two rival companies.
+
+Our English writer remarks on page 57: "To those who had read the mutual
+recriminations that had been bandied between these two bodies, it was a
+strange sight to see the names of Messrs. McGillivray and Edward Ellice
+associated with that of the Hudson's Bay Company,--to see men going
+hand-in-hand who had openly accused one another of the foulest crimes,
+_of wholesale robbery, of allowing their servants to instigate the
+Indian tribes to_ MURDER _the servants of their rivals_,--this was a
+strange sight. And to see gentlemen who had publicly denied the validity
+of the company's charter, who had taken the opinion of the leading
+counsel of the day against it, who had tried every means, lawful and
+unlawful, to overthrow it, to see these same men range themselves under
+its protection, and, asserting all that they had before denied,
+proclaim its validity as soon as they were admitted to share its
+advantages; who, without its pale, asserted the rights of British
+subjects against its monopoly, and, within its pale, asserted its
+monopoly against the rights of British subjects,--this, too, was a
+strange sight. Yet to all this did the Hudson's Bay Company submit,
+rather than subject their charter and their claims to the investigation
+of a court of law."
+
+The Hudson's Bay Company, one hundred and fifty years from the date of
+its charter, asserted its right to the country, and, by virtue of the
+privileges conferred in that charter, seized the supplies and goods of
+the Northwest French Canadian Company, and confiscated them to its own
+use. This resulted in a deadly war between the two companies, and was
+carried on, neither party applying to the courts of the mother country
+for a settlement of their difficulties; in fact, as has been shown by
+reference to the charter of the Hudson's Bay Company, they had no legal
+rights, because none were in existence at the date of their charter;
+but, from the maneuvering of the company and the plausible efforts of
+Lord Selkirk to colonize, civilize, and settle the Red River country,
+they entered into his schemes, in order to crush the rival company and
+secure the whole country to themselves. It is unnecessary to detail any
+accounts of the horrid murders and infamous transactions that were put
+on foot and perpetrated by these two companies. After a furious
+contention, carried on for several years, "they bribed rivals whom they
+could not defeat, and the two companies united and agreed to carry on
+the fur trade together, to the exclusion of all others."
+
+The Selkirk settlement was soon made to feel the withering influence of
+the company that had located it in the country for a specific purpose,
+_Neither, however, was there any compromise_ till its inhabitants had
+been driven from their homes, its Governor (Semple) and seventeen of his
+followers killed. Then a compromise was effected between the rival
+companies, and they were united by an act of Parliament, under the title
+of Honorable Hudson's Bay Company, in 1821,--a license given to Messrs.
+William and Simon McGillivray, of the Northwest Company, and Edward
+Ellice, of the Hudson's Bay Company. These corporate members and their
+associates "were to share the profits arising from the fur trade, not
+only from the Indian territories, but also from the Hudson's Bay
+Company's proper territories of Rupert's Land." The privileges of this
+company were limited to seven years. This carried them forward to 1828,
+in which year their license (called a charter) was renewed for ten
+years.
+
+Our Indian missionary and American history commences in 1832, six years
+before this combined Northwest and Hudson's Bay Company's license of
+exclusive privileges to trade in British Indian Territory, and, jointly,
+in the Oregon Territory, would expire. Our English historian and Sir
+Edward Belcher are both mistaken when they attribute to the company the
+asking for, or in any way encouraging, the American missionaries to come
+to the country. This was an event wholly unknown to them, and brought
+about by the Indians themselves, by sending a delegation of four of
+their number to St. Louis, in 1832, to ask of the American people a
+religious teacher. Lee, Parker, and Whitman heard the request, and
+volunteered to make the effort to establish missions among them.
+
+These missionaries all came across the Rocky Mountains unasked and
+uninvited by any one in the service of that company.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+     English Hudson's Bay effort to secure Oregon.--British claim to
+     Oregon.--Dr. McLaughlin's relation to the company.--Treatment of
+     Red River settlers.--A mistake.--Sir Edward Belcher.--Duplicity of
+     the Hudson's Bay Company.--A noble man.--An Englishman's opinion of
+     the Hudson's Bay Company.--Sir James Douglas's testimony.--J. Ross
+     Browne.--Duty of an historian.--Cause and effect.
+
+
+Since commencing this work we have, by the kindness of friends who have
+taken a deep interest in all that relates to this country, been
+furnished with many valuable and important statements, documents,
+pamphlets, papers, and books, all relating to its early history.
+
+Of the whole catalogue, the most valuable information is contained in a
+work entitled "An Examination of the Charter and Proceedings of the
+Hudson's Bay Company, with Reference to the Grant of Vancouver's Island.
+By James Edward Fitzgerald. London." Published in 1849.
+
+The author of this book, though not having the personal knowledge of the
+company, the Indians, and the country about which he writes requisite to
+a complete history, has shown a correctness of statistical facts, a
+comprehensive knowledge of his subject, an enlarged view of the British
+colonial system, and a correct idea of the debasing practices and
+utterly false positions of the Hudson's Bay Company not found in any
+other writer.
+
+Up to the time that this book of 293 pages fell into my hands, I did not
+know that any writer entertained similar views with myself in relation
+to this monstrous imposition upon the British and American people.
+
+Mr. Fitzgerald has fortified his statements by his knowledge of the
+English people, their laws and usages, and the casual outcroppings of a
+system of unparalleled selfishness and despotism, carried on under the
+guise of a Christian commercial company, whose professed object was to
+extend commerce, and civilize and christianize the savage tribes of
+North America, yet who have invariably held up their Christian chartered
+privileges for the sole purpose of carrying on the most degrading and
+inhuman practices with not only the savages, but with all civilized and
+Christian men who have attempted to expose or even investigate their
+conduct.
+
+As we proceed with our history, we feel confident that we shall be able
+to enlighten our readers on many dark subjects and transactions, and to
+fully prove every statement we have made, or may yet make. Mr.
+Fitzgerald has given us clearly and truthfully the English side of our
+history as connected with this Hudson's Bay Company. The American part
+of it the writer is gathering up, and, in giving it to the public, will
+discard every statement that does not bear the impress of truth.
+
+The reader will notice that our subject is extensive, that England and
+America, commerce and Christianity, civilization and savagism, are all
+involved and interested in it, and that Oregon, California, and British
+and Russian America have all participated in it during the past and
+present century; that we are tracing cause and effect and bringing to
+light influences that, while producing their legitimate results, were
+strange and unaccountable, because always kept under the selfish and
+unscrupulous policy of this English corporation of fur traders.
+
+By referring to the charter of the Hudson's Bay Company, we find that it
+was given by Charles II., in 1670, granting to the "governor and company
+and their successors the exclusive right to trade, fish, and hunt in the
+waters, bays, rivers, lakes, and creeks entering into Hudson's Straits,
+together with all the lands and territories not already occupied or
+granted to any of the king's subjects, or possessed by the subjects of
+any other Christian prince or State."
+
+Forty years previous to the giving of this charter by Charles II., of
+England, Louis XIII., of France, gave a charter to a French company, who
+occupied the country called Acadia, or New France.
+
+In 1632, Charles I., of England, resigned to Louis XIII., of France, the
+sovereignty of the country then called Acadia, or New France.
+
+Forty years after Louis XIII., of France, had given his charter, and
+thirty-eight years after Charles I., of England, had given up his right
+to the country, Charles II., of England, imitating the example of him
+who wished to give the world and all its glory to obtain the worship of
+the Saviour of mankind, gave to the Hudson's Bay Company what he had not
+the shadow of a title to, as in the treaty of Ryswick, in 1697,
+twenty-seven years after this charter of the Hudson's Bay Company had
+been given, the whole country was confirmed to France, and no
+reservation made on account of the Hudson's Bay Company.
+
+Mr. Fitzgerald, on his 12th page, says: "It has often been asserted, and
+is to a great extent believed, because there is very little general
+information on this subject, that the _claim which Great Britain made to
+the Oregon Territory was dependent upon, or, at any rate, strengthened
+by, the settlement of the Hudson's Bay Company on the Columbia River_.
+
+"Those who hold such an opinion will be surprised to learn that there
+are many, and they well acquainted with the country itself, who assert
+that the conduct and policy of the Hudson's Bay Company in the Oregon
+Territory formed the chief part of the title which the United States had
+to the country, which was gratuitously given to her by the settlement of
+the boundary. What the United States owe to the company for its policy
+on the west side of the Rocky Mountains is a question to which the
+English public will some day demand a satisfactory answer.
+
+"Dr. McLaughlin was formerly an agent in the Northwest Fur Company of
+Montreal; he was one of the most enterprising and active in conducting
+the war between that association and the Hudson's Bay Company. In the
+year 1821, when the rival companies united, Dr. McLaughlin became a
+factor of the Hudson's Bay Company. But his allegiance does not appear
+to have been disposed of along with his interests, and his sympathy with
+any thing other than British, seems to have done justice to his birth
+and education, which were those of a French Canadian. This gentleman was
+appointed governor of all the country west of the Rocky Mountains, and
+is accused, by those who have been in that country, of having uniformly
+encouraged the emigration of settlers from the United States, and of
+having discouraged that of British subjects. _While the company in this
+country (England) were asserting that their settlements on the Columbia
+River were giving validity to the claim of Great Britain to the Oregon
+Territory_, it appears that their chief officer on the spot was doing
+all in his power to facilitate the operations of those whose whole
+object it was to annihilate that claim altogether."
+
+Mr. Fitzgerald has given us in the above statement an important fact,
+and one that reveals to an American the deep-laid schemes of the English
+government, which, by the influence of the Hudson's Bay Company, sought
+to secure the Oregon Territory to itself. He also explains the conduct
+of Dr. McLaughlin in his treatment of emigrants, as well as the relation
+he sustained to that company. While, as Americans, we can admire and
+applaud the conduct of a noble and generous "_Canadian-born_" _citizen_,
+we at the same time can see the low, debasing, and mean spirit of the
+Englishman, as manifested in the attempt to deprive the American
+Republic of its rightful domain.
+
+We shall have occasion to refer to the bringing into Oregon of the Red
+River settlers, and as the result of that move, the unparalleled effort
+of Dr. Whitman to defeat the British designs upon the country.
+
+Mr. Fitzgerald explains that matter so well, that we could not do
+justice to the truth of history not to quote him. He says, on the 14th
+page of his work: "There is one story told, about which it is right that
+the truth should be ascertained. It is said that a number of half-breeds
+from the Red River settlement were, in the year of 1841-2, induced by
+the company's officers to undertake a journey entirely across the
+continent, with the object of becoming settlers on the Columbia River.
+It appears that a number went, but on arriving in the country, so far
+from finding any of the promised encouragement, the treatment they
+received from Dr. McLaughlin was such, that, after having been nearly
+starved under the paternal care of that gentleman, they all went over to
+the American settlement in the Wallamet Valley."
+
+This statement, while it affirms an important fact, gives a false
+impression as regards Dr. McLaughlin. He, to our certain knowledge,
+extended to the Red River settlers every facility within his power, and
+all of those emigrants to this day speak of his kindness in the highest
+terms. But not so of other leading or controlling members, who really
+represented the English part and policy of that company. Those settlers
+complained of the domineering and tyrannical treatment of their English
+overseers, which was the cause of their leaving what they supposed would
+eventually be the English part of Oregon Territory. They also became
+sensible that the Hudson's Bay Company in Oregon was a different concern
+from the Hudson's Bay Company in Rupert's Land; that, however small
+their privileges were there, they were less on Puget Sound; and being
+near an American settlement, they naturally sought its advantages and
+protection.
+
+Mr. Fitzgerald informs us that "these emigrants became citizens of the
+United States, and it is further said were the first to memorialize
+Congress to extend the power of the United States over the Oregon
+Territory. For the truth of these statements we do not, of course vouch,
+but we do say they demand inquiry."
+
+This statement of Mr. Fitzgerald entitles him to be considered a candid
+and fair writer, and one who is seeking for truth in reference to the
+subject he is investigating. He has naturally imbibed the feelings of an
+Englishman against Dr. McLaughlin, under the strong effort made by the
+English Hudson's Bay Company to suppress and supersede the French
+Canadian influence in it.
+
+He says, on page 15: "Dr. McLaughlin's policy was so manifestly American
+that it is openly canvassed in a book written by Mr. Dunn, one of the
+servants of the company, and written for the purpose of praising their
+system and policy."
+
+Sir Edward Belcher also alludes to this policy. He says: "Some few
+years since, the company determined on forming settlements on the rich
+lands situated on the Wallamet and other rivers, and for providing for
+their retired servants, by allotting them farms, and further aiding them
+by supplies of cattle, etc. That on the Wallamet was a field too
+inviting for missionary enthusiasm to overlook, but instead of selecting
+a British subject to afford them spiritual assistance, recourse was had
+to Americans, a course pregnant with evil consequences, and particularly
+in the political squabble pending, as will be seen by the result. No
+sooner had the American and his allies fairly squatted (which they deem
+taking possession of the country), than they invited their brethren to
+join them, and called on the American government for laws and
+protection."
+
+The American reader will smile at Sir Edward's little fling at the
+_squatters_ in Oregon. He asserts a great truth in the same sentence
+that he utters a positive falsehood. No member of the Hudson's Bay
+Company, nor the whole company together, ever encouraged a single
+American missionary to come to the country. Revs. Lee and Parker and Dr.
+Whitman came without their invitation or aid. They were entirely
+independent of the company, and were only suffered to remain, the
+company not daring to drive them from the country on their first
+arrival, as they all held the protection of the American government, as
+Indian teachers, under the great seal of the Secretary of War. This
+English fling at their own company is evidence of a jealousy existing
+which could not be satisfied short of the utter extermination of all
+American influence on this coast, and is further illustrated by this
+same Sir Edward Belcher, in contrasting the treatment of Captain Wilkes
+and his party with that of his own. He says (vol. 1, p. 297): "The
+attention of the chief to myself and those immediately about me,
+particularly in sending down fresh supplies, previous to my arrival, I
+feel fully grateful for; but I can not conceal my disappointment at the
+want of accommodation exhibited toward the crews of the vessels under my
+command in a _British possession_." We old Oregonians are amused at Sir
+Edward's ignorance of the Hudson's Bay Company's treatment of the
+_crews_ of vessels, and servants of the company. We all know his crew
+were allowed to associate freely with the native women in the country
+and to distribute their rations of rum, and any other supplies they
+might have, without any remonstrance from the company. Sir Edward
+continues: "We certainly were not distressed, nor was it imperatively
+necessary that fresh beef and vegetables should be supplied, or I should
+have made a formal demand. But as regarded those who might come after,
+and not improbably myself among the number, I inquired in direct terms
+what facilities her Majesty's ship of war might expect, in the event of
+touching at this port for bullocks, flour, vegetables, etc. I certainly
+was extremely surprised at the reply that they were not in a condition
+to supply. As any observation here would be useless, and I well knew
+this point could be readily settled where authority could be referred
+to, I let the matter rest. But having been invited to inspect the farm
+and dairy, and been informed of the quantity of grain, and the means of
+furnishing flour, and notwithstanding the profusion of cattle and
+potatoes, no offer having been made for our crew, I regretted that I had
+been led into the acceptance of private supplies; although, at that
+time, the other officers of the establishment had told my officers that
+supplies would of course be sent down."
+
+Mr. Fitzgerald says "_the American policy of the Hudson's Bay Company_
+would seem, from the above facts, to be more than a matter of
+suspicion," while we Americans are only disposed to regard them as a
+part of the _duplicity_ of that company in their effort _to deceive
+their own countrymen_ as to the value of the country over which they had
+ruled so long.
+
+They had been too successful in deceiving all American writers to allow
+their own countrymen to understand their secret policy. Sir Edward
+Belcher and our English historian were equally misled in relation to the
+_American policy of the Hudson's Bay Company_. It is true that Dr.
+McLaughlin, though he was a French Canadian subject, had not lost his
+American soul. The British iron had not driven the last noble sentiment
+of humanity from his heart, nor his connection with that polluted
+corporation of iniquity which pervades half the continent of North
+America; for when he found that this Hudson's Bay Company was utterly
+lost to humanity, he tells them to their teeth: "_Gentlemen, I will
+serve you no longer_."
+
+No true American historian will allow, without contradiction, that
+corrupt company to hand down to future infamy the name of a noble and
+generous servant, because their infamous policy was defeated by the
+establishment of the American missions in the country. Dr. McLaughlin
+did all that he could, honorably, to comply with their "system of
+iniquity."
+
+Our English author says, on page 19, in reference to the conduct of the
+company: "They are convictions which have strengthened and deepened at
+every step of the inquiry; convictions that the Hudson's Bay Company has
+entailed misery and destruction upon thousands throughout the country
+which is withering under its curse; that it has cramped and crippled the
+energies and enterprise of England, which might have found occupation in
+the directions from which they are now excluded; that it has stopped
+the extension of civilization, and has _excluded the light of religious
+truth_; that it has alienated the hearts of all under its oppression,
+and made them hostile to their country; above all, that the whole and
+entire fabric is built upon utterly false and fictitious grounds; that
+it has not one shadow of reality in law or in justice; that there is not
+the smallest legal authority for any one of the rights which this
+corporation claims. It is this conviction which has urged me to submit
+the statements and arguments contained in the following pages to the
+consideration of the public; and to arraign before that tribunal, from
+which in these days there is no escape,--the judgment of public
+opinion,--_a corporation who, under the authority of a charter which is
+invalid in law_, hold a monopoly in commerce, and exercise _a despotism
+in government, and have so used that monopoly and wielded that power as
+to shut up the earth from the knowledge of man, and man from the
+knowledge of God_."
+
+With the statements and convictions of this English author before us, we
+will add a statement of Sir James Douglas, given in answer to
+interrogatory 11 in the case of Hudson's Bay Company's Claim v. United
+States, to give the reader a better idea of the power and influence of
+that company in Oregon, in 1846.
+
+Sir James says: "The Honorable Hudson's Bay Company had fifty-five
+officers and five hundred and thirteen articled men. The company having
+a large, active, and experienced force of servants in their employ, and
+holding establishments judiciously situated in the most favorable
+portions for trade, forming, as it were, a net-work of posts aiding and
+supporting each other, _possessed an extraordinary influence with the
+natives_, and in 1846 practically enjoyed a monopoly of the fur trade in
+the country west of the Rocky Mountains, north and south of the
+forty-ninth parallel of latitude. The profits of their trade," says this
+witness, "from 1841 to 1846 were at least seven thousand pounds sterling
+annually."
+
+The fifty-five officers and five hundred and thirteen articled men of
+the company, with their eight hundred half-breeds, and the Indians they
+could command by the judicious position of their respective posts, were
+deemed by them sufficient security for their trade, and a substantial
+reason why they should not give up the country without making another
+direct effort to drive the missionary and American settlements from it,
+notwithstanding all their pretension to join in the provisional
+government organized by the pioneer Americans in 1843.
+
+The reader is referred to the discussion on the liquor question between
+Judge Sir James Douglas and Mr. Samuel Parker, as found in the tenth and
+eleventh numbers, first volume, of the _Spectator_, published June 11
+and 25, 1845, and in another chapter of this work, and requested to keep
+all these facts before the mind, so as not to lose sight of the
+commanding influence, or, in other words, the commander, when we enter
+upon the preliminary and immediate causes of the Whitman massacre, and
+the Indian war that followed.
+
+We have before us the original depositions in reference to the facts
+stated, and also the attempt to excuse the principal actors in that
+horrible transaction, as given by Brouillet in justification of the
+course pursued by the Jesuit missionaries.
+
+We have also the superficial and bombastic report of J. Ross Browne,
+special agent of the Treasury Department, dated December 4, 1857,
+containing a copy of this Jesuit history of the murder of Dr. Whitman.
+In his remarks previous to giving Brouillet's history, he says: "In view
+of the fact, however, that objections might be made to any testimony
+coming from the citizens of the Territories, and believing also that it
+is the duty of a public agent to present, as far as practicable,
+_unprejudiced statements_, I did not permit myself to be governed by any
+representations unsupported by reliable historical data."----"The fact
+also is shown that, as far back as 1835, the Indians west of the Rocky
+Mountains protested against the taking away of their lands by the white
+race. That this was one of the alleged causes of the murder of Dr.
+Whitman and family."
+
+There are sixty-six pages in this report. Twelve of them are Mr.
+Browne's, one page of official acknowledgment, and fifty-three from the
+parties implicated.
+
+The statements of Mr. Browne, of Mr. Fitzgerald, and the oath of Mr.
+Douglas, are sufficient to show the ignorance, stupidity, and falsehood
+incorporated in his report, were there no other historical facts to
+convict him of ignorance in allowing such representations to be made in
+an official document. In the proper place we will bring this report into
+our history, with both sides of the question.
+
+Were we to express an opinion of Mr. J. Ross Browne's report, with our
+personal knowledge of what he pretends to relate, we would say he
+ignored the people, the country, and the government whose agent he
+claimed to be, and was reporting for the special benefit of the Roman
+religion and British government, as these are extensively quoted as
+historical data from which his report and conclusions are drawn.
+
+The reader will understand our main object to be to give a full history
+of all influences and prominent transactions and events that have
+occurred in Oregon from 1792 to 1849.
+
+To understand cause and effect, and the true history of the country, we
+have to examine the facts as connected with actions, and also to trace
+back the history of the actors, in order to see how far they may be made
+responsible for the result of their actions.
+
+Oregon, from the time of its discovery, has been a field where all the
+influences of which we are writing have been living, active influences;
+and they are by no means inactive or dead at the present time. Some of
+them are more active now than they were in 1836.
+
+A full knowledge of the past will enable us to guard the present and the
+future. Our English writer has gathered his facts and drawn his
+conclusions in London. We, upon this, our western coast, are witnesses
+of the cause and results of his conclusions, and any statement he makes
+we feel ourselves abundantly able to corroborate or correct.
+
+As we proceed with our history we shall have frequent occasion to quote
+Mr. Fitzgerald, as the best English evidence, in favor of our American
+statements or positions. Since writing the above we have noticed a
+lengthy article in the Edinburgh _Westminster Review_ for July, 1867,
+giving a concise history of the Hudson's Bay Company, under the heading,
+"The Last Great Monopoly." In that article the author has shown
+extensive historical knowledge of the operations and influences of that
+monopoly in that portion of our continent over which they have held
+exclusive control.
+
+He regards them as a blight upon the country, and an "incubus" to be
+removed by national legislation. If our work had been published, we
+should conclude that he must have drawn many of his facts from our own
+observations. But this is not the case; hence the value to us of his
+corroboration of the facts we affirm from personal knowledge.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+     Care of Great Britain for her fur companies.--Columbia Fur
+     Company.--Astor's second fur company.--Major Pilcher's fur
+     company.--Loss of the ship _Isabel_.--Captain Bonneville's
+     expedition.--Cause of his failure.--Captain Wyeth's, 1832.--Indians
+     ask for missionaries in 1833.--Methodist Mission.--Fort Hall
+     established.--Fort Boise.
+
+
+By reference to the act of the British Parliament of June 2, 1821, it
+will be seen that the affairs of the North American British Fur
+companies were in a fair way to defeat all British interests in America.
+To suppress these feuds among their own people became a matter of
+national importance and policy.
+
+To accomplish so desirable an object, Parliament, in the act above
+referred to, extended the civil and criminal jurisdiction of Canada over
+all the territories of the Hudson's Bay Company; in the thirteenth
+article of the act, and in the fourteenth, repealed all that was before
+taken away from that company, and confirmed absolutely all the rights
+supposed to have been given by the original charter, as follows:--
+
+    SECTION 14. "And be it further enacted, that nothing in this act
+    contained shall be taken or construed to affect any right or
+    privilege, authority or jurisdiction, which the governor and company
+    of adventurers trading to Hudson's Bay are by law entitled to claim
+    and exercise under their charter; but that all such rights,
+    privileges, authorities, and jurisdictions, shall remain in as full
+    force, virtue, and effect, as if this act had never been made; any
+    thing in this act to the contrary notwithstanding."
+
+This act, however just it may have been considered, certainly embodied a
+large amount of national prejudice against the people of French or
+Canadian birth, in exempting the territory of the Hudson's Bay Company
+from its influence. It had a twofold effect: the one, to check feuds
+among British subjects; the other, to unite them in one vast Indian
+monopoly,--to license this united company to go forward with their
+Indian political arrangements unmolested,--to punish and dispose of all
+intruders upon their supposed, or asserted rights, as they might deem
+for the interest of their trade, which, according to the charter of
+Charles II., bearing date May 2, 1670, they were "at all times hereafter
+to be personable and capable in law, to have, purchase, receive,
+possess, enjoy, and retain lands, rents, privileges, liberties,
+jurisdiction, franchises, and hereditaments of what kind, nature, or
+quality soever they be, to them and their successors."
+
+The whole trade, fisheries, navigation, minerals, etc., of the
+countries, are granted to the company exclusively; all other of the
+king's subjects being forbidden to _visit_, _hunt_, _frequent_, _trade_,
+_traffic_, or _adventure_ therein, under heavy penalties; and the
+company is moreover empowered to send _ships_, and to build
+_fortifications_ for the defense of its possessions, as well as to _make
+war or peace with all nations or peoples_ not Christian, inhabiting
+those territories, _which are declared to be hence-forth reckoned_ and
+_reputed_ as one of _his Majesty's_ plantations or colonies in America,
+called Rupert's Land.
+
+It will be remembered that as early as 1818, a question arose between
+the United States and Great Britain, as to which was the rightful owner
+of the Oregon country. The Northwest Fur Company were the only subjects
+of Great Britain that had competed with the American fur companies in
+the discovery or trade of the country. To ignore that company altogether
+would weaken the British claim to Oregon by right of prior discovery and
+occupancy. Hence, by uniting the two companies under an ancient English
+charter, combining their united capital and numerical strength,
+discarding all doubtful subjects, and confirming the absolute power of
+their own British company, they could easily secure Oregon as British
+territory. The wisdom and effect of this policy will be developed as we
+proceed.
+
+By the third article of the convention between the United States and
+Great Britain, signed October 20, 1818, "it is agreed that any country
+that may be claimed by either party on the northwest coast of America,
+westward of the Stony Mountains, shall, together with its harbors, bays,
+and creeks, and the navigation of all rivers within the same, be free
+and open for the term of ten years from the date of the signature of the
+present convention, to the vessels, citizens, and subjects of the two
+powers; it being well understood that this agreement is not to be
+construed to the prejudice of any claim which either of the two high
+contracting parties may have to any part of said country, nor shall it
+be taken to affect the claims of any other power or state to any part of
+the said country; the only object of the high contracting parties, in
+that respect, being to prevent disputes and differences among
+themselves."
+
+This convention secured at that time the Northwest Fur Company's
+existence in the country, by the act uniting the two British fur
+companies three years later. In 1821, the privileges here secured were
+transferred and confirmed to the Hudson's Bay Company, who at once took
+the most active and efficient measures to guard against any future
+competition, by assessing and setting apart ten per cent. on their
+capital stock, which was counted at L200,000, as a sinking fund for the
+special purpose of opposing all competition in the fur trade by land or
+water.
+
+The convention above referred to shows that Great Britain held a
+watchful eye over her fur traders in this distant country; and the act
+of her Parliament in 1821, that she was disposed, in a direct manner, to
+secure to her own people, as traders, the absolute sovereignty of the
+country. While Great Britain was protecting and strengthening her fur
+traders in North America, the American government was simply asserting
+its prior rights to the Oregon country, founded upon its discovery and
+subsequent purchase in what is termed the Louisiana purchase, from
+France; the treaties and conventions only serving to encourage and
+strengthen the British claim, while they used their influence, capital,
+and power against all American competition and settlement in the
+country.
+
+In 1821, as was to be expected by the union of the two great British fur
+companies, under the license of the British Parliament, and absolute
+charter of Charles II., many of the servants, and especially such as
+were found favorable to the American fur traders, or violently opposed
+to the Hudson's Bay Company, were thrown out of employment. They
+naturally sought to continue their wild Indian trade and habits, and
+formed a company under the name of the Columbia Fur Company, extending
+their operations up the Mississippi, Missouri, and Yellowstone rivers.
+In 1826, they transferred their interests to Astor's second North
+American Fur Company, of which John Jacob Astor was the head. This
+company appears to have been commenced or organized in connection with
+Mr. W. H. Ashley, in 1823, and under his direction extended its trade to
+the south and west, along the Platte River, and passed into the Rocky
+Mountains as far as Green River, being the first to discover its
+sources, making a successful trading expedition that year.
+
+In 1824, another expedition under Mr. Ashley explored the Rocky
+Mountains as far south as Salt Lake, and built a fort on the borders of
+a small lake, to which he gave his own name. In 1826, Mr. Ashley
+transported a 6-pound cannon to his establishment near Salt Lake,
+through what has since been termed Fremont's, or the south pass of the
+Rocky Mountains, in a wagon. This establishment had in its employ over
+one hundred men, and was remarkably successful and profitable to the
+partners.
+
+In 1826, Mr. Ashley sold all his interest to the Rocky Mountain Fur
+Company, composed of Smith, Jackson, and Subleth, who extended their
+trade into California, and as far north as the Umpqua River, in Oregon;
+where Smith and his party were met by a professedly friendly party of
+Indians, who murdered his men, seized his furs, and delivered them to a
+party of men sent by the Hudson's Bay Company, under Mr. John McLeod and
+Thomas McKay, to receive the furs and pay the Indians for their
+services--as learned by the writer from eye-witnesses.
+
+During this same year, 1827, Major Pilcher, with forty-five men, crossed
+the Rocky Mountains, and, in 1828-9, traversed the western portion of
+them as far north as Fort Colville. This fort had been established, and
+farming operations commenced, in 1825. This party of Major Pilcher were
+all cut off but two men, besides himself; his furs, as stated by himself
+to the writer, found their way into the forts of the Hudson's Bay
+Company.
+
+In 1828, the brig _Owyhee_, Captain Demenses, and the schooner _Cowrey_,
+Captain Thompson, entered and remained nearly a year in the Columbia
+River, trading with the Indians. They were owned in Boston.
+
+In 1830, the British ship _Isabel_ was lost on Sand Island--the second
+known to have been wrecked on the bar, or in attempting to enter the
+river. The crew were all saved, and it was the opinion of the company at
+Vancouver that, had the crew remained with the ship, no great loss would
+have been sustained.
+
+In 1832, Captain Bonneville, of the United States army, on furlough,
+started, with over one hundred men, on an expedition into the Rocky
+Mountains. He crossed the mountains, and reached the Wallawalla Valley,
+on the Columbia River; but, through the influence of the Hudson's Bay
+Company, his men were nearly all induced to leave him, so that he was
+obliged to abandon his property, and his expedition was a total failure,
+except the little scientific knowledge of the country gained by it.
+
+To charge the failure of Captain Bonneville directly to the Hudson's Bay
+Company would not be strictly true; but their great influence over the
+Indians was sufficient to prevent them from furnishing his party with
+food or horses, while he was within reach of their forts. Hence, many of
+his men became dissatisfied, and left him, till his party became too
+weak to effect their return to the States with their valuable furs and
+property. These eventually were lost, or fell into the hands of the
+Indians, and through them, his furs reached the Hudson's Bay traders'
+establishments.
+
+This same year, 1832, Captain Nathaniel Wyeth, of Massachusetts, started
+on an exploring expedition to the mouth of the Columbia River, with a
+view of establishing a permanent trade in the Oregon country. He
+traveled across the continent and gathered all the information requisite
+for the undertaking, and returned to Boston in 1833; and in 1834, having
+completed his arrangements, chartered the brig _May Dacre_, and
+dispatched her with his own, and the goods of the Methodist Mission, for
+the Columbia River.
+
+The same year, some Flathead Indians, from a tribe in the midst of the
+Rocky Mountains, went to St. Louis, and, through Mr. Catlin, an American
+artist, made known their object, which was to know something more of the
+white man's God and religion. Through the representations of these
+Indians, the Methodist Episcopal Society in the United States
+established their missions in Oregon, and the American Board sent their
+missionaries among the Nez Perces, which, as will be seen, was the
+commencement of the permanent settlement of the country. It appears from
+the facts, briefly stated, that there had been eleven different trading
+expeditions and companies, besides the Northwest and Hudson's Bay
+companies, that had sought for wealth by making fur-trading
+establishments in Oregon. All of them, including the Northwest and
+Hudson's Bay companies, have retired from it, but the American
+missionaries are residents of the country, and their influence and
+labors are felt, notwithstanding other influences have partially
+supplanted and destroyed the good impressions first made upon the
+natives of the country by them. Still civilization, education, and
+religion, with all the improvements of the age, are progressing, and the
+old pioneer missionaries and settlers that were contemporary with them,
+with a few exceptions, are foremost in every laudable effort to benefit
+the present and rising generation.
+
+In the month of March, 1833, a Japanese junk was wrecked near Cape
+Flattery, in the then Territory of Oregon, and all on board, except
+three men, were lost. Those three were received by Captain McNeal on
+board the British ship _Lama_; taken to Vancouver, and thence sent to
+England. Rev. Mr. Parker gives this, and another similar wreck on the
+Sandwich Islands, as evidence of the origin of the natives of those
+countries. But we give it for another object. The three Japanese were
+taken to England, and, during their stay, learned the English language,
+were sent back to Macao, and became the assistant teachers of Mr.
+Gutzlaff, the English missionary at that place, and were the means of
+opening their _own_ country to missionary and commercial relations with
+other nations.
+
+Captain Wyeth, with Revs. Jason and Daniel Lee, Cyrus Shepard, and P. L.
+Edwards, the first missionary party, together with Doctor Nutall, a
+naturalist, and J. K. Townsend, an ornithologist, sent out by a literary
+society in Philadelphia, all under the escort furnished by Captain
+Wyeth, crossed the mountains and reached the plain formed by the
+Portneuf and Snake rivers. At their junction Captain Wyeth stopped, and
+established Fort Hall, while the missionaries and scientific men of his
+party, in company with an Englishman by the name of Captain Stewart, and
+a party of Hudson's Bay traders, under the direction of Mr. McLeod and
+McKay, proceeded to Fort Nez Perces (present name, Wallula). Thence they
+traveled in Hudson's Bay _bateaux_ to Vancouver.
+
+Captain Wyeth established his post on the Snake River, by erecting a
+stockade of logs, and quarters for his men, and then proceeded to the
+lower Columbia to receive his goods, which arrived in the _May Dacre_,
+Captain Lambert, from Boston, about the time he reached Fort William, on
+what is now known as Sauvies Island, a few miles below the mouth of the
+Multnomah River, now called the Wallamet.
+
+Rev. Mr. Lee and party made their first location about sixty miles from
+the mouth of the Wallamet, near what is now called Wheatland, ten miles
+below Salem.
+
+Captain Wyeth received his goods, and commenced his trading
+establishment, but found that, notwithstanding he was personally treated
+by the principal officers of the Hudson's Bay Company with great
+courtesy, yet it was evident that every possible underhanded and
+degrading device was practiced, both with the Indians and with his men,
+to destroy, as much as was possible, the value and profits of his trade.
+In the spring and summer of 1835 he supplied his Fort Hall establishment
+with goods.
+
+During the year 1835, the Hudson's Bay Company erected a temporary post
+about twelve miles up the Boise River, designed to counteract and
+destroy as much as possible the American fur trade established by
+Captain Wyeth, who continued his efforts less than three years; and,
+having lost of the two hundred men who had been in his employ _one
+hundred and sixty_ (as stated to Rev. Samuel Parker), and finding
+himself unable to compete with this powerful English company, he
+accepted Dr. McLaughlin's offer for his establishments, and left the
+country in 1836.
+
+In 1835, the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions sent
+Rev. Samuel Parker and Dr. Marcus Whitman to explore the Oregon country,
+with a view of establishing missions among the Indians west of the Rocky
+Mountains.
+
+These two missionaries reached the American rendezvous on Green River,
+in company with the Rocky Mountain Fur Company's traders, under the
+direction of Captains Drips and Fitzpatrick. From the American
+rendezvous Mr. Parker continued his explorations in company with, and
+under the protection of the Nez Perce Indians, till he reached old Fort
+Wallawalla, now called Wallula; thence he continued in canoes to
+Vancouver, while Dr. Whitman returned to the United States to procure
+associates to establish the Nez Perce mission.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+     Extent and power of Hudson's Bay Company.--Number of
+     forts.--Location.--Policy.--Murder of Mr. Black.--McKay.--Manner of
+     dealing with Indians.--Commander of fort kills an
+     Indian.--Necessity of such a course.--Hudson's Bay Company not
+     responsible for what their servants do.
+
+
+Having briefly traced the operations of the two foreign fur companies in
+Oregon, a knowledge of the location of their several trading
+establishments will enable the reader to comprehend their power and
+influence in the country.
+
+Fort Umpqua was located in the extreme southwestern part of Oregon, near
+the mouth of the river bearing that name. It was a temporary stockade
+built of logs, overlooking a small farm in its immediate vicinity, was
+generally occupied by a clerk and from four to eight Frenchmen.
+
+Fort George (Astoria) already described.
+
+They had a farm and small establishment at the mouth of the Cowlitz, and
+a more extensive farm some twenty-five miles up that river.
+
+Fort Vancouver,--a stockade, six miles above the mouth of the Multnomah,
+or Wallamet River. This fort was the general depot for the southwestern
+department, at which their goods for Indian trade were landed, and their
+furs and peltries collected and shipped to foreign markets. There was
+also a trading-house at Champoeg, some thirty-five miles up the Wallamet
+River.
+
+On the left bank of the Columbia River, near the 46 deg. of north latitude,
+stood Fort Nez Perces, called Wallawalla, now Wallula,--a stockade,
+accidentally burned in 1841, and rebuilt with adobes in 1841-2.
+
+On the left bank of the south branch of the Columbia, or Snake River, at
+the junction of the Boise, was located Fort Boise, built formerly, in
+1834, with poles; later, with adobes.
+
+Continuing up Snake River to the junction of the Portneuf, on its left
+bank we find Fort Hall, built by Captain Wyeth; a stockade in 1834;
+rebuilt by the Hudson's Bay Company, with adobes, in 1838.
+
+Thence up the Columbia, Fort Okanagon, at the mouth of Okanagon River,
+formerly a stockade, latterly a house or hut; and up the Spokan some
+twenty miles, was the old Spokan Fort, built by Astor's Company, a
+stockade with solid bastions.
+
+Continuing up the Columbia to Kettle Falls, and two miles above, on the
+left bank is Fort Colville, formerly a stockade, still occupied by the
+Hudson's Bay Company.
+
+Thence up the Columbia to the mouth of the Kootanie River, near the
+forty-ninth parallel of latitude, is the trading establishment called
+Kootanie House. Thence returning south, and ascending the Flathead
+(Clark's) and Kootanie rivers, into what is now Montana Territory, is,
+or was, the hut called Flathead House. Still higher up on the Columbia
+was a small establishment, called the boat encampment, or Mountain
+House.
+
+Entering the country by the Straits of Juan de Fuca and Puget Sound, we
+find Fort Nasqualla, formerly a stockade. Proceeding up Frazer River to
+near the forty-ninth parallel, upon the left or south bank of the river
+is Fort Langley, an extensive stockade. Thence up that river about
+ninety miles, half a mile below the mouth of the Coquehalla, is Fort
+Hope, a stockade. On the right bank of the Frazer, sixteen miles above,
+is Fort Yale, a trading-house.
+
+Thence proceeding up the Frazer, and on to the waters of Thompson River,
+is Fort Kamloops; still further north and east, extending into New
+Caledonia, are Forts Alexander, William, Garey, and Abercrombie.
+
+On the southeastern part of Vancouver Island is Fort Victoria, formerly
+a stockade. On the north side of the island is Fort Rupert, a stockade,
+still in good repair.
+
+On the mainland, near Portland Channel, is Fort Simpson. At the mouth of
+the Stiken River, on Dundas Island, was formerly Fort Wrangle, a
+stockade. Recently the establishment has been removed some sixty miles
+up the Stiken River, and called Fort Stiken.
+
+This, as will be seen, gives the company twenty-three forts and five
+trading-stations. In addition to these they had trading-parties
+extending south to California, southeast to Fort Hall and into Utah and
+Arizona, east into the Blackfoot country (Montana) and the Rocky
+Mountains, and north into New Caledonia and along the northwestern
+watershed of the Rocky Mountains.
+
+They also had two steamers, the _Beaver_ and _Otter_, to enter all the
+bays, harbors, rivers, and inlets along the western coast of our
+country, from Mexico on the south, to Russian America on the north,
+employing fifty-five officers and five hundred and thirteen articled
+men, all bound, under the strictest articles of agreement, to subserve
+the interests of that company under all circumstances; being strictly
+forbidden to acquire any personal or real estate outside of their
+stipulated pay as servants of the company, and were subject to such
+punishment for deficiency of labor or neglect of duty as the officer in
+charge might see fit to impose, having no appeal to any source for
+redress, as the original charter of Charles II., confirmed by act of
+Parliament in 1821, clearly conferred on the company absolute control
+over the country they occupied, and all in it.
+
+As a matter of romance and adventure, many statements are made of
+conflicts with Indians and with wild animals, all terminating favorably
+to the interests of the company, confirming and strengthening their
+absolute power over all their opponents; but as they do not properly
+belong to a work of this character, they will be omitted, except where
+they may be brought to illustrate a fact, or to prove the principles and
+policy of the company.
+
+As in the case of Mr. Black, a chief trader at Fort Kamloops, who had
+offended an Indian, the Indian disguised his resentment, entered the
+fort as a friend, and while Mr. Black was passing from the room in which
+the Indian had been received, he was deliberately shot by him, and fell
+dead. The Indian fled, and the fort was closed against the tribe. Not a
+single article of trade or supplies was allowed to the tribe till the
+murderer was given up, and hung by the company's men, when the fort was
+opened and trade resumed.
+
+In another case, near the mouth of the Columbia, a trader by the name of
+McKay was killed in a drunken row with the Indians at a salmon fishery.
+A friendly Indian gave information at head-quarters, when an expedition
+was fitted out and sent to the Indian camp. The murderer, with a few
+other Indians, was found in a canoe, but escaped to shore. They were
+fired at, and one woman was killed and others wounded. Dr. McLaughlin,
+being in command of the party, informed the Indians that if the murderer
+was not soon given up, he would punish the tribe. They soon placed the
+murderer in the hands of the party, who were satisfied of the guilt of
+the Indian, and at once hung him, as an example of the punishment that
+would be inflicted upon murderers of white men belonging to the company.
+
+One other instance of daring and summary punishment is related as having
+been inflicted by Mr. Douglas, while in charge of a fort in the midst of
+a powerful tribe of Indians. A principal chief had killed one of the
+company's men. Mr. Douglas, learning that he was in a lodge not far from
+the fort, boasting of his murderous exploit, armed himself, went to the
+lodge, identified the murdering chief, and shot him dead; then walked
+deliberately back to the fort.
+
+A compliance with licensed parliamentary stipulations would have
+required the arrest of the murderers in all these cases, and the
+testimony and criminals to be sent to Canada for conviction and
+execution.
+
+These cases illustrate, whether just or otherwise, the absolute manner
+of dealing with Indians by the company. The following chapter gives us
+the particulars of an aggravated case of brutal murder of the person in
+charge of one of their extreme northwestern forts by the men under his
+charge.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+     Murder of John McLaughlin, Jr.--Investigation by Sir George Simpson
+     and Sir James Douglas.
+
+
+Very different was the course pursued by Sir George Simpson and Mr. (now
+Sir James) Douglas in the case of conspiracy and murder of John
+McLaughlin, Jr., at Fort Wrangle, near the southern boundary of Russian
+America.
+
+In this case, Sir George Simpson went into a partial examination of the
+parties implicated, and reported that Dr. John McLaughlin, Jr., was
+killed by the men in self-defense. This report, from the known hostility
+of Sir George to the father and son, was not satisfactory, and Esquire
+Douglas was dispatched to Fort Wrangle, and procured the following
+testimony, which, in justice to the murdered man and the now deceased
+father, we will quote as copied from the original documents by Rev. G.
+Hines.
+
+Pierre Kanaquassee, one of the men employed in the establishment at the
+time of the murder, and in whose testimony the gentlemen of the company
+place the utmost reliance, gives the following narrative, in answer to
+questions proposed by James Douglas, Esq., the magistrate that examined
+him:--
+
+Q. Where were you on the night of the murder of the late Mr. John
+McLaughlin?
+
+A. I was in my room, in the lower part of the main house, where I lived
+with George Heron, in an apartment in the lower story, immediately under
+the kitchen. My door opened into the passage which led to the apartment
+of Mr. John McLaughlin in the second story.
+
+Q. What occurred on the night of the murder?
+
+A. I will tell you the whole story, to the best of my recollection.
+
+A few days preceding the murder, five Indians from Tako, with letters
+from Dr. Kennedy, arrived at the fort about midnight. The watchmen,
+hearing the knocking, called Mr. John. When he got up, he mustered a few
+hands to defend the gates, in case of any treacherous attack from the
+Indians, whom they did not, as yet, know. They were then admitted into
+the fort, delivered up their arms, according to custom, and were lodged
+in a small room in the lower story of the main house. A day or two after
+this, he beat, and put one of these Indians, a native of Nop, in irons,
+as Peter was told, for having committed some theft in Tako. About eight
+o'clock of the evening of the 20th of April, Mr. John gave liquor to the
+Indians, and made them drunk; after which he called the white men, viz.,
+Laperti, Pripe, Lulaire, Heroux, Bellinger, Simon, Fleury, McPherson,
+Smith, and Antoine Kawanope. During this time, Peter was in his own,
+which was the adjoining room, lying awake in bed, and overheard all that
+passed. He heard Mr. John say to McPherson, "Peter is not among us.
+Where is he?" McPherson replied, that he was in bed, and he was sent for
+him by Mr. John. Peter, in consequence, went into the room, and saw all
+the men seated in a ring, on the floor, around a number of bottles
+standing within the ring, and the Indians lying dead drunk on another
+part of the floor, Mr. John himself was standing outside of the ring,
+and McPherson placed himself on the opposite side of the ring; neither
+of them appeared to be partaking of the festivities of the evening but
+were looking on, and forcing the people to drink. Antoine Kawanope was
+seated on his bed, apart from the other men, perfectly sober, as he told
+Peter afterward. Mr. John had ordered him not to drink, observing, "You
+are not to drink at this time, as I am going to die to-night, and you
+will help me in what I am going to do." On entering the room, Mr. John
+told Peter to sit down with the other people, and ordered his servant,
+Fleury, to give him a good dram, which he did, in a tin pan. Peter could
+not drink the whole, and was threatened by Mr. John with violence if he
+did not finish it. He succeeded in emptying the pan, by allowing the
+liquor to run into the bosom of his shirt. Mr. John, in doing this, did
+not appear to be angry, but in a half-playful mood. Peter remained there
+about a quarter of an hour, during which time he was careful not to
+drink too much, as a few hours previously Antoine had called at his room
+and said, "My uncle, take care of yourself to-night; the master is going
+to die." Peter said, "Who is going to kill him?" and Antoine said, "The
+Bluemen," meaning the Kanakas, "are going to kill him." This, Peter
+thought, was likely to be the case, as the men, some time before
+Christmas preceding, had agreed among themselves to murder him, and had
+signed a paper, which McPherson drew up, to that effect. Every one of
+the men of the place agreed to the commission of this deed, Smith and
+Heron as well as the others. Peter's name was signed by McPherson, and
+he attested it by his cross. This paper was signed in Urbaine's house,
+where the men severally repaired by stealth for the purpose, as Mr. John
+kept so vigilant a watch upon them, that they were afraid he might
+suspect their intentions if they were there in a body. The same
+impression made him also remark, in a low tone of voice, to Laperti, on
+his first entering the room, when he observed Mr. John forcing the
+people to drink, "I really believe our master feels his end near, as he
+never used to act in this manner." As above mentioned, after Peter had
+been about fifteen minutes in the room where the men were drinking, Mr.
+John retired, followed by Antoine. Mr. John had not on that occasion
+drank any thing with the men, neither did he (Peter) ever see him, at
+any time preceding, drink in their company. He, however, supposed that
+he must have taken something in his own room, as he appeared flushed and
+excited, but not sufficiently so as to render his gait in the least
+unsteady. McPherson also did not taste any thing in the room. As soon as
+Mr. John was gone, Peter also left the room, and went to bed in his own
+room.
+
+Peter was informed by Antoine that Mr. John, on leaving the room where
+the men were drinking, went up-stairs to his own apartment, and he heard
+him say to his wife, "I am going to die to-night." And he and his wife
+both began to cry. Mr. John soon rallied, and observed, "Very well; if I
+die, I must fall like a man." He then told Antoine to load his rifles
+and pistols, and ordered him also to arm himself with his own gun. He
+and Antoine then went out, and Peter thinks he heard the report of more
+than fifteen shots. Antoine afterward told Peter that Mr. John fired at
+Laperti, but missed him, and afterward ordered Antoine to fire at
+Laperti. Antoine refused to do so, until his own life was threatened by
+Mr. John, when he fired in the direction, without aiming at Laperti. He
+also told the Kanakas to kill the Canadians, and it was in part they who
+fired the shots that he (Peter) had heard. Peter then got up and placed
+himself behind his door, and saw Mr. John come in and go up-stairs with
+Antoine, when he took the opportunity of going out, armed with his gun
+and a stout bludgeon, and found the men standing here and there on the
+gallery watching an opportunity to shoot Mr. John. Laperti's position on
+the gallery was fronting the door of the main house, toward which he had
+his gun pointed; when Peter saw him, he was on his knees, the small end
+of the gun resting on the top rail of the gallery, in readiness to fire.
+Laperti exclaimed, on seeing Peter, "I must kill him now, as he has
+fired two shots at me." Peter objected to this, and proposed to take and
+tie him. Nobody answered him. At that moment, Smith came up to Laperti
+and told him to hide himself or he would certainly be killed. Laperti
+said, "Where can I hide myself?" and Smith said, "Come with me and I
+will show you a place in the bastion where you can hide yourself," and
+they went off together in the direction of the bastion at the corner of
+Urbaine's house. Peter, after a few minutes' stay on the gallery,
+returned to his house, as he had previously agreed upon with George
+Hebram, who was lying sick in bed, and who had entreated him not to
+leave him alone. At the door of the main house, he met Mr. John coming
+out, followed by Antoine, who was carrying a lamp. Mr. John said to
+Peter, "Have you seen Laperti?" Peter answered, "No, I have not seen
+him;" and then Mr. John said, "Have you seen Urbaine?" And Peter again
+answered that he had not. The minute before this, as he (Peter) was
+returning from the gallery, he had seen Urbaine standing at the corner
+of the main house, next to Urbaine's own dwelling, in company with
+Simon. Urbaine said, "I don't know what to do; I have no gun, and do not
+know where to hide myself." Simon said, "I have a gun, if he comes I
+will shoot him, and will be safe." Mr. John, after Peter passed him,
+said to Antoine, "Make haste, and come with the lamp," and proceeded
+with a firm step to Urbaine's house, as Peter, who continued watching at
+the door, saw.
+
+After he saw them go to Urbaine's house, he proceeded toward his own
+room, and he and Antoine called out, "Fire! fire!" The report of several
+shots, probably five, immediately followed, and he heard Antoine
+exclaiming, "Stop! stop! stop! He is dead now." Antoine afterward
+related to Peter, that on reaching Urbaine's house, Mr. John ordered him
+to go round by one corner, while he went round by the other, directing
+Antoine to shoot any of the Canadians he might meet. Mr. John then
+proceeded in a stooping position, looking very intently before him, when
+a shot was fired from the corner of the house toward which he was going,
+which caused his death, the ball having entered at the upper part of the
+breast-bone, a little below the gullet, and come out a little below the
+shoulder, having broken the spine in its passage. Peter was also told by
+one of the Kanakas, that as soon as Mr. John fell, Urbaine sprung
+forward from the corner of the house within a few paces of the body, and
+put his foot savagely on his neck, as if to complete the act, should the
+ball have failed in causing death. The Kanakas immediately asked Urbaine
+who had killed the master. Urbaine replied, "It is none of your business
+who has killed him!" Peter, who during this time had removed to his
+house, seeing Heron go out without his gun, went out round the body, and
+said, "My friend, we have now done what we long intended to do; let us
+now carry the body back to the house." Urbaine, Laperti, Bellinger, and
+other white men who were present replied, "When we kill a dog, we let
+him lie where we kill him." And Antoine told him they had previously
+given him the same reply to a similar proposition from him. Peter then
+approached the body, and, with one hand under the neck, raised the head
+and trunk, when a deep expiration followed, which was the last sign of
+animation. He had previously perceived no signs of life, nor did he hear
+any one say that any appeared after the deceased fell. The white men
+being unwilling to assist him, he carried the body, with the aid of the
+Kanakas, into the main house, where he had it stripped, washed clean,
+decently dressed, and laid out. In doing so he received no help from any
+but the Kanakas. The wounds made by the balls were very large, both
+openings being circular, and severally three inches in diameter. The
+body bled profusely, there being a deep pool of blood found around it,
+which was washed away afterward by the Kanakas. Peter never heard that
+he spoke or moved after he fell. There was a perpendicular cut on the
+forehead, skin-deep, in a line with the nose, which Peter thinks was
+caused by his falling on the barrel of his rifle, though Urbaine said
+that he had received it from an Indian with his dog. It was, as Peter
+supposes, about eleven o'clock, P.M., when he had done washing and
+laying out the body; the watches had not then been changed, therefore he
+thinks it could not be midnight. The people continued coming and going
+during the night, to see the body, and Peter proposed praying over the
+body, as is customary in Canada; but they objected, saying they did not
+wish to pray for him. He did sit up with the body all night, having soon
+after gone, first to Urbaine's and then to Lulaire's house, who each
+gave him a dram, which he took, saying, "There is no need of drinking
+now; they might drink their fill now." He soon afterward went to bed.
+
+He inquired of Martineau, who also lived in the same room, if he had
+fired at the deceased. He replied, that he had fired twice. He then
+asked him if it was he that had killed him, and he said, "I do not know
+if it was me or not." He (Peter) put the same question to several of the
+other men whom he saw afterward; they all said that they had not shot
+him, and Martineau afterward said that he had not directed his gun at
+him, but had fired in the air.
+
+The following morning he asked Antoine Kawanope if he knew who had
+killed the deceased. He replied, "I know who killed him, but I am not
+going to tell you, or any one else. When the governor comes, I will tell
+him." He asked Antoine why he would not tell; he said he was afraid it
+might cause more quarrels, and lead to other murders. He then advised
+Antoine not to conceal it from him, as he would tell no one. Antoine
+then said, he thought it was Urbaine who had done the deed. Peter
+observed that Urbaine had no gun. Antoine replied, "I think it was
+Urbaine, because as soon as the deceased fell, Urbaine rushed out from
+his lurking-place at the corner of the house, where, I was informed by
+the people, he always kept his gun secreted, with the intention of
+shooting the deceased." Peter says Laperti, Urbaine, and Simon were all
+concealed in the corner whence the shot came, and he thinks it to be one
+of the three who fired it. Urbaine always denied having committed the
+murder, and said, "I am going to the Russian fort for trial, and will
+be either banished or hung. I will let the thing go to the end, and will
+then inform upon the murderers."
+
+Simon always said that he was never in the corner from whence the shot
+was fired, and knew nothing about the matter; but Peter thinks that he
+must have been there, as he saw him, as before related, at the corner of
+the main house, when he promised to protect Urbaine; and from the
+situation of the fort, he must have passed that spot with Urbaine, as
+there was no other passage from the place where they had been standing.
+Laperti also said he never fired at all. When Peter, as before related,
+went upon the gallery after the first firing had ceased, while Mr. John
+and Antoine had gone into the house, he saw all the men on the gallery,
+except Pripe, Lulaire, and McPherson, and he asked each of them,
+respectively, if they were going to shoot the master that night, and
+they all answered (as well as himself), they would do so at the first
+chance, except Pehou, a Kanaka, who would not consent to the murder.
+Smith was then without a gun.
+
+Before the Christmas preceding, Peter put the question to Smith, how he
+should like to see him kill Mr. John? He replied, "I should like it very
+well; I would have no objection, because his conduct is so very bad that
+he can never expect to be protected by the company." Peter Manifree says
+that Mr. John appeared to be aware of the plot formed by the men against
+his life; as he supposes, through the information of Fleury, his
+servant, who was aware of every thing that passed among them. Mr. John
+had often said to the men, "Kill me, if you can. If you kill me, you
+will not kill a woman--you will kill a man." And he kept Antoine as a
+sentinel to watch his room. One evening George Heron proposed taking his
+life, and said if he could find a man to go with him, he would be the
+first to shoot him. Peter refused to go, and Heron watched a great part
+of the night in the passage leading to Mr. John's room, holding his gun
+pointed toward its door, with the object of shooting Mr. John if he
+appeared, as he usually did at night when going to visit the watchmen;
+but he did not go out that night, or Peter thinks that he would have
+been shot by Heron. The following morning Peter asked Antoine if he
+would defend Mr. John were he attacked by the people. Antoine said he
+would not, and would be the first man to seize or shoot him, should any
+attempt be made against his life or liberty. He put the same question to
+McPherson; but McPherson said, "No, do not kill him till the governor
+comes, by and by, and then we shall have redress."
+
+Peter also says that all the unmarried men were in the habit of secretly
+going out of the fort at night, contrary to order, to visit the Indian
+camp, and that one evening, when he wished to go out, he met George
+Heron on the gallery, who showed him where a rope was slung to the
+picket, by which he might let himself down to the ground outside of the
+fort, saying, "This is the way I and others get out, and you may do the
+same without fear of detection." On the morning after the murder he went
+into Urbaine's and Lulaire's house and got a dram in each of them, out
+of two bottles of rum which he saw there. He said, "Now Mr. John is
+dead, I shall go out of the fort and spend the day with my wife."
+Urbaine replied, "No: no one shall go out of the fort. We keep the keys,
+and we shall keep the gates shut." Peter was angry at this, and said to
+Antoine, "When Mr. John was alive, he kept us prisoners, and would not
+allow us to run after women; and now that we have killed him, the
+Canadians wish to keep us as close as he did. I see we must raise the
+devil again with these Canadians, before we can get our liberty."
+
+Peter also says that one principal cause of their dislike to John, and
+their plots against his life, was the strictness with which he prevented
+their sallying from the fort in quest of women; that he flogged
+Martineau for having given his blanket to a woman with whom he
+maintained illicit commerce, and he also flogged Lamb and Kakepe for
+giving away their clothes in the same manner. This, Peter says,
+exasperated the men.
+
+The day after the murder many of the men went up to Mr. John's room to
+see the body, and McPherson remarked to them, that when the master was
+living they were not in the habit of coming up there; but they did so
+now that he was dead. On hearing this, Peter and Urbaine went away and
+never returned. On their way to their own house, they met Pripe and
+Bellinger.
+
+Urbaine told them what McPherson had said, and in a threatening manner
+said, "McPherson is getting as proud as the other, and will be telling
+tales about us. We will not murder him, but we will give him a sound
+thrashing." And Peter says that he soon after went to Smith and told him
+to put McPherson on his guard, as the Canadians intended to attack him.
+Smith asked Peter what he would do, now the master was dead, and Peter
+said he would obey McPherson's orders. Smith replied, "That is good,
+Peter. If we do not do so, we shall lose all our wages." All the
+Canadians, and, he thinks, Simon, continued drinking the whole of the
+day following the murder; the other men of the fort did not drink. He
+thinks it was the remains of the liquor they had been drinking the
+preceding night. Peter also says that, for a month previous to the
+murder, Urbaine, Laperti, and Simon, were in the habit of getting drunk
+every night on rum purchased from the Indians. Peter told them to take
+care of themselves, because Mr. John would be angry if he knew it. Mr.
+John took no notice of their conduct, because, as Peter thinks, he knew
+of the plot against his life, and felt intimidated. He also says that
+Laperti was excited against Mr. John on account of a suspected intrigue
+which he carried on with his wife. The night following the murder, they
+all went to bed quietly. The next day all was also quiet, and all work
+suspended, except watching the Indians, which they did very closely, as
+they were afraid they might be induced to attack the fort, on learning
+that the master was no more. They continued watching, turn about. The
+second day a coffin was made, and the corpse removed from the main house
+to the bath, when McPherson gave the men a dram. The third day the
+corpse was buried and the men had another dram. He does not know whether
+the men asked for the dram, or whether McPherson gave it of his own
+accord. The corpse was carried to the grave by Laperti, Pripe, Lulaire,
+and some Kanakas, but Urbaine did not touch it; does not think it was
+through fear. Peter often heard Laperti say, "I wish the governor was
+here, to see what he would do." He also says there was no quarrel in the
+room where they were drinking on the night of the murder; but he thinks
+there might have been a quarrel after they left, as Pripe was put in
+irons after that time. He also says that the Canadians must have fixed
+on that night to murder him, and that Fleury told him so, which accounts
+for his apparent dejection of mind, and of his having shed tears in
+presence of his wife and Antoine, when he said, "I know that I am going
+to die this night." He also thinks this might have led to the outbreak,
+but of this he is not sure. It is a mere matter of opinion. Mr. John was
+a little in liquor, but knew perfectly well what he was about. He never
+saw him so far gone with liquor as not to be able to walk actively
+about, except on one occasion, the preceding Christmas Eve, when he
+appeared to walk unsteady, but nevertheless could mount the gallery.
+They only knew he had tasted liquor from the excitement and changed
+appearance of his countenance. He does not know who first suggested the
+idea of murdering Mr. John.
+
+Since the above disclosures were made, a few other facts have come to
+light, which, however, do not materially affect the character of these
+atrocities. Mr. John McLaughlin, Jr., was doubtless intemperate,
+reckless, and tyrannical, and often unnecessarily cruel in the
+punishments inflicted upon his men; but he was surrounded by a set of
+desperadoes, who, for months before the arrival of the night, during the
+darkness of which the fatal shot ushered him into the presence of his
+Judge, had been seeking an opportunity to rob him of life. Some time
+before this event, he flogged Peter for the crime of stealing fish.
+Peter was exceedingly angry, and resolved upon the destruction of his
+master. At a time to suit his purpose, he went to the bastion, where
+were fire-arms, loaded to his hands, and rung the bell of alarm, with
+the intention of shooting Mr. McLaughlin when he should make his
+appearance. A man by the name of Perse came out to see what was the
+matter, instead of the intended victim, when Peter fired, but missed
+him, the ball hitting a post near his head. For this offense, Peter was
+again seized, put in irons, and subsequently severely flogged, and
+liberated. Nearly all the men had been flogged from time to time, for
+various offenses, and all conspired against the life of their master. As
+might have been expected, when the case was examined by Sir George
+Simpson, the murderers attempted to cast all the odium upon Mr.
+McLaughlin, doubtless for the purpose of exculpating themselves, in
+which attempt they but too well succeeded, in the estimation of Sir
+George. Whether the persons who procured his death would be pronounced,
+by an intelligent jury, guilty of willful murder, or whether, from the
+mitigating circumstances connected with these transactions, the verdict
+should assume a more modified form, is not for me to determine. But it
+can not be denied by any one, that the circumstances must be indeed
+extraordinary that will justify any man, or set of men, to cut short the
+probation of an immortal being, and usher him, with all his unrepented
+sins, into the presence of his God.
+
+This account illustrates English and Hudson's Bay Company's dealings
+with Indians, and their treatment of men and murderers, both among the
+Indians and their own people.
+
+We are forced to acknowledge that we can not see the correctness of
+moral principle in Mr. Hine's conclusions. There was unquestionably a
+premeditated and willful murder committed by the men at that fort. We
+can understand the motives of Sir George Simpson and Mr. Douglas, in
+allowing those men to escape the penalty of their crime, from the amount
+of pecuniary interests involved, and the personal jealousy existing
+against Dr. McLaughlin and his sons, in the company's service. We know
+of jealousies existing between Mr. Simpson and John McLaughlin, Jr., on
+account of statements made in our presence at the breakfast-table, that
+were only settled temporarily, while at Vancouver. These statements, and
+the placing of this young son of the doctor's at that post, we are
+satisfied had their influence in acquitting his murderers, if they did
+not in bringing about the murder, which to us appears plain in the
+testimony; and we so expressed our opinion, when the father requested us
+(while in his office) to examine a copy of those depositions. We have no
+hesitancy in saying, that we believe it to have been a malicious murder,
+and should have sent the perpetrators to the gallows. We have never been
+able to learn of the trial of any one implicated.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+     Treatment of Indians.--Influence of Hudson's Bay Company.--Rev. Mr.
+     Barnley's statement.--First three years.--After that.--Treatment of
+     Jesuits.--Of Protestants.--Of Indians.--Not a spade to commence
+     their new mode of life.--Mr. Barnley's
+     statement.--Disappointed.--His mistake.--Hudson's Bay Company
+     disposed to crush their own missionaries.
+
+
+Rev. Mr. Beaver says of them: "About the middle of the summer of 1836,
+and shortly before my arrival at Fort Vancouver, six Indians were
+wantonly and gratuitously murdered by a party of trappers and sailors,
+who landed for the purpose from one of the company's vessels, on the
+coast somewhere between the mouth of the river Columbia and the confines
+of California. Having on a former occasion read the particulars of this
+horrid massacre, as I received them from an eye-witness, before a
+meeting of the Aborigines Society, I will not repeat them. To my certain
+knowledge, the circumstance was brought officially before the
+authorities of Vancouver, by whom no notice was taken of it; and the
+same party of trappers, with the same leader, one of the most infamous
+murderers of a murderous fraternity, are annually sent to the same
+vicinity, to perform, if they please, other equally tragic scenes. God
+alone knows how many red men's lives have been sacrificed by them since
+the time of which I have been speaking. _He also knows that I speak the
+conviction of my mind, and may he forgive me if I speak unadvisedly when
+I state my firm belief that_ THE LIFE OF AN INDIAN WAS NEVER YET, BY A
+TRAPPER, PUT IN COMPETITION WITH A BEAVER'S SKIN."
+
+One other case we will give to illustrate the conduct and treatment of
+this company toward the Indians under their "_mild and paternal care_,"
+as given, not by a chaplain, or missionary, but by Lieut. Chappel, in
+his "Voyage to Hudson's Bay in H. M. S. _Rosamond_." He relates that on
+one occasion, an English boy having been missed from one of the
+establishments in Hudson's Bay, the company's servants, in order to
+recover the absent youth, made use of the following stratagem:--
+
+"Two Esquimaux Indians were seized and confined in separate apartments.
+A musket was discharged in a remote apartment, and the settlers,
+entering the room in which one of the Esquimaux was confined, informed
+him by signs that his companion had been put to death for decoying away
+the boy; and they gave him to understand at the same time that he must
+prepare to undergo the same fate, unless he would faithfully pledge
+himself to restore the absentee. The Esquimaux naturally promised every
+thing, and, on being set at liberty, made the best of his way into the
+woods, and, of course, was never afterward heard of. They kept the other
+a prisoner for some time. At length he tried to make his escape by
+boldly seizing the sentinel's fire-lock at night; but the piece going
+off accidentally, he was so terrified at the report, that they easily
+replaced him in confinement; yet either the loss of liberty, a
+supposition that his countryman had been murdered, or that he was
+himself reserved for some cruel death, deprived the poor wretch of
+reason. As he became exceedingly troublesome, the settlers held a
+conference as to the most eligible mode of getting rid of him; _and it
+being deemed good policy to deter the natives from similar offenses by
+making an example, they accordingly shot the poor maniac in cold blood_,
+without having given themselves the trouble to ascertain whether he was
+really guilty or innocent" (p. 156). We have quoted these two examples,
+from two British subjects, to show the Hudson's Bay Company's manner of
+treating the Indians, who were under their absolute control from the
+mouth of the Umpqua River, in the extreme southwestern part of Oregon,
+to the extreme northern point on the coast of Labrador, including a
+country larger in extent than the whole United States.
+
+This country had for two hundred and thirty years been in possession of
+these two powerful and equally unprincipled companies, who had kept it,
+as Mr. Fitzgerald says, "_so us to shut up the earth from the knowledge
+of man, and man from the knowledge of God_."
+
+But, we are asked, what has this to do with the history of Oregon, and
+its early settlement? We answer, it was this influence, and this
+overgrown combination of iniquity and despotism--this monster monopoly,
+which England and America combined had failed to overcome,--that was at
+last, after a conflict of thirty years, forced to retire from the
+country, by the measures first inaugurated by Lee, Whitman, and the
+provisional government of Oregon; and now this same monopoly seeks to
+rob the treasury of our nation, as it has for ages robbed the Indians,
+and the country of its furs.
+
+They may succeed (as they have heretofore, in obtaining an extension of
+their licensed privileges with the English government), and obtain from
+the American government what they now, by falsehood, fraud, and perjury,
+claim to be their just rights. If they do, we shall be satisfied that we
+have faithfully and truly stated facts that have come to our knowledge
+while moving and living in the midst of their operations, and that we
+are not alone in our belief and knowledge of the events and influences
+of which we write.
+
+Before closing this chapter we will quote one other witness (a British
+subject), the Rev. Mr. Barnley, a missionary at Moose Factory, on the
+southwestern part of James Bay, to show the full policy of that company
+toward British missionaries, and also to prove the assertion we make
+that the Hudson's Bay Company, as such, is, in a measure, guilty of and
+responsible for the Whitman and Frazer River massacres, and for the
+Indian wars and the murder of American citizens contiguous to their
+territory.
+
+The missionary above referred to says: "My residence in the Hudson's Bay
+territory commenced in June, 1840, and continued, with the interruption
+of about eight months, until September, 1847." The Whitman massacre was
+in November, 1847. Mr. Barnley continues: "My letter of introduction,
+signed by the governor of the territory, and addressed 'To the Gentlemen
+in charge of the Honorable Hudson's Bay Company's Districts and Posts in
+North America,' in one of its paragraphs ran thus: 'The governor and
+committee feel the most lively interest in the success of Mr. Barnley's
+mission, and I have to request you will show to that gentleman every
+personal kindness and attention in your power, and facilitate by every
+means the promotion of the very important and interesting service on
+which he is about to enter;' and, consequently, whatsoever else I might
+have to endure, I had no reason to anticipate any thing but cordial
+co-operation from the officers of the company.
+
+"_For the first three years_ I had no cause of complaint. The
+interpretation was, in many cases, necessarily inefficient, and would
+have been sometimes a total failure, but for the kindness of the wives
+of the gentlemen in charge, who officiated for me; but I had the best
+interpreters the various posts afforded, the _supply of rum_ to Indians
+was restricted, and the company, I believe, fulfilled both the spirit
+and the letter of their agreement with us, as far as that fulfillment
+was then required of them, and their circumstances allowed.
+
+"In giving, however, this favorable testimony, so far as the first three
+years are concerned, I must say, that in my opinion we should have been
+informed, before commencing our labors, that the interpreters at some of
+the posts would be found so inefficient as to leave us dependent on the
+kindness of private individuals, and reduce us to the very unpleasant
+necessity of taking mothers from their family duties, that they might
+become the only available medium for the communication of Divine truth.
+
+"But after the period to which I have referred, a very perceptible
+change, _i.e._, in 1845, took place. [The company had decided to
+introduce the Roman Jesuits to aid them in expelling all Protestant
+missionaries and civilization from the Indian tribes.] There was no
+longer that hearty concurrence with my views, and co-operation, which
+had at first appeared so generally. The effect was as if the gentleman
+in charge of the southern department had discovered that he was expected
+to afford rather an external and professed assistance than a real and
+cordial one; and, under his influence, others, both of the gentlemen and
+servants, became cool and reluctant in those services of which I stood
+in need, until at length the letter as well us the spirit of the
+company's engagement with me failed." The reader will remember that
+while Mr. Barnley was receiving this treatment at the Hudson's Bay
+Company's establishment at Moose Factory, James Douglas and his
+associates were combining and training the Indians in Oregon for the
+purpose of relieving, or, to use the language of the Jesuit De Smet, "to
+rescue Oregon from Protestant and American influence."
+
+Mr. Barnley continues: "I was prohibited from entertaining to tea two
+persons, members of my congregation, who were about to sail for England,
+because I happened to occupy apartments in the officer's residence, and
+was told that it could not be made a rendezvous for the company's
+servants and their families." P. J. De Smet, S. J., on the 113th page of
+his book, says: "_The Canadian-French and half-breeds who inhabit the
+Indian territory treat all the priests who visit them with great
+kindness and respect._" On page 313, he says of the Hudson's Bay
+Company, just about this time: "In what manner can we testify our
+gratitude in regard to the two benefactors [Douglas and Ogden] who so
+generously charged themselves with the care of _transporting and
+delivering_ to us our cases, without consenting to accept the slightest
+recompense?--How noble the sentiments which prompted them gratuitously
+to burden themselves and their boats with the charitable gifts destined
+by the faithful to the destitute missionaries of the Indians!" These
+last quotations are from letters of Jesuit missionaries, who were
+brought to the Indian country by this same Hudson's Bay Company, and
+furnished transportation and every possible facility to carry on their
+missions among the Indians all over the American Indian country.
+
+These missionaries have made no attempt to improve the condition of the
+Indians, but have impressed upon their ignorant minds a reverence for
+themselves and their superstitions. See Bishop Blanchet's reply to
+Cayuse Indians, November 4, 1847, page 44 of Brouillet's "Protestantism
+in Oregon;" also pages 34-5, Executive Doc. No. 38, J. Ross Browne, as
+given below:--
+
+    "The bishop replied that it was the pope who had sent him; that he
+    had not sent him to take their land, but only for the purpose of
+    saving their souls; that, however, having to live, and possessing no
+    wealth, he had asked of them a piece of land that he could cultivate
+    for his support; that in his country it was the faithful who
+    maintained the priests, but that here he did not ask so much, _but
+    only a piece of land_, and that the priests themselves would do the
+    rest. He told them that he would not make presents to Indians, that
+    he would give them nothing for the land he asked; that, in case they
+    worked for him, he would pay them for their work, and no more; that
+    he would assist them neither in plowing their lands nor in building
+    houses, nor would he feed or clothe their children," etc.
+
+At Moose Factory, Mr. Barnley says: "A plan which I had devised for
+educating and training to some acquaintance with _agriculture_ native
+children _was disallowed_, but permission was given me by the governor
+in council to collect seven or eight boys from various parts of the
+surrounding country, to be clothed, and at the company's expense. A
+proposal made for forming a small Indian village near Moose Factory _was
+not acceded to_; and, instead, permission only given to attempt the
+location of one or two old men who were no longer fit for engaging in
+the chase, _it being very carefully and distinctly stated by Sir George
+Simpson that the company would not give them even a spade toward
+commencing their new mode of life_. When at length a young man was found
+likely to prove serviceable as an interpreter, every impediment was
+interposed to prevent his engaging in my service, although a distinct
+understanding existed that neither for food nor wages would he be
+chargeable to the company. And the pledge that I should be at liberty to
+train up several boys for future usefulness, though not withdrawn, was
+treated as if it had never existed at all; efforts being made to produce
+the impression on the mind of my general superintendent that I was, most
+unwarrantably, expecting the company to depart from their original
+compact, when I attempted to add but two of the stipulated number to my
+household.----
+
+    "At Moose Factory, where the resources were most ample, and where
+    was the seat of authority in the southern department of Rupert's
+    Land, the hostility of the company (and not merely their inability
+    to aid me, whether with convenience or inconvenience to themselves)
+    was most manifest.
+
+    "The Indians were compelled, in opposition to their convictions and
+    desires, to labor on the Lord's day. They were not permitted to
+    purchase the food required on the Sabbath, that they might rest on
+    that day while voyaging, although there was no necessity for their
+    proceeding, and their wages would have remained the same.----
+
+    "At length, _disappointed, persecuted, myself and wife broken in
+    spirit_, and almost ruined in constitution by months of anxiety and
+    suffering, a return to England became the only means of escaping a
+    premature grave; and we are happy in fleeing from the _iron hand of
+    oppression_, and bidding farewell to that which had proved to us a
+    land of darkness and of sorrow.
+
+    "From the above statements you will perceive that if true in some
+    cases, it is not all, that the company have furnished the 'means of
+    conveyance from place to place.' They have not done so, at all
+    events, in the particular case mentioned, nor would they let me have
+    the canoe, lying idle as it was, when they knew that I was prepared
+    to meet 'the expense.'
+
+    "And equally far from the truth is it, that the missionaries have
+    been '_boarded, lodged, provided with interpreters and servants free
+    of charge_.'"
+
+In this last statement, Mr. Barnley is mistaken, for, to our certain
+knowledge, and according to the voluntary statement of the Roman
+Jesuits, Revs. Bishop Blanchet, Demer, P. J. De Smet, Brouillet, and
+many other Jesuit missionaries, they received from the Hudson's Bay
+Company _board and lodging, and were provided with interpreters_,
+catechist, transportation, and even houses and church buildings.
+
+The only mistake of Mr. Barnley was, that he was either an Episcopal or
+Wesleyan missionary or chaplain, like Mr. Beaver, at Fort Vancouver, and
+he, like Mr. Beaver, was a little too conscientious as to his duties,
+and efforts to benefit the Indians, to suit the policy of that company.
+The Roman Jesuitical religion was better adapted to their ideas of
+Indian traffic and morals; hence, the honorable company chose to get rid
+of all others, as they had done with all opposing fur traders. What was
+a civilized Indian worth to that company? Not half as much as a common
+otter or beaver skin. As to the soul of an Indian, he certainly could
+have no more than the gentlemen who managed the affairs of the honorable
+company.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+     Petition of Red River settlers.--Their requests, from 1 to
+     14.--Names.--Governor Christie's reply.--Company's reply.--Extract
+     from minutes.--Resolutions, from 1 to 9.--Enforcing rules.--Land
+     deed.--Its condition.--Remarks.
+
+
+Before closing this subject we must explain our allusion to the Red
+River settlement, and in so doing illustrate and prove beyond a doubt
+the settled and determined policy of that organization to crush out
+their own, as well as American settlements,--a most unnatural, though
+true position of that company. It will be seen, by the date of the
+document quoted below, that, four years previous, that company, in order
+to deceive the English government and people in relation to the
+settlement on the Columbia River, and also to diminish the number of
+this Red River colony, had, by direction of Sir George Simpson, sent a
+part of it to the Columbia department. The remaining settlers of
+Rupert's Land (the Selkirk settlement) began to assert their right to
+cultivate the soil (as per Selkirk grant), as also the right to trade
+with the natives, and to participate in the profits of the wild animals
+in the country. The document they prepared is a curious, as well as
+important one, and too interesting to be omitted. It reads as follows:--
+
+                                                 "RED RIVER SETTLEMENT,}
+                                                      "August 29, 1845.}
+
+     "SIR,--Having at this moment a very strong belief that we, as
+     natives of this country, and as half-breeds, have the right to hunt
+     furs in the Hudson's Bay Company's territories whenever we think
+     proper, and again sell those furs to the highest bidder, likewise
+     having a doubt that natives of this country can be prevented from
+     trading and trafficking with one another, we would wish to have
+     your opinion on the subject, lest we should commit ourselves by
+     doing any thing in opposition either to the laws of England or the
+     honorable company's privileges, and therefore lay before you, as
+     governor of Red River settlement, a few queries, which we beg you
+     will answer in course.
+
+     "_Query_ 1. Has a half-breed, a settler, the right to hunt furs in
+     this country?
+
+     "2. Has a native of this country, not an Indian, a right to hunt
+     furs?
+
+     "3. If a half-breed has the right to hunt furs, can he hire other
+     half-breeds for the purpose of hunting furs? Can a half-breed sell
+     his furs to any person he pleases?
+
+     "5. Is a half-breed obliged to sell his furs to the Hudson's Bay
+     Company at whatever price the company may think proper to give him?
+
+     "6. Can a half-breed receive any furs, as a present, from an
+     Indian, a relative of his?
+
+     "7. Can a half-breed hire any of his Indian relatives to hunt furs
+     for him?
+
+     "8. Can a half-breed trade furs from another half-breed, in or out
+     of the settlement?
+
+     "9. Can a half-breed trade furs from an Indian, in or out of the
+     settlement?
+
+     "10. With regard to trading or hunting furs, have the half-breeds,
+     or natives of European origin, any rights or privileges over
+     Europeans?
+
+     "11. A settler, having purchased lands from Lord Selkirk, or even
+     from the Hudson's Bay Company, without any conditions attached to
+     them, or without having signed any bond, deed, or instrument
+     whatever, whereby he might have willed away his right to trade
+     furs, can he be prevented from trading furs in the settlement with
+     settlers, or even out of the settlement?
+
+     "12. Are the limits of the settlement defined by the municipal law,
+     Selkirk grant, or Indian sale?
+
+     "13. If a person can not trade furs, either in or out of the
+     settlement, can he purchase them for his own and family use, and in
+     what quantity?
+
+     "14. Having never seen any official statements, nor known, but by
+     report, that the Hudson's Bay Company has peculiar privileges over
+     British subjects, natives, and half-breeds, resident in the
+     settlement, we would wish to know what those privileges are, and
+     the penalties attached to the infringement of the same.
+
+     "We remain your humble servants,
+
+                       "JAMES SINCLAIR,      ALEXIS GAULAT,
+                        BAPTIST LA ROQUE,    LOUIS LETENDE DE BATOCHE,
+                        THOMAS LOGAN,        WILLIAM MCMILLAN,
+                        JOHN DEASE,          ANTOINE MORRAN,
+                        BAT. WILKIE,         JOHN ANDERSON,
+                        JOHN VINCENT,        THOMAS MCDERMOT,
+                        WILLIAM BIRD,        ADALL TROTTIER,
+                        PETER GARIOCH,       CHARLES HOLE,
+                        HENRY COOK,          JOSEPH MONKMAN,
+                        JOHN SPENCE,         BAPTIST FARMAN.
+
+     "ALEXANDER CHRISTIE, Esq.,
+     "Governor of Red River Settlement."
+
+Governor Christie's reply to these inquiries was so mild and
+conciliatory that it will not add materially to our knowledge of the
+company to give it. But the eight rules adopted by the company in
+council let us into the secret soul of the _monstrosity_, and are here
+given, that Americans may be informed as to its secret workings, and
+also to show what little regard an Englishman has for any but an
+aristocratic or moneyed concern.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"_Extracts from minutes of a meeting of the Governor and Council of
+Rupert's Land, held at the Red River settlement, June 10, 1845._
+
+"_Resolved_, 1st, That, once in every year, any British subject, if an
+actual resident, and not a fur trafficker, may import, whether from
+London or from St. Peter's, stores free of any duty now about to be
+imposed, on declaring truly that he has imported them at his own risk.
+
+"2d. That, once in every year, any British subject, if qualified as
+before, may exempt from duty, as before, imports of the local value of
+ten pounds, on declaring truly that they are intended exclusively to be
+used by himself within Red River settlement, and have been purchased
+with certain specified productions or manufactures of the aforesaid
+settlement, exported in the same season, or by the latest vessel, at his
+own risk.
+
+"3d. That once in every year, any British subject, if qualified as
+before, who may have personally accompanied both his exports and
+imports, as defined in the preceding resolution, may exempt from duty,
+as before, imports of the local value of fifty pounds, on declaring
+truly that they are either to be consumed by himself, or to be sold by
+himself to actual consumers within the aforesaid settlement, and have
+been purchased with certain specified productions or manufactures of the
+settlement, carried away by himself in the same season, or by the latest
+vessel, at his own risk.
+
+"4th. That all other imports from the United Kingdom for the aforesaid
+settlement, shall, before delivery, pay at York Factory a duty of twenty
+per cent. on their prime cost; provided, however, that the governor of
+the settlement be hereby authorized to exempt from the same all such
+importers as may from year to year be reasonably believed by him to have
+neither trafficked in furs themselves, since the 8th day of December,
+1844, nor enabled others to do so by illegally or improperly supplying
+them with trading articles of any description.
+
+"5th. That all other imports from any part of the United States shall
+pay all duties payable under the provisions of 5 and 6 Vict., cap. 49,
+the Imperial Statute for regulating the foreign trade of the British
+possessions in North America; provided, however, that the
+governor-in-chief, or, in his absence, the president of the council, may
+so modify the machinery of the said act of Parliament, as to adapt the
+same to the circumstances of the country.
+
+"7th. That, henceforward, no goods shall be delivered at York Factory to
+any but persons duly licensed to freight the same; such licenses being
+given only in cases in which no fur trafficker may have any interest,
+direct or indirect.
+
+"8th. That any intoxicating drink, if found in a fur trafficker's
+possession, beyond the limits of the aforesaid settlement, may be seized
+and destroyed by any person on the spot.
+
+"Whereas the intervention of middle men is alike injurious to the
+honorable company and to the people; it is resolved,
+
+"9th. That, henceforward, furs shall be purchased from none but the
+actual hunters of the same.
+
+"FORT GARRY, July 10, 1845."
+
+
+    _Copy of License referred to in Resolution 7._
+
+    "On behalf of the Hudson's Bay Company, I hereby license A. B. to
+    trade, and also ratify his having traded in English goods within the
+    limits of Red River settlement. This ratification and this license
+    to be null and void, from the beginning, in the event of his
+    hereafter trafficking in furs, or generally of his usurping any
+    whatever of all the privileges of the Hudson's Bay Company."
+
+
+It was to save Oregon from becoming a den of such oppressors and robbers
+of their own countrymen, that Whitman risked his life in 1842-3, that
+the provisional government of the American settlers was formed in 1843,
+that five hundred of them flew to arms in 1847, and fought back the
+savage hordes that this same Hudson's Bay Company had trained, under the
+teaching of their half-breeds and Jesuit priests, to sweep them from the
+land. Is this so? Let us see what they did just across the Rocky
+Mountains with their own children, as stated by their own witnesses and
+countrymen.
+
+Sir Edward Fitzgerald says of them, on page 213:--
+
+    "But the company do not appear to have trusted to paper deeds to
+    enforce their authority.
+
+    "They were not even content with inflicting fines under the form of
+    a hostile tariff; but, as the half-breeds say, some of the fur
+    traders were imprisoned, and all the goods and articles of those who
+    were _suspected of an intention to traffic in furs_ were seized and
+    confiscated.
+
+    "But another, and even more serious attack, was made on the
+    privileges of the settlers.
+
+    "The company being, under their charter, nominal owners of the
+    soil, dispose of it to the colonists in any manner they think best.
+    A portion of the land in the colony is held from Lord Selkirk, who
+    first founded the settlement.
+
+    "Now, however, the company drew up a new _land deed_, which all were
+    compelled to sign who wished to hold any land in the settlement."
+
+This new land deed, above referred to, is too lengthy and verbose to be
+given entire; therefore we will only copy such parts as bind the
+settlers not to infringe upon the supposed chartered rights of the
+Hudson's Bay Company.
+
+The first obligation of the person receiving this deed was to settle
+upon the land within forty days, and, within five years, cause one-tenth
+part of the land to be brought under cultivation.
+
+The second: "He, his executors, administrators, and assigns, shall not,
+directly or indirectly, mediately or immediately, _violate_ or _evade_
+any of the chartered or licensed privileges of the said governor and
+company, or any restrictions on trading or dealing with Indians or
+others, which have been or may be imposed by the said governor and
+company, or by any other competent authority, _or in any way enable_ any
+person or persons to _violate or evade_, or to persevere in violating or
+evading the same; and, in short, _shall obey all such laws and
+regulations_ as within the said settlement now are, or hereafter may be
+in force"----Here are enumerated a long list of political duties
+pertaining to the citizen.
+
+The deed in its third condition says: "And also that he [the said
+receiver of the deed], his executors, administrators, and assigns, shall
+not nor will, without the license or consent of the said governor and
+company for that purpose first obtained, carry on or establish, in _any
+part_ of North America, any trade or traffic in, or relating to, any
+kind of skins, furs, peltry, or _dressed leather_, nor in any manner,
+directly or indirectly, aid or abet any person or persons in carrying on
+such trade or traffic."----Here follows a long lingo, forbidding the
+settler to buy, make, or sell liquors in any shape on his lands, and
+requiring him, under pain of forfeiture of his title, _to prevent others
+from doing so_, and binding the settler, under all the supposed and
+unsupposed conditions of obligation, _not to supply_ or allow to be
+supplied any articles of trade to any unauthorized (by the company)
+person supposed to violate their trade, including companies "corporate
+or incorporate, prince, power, potentate, or state whatsoever, who shall
+infringe or violate, or who shall set about to infringe or violate the
+exclusive rights, powers, privileges and immunities of commerce, trade,
+or traffic, or all or any other of the exclusive rights, powers,
+privileges, and immunities of, or belonging, or in any wise
+appertaining to, or held, used or enjoyed by the said governor and
+company, and their successors, under their charter or charters, without
+the license or consent of the said governor and company and their
+successors, for the time being, first had and obtained.
+
+"And, lastly,"--here follows a particular statement asserting that for
+the violation of any one of the thousand and one conditions of that
+deed, the settler forfeits to the company his right to the land, which
+reverts back to the company.
+
+Our country delights to honor the sailor and soldier who performs a
+good, great, or noble act to save its territory from becoming the abode
+of despotism, or its honor from the taunt of surrounding nations. In
+what light shall we regard the early American missionaries and pioneers
+of Oregon?
+
+It is true they heard the call of the oppressed savage for Christian
+light and civilization. They came in good faith, and labored faithfully,
+though, perhaps, mistaking many of the strict duties of the Christian
+missionary; and some, being led astray by the wiles and cunning of an
+unscrupulous fur monopoly, failed to benefit the Indians to the extent
+anticipated; yet they formed the nucleus around which the American
+pioneer with his family gathered, and from which he drew his
+encouragement and protection; and a part of these missionaries were the
+leaders and sustainers of those influences which ultimately secured this
+country to freedom and the great Republic.
+
+The extracts from the deed above quoted show what Oregon would have
+been, had the early American missionaries failed to answer the call of
+the Indians, or had been driven from the country; or even had not
+Whitman and his associates separated, the one to go to Washington to ask
+for delay in the settlement of the boundary question, the others to the
+Wallamet Valley to aid and urge on the organization of the provisional
+government.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+     Puget Sound Agricultural Company.--Its original stock.--A
+     correspondence.--No law to punish fraud.--A supposed trial of the
+     case.--Article four of the treaty.--The witnesses.--Who is to
+     receive the Puget Sound money.--Dr. Tolmie, agent of the
+     company.--The country hunted up.--Difficult to trace a fictitious
+     object.--Statement of their claim.--Result of the investigation.
+
+
+The Puget Sound Agricultural Company, now claiming of our government the
+sum of $1,168,000, was first talked of and brought into existence at
+Vancouver in the winter of 1837, in consequence of, and in opposition
+to, the Wallamet Cattle Company, which was got up and successfully
+carried through by the influence and perseverance of Rev. Jason Lee,
+superintendent of the Methodist Mission. This Nasqualla and Puget Sound
+Company was an opposing influence to Mr. Lee and his mission settlement,
+and was also to form the nucleus for two other British settlements in
+Oregon, to be under the exclusive control of the Hudson's Bay Company.
+
+The original stock of the company was nominally L200,000. The paid-up
+capital upon this amount was supposed to be ten per cent., which would
+give L20,000, or $96,800, at $4.84 per pound. From the most reliable
+information we can get, this amount was taken from a sinking fund, or a
+fund set apart for the purpose of opposing any opposition in the fur
+trade. About the time this Puget Sound Company came into existence, the
+American fur companies had been driven from the country, and the fund
+was considered as idle or useless stock; and as the question of
+settlement of the country would in all probability soon come up, Rev.
+Mr. Lee having taken the first step to the independence of his
+missionary settlement in the Wallamet, this Puget Sound Company was
+gotten up to control the agricultural and cattle or stock interests of
+the country. It was in existence in name some two years before its
+definite arrangements were fixed by the Hudson's Bay Company, through
+the agency of Dr. W. F. Tolmie, who went to London for that purpose, and
+by whom they were concluded, "with the consent of the Hudson's Bay
+Company, who stipulated that an officer connected with the fur-trade
+branch of the Hudson's Bay Company should have supreme direction of the
+affairs of the Puget Sound Company in this country. It was also
+stipulated that the Puget Sound Company should be under bonds _not to
+permit any of its employes_ to be in any way concerned in the fur trade,
+in opposition to the Hudson's Bay Company."
+
+It is easy to be seen by the above-stated condition, that the Hudson's
+Bay Company were not willing to allow the least interference with their
+fur trade by any one over whom they had any control or influence; that
+their design and object was to control the trade of the whole country,
+and that they had no intention in any way to encourage any American
+settlement in it, as shown by the arrangements made as early as 1837.
+
+There had been a correspondence with the managing directors of the
+company in London previous to Dr. Tolmie's visit. The directors had
+discouraged the proposed enlargement of their business, but it seems
+from the statement of Dr. Tolmie, and the arrangements he made, that
+they acceded to his plans, and constituted him their special agent.
+There was at the time a question as to a separate charter for that
+branch of their business. It was finally conceded that a separate
+charter would enable this agricultural and cattle company to become
+independent of the fur branch, and thus be the means of establishing an
+opposition by the use of the funds appropriated to prevent any thing of
+this kind, and decided that as the company had stipulated that they were
+to have the "_supreme direction_ of the Puget Sound Agricultural
+Company," no charter was necessary, and hence any arrangements to that
+effect were withdrawn. It was from a knowledge of the fact that that
+company had not even the Parliamentary acknowledgment of its separate
+existence from the Hudson's Bay Company, that all their land claims were
+at once taken; and upon that ground they have not dared to prosecute
+their claims, only under the wording of the treaty with the United
+States, which is the only shadow of a legal existence they have, and
+which, there is no question, would have been stricken from the treaty,
+except through the fur influence of the company to increase the
+plausibility of their claims against our government.
+
+If there was any law to punish a fraud attempted to be committed by a
+foreign company upon a friendly nation, this would be a plain case; as
+the Hudson's Bay Company, they claim $3,822,036.37; as the Puget Sound
+Company, $1,168,000. The original stock of the Hudson's Bay Company was
+L10,500, or $50,820. In 1690 the dividends upon this capital invested
+were so enormous that the company voted to treble their stock, which was
+declared to be L31,500, or $152,460. In 1720 the capital was again
+declared trebled, and to be L94,500, or $457,380, while the only amount
+paid was L10,500, or $50,820. It was then proposed to add three times
+as much to its capital stock by subscription; each subscriber paying
+L100 was to receive L300 of stock, so that the nominal stock should
+amount to L378,000, or $1,820,520--the real additional sum subscribed
+being L94,500, and the amount of real stock added or paid but L3,150. In
+1821, the Hudson's Bay Company and Northwest Company, of Montreal, were
+united. The Hudson's Bay Company called L100 on each share of its stock,
+thus raising it nominally to L200,000, or $958,000. The Northwest
+Company called theirs the same. The two companies combined held a
+nominal joint stock of L400,000, or $1,916,000, while we have reason to
+suppose that the original stock of the two companies, admitting that the
+Northwest French Company had an equal amount of original capital
+invested, would give L37,300, or $135,134, as the capital upon which
+they have drawn from our country never less than ten per cent. per
+annum, even when counted at L400,000, or $1,916,000; and what, we would
+ask, has America received in return for this enormous drain of her
+wealth and substance?
+
+Have the Indians in any part of the vast country occupied by that
+company been civilized or bettered in their condition? Have the
+settlements under their fostering care been successful and prosperous?
+Have they done any thing to improve any portion of the country they have
+occupied, any further than such improvements were necessary to increase
+the profits of their fur trade?
+
+To every one of these questions we say, emphatically, No, not in a
+single instance. On the contrary, they have used their privileges solely
+to draw all the wealth they could from the country, and leave as little
+as was possible in return.
+
+The British author, from whose book we have drawn our figures of that
+company's stock, says of them: "To say, then, that the trade of this
+country (England) has been fostered and extended by the monopoly enjoyed
+by the company, is exactly contrary to the truth."
+
+We come now to learn all we can of a something that has assumed the name
+of Puget Sound Agricultural Company, and under that name, through the
+paternal influence of a bastard corporation, presumes to ask an immense
+sum of the American government, whose country they have used all their
+power and influence to secure to themselves, by acting falsely to their
+own. We do not claim to be learned in the law of nations, therefore we
+can only express such an opinion in this case as we would were the case
+argued before a learned court and we one of the jurors, giving our
+opinion as to the amount the parties were entitled to receive. We will
+suppose that the lawyers have made their pleas, which would, when
+printed, with the testimony on both sides, make a volume of the usual
+size of law books of one thousand pages. Of course the fourth article of
+the treaty would be read to us by both the lawyers, and explained by the
+judge, who would doubtless say to the jury the first question to decide
+is, whether there is sufficient evidence to convince you that the
+company claiming this name have any legal existence outside the wording
+of the fourth article of this treaty. Our answer would be: "Your honor,
+there is not the least word in a single testimony presented before us to
+show that they ever had any existence, only as they assumed a name to
+designate the place a certain branch of the Hudson's Bay Company's
+business, outside of its legitimate trade; that this being a branch
+legitimately belonging to a settlement of loyal citizens of the country,
+we find that this Hudson's Bay Company, in assuming the _supreme
+direction_, as per testimony of Dr. Tolmie, superseded and usurped the
+prerogatives of the State; that the claim of this company, as set up in
+the wording of the treaty, is for the benefit of a company having no
+natural or legal right to assume _supreme direction_ of the soil or its
+productions. Hence any improvement made, or stock destroyed, was at the
+risk of the individual owning, or making, or bringing such stock or
+improvements into the country, and subject exclusively to the laws of
+the country in which the trespass occurred. The claiming a name
+belonging to no legal body cannot be made legal by a deception practiced
+upon the persons making the treaty, as this would be equivalent to
+pledging the nation to the payment of money when no cause could be shown
+that money was justly due, as neither nation (except by a deception
+brought to bear upon commissioners forming the treaty by the mere
+assertion of an interested party) acknowledged the reported existence of
+such a corporation, thereby creating a corporate body by the wording of
+a treaty." This, to a common juror, we confess, would look like removing
+the necessity of a common national law, in relation to all claims of
+foreigners who might feel disposed to come over and trespass upon our
+national domain. A word in this treaty does not settle the matter, and
+the claim should not be paid. The article above referred to is commented
+upon by Mr. Day as follows:--
+
+    "That by article four of the treaty concluded between the United
+    States of America and Great Britain, under date of the 15th day of
+    June, 1864, it was provided that the farms, lands, and other
+    property, of every description, belonging to the Puget Sound
+    Agricultural Company, on the north side of the Columbia River [they
+    should have included those in the French possession, and added
+    another million to their claim; but we suppose they became liberal,
+    and consented to take half of the country their servants had settled
+    upon], should be confirmed to the said company; but that in case
+    the situation of those farms and lands should be considered by the
+    United States to be of public and political importance, and the
+    United States government should signify a desire to obtain
+    possession of the whole, or of any part thereof, the property so
+    required should be transferred to the said government at a proper
+    valuation, to be agreed upon between the parties.
+
+    "That the government of the United States has not, at any time,
+    signified to the company a desire that any of the said property
+    should be transferred to the said government at a valuation as
+    provided by the treaty, nor has any transfer thereof been made [this
+    was a great misfortune. Uncle Sam had so much land of his own he did
+    not want to buy out this bastard company right away after the treaty
+    was made]; but the company have ever since continued to be the
+    rightful owners of the said lands, farms, and other property, and
+    entitled to the free and undisturbed possession and enjoyment
+    thereof. [True; so with all bastards. They live and die, and never
+    find a father to own them, except they come up with a big pile of
+    money, which in your claim is a case of _clonas_ (don't know.)]
+
+    "That, by a convention concluded between the two governments on the
+    1st day of July, 1863, it was agreed that all questions between the
+    United States authorities on the one hand, and the Puget Sound
+    Agricultural Company on the other, with respect to the rights and
+    claims of the latter, should be settled by the transfer of such
+    rights and claims to the government of the United States for an
+    adequate money consideration.
+
+    "And the claimants aver that the rights and claims of the Puget
+    Sound Agricultural Company, referred to and intended in and by the
+    said convention, are their rights and claims in and upon the said
+    lands, farms, and other property of every description which they so
+    held and possessed within the said territory, and which, by reason
+    of the said treaty of the 15th of June, 1846, and according to the
+    terms of the fourth article thereof, the United States became and
+    were bound to confirm. And of the said farms and other property,
+    they now submit to the honorable the commissioners a detailed
+    statement and valuation, as follows."
+
+There have been twenty-seven witnesses examined to prove the claims
+above set forth, and not a single one of them testified or gave the
+least intimation that there ever was any such company as here set forth
+in existence, only as connected with and subject to the control and
+management of the Hudson's Bay Company, the same as their farming
+operations at Vancouver or Colville, or any other of their posts. The
+claim is so manifestly fictitious and without foundation, that the
+learned attorney for the company bases his whole reliance upon the
+wording of the treaty, and in consequence of the wording of that treaty,
+"and according to the terms of the fourth article thereof, he says the
+United States _became_ and _were bound_ to confirm." So we suppose any
+other monstrous claim set up by a band of foreign fur traders having
+influence enough to start any speculation on a nominal capital in our
+country and failing to realize the profits anticipated, must apply for
+an acknowledgment of their speculation, be mentioned in a treaty, and be
+paid in proportion to the enormity of their demands. We are inclined to
+the opinion that so plain a case of fraud will be soon disposed of, and
+the overgrown monster that produced it sent howling after the Indians
+they have so long and so successfully robbed, as per their own
+admission, of L20,000,000 sterling. (See Mr. M. Martin's Hudson's Bay
+Company's Territory, etc., p. 131.)
+
+There is another question arising in this supposed Puget Sound concern.
+Suppose, for a moment, the commissioners decide to pay the whole or any
+part of this demand, who will be the recipients of this money? We doubt
+whether the learned commissioners or the counsel of the supposed company
+could tell, unless it is to be his fee for prosecuting the case.
+
+Doctor William Fraser Tolmie and Mr. George B. Roberts are the only two
+witnesses that appear to know much about the matter, and Mr. Roberts'
+information seems to be derived from the same source as our own, so that
+the writer, though not a member of the company, has about as good a
+knowledge of its object and organization as Mr. Roberts, who was
+connected with the Hudson's Bay Company, and also an agent of this Puget
+Sound Company.
+
+Dr. Tolmie says: "The Puget Sound Company _acquired_, or purchased from
+the Hudson's Bay Company, all its improvements at Cowlitz and Nasqualla,
+with its lands, live stock, and agricultural implements, all of which
+were transferred, in 1840 or 1841, by the Hudson's Bay Company to the
+Puget Sound Company."
+
+As we understand this matter, it amounts to just this, and no more: The
+Hudson's Bay Company had consented to enlarge their business by
+employing an outside capital or sinking fund they had at their disposal;
+they instructed Dr. Tolmie, their special agent for that purpose, to
+receive all the property at the two stations or farms named, to take
+possession of them, and instead of opening an account with their
+opposition sinking fund, they called it the Puget Sound Agricultural
+Company. This explains the ten per cent. paid stock into that company.
+Now, if this venture is profitable, nothing is lost; if it is not, it
+does not interfere with the legitimate business of the fur
+company--hence the distinct claim under this name.
+
+    "The Puget Sound Company charged the Hudson's Bay Company for all
+    supplies furnished, and paid the Hudson's Bay Company for all goods
+    received from them."
+
+This was exactly in the line of the whole business done throughout the
+entire Hudson's Bay Company, with all their forts, and other
+establishments.
+
+"Were not the accounts of the Puget Sound Company always forwarded to
+the Hudson's Bay Company's depot?" "_They were_," says Dr. Tolmie; and
+so were all the accounts of all the posts on this coast sent to the
+depot at Vancouver, and thence to head-quarters on the other side of the
+Rocky Mountains.
+
+We have shown, by reference to the capital stock of the Hudson's Bay
+Company, that, in 1821, it was counted at L200,000. From this sum ten
+per cent., or L20,000, was set apart as a sinking fund to oppose any fur
+company or traders on the west side of the mountains, and an equal sum
+for the same purpose on the east.
+
+This western amount, being placed under the direction of Dr. Tolmie and
+his successors, produced in seven years L11,000 sterling, equal to
+$53,240. This transaction does not appear, from the testimony adduced in
+the case, to have interfered in the least with the fur trade carried on
+at these stations, and by the same officers or clerks of the Hudson's
+Bay Company; hence, we are unable, from the whole catalogue of
+twenty-seven witnesses in the case, to find out who is to receive this
+nice little sum of $1,168,000 or L240,000--only L40,000 more than the
+mother had to trade upon when she produced this beautiful full-grown
+child, the Puget Sound Agricultural Company,--having had an abortion on
+the other side of the continent in the loss, without pay, of a large
+portion of the Red River or Selkirk country. Uncle Sam was ungenerous
+there.
+
+This is truly an acre of wonders, and this Hudson's Bay Company and its
+productions are entitled to some consideration for their ingenuity, if
+not for their honesty. It will be interesting to look at our British
+cousins and see what is said about this "_itself_ and _its other self_."
+Mr. Fitzgerald says, page 260: "It is a matter of importance to know
+whether the Hudson's Bay Company is about to submit itself and _its
+other self_--the Puget Sound Association--to the same regulations which
+are to be imposed on other settlers of Vancouver Island and British
+Columbia."
+
+On page 287, he further states: "The Oregon Territory was peopled, under
+the influence of the company, with subjects of the United States.
+(Since Writing the former chapter, I have heard this account given of
+the conduct of the Hudson's Bay Company, in regard to the Oregon
+boundary, which offers still stronger ground for inquiry. The country
+south of the 49th parallel, it seems, was hunted up--therefore the posts
+of the Hudson's Bay Company were become of no value at all. By annexing
+all that country to the United States, and inserting in the treaty a
+clause that the United States should pay the company for all its posts
+if it turned them out, the company were able to obtain from the
+Americans a large sum of money for what would have been worth nothing
+had the territory remained British.) That lost us the boundary of the
+Columbia River. That is one specimen of the colonization of the Hudson's
+Bay Company. The boundary westward from the Lake of the Woods, we have
+seen, gave to the United States land from which the company was engaged,
+at the very time, in driving out British subjects, on the plea that it
+belonged to the company; and now that the boundary has been settled only
+a few years, we learn that the settlers on our side are asking the
+United States to extend her government over that country."
+
+If this does not show a clear case of abortion on the part of that
+_honorable_ Hudson's Bay Company east of the Rocky Mountains, tell us
+what does. But it is interesting to trace a little further the British
+ideas and pretensions to this Pacific coast. Our British author says,
+page 288:--
+
+    "Make what lines you please in a map and call them boundaries, but
+    it is mockery to do so as long as the inhabitants are alienated from
+    your rule, as long as you have a company in power whose policy
+    erases the lines which treaties have drawn.
+
+    "Forasmuch, then, as these things are so, it becomes this country
+    [Great Britain] to record an emphatic protest against the recent
+    policy of the Colonial Office in abandoning the magnificent country
+    on the shores of the Pacific Ocean to the Hudson's Bay Company.
+
+    "The blindest can not long avoid seeing the immense importance of
+    Vancouver Island to Great Britain. Those who, two years ago [1846],
+    first began to attract public attention to this question, are not
+    the less amazed at the unexpected manner and rapidity with which
+    their anticipations have been realized.
+
+    "Six months ago it was a question merely of colonizing Vancouver
+    Island; now it is a question involving the interests of the whole of
+    British North America, and of the empire of Great Britain in the
+    Pacific Ocean."
+
+It is always more or less difficult to trace the course of a false or
+fictitious object. It becomes peculiarly so when two objects of the
+same character come up; the one, by long practice and experience,
+assuming a fair and honorable exterior, having talent, experience, and
+wealth; the other, an illegitimate production, being called into
+existence to cripple the energies of two powerful nations, and living
+under the supreme control of the body, having acquired its position
+through the ignorance of the nations it seeks to deceive. It is out of
+the question to separate two such objects or associations. The one is
+the child of the other, and is permitted to exist while the object to be
+accomplished remains an opponent to the parent association.
+
+The opposition to the fur monopoly having ceased west of the Rocky
+Mountains, a new element of national aggrandizement and empire comes
+within the range of this deceitful and grasping association. Its child
+is immediately christened and set to work under its paternal eye. We
+have the full history of the progress made by this _Mr. Puget Sound
+Agricultural Company_ in the testimony of the twenty-seven witnesses
+summoned to prove his separate existence from that of the _Hudson's Bay
+Company_.
+
+We find, in tracing the existence of these two children of the British
+empire in North America, that they have established themselves in an
+island on the Pacific coast called Vancouver. In this island they are
+more thrifty and better protected than they were in the dominions of
+Uncle Samuel. Notwithstanding they are comfortably located, and have
+secured the larger part of that island and the better portion of British
+Columbia, there is occasionally a British subject that grumbles a little
+about them in the following undignified style:--
+
+    "If the company were to be destroyed to-morrow, would England be
+    poorer? Would there not rather be demanded from the hands of our own
+    manufacturers ten times the quantity of goods which is sent abroad,
+    under the present system, to purchase the skins?" My dear sir, this
+    would make the Indians comfortable and happy. "We boast [says this
+    Englishman] that we make no slaves, none at least that can taint our
+    soil, or fret our sight; but we take the child of the forest, whom
+    God gave us to civilize, and commit him, bound hand and foot, to the
+    most iron of all despotisms--_a commercial monopoly_.
+
+    "Nor, turning from the results of our policy upon the native
+    population, to its effect upon settlers and colonists, is there
+    greater cause for congratulation.
+
+    "The system which has made the native a slave is making the settler
+    a rebel.
+
+    "Restrictions upon trade, jealousy of its own privileges,
+    interference with the rights of property, exactions, and all the
+    other freaks in which monopoly and despotism delight to indulge,
+    have, it appears, driven the best settlers into American territory,
+    and left the rest, as it were, packing up their trunks for the
+    journey."
+
+This, so far as relates to the proceedings, policy, and influence of
+that company upon the settlement of Vancouver Island and British
+Columbia, is verified by the facts now existing in those British
+colonies. Their whole system is a perfect mildew and blight upon any
+country in which they are permitted to trade or to do business.
+
+We have little or no expectation that any thing we may write will affect
+in the least the decision of the commissioners, whose business it is to
+decide this Puget Sound Company's case; but, as a faithful historian, we
+place on record the most prominent facts relating to it, for the purpose
+of showing the plans and schemes of an English company, who are a
+nuisance in the country, and a disgrace to the nation under whose
+charters they profess to act. Up to the time we were permitted to
+examine the testimony they have produced in support of their monstrous
+claims, we were charitable enough to believe there were some men in its
+employ who could be relied upon for an honest and truthful statement of
+facts in relation to the property and improvements for which these
+claims are made; but we are not only disappointed, but forced to believe
+the truth is not in them,--at least in any whose testimony is before us
+in either case. Our English author says:--
+
+    "It does not appear that the interposition of '_an irresponsible
+    company_' can be attended with benefit to the colony.----A company
+    whose direction is in London, and which is wholly _irresponsible_,
+    either to the colonists or to the British Parliament.----There is
+    ample evidence in the foregoing pages that it would be absurd to
+    give this company credit for _unproductive
+    patriotism_.----Considering the identity existing between this
+    association [the Puget Sound Association] and the Hudson's Bay
+    Company, in whose hands the whole management of the colonization of
+    Vancouver Island is placed, there is a very strong reason to fear
+    that the arrangements which have been made will, for some years at
+    any rate, utterly ruin that country as a field for colonial
+    enterprise. There is a strong inducement for the company to grant
+    all the best part of the island to themselves, under the name of the
+    Puget Sound Association; and to trust to the settlements which may
+    be formed by that association as being sufficient to satisfy the
+    obligation to colonize which is imposed by the charter.
+
+    "There is a strong inducement to discourage the immigration of
+    independent settlers; first, because when all the colonists are in
+    the position of their own servants, they will be able much more
+    readily to prevent interference with the fur trade; and secondly,
+    _because the presence of private capital in the island could only
+    tend to diminish their own gains, derived from the export of
+    agricultural produce._
+
+    "And, on the other hand, there will be every possible discouragement
+    to emigrants of the better class to settle in a colony where a large
+    part of the country will be peopled only by the lowest order of
+    workmen, where they may have to compete with the capital of a
+    wealthy company, and that company not only their rival in trade, but
+    at the same time possessed of the supreme power, and of paramount
+    political influence in the colony.
+
+    "There is a reason, more important than all, why the Hudson's Bay
+    Company will never be able to form _a colony_. An agricultural
+    settlement they may establish; a few forts, where Scotchmen will
+    grumble for a few years before they go over to the Americans, but
+    never a community that will deserve the name of a British colony.
+    THEY DO NOT POSSESS PUBLIC CONFIDENCE.
+
+    "But the Hudson's Bay Company--the colonial office of this
+    unfortunate new colony--_has positive interests_ antagonistic to
+    those of an important settlement.
+
+    "It is a body whose history, tendency, traditions, and prospects are
+    _equally and utterly opposed_ to the existence, within its
+    hunting-grounds, of an active, wealthy, independent, and flourishing
+    colony," (we Americans say settlements) "with all the destructive
+    consequences of ruined monopoly and wide-spread civilization."
+
+Need we stop to say the above is the best of British testimony in favor
+of the position we have assumed in relation to a company who will cramp
+and dwarf the energies of their own nation to increase the profits on
+the paltry capital they have invested.
+
+Have the Americans any right to believe they will pursue any more
+liberal course toward them than they have, and do pursue toward their
+countrymen? As this writer remarks, "civilization ruins their
+_monopoly_." The day those two noble and sainted women, Mrs. Spalding
+and Mrs. Whitman, came upon the plains of the Columbia, they could do no
+less than allow England's banner to do them reverence, for God had sent
+and preserved them, as emblems of American civilization, religious
+light, and liberty upon this coast. One of them fell by the ruthless
+hand of the sectarian savages, pierced by Hudson's Bay balls from
+Hudson's Bay guns. The other was carried, in a Hudson's Bay boat, to the
+protecting care of the American settlement; and for what purpose? That
+the savage might remain in barbarism; that the monster monopoly might
+receive its profits from the starving body and soul of the Indian; that
+civilization and Christianity, and the star of empire might be stayed in
+their westward course.
+
+Not yet satisfied with the blood of sixteen noble martyrs to
+civilization and Christianity, quick as thought their missives are upon
+the ocean wave. Wafted upon the wings of the wind, a foul slander is
+sent by the representatives of that monopoly all over the earth, to
+blast her (Mrs. Whitman's) Christian and missionary character with that
+of her martyred husband. And why?
+
+Because that husband had braved the perils of a winter journey to the
+capital of his country, to defeat their malicious designs, to shut up
+the country and forever close it to American civilization and religion.
+And now, with an audacity only equaled by the arch-enemy of God and man,
+they come to our government and demand five millions of gold for
+facilitating the settlement of a country they had not the courage or
+power to prevent.
+
+This, to a person ignorant of the peculiar arrangements of so monstrous
+a monopoly, will appear strange--that they should have an exclusive
+monopoly in trade in a country, and have not the courage or power to
+prevent its settlement, especially when such settlement interferes with
+its trade. So far as American territory was concerned, they were only
+permitted to have a joint occupancy in trade. The sovereignty or right
+of soil was not settled; hence, any open effort against any settler from
+any country was a trespass against the rights of such settler. They
+could only enforce their chartered privileges in British territory. The
+country, under these circumstances, afforded them a vast field in which
+to combine and arrange schemes calculated to perpetuate their own power
+and influence in it. The natives of the country were their trading
+capital and instruments, ready to execute their will upon all opponents.
+The Protestant missionaries brought an influence and a power that at
+once overturned their licensed privileges in trade, because with the
+privilege of trade, they had agreed, in accepting their original
+charter, to civilize and Christianize the natives of the country. This
+part of their compact the individual members of the company were
+fulfilling by each taking a native woman, and rearing as many
+half-civilised subjects as was convenient. This had the effect to
+destroy their courage in any investigation of their conduct. As to their
+power, as we have intimated above, it was derived from the capacity,
+courage, prejudices, and ignorance of the Indians, which the American
+missionary, if let alone, would soon overcome by his more liberal
+dealings with them, and his constant effort to improve their condition,
+which, just in proportion as the Indians learned the value of their own
+productions and labor, would diminish the profits in the fur trade.
+
+This increase of civilization and settlement, says chief-trader
+Anderson, "had been foreseen on the part of the company, and to a
+certain extent provided for. The cession of Oregon, under the treaty of
+1846, and the consequent negotiations for the transfer to the American
+government of all our rights and possessions in their territory,
+retarded all further proceedings."
+
+In this statement of Mr. Anderson, and the statement of Mr. Roberts, an
+old clerk of the company, and from our own observations, this
+"foreseeing" on the part of the company was an arrangement with the
+Indians, and such as had been half civilized by the various individual
+efforts of the members and servants of the company, to so arrange
+matters that an exterminating war against the missionary settlements in
+the country should commence before the Mexican difficulty with the
+United States was settled.
+
+This view of the question is sustained by the reply of Sir James Douglas
+to Mr. Ogden, by Mr. Ogden's course and treatment of the Indians on his
+way up the Columbia River, his letters to Revs. E. Walker and Spalding,
+his special instructions to the Indians, and payment of presents in war
+materials for their captives, and the course pursued by Sir James
+Douglas in refusing supplies to the provisional troops and settlers, and
+the enormous supplies of ammunition furnished to the priests for the
+Indians during the war of 1847-8.
+
+We are decidedly of the same opinion respecting that company as their
+own British writer, who, in conclusion, after giving us a history of 281
+pages, detailing one unbroken course of oppression and cruelty to all
+under their iron despotism, says:--
+
+    "The question at issue is a serious one,--whether a valuable
+    territory shall be given up to an _irresponsible corporation_, to be
+    colonized or not, as it may suit their convenience; or whether that
+    colonization shall be conducted in accordance with any principles
+    which are recognized as sound and right?"
+
+We can easily see the connection in the principle of right in paying any
+portion of either of the monstrous claims of that company, which never
+has been responsible to any civilized national authority.
+
+    "The foregoing exposure of the character and conduct of the
+    company has been provoked. When doubts were expressed whether the
+    company were qualified for fulfilling the tasks assigned to them
+    by the Colonial Minister, and when they appealed to their
+    character and history, it became right that their history should
+    be examined, and their character exposed.
+
+    "The investigation thus provoked has resulted in the discovery that
+    their _authority is fictitious, and their claims invalid_. As their
+    power is illegal, so the exercise of it has been mischievous; it has
+    been mischievous to Great Britain, leaving her to accomplish, at a
+    vast national expense, discoveries which the company undertook, and
+    were paid to perform; and because our trade has been _contracted_
+    and crippled, without any advantage, political or otherwise, having
+    been obtained in return; it has been mischievous to the native
+    Indians, cutting them off from all communication with the rest of
+    the civilized world, depriving them of the fair value of their
+    labor, keeping them in a condition of slavery, and leaving them in
+    the same state of poverty, misery, and paganism in which it
+    originally found them; it has been mischievous to the settlers and
+    colonists under its influence, depriving them of their liberties as
+    British subjects, frustrating, by exactions and arbitrary
+    regulations, their efforts to advance, and, above all, undermining
+    their loyalty and attachment to their mother country, and fostering,
+    by bad government, a spirit of discontent with their own, and
+    sympathy with foreign institutions."
+
+This writer says: "This is the company whose power is now [in 1849] to
+be strengthened and consolidated!--to whose dominion is to be added the
+most important post which Great Britain possesses in the Pacific, and to
+whom the formation of a new colony is to be intrusted."
+
+And, we add, this is the power that has succeeded in forcing their
+infamous claims upon our government to the amount above stated, and by
+the oaths of men trained for a long series of years to rob the Indian of
+the just value of his labor, to deceive and defraud their own nation as
+to the fulfillment of chartered stipulations and privileges.
+
+The facts developed by our history may not affect the decision of the
+commissioners in their case, but the future student of the history of
+the settlement of our Pacific coast will be able to understand the
+influences its early settlers had to contend with, and the English
+colonist may learn the secret of their failure to build up a wealthy and
+prosperous colony in any part of their vast dominion on the North
+American continent.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+     Case of The Hudson's Bay Company _v._ The United
+     States.--Examination of Mr. McTavish.--Number of witnesses.--Their
+     ignorance.--Amount claimed.--Original stock.--Value of land in
+     Oregon.--Estimate of Hudson's Bay Company's property.--Remarks of
+     author.
+
+
+I have carefully reviewed all the testimony in the above case, on both
+sides, up to May 1, 1867. On April 12, the counsel on the part of the
+United States having already spent twenty-five days in cross-examining
+Chief-Factor McTavish, so as to get at the real expenditures of the
+Hudson's Bay Company, and arrive at a just conclusion as to the amount
+due them,--Mr. McTavish having frequently referred to accounts and
+statements which he averred could be found on the various books of the
+company,--gave notice to the counsel of the company in the following
+language:--
+
+    "The counsel for the United States require of Mr. McTavish, who, as
+    appears from his evidence, is a chief factor of the Hudson's Bay
+    Company, and its agent in the prosecution of this claim, to produce
+    here for examination by the United States or their counsel, all
+    accounts, account-books, and letter-books of said company, together
+    with the regulations under which their books were kept, and the
+    various forms of contracts with servants of the company, all of
+    which books, rules, and forms contain evidence pertinent to the
+    issue in this case, as appears from the cross-examination of Mr.
+    McTavish, and suspends the further cross-examination of this witness
+    until he shall produce such books, accounts, rules, and forms."
+
+On the 1st of May Mr. McTavish's examination was resumed.
+
+    _Int. 952._--"Will you please produce here for examination by the
+    United States or their counsel, all accounts, account-books, and
+    letter-books of the Hudson's Bay Company which were kept at the
+    various posts of that company south of the 49th parallel of north
+    latitude during their occupation by the company, together with the
+    regulations under which their books were kept, and the regular
+    forms of contracts with the company's servants?"
+
+    _Ans._--"I can not say whether I will produce them or not."
+
+(The above question was objected to as incompetent, and as asking the
+witness, not as to what he knows of the subject, but as to what his
+future course of action will be, over which, as witness, he can have no
+control.)
+
+During the examination of Mr. McTavish it was evident that he was the
+main prosecuting witness, and considerably interested in the results of
+the claim, or suit.
+
+It would doubtless be interesting to most of our readers to see a review
+of the testimony, or at least a summary of the evidence presented on
+both sides in this case. There are now printed about one thousand pages
+of documents and depositions. That relating particularly to the Hudson's
+Bay Company comprises about two-thirds of the whole amount. The balance
+relates more particularly to the Puget Sound Agricultural Company's
+claim. This claim, the company have not been able, by any testimony yet
+presented, to separate from that of the Hudson's Bay Company; so that
+there is no prospect of their receiving one dollar on that account.
+There have been examined on the part of the Puget Sound Company, to
+prove its separate existence from the Hudson's Bay Company, thirty
+witnesses; on the part of the United States, twenty-one. On the part of
+the Hudson's Bay Company's claim as separate from the Puget Sound
+Company, nineteen witnesses; on the part of the United States, thirty.
+On both sides not far from forty-five witnesses have been called upon
+the stand to testify in this important case. The company in London have
+been requested to furnish evidence of the separate organization or
+independent existence of the two companies; and with all this evidence
+produced, nothing definite or certain is shown, except that the concern
+was gotten up to deceive the English people and rob the American
+government, and to counteract and oppose the American settlement of this
+country.
+
+As a looker-on and an observer of events in this country, I must confess
+my astonishment at the ignorance, perverseness, and stupidity of men
+whom I have ever heretofore regarded as honorable and truthful.
+
+From the testimony before me of the twenty odd English witnesses, it
+really appears as though they felt that all they had to do was to ask
+their pay, and our government would give it to them; or, in other words,
+they, as Englishmen and British subjects, are prepared to compel the
+payment of any sum they demand.
+
+There are many interesting developments brought out in this case
+relative to the early history of this country, which renders the
+depositions in the case, though voluminous and tedious in the main, yet
+interesting to the close and careful student of our history.
+
+If time and opportunity is given, I will review this whole testimony as
+a part of the history of this country, and, in so doing, will endeavor
+to correct an erroneous impression that will result from the testimony
+as now before us.
+
+The amount claimed in this case is four million nine hundred and ninety
+thousand thirty-six dollars and sixty-seven cents, or, nine hundred and
+eighty-five thousand three hundred and fifty pounds sterling, in gold
+coin.
+
+I now have before me, including the Hudson's Bay Company's memorial,
+eleven hundred and twenty-six pages of printed documents and depositions
+relating to this case. I also have what may properly be termed British
+testimony, bearing directly upon this case, which is entitled to its
+full weight in a proper and just decision as to the amount of
+compensation this Hudson's Bay Company is entitled to receive from our
+government.
+
+I do not propose to review all the one thousand four hundred and
+nineteen pages of statements and depositions in detail; that would be
+too tedious, though I might be able to make it interesting to the
+general reader, as it develops the whole history of that portion of our
+continent that has for one hundred and ninety-seven years been under the
+exclusive jurisdiction of a monopoly that effectually closed it to all
+outside influences up to the year A.D. 1834.
+
+According to our British testimony, it was originally L10,500. In 1690,
+in consequence of the enormous profits upon this small capital, it was
+increased threefold, making it L31,500. In 1720 it was declared to be
+L94,500. In this year the stock was (as is termed) _watered_. The then
+proprietors each subscribed L100, and received L300 of stock, calling
+the whole nominal stock L378,000, while the actual subscription was but
+L94,500, and only L3,150 was paid. The stock was ordered to reckon at
+L103,500, while the actual total amount paid was but L13,650.
+
+In 1821, there was another "watering" of the stock, and a call of L100
+per share on the proprietors, which raised their capital to L200,000.
+The Northwest Fur Company joined the Hudson's Bay Company in this year,
+and the joint stock was declared to be L400,000.
+
+We are ready to admit, in fact, the testimony in the case goes to prove,
+that the French Northwest Company brought into the concern an equal
+amount of capital with that of the Hudson's Bay Company. This would give
+the present Hudson's Bay Company a real capital of L27,300, a nominal
+capital of L400,000.
+
+By reference to the memorial of the company, we find they claim, on the
+8th of April, 1867, of our government:--
+
+For the right to trade, of which the settlement of the country and
+removal of Indians to reservations has deprived them, L200,000.
+
+For the right of the free navigation of the Columbia River, L300,000.
+
+For their forts, farms, posts, and establishments, with the buildings
+and improvements, L285,350, making, in all, L785,350, or $3,822,036.67,
+or L385,350 more than the whole amount of nominal stock which they claim
+to have invested in their entire trade.
+
+We will not stop to speak of the morality of this claim; it is made in
+due form, and this with the claim as set forth in the same document, to
+wit: For lands, farms, forts, and improvements, L190,000; loss of live
+stock and other losses, L50,000; total, L240,000--equal to $1,188,000,
+to be paid in gold. In British money these two sums amount to L1,025,350
+sterling, in American dollars to $4,990,036.67; or L625,350 sterling
+money more than their nominal stock, and L998,050 sterling more than all
+their real stock invested.
+
+It will be remembered that this demand is simply on account of the
+settlement of Oregon by the Americans. A part of the posts for which
+this demand is made are still in their undisputed possession, and a
+large portion of the claim is set up in consequence of the loss of the
+profits of the fur trade, of that portion of their business as conducted
+in territory that originally belonged to the United States, and was
+actually given up to them by the treaty of December 24, 1814.
+
+The reader will bear in mind, that in the review or discussion of this
+Hudson's Bay Company's claim on our government, we only refer to that
+part of their trade, and the rights or privileges they were permitted to
+enjoy, jointly with Americans, in what is now absolutely American
+territory. Over two-thirds of their capital has always been employed in
+territory that the American has not been permitted to enter, much less
+to trade and form a settlement of any kind.
+
+The witnesses on the part of the Hudson's Bay Company have been
+forty-one in number. Of this number fifteen are directly interested in
+the results of the award. Fourteen were brought to the country by, and
+remained in the service of the company till they left the country; and
+were all British, though some of them have become naturalized American
+citizens. Twelve are American citizens, and are supposed to have no
+particular interest in the results of the case; in fact, their
+statements are all of a general and very indefinite character. Having
+come to the country since 1850, they know but little or nothing about
+the Hudson's Bay Company, its rights, policy, or interests there. Not
+one of them appears, from the testimony given, to understand the
+justness of the company's claim, or the injustice there would be in
+allowing any part of it. Their testimony appears to be given under the
+impression that because the treaty stipulated that the possessory
+rights of the company were acknowledged and to be respected, that
+therefore full payment must be paid the company for the right of trade,
+and the prospective profits in trade, and the increased value of
+assessable property for an indefinite period in the future. As, for
+example, a witness is asked:--
+
+    "What is the present value per acre of the company's claims at
+    Cowlitz and Nasqualla, for farming and grazing purposes?"
+
+    _Ans._--"Supposing both claims to belong to the same person or
+    company, having a clear and undisputed title, and perfectly exempt
+    from molestation in the transaction of business, I think the Cowlitz
+    claim worth to-day thirty dollars an acre, and the Nasqualla claim
+    five dollars an acre, for farming and grazing purposes."
+
+The fifteen interested witnesses all testify to about the same thing,
+asserting positively as to the real value of the company's supposed
+rights. One of the chief factors, in answer to the interrogatory, "State
+the value of the post at Vancouver, as well in 1846 as since, until the
+year 1863; give the value of the lands and of the buildings separately;
+and state also what was the value of the post in relation to the other
+posts, and as a center of trade," said:--
+
+    "It being the general depot for the trade of the company west of the
+    Rocky Mountains, in 1846 the establishment at Vancouver, with its
+    out-buildings, was in thorough order, having been lately rebuilt;
+    taking into account this post" (a notorious fact that but two new
+    buildings were about the establishment and in decent repair),
+    "together with the various improvements at the mill, on the mill
+    plain, on the lower plain, and at Sauvies Island, I should estimate
+    its value then to the company at from five to six hundred thousand
+    dollars."
+
+The value of the land used by the company, at Fort Vancouver, in 1846,
+say containing a frontage of twenty-five miles on the Columbia, by ten
+miles in depth, in all two hundred and fifty square miles, or about
+160,000 acres, I should calculate as being worth then, on an average,
+from $2.50 to $3 an acre (at $2.50 would give us $400,000); this, with
+the improvements, say $500,000, gives us, at this witness's lowest
+estimate, $900,000 for the company's possessory rights.
+
+This witness goes into an argument stating surrounding and probable
+events, and concludes in these words: "I am clearly of opinion that had
+the company entire control to deal with it as their own, without any
+question as to their title, from the year 1846 and up to 1858, when I
+left there, taking the fort as a center point, the land above and below
+it, to the extent of three square miles, or 1,920 acres, with frontage
+on the Columbia River, could have been easily disposed of for $250 per
+acre ($480,000). The remainder of the land claim of the company at
+Vancouver is more or less valuable, according to its locality; thus, I
+consider the land on the lower plain, having frontage on the river for a
+distance of five miles, or 3,200 acres, as worth $100 per acre
+($320,000). Below that, again, to the Cathlapootl, a distance of
+probably ten miles, with a depth of two miles, or 12,800 acres, is worth
+$25 an acre ($320,000). Going above the fort plain, and so on to the
+commencement of the claim, two miles above the saw-mill on the Columbia
+River, say a distance of six or seven miles and back three miles, or
+about 13,500 acres, should be worth from $10 to $15 per acre" ($135,000,
+at $10, his lowest estimate). "The remainder of the claim is worth from
+$1.50 to $3 per acre." It being 128,580 acres, at $1.50 per acre,
+$192,580. This would make for the Vancouver property, as claimed, and
+several witnesses have sworn the value to amount, as per summary of a
+chief factor's testimony--
+
+  For the fort, buildings, farm and mill improvements        $500,000
+   "    1,920 acres of land about the fort at $250 per acre   480,000
+   "    3,200   "   below the fort, at $100         "    "    320,000
+   "   12,800   "   on lower plain, at $25          "    "    320,000
+   "   13,500   "   above the saw-mill, at $10      "    "    135,000
+   "  128,580   "   balance of claim, at $1.50      "    "    192,580
+
+This gives us the sum of $1,947,580 in gold coin, as the value of the
+possessory rights of the honorable the Hudson's Bay Company to Fort
+Vancouver and its immediate surroundings.
+
+This chief factor's oath and estimate of the property is sustained by
+the estimates and oaths of three other chief factors, amounting to about
+the same sum. This one, after answering in writing, as appears in his
+cross-examination, twenty sworn questions affirming to the facts and
+truth of his knowledge of the claims and business of the company, etc.,
+is cross-questioned (Interrogatory 477), by the counsel for the United
+States, as follows: "Can you not answer the last interrogatory more
+definitely?" The 476th interrogatory was: "Have you not as much
+knowledge of what the company claimed in this direction as any other?"
+The answer to the 477th interrogatory is: "Referring to my answer to the
+last interrogatory, it will be at once seen that _I have no personal
+knowledge_ as to what land the company actually claimed on that line _or
+any other_, as regards the land in the neighborhood of Fort Vancouver.
+This answer embraces even the present time."
+
+There are several American witnesses introduced to prove this monstrous
+claim, and to show the reasonableness and justness of their demand. I
+will give a specimen of an answer given by one of them. After estimating
+the amount of land in a similar manner to the witness above referred to,
+calculating the land in four divisions, at $50, $10, and $1.25 per
+acre, and 161,000 acres amounting to $789,625, without any estimate upon
+the buildings or improvements, the following question was put to him:
+"Have you any knowledge of the market value of land in the vicinity of
+Vancouver, at any time since 1860?"
+
+_Ans._--"I only heard of one sale, which was near the military reserve;
+I think this was of 100 acres, and I understand brought $100 an acre. I
+heard of this within the last few months, but nothing was said, that I
+remember, about the time when the sale was made."
+
+From the intelligence and official position of this American witness, we
+are forced to the conclusion that the enriching effects of old Hudson's
+Bay rum must have made him feel both wealthy and peculiarly liberal in
+estimating the possessory rights of his Hudson's Bay Company friends.
+
+There is one noticeable fact in relation to quite a number of the
+witnesses called, and that have testified in behalf of the company's
+claim. It is their ignorance--we may add, total ignorance--of the
+general business, profits, and policy of the company. This remark will
+apply to every witness whose deposition has been taken, including their
+bookkeepers and clerks in London, and their chief factors in Oregon. Dr.
+McLaughlin seems to have been the only man upon this coast that knew, or
+that could give an intelligent account of its policy or its proceedings.
+
+The whole Hudson's Bay Company concern appears like a great barrel,
+bale, or box of goods, put up in London, and marked for a certain
+district, servants and clerks sent along with the bales, and boxes, and
+barrels of rum, to gather up all the furs and valuable skins they can
+find all over the vast country they occupy, then bale up these furs and
+skins and send them to London, where another set of clerks sell them and
+distribute the profits on the sale of the furs.
+
+As to the value of the soil, timber, minerals, or any improvements they
+have ever seen or made in the country, they are as ignorant as the
+savages of the country they have been trading with. _This ignorance is
+real or willful._ The oaths of the two witnesses to which I have
+referred show this fact beyond a doubt, they having been the longest in
+the service, and attained a high position, and should know the most of
+its business and policy.
+
+There is one other American witness that has given his testimony in the
+case of Puget Sound Agricultural Company _v._ United States. He came to
+this country in 1853. In cross-interrogatory 55, he is asked: "In your
+opinion, did not the agents of this company afford great protection to
+the first settlers of this section of country by the exercise of their
+influence over the different Indian tribes?"
+
+_Ans._--"In my opinion, the officers of the company, being _educated
+gentlemen_, have always exerted whatever influence they might have had
+with the Indians to protect the whites of all nations in the early
+settlement of the country."
+
+This opinion is expressed by a gentleman having no knowledge of the
+policy and proceedings of the company in relation to all American
+settlers previous to his arrival in the country. He concludes that
+because he, in his official transactions, having no occasion to ask or
+receive the company's protection, was treated kindly, all others must
+have been, as the company's officers were, in his opinion, "educated
+gentlemen."
+
+In answer to this last official American gentleman and his officious
+opinion, as expressed on oath in this case, I will quote a statement,
+under oath, of one of our old _bed-rock_ settlers, who came on to the
+west side of the Rocky Mountains in 1829, twenty-four years previous to
+the last witness, who pretends to know so much.
+
+_Int. 7._--"What influence did the Hudson's Bay Company exercise over
+the Indians in the section where you operated, with reference to the
+American trappers and traders? State such facts as occur to you in this
+connection."
+
+_Ans._--"The Hudson's Bay Company exercised a great influence over the
+western Indians; that is, the Cayuses, Nez Perces, Flatheads, and
+Spokans, and others through these; they had no influence over the
+Indians east of the Rocky Mountains at all, and away south they could do
+almost any thing with the Indians. I know of one party that was robbed
+by order of one of the Hudson's Bay Company men, the commander of Fort
+Wallawalla (Wallula); the party was robbed, and the fur brought back to
+the fort and sold. I was not with the party; that was my understanding
+about the matter; and that was what the Indians said, and what the
+whites said that were robbed." (A fact known to the writer.)
+
+_Int. 13._--"Was it not generally understood among the American trappers
+that the Hudson's Bay Company got a very large quantity of Jedediah
+Smith's furs, for which he and they failed to account to the company to
+which they belonged?" (Objected to, because it is leading, immaterial,
+and hearsay.)
+
+_Ans._--"It used to be said so among the trappers in the mountains,"
+(and admitted by the company, as no correct account was ever rendered.)
+
+_Int. 14._--"If you remember, state the quantity which was thus
+reported." (Objected to as before.)
+
+_Ans._--"It was always reported as about forty packs."
+
+_Int. 15._--"Give an estimate of the value of forty packs of beaver at
+that time."
+
+_Ans._--"Forty packs of beaver at that time, in the mountains, was worth
+about $20,000. I do not know what they would be worth at Vancouver."
+
+_Int. 16._--"State whether the dispute about this matter was the cause
+of the dissolution of the firm of Smith, Jackson & Sublet, to which you
+refer in your cross-examination." (Objected to as above.)
+
+_Ans._--"I do not know; that was the report among mountain men."
+
+With these specimens of testimony on both sides, I will venture a
+general statement drawn from the whole facts developed.
+
+About the time, or perhaps one year before, the notice that the joint
+occupancy of the country west of the Rocky Mountains was given by the
+American government to that of the British, the Hudson's Bay Company, as
+such, had made extensive preparations and arrangements to hold the
+country west of the Rocky Mountains. This arrangement embraced a full
+and complete organization of the Indian tribes under the various traders
+and factors at the various forts in the country.
+
+The probability of a Mexican war with the United States, and such
+influences as could be brought to bear upon commissioners, or the
+treaty-making power of the American government, would enable them to
+secure this object. In this they failed. The Mexican war was
+successfully and honorably closed. The Hudson's Bay Company's claims are
+respected, or at least mentioned as in existence, in the treaty of 1846,
+that the 49th parallel should be the boundary _of the two national
+dominions_.
+
+On the strength of their supposed possessory right, they remain quietly
+in their old forts and French pig-pens, take a full inventory of their
+old Indian salmon-houses, and watch the progress of American improvement
+upon this coast, till 1863, when the American people are in the midst of
+a death struggle for its civil existence. They then for the third time
+"water" this monstrosity under the name of "'The International Financial
+Society, limited,' are prepared to receive subscriptions for the issue
+at par of capital stock in the Hudson's Bay Company, incorporated by
+royal charter, 1670," fixing the nominal stock of the Hudson's Bay
+Company at L2,000,000; and taking from this amount L1,930,000, they
+offer it for sale under this new title in shares of L20 each, claiming
+as belonging to them [_i.e._, the Hudson's Bay Company] 1,400,000
+square miles, or upward of 896,000,000 acres of land, and, after paying
+all expenses, an income of L81,000 in ten years, up to the 31st of
+May--over four per cent. on the L2,000,000. This vast humbug is held up
+for the English public to invest in,--a colonization scheme to enrich
+the favored shareholders of that old English aristocratic humbug
+chartered by Charles II. in 1670.
+
+In the whole history of that company there has never been any
+investigation of its internal policy so thorough as in the present
+proceedings. In fact, this is the first time they have ventured to allow
+a legal investigation into their system of trade and their rights of
+property. They have grown to such enormous proportions, and controlled
+so vast a country, that the government and treasury of the United States
+has become, in their estimation, a mere appendage to facilitate their
+Indian trade and financial speculations. From our recent purchases of
+Russian territory, it becomes an important question to every American
+citizen, and especially our statesmen, to make himself familiar with so
+vast an influence under the British flag, and extending along so great
+an extent of our northern frontier. Should they establish, by their own
+interested and ignorant testimony, their present claims, there will be
+no end to their unreasonable demands, for they have dotted the whole
+continent with their trading-posts. They claim all that is supposed to
+be of any value to savage and civilized man. The English nation without
+its Hudson's Bay Company's old traps and hunting-parties would have no
+claim west of the Rocky Mountains, yet, for the sake of these, it has
+almost ventured a third war with our American people in sending from its
+shores, instead of land pirates, under the bars and stars, the red flag
+of the Hudson's Bay Company. The two flags should be folded together and
+laid up in the British Museum, as a lasting monument of British
+injustice.
+
+I apprehend, from a careful review of all this testimony of the
+forty-one witnesses who were on the part of the Hudson's Bay Company,
+and the forty-two on the part of the United States, that the whole
+policy of the company has been thoroughly developed; yet, at the same
+time, without a long personal acquaintance with their manner of doing
+business, it would be difficult to comprehend the full import of the
+testimony given, though I apprehend the commissioners will have no very
+difficult task to understand the humbuggery of the whole claim, as
+developed by the testimony of the clerks in London and the investigation
+at head-quarters. As to the amount of award, I would not risk one dollar
+to obtain a share in all they get from our government. On the contrary,
+a claim should be made against them for damages and trespass upon the
+American citizens, as also the lives of such as they have caused to be
+murdered by their influence over the Indians.
+
+The telegraph has informed us that the commissioners have awarded to the
+Hudson's Bay Company, $450,000, and to the Puget Sound concern,
+$200,000. We have no change to make in our opinion of the commissioners
+previously expressed, as they must have known, from the testimony
+developed in the Puget Sound concern, that that part of the claim was a
+fictitious one, and instituted to distract the public and divide the
+pretensions to so large an amount in two parts. That the commissioners
+should allow it can only be understood upon the principle that the
+Hudson's Bay Company were entitled to that amount as an item of costs in
+prosecuting their case.
+
+No man at all familiar with the history of this coast, and of the
+Hudson's Bay Company, can conscientiously approve of that award. Our
+forefathers, in 1776, said "millions for defense, but not one cent for
+tribute," which we consider this award to be,--for the benefit of
+English duplicity and double-dealing, in the false representations they
+made at the making of the treaty, and the perjury of their witnesses.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+     Quotation from Mr. Swan.--His mistake.--General Gibbs'
+     mistake.--Kamaiyahkan.--Indian agent killed.--I. I. Stevens
+     misjudged.
+
+
+The gigantic fraud of slavery fell, in our own land, in the short space
+of four years; but that of this company--holding and destroying as many
+lives as the African slave trade--holds its own, and still lifts its
+head, under the patronage of a professed Christian nation; and claims to
+be an honorable company, while it robs and starves its unnumbered
+benighted Indians, and shuts up half of North America from civilization.
+At the same time it has obtained $650,000 for partially withdrawing its
+continued robberies of the American Indians within the United States,
+after implanting in the savage mind an implacable hatred against the
+American people.
+
+While we have our own personal knowledge on this point, we will give a
+quotation from Mr. Swan's work, written in 1852, page 381, showing his
+views of the subject, which are mostly correct; but, in speaking of the
+trade of the Americans and of the Hudson's Bay Company, he says: "The
+Indians preferred to trade with the Americans, for they kept one article
+in great demand, which the Hudson's Bay people did not sell, and that
+was whisky."
+
+In this Mr. Swan is entirely mistaken. The Hudson's Bay people always
+had liquor, and let the Indians have all they could pay for, as proved
+by their own writer, Mr. Dunn. (See 12th chapter.) Mr. S. continues:
+"Reckless, worthless men, who are always to be found in new settlements,
+would give or sell whisky to the Indians, and then, when drunk, abuse
+them. If the injury was of a serious nature, the Indian was sure to have
+revenge; and should he kill a white man, would be certainly hanged, if
+caught; but, although the same law operated on the whites, I have never
+known an instance where a white man has been hanged for killing an
+Indian." This has been my experience, Mr. Swan, for more than thirty
+years, with the Hudson's Bay Company, or English. When a white man kills
+an Indian, the tribe, or his friends, are satisfied with a present,
+instead of the life of the murderer. It has been invariably the practice
+with the Hudson's Bay Company to pay, when any of their people kill an
+Indian, and to kill the Indian murderer; not so when an American is
+killed. Says Mr. Swan: "The ill-feelings thus engendered against the
+Americans, by this, and other causes, was continually _fanned and kept
+alive by these half-breeds and old servants of the company_, whose
+feelings were irritated by what they considered an unwarrantable
+assumption on the part of these settlers, in coming across the mountains
+to squat upon lands they considered theirs by right of prior occupancy.
+_The officers of the company_ also sympathized with their old servants
+in this respect, and a _deadly feeling of hatred had existed_ between
+these officers and the American emigrant, for their course in taking
+possession of the lands claimed by the Puget Sound Agricultural Company,
+and other places on the Sound and the Columbia River; and there is not a
+man among them who would not be glad to have had every American emigrant
+driven out of the country." It is unnecessary to add examples of this
+kind to prove to any reasonable mind the continued hostility of that
+company, and all under its influence, to the American government and
+people.
+
+Can their friendship be bought by paying them the entire sum they claim?
+We think not.
+
+Whatever sum is given will go to enrich the shareholders, who will
+rejoice over their success, as an Indian would over the scalp of his
+enemy. The _implacable hatred will remain_, and nothing but
+extermination, or a complete absorption of the whole continent into the
+American republic, will close up the difficulty, and save a remnant of
+the Indian tribes. This, to some, may not be desirable; but humanity and
+right should, and will, eventually, prevail over crime, or any foreign
+policy.
+
+The American people are taunted by the Roman Jesuits and English with
+having driven the Indian from his lands, and having occupied it
+themselves; but how is it with the English? While the American has
+attempted to gather the Indians into convenient communities, and spent
+millions of dollars to civilize and better their condition, the English
+nation, as such, has never given one dollar, but has chartered company
+after company of merchants, traders, and explorers, who have entered the
+Indian country under their exclusive charters, or license to trade, and
+shut it up from all others. They have, in the profitable prosecution of
+their trade, so managed as to exterminate all surplus and useless
+Indians, and reduce them to easy and profitable control. Should one of
+their half-breed servants, or a white man, attempt to expose their
+system, or speak of their iniquitous policy, a great hue and cry is
+raised against him, both in England and America, and he must fall,
+either by a misinformed public or by savage hands, while they
+triumphantly refer to the ease with which they exercise absolute
+control over the Indians in their jurisdiction, as a reason why they
+should be permitted to continue their exclusive occupation and
+government of the country. Thus, for being forced partially to leave
+that portion of Oregon south of the 49th parallel, they presumed to make
+a claim against our government three times larger than the whole capital
+stock of the two companies combined.
+
+This hue and cry, and the public sentiment they have continued to raise
+and control, has its double object. The one is to continue their
+exclusive possession of, and trade in the country, the other is to
+obtain all the money they can from the American government for the
+little part of it they have professedly given up.
+
+It will be remembered that in the investigation of their claims, and the
+depositions given, it was stated that Forts Okanagon, Colville,
+Kootanie, and Flathead, were still in their possession in 1866; that
+Wallawalla, Fort Hall, and Boise were given up because they were
+prohibited by the government from trading ammunition and guns to the
+Indians. This means simply that the last-named posts were too far from
+their own territory to enable them to trade in these prohibited
+articles, and escape detection by the American authorities. The northern
+posts, or those contiguous to the 49th parallel, are still occupied by
+them. From these posts they supply the Indians, and send their
+emissaries into the American territory, and keep up the "_deadly
+hatred_," of which Mr. Swan speaks, and about which General Gibbs, in
+his letter explaining the causes of the Indian war, is so much mistaken.
+
+There is one fact stated by General Gibbs, showing the continued
+combination of the Roman priests with the Hudson's Bay Company, which we
+will give in this connection. He says: "The Yankamas have always been
+opposed to the intrusion of the Americans." This is also a mistake of
+Mr. Gibbs, as we visited that tribe in the fall of 1839, and found them
+friendly, and anxious to have an American missionary among them. At that
+time there had been no priest among them, and no combined effort of the
+company to get rid of the American missionary settlements. Kamaiyahkan,
+the very chief mentioned by General Gibbs as being at the head of the
+combination against the Americans, accompanied us to Dr. Whitman's
+station, to urge the establishment of an American mission among his
+people.
+
+General Gibbs says, that, "as early as 1853, Kamaiyahkan had projected a
+war of extermination. Father Pandosa, the priest at Atahnam (Yankama)
+mission, in the spring of that year, wrote to Father Mesplie, the one at
+the Dalls, desiring him to inform Major Alvord, in command at that post,
+of the fact. Major Alvord reported it to General Hitchcock, then in
+command on this coast, Hitchcock _censured_ him as an _alarmist_, and
+Pandosa was _censured_ by his superiors, who forthwith placed a priest
+of higher rank over him."
+
+The next year, Indian agent Bolon was killed, and the war commenced. How
+did General Hitchcock learn that Pandosa, a simple-hearted priest, and
+Major Alvord were alarmists? The fact of the censure, and placing a
+priest of higher rank over Pandosa at the Yankama station (the very
+place we selected in 1839 for an American station), is conclusive
+evidence on this point.
+
+"The war of extermination," that General Gibbs, in his mistaken ideas of
+Hudson's Bay policy and Indian character, attributes to the policy of
+Governor I. I. Stevens, was commenced in 1845. At that time, it was
+supposed by James Douglas, Mr. Ogden, and the ruling spirits of that
+company, that all they had to do was to withhold munitions of war from
+the Americans, and the Indians would do the balance for them.
+
+The Indian wars that followed, and that are kept up and encouraged along
+our borders, and all over this coast, are the legitimate fruits of the
+"DEADLY HATRED" implanted in the mind and soul of the Indian BY THE
+HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY AND THEIR ALLIES, THE PRIESTS. There is an object
+in this: while they teach the Indians to believe that the Americans are
+robbing them of their lands and country, they at the same time pretend
+that they do not want it.
+
+Like Bishop Blanchet with the Cayuses, they "only want a small piece of
+land to raise a little provisions from," and they are continually
+bringing such goods as the Indians want; and whenever they are ready to
+join their forces and send their war-parties into American territory,
+this company of _honorable English fur traders_ are always ready to
+supply them with arms and ammunition, and to purchase from them the
+goods or cattle (including scalps, in case of war between the two
+nations) they may capture on such expeditions.
+
+The more our government pays to that company, or their fictitious agent,
+the more means they will have to carry on their opposition to American
+commerce and enterprise on this coast. Should they obtain but one-third
+of their outrageous claim, it is contemplated to invest it, with their
+original stock, in a new company, under the same name, Honorable
+Hudson's Bay Company, and to extend their operations so as to embrace
+not only the fur, but gold and grain trade, over this whole western
+coast.
+
+Will it be for the interests of this country to encourage them? Let
+their conduct and proceeding while they had the absolute control of it
+answer, and prove a timely warning to the country before such vampires
+are allowed to fasten themselves upon it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+     Review of Mr. Greenhow's work in connection with the conduct and
+     policy of the Hudson's Bay Company.--Schools and
+     missionaries.--Reasons for giving extracts from Mr. Greenhow's
+     work.--Present necessity for more knowledge about the company.
+
+
+As stated by General Gibbs, Mr. Greenhow has given us a complete history
+of the discovery of Oregon. At the point where he leaves us the reader
+will observe our present history commences. We did not read Mr.
+Greenhow's very elaborate and interesting history till ours had been
+completed in manuscript. On reading it, we found abundant proof of
+statements we have made respecting the policy of the British government
+to hold, by the influence of her Hudson's Bay Company, the entire
+country west of the Rocky Mountains that was not fully occupied by the
+Russian and Spanish governments.
+
+This fact alone makes our history the more important and interesting to
+the American reader. Mr. Greenhow, upon pages 360 and 361 of his work,
+closes the labors of the eleven different American fur companies with
+the name of Captain Nathaniel Wyeth, and upon these two pages introduces
+the American missionaries, with the Roman Jesuits, though the latter did
+not arrive in the country till four years after the former.
+
+On his 388th page, after speaking of various transactions relative to
+California, the Sandwich Islands, and the proceedings in Congress
+relative to the Oregon country, he says: "In the mean time, the Hudson's
+Bay Company had been doing all in its power to extend and confirm its
+position in the countries west of the Rocky Mountains, from which its
+governors felicitated themselves with the idea that they had expelled
+the Americans entirely."
+
+Page 389. "The object of the company was, therefore, to place a large
+number of British subjects in Oregon within the shortest time, and, of
+course, to exclude from it as much as possible all people of the United
+States; so that when the period for terminating the convention with the
+latter power should arrive, Great Britain might be able to present the
+strongest title to the possession of the whole, on the ground of actual
+occupation by the Hudson's Bay Company. To these ends the efforts of
+that company had been for some time directed. The immigration of British
+subjects was encouraged; the Americans were by all means excluded; _and
+the Indians were brought as much as possible into friendship with, and
+subject to, the company, while they were taught to regard the people of
+the United States as enemies!_"
+
+In a work entitled "Four Years in British Columbia," by Commander R. C.
+Mayne, R. N., F. R. G. S., page 279, this British writer says: "I have
+also spoken of the intense hatred of them all for the Boston men
+(Americans). This hatred, although nursed chiefly by the cruelty with
+which they are treated by them, is also owing in a great measure to the
+system adopted by the Americans of removing them away from their
+villages when their sites become settled by whites. The Indians often
+express dread lest we should adopt the same course, and have lately
+petitioned Governor Douglas on the subject."
+
+Commander Mayne informs us, on his 193d page, that in the performance of
+his official duties among the Indians, "recourse to very strong
+expressions was found necessary; and they were threatened with the
+undying wrath of Mr. Douglas, whose name always acts as a talisman with
+them."
+
+We shall have occasion to quote statements from members of the Hudson's
+Bay Company, and from Jesuit priests, further confirming the truth of
+Mr. Greenhow's statement as above quoted. It would be gratifying to us
+to be able, from our long personal experience and observations relative
+to the policy and conduct of the Hudson's Bay Company, to fully confirm
+the very plausible, and, if true, honorable treatment of the aborigines
+of these countries; but truth, candor, observation, our own and other
+personal knowledge, compel us to believe and know that Mr. Greenhow is
+entirely mistaken when he says, on his 389th page, speaking of the
+Hudson's Bay Company:--
+
+    "In the treatment of the aborigines of these countries, the Hudson's
+    Bay Company _admirably combined and reconciled humanity with
+    policy_. In the first place, its agents were strictly prohibited
+    from furnishing them with ardent spirits; and there is reason to
+    believe that the prohibition has been carefully enforced.
+
+    "Sunday, March 11, 1852," says Mr. Dunn, one of their own servants,
+    "Indians remained in their huts, perhaps praying, or more likely
+    singing over the _rum_ they had traded with us on
+    Saturday.----Tuesday, April 26.--Great many Indians on
+    board.----Traded a number of skins. They seem to like _rum_ very
+    much.----May 4.--They were all _drunk_; went on shore, made a fire
+    about 11 o'clock; being then all drunk began firing on one
+    another.----June 30.--The Indians are bringing their blankets--their
+    skins are all gone; they seem very fond of _rum_.----July 11.--They
+    traded a quantity of _rum_ from us."
+
+The Kingston _Chronicle_, a newspaper, on the 27th of September, 1848,
+says: "The Hudson's Bay Company have, in some instances _with their
+rum_, traded the goods given in presents to the Indians by the Canadian
+Government, and afterward so traded the same with them at an advance of
+little short of a thousand per cent."
+
+Question asked by the Parliamentary Committee: "Are intoxicating liquors
+supplied in any part of the country--and where?" The five witnesses
+answered:--
+
+1st. "At every place where he was."
+
+2d. "All but the Mandan Indians were desirous to obtain intoxicating
+liquor; _and the company supply them with it freely_."
+
+3d. "At Jack River I saw liquor given for furs."
+
+4th. "At York Factory and Oxford House."
+
+5th. The fifth witness had seen liquor given "at Norway House only."
+
+The writer has seen liquor given and sold to the Indians at every post
+of the company, from the mouth of the Columbia to Fort Hall, including
+Fort Colville, and by the traveling traders of the company; so that
+whatever pretensions the company make to the contrary, the proof is
+conclusive, that they traffic in liquors, without any restraint or
+hinderance, all over the Indian countries they occupy. That they charge
+this liquor traffic to renegade Americans I am fully aware; at the same
+time I know they have supplied it to Indians, when there were no
+Americans in the country that had any to sell or give.
+
+In the narrative of the Rev. Mr. King, it is stated that "the agents of
+the Hudson's Bay Company are not satisfied with putting so insignificant
+value upon the furs, that the more active hunters only can gain a
+support, which necessarily leads to the death of the more aged and
+infirm by starvation and cannibalism, but they encourage the intemperate
+use of ardent spirits."
+
+Says Mr. Alexander Simpson, one of the company's own chief traders:
+"That body has assumed much credit for the discontinuance of the sale of
+spirituous liquors at its trading establishments, but I apprehend that
+in this matter it has both claimed and received more praise than is its
+due. The issue of spirits has not been discontinued by it on principle,
+indeed it has not been discontinued at all when there is a possibility
+of diminution of trade through the Indians having the power to resent
+this deprivation of their accustomed and much-loved annual
+jollification, by carrying their furs to another market."
+
+This means simply that Mr. Greenhow and all other admirers of the
+Hudson's Bay Company's manner of treating Indians have been humbugged by
+their professions of "_humanity and policy_."
+
+We are inclined to return Mr. Greenhow's compliment to the Rev. Samuel
+Parker in his own language, as found on the 361st page of his work. He
+says: "Mr. Samuel Parker, whose journal of his tour beyond the Rocky
+Mountains, though highly interesting and instructive, would have been
+much more so had he confined himself to the results of his own
+experience, and not wandered into the region of history, diplomacy, and
+cosmogony, in all of which he is evidently a stranger." So with Mr.
+Greenhow, when he attempts to reconcile the conduct of the Hudson's Bay
+Company with "_humanity_," and admires their policy, and gives them
+credit for honorable treatment of "Indians, missionaries, and settlers,"
+he leaves his legitimate subject of history and diplomacy, and goes into
+the subject of the Hudson's Bay Company's moral _policy_, to which he
+appears quite as much a "stranger" as Mr. Samuel Parker does to those
+subjects in which Mr. Greenhow found him deficient.
+
+But, notwithstanding we are inclined to return Mr. Greenhow's compliment
+in his own language, his historical researches and facts are invaluable,
+as developing a deep scheme of a foreign national grasping disposition,
+to hold, by a low, mean, underhanded, and, as Mr. Greenhow says, "false
+and malicious course of misrepresentation, the country west of the Rocky
+Mountains." There are a few pages in Mr. Greenhow's history that,--as
+ours is now fully written, and we see no reason to change a statement we
+have made,--for the information of our readers, and to correct what we
+conceive to be an erroneous impression of his relative to our early
+settlements upon this coast, we will quote, and request our readers to
+observe our corrections in the history or narration of events we have
+given them.
+
+    "Schools for the instruction of their children, and hospitals for
+    their sick, were established at all their principal trading-posts;
+    each of which, moreover, afforded the means of employment and
+    support to Indians disposed to work in the intervals between the
+    hunting seasons."
+
+Says the Rev. Mr. Barnley, a Wesleyan missionary at Moose Factory, whose
+labors commenced in June, 1840, and continued till September, 1847: "A
+plan which I had devised for educating and turning to some acquaintance
+with agriculture, native children, was disallowed,----it being very
+distinctly stated by Sir George Simpson, that the company would not give
+them even a spade toward commencing their new mode of life."
+
+Says Mr. Greenhow: "_Missionaries of various sects were encouraged to
+undertake to convert these people to Christianity, and to induce them to
+adopt the usages of civilized life_, so far as might be consistent with
+the nature of the labors in which they are engaged; care being at the
+same time taken to instill into their minds due respect for the
+company, and for the sovereign of Great Britain; and attempts were
+made, at great expense, though with little success, to collect them into
+villages, or tracts where the soil and climate are favorable to
+agriculture."
+
+Mr. Barnley says: "At Moose Factory, where the resources were most
+ample, and where was the seat of authority in the southern department of
+Rupert's Land, the _hostility_ of the company (and not merely their
+inability to aid me, whether with convenience or inconvenience to
+themselves) was most manifest."
+
+Another of the English missionaries writes in this manner: "When at York
+Factory last fall (1848), a young gentleman boasted that he had
+succeeded in starting the Christian Indians of Rossville off with the
+boats on a Sunday. Thus every effort we make for their moral and
+spiritual improvement is frustrated, and those who were, and still are,
+desirous of becoming Christians, are kept away; the pagan Indians
+desiring to become Christians, but being made drunk on their arrival at
+the fort, 'their good desires vanish.' The Indians professing
+Christianity had actually exchanged one keg of rum for tea and sugar, at
+one post, but the successive offers of liquor betrayed them into
+intoxication at another."
+
+The Rev. Mr. Beaver, chaplain of the company at Fort Vancouver, in 1836,
+writes thus to the Aborigines Protection Society, London, tract 8, page
+19:--
+
+    "For a time I reported to the governor and committee of the company
+    in England, and to the governor and the council of the company
+    abroad, the result of my observations, with a view to a gradual
+    amelioration of the wretched degradation with which I was
+    surrounded, by an immediate attempt at the introduction of
+    civilization and Christianity, among one or more of the aboriginal
+    tribes; but my earnest representations were neither attended to nor
+    acted upon; no means were placed at my disposal for carrying out the
+    plan which I suggested."
+
+Mr. Greenhow says, page 389: "Particular care was also extended to the
+education of the half-breed children, the offspring of the marriage or
+the concubinage of the traders with the Indian women, who were retained
+and bred as much as possible among the white people, and were taken into
+the service of the company, whenever they were found capable. There
+being few white women in those countries, it is evident that these
+half-breeds must, in time, form a large, if not an important portion of
+the inhabitants; and there is nothing to prevent their being adopted and
+recognized as British subjects.
+
+    "The conduct of the Hudson's Bay Company, in these respects, is
+    worthy of _commendation_; and may be contrasted most favorably with
+    that pursued at the present day by civilized people toward the
+    aborigines of all other new countries."
+
+It is a most singular fact, that while Mr. Greenhow was writing the
+above high commendation of the conduct and policy of the Hudson's Bay
+Company, in relation to their treatment of Indians and missionaries
+under their absolute control, that that company were driving from their
+posts at Moose Factory and Vancouver, their own Wesleyan and Episcopal
+missionaries, and doing all they could to prevent the settlement or
+civilization of the Indians, or allowing any missionary intercourse with
+them, except by foreign Roman Jesuits, and were actually combining the
+Indians in Oregon to destroy and defeat civil and Christian efforts
+among the Indians and American settlements then being established in the
+country. Page 390, Mr. Greenhow further says: "The course pursued by the
+Hudson's Bay Company, with regard to American citizens in the territory
+west of the Rocky Mountains, was equally _unexceptionable_ and
+_politic_. The missionaries and immigrants from the United States, or
+from whatever country they might come, were received at the
+establishments of the company with the utmost kindness, and were aided
+in the prosecution of their respective objects, _so far and so long as
+those objects were not commercial_; but no sooner did any person,
+unconnected with the company, attempt to hunt, or trap, or trade with
+the Indians, than all the force of the body was turned against him."
+
+The statement in the last part of the foregoing paragraph can be
+attested by more than one hundred American hunters and traders, who have
+felt the full force of that company's influence against them; as also by
+missionaries and settlers on first arriving in the country. But Mr.
+Greenhow says: "There is no evidence or reason to believe that violent
+measures were ever employed, either directly or indirectly, for this
+purpose; nor would such means have been needed while the company enjoyed
+advantages over all competitors, such as are afforded by its wealth, its
+organization, and the skill and knowledge of the country, and of the
+natives, possessed by its agents." This is simply an assertion of Mr.
+Greenhow, which our future pages will correct in the mind of any who
+have received it as truth. It is unnecessary to pursue Mr. Greenhow's
+history of the Hudson's Bay Company respecting their treatment of
+American or English missionaries or American settlers; the statements we
+have quoted show fully his want of a correct knowledge of the practices
+of that company in dealing with savage and civilized men. We only claim
+for ourselves close observation and deeply interested participation in
+all that relates to Oregon since 1832, having been permitted to be
+present at the forming of its early civil settlement and political
+history. This work of Mr. Greenhow's appears to be peculiarly political
+as well as strongly national, and in the passages we have quoted, with
+many other similar ones, he seems to us to have written to catch the
+patronage of this foreign English corporation, which, according to his
+own showing, has been an incubus upon the English, and, so far as
+possible, the Americans also. While he shows his utter ignorance of
+their internal policy and history, his researches in the history of the
+early discoveries on this western coast are ample And most useful as
+vindicating our American claim to the country. But as to its settlement
+and civilization, or its early moral or political history, as he says of
+Mr. Samuel Parker, "in all of which he is evidently a stranger."
+
+Our reasons for giving the extracts from Mr. Greenhow's work are--
+
+1st. That the reader may the better understand what follows as our own.
+
+2d. To avoid a future collision or controversy respecting statements
+that may be quoted from him to contradict or controvert our own,
+respecting the policy and practices of the Hudson's Bay Company, which,
+Mr. Greenhow says, page 391, "did no more than they were entitled to do.
+If the Americans neglected or were unable to avail themselves of the
+benefits secured to both nations by the convention, the fault or the
+misfortune was their own, and they had no right to complain." If this is
+true, as against the American, what right has the Hudson's Bay Company
+to complain and ask pay for what had been rendered worthless to them by
+the American settlement of the country?
+
+"The hospitable treatment extended to them [American citizens] by the
+agents of the Hudson's Bay Company was doubtless approved by the
+directors of that body; and all who know Messrs. McLaughlin and Douglas,
+the principal managers of the affairs of that body on the Columbia,
+unite in testifying that the humanity and generosity of those gentlemen
+have been always carried as far as their duties would permit. That their
+conduct does not, however, meet with universal approbation among the
+servants of the company in that quarter, sufficient evidence may be
+cited to prove." He quotes John Dunn's book, chap. 12.
+
+Mr. Greenhow wrote his history with the light then existing, _i.e._, in
+1844. About that time Dr. McLaughlin was called to an account by the
+directors of the Hudson's Bay Company, in London. He explained to them
+his position, and the condition of the Americans, who came to this
+country both naked and hungry, and that, as a man of common humanity, he
+could do no less than he did. The directors insisted upon the
+enforcement of their stringent rule, which was, to starve and drive
+every American from the country. He then told them: "_If such is your
+order, gentlemen, I will serve you no longer._" As to Mr. Douglas, we
+have no such noble sentiment to record in his behalf; he belonged to
+that English party called by Mr. Greenhow "_Patriots_." He says: "There
+were two parties among the British in Oregon, the _Patriots_ and the
+_Liberals_, who, while they agreed in holding all Americans in utter
+detestation, as _knaves_ and _ruffians_, yet differed as to the
+propriety of the course pursued with regard to them by the company. The
+_Patriots_ maintained, that kindness showed to the people of the United
+States was thrown away, and would be badly requited; that it was merely
+nurturing a race of men, who would soon rise from their weak and humble
+position, as grateful acknowledgers of favors, to the bold attitude of
+questioners of the authority of Great Britain, and her right, even to
+Vancouver itself; that if any attempts were made for the conversion of
+the natives to Christianity, and to the adoption of more humanized
+institutions (which they limited to British institutions), a solid and
+permanent foundation should be laid; and for that purpose, if
+missionaries were to be introduced, they should come within the direct
+control of the dominant power, that is, the British power, and should be
+the countrymen of those who actually occupied Oregon, etc. The
+_Liberals_, while admitting all that was said on the other side, of the
+character of the Americans, nevertheless charitably opined that those
+people should not be excluded, as they possessed some claim, 'feeble,
+but yet existing,' to the country, and until 'these were quashed or
+confirmed, it would be unjust and impolite' to prevent them from all
+possession; _that these missionaries, though bad_, were better than
+none; and that good would grow out of evil in the end, for the
+Americans, by their intercourse with the British, _would become more
+humanized, tolerant, and honest_."
+
+As most of the above sentiment relative to the two English parties in
+the country appears to be quoted by Mr. Greenhow from some author, it
+would be interesting to know who he is; still, the fact is all that is
+essential to know, and we have reason to believe and know that the
+sentiments expressed were entertained by the controlling authority of
+the company in London and in Oregon; and that Messrs. Douglas and Ogden,
+and the Roman priests under their patronage, acted fully up to them as
+Roman and British Jesuits, there is no question; and under such
+circumstances, it is not surprising that the immigration from the United
+States in 1843, '44, and '45, should increase that feeling of hostility
+and hatred of the American settlement and civilization in the country.
+
+We do not propose at present to speak of the action of the American
+Congress relative to Oregon, but, as will be seen, to connect and bring
+into our own history such allusions of Mr. Greenhow as serve to
+illustrate and prove the several propositions we have stated respecting
+the early history of its settlement, and also to prepare the reader to
+understand in a manner the combined influences that were ready to
+contest any claim or effort any American company or citizen might make
+for the future occupation of the country.
+
+It will be seen that no company of settlers or traders could have
+succeeded, having arrived in advance of the American missionaries. They
+were unquestionably the only nucleus around which a permanent settlement
+could have been formed, eleven different American fur companies having
+commenced and failed, as will be shown; and although Mr. Greenhow seems
+to regard and treat the American missionary effort with contempt, yet
+impartial history will place them in the foreground, and award to them
+an honorable place in counteracting foreign influences and saving the
+country to its rightful owners.
+
+It will be seen by the preliminary and following remarks and narrative
+of events, and by a careful study of all the histories and journals to
+which we have had occasion to refer, or from which we have quoted a
+statement, that the forming, civilizing, and political period in our
+Oregon history is all a blank, except that the Hudson's Bay Company were
+the patron saints, the noble and generous preservers of the "_knaves_"
+and "_ruffians_" that came to this country to rob them of their pious
+and humane labors to civilize their accomplished native "concubines."
+That, according to their ideas, the missionaries, such as came from the
+United States, "_though bad_," could become "_humanized_, _tolerant_,"
+and even "_honest_," by associating with such noble, generous, tolerant,
+virtuous, and pure-minded traders as controlled the affairs of that
+company, under the faithfully-executed and stringent rules of the
+honorable directors in London.
+
+At the present time there is an additional important reason for a better
+understanding and a more thorough knowledge of the influences and
+operations of this British monopoly than formerly. Notwithstanding they
+have been driven from Oregon by its American settlement, they have
+retired to British Columbia, and, like barnacles upon a ship's bottom,
+have fastened themselves all along the Russian and American territories,
+to repeat just what they did in Oregon; and, with the savage hordes with
+whom they have always freely mingled, they will repeat their
+depredations upon our American settlements, and defeat every effort to
+civilize or Christianize the natives over whom they have any influence.
+
+Six generations of natives have passed away under their system of trade
+and civilization. The French, English, and Indians before our American
+revolution and independence could not harmonize. The French were driven
+from their American possessions and control over the Indians, and peace
+followed. The Indians, English, and Americans can not harmonize; they
+never have, and they never will; hence, it becomes a question of vast
+moment, not only to the Indian race, but to the American people, as to
+the propriety and expediency of allowing the English nation or British
+or foreign subjects to further exercise any influence among our American
+Indians.
+
+Mr. A. H. Jackson estimates the expense of our Indian wars, since 1831
+to the present time, at one thousand millions of dollars and
+thirty-seven thousand lives of our citizens, not counting the lives of
+Indians destroyed by our American wars with them. If the reader will
+carefully read and candidly judge of the historical facts presented in
+the following pages, we have no fears but they will join us in our
+conclusions, that the Monroe doctrine is irrevocably and of necessity
+fixed in our American existence as a nation at peace with all, which we
+can not have so long as any foreign sectarian or political organizations
+are permitted to have a controlling influence over savage minds. A
+Frenchman, an Englishman, a Mormon, a Roman priest, any one, or all of
+them, fraternizing as they do with the Indian, can work upon his
+prejudices and superstitions and involve our country in an Indian
+war--which secures the Indian trade to the British fur company. This is
+the great object sought to be accomplished in nearly all the wars our
+government has had with them.
+
+One other remarkable fact is noted in all our Indian wars, the American
+or Protestant missionaries have been invariably driven from among those
+tribes, while the Roman Jesuit missionaries have been protected and
+continued among the Indians, aiding and counseling them in the
+continuance of those wars. It is no new thing that ignorance,
+superstition, and sectarian hate has produced such results upon the
+savage mind, and our Oregon history shows that a shrewd British fur
+company can duly appreciate and make use of just such influences to
+promote and perpetuate their trade on the American continent.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+     Occupants of the country.--Danger to outsiders.--Description of
+     missionaries.
+
+
+In 1832, this entire country, from the Russian settlement on the north
+to the gulf of California on the south, the Rocky Mountains on the east
+to the Pacific Ocean on the west, was under the absolute and undisputed
+control of the Honorable Hudson's Bay Company; and the said company
+claimed and exercised exclusive civil, religious, political, and
+commercial jurisdiction over all this vast country, leaving a narrow
+strip of neutral territory between the United States and their assumed
+possessions, lying between the Rocky Mountains and the western borders
+of Missouri. Its inhabitants were gentlemen of the Hudson's Bay
+Company,--their clerks, traders, and servants,--consisting mostly of
+Canadian-French, half-breeds, and natives.
+
+Occasionally, when a venturesome Yankee ship or fur trader entered any
+of the ports of the aforesaid country for trade, exploration, or
+settlement, this honorable company asserted its licensed and exclusive
+right to drive said vessel, trader, explorer, or settler from it. Should
+he be so bold as to venture to pass the trained bands of the wild
+savages of the mountains, or, even by accident, reach the sacred
+trading-ground of this company, he was helped to a passage out of it, or
+allowed to perish by the hand of any savage who saw fit to punish him
+for his temerity.
+
+While this exclusive jurisdiction was claimed and exercised by the
+company, four wild, untutored Indians of the Flathead tribe learned from
+an American trapper, who had strayed into their country, that there was
+a Supreme Being, worthy of worship, and that, by going to his country,
+they could learn all about him. Four of these sons of the wilderness
+found their way to St. Louis, Missouri, in 1832. Mr. Catlin, a
+celebrated naturalist and artist, I believe not a member of any
+religious sect, learned the object that had brought these red men from
+the mountains of Oregon, and gave the fact to the religious public.
+
+This little incident, though small in itself, resulted in the
+organization, in 1833, of the Missionary Board of the Methodist
+Episcopal Church, the appointment of Rev. Jason Lee and associates, to
+the establishment of the Methodist Mission in the Wallamet Valley in
+1834, the appointment of Rev. Samuel Parker and Dr. Marcus Whitman, by
+the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, to explore
+the country in 1835, and the establishment of a mission by said Board in
+1836.
+
+Rev. Jason Lee, of Stansted, Canada East, a man of light hair, blue
+eyes, fair complexion, spare habit, above ordinary height, a little
+stoop-shouldered, with strong nerve and indomitable will, yet a meek,
+warm-hearted, and humble Christian, gaining by his affable and easy
+manners the esteem of all who became acquainted with him, was the first
+to volunteer.
+
+Rev. Daniel Lee, a nephew of Jason, was the second;--the opposite of the
+former in every particular--of medium height. The general impression of
+outsiders was, that his moral qualities were not of the highest order,
+yet it is not known that any specific charges were ever brought against
+him.
+
+Cyrus Shepard, a lay member, was a devoted Christian, and a faithful
+laborer for the advancement of the objects of the mission and the
+general welfare of all in the country. We have never learned that he had
+an enemy or a slanderer while he lived in it. On his first arrival he
+taught the Hudson's Bay Company's school at Vancouver, consisting of
+children belonging to persons in the employ of the company, till the
+mission buildings were ready, when he gathered a large school of Indian
+and French half-breed children, and was quite successful in teaching the
+rudiments of an English education. Rev. D. Lee and Mr. Shepard were from
+New England.
+
+Mr. P. L. Edwards, of Missouri, also a lay member, was of the company.
+But little is known of him; the inducements to become a permanent
+settler in the country do not appear in his case.
+
+Rev. Samuel Parker, of Ithaca, New York, a man of good education and
+refinement, and exceedingly set in his opinions and conclusions of men
+and things, came to explore the country, and report to the American
+Board as to the feasibility of establishing missions among the Indians,
+one of the missionaries of the American Board, from the Sandwich
+Islands, having visited the coast in an American ship, several years
+previous, and made an unfavorable report on account of the fur-trade
+influence against American traders, giving the impression that American
+missionaries would not be tolerated in the country.
+
+Mr. Parker was inclined to self-applause, requiring his full share of
+ministerial approbation or respect, though not fully qualified to draw
+it cheerfully from an audience or his listeners; was rather fastidious.
+
+Dr. Marcus Whitman, of Rushville, New York, sent in company with Mr.
+Parker to explore the country. A man of easy, _don't-care_ habits, that
+could become all things to all men, and yet a sincere and earnest man,
+speaking his mind before he thought the second time, giving his views on
+all subjects without much consideration, correcting and changing them
+when good reasons were presented, yet, when fixed in the pursuit of an
+object, adhering to it with unflinching tenacity. A stranger would
+consider him fickle and stubborn, yet he was sincere and kind, and
+generous to a fault, devoting every energy of his mind and body to the
+welfare of the Indians and objects of the mission; seldom manifesting
+fears of any danger that might surround him, at times he would become
+animated and earnest in his argument or conversation. In his profession
+he was a bold practitioner, and generally successful. He was above
+medium height; of spare habit; peculiar hair, a portion of each being
+white and a dark brown, so that it might be called iron-gray; deep blue
+eyes, and large mouth.
+
+The peculiarities of Messrs. Parker and Whitman were such, that, when
+they had reached the rendezvous on Green River, in the Rocky Mountains,
+they agreed to separate; not because Dr. Whitman was not willing and
+anxious to continue the exploring expedition, in company with Mr.
+Parker, but because Mr. P. could not "put up" with the off-hand,
+careless, and, as he thought, slovenly manner in which Dr. Whitman was
+inclined to travel. Dr. W. was a man that could accommodate himself to
+circumstances; such as dipping the water from the running stream with
+his hand, to drink; having but a hunter's knife (without a fork) to cut
+and eat his food; in short, could _rough it_ without qualms of stomach.
+
+Rev. Mr. Parker had left a refined family circle, and his habits had
+become somewhat delicate from age and long usage in comfortable and
+agreeable society; hence his peculiar habits were not adapted to Rocky
+Mountain travel in those early days. Still, the great object on which
+they were sent must not be lost sight of. Their sense of moral
+obligation was such, that a reason must be given why Dr. Whitman returns
+to the States, and Mr. Parker proceeds alone on his perilous journey to
+this then unknown country. Here again the wild Indian comes in, by
+instinct, order, or providence (as the unbeliever may choose to call
+it), and offers to take charge of this delicate old gentleman, and
+carries him in triumph through the Rocky Mountains, and all through his
+country, and, in Indian pomp and splendor, delivers this rev. "_black
+coat_" to P. C. Pambrun, Esq., chief clerk of the Honorable Hudson's Bay
+Company, at old Fort Wallawalla, supplying his every want on the
+journey, caring for his horses and baggage, not asking or receiving any
+thing, except such presents as Mr. Parker chose to give them on the way
+and at parting.
+
+Dr. Whitman, it will be remembered, was associated with Mr. Parker,
+under the direction of the American Board. They had arrived at the
+rendezvous in the Rocky Mountains; most of the Nez Perces were at the
+American rendezvous. Ish-hol-hol-hoats-hoats, a young Nez Perce Indian
+(named by the American trappers, _Lawyer_, on account of his shrewdness
+in argument, and his unflinching defense of American against British and
+foreign influences), having learned of their arrival, came to them and
+settled matters quite satisfactorily to both, by requesting Mr. Parker
+to go with them to their country, they having heard of Rev. Mr. Lee and
+party going to settle near the _husus-hai-hai_ (White Head), as the
+natives called Dr. John McLaughlin, in the Wallamet Valley. They
+consented to let the Doctor take two of their boys. To Ites he gave the
+name of John; Tuetakas he called Richard. Dr. Whitman was to go to the
+States, report to the American Board, and procure associates and the
+material to establish a mission in the Nez Perce country.
+
+The Nez Perces were to take charge of Mr. Parker, and carry him forward
+in his explorations, and meet Dr. W., on his return next year, at the
+place of rendezvous in the mountains, to conduct him and his party to
+the place Mr. Parker might select for a mission establishment. Rev. S.
+Parker, in company with the Indians, went on, and Dr. Whitman, with his
+two Indian boys, with the American Fur Company, Capts. Fitzpatrick,
+Bridger, and others, started on their way to the States, or "home from
+the Rocky Mountains." Dr. Whitman, by his off-hand, easy manner of
+accommodating himself to circumstances, and by his kind-heartedness and
+promptness to relieve all who needed his professional skill, had won the
+esteem of all with whom he traveled, so that the gentlemen of the
+American Fur Company cheerfully supplied his wants on his return trip to
+the States, where he arrived in due time, made his report to the
+American Board, who decided to establish the mission, as per arrangement
+with Parker and Whitman, on separating in the Rocky Mountains.
+
+Mrs. Whitman, formerly Miss Narcissa Prentiss, of Prattsburg, Steuben
+County, New York, was a lady of refined feelings and commanding
+appearance. She had very light hair, light, fresh complexion, and light
+blue eyes. Her features were large, her form full and round. At the time
+she arrived in the country, in the prime of life, she was considered a
+fine, noble-looking woman, affable and free to converse with all she
+met. Her conversation was animated and cheerful. Firmness in her was
+natural, and to some, especially the Indians, it was repulsive. She had
+been brought up in comparative comfort, and moved in the best of
+religious society in the place of her residence. She was a good singer,
+and one of her amusements, as well as that of her traveling companions,
+was to teach the Doctor to sing, which she did with considerable
+success,--that is, he could sing the native songs without much
+difficulty.
+
+The American Board appointed Rev. H. H. Spalding and wife to accompany
+Dr. Whitman and wife, to aid in establishing the Nez Perce mission. Mr.
+Spalding and wife had just completed their preparatory course of
+education in Lane Seminary, near Cincinnati, Ohio.
+
+The first impression of the stranger on seeing H. H. Spalding is, that
+he has before him an unusual countenance. He begins to examine, and
+finds a man with sharp features, large, brown eyes, dark hair, high,
+projecting forehead, with many wrinkles, and a head nearly bald. He is
+of medium size, stoop-shouldered, with a voice that can assume a mild,
+sharp, or boisterous key, at the will of its owner; quite impulsive, and
+bitter in his denunciations of a real, or supposed enemy; inclined in
+the early part of his missionary labors to accumulate property for the
+especial benefit of his family, though the practice was disapproved of
+and forbidden by the regulations of the American Board. In his
+professional character he was below mediocrity. As a writer or
+correspondent he was bold, and rather eloquent, giving overdrawn
+life-sketches of passing events. His moral influence was injured by
+strong symptoms of passion, when provoked or excited. In his labors for
+the Indians, he was zealous and persevering, in his preaching or talking
+to them, plain and severe, and in his instructions wholly practical. For
+instance, to induce the natives to work and cultivate their lands, he
+had Mrs. Spalding paint a representation of Adam and Eve, as being
+driven from the garden of Eden by an angel,--Adam with a hoe on his
+shoulder, and Eve with her spinning-wheel. He taught the natives that
+God commanded them to work, as well as pray. Had he been allowed to
+continue his labors with the tribe, undisturbed by sectarian and
+anti-religious influences, he would have effected great good, and the
+tribe been now admitted as citizens of the United States. As a citizen
+and neighbor he was kind and obliging; to his family he was kind, yet
+severe in his religious observances. He was unquestionably a sincere,
+though not always humble, Christian. The loss of his wife, and the
+exciting and savage massacre of his associates, produced their effect
+upon him. Charity will find a substantial excuse for most of his faults,
+while virtue and truth, civilization and religion, will award him a
+place as a faithful, zealous, and comparatively successful missionary.
+
+Mrs. Spalding was the daughter of a plain, substantial farmer, by the
+name of Hart, of Oneida County, New York. She was above the medium
+height, slender in form, with coarse features, dart brown hair, blue
+eyes, rather dark complexion, coarse voice, of a serious turn of mind,
+and quick in understanding language. In fact she was remarkable in
+acquiring the Nez Perce language, so as to understand and converse with
+the natives quite easily by the time they reached their station at
+Lapwai. She could paint indifferently in water-colors, and had been
+taught, while young, all the useful branches of domestic life; could
+spin, weave, and sew, etc.; could prepare an excellent meal at short
+notice; was generally sociable, but not forward in conversation with or
+in attentions to gentlemen. In this particular she was the opposite of
+Mrs. Whitman. With the native women Mrs. Spalding always appeared easy
+and cheerful, and had their unbounded confidence and respect. She was
+remarkable for her firmness and decision of character in whatever she or
+her husband undertook. She never appeared to be alarmed or excited at
+any difficulty, dispute, or alarms common to the Indian life around her.
+She was considered by the Indian men as a brave, fearless woman, and was
+respected and esteemed by all. Though she was frequently left for days
+alone, her husband being absent on business, but a single attempted
+insult was ever offered her. Understanding their language, her cool,
+quick perception of the design enabled her to give so complete and
+thorough a rebuff to the attempted insult, that, to hide his disgrace,
+the Indian offering it fled from the tribe, not venturing to remain
+among them. In fact, a majority of the tribe were in favor of hanging
+the Indian who offered the insult, but Mrs. Spalding requested that they
+would allow him to live, that he might repent of his evil designs and do
+better in future. In this short sketch of Mrs. Spalding the reader is
+carried through a series of years. We shall have occasion, as we
+progress in our sketches, to refer to these two ladies. They are not
+fictitious characters,--they lived; came over the Rocky Mountains in
+1836; they are dead and buried, Mrs. Spalding near the Callapooya, in
+the Wallamet Valley. Mrs. Whitman's remains, such portions of them as
+could be found, are buried not far from the place of her labors among
+the Cayuses. The last time we passed the ground not even a common board
+marked the place. We noticed a hollow in the ground, said to be the
+place where the very Rev. Mr. Brouillet, vicar-general of Wallawalla,
+says "the bodies were all deposited in a common grave which had been dug
+the day previous by Joseph Stanfield, and, before leaving, I saw that
+they were covered with earth, but I have since learned that the graves,
+not having been soon enough inclosed, had been molested by the wolves,
+and that some of the corpses had been devoured by them." Bear this
+statement in mind, reader, as we proceed. We will tell you just how much
+he knows of the why and wherefore such things occurred in those early
+times. A part of the facts are already in history.
+
+Messrs. Whitman and Spalding, with their wives, and a reinforcement for
+the Pawnee mission, made their way to Liberty Landing, on the Missouri
+River. At that place they were joined by a young man by the name of W.
+H. Gray, from Utica, New York, who was solicited by the agents of the
+American Board to join this expedition as its secular agent.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+     Missionary outfit.--On the way.--No roads.--An English nobleman.--A
+     wagon taken along.--Health of Mrs. Spalding.--Meeting mountain men
+     and Indians.--A feast to the Indians.
+
+
+The mission party had brought with them a full supply of all the
+supposed _et caeteras_ for a life and residence two thousand miles from
+any possible chance to renew those supplies when exhausted, having the
+material for a blacksmith shop, a plow, and all sorts of seeds,
+clothing, etc., to last for two years. Gray found his hands full in
+making calculations for the transportation of this large amount of
+baggage, or goods, as the trader would say. In a few days wagons, teams,
+pack-mules, horses, and cows, were all purchased in the county of
+Liberty, Missouri, the goods all overhauled, repacked, loaded into the
+two mission wagons, and an extra team hired to go as far as Fort
+Leavenworth. Spalding and Gray started with the train, three wagons,
+eight mules, twelve horses, and sixteen cows, two men, two Indian boys,
+and the man with the extra team. Dr. Whitman, having the ladies in
+charge, was to come up the Missouri River in the first boat, and await
+the arrival of the train having the greater portion of the goods with
+it. Boats on the Missouri River not being so numerous as at the present
+time, the Doctor and party did not reach Leavenworth till the train had
+arrived. They rearranged their goods, discharged the extra team, held a
+consultation, and concluded that the Doctor and ladies would keep the
+boat to Council Bluffs, the point from which the American Fur Company's
+caravan was to start that year. Learning that the company was to start
+in six days, the conclusion was that the cattle and goods had better
+proceed as fast as possible.
+
+The third day, in the morning, some forty miles from Fort Leavenworth,
+as we were about starting, a white boy, about sixteen years old, came
+into camp, having on an old torn straw hat, an old ragged fustian coat,
+scarcely half a shirt, with buckskin pants, badly worn, but one
+moccasin, a powder-horn with no powder in it, and an old rifle. He had
+light flaxen hair, light blue eyes, was thin and spare, yet appeared in
+good health and spirits. He said he had started for the Rocky Mountains;
+he was from some place in Iowa; he had been without food for two days;
+he asked for some ammunition; thought he could kill some game to get
+along; the rain the night previous had wet him quite effectually; he was
+really cold, wet, nearly naked, and hungry. He was soon supplied from
+our stores with all he wanted, and advised to return to his friends in
+Iowa. To this he objected, and said if we would allow him he would go
+with us to Council Bluffs, and then go with the fur company to the
+mountains. He agreed to assist all he could in getting along. He was
+furnished a horse, and made an excellent hand while he remained with the
+party, which he did till he reached Fort Hall, on Snake River. There he
+joined a party that went with the Bannock Indians, and became a member
+of that tribe, and, as near as we can learn, married a native woman
+(some say three), and is using his influence to keep the tribe at war
+with the United States. Of this we have no positive knowledge, though if
+such is the fact he may have been a deserter from Fort Leavenworth. His
+name was Miles Goodyear.
+
+Within thirty miles of Council Bluffs a messenger overtook the
+missionary caravan, and stated that Mrs. Satterley, of the Pawnee
+mission, was dead; that Dr. Whitman and ladies were left at Fort
+Leavenworth; that they were coming on as fast as possible, with extra
+teams, to overtake us. Our party went into camp at once; the two wagons
+with horse teams started back to meet and bring up the balance of the
+party; wait two days at Omaha; fix one of the wagon boxes for a
+ferry-boat; Doctor and party arrive; cross all safe; get to camp late in
+the night. There was a slight jar in the feelings of some on account of
+haste, and slowness of movement, in others. However, as the fur company,
+with whom the mission party was to travel, was to start on a certain
+day, haste was absolutely necessary, and no time to be lost. Useless
+baggage overhauled and thrown away, cows started, mules and wagons
+loaded; Gray in charge of mules and cows, Spalding driver for a
+two-horse light wagon, Whitman the four-horse farm wagon. On goes the
+caravan; in two hours a message goes forward to Gray that Spalding has
+driven his wagon into a mud stream and broken his axletree; Gray goes
+back; soon repairs axletree by a new one; on Platte River; rains as it
+only can on that river, cold and almost sleet; nothing but a skin boat,
+that could carry but two trunks and one lady at a time; all day swimming
+by the side of the boat to get goods over; swim cattle, mules, and
+horses all over safe to north side.
+
+Overhaul and lighten our baggage; Rev. Mr. Dunbar for pilot, three men,
+and two Indian boys, we hasten on to overtake fur company's caravan.
+Second day, met one hundred Pawnee warriors on their way to Council
+Bluff agency. Mr. Dunbar being the missionary of the Pawnees, and
+understanding their language, we had no difficulty with them. Traveling
+early and late, we came up to the fur company at the Pawnee village,
+some two hours after their caravan had arrived and camped.
+
+At this point the missionary menagerie was first exhibited, not that
+they attempted to make any display, or posted any handbills, or charged
+any fee for exhibiting, but the strange appearance of two white ladies
+in a caravan consisting of rough American hunters, Canadian packers with
+Indian women, with all the paraphernalia of a wild mountain expedition,
+drew the attention of all. The mission party had with them some fine
+cows, good horses and mules, and were tolerably well fitted out for
+their expedition, except a superabundance of useless things, causing
+much perplexity and hard labor to transport over the rough plains in
+1836.
+
+It will be borne in mind that at that early time there was no road,--not
+even a trail or track, except that of the buffalo; and those made by
+them were invariably from the river, or watering-places, into the hills
+or bluffs. Their trails being generally deep, from long use by the
+animal, made it quite severe and straining upon our teams, wagons, and
+the nineteen carts the fur company carried their goods in that year. The
+caravan altogether consisted of nineteen carts, with two mules to each,
+one in the shafts and one ahead, one light Dearborn wagon, two mules and
+two wagons belonging to an English nobleman, his titles all on, Sir
+William Drummond, K. B., who had come to the United States to allow his
+fortune to recuperate during his absence. He had been spending his
+winters in New Orleans with the Southern bloods, and his bankers in
+England complained that his income was not sufficient to meet his large
+expenditures; he was advised to take a trip to the Rocky Mountains,
+which would occupy him during the summer and sickly season, during which
+time he could only spend what he had with him, and could have a fine
+hunting excursion. This English nobleman with his party consisted of
+himself and a young English blood. I did not learn whether he was of the
+first, second, third, or fourth grade in the scale of English nobility;
+be that as it may, Sir William D., K. B., messed and slept in the same
+tent with this traveling companion of his, who, between them, had three
+servants, two dogs, and four extra fine horses, to run and hunt the
+buffalo. Occasionally, they would give chase to that swiftest of
+mountain animals, the antelope, which, in most instances, would,
+especially where the grass was short, leave them in the distance, when
+Sir William and his companion would come charging back to the train,
+swearing the antelope could outrun a streak of lightning, and offering
+to bet a thousand pounds that if he had one of his English 'orses he
+could catch 'em. The English nobleman, as a matter of course, was
+treated with great respect by all in the caravan; while in the presence
+of the ladies he assumed quite a dignified carriage, being a man (excuse
+me, your honor), a lord of the British realm, on a hunting excursion in
+North America, in the Rocky Mountains, in the year A.D. 1836. He was
+about five feet nine inches high. His face had become thin from the free
+use of New Orleans brandy, rendering his nose rather prominent, showing
+indications of internal heat in bright red spots, and inclining a little
+to the rum blossom, that would make its appearance from the sting of a
+mosquito or sand-fly, which to his lordship was quite annoying. Though
+his lordship was somewhat advanced in years, and, according to his own
+account, had traveled extensively in the oriental countries, he did not
+show in his conversation extensive mental improvement; his general
+conversation and appearance was that of a man with strong prejudices,
+and equally strong appetites, which he had freely indulged, with only
+pecuniary restraint. His two wagons, one with two horses, the other with
+four mules, with drivers, and a servant for cook and waiter, constituted
+his train--as large as his means would permit on that trip. All of the
+carts and wagons were covered with canvas to protect the goods from
+storms. Sir William traveled under the _alias_ of Captain Stewart.
+
+The order of march was as follows: Cattle and loose animals in advance
+in the morning, coming up in rear at night; fur company and Captain
+Stewart's teams in advance; mission party in rear till we reached Fort
+Laramie. All went smoothly and in order. At the Pawnee village the fur
+company was short of meat or bacon. Arrangements were made to slaughter
+one of the mission cows, and replace it at Laramie. Two days from Pawnee
+village the hunters brought into camp some bull buffalo meat; next day
+cow buffalo meat in abundance. Not far from Scott's Bluff, passed some
+hunters on their way down Platte River in boats; arrive at Fort Laramie,
+just above the mouth of that river; cross the Platte in two dug-outs,
+lashed together with sticks and poles, so as to carry the goods and
+carts all over to the fort. At that establishment the company and
+Captain Stewart leave all their wagons and carts except one, deeming it
+impracticable to proceed further with them.
+
+On account of the ladies, Dr. Whitman insisted on taking one of the
+mission wagons along. The fur company concluded to try the experiment
+with him, and took one of their carts along. Overhaul all the baggage,
+select out all, that, with the knowledge any one had of the future wants
+of the mission party, could be dispensed with; put the balance up in
+packages of one hundred pounds each; for the top packs, fifty pounds;
+for mules, two hundred and fifty pounds; for horses, in proportion to
+strength. About the first of June, 1836, the caravan started from
+Laramie. All the goods on pack animals, wagon and cart light, Gray in
+charge of mission pack-train, with two men and one boy, two pack animals
+each; Spalding of cows, loose animals, and ladies, with the two Indian
+boys to assist in driving; Dr. Whitman in charge of the wagon train,
+consisting of the fur company's cart and mission wagon; but one man in
+the cart and one in the wagon. On we go; the first day from Laramie had
+some difficulty in getting through a cotton-wood bottom on the river, on
+account of fallen timber in the trail. Whitman came into the camp
+puffing and blowing, in good spirits, all right side up, with only one
+turn over with the wagon and two with the cart. The fur company being
+interested in exploring a wagon route to Green River, next day gave the
+Doctor two additional men to assist in exploring and locating the road,
+and getting the wagon and cart over difficult places. Second day all
+right; train moves on; hunters in advance; cattle usually traveling
+slower than the train, were started in the morning in advance of the
+train, which usually passed them about one hour before reaching camp at
+night; at noon they usually all stop together. At the crossing of Platte
+below Red Buttes, in the Black Hills, kill buffalo, took hides, made
+willow frames for boats, sewed the hides together to cover the frames,
+used tallow for pitch, dried the skin boats over a fire, the rain having
+poured down all the time we were getting ready to cross. However, as
+fortune always favors the brave, as the saying is, it did us this time,
+for in the morning, when our boats were ready, it cleared up, the sun
+came out bright and clear, so that we had a fine time getting all things
+over. Next day on we moved, over the hills, through the valleys, around
+and among the salt pits to a willow grove to camp.
+
+With the company was a gentleman from St. Louis, a Major Pilcher. He
+usually rode a fine white mule, and was dressed in the top of hunting or
+mountain style, such as a fine buckskin coat trimmed with red cloth and
+porcupine quills, fine red shirt, nice buckskin pants, and moccasins
+tinged and nicely trimmed; he was, in fact, very much of a gentleman in
+all his conversation and deportment. The major was also considerable of
+a gallant (as I believe most titled gentlemen are). He was proceeding
+around one of those clay salt pits, and explaining to the ladies their
+nature and danger, when suddenly mule, major and all dropped out of
+sight, except the mule's ears and the fringe on the major's coat.
+Instantly several men were on hand with ropes, and assisted the major
+and mule out of the pit. _Such a sight!_ you may imagine what you
+please, I will not attempt to describe it. However, no particular harm
+was done the major, only the thorough saturation of his fine suit of
+buckskin, and mule, with that indescribably adhesive mud. He took it all
+in good part, and joined in the jokes on the occasion. No other
+remarkable incident occurred till we arrived at Rock Independence. On
+the south end of that rock nearly all the prominent persons of the party
+placed their names, and date of being there.
+
+Later wagon trains and travelers have complained, and justly, of sage
+brush and the difficulties of this route. Whitman and his four men
+opened it as far as they could with a light wagon and a cart. To him
+must be given the credit of the first practical experiment, though
+Ashtley, Bonneville, and Bridger had taken wagons into the Rocky
+Mountains and left them, and pronounced the experiment a failure, and a
+wagon road impracticable. Whitman's perseverance demonstrated a great
+fact--the practicability of a wagon road over the Rocky Mountains. You
+that have rolled over those vast plains and slept in your Concord
+coaches or Pullman palace cars, have never once imagined the toil and
+labor of that old off-hand pioneer, as he mounted his horse in the
+morning and rode all day in the cold and heat of the mountains and
+plains, to prove that a wagon road was practicable to the waters of the
+Columbia River. Even Fremont, seven years after, claims to be the
+discoverer of the passes through which Whitman took his cart and wagon,
+and kept up with the pack-train from day to day.
+
+From Rock Independence the health of Mrs. Spalding seemed gradually to
+decline. She was placed in the wagon as much as would relieve her, and
+changed from wagon to saddle as she could bear, to the American
+rendezvous on Green River.
+
+From Rock Independence information was sent forward into the mountains
+of the arrival of the caravan, and about the time and place they
+expected to reach the rendezvous. This information reached not only the
+American trapper and hunter in the mountains, but the Snake, Bannock,
+Nez Perce, and Flathead tribes, and the traders of the Hudson's Bay
+Company. Two days before we arrived at our rendezvous, some two hours
+before we reached camp, the whole caravan was alarmed by the arrival of
+some ten Indians and four or five white men, whose dress and appearance
+could scarcely be distinguished from that of the Indians. As they came
+in sight over the hills, they all gave a yell, such as hunters and
+Indians only can give; whiz, whiz, came their balls over our heads, and
+on they came, in less time than it will take you to read this account.
+The alarm was but for a moment; our guide had seen a white cloth on one
+of their guns, and said, "Don't be alarmed, they are friends," and sure
+enough, in a moment here they were. It was difficult to tell which was
+the most crazy, the horse or the rider; such hopping, hooting, running,
+jumping, yelling, jumping sage brush, whirling around, for they could
+not stop to reload their guns, but all of us as they came on gave them a
+salute from ours, as they passed to the rear of our line and back again,
+hardly stopping to give the hand to any one. On to camp we went.
+
+At night, who should we find but old Takkensuitas and
+Ish-hol-hol-hoats-hoats (Lawyer), with a letter from Mr. Parker, which
+informed the party that he had arrived safely at Wallawalla, and that
+the Indians had been kind to him, and from what he had seen and could
+learn of them, they were well disposed toward all white men. Mr. Parker,
+as his journal of that trip and observations will show, was a man of
+intelligence, and a close observer of men and things.
+
+He soon learned, on arriving at Wallawalla, that there was a bitter
+anti-American feeling in the country, and that, notwithstanding he had
+arrived in it uninvited, and without the aid of the _Honorable_ Hudson's
+Bay Company, he was in it, nevertheless, as the guest of the Nez Perce
+Indians. They had found him in the Rocky Mountains; they brought him to
+Wallawalla; they had received him, treated him kindly, and proved to him
+that they were not only friendly, but anxious to have the American
+influence and civilization come among them. Rev. Jason Lee and party
+were in the country. Abundance of unasked advice was given to him by
+Hudson's Bay Company's men; his caution prevailed; he was to let Dr.
+Whitman, or the mission party that might be sent across the mountains,
+hear from him by the Indians. Feeling certain that any advice or
+information he might attempt to communicate to his missionary friends
+would in all probability be made use of to their detriment, and perhaps
+destroy the mission itself, he did not deem it prudent to write or to
+give any advice. Should any party come on before he could reach them,
+his note was sufficient to inform them of the fact of his safe arrival
+and the friendly treatment he had received of the Indians; further than
+this he did not feel safe to communicate--not for want of confidence in
+the Indians, but from what he saw and learned of the feelings of the
+Hudson's Bay Company. Yet he felt that, notwithstanding they were
+showing him outwardly every attention, yet they evidently did not wish
+to see the American influence increase in any shape in the country.
+
+Rev. Mr. Parker's letter, short and unsatisfactory as it was, caused
+considerable expression of unpleasant feeling on the part of those who
+considered they had a right to a more full and extended communication.
+But Mr. Parker was at Vancouver, or somewhere else; they might and they
+might not meet him; he may and he may not have written more fully.
+
+At supper time old Takkensuitas (Rotten Belly) and
+Ish-hol-hol-hoats-hoats were honored with a place at the missionary
+board. With your permission, ladies and gentlemen, I will give you the
+bill of fare on this memorable occasion. Place--by the side of a muddy
+stream called Sandy, about thirty miles south of Wind River Mountain.
+This mountain, you will remember, is about as near the highest point of
+the North American continent as can be. This fact is established, not
+from geographical or barometrical observations, but from the simple fact
+that water runs from it by way of the Missouri, Colorado, and Columbia
+rivers into the eastern, southern, and western oceans, and but a short
+distance to the north of this mountain commences the waters of the
+Saskatchewan River, running into Hudson's Bay and the northern ocean.
+There are doubtless many other mountains whose peaks ascend higher into
+the clouds, but none of them supply water to so vast an extent of
+country, and none of them are so decidedly on top of the continent as
+this one. Of course our little party is in a high altitude, and in sight
+of this mountain, which may or may not have been ten thousand feet
+higher to its snow-capped peaks. Date--about the 20th day of July, 1836.
+Our table was the grass beside this muddy stream; cloth--an old broken
+oil-cloth badly used up; plates--when the company started were called
+tin, but from hard usage were iron in all shapes; cups--ditto;
+knives--the common short-bladed wooden-handled butcher knife; forks--a
+stick each cut to suit himself, or, if he preferred the primitive mode
+of conveying his food to its proper destination, he was at liberty to
+practice it; food extra on this occasion--a nice piece of venison, which
+the Indians had presented to the ladies, a piece of broiled and roast
+buffalo meat, roasted upon a stick before the fire, seasoned with a
+little salt, with a full proportion of sand and dirt. Dr. Whitman was
+inclined to discard the use of salt entirely; as to dirt and sand it was
+a matter upon which he and Mr. Parker differed on the trip the year
+previous, though Mrs. Whitman took sides with Mr. Parker against the
+Doctor, and with the assistance of Mrs. Spalding, the Doctor was kept in
+most cases within reasonable distance of comfortable cleanliness. On
+this occasion tea, with sugar, was used; the supply of bread was
+limited; we will not trouble the reader with an extra list of the
+dessert. Of this feast these sons of the wilderness partook with
+expressions of great satisfaction. The Lawyer, twenty-seven years after,
+spoke of it as the time when his heart became one with the _Suapies_
+(Americans).
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+     Arrival at American rendezvous.--An Indian procession.--Indian
+     curiosity to see white women.--Captain N. Wyeth.--McCleod and T.
+     McKay.--Description of mountain men.--Their opinion of the
+     missionaries.
+
+
+In two days' easy travel we arrived at the great American rendezvous,
+held in an extensive valley in the forks formed by Horse Creek and Green
+River, on account of the abundance of wood, grass, and water all through
+the valley. Each party selected their own camp grounds, guarding their
+own animals and goods, as each felt or anticipated the danger he might
+be exposed to at the time. We will pass through this city of about
+fifteen hundred inhabitants--composed of all classes and conditions of
+men, and on this occasion two classes of women,--starting from a square
+log pen 18 by 18, with no doors, except two logs that had been cut so as
+to leave a space about four feet from the ground two feet wide and six
+feet long, designed for an entrance, as also a place to hand out goods
+and take in furs. It was covered with poles, brush on top of the poles;
+in case of rain, which we had twice during our stay at the rendezvous,
+the goods were covered with canvas, or tents thrown over them. Lumber
+being scarce in that vicinity, floors, doors, as well as sash and glass,
+were dispensed with. The spaces between the logs were sufficient to
+admit all the light requisite to do business in this primitive store. At
+a little distance from the store were the camps of the fur company, in
+which might be seen the pack-saddles and equipage of the mules, in piles
+to suit the taste and disposition of the men having them in charge. The
+trading-hut was a little distance from the main branch of Green River,
+so situated that the company's mules and horses could all be driven
+between the store and the river, the tents and men on either side, the
+store in front, forming a camp that could be defended against an attack
+of the Indians, in case they should attempt any thing of the kind. Green
+River, at the point where our city in the mountains is situated, is
+running from the west due east. West of the fur company's camp or store
+were most of the camps of the hunters and trappers; east of it, close to
+the river, was the missionary camp, while to the south, from one to
+three miles distant along Horse Creek, from its junction with Green
+River, where the Snake and Bannock Indians were camped, to six miles up
+that stream, were the camps of the Flatheads and Nez Perces. All these
+tribes were at peace that year, and met at the American rendezvous. The
+Indian camps were so arranged in the bends of the creek that they could
+defend themselves and their horses in case of any attack from the
+neighboring tribes, and also guard their horses while feeding in the
+day-time. The whole city was a military camp; every little camp had its
+own guards to protect its occupants and property from being stolen by
+its neighbor. The arrow or the ball decided any dispute that might
+occur. The only law known for horse-stealing was death to the thief, if
+the owner or the guard could kill him in the act. If he succeeded in
+escaping, the only remedy for the man who lost his horse was to buy, or
+steal another and take his chances in escaping the arrow or ball of the
+owner, or guard. It was quite fashionable in this city for all to go
+well armed, as the best and quickest shot gained the case in dispute. Of
+the number assembled, there must have been not far from one hundred
+Americans,--hunters and trappers; about fifty French, belonging
+principally to the caravan; some five traders; about twenty citizens, or
+outsiders, including the mission party. The Snakes and Bannocks mustered
+about one hundred and fifty warriors; the Nez Perces and Flatheads,
+about two hundred. By arrangement among themselves they got up a grand
+display for the benefit of their white visitors, which came off some six
+days after our American caravan had arrived at the rendezvous.
+
+The procession commenced at the east or lower end of the plain in the
+vicinity of the Snake and Bannock camps. The Nez Perces and Flatheads,
+passing from their camps down the Horse Creek, joined the Snake and
+Bannock warriors, all dressed and painted in their gayest uniforms, each
+having a company of warriors in war garb, that is, naked, except a
+single cloth, and painted, carrying their war weapons, bearing their war
+emblems and Indian implements of music, such as skins drawn over hoops
+with rattles and trinkets to make a noise. From the fact that no scalps
+were borne in the procession, I concluded this must be entirely a peace
+performance, and gotten up for the occasion. When the cavalcade,
+amounting to full five (some said six) hundred Indian warriors (though I
+noticed quite a number of native belles covered with beads), commenced
+coming up through the plain in sight of our camps, those of us who were
+not informed as to the object or design of this demonstration began to
+look at our weapons and calculate on a desperate fight. Captain Stewart,
+our English nobleman, and Major Pilcher waited on the mission ladies and
+politely informed them of the object of the display; they assured them
+there would be no danger or harm, and remained at their tents while the
+cavalcade passed. Mrs. Whitman's health was such that she could witness
+most of the display. Mrs. Spalding was quite feeble, and kept her tent
+most of the time. All passed off quietly, excepting the hooting and
+yelling of the Indians appropriate to the occasion.
+
+The display over, the mission camp around the tent was thronged. On
+first hearing the war-whoop, the savage yell, and the sound of the
+Indian war drum, all parties not in the secret of this surprise party,
+or native reception for their missionaries, at once drove in their
+animals, and prepared for the worst; hence the mission cows, horses, and
+camp, were all together. Major Pilcher and Captain Stewart enjoyed the
+surprise of the party, and were equally delighted with the effect and
+surprise manifested by the Indians, as they approached the mission camp.
+The wagon, and every thing about their camp, was examined. The Indians
+would pass and repass the tent, to get a sight of the two women
+belonging to the white men. Mrs. Spalding, feeble as she was, seemed to
+be the favorite with the Indian women; possibly from that fact alone she
+may have gained their sympathy to some extent. The Lawyer and
+Takkensuitas were constant visitors at the tent. Their Indian wives were
+with them, and showed a disposition to do all in their power to assist
+the missionaries. Mrs. Spalding's rest from the fatigues of the journey
+soon enabled her to commence a vocabulary of the Indian language. Mrs.
+Whitman also commenced one with her, but she was often interrupted by
+the attentions thought necessary to be paid to gentlemen callers. Excuse
+me, whoever believes that thirty-three years since there were no
+gentlemen on top of the Rocky Mountains. I can assure you that there
+were, and that all the refined education and manners of the daughter of
+Judge Prentiss, of Prattsburg, Steuben County, N. Y., found abundant
+opportunity to exhibit the cardinal ornaments of a religious and
+civilized country. No one, except an eye-witness, can appreciate or
+fully understand the charm there was in those early days in the sight of
+the form and white features of his mother. The rough veteran mountain
+hunter would touch his hat in a manner absolutely ridiculous, and often
+fail to express a designed compliment, which the mischief or good-humor
+of Mrs. Whitman sometimes enjoyed as a good joke. In consequence of
+these attentions or interruptions, she did not acquire the native
+language as fast as Mrs. Spalding, who showed but little attention to
+any one except the natives and their wives.
+
+The Indian curiosity had not fully subsided before the company were
+introduced to, and cordially greeted by, Captain Wyeth, who had been to
+the lower Columbia on a trading expedition. He had conducted Rev. Jason
+Lee and party to Fort Hall, where he had established a trading-post;
+thence he had gone to the lower country, received his goods from the
+brig _May Dacre_, made arrangements with the Hudson's Bay Company, sold
+his goods and establishment at Fort Hall to the Hudson's Bay Company,
+and was then on his way back to the States. Captain Wyeth, in all his
+motions and features, showed the shrewd Yankee and the man of business.
+He politely introduced the mission party to Messrs. John McLeod and
+Thomas McKay, of the Hudson's Bay Company. After the usual etiquette of
+introduction and common inquiries, Messrs. McLeod and McKay having
+retired to their camps, Captain W. entered into a full explanation of
+the whys and wherefores of Rev. Mr. Parker's short note, confirming the
+observations and suspicions of Mr. Parker, in reference to the treatment
+the missionaries might expect, giving a full statement of the feelings
+and efforts of the Hudson's Bay Company to get rid of all American
+influence, and especially traders. Turning, with a smile, upon the
+ladies, but addressing the gentlemen, he said, "You gentlemen have your
+wives along; if I do not greatly mistake the feelings of the gentlemen
+of the Hudson's Bay Company, they will be anxious to have their
+influence in teaching their own wives and children, and you will meet
+with a different reception from any other American party that has gone
+into the country." It would be useless to add in this sketch that the
+advice of Captain W. was of incalculable value in shaping the policy and
+conduct of the mission of the American Board in their necessary
+transactions and intercourse with the Hudson's Bay Company. Captain W.
+had fallen in with Rev. S. Parker, but could give no definite
+information about him or his plans, except that he was on his return to
+the United States, by way of the Sandwich Islands.
+
+As we have never seen a description of these semi-civilized men, that in
+youth had left their native countries, and found themselves thousands of
+miles away, in the midst of the Rocky Mountains, surrounded on all sides
+by wild, roving bands of savages, cut off from communication with
+civilization, except by the annual return of the fur company's traders,
+or occasional wandering to some distant trading-post, a thousand or five
+hundred miles from the borders of any State or settlement, we will at
+this time introduce to the reader several men as we found them at this
+American rendezvous, most of them finding their way eventually into the
+settlement of Oregon, and becoming active and prominent men in the
+organization of the provisional government, as also good citizens. Among
+these veteran Rocky Mountain hunters was a tall man, with long black
+hair, smooth face, dark eyes (inclining to turn his head a little to one
+side, as much as to say, "I can tell you all about it"), a
+harum-scarum, don't-care sort of a man, full of "life and fun in the
+mountains," as he expressed it. He came and paid his respects to the
+ladies, and said he had been in the mountains several years; he had not
+seen a white woman for so long he had almost forgotten how they looked.
+He appeared quite fond of telling "yarns." In the conversation, Mrs.
+Whitman asked him if he ever had any difficulty or fights with the
+Indians. "That we did," said he. "One time I was with Bridger's camp; we
+were traveling along that day, and the Blackfeet came upon us. I was
+riding an old mule. The Indians were discovered some distance off, so
+all the party put whip to their horses and started to get to a place
+where we could defend ourselves. My old mule was determined not to move,
+with all the beating I could give her, so I sung out to the boys to stop
+and fight the Indians where we were; they kept on, however. Soon, my old
+mule got sight of the Blackfeet coming; she pricked up her ears, and on
+she went like a streak, passed the boys, and away we went. I sung out to
+the boys, as I passed, 'Come on, boys, there is no use to stop and fight
+the Indians here.'" Fun and firmness were the two prominent
+characteristics of this young mountain hunter. He expressed a wish and a
+determination to visit and settle in lower Oregon (as the Wallamet
+Valley was then called). He had a native wife, and one son, just
+beginning to speak a few words. The father seemed, on my first noticing
+him, to be teaching this son of his to say "God d----n you," doubtless
+considering this prayer the most important one to teach his son to
+repeat, in the midst of the wild scenes with which he was surrounded.
+Though, to his credit be it said, this same wild, youthful mountaineer
+has become a good supporter of religious society, and has a respectable
+family, in an interesting neighborhood, near Forest Grove, in Oregon.
+
+We will call these mountain hunters by numbers, for convenience, as we
+shall refer to them in our future political sketches, in which they
+participated.
+
+No. 2. A man of medium height, black hair, black whiskers, dark-brown
+eyes, and very dark complexion; he was formerly from Kentucky. (I am not
+positive.) He was quite fond of telling yarns; still, as he was not
+considered very truthful, we will only give the story as we have it of
+the manner in which he and the one we will give as No. 3 obtained their
+titles. 2 and 3 were traveling together; 3 was from Cincinnati, Ohio.
+They had reached Independence, Mo.; says 3 to 2, "Titles are very
+necessary here in Missouri, what titles shall we take?" "Well," says 2,
+"I will take _Major_." 3 says, "I will take _Doctor_." Very good. They
+rode up to the best hotel in the place and called for lodgings.
+
+2. "Well, Doctor, what shall we have for supper?"
+
+3. "I don't care, Major, so as we get something to eat."
+
+The Major and the Doctor enjoyed their supper and have borne their
+titles to the present time. The Major has never been, from all I could
+learn of him, a very truthful man or reliable citizen. He spent several
+years in Oregon and in the mountains, and found his way back to
+Missouri. The Doctor is now a resident of Idaho. The most remarkable
+trait in his composition is story-telling, or yarns, and a disposition
+to make friends of all political parties, or join all religious
+sects--something of a good lord and good devil order. He appeared in
+those early times to belong to that party that paid him the best. He was
+first in the employ of the American Fur Company, but appeared to lend
+his influence to the Hudson's Bay Company. He also had a native wife of
+the Nez Perce tribe, and was considered by the Hudson's Bay Company a
+useful man to divide the American influence in trade with the Indians in
+the mountains, and equally useful to distract and divide the political
+influence of the early settlers. By his connection with the natives in
+marriage, the Hudson's Bay Company in trade, and good lord and good
+devil principles, he could adapt himself to the Protestant or Catholic
+religion, and in this manner become a kind of representative man,
+something like _strong lye and aquafortis mixed_, and just about as
+useful as such a mixture would be. He succeeded, by political
+maneuvering, or as the sailors say, "boxing the compass," to fill a
+place and draw a salary from Uncle Sam; carrying out the principles he
+has acted upon in his whole life, his efforts have been to neutralize
+what good others might do.
+
+No. 4. A young man from Ohio, of a serious turn of mind; at least I
+concluded this to be the case, from the fact that he asked of the ladies
+if they had any books to sell, or that they could spare. A nice
+pocket-bible was given him, for which he politely expressed his thanks,
+after offering to pay for it. The pay, of course, was declined, as a few
+bibles were brought along for distribution. This young man, in a few
+years, followed the mission party and became a settler and a prominent
+man in the provisional government.
+
+No. 5. A wild, reckless, don't-care sort of a youth, with a Nez Perce
+wife, so thoroughly attached to Indian ideas and customs that he has
+felt it beneath his dignity to turn from the ancient habits of the
+Indian to a "more recent invention" of religion and civilization. His
+curiosity was a little excited, which induced him to pay his respects to
+the missionaries, on account of their wives. He called on them, and
+spoke of some day finding his way somewhere down about where the
+missionaries might be located; as he had bought him a Nez Perce wife,
+she might want to go and see her people, and he might make up his mind
+to go and settle. This man, from his utter disregard for all moral and
+civilized social relations, has coiled himself up in the tribe he
+adopted, and spit out his venomous influence against all moral and civil
+improvement, training his children so that the better portion of the
+natives treat them with contempt. For a time he had considerable
+influence in shaping government policy toward the tribe and securing his
+own personal Indian position, to the injury of all other interests. I am
+unable to say how he obtained his title of colonel, unless it was from
+the influence he once pretended to have with the Indians, and a
+disposition on the part of those of his countrymen to title those who
+aspire to such honors.
+
+No. 6. What the miners nowadays would call a "plain, honest farmer,"
+with a native wife and one child. He called on the party, took a look at
+their cattle, and some four years afterward, after going into Mexico and
+Taos, found his way to the Wallamet as a settler, with a few head of
+cattle, which he managed to get through. This man is a quiet and good
+citizen, and has a respectable family of half-native children. The
+accursed influence of slavery in his neighborhood has borne heavily upon
+his children. Whether they will be able to rise above it and stand as
+examples of good citizens remains for them to demonstrate.
+
+No. 7. A short, thick-set man, with a Nez Perce wife; a good honest
+farmer; has done credit to himself and family in giving them every
+possible advantage for education and society, though the aquafortis
+mixture has been strong in his neighborhood; his family are respected;
+his Indian wife he considers as good as some of his neighbors', that
+don't like her or her children. In this opinion all who are not
+saturated with our _cultus_ mixture agree with him. His title in the
+mountains was Squire, but I think it has been improved since he came to
+the settlements by adding the E to it, he having been duly elected to
+fill the office under the provisional, territorial, and State
+government. I have learned, with much regret, that the Squire of the
+Rocky Mountains, who had courage and strength to meet and overcome all
+the dangers and trials of early times, has not the courage to resist the
+approaches of false friends and bad whisky, which will ultimately bring
+himself and his family to that certain destruction that follows the
+debasing habit of using liquor in any shape.
+
+No. 8. A fair, light-haired, light-complexioned, blue-eyed man, rather
+above the medium height, with a Nez Perce wife, came about the camp, had
+little or nothing to say. I am not quite certain that he had his native
+wife at that time, still he had one when he came into the settlement.
+He has a good farm, and if he avoids his false friends and the fatal
+habits of his neighbors, he may have a good name, which will be of more
+value to his children than his present social and vicious habits.
+
+Doctor Marcus Whitman, they considered, on the whole, was a good sort of
+a fellow; he was not so hide-bound but what he could talk with a common
+man and get along easily if his wife did not succeed in "_stiffening_,"
+starching him up; he would do first-rate, though there appeared
+considerable doubt in their minds, whether, from her stern, commanding
+manner, she would not eventually succeed in stiffening up the Doctor so
+that he would be less agreeable. Mrs. Whitman, they thought, was a woman
+of too much education and refinement to be thrown away on the Indians.
+"She must have had considerable romance in her disposition to have
+undertaken such an expedition with such a common, kind, good-hearted
+fellow as the Doctor. As to Spalding, he is so green he will do to
+spread out on a frog-pond; he may do to preach to Indians, but mountain
+men would have to be fly-blown before he could come near them. Mrs.
+Spalding is a first-rate woman; she has not got any starch in her; it is
+strange she ever picked up such a greenhorn as she has for a husband;
+she will do first-rate to teach the Indians, or anybody else; she has
+got good common sense, and doesn't put on any frills. As to Gray, he is
+young yet, is not quite so green as Spalding; he seems inclined to learn
+a little; by the time he goes to the Columbia River and travels about
+more, he will know a good deal more than he does now. He may do well in
+his department if he 'keeps his eye skinned.'"
+
+I suppose by this expression was meant a sharp look out for swindlers,
+rogues, and thieves, to see that they do not lie, cheat, and steal,
+every opportunity they may have, or at least that you do not allow them
+to take your property under false pretenses. Be that as it may, the
+general conclusion was, that, as this mission party had succeeded in
+getting thus far on their journey, they might get still further, and
+perhaps (most were certain) make a failure, either by being sent out of
+the country by the Hudson's Bay Company, or destroyed by the Indians.
+Good wishes and hopes that they might succeed were abundant from all, as
+was plainly expressed, and a disposition, in case the mission succeeded
+in establishing themselves, to find their way down into the Columbia
+River Valley with their native families, and become settlers about the
+mission stations. Lightly as these frank, open expressions of good
+wishes and future ideas of the mountain hunter may appear, the
+missionaries saw at once there was the germ of a future people to be
+gathered in the Columbia River Valley, probably of a mixed race. These
+men had all abandoned civilization and home for the wild hunter life in
+the midst of the mountains. They had enjoyed its wild sports, felt its
+fearful dangers and sufferings, and become, most of them, connected with
+native women--a large proportion of them with the Nez Perce and Flathead
+tribes. Their family, at least, could be benefited by education, and
+taught the benefits of civilization and Christianity. The men had
+expressed kind wishes, good feelings, and treated them kindly; why
+should they not include this class of men and their families in their
+efforts to benefit the Indians in the valleys of the Columbia River.
+
+As before stated, the mission party had been introduced by Captain Wyeth
+to Mr. John McLeod, a gentleman holding the rank of chief trader in the
+Hudson's Bay Company. He had frequent interviews and conversations with
+the mission party while at rendezvous, and as often as any of these
+mountain men met him at the mission camp, he would leave without
+ceremony. There appeared a mutual dislike, a sort of hatred between
+them. This chief trader of the Hudson's Bay Company, in the
+conversations had with him, informed the mission party that it was not
+the wish of the company to encourage any of these mountain hunters and
+trappers to go to the Columbia River to settle, or to have any thing to
+do with them, assigning as a reason that they would cause trouble and
+difficulties with the Indians. He also gave them to understand that
+should they need manual labor, or men to assist them in putting up their
+houses and making their improvements, the company would prefer to
+furnish it, to encouraging these men in going into the country. This
+intimation was distinctly conveyed to the party, with the advice and
+intimations received from Captain Wyeth, who had seen and understood all
+the policy of the Hudson's Bay Company, and had been compelled to sell
+his improvements at Fort Hall to this same McLeod, and his goods
+designed for the trade to Dr. McLaughlin, soon after their arrival in
+the country. These facts and statements, with the decided manner of Mr.
+McLeod, compelled the mission party to defer any effort for these
+mountain men, but subsequently they advised the sending of a man to
+travel with their camps.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+     Missionaries travel in company with Hudson's Bay Company's
+     party.--The Lawyer's kindness.--Arrival at Fort Hall.--Description
+     of the country.--The Salmon Indians.--The Hudson's Bay Company's
+     tariff.
+
+
+Letters all written to friends, and everybody supposed to have any
+particular interest in the person or individual who wrote them; the
+letters placed in the hands of Captain Wyeth; mission camp overhauled
+and assorted; all goods supposed unnecessary, or that could be replaced,
+such as irons for plows, blacksmith's tools, useless kettles, etc.,
+etc., disposed of. (All articles left, the party were careful to learn,
+could be had at Vancouver of the Hudson's Bay Company, or Methodist
+Mission, at reasonable prices.) Tents struck; good-byes said; over the
+party goes to Horse Creek, not far from the Nez Perce camp, where we
+found that of McLeod and McKay. Soon after we reached camp, along comes
+Dr. Whitman with his wagon, notwithstanding all parties and persons,
+except the Indians, advised him to leave it. He was literally alone in
+his determination to get his old wagon through on to the waters of the
+Columbia, and to the mission station that might be established no one
+knew where. The man that says Dr. Whitman is fickle-minded, knows
+nothing of his character and less of his moral worth.
+
+Next day, all camps, including those of the Flathead and Nez Perce
+Indians, were "raised," as the expression is, and on we went; the
+Hudson's Bay Company and mission camp, or caravan, together, Dr. Whitman
+in charge of his wagon, with some Indians to help him. They seemed
+rather to get the Doctor's ideas of this _chick-chick-shauile-kai-kash_
+(iron rolling carriage), and hunted a road around the bad places, and
+helped him along when he required their assistance. Our route was nearly
+the same as the great overland route to Bear River and Soda Springs.
+
+Two days before we reached Soda Springs one of the mission party became
+quite unwell, and unable to sit upon his horse. He was left, at his own
+request, on a little stream, while the caravan passed on some six miles
+further to camp. After remaining alone and resting some two hours, The
+Lawyer and an Indian companion of his came along, picked up the sick
+man, put him upon a strong horse, got on behind him, and held him on
+till they reached camp. Dr. Whitman gave him a prescription, which
+relieved him, so that next day he was able to continue the journey with
+the camp. This transaction has always been a mystery to the writer. The
+place where the sick man was left was a beautiful stream, and a good
+place for a camp for the whole caravan. The sick man was wholly unable
+to proceed; did not ask the caravan to stop and bury him, but simply
+informed them he could proceed no further; his strength was gone; they
+could leave him to die alone if they chose. A word from McLeod would
+have stopped the caravan. Should the mission party remain with him? He
+said: "No; go on with the caravan and leave me; you will be compelled to
+seek your own safety in continuing with the caravan; I am but an
+individual; leave me to my fate." He requested a cup that he might get
+some water from the stream, close to the side of which he wished them to
+place him. Dr. Whitman remained with him as long as was deemed safe for
+him, and passed on to overtake the caravan. The Lawyer and his companion
+came along two or three hours afterward, picked up the dying or dead man
+(for aught the caravan knew), and brought him into camp. My impression
+of this transaction has always been that McLeod wished to get rid of
+this young American, who was then in the service of the mission party.
+
+"That d----d Indian, Lawyer," as the Hudson's Bay Company's men called
+him, by his kindness of heart and determination not to let an American
+die if he could help it, defeated the implied wish of these Hudson's Bay
+Company's men in this case. The Lawyer says the sick man vomited all the
+way into camp, and called for water, which his young man got for him.
+
+From the Soda Springs the Indian camps went north into the mountains for
+buffalo.
+
+The Hudson's Bay Company and mission party continued their journey
+through the spurs of the mountains over on to the waters of the Portneuf
+to Fort Hall. It is due to Dr. Whitman to say that notwithstanding this
+was the most difficult route we had to travel, yet he persevered with
+his old wagon, without any particular assistance; from Soda Springs to
+Fort Hall his labor was immense, yet he overcame every difficulty and
+brought it safe through. I have thrice since traveled the same route,
+and confess I can not see how he did it, notwithstanding I was with him,
+and know he brought the wagon through.
+
+Fort Hall, in 1836, was a stockade, made of cotton-wood logs, about
+twelve feet long, set some two feet in the ground, with a piece of
+timber pinned near the top, running entirely around the stockade, which
+was about sixty feet square. The stores and quarters for the men were
+built inside with poles, brush, grass, and dirt for covering, stamped
+down so as to partially shed rain, and permit the guards to be upon the
+tops of the quarters and see over the top of the stockade. It is
+situated on an extensive level plain or flat, with spurs of the Rocky
+Mountains on the east, at the distance of thirty miles, high ranges of
+barren sage hills on the south, some eight miles distant. As you leave
+the flat level bottom formed by the Snake and Portneuf rivers, all along
+its banks it is skirted with a fine growth of cotton-wood, relieving the
+landscape and forming a beautiful contrast to the high barren plains
+beyond. To the west is the valley of the Snake River, from thirty to
+sixty miles wide, a high, sandy, and barren sage plain. This valley is
+bounded on the south by a low range of hills, running from northwest to
+southeast. On the north side of Fort Hall is an extensive high plain;
+this plain is, from Fort Hall, across it, full forty miles. The only
+objects that meet the eye on this extensive plain are three high
+basaltic buttes or mountains thrown up near its center. At the foot of
+the one a little to the south and west of the two rounder and equally
+prominent ones, is a fine spring of water. In 1837, the writer, in his
+explorations of the country, was anxious to learn more than was then
+known of the character of this great basin in the mountains, having the
+year previous entered it by way of Soda Springs and Portneuf. This time
+he came into it from the north by Codie's Defile, and concluded he would
+take a straight course and pass between the two northeastern buttes, and
+reach Snake River near Fort Hall. His Indian guide objected; still, as
+we had good horses, and were traveling light, we took the precaution to
+water our animals before entering this plain. We were twenty-six hours
+on horseback, having stopped but six hours to rest; we tied our horses
+to the sage brush, to prevent them from leaving us to hunt for water.
+Not a drop did we find on our route till we reached Snake River,
+thirty-two hours from the time we left running water on the north and
+west sides of this plain. In our course we found nothing but barren,
+basaltic rock, sand, and sage. It is possible, had we turned to the
+right or left, we might have found water, but I saw nothing that gave
+indications that water was near; on the contrary, I noticed that the
+fine stream at which we watered our animals sank into the rocks, leaving
+no marks of a channel to any great distance. In fact, my impression was,
+after twelve hours' ride, that it was useless to spend our time and
+strength to hunt for water, and kept our course. Jaded and fatigued as
+our animals were, as we approached Snake River every nerve seemed strung
+to the utmost; our animals became frantic and unmanageable; they rushed
+forward at full speed and plunged into the first water they saw.
+Fortunately for them and the riders, the water was only about three
+feet deep; water appeared to be preferred to air; they plunged their
+heads deep in and held their breaths till their thirst was relieved.
+
+This plain is bounded on the north and east by spurs of the Rocky and
+Bear River mountains; on the south and west by the high plains of
+Portneuf and Snake River valleys. There is a range of mountains
+commencing on the northwest of this plain, extending west and north
+along Snake River, dividing the waters of the Snake and La Riviere aux
+Bois (the wooded river.) This whole plain has the appearance of having
+been one vast lake of lava, spread over the whole surrounding country,
+appearing to have issued from the three basaltic mountains in the midst
+of it. I noticed, as we passed between the two, which were probably not
+more than ten miles apart, that we appeared to be on higher rock than in
+any direction around us. From this fact I concluded that the three must
+have been pouring out their volcanic lava at the same time and ceased
+together, leaving the country comparatively level. The small amount of
+soil found upon the surface, as well as the barrenness of the rock,
+indicated no distant period of time when this volcanic plain had been
+formed.
+
+At Fort Hall we had another overhauling and lightening of baggage. The
+Doctor was advised to take his wagon apart and pack it, if he calculated
+to get it through the terrible canons and deep, bottomless creeks we
+must pass in going down Snake Plains. Miles Goodyear, the boy we picked
+up two days from Fort Leavenworth, who had been assigned to assist the
+Doctor, was determined, if the Doctor took his wagon any further, to
+leave the company. He was the only one that could be spared to assist in
+this wild, and, as all considered, crazy undertaking. Miles was
+furnished a couple of horses, and the best outfit the mission party
+could give him for his services, and allowed to remain or go where he
+might choose. In his conclusions, he was influenced by the stories he
+heard about the treatment he might expect should he reach the lower
+Columbia. His idea of liberty was unlimited. Restraint and obedience to
+others was what he did not like at home; he would try his fortune in the
+mountains; he did not care for missionaries, Hudson's Bay men, nor
+Indians; he was determined to be his own man, and was allowed to remain
+at Fort Hall. This loss of manual strength to the mission party
+compelled the Doctor to curtail his wagon, so he made a cart on two of
+the wheels, placed the axletree and the other two wheels on his cart,
+and about the 1st of August, 1836, our camp was again in motion. As we
+reached camp on Portneuf the first night, in passing a bunch of willows,
+Mrs. Spalding's horse, a kind and perfectly gentle animal, was stung by
+a wasp, causing him to spring to one side. Mrs. S. lost her balance;
+her foot hung fast in the stirrup; the horse made but a single bound
+from the sting of the wasp, and stopped still till Mrs. S. was relieved
+from what appeared almost instant death. Next day we continued on down
+the river till we reached Salmon Falls, on Snake River.
+
+We found a large number of the Salmon and Digger Indians at their
+fishing stations. Their curiosity was excited, and overcame all the
+fears that had been attributed to them by former travelers. All of them
+came about the camp, and appeared quite friendly, furnishing to the
+party all the fresh and dried salmon they wanted, at the most reasonable
+rates, say a fine fresh salmon for two fish-hooks; four for a common
+butcher-knife; ten dried ones for a shirt; in fact, receiving only such
+pay or presents for their fish and roots, as the Hudson's Bay Company's
+traders saw fit, or would _allow_ the missionary party to give them. It
+will be remembered that, in the conversation with Captain Wyeth, the
+party had been cautioned as to dealing with the Indians, or in any way
+interfering with the Indian trade, or tariff, as the Hudson's Bay
+Company gentlemen call the prices they were in the habit of giving to
+the Indians, for any article of property they might have to dispose of,
+or that the company might want. If the Indian would part with it at all,
+he must receive the price or the article they chose to give him, not as
+an equivalent for his article, but as a condescension on the part of the
+trader, in allowing him the honor of making the exchange. The Indian's
+property or article, whatever it might be, was of no consequence to the
+trader, but the article he gave or furnished to him was of great value.
+The Indian knew no other system of trade; it was that or nothing; hence
+the wealth of this arrogant and overgrown company, claiming exclusive
+trading privileges, as also the right to occupy the country in such a
+manner, and for such purposes as they chose. As a matter of course, the
+mission party were not in a condition to vary or change this system of
+trade; neither were they allowed to encourage the Indians in the
+expectation of any future change, except as to the religious
+instructions they were at liberty to impart to them.
+
+The gentlemen of the Hudson's Bay Company were frank with the mission in
+giving them their tariff: For a salmon at Salmon Falls, two awls or two
+small fish-hooks; one large hook for two salmon; for a knife, four
+salmon; for one load of powder and a charge of shot, or a single ball,
+one salmon. At Wallawalla the tariff was nearly double, say two balls
+and powder for one large-sized salmon; a three-point blanket, a check
+shirt, a knife, five or ten balls and powder, from half a foot to three
+feet of trail-rope tobacco, the price of a good horse. In short, there
+was but one single object the Indian could live for; that was to
+contribute his little mite of productive labor to enrich the Honorable
+Hudson's Bay Company, and to assist them, when required, to relieve the
+country of intruders. That they were in a state of absolute subjection
+to the control of the company no one that traveled in it at that early
+day can doubt for a moment. Speak of improving the condition of the
+Indians to gentlemen of the company, they would insist that it only made
+them more insolent, demand higher prices for their produce, and be less
+inclined to hunt for the furs necessary to supply the goods furnished
+for their use. The idea of improving the condition of the Indian, and
+raising him in the scale of civilization, and by that means increase his
+natural wants, and encourage him with a fair compensation for his labor,
+was no part of their chartered privileges. They found the Indian as he
+was; they would leave him no better. The country and all in it was
+theirs; they could not allow any interference with their trade. "If you
+missionaries wish to teach them your religion, we have no particular
+objection, so long as you confine yourselves to such religious
+instruction; as to trade, gentlemen, we will not object to your
+receiving from the Indians what you may require for your own personal
+use and subsistence, provided you do not pay them more for the article
+you buy of them than the company does. We will give you our tariff, that
+you may be governed by it in your dealings with the Indians. You will
+readily perceive, gentlemen, that it is necessary for us to insist on
+these conditions, in order to protect our own interests, and secure our
+accustomed profits."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+     An explanation.--Instructions of company.--Their
+     tyranny.--Continuation of journey.--Fording rivers.--Arrival at
+     Boise.--Dr. Whitman compelled to leave his wagon.
+
+
+It may be asked why the writer gives this explanation of trade and
+intercourse with the Indians and missionaries before they have reached
+the field of their future labors? For the simple reason that the party,
+and the writer in particular, commenced their education in the Rocky
+Mountains. They learned that in the country to which they were going
+there was an overgrown, unscrupulous, and exacting monopoly that would
+prevent any interference in their trade, or intercourse with the
+Indians. This information was received through the American fur traders,
+and from Captain Wyeth, who was leaving the country; and from Mr. John
+McLeod, then in charge of our traveling caravan. It is true, we had only
+reached Salmon Falls, on Snake River, and we only wished to buy of the
+miserable, naked, filthy objects before us, a few fresh salmon, which
+they were catching in apparent abundance; and as is the case with most
+American travelers, we had many articles that would be valuable to the
+Indian, and beneficial to us to get rid of. But this overgrown company's
+interest comes in. "You must not be liberal, or even just, to these
+miserable human or savage beings; if you are, it will spoil our trade
+with them; we can not control them if they learn the value of our
+goods."
+
+This supreme selfishness, this spirit of oppression, was applied not
+only to the Digger Indians on the barren Snake plains and the salmon
+fisheries of the Columbia River, but to the miserable discharged, and,
+in most cases, disabled, Canadian-French. This policy the Hudson's Bay
+Company practiced upon their own servants, and, as far as was possible,
+upon all the early settlers of the country. In proof of this, hear what
+Messrs. Ewing Young and Carmichael say of them on the thirteenth day of
+January, 1837, just three months after our mission party had arrived,
+and had written to their friends and patrons in the United States
+glowing accounts of the kind treatment they had received from this same
+Hudson's Bay Company. How far the Methodist Mission joined in the
+attempt to coerce Mr. Young and compel him to place himself under their
+control, I am unable to say. The Hudson's Bay Company, I know, from the
+statement of Dr. McLaughlin himself, had an abundance of liquors. I
+also know they were in the habit of furnishing them freely to the
+Indians, as they thought the interest of their trade required. Mr.
+Young's letter is in answer to a request of the Methodist Mission,
+signed by J. and D. Lee, C. Shepard, and P. L. Edwards, not to erect a
+distillers on his land claim in Yamhill County (Nealem Valley). The
+Methodist Mission was made use of on this occasion, under the threat of
+the Hudson's Bay Company, that in case Mr. Young put up his distillery
+the Hudson's Bay Company would freely distribute their liquors, and at
+once destroy all moral restraint, and more than probable the mission
+itself. Lee and party offered to indemnify Mr. Young for his loss in
+stopping his distillery project. The Hudson's Bay Company held by this
+means the exclusive liquor trade, while the mission were compelled to
+use their influence and means to prevent and buy off any enterprise that
+conflicted with their interests. Mr. Young says, in his reply:--
+
+    "Gentlemen, having taken into consideration your request to
+    relinquish our enterprise in manufacturing ardent spirits, we
+    therefore do agree to stop our proceedings for the present: but,
+    gentlemen, the reasons for first beginning such an enterprise were
+    the _innumerable difficulties_ placed in our way by, and the
+    _tyrannizing oppression_ of, the Hudson's Bay Company, here under
+    the absolute authority of Dr. McLaughlin, who has treated us with
+    more disdain than any American's feelings could support; but,
+    gentlemen, it is not consistent with our feelings to receive any
+    recompense whatever for our expenditures, but we are thankful to the
+    society for their offer."
+
+The writer of the above short paragraph has long since closed his
+labors, which, with his little property, have done more substantial
+benefit to Oregon than the Hudson's Bay Company, that attempted to drive
+him from the country, which I will prove to the satisfaction of any
+unprejudiced mind as we proceed, I am fully aware of the great number of
+pensioned satellites that have fawned for Hudson's Bay Company pap, and
+would swear no injustice was ever done to a single American, giving this
+hypocritical, double-dealing smooth-swindling, called honorable,
+Hudson's Bay Company credit for what they never did, and really for
+stealing credit for good deeds done by others. The company insisted that
+the mission party should, as a condition of being permitted to remain in
+the country, comply with their ideas of Indian trade and justice in
+dealing with the natives. The utmost care and attention was given to
+impress this all-important fact upon the minds of these first
+missionaries. They were told: "Gentlemen, your own pecuniary interests
+require it; the good--_yes, the good_--of the natives you came to teach,
+requires that you should observe our rules in trade." And here, I have
+no doubt, lies the great secret of the partial failure of all the
+Protestant missions. But, thank God, the country is relieved of a curse,
+like that of slavery in the Southern States. An overgrown monopoly, in
+using its influence with Catholicism to destroy Protestantism in Oregon
+and the American settlements, has destroyed itself. Priestcraft and
+Romanism, combined with ignorance and savagism, under the direction of
+the Honorable Hudson's Bay Company traders, is a kind of mixture which
+Mr. Ewing Young says "is more than any American citizen's feelings could
+support;" yet for six years it was submitted to, and the country
+increased, not so much in wealth, but in stout-hearted men and women,
+who had dared every thing, and endured many living deaths, to secure
+homes, and save a vast and rich country to the American Republic. Was
+the government too liberal in giving these pioneers three hundred and
+twenty acres of land, when, by their toil and patient endurance they had
+suffered every thing this arrogant, unscrupulous, overgrown monopoly
+could inflict, by calling to its aid superstition and priestcraft, in
+the worst possible form, to subdue and drive them from the country?
+
+Is there an American on this coast who doubts the fact of the tyrannical
+course of the company? Listen to what is said of them in 1857, '58, in
+their absolute government of Vancouver Island and British Columbia, by a
+resident. He says:--
+
+    "In my unsophisticated ignorance, I foolishly imagined I was
+    entering a colony governed by British institutions; but I was
+    quickly undeceived. It was far worse than a Venetian oligarchy; a
+    squawtocracy of skin traders, ruled by men whose lives have been
+    spent in the wilderness in social communion with Indian savages,
+    their present daily occupation being the sale of tea, sugar, whisky,
+    and the usual _et caeteras_ of a grocery, which (taking advantage of
+    an increased population) they sold at the small advance of five
+    hundred per cent.; by men, who, to keep up the _entente cordiale_
+    with the red-skins, scrupled not (and the iniquitous practice is
+    still continued) to supply them with arms and ammunition, well
+    knowing that the same would be used in murderous warfare. I found
+    these 'small fry' claiming, under some antediluvian grant, not only
+    Vancouver Island, but a tract of country extending from the Pacific
+    to the Atlantic Ocean, from British Columbia to Hudson's Bay--a
+    territory of larger area than all Europe. The onward march of
+    civilization was checked; all avenues to the mineral regions were
+    closed by excessive, unauthorized, and illegal taxation; and a
+    country abounding with a fair share of Nature's richest productions,
+    and which might now be teeming with a hardy and industrious
+    population, was crushed and blasted by a set of unprincipled
+    autocrats, whose selfish interests, idle caprices, and unscrupulous
+    conduct, sought to gratify their petty ambition by trampling on the
+    dearest rights of their fellow-men. In Victoria and British Columbia
+    the town lots, the suburban farms, and the water frontage were
+    theirs,--the rocks in the bay, and the rocks on the earth; the trees
+    in the streets, which served as ornaments to the town, were cut down
+    by their orders and sold for fire-wood; with equal right
+    (presumption or unscrupulousness is the appropriate term) they
+    claimed the trees and dead timber of the forests, the waters of the
+    bay, and the fresh water on the shores; all, all was theirs;--nay, I
+    have seen the water running from the mountain springs denied to
+    allay the parched thirst of the poor wretches whom the _auri sacra
+    fames_ had allured to these inhospitable shores. They viewed with a
+    jealous eye all intruders into their unknown kingdom, and every
+    impediment was thrown in the way of improving or developing the
+    resources of the colony. The coal mines were theirs, and this
+    necessary article of fuel in a northern climate was held by them at
+    thirty dollars per ton. The sole and exclusive right to trade was
+    theirs, and the claim rigidly enforced. The gold fields were theirs
+    likewise, and a tax of five dollars on every man, and eight dollars
+    on every canoe or boat, was levied and collected at the mouth of the
+    canon before either were allowed to enter the sacred portals of
+    British Columbia. This amount had to be paid hundreds of miles from
+    the place where gold was said to exist, whether the party ever dug
+    an ounce or not. They looked upon all new arrivals with ill-subdued
+    jealousy and suspicion, and distrusted them as a praetorian band of
+    robbers coming to despoil them of their ill-gotten wealth."
+
+Was this the case in 1858? Show me the man who denies it, and I will
+show you a man devoid of moral perception, destitute of the principle of
+right dealing between man and man; yet this same Hudson's Bay Company
+claim credit for saving the thousands of men they had robbed of their
+hard cash, in not allowing a few sacks of old flour and a quantity of
+damaged bacon to be sold to exceed one hundred per cent. above prime
+cost. "Their goods were very reasonable," says the apologist; "their
+trade was honorable." Has any one ever before attempted to claim
+honorable dealing for companies pursuing invariably the same selfish and
+avaricious course? This company is not satisfied with the privilege they
+have had of robbing the natives of this coast, their French and
+half-native servants, the American settlers, and their own countrymen,
+while dependent upon them; but now, when they can no longer rob and
+steal from half a continent, they come to our government at Washington
+and make a demand for five millions of dollars for giving up this
+barefaced open robbery of a whole country they never had the shadow of
+a right to. It is possible the honorable commissioners may admit this
+arrogant and unjust claim. If they do,--one single farthing of it,--they
+deserve the curses due to the company who have robbed the native
+inhabitants of all their labor, their own servants they brought to it,
+the country of all they could get from it that was of any value to them,
+and the nation upon whom they call for any amount, be it great or small.
+
+I have not time, and it would be out of place, to say more upon this
+subject, at this rime, in the historical sketches we propose to give. Be
+assured we do not write without knowing what we say, and being prepared
+to prove our statements with facts that have come under our own
+observation while in the country. We will leave the Hudson's Bay Company
+and return to our mission party.
+
+After getting a full supply of salmon for a tin whistle, or its
+equivalent, a smell of trail-rope tobacco, we came to the ford at the
+three islands in Snake River, crossed all safe, except a short swim for
+Dr. Whitman and his cart on coming out on the north side or right bank
+of the river. As nothing serious occurred, we passed on to camp. The
+next day, in passing along the foot hills of the range of mountains
+separating the waters of the Snake River and La Riviere aux Bois, we
+came to the warm springs, in which we boiled a piece of salmon. Then we
+struck the main Boise River, as it comes out of the mountain, not far
+below the present location of Boise City; thence, about ten miles down
+the river, and into the bend, where we found a miserable pen of a place,
+at that time called Fort Boise. It consisted of cotton-wood poles and
+crooked sticks set in a trench, and pretended to be fastened near the
+top. The houses or quarters were also of poles, open; in fact, the whole
+concern could hardly be called a passable corral, or pen for horses and
+cattle. I think, from appearances, the fort had been used to corral or
+catch horses in. We were informed that it was established in opposition
+to Fort Hall, to prevent the Indians, as much as possible, from giving
+their trade to Captain Wyeth, and that the company expected, if they
+kept it up, to remove it near the mouth of Boise River.
+
+At this place, McLeod and McKay, and all the Johnny Crapauds of the
+company, united in the opinion that it was impossible to get the
+Doctor's cart any further without taking it all apart and bending the
+iron tires on the wheels, and packing it in par-fleshes (the dried hide
+of the buffalo, used as an outside covering for packs), and in that way
+we might get it through, if the animals we packed it upon did not fall
+with it from the precipices over which we must pass. _Impossible_ to get
+it through any other way. After several consultations, and some very
+decided expressions against any further attempt to take the wagon
+further, a compromise was made, that, after the party had reached their
+permanent location, the Doctor or Mr. Gray would return with the
+Hudson's Bay Company's caravan and get the wagon and bring it through.
+To this proposition the Doctor consented. The wagon was left, to the
+great advantage of the Hudson's Bay Company, in removing their timber
+and material to build their new fort, as was contemplated, that and the
+following seasons.
+
+All our goods were placed upon the tallest horses we had, and led
+across. Mrs. Spalding and Mrs. Whitman were ferried over on a bulrush
+raft, made by the Indians for crossing. The tops of the rushes were tied
+with grass ropes, and spread and so arranged that, by lying quite flat
+upon the rushes and sticks they were conveyed over in safety. Portions
+of our clothing and goods, as was expected, came in contact with the
+water, and some delay caused to dry and repack. This attended to, the
+party proceeded on the present wagon trail till they reached the Grand
+Ronde; thence they ascended the mountain on the west side of the main
+river, passed over into a deep canon, through thick timber, ascended the
+mountain, and came out on to the Umatilla, not far from the present
+wagon route.
+
+As the party began to descend from the western slope of the Blue
+Mountains, the view was surpassingly grand. Before us lay the great
+valley of the Columbia; on the west, and in full view, Mount Hood rose
+amid the lofty range of the Cascade Mountains, ninety miles distant. To
+the south of Mount Hood stood Mount Adams, and to the north, Mount
+Rainier; while, with the assistance of Mr. McKay, we could trace the
+course of the Columbia, and determine the location of Wallawalla. It was
+quite late in the evening before we reached camp on the Umatilla, being
+delayed by our cattle, their feet having become worn and tender in
+passing over the sharp rocks, there being but little signs of a trail
+where we passed over the Blue Mountains in 1836.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+     Arrival at Fort Wallawalla.--Reception.--The fort in 1836.--Voyage
+     down the Columbia River.--Portage at Celilo.--At Dalles.--A
+     storm.--The Flatheads.--Portage at the Cascades.
+
+
+Next day Mr. McLeod left the train in charge of Mr. McKay, and started
+for the fort, having obtained a fresh horse from the Cayuse Indians. The
+party, with Hudson's Bay Company's furs and mission cattle, traveled
+slowly, and in two days and a half reached old Fort Wallawalla, on the
+Columbia River,--on the second day of September, 1836, a little over
+four months from the time they left Missouri. Traveling by time from two
+to three miles per hour, making it two thousand two hundred and fifty
+miles.
+
+Their reception must have been witnessed to be fully realized. The gates
+of the fort were thrown open, the ladies assisted from their horses, and
+every demonstration of joy and respect manifested. The party were soon
+led into an apartment, the best the establishment had to offer. Their
+horses and mules were unloaded and cared for; the cattle were not
+neglected. It appeared we had arrived among the best of friends instead
+of total strangers, and were being welcomed home in the most cordial
+manner. We found the gentleman in charge, Mr. P. C. Pambrun, a
+French-Canadian by birth, all that we could wish, and more than we
+expected.
+
+Mr. J. K. Townsend, the naturalist, we found at Wallawalla. He had been
+sent across the Rocky Mountains, in company with Dr. Nutall, a
+geologist, by a society in Philadelphia, in 1834, in company with
+Captain Wyeth. He had remained in the country to complete his collection
+of specimens of plants and birds, and was awaiting the return of the
+Hudson's Bay Company's ship, to reach the Sandwich Islands, on his
+homeward course, having failed to get an escort to connect with Captain
+Wyeth, and return by way of the Rocky Mountains. From Mr. Townsend the
+mission party received much useful information relating to the course
+they should pursue in their intercourse with the Hudson's Bay Company
+and the Indians. He appeared to take a deep interest in the objects of
+the mission, confirming, from his own observation, the information
+already received, cautioning the party not to do any thing with the
+Indians that would interfere with the Hudson's Bay Company's trade.
+Repeating almost _verbatim_ Captain Wyeth's words, "The company will be
+glad to have you in the country, and your influence to improve their
+servants, and their native wives and children. As to the Indians you
+have come to teach, they do not want them to be any more enlightened.
+The company now have absolute control over them, and that is all they
+require. As to Mr. Pambrun, at this place, he is a kind, good-hearted
+gentleman, and will do any thing he can for you. He has already received
+his orders in anticipation of your arrival, and will obey them
+implicitly; should the company learn from him, or any other source, that
+you are here and do not comply with their regulations and treatment of
+the Indians, they will cut off your supplies, and leave you to perish
+among the Indians you are here to benefit. The company have made
+arrangements, and expect you to visit Vancouver, their principal depot
+in the country, before you select your location."
+
+Mr. Townsend had gathered from the gentlemen of the Hudson's Bay
+Company, during the year he had been in the country, a good knowledge of
+their policy, and of their manner of treatment and trade with the
+Indians. He had also learned from conversations with Rev. Samuel Parker
+and the various members of the company, their views and feelings, not
+only toward American traders, but of the missionary occupation of the
+country by the Americans. The mission party of 1836 learned from Mr.
+McLeod that the Hudson's Bay Company had sent for a chaplain, to be
+located at Vancouver, and from Mr. Townsend that he had arrived.
+
+It will be borne in mind that this honorable company, on the arrival of
+Rev. J. Lee and party to look after the civil and religious welfare of
+the Indians, examined their old charter, and found that one of its
+requirements was to _Christianize_ as well as trade with the natives of
+this vast country. They found that the English church service must be
+read at their posts on the Sabbath. To conform to this regulation, a
+chaplain was sent for. He came, with his wife; and not receiving the
+submission and attention from the chivalry of the country he demanded,
+became thoroughly disgusted, and returned to England (I think) on the
+same ship he came in. As we proceed, we will develop whys and
+wherefores.
+
+Old Fort Wallawalla, in 1836, when the mission party arrived, was a
+tolerably substantial stockade, built of drift-wood taken from the
+Columbia River, of an oblong form, with two log bastions raised, one on
+the southwest corner, commanding the river-front and southern space
+beyond the stockade; the other bastion was on the northeast corner,
+commanding the north end, and east side of the fort. In each of these
+bastions were kept two small cannon, with a good supply of small-arms.
+These bastions were always well guarded when any danger was suspected
+from the Indians. The sage brush, willow, and grease-wood had been cut
+and cleared away for a considerable distance around, to prevent any
+Indians getting near the fort without being discovered. Inside the
+stockade were the houses, store, and quarters for the men, with a space
+sufficiently large to corral about one hundred horses. The houses and
+quarters were built by laying down sills, placing posts at from eight to
+twelve feet apart, with tenons on the top, and the bottom grooved in the
+sides, and for corner-posts, so as to slip each piece of timber, having
+also a tenon upon each end, into the grooves of the posts, forming a
+solid wall of from four to six inches thick, usually about seven feet
+high from floor to ceiling, or timbers overhead. The roofs were of split
+cedar, flattened and placed upon the ridge pole and plate-like rafters,
+close together; then grass or straw was put on the split pieces, covered
+with mud and dirt, and packed to keep the straw from blowing off. The
+roofs were less than one-fourth pitch, and of course subject to leakage
+when it rained. For floors, split puncheons or planks were used in the
+chief trader's quarters. In the corner of the room was a comfortable
+fireplace, made of mud in place of brick. The room was lighted with six
+panes of glass, seven inches by nine, set in strips of wood, split with
+a common knife, and shaped so as to hold the glass in place of a sash.
+
+The doors were also of split lumber, rough hewn, wrought-iron hinges,
+and wooden latches; the furniture consisted of three benches, two
+stools, and one chair (something like a barber's chair, without the
+scrolls and cushions); a bed in one corner of the room upon some split
+boards for bottom; a rough table of the same material roughly planed.
+This, with a few old cutlasses, shot-pouches, and tobacco sacks (such as
+were manufactured by the Indians about the post), constituted the room
+and furniture occupied by P. C. Pambrun, Esq., of the Honorable Hudson's
+Bay Company. Into this room the mission party were invited, and
+introduced to Mrs. Pambrun and two young children-misses. The kind and
+cordial reception of Mr. Pambrun was such that all felt cheerful and
+relieved in this rude specimen of half-native, half-French dwelling. The
+cloth was soon spread upon the table, and the cook brought in the choice
+game of the prairies well cooked, with a small supply of Irish potatoes
+and small Canadian yellow corn. This was a feast, as well as a great
+change from dried and pounded buffalo meat "straight," as the miners
+say, upon which we had subsisted since we left the rendezvous, except
+the occasional fresh bits we could get along the route. Dinner being
+disposed of, some fine melons were served, which Mr. Pambrun had
+succeeded in raising in his little melon patch, in the bends of the
+Wallawalla River, about two miles from the fort. The supply of melons
+was quite limited, a single one of each kind for the party. Mr. Townsend
+on this occasion yielded his share to the ladies, and insisted, as he
+had been at the fort and partaken of them on previous occasions, they
+should have his share. Dinner over, melons disposed of, fort, stores,
+and quarters examined, arrangements were made for sleeping in the
+various sheds and bastions of the fort. Most of the gentlemen preferred
+the open air and tent to the accommodations of the fort. Rooms were
+provided for the two ladies and their husbands, Dr. Whitman and Mr.
+Spalding.
+
+Next morning early, Messrs. McLeod and Townsend started for Vancouver in
+a light boat, with the understanding that Mr. Pambrun, with the
+company's furs, and the mission party, were to follow in a few days. Mr.
+McKay was to remain in charge of the fort. All things were arranged to
+Mr. Pambrun's satisfaction; two boats or barges were made ready, the
+furs and party all aboard, with seven men to each barge, six to row and
+one to steer, with a big paddle instead of a helm, or an oar; we glided
+swiftly down the Columbia River, the scenery of which is not surpassed
+in grandeur by any river in the world. Fire, earth, and water have
+combined to make one grand display with melted lava, turning it out in
+all imaginable and unimaginable shapes and forms on a most gigantic
+scale. In other countries, these hills thrown up would be called
+mountains, but here we call them high rolling plains, interspersed with
+a few snow-capped peaks, some fifteen and some seventeen thousand feet
+high. The river is running through these plains, wandering around among
+the rocks with its gentle current of from four to eight knots per hour;
+at the rapids increasing its velocity and gyrations around and among the
+rocks in a manner interesting and exciting to the traveler, who at one
+moment finds his boat head on at full speed making for a big rock; anon
+he comes along, and by an extra exertion with his pole shoves off his
+boat to receive a full supply of water from the rolling swell, as the
+water rushes over the rock he has but just escaped being dashed to
+pieces against. As to danger in such places, it is all folly to think of
+any; so on we go to repeat the same performance over and over till we
+reach the falls, at what is now called Celilo, where we find about
+twenty-five feet perpendicular fall.
+
+Our boats were discharged of all their contents, about one-fourth of a
+mile above the main fall, on the right bank of the river. Then the cargo
+was packed upon the Indians' backs to the landing below the falls, the
+Indian performing this part of the labor for from two to six inches of
+trail-rope tobacco. A few were paid from two to ten charges of powder
+and ball, or shot, depending upon the number of trips they made and the
+amount they carried. The boats were let down with lines as near the fall
+as was considered safe, hauled out of the water, turned bottom up, and
+as many Indians as could get under them, say some twenty-five to each
+boat, lifted them upon their shoulders and carried them to the water
+below. For this service they each received two dried leaves of tobacco,
+which would make about six common pipefuls. The Indian, however, with
+other dried leaves, would make his two leaves of tobacco last some time.
+
+This portage over, and all on board, we again glided swiftly along, ran
+through what is called the Little Dalles, and soon reached the narrowest
+place in the Columbia, where the water rushes through sharp projecting
+rocks, causing it to turn and whirl and rush in every conceivable shape
+for about three-fourths of a mile, till it finds a large circular basin
+below, into which it runs and makes one grand turn round and passes
+smoothly out at right angles and down in a deep smooth current, widening
+as it enters the lofty range of the Cascade Mountains. The river was
+deemed a little too high, by our Iroquois pilot, to run the Big Dalles
+at that time, although, in January following, the writer, in company
+with another party, did run them with no more apparent danger than we
+experienced on the same trip at what is called John Day's Rapids. At the
+Dalles our party made another portage, paying our Indians as at Celilo
+Falls.
+
+The Indians' curiosity to look at the white women caused us a little
+delay at the falls, and also at the Dalles; in fact, numbers of them
+followed our boats in their canoes to the Dalles, to look at these two
+strange beings who had nothing to carry but their own persons, and were
+dressed so differently from the men.
+
+We proceeded down the river for a few miles and met the Hudson's Bay
+Company's express canoe, in charge of Mr. Hovey, on its way to Lachine,
+going across the continent; stopped and exchanged greetings for a few
+minutes and passed on to camp just above Dog River. Next morning made an
+early start to reach La Cascade to make the portage there before night.
+We had proceeded but about one hour, with a gentle breeze from the east,
+sails all set, and in fine spirits, admiring the sublimely grand
+scenery, when, looking down the river, the ladies inquired what made the
+water look so white. In a moment our boatmen took in sail, and laid to
+their oars with all their might to reach land and get under shelter,
+which we did, but not till we had received considerable wetting, and
+experienced the first shock of a severe wind-storm, such as can be
+gotten up on the shortest possible notice in the midst of the Cascade
+Mountains. Our camp was just below White Salmon River. The storm was so
+severe that all our baggage, furs, and even boats had to be taken out of
+the water to prevent them from being dashed to pieces on the shore. For
+three days and nights we lay in this miserable camp watching the storm
+as it howled on the waves and through this mountain range. Stormy as it
+was, a few Indians found our camp and crawled over the points of rocks
+to get sight of our party.
+
+Among the Indians of the coast and lower Columbia none but such as are
+of noble birth are allowed to flatten their skulls. This is accomplished
+by taking an infant and placing it upon a board corresponding in length
+and breadth to the size of the child, which is placed upon it and lashed
+fast in a sort of a sack, to hold its limbs and body in one position.
+The head is also confined with strings and lashing, allowing scarcely
+any motion for the head. From the head of the board, upon which the
+infant is made fast, is a small piece of board lashed to the back piece,
+extending down nearly over the eyes, with strings attached so as to
+prevent the forehead from extending beyond the eyes, giving the head and
+face a broad and flat shape. The native infants of the blood royal were
+kept in these presses from three to four months, or longer, as the
+infant could bear, or as the aspirations of the parent prompted. For the
+last fifteen years I have not seen a native infant promoted to these
+royal honors. My impression is that the example of the white mother in
+the treatment of her infant has had more influence in removing this
+cruel practice than any other cause. As a general thing, the tribes that
+have followed the practice of flattening the skull are inferior in
+intellect, less stirring and enterprising in their habits, and far more
+degraded in their morals than other tribes. To this cause probably more
+than any other may be traced the effect of vice among them. The tribes
+below the Cascade Mountains were the first that had any intercourse with
+the whites. The diseases never feared or shunned by the abandoned and
+profligate youth and sailor were introduced among them. The certain and
+legitimate effect soon showed itself all along the coast. So prevalent
+was vice and immorality among the natives, that not one escaped. Their
+blood became tainted, their bodies loathsome and foul, their
+communication corrupt continually. The flattened head of the royal
+families, and the round head of the slave, was no protection from vice
+and immoral intercourse among the sexes; hence, when diseases of a
+different nature, and such as among the more civilized white race are
+easily treated and cured, came among them, they fell like rotten sheep.
+If a remnant is left, I have often felt that the reacting curse of vice
+will pursue our advanced civilization for the certain destruction that
+has befallen the miserable tribes that but a few years since peopled
+this whole coast. It is true that the missionaries came to the country
+before many white settlers came. It is also true that they soon learned
+the causes that would sweep the Indians from the land, and in their
+feeble efforts to check and remove the causes, they were met by the
+unlimited and unbridled passions of all in the country, and all who came
+to it for a number of years subsequent, with a combined influence to
+destroy that of the missionaries in correcting or checking this evil.
+Like alcohol and its friends, it had no virtue or conscience, hence the
+little moral influence brought by the first missionaries was like
+pouring water upon glass: it only washed the sediment from the surface
+while the heart remained untouched. Most of the missionaries could only
+be witnesses of facts that they had little or no power to correct or
+prevent; many of them lacked the moral courage necessary to combat
+successfully the influences with which they were surrounded, and every
+action, word, or expression was canvassed and turned against them or the
+cause they represented.
+
+The reader will excuse this little digression into moral facts, as he
+will bear in mind that we were in a most disagreeable camp on the
+Columbia River, between the Cascades and the Dalles, and for the first
+time were introduced to real live Flatheads and the process of making
+them such. The men, also, or boatmen, amused themselves in getting the
+members of the royal family who visited our camp drunk as Chinamen (on
+opium), by filling their pipes with pure trail-rope tobacco.
+
+On the fourth morning after the storm stopped us, we were again on our
+way. Arrived at the Cascades and made a portage of the goods over,
+around, and among the rocks, till we reached the basin below the main
+shoot or rapids. The boats were let down by lines and hauled out to
+repair leakage from bruises received on the rocks in their descent.
+Damage repaired, all embarked again, and ran down to Cape Horn and
+camped; next day we reached the saw-mill and camped early. All hands
+must wash up and get ready to reach the fort in the morning. From the
+saw-mill an Indian was sent on ahead to give notice at the fort of the
+arrival of the party. Our captain, as the Americans would call Mr.
+Pambrun, who had charge of the boats, was slow in getting ready to
+start. Breakfast over, all dressed in their best clothes, the party
+proceeded on down the river. In coming round a bend of the upper end of
+the plain upon which the fort stands, we came in full view of two fine
+ships dressed in complete regalia from stem to stern, with the St.
+George cross waving gracefully from the staff in the fort. Our party
+inquired innocently enough the cause of this display. Captain Pambrun
+evaded a direct answer. In a short time, as the boats neared the shore,
+two tall, well-formed, neatly-dressed gentlemen waved a welcome, and in
+a moment all were on shore. Rev. Mr. Spalding and lady were introduced,
+followed by Dr. Whitman and lady, to the two gentlemen. One, whose hair
+was then nearly white, stepped forward and gave his arm to Mrs. Whitman.
+The other, a tall, black-haired, black-eyed man, with rather slim body,
+a light sallow complexion and smooth face, gave his arm to Mrs.
+Spalding. By this time Mr. McLeod had made his appearance, and bade the
+party a hearty welcome and accompanied them into the fort. We began to
+suspect the cause of so much display. All safely arrived in the fort, we
+were led up-stairs, in front of the big square hewed-timber house, and
+into a room on the right of the hall, where the ladies were seated, as
+also some six gentlemen, besides the tall white-headed one. The writer,
+standing in the hall, was noticed by Mr. McLeod, who came out and
+invited him into the quarters of the clerks. We will leave our ladies in
+conversation with the two fine-looking gentlemen that received them on
+arriving at the water's edge, while we take a look at the fort, as it
+appeared on September 12, 1836.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+     Fort Vancouver in 1836.--An extra table.--Conditions on which
+     cattle were supplied to settlers.--Official papers.--Three
+     organizations.
+
+
+Fort Vancouver was a stockade, built with fir-logs about ten inches in
+diameter, set some four feet in the ground, and about twenty feet above,
+secured by pieces of timber pinned on the inside, running diagonally
+around the entire stockade, which at that time covered or inclosed about
+two acres of ground. The old fort, as it was called, was so much decayed
+that the new one was then being built, and portions of the old one
+replaced. The storehouses were all built of hewn timber, about six
+inches thick, and covered with sawed boards one foot wide and one inch
+thick, with grooves in the edges of the boards, placed up and down upon
+the roof, in place of shingles; of course, in case of a knot-hole or a
+crack, it was a leaky concern. All the houses were covered with boards
+in a similar manner in the new quarters. The partitions were all upright
+boards planed, and the cracks battened; floors were mostly rough boards,
+except the office and the governor's house, which were planed. The
+parsonage was what might be called of the balloon order, covered like
+the rest, with a big mud and stone chimney in the center. The partitions
+and floors were rough boards. There were but two rooms, the one used for
+dining-room and kitchen, the other for bedroom and parlor. The doors and
+gates of the fort, or stockade, were all locked from the inside, and a
+guard stationed over the gate. In front of the governor's house was a
+half semicircle double stairway, leading to the main hall up a flight of
+some ten steps. In the center of the semicircle was one large 24-pound
+cannon, mounted on a ship's carriage, and on either side was a small
+cannon, or mortar gun, with balls piled in order about them, all
+pointing to the main gate entrance; latterly, to protect the fort from
+the savages that had commenced coming over the Rocky Mountains, a
+bastion was built, said to be for saluting her Majesty's ships when they
+might arrive, or depart from the country.
+
+At 12 M. the fort bell rang; clerks and gentlemen all met at the common
+dinner-table, which was well supplied with potatoes, salmon, wild fowl,
+and usually with venison and bread. Dinner over, most of the gentlemen
+passed a compliment in a glass of wine, or brandy, if preferred; all
+then retired to the social hall, a room in the clerks' quarters, where
+they indulged in a stiff pipe of tobacco, sometimes filling the room as
+full as it could hold with smoke. At 1 P.M. the bell rang again, when
+all went to business.
+
+The party had no sooner arrived than the carpenter was ordered to make
+an extra table, which was located in the governor's office, in the room
+where we left them on first bringing them into the house. This extra
+table was presided over by the governor, or the next highest officers of
+the fort; usually one or two of the head clerks or gentlemen traders
+were, by special invitation, invited to dine with the ladies, or,
+rather, at the ladies' table. The governor's wife was not sufficiently
+accomplished, at first, to take a seat at the ladies' table. I never saw
+her in the common dining-hall; neither was the mother of the chief
+clerk's children permitted this honor at first. However, as Mrs. Whitman
+and Mrs. Spalding soon learned the fort regulations, as also the family
+connection there was in the establishment, they very soon introduced
+themselves to the two principal mothers they found in the governor's
+house, one belonging to the governor, and the other to the chief clerk,
+and made themselves acquainted with the young misses; and, in a short
+time, in opposition to the wish of the governor and his chief clerk,
+brought them both to the ladies' table. They also brought the youngest
+daughter of the governor to the table, and took considerable pains to
+teach the young misses, and make themselves generally useful; so that,
+at the end of two weeks, when arrangements had been made for the party
+to return to Wallawalla to commence their missionary labors, the
+governor and chief clerk would not allow the ladies to depart, till the
+gentlemen had gone up and selected their stations and built their
+houses, so that they could be comfortable for winter. Captain Wyeth and
+Mr. Townsend were correct in their ideas of the reception of this party.
+The utmost cordiality was manifested, the kindest attention paid, and
+such articles as could be made about the establishment, that the party
+wanted, were supplied. The goods were all to be furnished at _one
+hundred per cent. on London prices_, drafts to be drawn on the American
+Board, payable in London at sight. They were cashed by the Board at
+thirty-seven cents premium on London drafts, costing the mission two
+dollars and seventy-four cents for every dollar's worth of goods they
+received; freight and charges from Fort Vancouver to Wallawalla were
+added. These goods were received and paid for, not as a business
+transaction with the Hudson's Bay Company, by any means, but as a
+_gracious gift_; or, to quote the governor and chief clerk, "You
+gentlemen _must_ consider yourselves under great obligation to the
+Hudson's Bay Company, as we are only here to trade with the natives. In
+your future transactions you will make out your orders, and we will
+forward them to London to be filled at their rates, and with this
+understanding."
+
+While at Vancouver, Dr. Whitman concluded that some more cattle than the
+mission had were necessary to facilitate the labor in breaking up the
+prairie for a spring crop; and a few cows might be useful to assist in
+getting a start in cattle. The proposition was made to the Hudson's Bay
+Company, to know upon what terms they could get them. "Certainly," said
+Dr. McLaughlin, "you can have what cattle you want on the conditions we
+furnish them to the company's servants and the settlers in the
+Wallamet." "What are those conditions?" said Dr. Whitman. "Why, in case
+of work cattle, you can take them from our band; we can not, of course,
+spare you those we are working, but the cattle you take, you break in,
+and when the company requires them you return them to the company." "And
+what are your terms in letting your cows?" said Dr. Whitman. "Why, we
+let them have the cows for the use of the milk; they return the cow and
+its increase to the company." "And how is it in case the animal is lost
+or gets killed?" "You gentlemen will have no difficulty on that account;
+you have some cattle; you can replace them from your own band."
+
+Dr. Whitman seemed a little incredulous as to the conditions upon which
+cattle could be had of the company, and inquired if such were the
+conditions they furnished them to their servants and the settlers. Dr.
+McLaughlin replied emphatically, it was. We learned in this connection
+that there was not a cow in the country, except those of the American
+Board, that was not owned by the Hudson's Bay Company. The same was the
+case with all the beeves and work cattle. The mission party concluded
+they would not mortgage their own cattle for the use of the Hudson's Bay
+Company's; hence dropped the cattle question for the time being.
+
+While at Vancouver, it was deemed necessary for a copy of the official
+papers of the mission party to be made out, and forwarded to the
+Sandwich Islands, to the American and British consuls, and one to the
+commercial agent of the Hudson's Bay Company, with an order from Dr.
+McLaughlin, to the agent of the Hudson's Bay Company, to forward any
+supplies or goods designed for the mission of the American Board. These
+documents were made out, and duly signed, by Rev. Mr. Spalding and Dr.
+Whitman. The question arose whether the name of the secular agent of the
+mission ought not also to be attached to the documents, and was decided
+in the affirmative. Gray was sent for; he entered the office with his
+hat under his arm, as per custom in entering the audience chamber where
+official business was transacted, examined hastily the documents,
+attached his name, and retired. The incident was noticed by Dr.
+McLaughlin, and while the mission party were absent, locating and
+building their stations, Dr. McLaughlin inquired of Mrs. Whitman who the
+young man was that Mr. Spalding and her husband had to sign a copy of
+the public documents sent to the Sandwich Islands. Mrs. Whitman replied,
+"Why, that is Mr. Gray, our associate, and secular agent of the
+mission." The inquiries about Mr. Gray were dropped till the ladies
+reached their stations, and Mr. Gray was advised, when he visited
+Vancouver again, to present his credentials, and show the Hudson's Bay
+Company his connection with the mission. Accordingly, when Mr. Gray
+visited Vancouver, in January, 1837, he presented his credentials, and
+was received in a manner contrasting very strongly with that of his
+former reception; still, the lesson he had learned was not a useless
+one. He saw plainly the condition of all the settlers, or any one in the
+country that had no official position or title; he was looked upon as a
+vagabond, and entitled to no place or encouragement, only as he
+submitted to the absolute control of the Hudson's Bay Company, or one of
+the missions. There was nothing but master and servant in the country,
+and this honorable company were determined that no other class should be
+permitted to be in it. To the disgrace of most of the missionaries, this
+state of absolute dependence and submission to the Hudson's Bay Company,
+or themselves, was submitted to, and encouraged. At least, no one but
+Rev. Jason Lee, of the Methodist Mission, fully comprehended the precise
+condition of an outsider. This will be shown as we proceed. We were made
+a party to a special contract, in 1837, touching this question.
+
+Then we had three distinct organizations in the country: The first, and
+the most important in wealth and influence, was the Hudson's Bay
+Company's traders; the second, the Methodist Mission, with their ideas
+and efforts to Christianize the savages, and to do what they could to
+convert the gentlemen of the Hudson's Bay Company from the error of
+their ways; third, the mission of the American Board, to accomplish the
+same object. The fact of these two missions being in the country, both
+having the same object to accomplish, elicited a discussion as to the
+proper location for both to operate in. It was not deemed advisable to
+locate in the same tribe, as the field was large enough for both. The
+Cowlitz and Puget Sound district was proposed, but not favored by the
+Hudson's Bay Company; Mr. Pambrun kept the claims of the Nez Perces and
+Cayuses before the party. His interests and arguments prevailed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+     Settlers in 1836.--Wallamet Cattle Company.--What good have the
+     missionaries done?--Rev. J. Lee and party.--The Hudson's Bay
+     Company recommend the Wallamet.--Missionaries not dependent on the
+     company.--Rev. S. Parker arrives at Vancouver.
+
+
+There were in the country, in the winter of 1836, besides those
+connected with the Hudson's Bay Company and the missions, about fifteen
+men, all told. The two missions numbered seven men and two women, making
+the American population about twenty-five persons. To bring the
+outsiders from the Hudson's Bay Company and the two missions into
+subjection, and to keep them under proper control, it was necessary to
+use all the influence the Methodist Mission had. They, as a matter of
+interest and policy, furnished to such as showed a meek and humble
+disposition, labor, and such means as they could spare from their
+stores, and encouraged them to marry the native women they might have,
+or be disposed to take, and become settlers about the mission. Such as
+were not disposed to submit to the government of the mission, or the
+Hudson's Bay Company, like Mr. E. Young, Carmichael, and Killmer, were
+"_left out in the cold_." They could get no supplies, and no employment.
+They were literally outcasts from society, and considered as outlaws and
+intruders in the country. All seemed anxious to get rid of them.
+
+McCarty, the companion of Mr. Young from California to Oregon, had
+fallen out with him on the way, as Young was bringing to the country a
+band of California horses (brood mares). McCarty, it seems, to be
+avenged on Young, reported to Dr. McLaughlin and the mission that Young
+had stolen his band of horses (though it has since been stated upon good
+authority that such was not the case); still McCarty was (I understand)
+a member of the class-meeting, on probation. His statements were
+received as truth, and Young suffered. Young was a stirring, ambitious
+man; he had spent some time in the Rocky Mountains, and in Santa Fe and
+California, and the little property he could get he had invested in
+horses, and brought them to Oregon. This fact, with the malicious
+reports circulated about him, made him an object of suspicion and
+contempt on the part of the Hudson's Bay Company and the mission. We
+find that Mr. Lee treated Mr. Young as an honest man, and,
+consequently, fell under the displeasure of Dr. McLaughlin and the
+Hudson's Bay Company. _With Mr. Young, Mr. Lee succeeded_ in getting up
+the first cattle company, and gave the first blow toward breaking up the
+despotism and power of the company. Mr. Young, as Mr. Lee informed us,
+was the only man in the country he could rely upon, in carrying out his
+plan to supply the settlement with cattle. He was aware of the stories
+in circulation about him, and of the want of confidence in him in the
+mission and among the French-Canadians and Hudson's Bay Company. To
+obviate this difficulty, he suggested that Mr. P. L. Edwards, a member
+of the mission, should go as treasurer of the company, and Mr. Young as
+captain. This brought harmony into the arrangement, and a ready
+subscription to the stock of the Wallamet Cattle Company, all being
+anxious to obtain cattle. But few of the settlers had any means at
+command. Many of the discharged servants of the Hudson's Bay Company had
+credit on their books. There were outside men enough in the country
+willing to volunteer to go for the cattle, and receive their pay in
+cattle when they arrived with the band in Oregon. This brought the
+matter directly to the Hudson's Bay Company, and to Dr. McLaughlin. Rev.
+Jason Lee received the orders of the company's servants, went to
+Vancouver, and learned from the clerks in the office the amounts due the
+drawers, then went to the Doctor, and insisted that certain amounts
+should be paid on those orders.
+
+The Doctor very reluctantly consented to allow the money or drafts to be
+paid. This amount, with all the mission and settlers could raise, would
+still have been too small to justify the party in starting, but W. A.
+Slacum, Esq., of the United States navy, being on a visit to the
+country, Mr. Lee stated the condition of matters to him. Mr. Slacum at
+once subscribed the requisite stock, and advanced all the money the
+mission wished on their stock, taking mission drafts on their Board, and
+gave a free passage to California for the whole party. (As the
+missionaries would say, "Bless God for brother Slacum's providential
+arrival among us.") Uncle Sam had the right man in the right place that
+time. It was but a little that he did; yet that little, what mighty
+results have grown out of it!
+
+On the 19th of January, 1837, six days after Mr. Young had given up his
+projected distillery, he is on board Mr. Slacum's brig _Lariat_, lying
+off the mouth of the Wallamet River, and on his way to California with a
+company of stout-hearted men, eight (I think) in all, not to steal
+horses or cheat the miserable savages, and equally miserable settlers,
+out of their little productive labor, but to bring a band of cattle to
+benefit the whole country. In this connection, I could not do justice
+to all without quoting a paragraph which I find in Rev. G. Hines'
+history of the Oregon missions. He says:--
+
+    "Mr. Slacum's vessel left the Columbia River about the first of
+    February, and arrived safely in the bay of San Francisco, on the
+    coast of California. The cattle company proceeded immediately to
+    purchase a large band of cattle and a number of horses, with which
+    they started for Oregon. In crossing a range of mountains (Rogue
+    River Mountains), they were attacked by the rascally Indians, and a
+    number of their cattle were killed, but they at length succeeded in
+    driving back their foe and saving the remainder. _Contrary to the
+    predictions and wishes of the members of the Hudson's Bay Company_,
+    who INDIRECTLY OPPOSED them at the outset, they arrived in safety in
+    the Wallamet Valley with six hundred head of cattle, and distributed
+    them among the settlers, according to the provisions of the compact.
+    This successful enterprise, which laid the foundation for a rapid
+    accumulation of wealth by the settlers, was mainly accomplished
+    through the energy and perseverance of Rev. Jason Lee."
+
+WHAT GOOD HAVE THE MISSIONARIES DONE IN THE COUNTRY? I do not know how
+Mr. Hines arrived at the conclusion that the Hudson's Bay Company
+"_indirectly opposed_" this cattle expedition. I know they did it
+_directly_, and it was only through the influence of Rev. J. Lee, and
+Mr. Slacum, of the United States navy, that they could have succeeded at
+all. Mr. Lee, in his conversation with Dr. McLaughlin, told that
+gentleman directly that it was of no use for the company to _oppose_ the
+_expedition_ any more; the party was made up, and the men were on the
+way, and the cattle would come as per engagement, unless the men were
+lost at sea. The Hudson's Bay Company yielded the point only on the
+failure of the Rogue River Indians to destroy the expedition. Mr. Slacum
+placed it beyond their control to stop it. The courage of the men was
+superior to the company's Indian allies. The cattle came, and no thanks
+to any of the Hudson's Bay Company's generosity, patronage, or power.
+They did all they dared to do, openly and secretly, to prevent the
+bringing of that band of cattle into the country; and, determining to
+monopolize the country as far as possible, they at once entered upon the
+PUGET SOUND AGRICULTURAL COMPANY, under the auspices of the Hudson's Bay
+Company and the English government.
+
+Do you ask me how I know these things? Simply by being at Vancouver the
+day the brig dropped down the Columbia River, and listening to the
+discussion excited on the subject, and to the proposition and plan of
+the Puget Sound Company among the gentlemen concerned in getting it up.
+
+The mission of the American Board had no stock in the cattle company of
+the Wallamet, not venturing to incur the displeasure of the Hudson's Bay
+Company by expressing an opinion any way upon it. The writer was picking
+up items and preparing for a trip to New York overland, with one of the
+Hudson's Bay Company's traders, Mr. Francis (or Frank) Ermatinger. While
+in New York, Cincinnati, and other places, he stated the fact that the
+Methodist missionaries had fallen under the displeasure of the Hudson's
+Bay Company in entering too freely into trade and speculation in cattle
+in the country. Truth and justice to them require that I enter fully
+into their transactions as men and missionaries.
+
+Rev. J. Lee, it will be remembered, was the first man to answer the call
+of the Indian to come to his country. The Methodist Board had been
+formed, and J. Lee accepted their invitation and patronage. In this
+expedition he gathered his associates, and at the same time made
+arrangements for future supplies to arrive by sea, coming around Cape
+Horn. Captain Wyeth was in Boston, getting up a trading expedition, and
+chartering a vessel for the mouth of the Columbia River, the _May
+Dacre_. On board Captain Lambert's brig Captain Wyeth and the Methodist
+Board shipped their goods for the two expeditions. The goods on the way,
+it became necessary for the future objects of the mission to have a few
+horses to carry on the improvements necessary to a civilized life. Lee
+and associates start across the continent. Missouri is the most western
+limit of civilization. They reach it, purchase their outfit, and, in
+company with Captain Wyeth, reach Fort Hall; here they fall in with
+Thomas McKay and our English nobleman, Captain Stewart. Captain Wyeth
+stopped to build his fort, while McKay, Stewart, Lee, Dr. Nutall,
+Townsend, and parties all made their way to Wallawalla, on the Columbia
+River. The supreme selfishness of the Hudson's Bay Company seems here to
+begin to develop itself. Lee and party were made to believe that the
+Flathead tribe, who had sent their messengers for teachers, were not
+only a small, but a very distant tribe, and very disadvantageously
+situated for the establishment and support of a missionary among them.
+These statements determined them to proceed to the lower Columbia, to
+find a better location to commence operations. Leaving their horses at
+Wallawalla, in charge of one of their party, they proceeded down the
+Columbia in one of the Hudson's Bay Company's boats, being eleven days
+in reaching the fort, and one hundred and fifty-two days on the way from
+Missouri. They were kindly received by the gentlemen of the fort, and in
+two days were on the hunt for a location.
+
+The party that arrived just two years later, with two ladies, were not
+allowed to leave the fort to look for locations till they had remained
+twelve days, and been invited to ride all over the farm, and visit the
+ships, and eat melons and apples (being always cautioned to save all the
+seeds for planting).
+
+Lee and party were frank to make known to the company their object, and
+plans of future operations. Questions of trade and morality were
+comparatively new with the company. As religious teachers and Christian
+men they had no suspicions of any interference in trade. Mr. Lee hailed
+from Canada, and so did Dr. McLaughlin and a large number of the
+servants of the company.
+
+    "Mr. Lee is the man we want to instruct our retired servants in
+    religious matters. Mr. Shepard will be an excellent man to take
+    charge of our little private school; we have commenced with a Mr. S.
+    H. Smith, who has found his way into this country, in company with
+    Captain Wyeth, an opposition fur trader and salmon catcher. We do
+    not know much about him, but if you will allow Mr. Shepard to take
+    charge of our school till you can make other arrangements, and you
+    require his services, we will make it all right."
+
+This arrangement placed the labor of selecting locations and the
+necessary explorations upon our friend Jason Lee. All being smooth and
+cordial with the company, Lee proceeds to French Prairie and up the
+river till he reaches a point ten miles below Salem, about two miles
+above Jarvie's old place, and makes his first location. From all the
+information he could gather, this was the most central point to reach
+the greatest number of Indians and allow the largest number of French
+and half-native population to collect around the station. In this
+expedition he occupied about ten days. The whole country was before
+them--a wilderness two thousand six hundred miles broad, extending from
+the gulf of California on the south, to the Russian settlements on the
+north, with a few scattering stations among the border Indians along the
+western territories of Missouri, and the great unknown, unexplored west,
+which the American Board, in a book published in 1862, page 380, says,
+"brought to light no field for a great and successful mission," showing
+that, for twenty-five years, they have neglected to give this country
+the attention its present position and importance demanded, and also a
+total neglect on their part to select and sustain proper men in this
+vast missionary field. They are willing now to plead ignorance, by
+saying, "Rev. Samuel Parker's exploring tour beyond the Rocky Mountains
+in 1836 and 1837 (but two years after the Rev. J. Lee came to it)
+brought to light _no field for a great and successful mission_," and
+console themselves by asserting a popular idea as having originated from
+Mr. Parker's exploration, "a practicable route for a _railroad_ from
+the Mississippi to the Pacific." Mr. Parker never originated or thought
+of the practicability of the route till after Dr. Whitman had left his
+wagon at Fort Boise, and demonstrated the fact of a practicable wagon
+route. Then Mr. Parker, to give his work or journal a wider circulation,
+talked about a railroad. The American Board, I am sorry to feel and
+think, are good at attempting to catch at straws when important
+missionary objects have been faithfully placed before them.
+
+Let us return to Mr. Lee. On Saturday, September 27, 1834, he was in
+council with Dr. McLaughlin, at Vancouver. The result of his
+observations were fully canvassed; the condition and prospects of the
+Indians and half-natives, Canadian-French, straggling sailors and
+hunters that might find their way into the country, were all called
+before this council. The call from the Flathead Indians and the Nez
+Perces was not forgotten. The Wallamet Valley had the best advocate in
+Dr. John McLaughlin. He "strongly recommended it, as did the other
+gentlemen of Vancouver, as the most eligible place for the establishment
+of the center of their operations." This located that mission under the
+direct supervision and inspection of the Hudson's Bay Company, and, at
+the same time, placed the American settlement south of the Columbia
+River.
+
+Mr. Lee, the next day, was invited to preach in the fort. All shades of
+colors and sects attended this first preaching in the wilderness of
+Oregon. The effect in three months was the baptizing of four adults and
+seventeen children.
+
+The Protestant missions were not dependent on the Hudson's Bay Company
+for supplies any more than the Sandwich Islands were, or the American
+Fur Company. If such were the fact, that they were dependent upon the
+Hudson's Bay Company, the missionaries themselves and the Boards that
+sent them to Oregon must have been a set of foolish men, not competent
+to conduct the commonest affairs of life. The idea that seven men and
+two women should be sent to a distant wilderness and savage country, and
+no provisions made for their subsistence and future supplies, is one
+originated without a soul, a lie to produce effect, a slander upon
+common honesty and common-sense Christianity. Whitman's party left in
+the Rocky Mountains a better set of tools than could be found in
+Vancouver. They brought seeds of all kinds. They had no occasion to ask
+of the Hudson's Bay Company a single seed for farming purposes, a single
+thing in establishing their mission,--only as they had disposed of
+things at the suggestion of McLeod and McKay as unnecessary to pack them
+further. Arrangements were made to forward around Cape Horn, as soon as
+was deemed necessary, such articles and supplies as might be required.
+Rev. Jason Lee and party did not arrive in the country (as those who
+have all along attempted to insinuate and make a stranger to the facts
+believe, and in 1865 claim the sum of $3,822,036.67 for stealing credit
+due to others, and preventing the good others might have done to the
+natives in advancing them in the scale of civilization) destitute and
+dependent upon the Hudson's Bay Company for supplies. On the contrary,
+by the time they had selected their station, the goods on the brig _May
+Dacre_ had arrived, and were ready to be landed at the lower mouth of
+the Wallamet River. These goods, whether suitable or not, were all
+received and conveyed to the station selected by Mr. Lee by the 6th of
+October. The rainy season soon commenced; they had no shelter for
+themselves or their goods. All old Oregonians who have not been seduced
+and brought up by the Hudson's Bay Company can comprehend the condition
+they were in. Rev. Jason Lee, like Dr. Whitman with his old wagon, had
+undertaken a work he meant to accomplish. His religion was practical.
+Work, labor, preach, and practice his own precepts, and demonstrate the
+truth of his own doctrines. Religion and labor were synonymous with him,
+and well did the noble Shepard, though but a lay member of the mission
+and the church, labor and sustain him. These two men were really the
+soul and life of the mission, as Dr. Whitman and Mrs. Spalding were of
+the American Board. During the first winter, 1834-5, they were wholly
+occupied in building their houses and preparing for the cultivation of
+the land for their own subsistence. There was no alternative; it was
+work or starve. Rev. Jason Lee set the example. He held the plow, with
+an Indian boy to drive, in commencing his farming operations. The first
+year they produced enough for home consumption in wheat, peas, oats, and
+barley, and abundance of potatoes, with a few barrels of salt salmon.
+The superintendent of the mission put up at the Wallamet Falls late in
+the season of 1834. They had a supply of their own for the first year.
+It is true they did not have superfine flour to eat, but they had plenty
+of pounded and boiled wheat, and a change to pea and barley soup, with
+oats for the chickens they had received from the vessel.
+
+Daniel Lee soon falls sick, and Edwards becomes dissatisfied. They both
+arrange to leave the country on the _May Dacre_. Rev. D. Lee is advised
+to go to the Sandwich Islands, and Edwards is induced to undertake an
+independent school at Champoeg.
+
+Shepard toils on with his Indian and half-native school. Mr. Lee
+preaches and labors at the mission among the French, and at Vancouver.
+
+In October, 1835, Rev. S. Parker arrived at Vancouver. In November he
+made a flying visit to Mr. Lee's mission. His Presbyterian spectacles
+were not adapted to correct observations on Methodist Episcopal
+missions. He was inclined to pronounce their efforts a failure. This
+impression of Mr. Parker's arose from the fact, that no female
+influence, except that of the natives of the country, was seen or felt
+about the mission. His impressions were also quite unfavorable to the
+Hudson's Bay Company from the same cause. These impressions were, at the
+suggestion of the writer, omitted in his first published journal. Four
+months after Mr. Parker's visit to Mr. Lee's mission, we find the
+gentlemen of the Hudson's Bay Company making a handsome donation to Mr.
+Lee's mission of $130, including a handsome prayer for a blessing upon
+their labors, in the following words: "And they pray our heavenly
+Father, without whose assistance we can do nothing, that of his infinite
+mercy he may vouchsafe to bless and prosper your pious endeavors." This
+is signed in behalf of the donors by John McLaughlin.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+     Arrival of Rev. Mr. Beaver and wife.--His opinion of the
+     company.--A double-wedding.--Mrs. Spalding and Mrs. Whitman at
+     Vancouver.--Men explore the country and locate stations.--Their
+     opinion of the country.--Indian labor.--A winter trip down Snake
+     River.
+
+
+Nothing of note occurred till about the middle of August, 1836. The bark
+_Nereus_ arrived from England, bringing back Rev. Daniel Lee, recovered
+from his sickness while in the Sandwich Islands, and Rev. Mr. Beaver and
+lady, an English Episcopal clergyman, as chaplain to the Hudson's Bay
+Company at Fort Vancouver. Mr. Beaver was a man below the medium height,
+light brown hair, gray eyes, light complexion, a feminine voice, with
+large pretensions to oratory, a poor delivery, and no energy. His ideas
+of clerical dignity were such, that he felt himself defiled and polluted
+in descending to the "common herd of savages" he found on arriving at
+Vancouver. "The governor was uncivil, the clerks were boors, the women
+were savages. There was not an individual about the establishment he
+felt he could associate with." This feeling was shared largely by Mrs.
+Beaver, who, from the little I saw of her at a double-wedding party at
+her own house, I concluded, felt she was condescending greatly in
+permitting her husband to perform the services.
+
+She appeared totally indifferent to the whole performance, so far as
+giving it an approving smile, look, or word. The occasion was the
+marriage of the youngest daughter of Dr. McLaughlin to Mr. Ray; and of
+Miss Nelia Comilly to Mr. James Douglas, since governor of Vancouver
+Island and British Columbia.
+
+While at Vancouver, I met Mr. Beaver once outside the fort, with his dog
+and gun. From what I could learn of him, he was fond of hunting and
+fishing;--much more so than of preaching to the "ignorant savages in the
+fort," as he called the gentlemen and servants of the company. "They
+were not sufficiently enlightened to appreciate good sermons, and to
+conform to the English church service. However, as he was the chaplain
+in charge, by virtue of his appointment received from the executive
+committee and governor in London, he had rights superior to any
+half-savage, pretended gentlemen at this establishment, and he would let
+them know what they were, before they were done with him; he did not
+come to this wilderness to be ordered and dictated to by a set of
+half-savages, who did not know the difference between a prayer-book and
+an otter skin, and yet they presumed to teach him morals and religion."
+This tirade, as near as I could learn, was elicited from his reverence
+soon after he arrived, on account of some supposed neglect or slight
+offered by Dr. McLaughlin, in not furnishing his quarters in the style
+he had expected. On reaching the post, in place of a splendid parsonage,
+well fitted up, and servants to do his bidding, he found what in early
+California times would be called an ordinary balloon house, made of
+rough boards, the floors (I think) not planed, and no carpets upon them,
+and none in the country to put upon them, except the common flag mats
+the Indians manufacture; and these the Rev. Mrs. Beaver considered "too
+filthy to step upon, or be about the house." In addition to these very
+important matters (judging from the fuss they made about them), "the
+doctor and all the pretended gentlemen of the company were living in
+_adultery_. This was a horrible crime he could not, and would not, put
+up with; he could scarcely bring himself to perform the church service
+in so polluted an audience." We had never been confirmed in the English
+church, and, consequently, did not feel at liberty to offer any advice
+after listening to this long tirade of abuse of the members of the
+Hudson's Bay Company by his reverence. A short time after, Mr. Beaver
+met Dr. McLaughlin in front of the house, and commenced urging him to
+comply with the regulations of the English church. The doctor had been
+educated in the Roman Catholic faith; he did not acknowledge Mr.
+Beaver's right to dictate a religious creed to him, hence he was not
+prepared to conform wholly to the English church service. Among other
+subjects, that of marriage was mentioned, Rev. Mr. Beaver insisting that
+the doctor should be married in accordance with the church service. The
+doctor claimed the right to be married by whom he pleased, and that Mr.
+Beaver was interfering and meddling with other than his parochial
+duties. This led his reverence to boil over and spill out a portion of
+the contemptuous feelings he had cherished from the moment he landed at
+the place. The doctor, not being in the habit from his youth of calmly
+listening to vulgar and abusive language, especially when addressed to
+his face, laid aside his reverence for the cloth, as also the respect
+due to his position and age, and gave Rev. Mr. Beaver a caning, some say
+kicking, causing his reverence to retreat, and abruptly suspend
+enforcing moral lessons in conformity to church usage. Rev. Mrs. Beaver
+very naturally sympathized with her husband, and they soon made
+arrangements and left the country, to report their case at head-quarters
+in London. Dr. McLaughlin chose to comply with civil usage, and as James
+Douglas had received a commission from her Majesty as civil magistrate
+under the English law, acting as justice of the peace, he united Dr.
+John McLaughlin in marriage to Mrs. Margaret McKay, whose first husband
+had been lost in the destruction of the bark _Tonquin_ some years
+previous. This wedding occurred at Vancouver, about the end of January,
+1837. The doctor was married privately, by Esquire Douglas, either a
+short time before, or a few days after, I have not yet learned which.
+
+Rev. Mr. Beaver and lady arrived at Vancouver about four weeks before
+Mrs. Spalding and Mrs. Whitman. The gentlemen of the company, like the
+rough mountaineers who paid their respect to Mrs. Whitman and Mrs.
+Spalding at the American rendezvous, attempted to be polite and kind to
+Mr. and Mrs. Beaver. They most emphatically failed. The parsonage was a
+terror to them. They had become objects of _contempt_, _scorn_, and
+_derision_ in the estimation of their religious guide and moral patron.
+Their wives and children were looked upon as filthy savages, not fit to
+associate with decent people. This feeling was so strong in the chaplain
+and his wife that it leaked out in very injudicious and indiscreet
+expressions of disapproval of actions and conduct, that, in a refined
+and polished society, would be considered offensive; yet these traders
+and Indian merchants, not having been in refined society for many years,
+did not understand or comprehend their own awkwardness and want of more
+refinement. They had forgotten that, in the progress of society, six
+hundred years had passed since their great great grandmothers were like
+the women they saw about them every day. They forgot that Mrs. Beaver
+was an English clergyman's wife, and claimed to belong to the best
+English society. They thought there was but little difference in
+womankind; in short, they were much better qualified to deal with
+Indians than with civilians. Under such circumstances, and with such
+feelings existing in Fort Vancouver, the reader will not be astonished
+at the reception of two ladies who could interest and command the esteem
+and respect of the savage, the mountain hunter, and the Hudson's Bay
+Company fur trader. They came among them expecting nothing but rough
+treatment; any little mistakes were overlooked or treated as a jest.
+They know no distinction in classes; they were polite to the servant and
+the master; their society was agreeable and refining; not the least
+insult in word, or look, or act, was ever given them by any white man;
+their courage had been tested in the trip they had performed; their
+conversation and accomplishments surprised and delighted those permitted
+to enjoy their acquaintance, and, as Mr. Hines, in his history of the
+Oregon mission, says, "these were the first American women that ever
+crossed the Rocky Mountains, and _their arrival formed an epoch in the
+history of Oregon_."
+
+Our mission party, with Captain Pambrun, his two boats loaded,
+two-thirds of the goods for the mission, on their way up the Columbia
+River, arrived all safe at the Dalles. Gray took a decided stand in
+favor of the first location at that point, on account of its
+accessibility, and the general inclination of all the Indians in the
+country to gather at those salmon fisheries; Spalding and Pambrun
+opposed; Whitman was undecided; Pambrun would not wait to give time to
+explore, nor assist in getting horses for the Doctor and Gray to look at
+the country in view of a location. On we go; make the portages at La
+Chute; reach John Day's River; Pambrun leaves boats in charge of Whitman
+and Gray, and goes to Wallawalla on horseback. In four days' hard
+pulling, towing, and sailing, we reach Wallawalla all safe; find cattle
+and horses all improving, and every thing in order, that is, as good
+order as could be expected; boats discharged, goods all carefully
+stored. Next morning, early, a fine band of Cayuse horses came into the
+fort; four fine ones were selected and saddled, an extra pack animal
+with traveling case and kitchen furniture, tent for camping, and
+provisions all ready, a servant with two Indians, all mounted, off we go
+up the Wallawalla River about twenty-five miles. Most of the land we
+passed over we pronounced barren, and good for nothing except grazing
+cattle, sheep, and horses. In the bends of the river, saw a few acres of
+land that might be cultivated if arrangements could be made to irrigate.
+Passed the Tuchet, but did not consider its appearance justified much
+delay to examine it closely, though the whole bottom was covered with a
+heavy coat of tall rye grass; went on into the forks of the Wallawalla
+and Mill Creek (as it is now called), pitched our tent at the place
+where Whitman's station was afterward built, got our suppers. Whitman
+and Gray took a look around the place, went into the bends in the river,
+looked at the cotton-wood trees, the little streams of water, and all
+about till dark; came back to camp; not much said. Mr. Pambrun explained
+the quality of the soil, and what would produce corn, what potatoes, and
+what would produce (as he thought) wheat, though he had not tried it
+thoroughly; or, rather, he had tried it on a small scale and failed. A
+few Cayuses came about camp at night. Next morning up early; breakfast
+over, some fine fresh Cayuse horses were brought up, ready to mount. We
+proceeded through the valley in several directions; rode all day and
+returned to camp at night, stopping occasionally to pull up a weed or a
+bush, to examine the quality of the soil.
+
+At night, if an artist could have been present and taken a picture of
+the group and the expressions of countenance, it certainly would have
+been interesting: Spalding, Whitman, Pambrun, and Gray discussing the
+quality of the soil, the future prospects of a mission, and of the
+natives it was contemplated to gather around. No white settlement was
+then thought of. They unanimously concluded that there was but a limited
+amount of land susceptible of cultivation, estimated at the place for
+the station at about ten acres. Along all the streams and at the foot of
+the Blue Mountains, there might be found little patches of from half an
+acre to six acres of land suitable to cultivate for the use of the
+natives. This, to say the least, was not an overestimate of the
+qualities of the soil that has proved, by twenty-five years' cultivation
+without manure, to be richer to-day than soils of a different character
+with all the manuring they have received. The great objection and most
+discouraging indication to the party was the unlimited amount of caustic
+alkali found all over those plains and all through the valley. This fact
+alone proves the soil inexhaustible. All it requires is sufficient water
+to wash from the surface the superabundant alkali that forms upon it.
+Any cereals adapted to alkaline soil may be cultivated to any extent in
+those valleys.
+
+A stake was set to mark the place. Next day all returned to the fort,
+and soon the mission tents, horses, goods, and cattle were upon the
+ground and work commenced. The Indians, what few had not gone for
+buffalo, came to our camp and rendered all the assistance they were
+capable of in getting a house up and covered.
+
+In a few days Spalding and Whitman started with the Nez Perces to look
+at their country, in view of a location among them, leaving Gray alone
+in charge of the building and goods, while they examined the country up
+the Clearwater River, and selected a location in a beautiful valley
+about two miles up the Lapwai Creek, and about twelve miles from
+Lewiston. Whitman returned to assist in erecting buildings at his
+station. Spalding started for Vancouver, to bring up the ladies. About
+the middle of November, Mrs. Whitman's quarters were ready, and she came
+to occupy them. Spalding and Gray, with Mrs. Spalding, started for the
+Lapwai station; arrived about the 1st of December, 1836, and, with the
+assistance of the Indians, in about twenty days a house was up, and Mrs.
+Spalding occupied it.
+
+It is due to those Indians to say that they labored freely and
+faithfully, and showed the best of feelings toward Mr. and Mrs.
+Spalding, paying good attention to instructions given them, and appeared
+quite anxious to learn all they could of their teachers. It is also due
+to truth to state that Mr. Spalding paid them liberally for their
+services when compared with the amount paid them by the Hudson's Bay
+Company for the same service: say, for bringing a pine-log ten feet long
+and one foot in diameter from the Clearwater River to the station, it
+usually took about twelve Indians; for this service Mr. Spalding paid
+them about six inches of trail-rope tobacco each. This was about four
+times as much as the Hudson's Bay Company paid. This fact soon created a
+little feeling of unfriendliness toward Mr. Spalding. Dr. Whitman
+managed to get along with less Indian labor, and was able, from his
+location, to procure stragglers or casual men to work for him for a
+time, to get supplies and clothing to help them on their way down to the
+Wallamet settlement.
+
+Mr. Spalding and Dr. Whitman were located in their little cabins making
+arrangements to get in their gardens and spring crops, teaching the
+Indians by example, and on the Sabbath interpreting portions of the
+Bible to them, and giving them such religious instruction as they were
+capable of communicating with their imperfect knowledge of their
+language; Mrs. Whitman and Mrs. Spalding teaching the children at their
+respective stations as much as was possible for them with their domestic
+duties to perform.
+
+All things going on smoothly at the stations and all over the Indian
+country, it was thought advisable for Gray to visit Vancouver, procure
+the requisite spring supplies, and a suitable outfit for himself to
+explore the country, having in view further missionary locations, and
+return to the United States and procure assistance for the mission.
+Gray's expedition, as contemplated then, would not be considered with
+present facilities a very light one. He started from Spalding's station
+about the 22d of December, 1836. There had been about twenty inches of
+snow upon the ground, but it was concluded from the fine weather at the
+station that most of it had melted off. On reaching the forks of
+Clearwater (Lewiston), he learned from the Indians that the snow was too
+deep to go by land, sent his horses back to Spalding, got an Indian
+dug-out, started from Lewiston for Wallawalla with two Indians to pilot
+and paddle the canoe; reached the Paluce all safe; camped with the
+Indians; found them all friendly; that night came on bitter cold;--river
+full of floating ice; Indians concluded not safe to proceed further in
+canoe; procure horses and start down on the right bank of the river;
+travel all day; toward night, in passing over a high point, snow-storm
+came on, lost our trail; struck a canon, followed it down, found the
+river and camped in the snow, turned our horses into the tall grass and
+made the best of a snow-camp for the night. Next day start early; wallow
+through the snow and drifts and reach an Indian camp near the mouth of
+Snake River at night; leave horses; next morning get canoe, leave one
+Paluce Indian; Paluce chief and chief of band at Snake River in canoe;
+two Indians to paddle; pull down the river into the Columbia in the
+floating ice, and reach Wallawalla, December 26, 1836; Pambrun pays
+Indians what he thinks right: Paluce chief, for horses and services,
+one three-point Hudson's Bay blanket, one check shirt, one knife, half a
+brace (three feet) trail-rope tobacco. Gray thought the price paid was
+very reasonable,--quite little enough for the labor, to say nothing of
+the risk and suffering from cold on the trip. The river all closed up;
+Indians did not reach their homes for eight days; no communication in
+any direction for ten days. About the tenth day Whitman sends orders
+down for goods to be shipped from Vancouver. About the 10th of January,
+1837, Mr. Ermatinger arrived from Colville by boat, having made several
+portages over ice in reaching Wallawalla. Next day we start down the
+river; pass through and over several fields of ice; reach Vancouver
+about the 12th of January. Rev. J. Lee and Mr. Slacum had just left the
+fort as our party arrived. We have previously given an account of the
+subjects of special interest, and also of the weddings that occurred
+about this time at the fort.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+     The French and American settlers.--Hudson's Bay Company's traveling
+     traders.--The Flatheads.--Their manner of
+     traveling.--Marriage.--Their honesty.--Indian fight and scalp
+     dance.--Making peace.--Fight with the Sioux.--At Council Bluffs.
+
+
+The reader is already acquainted with all of the first missionaries, and
+with the governing power and policy of the Hudson's Bay Company, and of
+the different parties and organizations as they existed. We will now
+introduce parties of men as we find them in the Wallamet settlement.
+
+There were at this time about fifty Canadian-Frenchmen in the Wallamet
+settlement, all of them retired servants of the Hudson's Bay Company.
+These men, who had spent the most active part of their lives in the
+service of the company, had become connected with native women, and
+nearly all of them had their families of half-native children. This
+class of servants were found by the experience of the company not as
+profitable for their purposes as the enlisted men from the Orkney Isles,
+or even the Sandwich Islanders.
+
+They were induced to allow those that had families of half-native
+children to retire from the service and settle in the Wallamet. In this
+manner they expected to hold a controlling influence in the settlement,
+and secure a population dependent upon them for supplies. It was upon
+this half-breed population that they relied to rally the Indian warriors
+of the country to prevent an American settlement. As was plainly stated
+by one of the Hudson's Bay Company, Mr. F. Ermatinger, in the fall of
+1838, in case any effort should be made to remove them from the country,
+they had but to arm the eight hundred half-breeds the company had, and,
+with the Indians they could control, they could hold the country against
+any American force that could be sent into it. The Hudson's Bay Company
+knew very well the power and influence they had secured over the
+Indians. There was then too small a number of outside Americans to make
+any effort to remove them, other than to afford them facilities to leave
+the country. With all the facilities they furnished, and encouragement
+they gave to go to the Sandwich Islands and to California, there was a
+gradual increase of the population the company did not wish to
+see;--sailors from vessels, and hunters from the mountains. These
+sailors and hunters naturally gathered around the American mission;
+many of them had, or soon took, native women for wives; the missionaries
+themselves encouraged them to marry these women. This soon commenced an
+influence exactly like that held by the Hudson's Bay Company through
+their Canadian-French settlement. The moral and religious influence of
+the English church had not been favorably received at Vancouver.
+
+Gray procures his outfit at Vancouver, in January, 1837, and starts in
+company with Ermatinger on his return. First night camp at a saw-mill;
+meet a young man who had crossed the mountains with Captain Wyeth, and
+had remained as clerk at Fort Hall, under the Hudson's Bay Company. This
+young man has never risen very high in the community where he resides.
+For a time he considered he was an important member of the Hudson's Bay
+Company. His self-approbation was superior to the profits he brought to
+the company, and they found it convenient to drop him from their employ.
+He attempted a settlement out of the limits prescribed for Americans,
+and was soon compelled to locate himself under the influence of the
+Methodist Mission.
+
+There was also in the settlement another young man, who about that time
+had taken a native wife and wished to locate at the mouth of the
+Columbia River. This privilege was denied him, unless he could procure
+some others to go with him. He had joined the Methodist class, and was
+considered a reliable man; he came to the country with Captain Wyeth,
+and had opened and taught the first school ever commenced in the
+country.
+
+Ermatinger and company were detained fourteen days under the lee of a
+big rock just opposite Cape Horn, waiting for the east wind to subside
+and allow them to pass up the river. Ermatinger was a traveling trader
+of the Hudson's Bay Company. That year he was with the Flathead tribe.
+Gray continued with him, having his own tent and traveling equipage. The
+route traveled was nearly that since explored and located as Mullan's
+military road. We struck the Coeur d'Alene Lake and took boats, passed
+through the lake and up the Flathead River, making two portages with our
+boats and goods before we reached Flathead House, as it was called, a
+common log hut, covered with poles and dirt, about 16 by 20. At this
+point our horses came up. Their packs and equipage were all put on board
+the boats, while the horses came light through the woods and along the
+rough river trail. At the place where we found our boats, we found a
+number of friendly Indians, also at the head of the lake, and a few at
+the Flathead House or hut. Here we found an old Frenchman in charge,
+with a small supply of goods, and about two packs of beaver which he had
+collected during the winter.
+
+We were joined by a part of the Flathead tribe. In a few days all were
+ready. The tribe and trader started over the mountains on to the waters
+of the Missouri, to hunt the buffalo and fight the Blackfeet. Our route
+was along the main branch of Clark's fork of the Columbia, till we
+reached the Culas Patlum (Bitter Root). A halt was made to allow the
+natives to dig and prepare the root for the season. The root is quite
+nutritious, answering the Indian in place of bread; it is somewhat
+bitter in taste, and to a person not accustomed to its use, is not a
+very agreeable diet. This root secured for the season, the camp
+continued over the dividing ridge into the Big Hole, or Jefferson fork
+of the Missouri. In this place we were joined by the balance of the
+buffalo Indians. All parties, persons, and property were carried upon
+horses. The camps usually traveled from ten to fifteen miles per day. It
+is due to this tribe to say that truth, honesty, and virtue were
+cardinal principles in all their transactions. An article of property
+found during the day was carried to an old chief's lodge; if it were so
+light that he could hold it in his hand and walk through the camp, he
+would pass around and inquire whose it was. Sometimes several articles
+would be lost and picked up; in such cases the old chief would go
+through the camp on horseback and deliver them to the owner.
+
+Their system of courtship and marriage was equally interesting. A youth
+wishing to marry a young miss was required to present a horse at the
+lodge of his intended, ready for her to mount as the camp should move.
+In case all were suited, her ladyship would mount the horse and ride it
+during the day; at night a feast was had at the lodge of the bride, the
+old chief announced the ceremony complete, and the parties proceeded to
+their own home or lodge. In case the suit was rejected the horse was not
+suitable; he was left for the owner to receive at his pleasure; the maid
+mounted her own horse and proceeded about her business.
+
+In case of any visitors from other tribes, which they frequently had in
+going to buffalo, they would caution a stranger, and inform him of the
+propensity to steal which they had learned was the habit of the Indian
+visitor. This tribe claim to have never shed the blood of a white man. I
+believe it is the only tribe on the continent truly entitled to that
+honor; yet they are far more brave as a tribe than any other Indians.
+They never fear a foe, no matter how numerous.
+
+Our sketches perhaps would not lose in interest by giving a short
+account of a fight which our Flathead Indians had at this place with a
+war party of the Blackfeet. It occurred near the present location of
+Helena, in Montana. As was the custom with the Flathead Indians in
+traveling in the buffalo country, their hunters and warriors were in
+advance of the main camp. A party of twenty-five Blackfeet warriors was
+discovered by some twelve of our Flatheads. To see each other was to
+fight, especially parties prowling about in this manner, and at it they
+went. The first fire of the Flatheads brought five of the Blackfeet to
+the ground and wounded some five more. This was more than they expected,
+and the Blackfeet made but little effort to recover their dead, which
+were duly scalped, and the bodies left for food for the wolves, and the
+scalps borne in triumph into the camp. There were but two of the
+Flatheads wounded: one had a flesh-wound in the thigh, and the other had
+his right arm broken by a Blackfoot ball.
+
+The victory was complete, and the rejoicing in camp corresponded to the
+number of scalps taken. Five days and nights the usual scalp-dance was
+performed. At the appointed time the big war-drum was sounded, when the
+warriors and braves made their appearance at the appointed place in the
+open air, painted as warriors. Those who had taken the scalps from the
+heads of their enemies bore them in their hands upon the ramrods of
+their guns.
+
+They entered the circle, and the war-song, drums, rattles, and noises
+all commenced. The scalp-bearers stood for a moment (as if to catch the
+time), and then commenced hopping, jumping, and yelling in concert with
+the music. This continued for a time, when some old painted women took
+the scalps and continued the dance. The performance was gone through
+with as many nights as there were scalps taken.
+
+Seven days after the scalps were taken, a messenger arrived bearing a
+white flag, and a proposition to make peace for the purposes of trade.
+After the preliminaries had all been completed, in which the Hudson's
+Bay Company trader had the principal part to perform, the time was fixed
+for the meeting of the two tribes. The Flatheads, however, were all
+careful to dig their war-pits, make their corrals and breastworks, and,
+in short, fortify their camp as much as if they expected a fight instead
+of peace. Ermatinger, the company's trader, remarked that he would
+sooner take his chances for a fight off-hand than endure the anxiety and
+suspense of the two days we waited for the Blackfeet to arrive. Our
+scouts and warriors were all ready, and all on the watch for peace or
+war, the latter of which, from the recent fight they had had, was
+expected most. At length the Blackfeet arrived, bearing a red flag with
+H. B. C. in white letters upon it, and advancing to within a short
+distance of the camp, were met by Ermatinger and a few Flathead chiefs,
+shook hands, and were conducted to the trader's lodge,--the largest one
+in the camp,--and the principal chiefs of both tribes, seated upon
+buffalo and bear skins, all went through with the ceremony of smoking a
+big pipe, having a long handle or stem trimmed with horse-hair and
+porcupine quills. The pipe was filled with the trader's tobacco and the
+Indians' killikinick. The war-chiefs of each tribe took a puff each of
+the pipe, passed it to his right-hand man, and so around till all the
+circle had smoked of the big medicine pipe, or pipe of peace, which on
+this occasion was made by the Indians from a soft stone which they find
+in abundance in their country, having no extra ornamental work upon it.
+The principal chief in command, or great medicine man, went through the
+ceremony, puffed four times, blowing his smoke in four directions. This
+was considered a sign of peace to all around him, which doubtless
+included all he knew any thing about. The Blackfeet, as a tribe, are a
+tall, well-formed, slim-built, and active people. They travel
+principally on foot, and are considered very treacherous.
+
+The peace made with so much formality was broken two days afterward by
+killing two of the Flatheads when caught not far from the main camp.
+
+It was from this Flathead tribe that the first Indian delegation was
+sent to ask for teachers. Three of their number volunteered to go with
+Gray to the States in 1837 to urge their claims for teachers to come
+among them. The party reached Ash Hollow, where they were attacked by
+about three hundred Sioux warriors, and, after fighting for three hours,
+killed some fifteen of them, when the Sioux, by means of a French trader
+then among them, obtained a parley with Gray and his traveling
+companions,--two young men that had started to go to the States with
+him. While the Frenchman was in conversation with Gray, the treacherous
+Sioux made a rush upon the three Flatheads, one Snake, and one Iroquois
+Indian belonging to the party, and killed them. The Frenchman then
+turned to Gray and told him and his companions they were prisoners, and
+must go to the Sioux camp, first attempting to get possession of their
+guns. Gray informed them at once: "You have killed our Indians in a
+cowardly manner, and you shall not have our guns," at the same time
+telling the young men to watch the first motion of the Indians to take
+their lives, and if we must die, to take as many Indians with us as we
+could. The Sioux had found in the contest thus far, that,
+notwithstanding they had conquered and killed five, they had lost
+fifteen, among them one of their war-chiefs, besides several severely
+wounded. The party were not further molested till they reached the camp,
+containing between one and two hundred lodges. A full explanation was
+had of the whole affair. Gray had two horses killed under him and two
+balls passed through his hat, both inflicting slight wounds. The party
+were feasted, and smoked the pipe of peace over the dead body of the
+chief's son; next day they were allowed to proceed with nine of their
+horses; the balance, with the property of the Indians, the Sioux
+claimed as part pay for their losses, doubtless calculating to waylay
+and take the balance of the horses. Be that as it may, Gray and his
+young men reached Council Bluffs in twenty-one days, traveling nights
+and during storms to avoid the Indians on the plains.
+
+At Council Bluffs they found an Indian trader speaking the French
+language, meaner than the Sioux Indian, by the name of Papeon. The party
+had been twenty-one days on rations that ordinarily would have been
+consumed in four days; they had killed and eaten parts of two of the
+nine worn-out horses; they had with them six. The party entered the
+trading establishment and requested some food and the privilege of
+washing, not as beggars, but expecting to pay for what they required.
+They waited an hour or more; no food was forthcoming; Gray went to
+Papeon, the trader, and inquired the reason they could get no food. The
+old French imp inquired, in his broken French, "_Have you got any ting
+to pa for de tings you vant?_" He was asked if gold would pay him, or a
+draft on his company. "Oh, yes," he said, and in a short time food and
+what was required was produced.
+
+This is only a specimen of most Indian traders of the Catholic stamp.
+There are honorable exceptions.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+     Re-enforcement to the Methodist Mission.--Re-enforcement to the
+     mission of the American Board.
+
+
+We will leave Gray and party on their way down the Missouri River, and
+return to Oregon to introduce to the reader a re-enforcement to the
+Methodist Mission, consisting of Dr. Elijah White, a man that few who
+have dealt with can speak well of, utterly destitute of all morality and
+genuine piety, assuming the garb of religion to cover his baseness of
+heart and meanness of life. He arrived at the Columbia River in May,
+1837. He entered upon his professional duties, and in a few months
+boasted of the liberties he had taken with most of the ladies of the
+mission who were so unfortunate as to receive his medical attention. It
+was easy to see the influence of such a man. His words were smooth and
+brotherly, his acts were poison and infamy. He never had a friend but he
+betrayed or swindled him in some deal. He would tell a lie when the
+truth would answer his purposes better. This man for a time had
+considerable influence; his calling as a physician was necessary and
+indispensable to the mission. Rev. Jason Lee soon found out the
+character of this wolf in sheep's clothing, and presented charges
+against him for his immorality, and expelled him from the mission.
+Previous to leaving the country, he called a public meeting and made his
+statements, and attempted to mob Mr. Jason Lee and get the settlers to
+give him a character, in both of which he failed, and left the country
+to impose upon the government at Washington, as he had done upon the
+mission and the early settlers of Oregon. We will leave Dr. White for
+the present, and give him all the credit due to his bad deeds and
+exhibitions of folly in his capacity as sub-Indian agent.
+
+Mr. Alanson Beers, a blacksmith by trade, was a good honest man, a
+devoted Christian, a man whose moral worth was above price. True as
+steel, and honest as he was faithful, he was slow to believe others to
+be less true than himself. He was a pattern of honesty and piety, as
+well as industry and economy; the opposite of White in every respect, as
+was his wife when compared to Mrs. White. Though Mrs. Beers never
+claimed or aspired to shine or display more than she really was, yet her
+goodness of heart was manifested in her kind and generous treatment of
+all. If this man and his wife did not leave a handsome competency for
+their children it was no fault of theirs. Others may have felt it their
+duty to appropriate the orphan's portion and receive the miser's
+paradise. Mr. Beers came to the country full-handed, with a handsome
+competency to commence any business he might choose, independent of
+missionary patronage. He was more faithful in his department than most
+of his brethren.
+
+He was considered by the early settlers an honest and sincere man; by
+the ruling spirits of the Methodist Mission, a faithful servant of their
+cause.
+
+With this company came W. H. Wilson, an assistant missionary, of whose
+early life we have but little knowledge. From his own statements we
+learn that he had been connected with a whale ship as cooper. On
+arriving in Oregon as an assistant missionary, he was licensed as a
+preacher, and commenced the study of medicine with Dr. White, and, in
+later years, received the title of doctor instead of reverend. The
+doctor was a cheerful, whole-souled, good-sort of a fellow, with a
+greater abundance of interesting and funny yarns than profound medical
+skill, which always made him agreeable, and served to gain friends and
+popularity in a community that, as a general thing, would prefer a
+tincture of humbuggery.
+
+The Misses Ann Maria Pitman, Susan Downing, and Elvira Johnson were also
+of this party. The first became the wife of Rev. Jason Lee, the second
+of Cyrus Shepard, the third of Rev. H. K. W. Perkins, who came to the
+country with the second re-enforcement to the mission, consisting of
+Rev. David Leslie, wife, and three daughters; H. K. W. Perkins; and Miss
+Margaret Smith, who afterward became the wife of an Englishman called
+Dr. Bailey. This gave to the Methodist Mission, on the 21st of November,
+1837, Rev. Jason Lee (superintendent of the mission) and wife, Mr. C.
+Shepard and wife, Rev. Daniel Lee, Mr. P. L. Edwards, Rev. David Leslie
+and wife, Dr. Elijah White and wife, Rev. H. K. W. Perkins and wife, Mr.
+A. Beers and wife, Mr. W. H. Wilson, and Miss Margaret Smith,--nine men
+and seven women,--with three daughters of Rev. D. Leslie. From causes
+already mentioned, the moral strength of these early missionaries was
+neutralized. The larger portion of them had no knowledge of the
+influences that were sapping the foundation of their Christian effort,
+and tending to destroy the confidence of such as were considered ungodly
+outsiders. Instead of meeting sin, and vice, and lust which could not be
+hid, and condemning and banishing it, the attempt was made to excuse and
+cover up a fault in a professed brother, and reprove others for less
+faults,--_the mote and the beam_. The legitimate result
+followed,--though slow, yet certain. Here was a noble field, had all
+the men sent to occupy it been of the right stamp! Still they toiled on,
+or rather continued to occupy a place in the country, to form a nucleus
+for a settlement. In this position they are entitled to much credit. The
+roving sailor and the wild mountain hunter looked to this wilderness for
+a home. The shrewdness of these men soon detected the assailable points
+in the mission's character, and adapted themselves to circumstances, and
+found it easy to profess compliance and receive the benefits of the
+association. There were few or none among this early set of missionaries
+that displayed much knowledge of human nature. They were totally
+ignorant of savage life, manners, and customs; hence were easily made
+the dupes of all.
+
+In the winter of 1837-8, Gray is in the States giving an account of his
+trip across the Rocky Mountains in company with Messrs. Spalding and
+Whitman, and of his explorations of the country; the present and future
+prospects of the missionary efforts; the influence of the Hudson's Bay
+Company and of the missions; the fact that a wagon had been taken by Dr.
+Whitman and his party to Fort Boise, and that it could be taken to the
+Wallamet settlement. Said one man in the audience at Utica, New York:
+"How do you get through the timber on the route?" "My dear sir, the
+traveler is compelled to use the buffalo chips to cook his food for a
+large part of the route, for want of wood; there is not twenty-five
+miles of timber on the route from the Missouri to the Columbia." Of
+course a description of the vast plains and mountains had to be given,
+and the manner of travel and subsistence.
+
+The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions sent with Gray
+and wife, Rev. E. Walker and wife, C. Eells and wife, and A. B. Smith
+and wife, to re-enforce their mission. There was with this company a
+young man from Cincinnati, Ohio,--Cornelius Rogers,--active and useful
+in every department, respected and beloved by all who knew him. After
+remaining with the mission a few years, he received an appointment from
+the Board, but he had made up his mind to become a settler in the
+Wallamet, and made his arrangements accordingly. Captain Sutter came
+with this party to Wallawalla.
+
+They reached Whitman's station the first of September, 1838, bringing
+with them to Fort Hall some fourteen cows. A majority of the party were
+made to believe that these could be replaced at Fort Colville with a
+better stock of cows, and thus be saved the trouble of driving them
+further, and accordingly made an even exchange of the choicest and best
+stock that could be found in Missouri for such California stock as the
+Hudson's Bay Company might have at Colville. This was considered by the
+_greenhorns_ that made the bargain a good trade, till they came to
+receive the wild, furious, untamable California stock at Fort Colville,
+that required a Spaniard with his lasso to catch and hold, to get the
+milk for family use.
+
+Rev. E. Walker was a tall, rather spare, stoop-shouldered, black-haired,
+brown-eyed, rather light-complexioned man, diffident and unassuming,
+always afraid to say _amen_ at the end of his prayers, and requiring
+considerable effort to speak with confidence or decision upon any
+subject. This might arise from habit, or want of decision of character,
+or fear of offending. He had no positive traits of mind, yet he was
+studious, and kind as a friend and neighbor; faithful as a Christian,
+inefficient as a preacher. His efforts among the Indians were of the
+negative cast. The Indians respected him for his kindness, and feared
+him for his commanding appearance. Not at all adapted to fill the
+position he undertook,--as an Indian missionary in Oregon,--yet, as a
+citizen and settler, one of the best.
+
+Rev. C. Eells, a short, slim, brown-haired, light-brown eyed,
+fair-complexioned man, with a superabundance of self-esteem, great
+pretensions to precision and accurateness of statement and strictness of
+conduct; very precise in all his actions, and about all his labors and
+property; with no soul to laud and admire nature, no ambition to lift
+his thoughts beyond the sphere of his own ideas of right, he was made to
+move in a small circle; his soul would be lost outside of it. There were
+but two instances on the trip from Boston to Oregon in which he ventured
+outside of himself. The first was at Soda Springs. The day the party
+arrived, notwithstanding they had made a long day's drive to reach that
+camp, the four ladies--Walker, Eells, Smith, and Gray--wished to go
+round and see the springs and drink of the water, and look at the
+Steamboat Spring, a place where water and gas issue at intervals of
+about a minute, like the blowing of steam. These places the ladies,
+tired as they were, must look at and admire. Rev. Mr. Eells puts up his
+saddles, buckles, and tents, and takes his Testament and reads his
+chapter, as usual, and after prayers retires to rest. Next morning all
+were up and admiring the grand display of nature around, drinking of the
+water, and enjoying its exhilarating influence. Camp all ready, on they
+move. Nothing would satisfy the ladies but another look at the
+Steamboat. All mounted their horses and rode down to it. Eells mounts
+his horse as usual, and comes along down where all stood watching and
+admiring the phenomenon, dismounts from his horse, and in utter
+astonishment exclaims: "_Well, this is really worth coming to see!_" The
+other instance in which he lost himself was in admiring the grandeur of
+the great fall on Snake River. He had no poetry or romance in his soul,
+yet by dint of perseverance he was a good artificial singer. He lacked
+all the qualities requisite for a successful Indian missionary and a
+preacher of the gospel in a new country. As citizens and neighbors, Mr.
+Eells and his family were highly respected; as a teacher he was
+unreasonably strict.
+
+Rev. A. B. Smith, a man whose prejudices were so strong that he could
+not be reasonable with himself. He attempted to make himself useful as a
+missionary, but failed for want of Christian forbearance and confidence
+in his associates. As to literary ability, he was superior to his
+associates, and probably excited their jealousy; so much so, that his
+connection in the mission became unpleasant, and he found an excuse to
+leave the country in 1841; not, however, till he and Mr. Rogers had,
+with the assistance of the Lawyer, completed a vocabulary and a grammar
+of the Nez Perce language, which was the cause of Ellis's jealousy of
+the Lawyer and Mr. Smith, and also of an extra effort through the
+Jesuits and the company to get rid of him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+     Arrival of Jesuit missionaries.--Toupin's statement about Rev. A.
+     B. Smith.--Death of Mrs. Jason Lee.--First express.--Jesuits at
+     work.--The first printing-press.--The Catholic tree.
+
+
+A short time after the arrival of the re-enforcement to the mission of
+the American Board, Rev. F. N. Blanchet and Rev. Demerse arrived at
+Wallawalla by the annual overland boats of the Hudson's Bay Company.
+While at Wallawalla, they induced a Cayuse, Young Chief, to have one of
+his children baptized, Mr. Pambrun being sponsor, or godfather. This was
+the first Indian child ever baptized in the country. It caused
+considerable excitement among the Indians, as also a discussion as to
+who was teaching the true religion. The interpreters of Wallawalla being
+of the Catholic faith, made free to inform the Indians that theirs was
+the true religion. The Indians soon came to the station of Dr. Whitman
+and informed him of what had been done, and that they had been told by
+the priest that his was the true religion; that what he and Mr. Spalding
+had been teaching them for two years past was all false, and that it was
+not right for the Indians to listen to the Doctor and Mr. Spalding. The
+instructions given, and the baptizing of the Indian child, were,
+unquestionably, designed to create a diversion in the minds of the
+Indians, and ultimately bring about the abandonment or destruction of
+the mission. I have never been able to learn, from any source, that any
+other Indian child was baptized by these priests on that trip from
+Canada to Vancouver. In fact, I see from their published works that they
+claim this as their first station or place of instruction.
+
+The Rev. Mr. Blanchet was a black-haired, brown-eyed, smooth-faced,
+medium-sized Frenchman.
+
+The Rev. Mr. Demerse had dark-brown hair, full, round eye, fair
+complexion, rather full habit, something of the bull-neck, inclining to
+corpulency. He was fond of good cheer and good living; of the Jesuit
+order of the Roman church; he seemed to have no scruples of conscience;
+so long as he could secure subjects for "_mother church_," it mattered
+not as to intelligence or character.
+
+During the year 1838, three clergymen arrived across the Rocky
+Mountains: Revs. Walker, Eells, and Smith, with their wives, and Mr.
+Cornelius Rogers, Mr. Gray, with his wife, had also returned. These new
+arrivals gave an addition of nine to the mission of the American Board,
+making their number thirteen in all. The Methodist Mission had sixteen,
+and the Roman Catholic, two. The total number of missionaries in the
+country, in December, 1838, was thirty-one, twenty-nine of the
+Protestant religion from the United States, and two of the Roman
+Jesuitical order. The latter were located at Vancouver as their
+head-quarters. The Methodists were in the Wallamet Valley, with one
+out-station at the Dalles, Wascopum. The American Board had three
+stations, one at Wailatpu, one at Lapwai, and one at Cimakain, near
+Spokan.
+
+This array of missionary strength looked like a strong effort on the
+part of the Christian world to convert the tribes upon our western
+coast. Had all the men been chosen with proper care, and all acted with
+a single eye to the cause which they professed to espouse, each in his
+distinct department; had they closed their ears to the suggestions of
+hypocritical fur traders, and met their vices with a spotless life and
+an earnest determination to maintain their integrity as representatives
+of religion and a Christian people, the fruits of their labor would,
+undoubtedly, have been far greater. As the matter now stands, they can
+claim the influence they reluctantly yielded to the provisional
+government of the early settlers of the country.
+
+It will be seen at once that the Hudson's Bay Company was acting a
+double part with all the American missionary efforts in the country. On
+the arrival of Rev. J. Lee and party they sent for Mr. Beaver, an
+Episcopal clergyman. On the arrival of Dr. Whitman and party they sent
+for Blanchet and Demerse, and established their head-quarters at
+Vancouver. Blanchet took charge of the field occupied by the Methodists,
+and Demerse of that occupied by the American Board. A combination of
+Hudson's Bay Company Indian traders Roman priests, Protestant
+missionaries, and American settlers, each having a distinct object in
+view. Unfortunately for the American missionaries and settlers, there
+was no one bold enough to attempt to act against these combinations.
+Cornelius Rogers and Robert Shortess were the first to show signs of
+rebellion against the policy of the Hudson's Bay Company; Spalding,
+Whitman, and Smith chafed under the Jesuits' proceedings in the
+interior.
+
+"About the year 1839, in the fall, Mr. Smith, belonging to the same
+society as Dr. Whitman and Mr. Spalding, asked permission of Ellis to
+build upon his lands for the purpose of teaching the Indians as the
+other missionaries were doing, and of keeping a school. Ellis allowed
+him to build; but forbade him to cultivate the land, and warned him
+that if he did the piece of ground which he would till should serve to
+bury him in. In the following spring, however, Mr. Smith prepared his
+plow to till the ground; and Ellis, seeing him ready to begin, went to
+him and said to him: 'Do you not recollect what I told you? I do not
+wish you to cultivate the land.' Mr. Smith, however, persisted in his
+determination; but, as he was beginning to plow, the Indians took hold
+of him and said to him: 'Do you not know what has been told you, that
+you would be digging a hole in which you should be buried?' Mr. Smith
+then did not persist any longer, but said to them: 'Let me go, I will
+leave the place;' and he started off immediately. This circumstance had
+been related to me by the Indians, and soon after I saw Mr. Smith myself
+at Fort Wallawalla; he was on his way down to Fort Vancouver, where he
+embarked for the Sandwich Islands, whence he did not come back any
+more." This is the statement of old John Toupin, Pambrun's Roman
+Catholic interpreter, by Brouillet.
+
+It will be borne in mind that Rev. Jason Lee started with P. L. Edwards
+and F. Y. Euing, across the Rocky Mountains, for the United States, in
+May, 1838. He met Gray, and party, at the American rendezvous that year,
+on the north fork of the Yellowstone River. Gray and party, on arriving
+at Fort Hall, received the news of the death of Mrs. Jason Lee, sent by
+Spalding and Whitman, and not by Dr. McLaughlin, as stated by Rev. G.
+Hines. Dr. McLaughlin may have allowed a messenger to go as far as
+Whitman's station, but made no arrangements for going any further.
+Spalding's Indian messenger delivered the packages to Gray, at Fort
+Hall. Gray employed Richardson a young man he had engaged as guide and
+hunter for the party, on starting from Westport, Missouri, to take these
+letters, and deliver them to Lee, for which he was to receive $150.
+
+This express was carried from the Wallamet Valley to Westport, Missouri,
+in _sixty days_, forming the first data for the overland express and
+mail routes. The sixty days included two days' detention at Wailatpu,
+and two at Fort Hall. It seems that Richardson, the messenger from Fort
+Hall, met Lee, and delivered his packages to him at the Shawnee mission,
+and received from Lee the price agreed upon. I am thus particular in
+these little facts, that those who claim so much credit for Hudson's Bay
+Company patronage may understand what influences were in those early
+times bringing about results for which a combination of British fur
+traders now claim pay, and are awarded $650,000, in gold coin.
+
+I have said that in December, 1838, there were twenty-nine persons
+connected with the Protestant missions in the country. This is not
+strictly true, Rev. Jason Lee and Mr. P. L. Edwards had gone to the
+States; Mr. C. Shepard and Mrs. J. Lee had gone to their reward. The
+devil had entered the field with his emissaries, and was exceedingly
+busy sowing tares among the wheat, through fear that the natives would
+be benefited, and the country become civilized. The Hudson's Bay Company
+and its servants, Indians and all, are about to become converted to
+Christianity. Strange as this statement may appear, it is literally
+true. The clerks, traders, and servants of the Hudson's Bay Company
+became _catechists_, to teach the Indians to repeat the catechism
+presented to them by their Reverences Blanchet and Demerse. Dr.
+McLaughlin and Esquire Douglas were both zealous supporters of the
+Christian reformation in progress in the country. During the year 1839,
+"Rev. Mr. Demerse (Jesuit priest) spent three weeks at Wallawalla, _in
+teaching the Indians and baptizing their children_," employing Mr. P. C.
+Pambrun as his catechist, and godfather to the native children. (See
+page 87 of Rev. J. B. A. Brouillet's "Protestantism in Oregon.") While
+the Protestant missions were struggling to improve the condition of the
+Indians, to teach them to cultivate their lands and become permanent
+settlers in their own country, and to give the Indian children a
+knowledge of books, the Hudson's Bay Company and Jesuit priests were
+equally busy in attempting to persuade them that the instructions given
+by these American or _Boston missionaries_ were only to cover up a
+secret design they had to take their lands and property from them, and
+eventually to occupy the country themselves. To a certain extent Dr.
+Whitman's statement to them would confirm this idea. As soon as those
+priests arrived and commenced their instructions, under the patronage of
+the Hudson's Bay Company (for it will be remembered that their
+head-quarters were at Vancouver), their entire transportation was
+provided or furnished by the company. Doubtless it is to the assistance
+rendered these Roman missions to occupy the country, that the counsel
+for the Hudson's Bay Company, Mr. Charles D. Day, alludes, in speaking
+of the "_substantial benefits to the people and government of the United
+States_." Dr. Whitman repeatedly told the Indians about his station that
+he did not come among them to buy their land, but he came to teach them
+how to cultivate and live from what they produced from their own lands,
+and at some future time, if the American government wished any of their
+country, then the President would send men to buy and pay them for it.
+The difficulty about land had no existence in the minds or thoughts of
+the Indians till the fall of 1839, and after the renewal of the Hudson's
+Bay Company's license for twenty-one years. From that time forward a
+marked change was manifest in the feelings of most of the gentlemen of
+the company.
+
+The first printing-press in Oregon was received as a donation from the
+mission of the American Board of Foreign Missions in the Sandwich
+Islands, to the mission of the Board in Oregon. It reached its
+destination at Lapwai, and was put in operation by Mr. E. O. Hall, of
+the Sandwich Islands Mission, and commenced printing books in the Nez
+Perce language. Both Mr. Rogers and Mr. Spalding soon learned to set
+type, and print the small books required for the Indian schools that had
+been kept at the stations. The books and instructions were furnished
+gratuitously to all the Indians that wished to receive them. This caused
+special efforts on the part of the priests to counteract the influence
+of the books printed by Spalding. To illustrate their ideas, and show
+the evil of heretical books and teachings, they had a representation of
+a large tree, with a cross on top, representing all religious sects as
+going up the tree, and out upon the different branches, and falling from
+the end of the branch into a fire under the tree, with a priest by the
+side of the fire throwing the heretical books into it. This was an
+interesting picture, and caused much discussion and violent
+denunciations among the Indians. Mr. Spalding, to counteract the
+influences of the Roman Catholic tree among the Indians, had Mrs.
+Spalding paint a number of sheets of cap-paper, commencing with Adam and
+Eve in the garden of Eden, representing the shrubbery, and all kinds of
+fruits, and the serpent, and the angel (after the fall) as guarding the
+garden; giving the pictures of most of the prominent patriarchs; Noah
+and the ark, and the prophets, down to Christ and the twelve apostles;
+showing the crucifixion of Christ by the Roman soldiers, and on down to
+the time when they adopted the cross as a form of worship, and the
+priests as kneeling to images. Spalding's pictures were in such form,
+and contained so much Bible history and information, that his Indian
+preachers, to whom he gave them, could attract larger crowds of Indians,
+to listen to the instructions given by Spalding, than those who had the
+Catholic tree. This exasperated, or stirred up, as the Indians expressed
+it, all their bad feelings toward each other, and caused quarrels
+between those that were friends before,--a repetition of sectarian
+quarrels in all ages, and among every people not understanding the true
+principles of a genuine Christianity.
+
+The main object of the priests was to destroy all interest in books, and
+thereby check the growing influence of the American missionaries in the
+country, substituting pictures and beads in place of knowledge.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+     Independent missionaries arrive.--Their troubles.--Conversion of
+     Indiana at the Dalles.--Their motives.--Emigrants of
+     1839.--Blubber-Mouth Smith.--Re-enforcement of the Methodist
+     Mission in 1840.--Father De Smet.--Rev. Harvey Clark and
+     associates.--Ewing Young.--Names of missionaries and settlers.
+
+
+In the fall of 1839, the Rev. J. S. Griffin and wife arrived at Dr.
+Whitman's station. Mr. Griffin had undertaken an independent mission, in
+company with a Mr. Munger and wife. They had received an outfit from
+some warm-hearted Christians of the Litchfield North Association, of
+Connecticut. Mr. Griffin reached St. Louis a single man, fell in love
+and married on sight, I do not know whether it was first or second. At
+all events, Rev. Mr. Griffin and Mr. Munger and their wives consented to
+travel together till they reached Fort Hall, at which place Mr. Griffin,
+being the getter-up of the mission and claiming ecclesiastical
+jurisdiction, took it upon himself to leave Mr. Munger and his wife at
+Fort Hall, to take care of themselves as best they could. Frank
+Ermatinger, of the Hudson's Bay Company, at once furnished Mr. Munger
+and his wife the means of transportation, and brought them to Dr.
+Whitman's station, where he knew Mr. Munger could find a place for
+himself and wife. This transaction of Mr. Griffin injured his usefulness
+as a minister, and left him in the country but little inspected by any
+who knew of his conduct to a fellow-traveler and an intelligent
+Christian woman. The fact that Mr. Munger afterward became deranged, or
+even that he was partially deranged at Fort Hall, or before they reached
+that place, is no excuse for his treating a man in that condition and
+his wife as he did. Mr. Griffin claims that Mr. Ermatinger stole three
+of his horses, or had them hid, when at Fort Hall, to get Mr. Munger and
+wife to travel with him, and, by so doing, give the impression that he
+had abandoned them. From a careful review of Mr. Griffin's lengthy
+defense in this case, we can not conceive that any further change or
+correction is required, as the facts stated are by him admitted. From
+Mr. Griffin's statement we are satisfied that improper and undue
+influences were used to break up and defeat his Indian missionary plans
+and settlement by Mr. Ermatinger and the Hudson's Bay Company, and also
+to destroy his clerical influence in the country. Unfortunately, Mr.
+Griffin gave too much cause for his enemies to do as they did.
+
+In the winter of 1850, Mr. Griffin made an attempt to pass the Salmon
+River Mountains to Payette River, to establish a mission among the Snake
+Indians in which he failed and found his way into the Wallamet as a
+settler, where he still remains.
+
+There were with Mr. Griffin's party some four men, one by the name of
+Ben Wright, who hail been a Methodist preacher in the States, but whose
+religion failed him on his way over the mountains. He reached the
+Dalles, where he renewed his religion under Rev. Mr. Perkins and D. Lee.
+
+While at the Dalles, the three clergymen succeeded in converting, as
+they supposed, a large number of the Indians. While this Indian revival
+was in progress the writer had occasion to visit Vancouver. On his way,
+he called on the missionaries at the Dalles, and, in speaking of the
+revival among the Indians, we remarked that, in our opinion, most of the
+religious professions of the natives were from _selfish motives_. Mr.
+Perkins thought not; he named one Indian that, he felt certain, was
+really converted, if there was a true conversion. In a short time Daniel
+Lee, his associate, came in, and remarked: "What kind of a proposition
+do you think ---- (naming Mr. Perkins' truly converted Indian) has made to
+me?" Perkins replied: "Perhaps he will perform the work we wished him to
+do." "No," says Lee; "he says he _will pray a whole year if I give him
+a shirt and a capote_." This fact shows that the natives who were
+supposed to be converted to Christianity were making these professions
+to gain presents from the missionaries. We have witnessed similar
+professions among the Nez Perce and Cayuse Indians. The giving of a few
+presents of any description to them induces them to make professions
+corresponding to the wish of the donor.
+
+With Messrs. Griffin, Munger, and Wright, came Messrs. Lawson, Keiser,
+and Geiger, late in the fall of 1839; also a man by the name of Farnam,
+who seemed to be an explorer or tourist. I met him at Vancouver, where
+he was receiving the hospitality of the Hudson's Bay Company, and
+collecting material for a journal, or history of Oregon. It is said of
+him that, on starting from the States, he succeeded in getting himself
+appointed captain of a company consisting of some fourteen men. He soon
+attempted to exercise absolute control of the company, which caused a
+division. The party voted to suspend his official functions, and finally
+suspended him and expelled him from the train. On returning to the
+States he published a book, which, as was to be expected, was favorable
+to himself and friends (if he had any), and severe on his opposers or
+enemies. The professed object of the party was to form a settlement in
+Oregon. In consequence of the course pursued by Farnam, it all broke
+up. A man called Blubber-Mouth Smith, Blair, a millwright, and Robert
+Shortess were of the party. These all found their way into Oregon, while
+the balance of the party went south and wintered in the mountains. Mr.
+Farnam was furnished a free passage to the Sandwich Islands by the
+Hudson's Bay Company, for which his traveling companions and those best
+acquainted with him have given the company credit, as one good act.
+
+Sydney Smith--called "Blubber-Mouth," from the fact that he was a great
+talker and fond of telling _big yarns_, which he, no doubt, had repeated
+so often that he believed them to be true, and would appear somewhat
+offended if his statements were not believed by others--had a tolerably
+fair education, and appeared to understand the lottery business, as
+conducted in some of the States. He was a man who had read considerable
+in his early days, and had he been less boisterous and persistent in
+statements that appeared improbable to others, would have been far more
+reliable and useful. As it was, in those early times, his knowledge and
+free-speaking became quite useful, when combined with the hearty action
+he gave to the objects in contemplation. He was ambitious and extremely
+selfish, and, when opposed in his plans, quite unreasonable.
+
+Robert Shortess possessed a combination of qualities such as should have
+formed one of the best and noblest of men; with a good memory, extensive
+reading, inflexible purpose, strong hate, affectionate and kind,
+skeptical and religious, honest and liberal to a fault, above medium
+height, light-brown hair, blue eyes, and thin and spare features. His
+whole life is a mystery, his combinations a riddle. He early entered
+with heart and soul into the situation and condition of the settlements,
+and stood for their rights in opposition to all the combined influences
+in the country. As a politician he acts on the principle of right,
+without any regard to expediency. As a religious man he has no faith; as
+a skeptic he is severe on all alike. The country owes much to him for
+his labor and influence in combating slavery and shaping the organic
+policy of the settlements.
+
+At the close of 1839, there were ten Protestant ministers and two Roman
+priests, two physicians, six laymen, and thirteen American women in the
+country--twenty-nine in all--connected with the Protestant missions, or
+under their immediate control, and twenty settlers, besides about ten
+men that were under the control of the Hudson's Bay Company, yet having
+strong American feelings. There were also ten American children, five of
+them born in the country. Mrs. Whitman gave birth to the first white
+child, a daughter, born on this coast, who was drowned in the Wallawalla
+River at about two years of age; Mrs. Spalding the second, a daughter,
+still living; Mrs. Elkanah Walker the first boy, and Mrs. W. H. Gray,
+the second. These boys are both making good names for themselves. It is
+to be hoped that every act and effort of their lives will be alike
+honorable to their parents, themselves, and their native country. As to
+the first daughter of Oregon, I regret to say, she disobeyed the wish of
+her parents and friends, and married a man whose early education was
+neglected, but who has natural ability and energy to rise above his
+present position, obtain an education, and become an ornament to his
+adopted country, and an honor to Oregon's eldest daughter.
+
+On the first of June of this year, the _Lausanne_, Captain Spalding,
+arrived in the Columbia River with a re-enforcement for the Methodist
+Mission of eight clergymen, five laymen, and one physician, all with
+wives, five single ladies, and fifteen children, belonging to the
+different families, with a full supply of goods, such as were needed and
+appropriate for the settlement, the various missions, and for Indian
+trade. September following, Rev. Harvey Clark and wife, A. T. Smith and
+wife, and P. B. Littlejohn and wife, arrived across the Rocky Mountains.
+With this company came eleven mountain men, eight of them with native
+wives. We now had twenty-one Protestant ministers, three Roman priests,
+fifteen lay members of the Protestant Church, thirty-four white women,
+thirty-five American settlers, and thirty-two white children--one
+hundred and eight persons immediately under control of the missions.
+Thirty-six settlers, twenty-five of them with native wives. These
+thirty-six settlers are counted as outside the missions and Hudson's Bay
+Company. There were about fifty Canadian-French under the control of the
+company.
+
+Thus we can begin to see the development of the three influences or
+parties. The Hudson's Bay Company had in their religious element three
+Romish priests, assisted actively by all the Canadian-French Catholics
+and such clerks as Pambrun, Guinea, Grant, and McBean, with such
+interpreters as old Toupin, of whom Mr. Parker, in his journal, says:
+"The interpreter I had been expecting did not arrive, and consequently
+much of what I wished to say to these hundreds of Indians could not be
+communicated for want of a medium." On the preceding page, Mr. Parker
+remarks: "But as I have little prospect of the arrival of my
+interpreter, I shall probably be left to commiserate their anxiety,
+while it will be out of my power to do them good."
+
+Old John Toupin, under the sanctity of a Roman Catholic oath, says, at
+St. Louis, of Wallamet, on September 24, 1848; "I have been seventeen
+years employed as interpreter at Fort Wallawalla. I was there when Mr.
+Parker, in 1835, came to select places for Presbyterian missions among
+the Cayuses and Nez Perces, and to ask lands for those missions. He
+employed _me as interpreter_ in his negotiations with the Indians on
+that occasion." Mr. Parker has just said "_the interpreter I had been
+expecting did not arrive_." Toupin says: "Mr. Pambrun, the gentleman
+then in charge of the fort, accompanied me to the Cayuses and Nez
+Perces. Mr. Parker, in company with Mr. Pambrun, an American, and
+myself, went first to the Cayuses, upon the lands called Wailatpu, that
+belonged to three chiefs,--Splitted Lip, or Yomtip; Red Cloak, or
+Waptachtakamal; and Feather Cap, or Tilokaikt." Having met them at that
+place, he told them that he was coming to select a place to build a
+preaching-house, to teach them how to live, and to teach school to their
+children, and that he would not come himself to establish the mission,
+but a _doctor, or medicine man_, would come in his place; that the
+doctor would be the chief of the mission, and would come in the
+following spring. "I came to select a place for a mission," said he,
+"_but I do not intend to take your lands for nothing_. After the doctor
+is come, there will come every year a _big ship loaded with goods_ to be
+divided among the Indians. These goods will not be _sold_, but _given_
+to you. The mission will bring you plows and hoes to learn you how to
+cultivate the land, and they will not sell, but give them to you." From
+the Cayuses Mr. Parker went to the Nez Perces, and there he made the
+same promises to the Indians as at Wailatpu. "Next spring there will
+come a missionary to establish himself here and take a piece of land;
+_but he will not take it for nothing, you shall be paid every year; this
+is the American fashion_." This statement is made by authority of Rev.
+J. B. A. Brouillet; vicar-general of Wallawalla.
+
+Rev. Mr. Parker, as before remarked, and as his journal shows, soon
+understood all the maneuverings of this Hudson's Bay Company. He had no
+confidence in their friendship or their interpreters. As a matter of
+policy they could do no less than treat him kindly, or, more properly,
+_civilly_, and allow him to leave the country, as he did. But mark the
+strictness and care of the company to impress the necessity of
+compliance with their arrangements upon the minds of those that followed
+Mr. Parker. Keep the _massacre_ to which Vicar-General Brouillet refers
+before your mind. _Life and blood and treasure have been expended._ The
+fair land we inhabit was not secured without a struggle. The early
+Protestant missions were not defeated and broken up without outside
+influences. The Indians were not abandoned till they had dipped their
+hands in the blood of their best and truest friend, and "become
+seven-fold more the children of the devil than they were in their native
+state," by the teachings they had received from _malicious_ and
+_interested parties_ to make them so.
+
+Father P. J. De Smet, from Brouillet's statements, was among the
+Flatheads and at Wallawalla in 1840. This priest boasted of his
+belonging to the Jesuit order of the Romish Church. He usually wore a
+black frock-coat, was of full habit, arrogant and bigoted in his
+opinions, and spoke with considerable sarcasm and contempt of all
+Americans, and especially of the missionaries, as an ignorant set of men
+to represent the American churches. He would be considered, in his
+church, a zealous and faithful priest of the order of Jesus. His
+religious instructions to the Indians were simple and easy to be
+understood: "_Count your beads, hate or kill the Suapies_ (Americans),
+_and kiss the cross_."
+
+Rev. Harvey Clark was a man whose religion was practical, whose labors
+were without ceasing, of slender frame, black hair, deep, mellow voice,
+kind and obliging to all. He organized the first Congregational Church
+in Tualatin Plains, and one in Oregon City, and was the getter-up of the
+Pacific University at Forest Grove; a warm friend to general education
+and all objects calculated to do good to any and all of his
+fellow-creatures. But few who knew him did not respect and esteem him
+for his sincere piety and Christian conduct. He came to the country as a
+missionary sent out by some of the northwestern churches in the United
+States, without any definite organization further than sufficient to
+furnish the means for outfit for himself and associates,--Smith and
+Littlejohn and their wives,--trusting Providence and their own strong
+arms and willing hearts to labor and do all they could for a
+subsistence. Mr. Clark was perhaps the best man that could have been
+sent with the early settlers. He early gained their confidence and
+esteem, and was always a welcome visitor among them. He had not that
+stern commanding manner which is usual to egotists of the clerical
+order, but was of the mild, persuasive kind, that wins the rough heart
+and calms the stormy passions. The country is blessed by his having
+lived in it.
+
+A. T. Smith, the associate of Rev. H. Clark was an honest and
+substantial farmer, a sincere and devout Christian, a man not forward in
+forming society, yet firm and stable in his convictions of right;
+liberal and generous to all objects of real worth; not easily excited,
+or ambitious of political preferment. His wife seemed, in all her life
+and actions, to be a suitable helpmeet for him. They came early to this
+country, and have ever been substantial and useful citizens, and
+supporters of morality and religion. They were among the earliest
+settlers at Forest Grove, and the first members of Rev. H. Clark's
+church.
+
+P. B. Littlejohn was the opposite of Smith, a confirmed hypochondriac;
+yet, under excitement that was agreeable to his ideas, a useful man.
+Owing to his peculiar temperament, or the disease with which he was
+afflicted, his usefulness, and that of an interesting and Christian
+wife, were cramped and destroyed. He returned to the States with his
+family in 1845.
+
+At this point, perhaps a statement of all the names of persons I have
+been able to collect and recollect, and the year they arrived in the
+country, will not be uninteresting to the reader. A short history of
+most of them has already been given.
+
+In the year 1834, Rev. Jason Lee, Rev. Daniel Lee, Cyrus Shepard, and P.
+L. Edwards, connected with the Methodist Mission; Captain N. Wyeth,
+American fur trader, and of his party in 1832, S. H. Smith, Burdet,
+Greeley, Sergeant, Bull, St. Clair, and Whittier (who was helped to or
+given a passage to the Sandwich Islands by the Hudson's Bay Company);
+Brock, a gunsmith; Tibbets, a stone-cutter; Moore, killed by the
+Blackfeet Indians; Turnbull, who killed himself by overeating at
+Vancouver. There was also in the country a man by the name of Felix
+Hathaway, saved from the wreck of the _William and Ann_. Of this number,
+Smith, Sergeant, Tibbets, and Hathaway remained. Of the party in 1834,
+James A. O'Neil, T. J. Hubbard, and Courtney M. Walker remained in the
+country, making six of Wyeth's men and one sailor. C. M. Walker came
+with Lee's company. With Ewing Young, from California, came, in this
+year, John McCarty, Carmichael, John Hauxhurst, Joseph Gale, John
+Howard, Kilborn, Brandywine, and George Winslow, a colored man. By the
+brig _Maryland_, Captain J. H. Couch, G. W. Le Breton, John McCaddan,
+and William Johnson. An English sailor, by the name of Richard or Dick
+McCary, found his way into the settlement from the Rocky Mountains.
+
+In the year 1835 it does not appear that any settlers arrived in the
+country. Rev. Samuel Parker visited and explored it under the direction
+of the American Board of Foreign Missions.
+
+In 1836, Rev. H. Spalding, Dr. M. Whitman, W. H. Gray, Mrs. Eliza
+Spalding, and Mrs. Narcissa Whitman, missionaries of the American Board,
+and Rev. Mr. Beaver, Episcopal chaplain at Vancouver, and Mrs. Beaver.
+There appear to have been no settlers this year; at least, none known to
+us.
+
+In 1837, Mrs. A. M. Lee, Mrs. S. Shepard, Dr. E. White, Mrs. M. White,
+A. Beers, Mrs. R. Beers, Miss E. Johnson, W. H. Wilson, Mr. J. Whitcomb,
+members of the Methodist Episcopal Mission. Second re-enforcement this
+year: Rev. H. K. W. Perkins, Rev. David Leslie, Mrs. Leslie, Misses
+Satira, Mary, and Sarah Leslie, Miss Margaret Smith, Dr. J. Bailey, an
+Englishman, George Gay, and John Turner.
+
+In 1838, Rev. Elkanah Walker, Mrs. Mary Walker, Rev. Cushing Eells, Mrs.
+Elvira Eells, Rev. A. B. Smith, Mrs. E. Smith, and Mrs. Mary A. Gray,
+missionaries of the American Board. As laborers under special contract
+not to trade in furs or interfere with Hudson's Bay Company's trade,
+James Conner, native wife, and one child, and Richard Williams, both
+from Rocky Mountains. Jesuit priests: Rev. F. N. Blanchet, Rev. Demerse,
+located at Vancouver and French Prairie.
+
+In 1839, Rev. J. S. Griffin, Mrs. Griffin, Asael Munger, Mrs. Mary
+Munger, Independent Protestant Mission; Robert Shortess, J. Farnam,
+Sydney Smith, Mr. Lawson, Rev. Ben. Wright (Independent Methodist), Wm.
+Geiger, Mr. Keizer, John Edmund Pickernel, a sailor.
+
+In 1840, Mrs. Lee, second wife of Rev. Jason Lee; Rev. J. H. Frost and
+wife; Rev. A. F. Waller, wife, and two children; Rev. W. W. Kone and
+wife; Rev. G. Hines, wife, and sister; Rev. L. H. Judson, wife, and two
+children; Rev. J. L. Parish, wife, and three children; Rev. G. P.
+Richards, wife, and three children; Rev. A. P. Olley and wife. Laymen:
+Mr. George Abernethy, wife, and two children; Mr. H. Campbell, wife, and
+one child; Mr. W. W. Raymond and wife; Mr. H. B. Brewer and wife; Dr. J.
+L. Babcock, wife, and one child; Rev. Mrs. Daniel Lee; Mrs. David
+Carter; Mrs. Joseph Holman; Miss E. Phillips. Methodist Episcopal
+Protestant Mission: Rev. Harvey Clark and wife; P. B. Littlejohn and
+wife. Independent Protestant Mission: Robert Moore, James Cooke, and
+James Fletcher, settlers. Jesuit Priest: P. G. De Smet, Flathead
+Mission.
+
+Rocky Mountain men with native wives: William Craig, Robert or Dr.
+Newell, J. L. Meek, James Ebbets, William M. Dougherty, John Larison,
+George Wilkinson, a Mr. Nicholson, and Mr. Algear, and William Johnson,
+author of the novel, "Leni Leoti; or, the Prairie Flower." The subject
+was first written and read before the Lyceum, at Oregon City, in 1843.
+
+In the above list I have given the names of all the American settlers,
+as near as I can remember them, the list of names I once collected
+having been lost. I never was fully informed as to the different
+occupations of all these men. It will be seen that we had in the country
+in the fall of 1840 thirty-six American settlers, twenty-five of them
+with native wives; thirty-three American women, thirty-two children,
+thirteen lay members of the Protestant missions, nineteen ministers
+(thirteen Methodist, six Congregational), four physicians (three
+American and one English), three Jesuit priests, and sixty
+Canadian-French,--making, outside of the Hudson's Bay Company, one
+hundred and thirty-seven Americans and sixty-three Canadians, counting
+the three priests as Canadians.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+     1840.--Petition to Congress of United States.--British subjects
+     amenable to the laws of Canada.--Esquire Douglas as justice of the
+     peace.--Mr. Leslie as judge.
+
+
+Eighteen hundred and forty finds Oregon with her little population all
+active and busy, laboring and toiling to provide the necessaries of
+life--food and raiment. And if a man did not wear the finest of
+broadcloth, his intelligence and good conduct secured him a cordial
+welcome to every house or shanty in the country among the American or
+French settlers and missions. This was an innovation upon Hudson's Bay
+Company customs, and a violation of aristocratic rules sought to be
+enforced by foreign influences and sustained by the missionaries then in
+the country.
+
+Mr. Hines, in his 21st chapter on Oregon, says: "The number of people in
+the colony was so small, the business transactions so limited, and the
+difficulties so few, that the necessity of organizing the community into
+a body politic did not appear to be very great, though for two years
+persons had been chosen to officiate as judges and magistrates."
+
+The fact that the judges and magistrates officiating were chosen by the
+Methodist Mission, in opposition to the wish of the settlers, and from
+whose decisions there was no appeal, and that there was no statute or
+law book in the country, and nothing to guide the decisions of the judge
+or magistrate but his own opinions, caprice, or preferences, Mr. Hines
+leaves out of sight. This state of things was submitted to from the
+combined organized influence of the Methodist Mission and the
+unorganized condition of the settlers. A petition was gotten up and sent
+to Congress. This petition is too important a document to be omitted.
+The writer has no means at present to give the names attached to it. The
+petition speaks for itself. As settlers, we saw and knew the objects of
+the Hudson's Bay Company and the English government, by their actions
+and oft-repeated insolent assertions that they meant to "_hold the
+country_" _by fair or by foul means_, which, as men understanding the
+unscrupulous and avaricious disposition of the entire English occupants
+of this country, we fully understood and duly appreciated, as will be
+readily demonstrated upon a perusal of the following:--
+
+_Petition of 1840._
+
+     To the Honorable the Senate and House of Representatives of the
+     United States of America in Congress assembled:
+
+     Your petitioners represent unto your honorable bodies, that they
+     are residents in the Oregon Territory, and citizens of the United
+     States, or persons desirous of becoming such.
+
+     They further represent to your honorable bodies, that they have
+     settled themselves in said Territory, under the belief that it was
+     a portion of the public domain of said States, and that they might
+     rely upon the government thereof for the blessings of free
+     institutions, and the protection of its arms.
+
+     But your petitioners further represent, that they are uninformed of
+     any acts of said government by which its institutions and
+     protection are extended to them; in consequence whereof, themselves
+     and families are exposed to be destroyed by the savages around
+     them, and OTHERS THAT WOULD DO THEM HARM.
+
+     And your petitioners would further represent, that they have no
+     means of protecting their own and the lives of their families,
+     other than self-constituted tribunals, originated and sustained by
+     the power of an ill-instructed public opinion, and the resort to
+     force and arms.
+
+     And your petitioners represent these means of safety to be an
+     insufficient safeguard of life and property, and that the crimes of
+     _theft_, _murder_, _infanticide_, _etc._, are increasing among them
+     to an alarming extent; and your petitioners declare themselves
+     unable to arrest this progress of crime, and its terrible
+     consequences, without the aid of the law, and tribunals to
+     administer it.
+
+     Your petitioners therefore pray the Congress of the United States
+     of America to establish, as soon as may be, a Territorial
+     government in the Oregon Territory.
+
+     And if reasons other than those above presented were needed to
+     induce your honorable bodies to grant the prayer of the
+     undersigned, your petitioners, they would be found in the value of
+     this Territory to the nation, and the alarming circumstances that
+     portend its loss.
+
+     Your petitioners, in view of these last considerations, would
+     represent, that the English government has had a surveying squadron
+     on the Oregon coast for the last two years, employed in making
+     accurate surveys of all its rivers, bays, and harbors; and that,
+     recently, the said government is said to have made a grant to the
+     Hudson's Bay Company, of all lands lying between the Columbia River
+     and Puget Sound; and that said company is actually exercising
+     unequivocal acts of ownership over said lands thus granted, and
+     opening extensive farms upon the same.
+
+     And your petitioners represent, that these circumstances, connected
+     with other acts of said company to the same effect, and _their
+     declarations that the English government own and will hold, as its
+     own soil_, that portion of Oregon Territory situated north of the
+     Columbia River, together with the important fact that the said
+     company are cutting and sawing into lumber, and shipping to foreign
+     ports, vast quantities of the finest pine-trees upon the navigable
+     waters of the Columbia, have led your petitioners to apprehend that
+     the English government do intend, at all events, to hold that
+     portion of this Territory lying north of the Columbia River.
+
+     And your petitioners represent, that the said Territory, north of
+     the Columbia, is an invaluable possession to the American Union;
+     that in and about Puget Sound are the only harbors of easy access,
+     and commodious and safe, upon the whole coast of the Territory; and
+     that a great part of this said northern portion of the Oregon
+     Territory is rich in timber, water-power, and _valuable minerals_.
+     For these and other reasons, your petitioners pray that Congress
+     will establish its sovereignty over said Territory.
+
+     Your petitioners would further represent, that the country south of
+     the Columbia River, and north of the Mexican line, and extending
+     from the Pacific Ocean one hundred and twenty miles into the
+     interior, is of unequaled beauty and fertility. Its mountains,
+     covered with perpetual snow, pouring into the prairies around their
+     bases transparent streams of the purest water; the white and black
+     oak, pine, cedar, and fir forests that divide the prairies into
+     sections convenient for farming purposes; the rich mines of coal in
+     its hills, and salt springs in its valleys; its quarries of
+     limestone, sandstone, chalk, and marble; the salmon of its rivers,
+     and the various blessings of the delightful and healthy climate,
+     are known to us, and impress your petitioners with the belief that
+     this is one of the most favored portions of the globe.
+
+     Indeed, the deserts of the interior have their wealth of pasturage;
+     and their lakes, evaporating in summer, leave in their basins
+     hundreds of bushels of the purest soda. Many other circumstances
+     could be named, showing the importance of this Territory in a
+     national, commercial, and agricultural point of view. And, although
+     your petitioners would not undervalue considerations of this kind,
+     yet they beg leave especially to call the attention of Congress to
+     their own condition as an infant colony, without military force or
+     civil institutions to protect their lives and property and
+     children, sanctuaries and tombs, from the hands of uncivilized and
+     merciless savages around them. We respectfully ask for the civil
+     institutions of the American Republic. We pray for the high
+     privileges of American citizenship; the peaceful enjoyment of life;
+     the right of acquiring, possessing, and using property; and the
+     unrestrained pursuit of rational happiness. And for this your
+     petitioners will ever pray.
+
+                                        DAVID LESLIE, [_and others_.][1]
+
+    [Footnote 1] Senate Document, Twenty-sixth Congress, first
+    session. No. 514.
+
+We have before alluded to the fact that the English government, by act
+of Parliament, had extended the colonial jurisdiction and civil laws of
+Canada over all her subjects on this coast, and had commissioned James
+Douglas, Angus McDonald, and, I think, Mr. Wark, as justices of the
+peace, having jurisdiction in civil cases not exceeding two hundred
+pounds sterling. In criminal cases, if the magistrate found, on
+examination, sufficient cause, the accused was to be sent to Canada for
+final trial. In all minor matters the Hudson's Bay Company were
+absolute. Their men, by the articles of enlistment, were bound to obey
+all orders of a superior officer, as much so as a soldier in the army.
+Flogging was a common punishment inflicted by all grades of officers,
+from a petty clerk of a trading-post up to the governor of the company.
+All British subjects, or any that had been subjects to the British
+crown, were considered as amenable to the laws of Canada, which were
+delivered from the brain of the magistrate or judge, who perchance may
+have passed through some parts of Canada on his way to this coast, no
+one knew when. Of course he knew all about the laws he was to enforce
+upon her Majesty's subjects, the same as our American judge, I. L.
+Babcock, did of the laws he was called upon to administer among the
+American settlers. Although the following incident is not exactly in the
+order of time in which we are writing, yet it illustrates the legal
+knowledge of Esquire Douglas so well that the reader will excuse me for
+giving it just here. The case occurred in the summer of 1846, I think in
+August. The Hudson's Bay Company and the British subjects in the country
+had changed from the open opposition policy to that of union with the
+provisional government, and some of the members of the company had been
+elected to office. Mr. Douglas had received a commission as justice of
+the peace and county judge from Governor Abernethy. A man by the name of
+McLame had taken it into his head to jump a claim belonging to one of
+the company's servants, near Fort Vancouver. The fact was duly stated to
+Esquire Douglas, who issued his warrant commanding the sheriff, a
+servant of the company, to arrest McLame. The sheriff proceeded with his
+warrant and posse, took McLame, brought him to the fort, and put him in
+irons to keep him secure until he could be tried. The day following,
+the writer arrived at the fort, and as he was an old acquaintance of
+Esquire Douglas, and also holding a commission of justice of the peace
+and judge of the county court, Esquire Douglas stated the case to him,
+and asked his advice how to conduct it. I inquired what it was McLame
+had done.
+
+"Why, he went upon the land of one of our people and set up a claim to
+it, and made some threats."
+
+"Did he use any weapons, or injure any one?"
+
+"No; but he was very insulting, as the men tell me; used abusive
+language and frightened the men, and attempted to get them off the
+claim, is the most he did."
+
+"Well, Esquire, I think if you do not manage this case carefully you
+will have a devil of a muss among these fellows."
+
+"What do you think I had better do?" says the Esquire.
+
+"If it was my case, as it is yours, I would call the court as soon as
+possible, and call the parties. McLame claims to know something of law,
+and he will plead his own case, or get some one that don't know any more
+about law than he does, and they will call for a nonsuit on account of
+some illegality in the warrant or pleadings, and the first show you
+have, give them a nonsuit, and decide against your own people. This will
+satisfy McLame and his party, and the matter will end there. The suit is
+a civil one, and should have been by notice and summons, for 'forcible
+entry and detainer,' instead of an arrest and confinement as a criminal.
+They may attempt to make false imprisonment out of it. If they do, I
+would settle it the best way I could."
+
+I never learned the exact manner in which this case was settled. I think
+McLame received some compensation and the matter was settled. But the
+Esquire never fully recovered from the effect of this legal attempt at
+provisional American wisdom, as he came as near involving the two
+governments in a national war in the San Juan boundary question, in
+1849, as he did the country, in attempting to protect the unreasonable
+claims of the company's servants in 1846. As to law books or legal
+knowledge, the country in those early times could not boast of having an
+extensive law library or profound lawyers, and, as was to be expected,
+some new and strange lawsuits occurred.
+
+Of the following case we have no personal knowledge, and can only give
+it as related to us by parties present. T. J. Hubbard, of Champoeg, had
+a native wife. She was claimed and coveted by a neighbor of his, who
+threatened to take her from him. Hubbard was armed, and prepared to
+defend his own supposed or real right of possession from his covetous
+neighbor, who attempted to enter his cabin window, or space where a
+window might be put (in case the owner had one to go there). Hubbard
+shot him while attempting to enter, and submitted to a trial. Rev. Mr.
+Leslie presided as judge. A jury was called, and the statements of all
+parties that pretended to know any thing about the case made. The
+verdict was, "Justifiable homicide." The petition which was gotten up
+about this time, says that "theft, murder, and infanticide, are
+increasing among them to an alarming extent." A fact was unquestionably
+stated in the petition, that justice and virtue were comparative
+strangers in the country. Despotism and oppression, with false notions
+of individual rights and personal liberty, were strongly at variance.
+The leading men, or such as one would naturally suppose to be guides of
+the erring, seemed to have fixed a personal standard for virtue,
+justice, and right, not difficult for the most abandoned to comply
+with.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+     Death of Ewing Young.--First public attempt to organize a
+     provisional government.--Origin of the provisional
+     government.--First Oregon schooner.
+
+
+In the early part of this year, about the 15th of February, 1841, Mr.
+Ewing Young, having been sick but a short time, died. He left a large
+band of cattle and horses and no will, and seems to have had no heirs in
+the country. On the 17th we find most of the settlers present at the
+funeral. After burying Mr. Young, a meeting was called, over which Rev.
+Jason Lee presided. After some discussion it was thought best to adjourn
+to meet at the Methodist Mission.
+
+On the next day, the 18th, short as the notice was, nearly all the
+settlers were present,--Canadians, French, English, Americans, and
+Protestant missionaries and Jesuit priests.
+
+Rev. Jason Lee, for some cause not stated, was excused from acting as
+chairman, and Rev. David Leslie elected to fill his place. Rev. Gustavus
+Hines and Sydney Smith were chosen as secretaries. "The doings of the
+previous day were presented to the assembly and adopted in part." Why
+does not Mr. Hines give us all the proceedings of the previous day? Was
+there any thing in them that reflected upon the disposition of the
+reverend gentleman to control the property of the deceased Mr. Young,
+and apply it to the use of the mission, or distribute it among its
+members?
+
+We are well aware of the fact that, on the death of a person in any way
+connected with, or in the service of, the Hudson's Bay Company, they at
+once administer upon his estate, to the setting aside of the will of the
+deceased, as in the case of Mr. P. C. Pambrun, which occurred the summer
+before Mr. Young's decease; and, more recently, of Mr. Ray, who died at
+San Francisco. Mr. Ray was an active, energetic young man, had won the
+heart and hand of Miss McLaughlin, youngest daughter of Governor
+McLaughlin, and by this marriage had three interesting children, a son
+and two daughters. By his trading and speculations with his private
+funds, he had acquired a handsome fortune for his young family. At his
+death the Hudson's Bay Company sent an agent to take charge of the
+property. He claimed that as Mr. Ray was a servant of the company, and
+in their employ, he had no right to acquire property outside of their
+business; hence, the property belonged to the company. The books were
+canceled, and left his estate in debt to the company, and his family
+destitute. His widow was obliged to take in washing, which was given her
+by some American officers then at that place. By this means she
+supported herself and young family till she could obtain help from her
+father, who had withdrawn from the company, and was then residing in
+Oregon City.
+
+This is as good an illustration of the Hudson's Bay Company's generosity
+as can be given. They pursued Dr. McLaughlin and his children to the
+death. Their influence and statements have led the American people to
+mistake the doctor's unbounded generosity to them as wholly due to the
+company, and changed the friendly feeling and rewards due to Dr.
+McLaughlin for needed supplies in the hour of greatest peril to their
+own account, at the same time holding the doctor's estate responsible
+for every dollar, as they did Mr. Ray's.
+
+As to Messrs. Shepard's and Olley's estates, they were both administered
+by the Methodist Mission, or some one or more of its members. I have
+never been able to learn the results, but have been informed that, as
+they were members of the mission, the little property they had was
+disposed of as per mission usage. In the case of Mr. Young, the settlers
+found themselves somewhat interested. As to any Frenchman or Roman
+Catholic, it was taken for granted, if he was not the servant of the
+Hudson's Bay Company, his property went to the priest.
+
+The settlers were united in the opinion that some understanding or laws
+should be adopted to govern the settlement of estates, other than the
+custom adopted by the Hudson's Bay Company or the missions; hence they
+all turned out, and were completely defeated by the operations of the
+Jesuit and Methodist missions. A resolution was ready, prepared for the
+occasion:--
+
+    "_Resolved_, That a committee be chosen to form a constitution, and
+    draft a code of laws, and that the following persons compose that
+    committee: Rev. F. N. Blanchet, Rev. Jason Lee, Rev. Gustavus Hines,
+    Rev. Josiah L. Parish; Mr. D. Donpierre, Mr. M. Charlevo, Mr. Robert
+    Moore, Mr. E. Lucia, Mr. Wm. Johnson."
+
+The committee first named in the resolution contained the names of the
+three first-named clergymen. This was clerical law and constitution a
+little too strong. It was then moved to put upon the committee some that
+were not clergymen. The committee was finally made up of nine. Now comes
+the test of all,--the governor. Revs. Leslie and Hines, and Drs. Babcock
+and Bailey were prominent candidates. The prospects were that the three
+Protestant missionary candidates would divide that influence so that Dr.
+Bailey would be elected.
+
+It will be borne in mind that Dr. Bailey was a man of strong English
+prejudices, and opposed to religious societies and religion generally.
+He could secure the French Catholic vote, and the majority of the
+settlers. He was present at the meeting, with his Canadian, French, and
+Hudson's Bay servant voters, all trained to vote for him for governor.
+He nominated himself, and so disgusted the American settlers that they
+joined in the effort to defeat him.
+
+Mr. Hines was the prominent candidate to enter the field, and secure the
+leading influence in the government. That office was the leading
+question,--Bailey could not be trusted, and Hines could not be elected;
+hence the office of governor was discarded, and the committee instructed
+to prepare a constitution and laws, to be executed without an executive.
+This was a shrewd and cunning device, to say the least of it, one
+calculated to make the judicial and executive office one, in the same
+person; which seemed by common consent to be Dr. I. L. Babcock, a man
+equally as ambitious and aspiring as Dr. Bailey, but in good standing in
+the mission, and a stranger to the settlers. This point gained, George
+W. Le Breton, a young adventurer, who came to the country in the employ
+of Captain Couch, on the brig _Maryland_, having a fair education, and
+generally intelligent and agreeable in conversation, who had been
+brought up in good society, and was inclined to, or educated in, the
+Roman faith. This young man was elected to fill the offices of clerk of
+the court and public recorder, as a compromise with the Jesuits. To
+harmonize the English element, Wm. Johnson was elected high sheriff.
+Zavia Ladaroot, Pierre Billique, and Wm. McCarty were chosen constables.
+Messrs. Gervais, Cannon, Robert Moore, and Rev. L. H. Judson were chosen
+justices of the peace. Here comes the climax of all wisdom:--
+
+"It was then resolved, that, until a code of laws be drafted by the
+Legislative Committee and adopted by the people, Ira L. Babcock, the
+supreme judge, be instructed to act"--_just as he pleased_. Mr. Hines
+says in his book, 419th page--"according to the laws of the State of New
+York."
+
+I query whether there was a single copy of the laws of that State in the
+country for ten years after the last resolution was passed. I know there
+was none at the time, and only a single copy of the laws of Iowa two
+years after; hence, Ira L. Babcock was law-maker, judge, and executive
+to the settlement, just as much so as John McLaughlin was to the
+Hudson's Bay Company.
+
+To keep up the farce (for the whole proceeding deserves no other name),
+"it was then resolved to adjourn, to meet the first Thursday in June, at
+the new building near the Roman Catholic church." The record proceeds:
+"Thursday, June 11, 1841. The inhabitants of the Wallamet Valley met
+according to adjournment, and the meeting was called to order by the
+chairman, Rev. David Leslie. On motion, the doings of the former meeting
+were read, on which the committee for drafting a constitution and code
+of laws was called for, and information was communicated to the meeting
+by the chairman of the committee, that, in consequence of his not having
+called the committee together, no report had been prepared." _His
+Jesuitical Reverence_, F. N. Blanchet, was excused from serving on the
+committee, at his own request. The settlers and uninitiated were
+informed by his reverence that he was unaccustomed to make laws for the
+people, and did not understand how to proceed, while _divide and
+conquer_, the policy adopted by the Hudson's Bay Company, was entered
+into with heart and soul by this _Reverend Father_ Blanchet and his
+associates. "On motion, it was then resolved, that a person be chosen to
+fill the place thus vacated in the committee for drafting a constitution
+and code of laws, and Dr. Wm. J. Bailey was chosen."
+
+The motion that follows shows that the settlers were suspicious of
+influences operating against them to deprive them of a voice in their
+own government, for they then, "on motion, resolved that this committee
+be instructed to meet for the transaction of their business on the first
+Monday of August next." They further instructed this committee to report
+at a subsequent meeting, "to be held the first Thursday in October next.
+On motion, resolved, that the committee be advised to confer with the
+commander of the American exploring squadron now in the Columbia River,
+concerning the propriety of forming a provisional government in Oregon."
+
+"_Resolved_, That the motion to adopt the report of the nominating
+committee presented at a previous meeting be rescinded." Were the
+settlers really in favor of an organization adapted to their wants, and
+contrary to the wishes of the Hudson's Bay Company and clerical
+government then existing? The above resolution shows the fact. They have
+handsomely relieved the Jesuits of their responsibility, and left them
+to work with their associates and co-laborers,--the Hudson's Bay Company
+and Indians. They, to soften matters, allowed the committee to consider
+the nature of the government about to be formed, and the officers
+necessary, and--
+
+"_Resolved_, That the committee to draft a constitution be instructed to
+take into consideration the number and kind of officers it will be
+necessary to create, in accordance with their constitution and code of
+laws, and to report the same at the next meeting." It was also resolved
+that the report of the nominating committee be referred to the
+Legislative Committee.
+
+Mr. Secretary Hines does not give us the names of the nominating
+committee and the officers they first reported.
+
+The meeting held at or near the Roman Catholic church on the 11th of
+June was adjourned to meet at the Methodist Mission at eleven o'clock on
+the first Thursday in October following. Duly signed, David Leslie,
+chairman; Gustavus Hines, Sydney Smith, secretaries. The whole humbug
+had been completed; the Methodist Mission party was safe; the Hudson's
+Bay Company and Jesuits only wanted time to carry out their arrangements
+and drive the whole concern from the country, or make a grand sacrifice
+for the benefit of the Hudson's Bay Company's trade and mother church.
+
+The idea of resisting the American influence was no new one; it was
+announced as early as 1838. The combinations were ready to be made that,
+at the proper time, every Hudson's Bay Company's man felt certain, would
+accomplish the object they desired. They were ready and did invest their
+money upon the issue. It is true other parties came in and formed
+combinations that they supposed themselves capable of destroying by a
+single word. They failed; and in 1865 we find them, the petitioners,
+with a host of those they sought to rob, crying against their injustice.
+They ask for compensation for attempting to prevent the rightful owners
+of the country from occupying it. This is in keeping with their whole
+course. Their impudence may carry them through and win their case, which
+justice and truth should deny them.
+
+Mr. Hines says, page 240: "I have previously stated that the origin of
+the attempt to form a kind of provisional government was the removal by
+death of the late Ewing Young, leaving, as he did, a large and unsettled
+estate, with no one to administer it, and no law to control its
+administration. The exigency of this case having been met by the
+appointment of a judge with probate powers, who entered immediately upon
+his duties" (giving no bonds to any body), "and disposed of the estate
+of Ewing Young to the entire satisfaction of the community, and the fact
+that some of the _most influential citizens_ of the country, and
+especially some of the _Legislative Committee_, were adverse to the idea
+of establishing a permanent organization so long as the peace and
+harmony of the community could possibly be preserved without it, the
+subject was permitted to die away and the committee for drafting a
+constitution and code of laws did not meet according to their
+instructions, nor did the meeting at which they were expected to report
+ever take place."
+
+Mr. Hines, in his account of this affair, is not quite satisfied himself
+with the reasons he has given, so he goes on to state many facts as
+connected with the arrival of the exploring squadron of the United
+States, under command of Captain Wilkes, and says, page 421: "In
+addition to this, the officers of the squadron were consulted on the
+subject of organizing the country into a civil compact, and were found
+to be decidedly opposed to the scheme, and recommended that the subject
+be allowed to rest. They encouraged the people in the belief that the
+United States government would probably soon extend jurisdiction over
+the country."
+
+To the disgrace of the leader of that squadron, the general impression
+of all the early settlers of this country is, to the present day, that
+he understood and tasted the qualities of Dr. McLaughlin's liquors, and
+received the polite attentions of the gentlemen of the Hudson's Bay
+Company with far more pleasure than he looked into or regarded the wants
+of this infant settlement of his countrymen. Mr. Hines says "the
+_officers_ of the squadron decidedly opposed the scheme." And why did
+they do it? Simply because the parties named above were opposed. They
+had absolute control of the persons and property of all in the country,
+and they scrupled not to keep and use their power to the last.
+
+The unconquerable energy of the Americans was this year manifested in
+the building of a schooner, of about forty tons burden, on a little
+island some four miles above the present city of Portland. R. L.
+Kilborn, of the party of Ewing Young, Charley Matts, P. Armstrong, who
+was afterward killed in the Indian war on Rogue River, H. Woods, John
+Green, and George Davis engaged in this enterprise. They employed Felix
+Hathaway, who was saved from the wreck of the _William and Ann_, as head
+carpenter, and commenced their work. To obtain spikes and such irons as
+were required, they had it reported that they were going to build a
+ferry-boat to cross the Wallamet River. To obtain rigging, they induced
+the French farmers to go to Fort Vancouver and get ropes to use in the
+old Dutch harness for plowing, Dr. McLaughlin having informed them in
+the start, that he did not approve of their scheme, and would furnish
+them no supplies. They, however, were not to be deterred in their
+undertaking. Procuring a whip-saw of the mission, and such tools as they
+could spare, these men commenced their work; and when Captain Wilkes
+visited them, and found they had a substantial and sea-worthy craft well
+under way, he furnished them such articles from his stores as he could
+spare, and spoke favorably of their enterprise to Dr. McLaughlin, who
+became more liberal; so that, with the assistance of Captain Wilkes, the
+mission, and such as they received from Dr. McLaughlin, the vessel was
+launched and made trips to California, under the command of Captain
+Joseph Gale, who returned to Oregon in 1843, and was elected one of our
+Executive Committee, with David Hill and Alanson Beers.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+     Lee and Hines explore the Umpqua River.--Hines tells a
+     story.--Massacre and plunder of Smith's party by the
+     Indians.--Sympathy of the Hudson's Bay Company.--Extract from the
+     San Francisco _Bulletin_.
+
+
+The reader is requested to note the statements that follow, as they show
+influences operating that tell how active the enemies of the Protestant
+missions had been. Mr. Hines admits that he owed his own and Mr. Lee's
+life to the wife of Guinea. (See his journal, page 109.) He says:
+"During the evening Mr. Guinea came to us considerably excited, and
+warmly congratulated us on the safe guardianship his wife had exercised
+over us in our absence. He said that in all probability we should have
+been robbed of all we had, if we had not lost our lives, had it not been
+for the faithfulness of his wife and her brother. He told us that one of
+the chiefs of the clan we had visited was at the fort. Learning that we
+designed to visit his people on the coast, _excited with the utmost
+fear_, he hastened down the river and reported many evil things about
+us, intending thereby to instigate the Indians to prevent us from going
+among them."
+
+Mr. Hines, can you vouch for the truth of this statement? I believe
+sincerely you have told the truth, for you even attempt to excuse the
+Indian for his fears, and have not the least suspicion of the sources
+from which the Indian received his instruction and is made to believe
+that you and Mr. Jason Lee had come with your _medicine bag_ to destroy
+them. Let us hear Mr. Hines' excuse for the Indian's fears, in his own
+words. He says: "Mr. Lee had brought a fowling-piece with him, and had
+in his possession a patent shot-pouch. This was the thing that had
+alarmed the chief. One story he told was, that we had brought _medicine
+in a bag_ that Mr. Lee wore on his neck, for the purpose of killing them
+all off; and that if we were permitted to come among them the fatal bag
+would be opened and they would all be destroyed."
+
+How did these Indians learn about the missionary medicine bag? Our good
+friend, Guinea, Mr. Hines tells us, is from Montreal, and of a good
+family,--a Frenchman. This trip, it seems, was made in 1840, about the
+26th day of October. Dr. Whitman had not yet gone to the States, but the
+medicine-bag story is tried with the Indians on the Umpqua. Guinea has
+a little too much sense of moral responsibility to allow his Indians to
+commence the slaughter of Lee and Hines, as Dr. White had come with them
+and seen them safe at the fort, and had returned to the settlement. The
+medicine man of the Methodist Mission had escaped, and it was not best
+to commence on these preachers. Madam _Siwash_ Guinea must accompany
+them, to watch and explain matters and protect them.
+
+Mr. Hines says, page 100: "We had been informed by Mr. Guinea that there
+would be _great danger_ in our going among them alone, and indeed he
+appeared to stand in the utmost fear of them, of their hostility to the
+whites, and especially to the _Americans_."
+
+Can a reasonable man read this simple narrative with the light of
+history, and facts piled on facts, with the stains of the blood of our
+countrymen all over the country, and not trace the cause of these foul
+murders to their true source? While none but American traders and
+hunters were in the country, it was an easy matter to dispose of them,
+but when the American missionary comes among the natives, another
+element of opposition must be introduced; moral teachings must be met by
+religious superstitions, to secure the victim, to advance the interests
+of an unscrupulous trade. Let us take another statement from Mr. Hines
+before we proceed with his political history. On page 106, in speaking
+of the closing remarks of the chief at the mouth of the Umpqua, he tells
+us, the chief "said he was very glad we had come to see them; that their
+hearts toward us were like our hearts toward them; that he wanted us to
+continue with them another day and tell them about God; that they had
+heard about us, and had been told that we were a bad people." _Who told
+these wild Indians this?_ Was it an American that had been living among
+them and teaching them that his countrymen were a bad people? "That they
+were glad to see us for themselves, and were convinced that what they
+had heard was a lie; that they now believe us to be good, and that they
+meant to be good also."
+
+Mr. Hines tells a story, as he received it from the Hudson's Bay Company
+gentlemen, to show that these Indians are very treacherous and not to be
+relied upon, especially those on the coast. It relates to a company of
+fur hunters composed of Smith, Sublet, and Jackson. At page 110 of his
+book, he says: "In this division Smith was to take the country extending
+from the Platte River by the way of Santa Fe to California; then turn
+north along the Pacific Ocean as far as the Columbia River, and thence
+back into the interior to join the other partners of the company. The
+country was in the wildest state, but few white men having ever passed
+through it. But, nothing daunted, Smith and his companions marched
+through to California, and thence along the coast north as far as the
+Umpqua River, collecting in their course all the valuable furs they
+could procure, until they had loaded several pack animals with the
+precious burden [forty packs of furs]. On arriving here, they encamped
+on the borders of the river near the place where they intended to cross,
+but, on examination, found it would be dangerous, if not impossible, to
+effect the passage of the river at that place. Accordingly, Smith took
+one of his men [he had two] and proceeded up the river on foot, for the
+purpose of finding a better place to cross. In his absence, the Indians,
+instigated by one of the savage-looking chiefs whom we saw at the mouth
+of the river, rushed upon the party with their muskets [the same
+furnished by the Hudson's Bay Company for that purpose], bows and
+arrows, tomahawks, and scalping-knives, and commenced the work of
+death." Just as they were expected to do with all intruders in this fur
+traders' empire. "From the apparent kindness of the Indians previously,
+the party had been thrown entirely off their guard, and consequently
+were immediately overpowered by their ferocious enemies, and but one of
+the twelve in camp escaped from the cruel massacre. Scarcely knowing
+which way he fled, this one fell in with Smith, who was on his return to
+the camp, and who received from the survivor the shocking account of the
+murder of eleven of his comrades. Smith seeing all was lost, resolved
+upon attempting nothing further than to do his best to secure his own
+personal safety, with that of his surviving companions. The Indians had
+secured all the furs, horses, mules, baggage, and every thing the
+company had. The three immediately crossed the river and made the best
+of their way through a savage and inhospitable country toward Vancouver,
+where, after traveling between two and three hundred miles, and
+suffering the greatest deprivations, they finally arrived in safety."
+
+Rev. Mr. Hines' savage-looking chief was no less a personage than a
+slave of a Frenchman by the name of Michel, or rather belonging to
+Michel's Umpqua wife. This slave had learned, from the statements and
+talk he had heard at Vancouver, that in case the Indians killed and
+robbed the Boston men, there would be no harm to them; that neither the
+Hudson's Bay Company nor the English or French would take any notice of
+it. Hence, the Indians were taught to regard the killing of a Boston man
+(American) as doing something that pleased the Hudson's Bay Company.
+Under this instruction it is said this slave ran away from Vancouver,
+and went back to his people, and was the cause of the massacre of
+Smith's party. He is again present, doing all he can to induce his
+people to rob and take the lives of Lee and Hines. Mr. Guinea, then in
+charge of the fort, is aware of his instructions and his object. He
+dare not tell Lee and Hines of their full danger, yet he knows all about
+it.
+
+They were determined to visit the Indians and see for themselves.
+Guinea's Indian wife and her brother must go with them. This is
+considered sufficient protection. The story of the Indian slave's part
+in the massacre of Smith's party is related to us by Mrs. Smith, the
+wife of S. H. Smith, an intelligent and much respected native woman, a
+neighbor of ours for near twenty years, and by one of the men that
+accompanied McKay to recover the property; corresponding exactly to
+another event of the same kind that occurred in 1847, which will be
+given in detail as stated by eye-witnesses under the solemnity of an
+oath.
+
+Mr. Hines, of course, believes the following statement, because the
+_gentlemen_ of the company told it to him; just as I did the first time
+I heard it from them. It is said, Smith and companions, "rehearsing the
+story of their wonderful escape and subsequent sufferings to the members
+of the Hudson's Bay Company, the utmost _sympathy_ was excited in their
+behalf, and a strong party was fitted out to go and rescue the
+_property_ from the savage robbers, and restore it to its surviving
+owners. The vigor and perseverance of this party were equal to the
+promptitude with which it was fitted out. They proceeded to the scene of
+blood, and after committing the mangled bodies of Smith's murdered
+companions to the grave, compelled the Indians to relinquish the
+property they had taken," by giving them presents of blankets and
+powder, and such things as the Indians wished, as stated to us by a
+Frenchman, a servant of the company, who was one of McKay's party that
+went to get the furs. They found no bodies to bury, and had no fight
+with the Indians about the property, as stated by Mr. Smith also. But,
+as the Hudson's Bay Company tells the story through Mr. Hines, they
+"_spread terror through the tribes_." Was this the case in the Whitman
+massacre in 1847? the Samilkamean massacre in 1857? the Frazer River
+murder of American citizens in 1858? No: Governor Douglas told the
+committee that asked him for protection, or for arms, to protect
+themselves; that "_if they_ [the Americans] _molested her Majesty's
+subjects he would send a force to punish them_." Mr. Hines says his
+Umpqua party "_returned in triumph to Vancouver_." And well they might,
+for they had made the best season's hunt they ever made, in getting
+those furs and the property of Smith, which paid them well for the
+expedition, as there was no market for Smith, except London, through the
+hypocritical kindness of Mr. Simpson. By this time, Mr. Smith had
+learned all he wished to of this company. He preferred giving them his
+furs at their own price to being under any further obligations to them,
+Mr. Sublet, Mr. Smith's partner, did not speak as though he felt under
+much obligation to Mr. Simpson or the Hudson's Bay Company in 1836,
+which was not long after the transaction referred to.
+
+I do not know how the company regard these statements of Mr. Hines, yet
+I regard them as true so far as Mr. Hines is concerned, but utterly
+false as regards the company. As old Toupin says Mr. Parker told the
+Indians, "It is their fashion" of taking credit to themselves for doing
+all they could against the Americans occupying the country in any way.
+
+According to the testimony given in the case of The Hudson's Bay Company
+_v._ United States, the amount of furs seized by the company at that
+time was forty packs, worth at the time $1,000 each, besides the animals
+and equipments belonging to the party, a large portion of which was
+given to the Indians, to compensate them for their services rendered to
+the company, in destroying Smith's expedition and killing his men,
+corresponding with transactions of recent date, as stated in an article
+found in the San Francisco _Bulletin_:--
+
+    "HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY AND THE INDIANS.--A gentleman from Victoria
+    gives us the following facts concerning the Indian outrages on the
+    northern coast, and their allies, the Hudson's Bay Company: Captain
+    D. Warren said to M. A. Foster and William McCurdy, that, on
+    returning to Victoria and reporting the circumstances of the attack
+    of the Indians upon his sloop, _Thornton_, to the first lieutenant
+    of the ship _Zealous_, he was the next day arrested and put under
+    $2,000 bonds. The _Sparrowhawk_ was to leave last Wednesday, but had
+    not yet gone to inquire into the matter. It is known that the same
+    Indians murdered Captain Jack Knight and partner but a short time
+    before. The same crowd or band of Indians robbed the _Nanaimo_
+    packet. Since thus attacked, Captain Warren, the captain of the
+    _Ocean Queen_, informed them that a friendly Indian chief told him
+    to leave; the Indians were hostile; they were preparing for war with
+    the neighboring tribes.
+
+    "From a statement found in the _Chronicle_, of the 27th of June, we
+    learn that Captain Mowatt, of the Hudson's Bay Company, is in charge
+    of Fort Rupert. We also learn that Captain Mowatt's prejudices and
+    feelings are peculiarly hostile to all American fur traders, and not
+    any too friendly to those claiming to be English. The facts indicate
+    a strong Hudson's Bay Company Indian war influence against American
+    or other traders in behalf of that company. It is evident from the
+    statement of the two gentlemen above named that her Majesty's naval
+    officers are inclined, and more than probably instructed, to protect
+    the Hudson's Bay Company's people in encouraging the Indian
+    hostility and murder of all outside venturers upon their trading
+    localities, as they are prompt to insinuate and affirm that the
+    whites are the aggressors, and to arrest them for punishment."
+
+It is difficult to understand why our American government is so tolerant
+and generous to a foreign monopoly that has invariably sought and
+accomplished the destruction of its fur trade on its western borders,
+and used its entire influence against American institutions and
+citizens; not hesitating to incite the Indians to the most inhuman and
+brutal murders.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX.
+
+     Missionaries leaving.--Hudson's Bay Company's Gold
+     Exchange.--Population in 1842.--Whitman and Lovejoy start for the
+     States.--The Red River emigration.--American merchants.--Settlers
+     not dependent on the Hudson's Bay Company.--Milling Company.--The
+     Oregon Institute.--Dr. Elijah White.--Proceedings and resolutions
+     of a public meeting at Wallamet.--Correspondence with the War
+     Department.
+
+
+Rev. A. B. Smith and wife, Cornelius Rogers, and W. H. Gray and wife had
+left the mission of the American Board, on account of difficulties they
+had become fully satisfied would ultimately destroy the mission or drive
+it from the country. Mr. Spalding, it will be remembered, was a man of
+peculiar temperament, ambitious and selfish. He could not endure an
+associate of superior talent, or admit himself to be inferior in
+understanding the native language. From the time the Jesuits arrived (in
+1838), some of his own pet Indians had turned Catholics and commenced a
+quarrel with him. These facts seemed to annoy and lead him to adopt a
+course opposed by Smith, Gray, and Rogers. Still he found it pleased the
+Indians as a whole, and was assented to by the balance of the mission.
+Smith and wife left for the Sandwich Islands; Rogers for the Wallamet in
+1841; Gray and wife in 1842.
+
+During the exploration of the country by Commodore Wilkes' exploring
+squadron, Mr. Cornelius Rogers was found a very useful man. His
+knowledge of Indian languages (which he was remarkably quick to acquire)
+and of Indian character generally enabled him to become a reliable and
+useful interpreter. The officers soon became aware of the fact, and
+employed him at once to assist and interpret for them. He was paid for
+his services in gold coin, which amounted to something over five hundred
+dollars. Not wishing to carry his coin about, he offered to deposit it
+with the Hudson's Bay Company. "Certainly, Mr. Rogers, we will receive
+your coin, and credit you upon our books twenty per cent. less, as the
+coin is not so valuable to us as our goods, at beaver prices." Mr. R.
+allowed them to take his coin and credit him with four hundred dollars
+in beaver currency. In a short time a party of the squadron were to go
+by land to California. Mr. R. concluded he would go with them, and that
+his coin would be more convenient than beaver orders on the company. He
+therefore requested them to return to him the coin. "Certainly, Mr.
+Rogers," and handed him back four hundred dollars less twenty per
+cent.,--three hundred and twenty dollars. "How is this?" says Mr. R.; "I
+supposed from the statement you made on depositing this money with you,
+that that money was a drug to you, and now you wish me to pay you twenty
+per cent. for money I have left in your care, after deducting twenty per
+cent. for leaving it with you. You may consider this a fair and an
+honorable transaction; I do not." He was told, "_Such is our manner of
+doing business_," and that was all the satisfaction he could get. He
+finally left his money and drew his goods, at what was called beaver
+prices, of the company.
+
+Nothing further of note occurred in 1841, except the loss of the
+_Peacock_, in which no lives were lost, and the extra efforts of the
+company to show to the officers of the expedition their good deeds and
+kind treatment to all Americans, and to prove to them that the whole
+country was of little value to any one. "It would scarcely support the
+few Indians, much less a large population of settlers."
+
+1842.--Our population, all told, in the beginning of this year, is
+twenty-one Protestant ministers, three Roman or Jesuit priests, fifteen
+lay members of churches, thirty-four white women, thirty-two white
+children, and thirty-five American settlers--twenty-five of them with
+native wives. Total, one hundred and thirty-seven Americans. At the
+close of the year we had an emigration from the States of one hundred
+and eleven persons,--some forty-two families,--with two lawyers, A. L.
+Lovejoy and A. M. Hastings. The latter became the lawyer of Dr.
+McLaughlin and relieved the settlement in the spring of 1843 of a number
+of not very valuable settlers, by assisting them to get credit of the
+Hudson's Bay Company in procuring their outfits, giving their notes,
+payable in California; white settlers who remained could get no credit
+or supplies of the company, especially such as had asked protection of
+the American government. A. L. Lovejoy started from Whitman's station to
+return to the States with Dr. Whitman. He reached Bent's Fort with him,
+but stopped for the winter, while Whitman proceeded on to Washington in
+time to save the country from being given up to British rule. For an
+account of that trip, which we give in another chapter, we are indebted
+to the Honorable A. L. Lovejoy.
+
+The Red River emigration, consisting of some forty families of English,
+Scotch, and Canadian-French half-breeds, had been ordered from the Red
+River, or Selkirk settlement, to locate in the Puget Sound district, by
+the Hudson's Bay Company's governor, Simpson. This company started
+across the plains with most of their property and families in carts, in
+the spring of 1842, directed, protected, and guided by the company, and
+expected to become settlers, subject to it, in Puget Sound. This was in
+fact a part of the original plan of the Puget Sound Agricultural
+Company, and these families were brought on to aid in securing and
+holding the country for the British government and the use of the
+company,--a plan and arrangement exactly similar to that adopted by the
+Hudson's Bay Company in 1811-12, to cut off the trade of the French
+Northwest Fur Company, by establishing the Selkirk settlement directly
+in the line of their trade.
+
+This Red River colony was a part of the company's scheme to control and
+outnumber the American settlement of Oregon; it being connected with the
+Puget Sound concern, and under the control of the Hudson's Bay
+Company,--which, by the decision of the commissioners, has won the
+company $200,000 from our national treasury. A more infamous claim could
+not well be trumped up, and the men who awarded it should be held
+responsible, and handed down to posterity as unjust rewarders of
+unscrupulous monopolies. Not for this alone, but for paying to the
+parent monopoly the sum of $450,000, for their malicious
+misrepresentations of the country, their murders, and their perjury
+respecting their claims to it.
+
+As soon as the Red River colony reached the country, they found that the
+Hudson's Bay Company on the west side of the Rocky Mountains was a
+different institution from that of the Selkirk settlement; consequently
+a large number of the more intelligent among them refused to remain in
+the Puget Sound district, and found their way into the Wallamet and
+Tualatin districts, and were received and treated as Oregonians, or
+citizens of the provisional government. This had the effect to embitter
+the feelings of the ruling spirits of the company, and caused them to
+change their policy. They commenced fortifying Fort Vancouver, and had a
+war-ship, the _Modeste_, stationed in the Columbia River, while the fort
+was being prepared for defensive or offensive measures. This only
+increased the anxiety and hastened the effort to organize for
+self-defense on the part of the American settlers.
+
+In the mean time, Hon. Caleb Cushing, of Newburyport, Massachusetts, had
+sent to the country a ship with supplies. A. E. Wilson had established
+himself, or was about to, at Wallamet Falls as a trader, and some
+families were on their way by water from the States,--F. W. Pettygrove,
+Peter Foster, and Peter H. Hatch. Pettygrove arrived with a small stock
+of goods. The same ship brought a supply for the Methodist Mission.
+
+The settlers were not dependent upon the Hudson's Bay Company for
+supplies as much as has been asserted. I am certain that many of them
+never received a dollar's worth of the company's goods, except it might
+have been through the stores of Pettygrove, Wilson, or Abernethy. I
+know many of them were willing and did pay higher prices to their
+American merchants than they could get the same article for from the
+company's store, which was about this time established at Oregon City.
+Soon after, a trading-post and warehouse were established at Champoeg,
+and Mr. Roberts sent up with orders to _kick, change, and beat the
+half-bushel with a club_ in order to get more wheat at sixty cents per
+imperial bushel in payment for all debts due the company for the goods
+furnished to them at one hundred per cent. or more on London prices.
+
+During this year the Wallamet Milling Company was formed, and commenced
+to build a saw-mill on the island above the falls. Dr. McLaughlin also
+commenced active opposition to American enterprise.
+
+The Oregon Institute was commenced this year, under the direction of the
+Methodist missionaries. They carefully guarded against all outside
+patronage or influence getting control of their institution, by
+requiring a certain number of trustees to be members of their church in
+good standing. It was during the discussions in the organizing of that
+institution that the disposition on the part of that mission to control
+not only the religious, but literary and political interests of the
+settlement, was manifested. The leading members took strong ground, yet
+hesitated when it was found they would be compelled to ask for outside
+patronage. However, they were able to commence operations with the
+Institute, and succeeded in getting up a building deemed suitable by the
+building committee.
+
+Dr. Elijah White returned to the country, as he supposed and frequently
+asserted, with unlimited discretionary powers from the President of the
+United States to arrange all matters between the Hudson's Bay Company,
+Indians, and settlers, and "although his commission did not specify in
+so many words, yet, in short, he was the governing power of the United
+States west of the Rocky Mountains." He entered at once upon the duties
+of his office, and such a muss as he kicked up all over the country it
+would require the pens of a Squibob and a Junius combined to describe.
+Rev. Mr. Hines has given to the world many useful notices of this
+notorious blockhead, and from his descriptions of his proceedings one
+would infer that he was a most important character in promoting the
+peace and harmony of the settlement and keeping the Indians quiet. I
+have always been at a loss to understand Mr. Hines, whether he is
+speaking of Dr. White's proceedings in sober earnest or serious
+burlesque. Either he was woefully ignorant of the character of Dr.
+White, or he was cajoled and flattered and made to believe the doctor
+possessed power and influence at Washington that no document he could
+show gave any evidence of. Be that as it may, Dr. White arrived in the
+fall of 1842, in advance of the emigration. He pretended to have all
+power necessary for all cases, civil and criminal. He appointed
+temporary magistrates to try all cases as they might occur; and such as
+related to Indians and whites, or half-breeds and whites, he tried
+himself, and gave decisions to suit his own ideas of justice. Usually,
+in the case of two settlers, where he had appointed a justice to try the
+case, he would argue the case for one of the parties, and generally win
+it for his client or favorite. We attended two of the doctor's trials,
+one in Tualatin Plains, the other at the saw-mill near Salem. In both of
+these cases the conclusion of those not interested was, that if such was
+the justice to which we as settlers were reduced, our own energy and
+arms must protect us.
+
+At the meeting called to receive him, a committee, being appointed,
+retired, and, after a short absence, reported the following
+resolutions:--
+
+_Resolved_, That we, the citizens of the Wallamet Valley, are
+exceedingly happy in the consideration that the government of the United
+States have manifested their intentions through their agent, Dr. E.
+White, of extending their jurisdiction and protection over this country.
+
+_Resolved_, That, in view of the claims which the aborigines of this
+country have upon the sympathies of the white man, we are gratified at
+the appointment of an agent by the United States government to regulate
+and guard their interests.
+
+_Resolved_, That we highly approve of the appointment of Dr. E. White to
+the above office, and that we will cordially co-operate with him in
+carrying out the measures of government in reference to this country.
+
+_Resolved_, That we feel grateful to the United States government for
+their intended liberality toward the settlers of this country, and for
+their intention to support education and literature among us.
+
+_Resolved_, That it will give us the highest pleasure to be brought, so
+soon as it maybe practicable, under the jurisdiction of our mother
+country.
+
+On motion, it was
+
+_Resolved_, That the report of the committee be adopted.
+
+_Resolved unanimously_, That the doings of this meeting be transmitted
+to the government of the United States by Dr. E. White, in order that
+our views and wishes in relation to this country may be known.
+
+The following communication shows the shrewdness of Dr. White, and the
+influence he was enabled to hold over Mr. Hines, who seems to have
+ignored all the doctor's conduct while a missionary, and considers him a
+suitable person to deal with the complicated relations then culminating
+on our western coast. It is given entire, to place Mr. Hines in his
+true character in the history of the country, though Dr. White does not
+deign to mention his name in his report to the department. We also give
+an extract from the report of the Commissioners of Indian Affairs,
+November 28, 1843, as found on fifth and sixth pages of Dr. White's
+report, Mr. Hines' letter is as follows:--
+
+                                                WALLAMET, April 3, 1843.
+
+     _To the Honorable Secretary of War:_
+
+     SIR,--I have the honor of addressing you a brief communication
+     expressive of my views of the course pursued by Dr. E. White,
+     sub-agent of Indian Affairs west of the Rocky Mountains.
+
+     I am not extensively acquainted with what properly belongs to the
+     business of an Indian agent, but so far as I understand the
+     subject, this agency requires the performance of duties which are
+     of an _onerous_ and _complicated_ character.
+
+     The country is quite extensive, and an intercourse is carried on
+     between the whites and Indians in almost every part of it. The
+     principal settlements are on the Wallamet River and Taulatin
+     Plains, but there are whites at the mouth of the Columbia River,
+     the Falls, and among the Wallawalla, Cayuse, Nez Perce, and Snake
+     Indians. Immediately after the arrival of your agent in this
+     country, he received the most urgent calls from several of these
+     places, if possible to come immediately and enter into such
+     measures as would secure both the safety of the whites and welfare
+     of the Indians.
+
+     He entered upon his business with diffidence, though with great
+     energy and decision, and his indefatigable efforts to promote the
+     interests of this country, with his untiring industry in the
+     performance of his duties, entitle him to the warmest respect of
+     the members of this infant and helpless colony, and to the
+     confidence of the honorable department which has committed to him
+     so important a trust. Although he has been with us but a short time
+     in his official capacity, yet it is generally believed that the
+     measures he has adopted to regulate the intercourse between the
+     whites and Indians, particularly in the Cayuse, Nez Perce, and
+     Wallawalla tribes, are wisely calculated to secure the protection
+     of the former against the aggressions of the savages, and to secure
+     to the latter the blessings of harmony, peace, and civilization.
+
+     Some time in November last news reached us from these formidable
+     tribes that they were laying a plot for the destruction of this
+     colony, upon which your agent, with characteristic decision,
+     determined to proceed at once to the scene of this conspiracy, and,
+     if possible, not only to frustrate the present designs of the
+     Indians, but to prevent any future attempts of the same character.
+
+     This laborious journey was undertaken, and, accordingly, he set out
+     on this perilous enterprise in the dead of winter, being
+     accompanied by six men, and though the distance to be traveled by
+     land and water was little less than one thousand miles, and the
+     whole journey was one of excessive labor and much suffering, yet
+     perseverance surmounted every difficulty, and the undertaking was
+     brought to a most happy issue. In the fitting out and execution of
+     such an expedition much expense must necessarily be incurred, but I
+     am fully of the opinion the funds appropriated by your agent, for
+     the purpose of accomplishing the object of his appointment, have
+     been judiciously applied.
+
+     Not knowing the views I entertained in reference to the propriety
+     of his course, Dr. White requested me to write to the honorable
+     Secretary of War, definitely expressing my opinion. Considering
+     this a sufficient apology for intruding myself upon your patience
+     in this communication, allow me, dear sir, to subscribe myself most
+     respectfully.
+
+               Your humble servant,
+
+                                  GUSTAVUS HINES,
+                          Missionary to the Wallamet Settlement.
+
+
+                                                     DEPARTMENT OF WAR,}
+                               OFFICE OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, Nov. 23, 1843.}
+
+     I submit a report from the sub-agent west of the Rocky Mountains,
+     received on the 9th of August last. It furnishes some
+     deeply-interesting and curious details respecting certain of the
+     Indian tribes in that remote part of our Territories. The Nez
+     Perces are represented to be "more noble, industrious, sensible,
+     and better disposed toward the whites," than the others. Their
+     conduct on the occasion of an important meeting between Dr. White
+     and their leading men impresses one most agreeably. The school
+     established for their benefit is very numerously attended, while it
+     is gratifying to learn that this is not the only establishment for
+     Indian instruction which has been made and conducted with success.
+
+     There will also be found in this paper some particulars as to the
+     soil, water-courses, etc, of the Territory of Oregon, which may be
+     interesting at this time, when public attention is so much directed
+     to the region beyond the Rocky Mountains.
+
+               Respectfully submitted,
+
+                                  T. HARTLEY CRAWFORD.
+
+     Hon. J. M. PORTER, Secretary of War.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX.
+
+     Dispatch of Dr. White to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs.--He
+     praises the Hudson's Bay Company.--His account of the
+     Indians.--Indian outrages.--Dr. White's expedition to the Nez
+     Perces.--Indian council.--Speeches.--Electing a chief.--Laws of the
+     Nez Perces.--Visit to the Cayuses.--Doings of the
+     missionaries.--Drowning of Mr. Rogers and family.--George
+     Geere.--Volcanoes.--Petition against Governor McLaughlin.
+
+
+                                                  OREGON, April 1, 1843.
+
+SIR,--On my arrival, I had the honor and happiness of addressing you a
+brief communication, giving information of my safe arrival, and that of
+our numerous party, to these distant shores.
+
+At that time it was confidently expected that a more direct, certain,
+and expeditious method would be presented to address you in a few weeks;
+but that failing, none has offered till now.
+
+I think I mentioned the kind and hospitable manner we were received and
+entertained on the way by the gentlemen of the Hudson's Bay Company, and
+the cordial and most handsome reception I met with at Fort Vancouver
+from Governor McLaughlin and his worthy associate chief factor, James
+Douglas, Esq.; my appointment giving pleasure rather than pain,--a
+satisfactory assurance that these worthy gentlemen intend eventually to
+settle in this country, and prefer American to English jurisdiction.
+
+On my arrival in the colony, sixty miles south of Vancouver, being in
+advance of the party, and coming unexpectedly to the citizens, bearing
+the intelligence of the arrival of so large a re-enforcement, and giving
+assurance of the good intentions of our government, the excitement was
+general, and two days after we had the largest and happiest public
+meeting ever convened in this infant colony.
+
+I found the colony in peace and health, and rapidly increasing in
+numbers, having more than doubled in population during the last two
+years. English, French, and half-breeds seem, equally with our own
+people, attached to the American cause; hence the bill of Mr. Linn,
+proffering a section of land to every white man of the Territory, has
+the double advantage of being popular and useful, increasing such
+attachment, and manifestly acting as a strong incentive to all, of
+whatever nation or party, to settle in this country.
+
+My arrival was in good time, and probably saved much evil. I had but a
+short season of rest after so long, tedious, and toilsome a journey,
+before information reached me of the very improper conduct of the upper
+country Indians toward the missionaries sent by the American Board of
+Commissioners, accompanied with a passport, and a desire for my
+interposition in their behalf at once.
+
+I allude to the only three tribes from which much is to be hoped, or any
+thing to be feared, in this part of Oregon. These are the Wallawallas,
+Cayuses, and Nez Perces, inhabiting a district of country on the
+Columbia and its tributaries, commencing two hundred and forty miles
+from its mouth, and stretching four hundred and eighty miles into the
+interior. The Wallawallas, most contiguous to the colony, number some
+three thousand, including the entire population. They are in general
+poor, indolent, and sordid, but avaricious; and what few have property,
+in horses and herds, are proud, haughty, and insolent. The Cayuses, next
+easterly, are less numerous, but more formidable, being brave, active,
+tempestuous, and warlike. Their country is well watered, gently
+undulating, extremely healthy, and admirably adapted to grazing, as Dr.
+Marcus Whitman, who resides in their midst, may have informed you. They
+are comparatively rich in herds, independent in manner, and not
+unfrequently boisterous, saucy, and troublesome in language and
+behavior. The Nez Perces, still further in the interior, number
+something less than three thousand; they inhabit a beautiful grazing
+district not surpassed by any I have seen for verdure, water privileges,
+climate, or health. The tribe forms, to some extent, an honorable
+exception to the general Indian character, being more noble,
+industrious, sensible, and better disposed toward the whites and their
+improvements in the arts and sciences; and, though as brave as Caesar,
+the whites have nothing to dread at their hands, in case of their
+dealing out to them what they conceive to be right and equitable. Of
+late, these three tribes have become strongly united by reason of much
+intermarriage. For the last twenty years they have been generally well
+disposed toward the whites; but at the time Captain Bonneville visited
+this district of country, he dealt more profusely in presents and paid a
+higher price for furs than Mr. Pambrun, one of the traders of the
+Hudson's Bay Company, established at Wallawalla, who had long dealt with
+them, and was previously a general favorite. On Mr. Bonneville's
+leaving, the chiefs assembled at the fort, and insisted on a change of
+the tariff in their favor. Pambrun refusing, they seized him, stamped
+violently upon his breast, beat him severely, and retained him prisoner,
+in rather unenviable circumstances, till they gained, to a considerable
+extent, their object. Since that time, they have been more consequential
+in feeling, and shown less deference and respect to the whites. On the
+arrival of missionaries among them they have never failed to make, at
+first, a most favorable impression, which has, in most instances,
+unfortunately, led to too near an approach to familiarity, operating
+alike prejudicial to both parties. The Rev. Messrs. Lee and Parker, who
+made each but a short stay among them, left with like favorable
+impressions. Their successors, Spalding, Whitman, Gray, and ladies, with
+others who remained among them, were at last driven to the conclusion
+that Indians as much resembled each other in character as complexion.
+These worthy people, not well versed in Indian character, and anxious to
+accomplish a great deal in a short time, resorted to various expedients
+to induce them to leave off their wandering migratory habits, and settle
+down contiguous to them in herding and agricultural pursuits, so as to
+be able to send their numerous and healthy children to school. In these
+efforts they were zealous and persevering, holding out various
+inducements as so many stimulants to action, most of which would have
+operated well in civilized life, but generally failed with these
+Indians; and whatever was promised conditionally, whether the condition
+was met or otherwise, there was no reprieve--the promised articles must
+come; and sometimes, under circumstances sufficiently trying, had these
+missionaries been less devoted, they would have driven them from their
+post forever.
+
+The Indians, having gained one and another victory, became more and more
+insolent, till at last, some time previous to my arrival, they were not
+only obtrusive and exceedingly annoying about and in the missionaries'
+houses, but seized one of the clergymen in his own house,[2] without a
+shadow of provocation, further than that of treating a better
+neighboring chief with more respect than they, and insulted him most
+shamefully, there being no other white person within fifty miles, save
+his sick and delicate lady. Soon after, they commenced on Dr. Whitman;
+pulled his ears and hair, and threw off his hat three times in the mud
+at his feet. A short time after, the chiefs assembled, broke into the
+house, violently assailed his person with war clubs, and, with an ax,
+broke down the door leading to his own private apartment. It is
+generally thought, and possibly with truth, that, on this occasion, Dr.
+Whitman would have been killed, had not a party of white men arrived in
+sight just at this moment.[3] Never was such an outrage and insult more
+undeserving. He had built, for the express purpose of Indian
+accommodation, a house of the same materials, and finished in like
+manner with his own, of respectable size, and joined to his, and at all
+times, night and day, accessible. In addition to this, they were
+admitted to every room in his house but one. This being closed, had like
+to have cost him his life. He had hardly left for the States last fall,
+when, shocking to relate, at the hour of midnight, a large Indian chief
+managed to get into the house, came to the door of Mrs. Whitman's
+bed-chamber, and had succeeded in getting it partly open before she
+reached it. A white man, sleeping in an adjoining apartment, saved her
+from violence and ruin. The villain escaped. There was but one thing
+wrong in this matter on the part of Dr. Whitman, and that was a great
+error,--leaving his excellent lady unprotected in the midst of
+savages.[4] A few days after this they burned down the mission mill on
+his premises, with all its appendages and considerable grain, damaging
+them not less than twelve or fifteen hundred dollars. About the same
+time, Mrs. Spalding was grossly insulted in her own house, and ordered
+out of it, in the absence of her husband. Information reached him of an
+Indian having stolen his horse near the same time; he hastened to the
+spot to secure the animal; the rogue had crossed the river; but,
+immediately returning, he presented his loaded gun, cocked, at the
+breast of Mr. Spalding, and abused and menaced as far as possible
+without shooting him.[5]
+
+    [Footnote 2] Rev. A. B. Smith, who employed the Lawyer as his
+    teacher in the Nez Perce language. Ellis was the chief who
+    claimed the land, and had been at the Red River school. He
+    was jealous of the Lawyer's influence with the American
+    missionaries, and used his influence with the Hudson's Bay
+    Company to drive Mr. Smith away.
+
+    [Footnote 3] We were present at Dr. Whitman's at the time
+    here referred to, and know that this difficulty originated
+    from Jesuitical teachings.
+
+    [Footnote 4] There were good men left at the station;
+    besides, the influence of Mr. McKinley was thought to be
+    sufficient protection from any violence from the Indians.
+
+    [Footnote 5] This transaction is represented by Rev. Mr.
+    Brouillet as being that Mr. Spalding threatened the Indian
+    with a gun,--being a mistake on the part of Rev. Mr.
+    Brouillet.
+
+In addition to this, some of our own party were robbed openly of
+considerable property, and some twelve horses were stolen by night. All
+this information, coming near the same time, was embarrassing,
+especially as my instructions would not allow me to exceed, for office,
+interpreter, and every purpose, $1,250 per annum. On the other hand,
+their passport, signed by the Secretary of War, made it my imperative
+duty to protect them, in their persons, at least, from outrage. I did
+not long hesitate, but called upon Thomas McKay, long in the employment
+of the Hudson's Bay Company as explorer and leader of parties, who, from
+his frank, generous disposition, together with his universal success in
+Indian warfare, has obtained an extensive influence among the aborigines
+of the country, and, placing the facts before him, he at once consented
+to accompany me to this scene of discord and contention. We took but six
+men with us, armed in the best manner, a sufficient number to command
+respect and secure the object of our undertaking,--McKay assuring me,
+from his familiar acquaintance with these Indians, and their thorough
+knowledge of the use of arms, that if hostile intentions were
+entertained, it would require a larger party than we could raise in this
+country to subdue them. Obtaining Cornelius Rogers as interpreter, we
+set out on the 15th of November on our voyage of misery (as McKay justly
+denominated it), having a journey, by water and land, of not less than
+nine hundred and fifty miles, principally over open plains, covered with
+snow, and several times under the necessity of spending the night
+without wood or fire, other than what was made by a small growth of wild
+sage, hardly sufficient to boil the tea-kettle. The gentlemen, as we
+called at Vancouver, did every thing in their power to make the journey
+comfortable, but evidently felt anxious concerning our safety. We
+reached the Dalles, some two hundred and twenty miles from the Pacific,
+on the 24th, having been detained by wind, spent several days with the
+Methodist Mission families, who welcomed us joyfully, and made our stay
+agreeable and refreshing. Mrs. Dr. Whitman was here, having found it
+improper and unsafe to remain where she had been so lately grossly
+insulted. Her noble and intellectual mind and spirit were much
+depressed, and her health suffering; but still entertaining for the
+people or Indians of her charge the feelings of a mother toward
+ungrateful children. Our visit encouraged her. We procured horses and
+traveled by land to Wallawalla, 140 miles above, reaching the Hudson's
+Bay establishment on the 30th. Mr. McKinley, the gentleman in charge, to
+whom the missionaries are indebted for many kind offices in this
+isolated portion of earth, resolved to make it a common cause, and stand
+or fall with us. We reached Wailatpu, the station of Dr. Whitman, the
+day following, and were shocked and pained at beholding the sad work of
+savage destruction upon this hitherto neat and commodious little
+establishment. The Indians in the vicinity were few and shy. I thought
+best to treat them with reserve, but made an appointment to meet the
+chiefs and tribe on my return. Left the day following for the station of
+Mr. Spalding among the Nez Perces, some 120 or 130 miles from Wailatpu;
+reached it on the 3d of December, after a rather pleasant journey over a
+most verdant and delightful grazing district, well watered, but badly
+timbered. Having sent a private dispatch in advance, they had conveyed
+the intelligence to the Indians, many of whom were collected. The chiefs
+met us with civility, gravity, and dignified reserve, but the
+missionaries with joyful countenances and glad hearts.
+
+Seldom was a visit of an Indian agent more desired, nor could one be
+more necessary and proper. As they were collecting, we had no meeting
+for eight and forty hours; in the mean time, through my able
+interpreter and McKay, I managed to secure confidence and prepare the
+way to a good understanding; visited and prescribed for their sick, made
+a short call at each of the chiefs' lodges, spent a season in school,
+hearing them read, spell, and sing; at the same time examined their
+printing and writing, and can hardly avoid here saying I was happily
+surprised and greatly interested at seeing such numbers so far advanced
+and so eagerly pursuing after knowledge. The next day I visited their
+little plantations, rude, to be sure, but successfully carried on, so
+far as raising the necessaries of life were concerned; and it was most
+gratifying to witness their fondness and care for their little herds,
+pigs, poultry, etc.
+
+The hour arriving for the public interview, I was ushered into the
+presence of the assembled chiefs, to the number of twenty-two, with some
+lesser dignitaries, and a large number of the common people. The
+gravity, fixed attention, and decorum of these sons of the forest was
+calculated to make for them a most favorable impression. I stated
+explicitly, but briefly as possible, the design of our great chief in
+sending me to this country, and the present object of my visit; assured
+them of the kind intentions of our government, and of the sad
+consequences that would ensue to any white man, from this time, who
+should invade their rights, by stealing, murder, selling them damaged
+for good articles, or alcohol, of which they are not fond. Without
+threatening, I gave them to understand how highly Mr. and Mrs. Spalding
+were prized by the numerous whites, and with what pleasure the great
+chief gave them a paper to encourage them to come here to teach them
+what they were now so diligently employed in obtaining, in order that
+they and their children might become good, wise, and happy.
+
+After me, Mr. McKinley, the gentleman in charge of the Hudson's Bay
+establishment at Wallawalla, spoke concisely, but very properly; alluded
+to his residence of some years, and of the good understanding that had
+generally existed between them, and of the happiness he felt that one of
+his brothers had come to stand and judge impartially between him, them,
+and whites and Indians in general; declared openly and frankly, that
+Boston, King George, and French, were all of one heart in this matter,
+as they, the Cayuses and Wallawallas should be; flattered them
+delicately in view of their (to him) unexpected advancement in the arts
+and sciences, and resumed his seat, having made a most favorable
+impression.
+
+Next followed Mr. Rogers, the interpreter, who, years before, had been
+employed successfully as linguist in this section of the country by the
+American Board of Commissioners, and was ever a general favorite with
+this people. He adverted, sensibly and touchingly, to past difficulties
+between whites and Indians east of the mountains, and the sad
+consequences to every tribe who had resisted honorable measures proposed
+by the more numerous whites; and having, as he hoped, secured their
+confidence in my favor, exhorted them feelingly to adopt such measures
+as should be thought proper for their benefit.
+
+Next, and lastly, arose Mr. McKay, and remarked, with a manner peculiar
+to himself, and evidently with some emotion: "I appear among you as one
+arisen from the long sleep of death. You know of the violent death of my
+father on board the ship _Tonquin_, who was one of the partners of the
+Astor company; I was but a youth; since which time, till the last five
+years, I have been a wanderer through these wilds, none of you, or any
+Indians of this country, having traveled so constantly or extensively as
+I have, and yet I saw you or your fathers once or more annually. I have
+mingled with you in bloody wars and profound peace; I have stood in your
+midst, surrounded by plenty, and suffered with you in seasons of
+scarcity; we have had our days of wild and joyous sports, and nights of
+watching and deep concern, till I vanished from among men, left the
+Hudson's Bay Company, silently retired to my plantation, and there
+confined myself. There I was still, silent, and as one dead; the voice
+of my brother, at last, aroused me; I spoke and looked; I mounted my
+horse--am here. I am glad it is so. I came at the call of the great
+chief, the chief of all the whites in the country, as well as all the
+Indians--the son of the mighty chief whose children are more numerous
+than the stars in the heavens or the leaves in the forest. Will you
+hear, and be advised? You will. Your wonderful improvement in the arts
+and sciences prove you are no fools. Surely you will hear; but if
+disposed to close your ears and stop them, they will be torn open wide,
+and you will be made to hear." This speech from Mr. McKay, whose mother
+is part Indian, though the wife of Governor McLaughlin, had a singularly
+happy influence, and opened the way for expressions on the other side,
+from which there had not hitherto been a sentence uttered.
+
+First arose Five Crows, a wealthy chief of forty-five, neatly attired in
+English costume. He stepped gravely but modestly forward to the table,
+remarking: "It does not become me to speak first; I am but a youth, as
+yet, when compared with many of these, my fathers; but my feelings urge
+me to arise and say what I am about to utter in a very few words. I am
+glad the chief has come; I have listened to what has been said; have
+great hopes that brighter days are before us, because I see all the
+whites united in this matter; we have much wanted something; hardly
+knew what; been groping and feeling for it in confusion and darkness.
+Here it is. Do we see it, and shall we accept it?"
+
+Soon the Bloody Chief (not less than ninety years old) arose, and said:
+"I speak to-day; perhaps to-morrow I die. I am the oldest chief of the
+tribe; was the high chief when your great brothers, Lewis and Clarke,
+visited this country; they visited me, and honored me with their
+friendship and counsel. I showed them my numerous wounds received in
+bloody battle with the Snakes; they told me it was not good, it was
+better to be at peace; gave me a flag of truce; I held it up high; we
+met and talked, but never fought again. Clarke pointed to this day, to
+you, and this occasion; we have long waited in expectation; sent three
+of our sons to Red River school to prepare for it; two of them sleep
+with their fathers; the other is here, and can be ears, mouth, and pen
+for us. I can say no more; I am quickly tired; my voice and limbs
+tremble. I am glad I live to see you and this day, but I shall soon be
+still and quiet in death."
+
+The speech was affecting. Six more spoke, and the meeting adjourned
+three hours. Met at the hour appointed. All the chiefs and principal men
+being present, stated delicately the embarrassed relation existing
+between whites and Indians in this upper country, by reason of a want of
+proper organization, or the chiefs' authority not being properly
+regarded; alluding to some cases of improprieties of young men, not
+sanctioned by the chiefs and old men; and where the chiefs had been in
+the wrong, hoped it had principally arisen from imperfectly
+understanding each other's language, or some other excusable cause,
+especially so far as they were concerned. Advised them, as they were now
+to some extent prepared, to choose one high chief of the tribe, and
+acknowledge him as such by universal consent; all the other subordinate
+chiefs being of equal power, and so many helps to carry out all his
+lawful requirements, which they were at once to have in writing, in
+their own language, to regulate their intercourse with whites, and, in
+most cases, with themselves. I advised that each chief have five men as
+a body-guard, to execute all their lawful commands. They desired to hear
+the laws. I proposed them clause by clause, leaving them as free to
+reject as to accept. They were greatly pleased with all proposed, but
+wished a heavier penalty to some, and suggested the dog law, which was
+annexed. We then left them to choose the high chief, assuring them if
+they did this unanimously by the following day at ten, we would all dine
+together with the chief, on a fat ox, at three, himself and myself at
+the head of the table; this pleased them well, and they set about it in
+good cheer and high hopes; but this was a new and delicate task, and
+they soon saw and felt it; however, all agreed that I must make the
+selection, and so reported two hours after we left the council. Assuring
+them this would not answer, that they must select their own chief, they
+seemed somewhat puzzled, and wished to know if it would be proper to
+counsel with Messrs. McKay and Rogers. On telling them that it was not
+improper, they left, a little relieved, and worked poor Rogers and McKay
+severely for many hours; but altogether at length figured it out, and in
+great good humor, so reported at ten, appointing Ellis high chief.[6] He
+is the one alluded to by the Bloody Chief, a sensible man of thirty-two,
+reading, speaking, and writing the English language tolerably well; has
+a fine small plantation, a few sheep, some neat stock, and no less than
+eleven hundred head of horses. Then came on the feasting; our ox was
+fat, and cooked and served up in a manner reminding me of the days of
+yore; we ate beef, corn, and peas, to our fill, and in good cheer took
+the pipe, when Rev. Mr. Spalding, Messrs. McKinley, Rogers, and McKay,
+wished a song from our boatmen; it was no sooner given than returned by
+the Indians, and repeated again, again, and again, in high cheer. I
+thought it a good time, and required all having any claim to bring, or
+grievances to allege, against Mr. Spalding, to meet me and the high
+chief at evening, in the council-room, and requested Mr. Spalding to do
+the same on the part of the Indians. We met at six, and ended at eleven,
+having accomplished, in the happiest manner, much anxious business.
+Being too well fed to be irritable or disposed to quarrel, both parties
+were frank and open, seeming anxious only to learn our opinion upon
+plain undisguised matters of fact, many of the difficulties having
+arisen from an honest difference of sentiment respecting certain
+measures.
+
+    [Footnote 6] He had been educated by the Hudson's Bay Company
+    at Red River, and was strongly attached to it.
+
+Ellis, the chief, having conducted himself throughout in a manner
+creditable to his head and heart, was quite as correct in his
+conclusions and firm in his decisions as could have been expected. The
+next day we had our last meeting, and one full of interest, in which
+they proposed to me many grave and proper questions; and, as it was
+manifestly desired, I advised in many matters, especially in reference
+to begging, or even receiving presents without, in some way, returning
+an equivalent; pointed out in strong language who beggars are among the
+whites, and how regarded; and commended them for not once troubling me,
+during my stay, with this disgusting practice; and as a token of
+respect, now, at the close of our long and happy meeting, they would
+please accept, in the name of my great chief, a present of fifty garden
+hoes, not for those in authority, or such as had no need of them, but
+for the chiefs and Mr. Spalding to distribute among their industrious
+poor. I likewise, as they were very needy, proposed and ordered them
+some medicines, to be distributed as they should from time to time be
+required. This being done, I exhorted them to be in obedience to their
+chiefs, highly approving the choice they had made, assuring them, as he
+and the other chiefs were responsible to me for their good behavior, I
+should feel it my duty to see them sustained in all lawful measures to
+promote peace and order. I then turned, and with good effect desired all
+the chiefs to look upon the congregation as their own children, and then
+pointed to Mr. Spalding and lady, and told the chiefs, and all present,
+to look upon them as their father and mother, and treat them in all
+respects as such; and should they happen to differ in sentiment
+respecting any matter during my absence, be cautious not to differ in
+feeling, but leave it till I should again return, when the chief and
+myself would rectify it. Thus closed this mutually happy and interesting
+meeting, and mounting our horses for home, Mr. Spalding and the chiefs
+accompanied us for some four or five miles, when we took leave of them
+in the pleasantest manner, not a single circumstance having occurred to
+mar our peace or shake each other's confidence.
+
+I shall here introduce a note, previously prepared, giving some further
+information respecting this tribe, and appending a copy of their laws.
+The Nez Perces have one governor or principal chief, twelve subordinate
+chiefs of equal power, being the heads of the different villages or
+clans, with their five officers to execute all their lawful orders,
+which law they have printed in their own language, and read
+understandingly. The chiefs are held responsible to the whites for the
+good behavior of the tribe. They are a happy and orderly people, forming
+an honorable exception to the general Indian character, being more
+industrious, cleanly, sensible, dignified, and virtuous.
+
+This organization was effected last fall, and operates well, and with
+them, it is to be hoped, will succeed. A few days since Governor
+McLaughlin favored me with a note addressed to him from the Rev. H. H.
+Spalding, missionary to this tribe, stating as follows:--
+
+    "The Indians in this vicinity are remarkably quiet this winter,
+    and are highly pleased with the laws recommended by Dr. White,
+    which were unanimously adopted by the chiefs and people in council
+    assembled. The visit of Dr. White and assistants to this upper
+    country will evidently prove an incalculable blessing to this
+    people. The school now numbers two hundred and twenty-four in
+    daily attendance, embracing most of the chiefs and principal men
+    of the nation."
+
+_Laws of the Nez Perces._
+
+ARTICLE 1. Whoever willfully takes life shall be hung.
+
+ART. 2. Whoever burns a dwelling-house shall be hung.
+
+ART. 3. Whoever burns an out-building shall be imprisoned six months,
+receive fifty lashes, and pay all damages.
+
+ART. 4. Whoever carelessly burns a house, or any property, shall pay
+damages.
+
+ART. 5. If any one enter a dwelling, without permission of the occupant,
+the chiefs shall punish him as they think proper. Public rooms are
+excepted.
+
+ART. 6. If any one steal he shall pay back twofold; and if it be the
+value of a beaver skin or less, he shall receive twenty-five lashes; and
+if the value is over a beaver skin he shall pay back twofold, and
+receive fifty lashes.
+
+ART. 7. If any one take a horse and ride it, without permission, or take
+any article and use it, without liberty, he shall pay for the use of it,
+and receive from twenty to fifty lashes, as the chief shall direct.
+
+ART. 8. If any one enter a field, and injure the crops, or throw down
+the fence, so that cattle or horses go in and do damage, he shall pay
+all damages, and receive twenty-five lashes for every offense.
+
+ART. 9. Those only may keep dogs who travel or live among the game; if a
+dog kill a lamb, calf, or any domestic animal, the owner shall pay the
+damages and kill the dog.
+
+ART. 10. If an Indian raise a gun or other weapon against a white man,
+it shall be reported to the chiefs, and they shall punish it. If a white
+do the same to an Indian, it shall be reported to Dr. White, and he
+shall punish or redress it.
+
+ART. 11. If an Indian break these laws, he shall be punished by his
+chiefs; if a white man break them, he shall be reported to the agent,
+and punished at his instance.
+
+After a severe journey of some four days, through the inclemency of the
+weather, we reached Wailatpu, Dr. Whitman's station, where we had many
+most unpleasant matters to settle with the Cayuse tribe,--such as
+personal abuse to Dr. Whitman and lady, burning the mill, etc. Several,
+but not all, of the chiefs were present. Learning what the Nez Perces
+had done gave them great concern and anxiety. Tawatowe, the high chief,
+and Feather Cap were there, with some few more dignitaries, but
+manifestly uneasy, being shy and cautious. I thought best under the
+circumstances to be quiet, distant, and reserved, and let them commence
+the conversation with my worthy and faithful friends, Rogers and McKay,
+who conducted it with characteristic firmness and candor. They had not
+proceeded far before Feather Cap, for the first time in his life, so far
+as we know, commenced weeping, and wished to see me; said his heart was
+sick, and he could not live long as he now felt. Tawatowe, who was no
+way implicated personally in the difficulties, and a correct man,
+continued for some time firm and steady to his purpose; said the whites
+were much more to blame than the Indians; that three-fourths of them,
+though they taught the purest doctrines, practiced the greatest
+abominations,--alluding to the base conduct of many in the Rocky
+Mountains, where they meet them on their buffalo hunts during the summer
+season, and witness the greatest extravagances. They were shown the
+inapplicability of such instances to the present cases of difficulty.
+He, too, at last, was much subdued; wished to see me; was admitted; made
+a sensible speech in his own favor; said he was constituted, eight years
+before, high chief; entered upon its duties with spirit and courage,
+determined to reduce his people to order. He flogged the young men and
+reproved the middle-aged, till, having none to sustain him, his
+popularity had so declined, that, except in seasons of difficulty
+brought about by their improprieties, "I am left alone to say my prayers
+and go to bed, to weep over the follies and wickedness of my people."
+Here his voice trembled, and he wept freely; acknowledged it as his
+opinion that the mill was burnt purposely by some disaffected persons
+toward Dr. Whitman. I spoke kindly and somewhat encouragingly to these
+chiefs; assured them the guilty only were to be regarded as such; and
+that candor was commendable, and would be honored by all the good;
+assured them I credited all they said, and deplored the state of their
+nation, which was in perfect anarchy and confusion; told them I could
+say but little to them now, as their chiefs were mostly abroad; but must
+say the shocking conduct of one of the chiefs toward Mrs. Whitman
+greatly afflicted me; and that, with the destruction of the mill, and
+their abominable conduct toward Dr. Whitman, if not speedily settled,
+would lead to the worst of consequences to their tribe. I made an
+engagement, to meet them and all the tribe on the 10th of the ensuing
+April, to adjust differences and come to a better understanding, they
+earnestly wishing to adopt such laws as the Nez Perces had done. We
+should probably have accomplished a satisfactory settlement, had not
+several of the influential chiefs been too far away to get information
+of the meeting. We reached Wascopum on December 25, the Indians being in
+great excitement, having different views and impressions respecting the
+nature of the approaching visit. We spent four days with them, holding
+meetings daily, instructing them in the nature of government, civil
+relations, domestic duties, etc. Succeeded, in like happy manner, with
+them as with the Nez Perces, they unanimously adopting the same code of
+laws.
+
+Late information from one of their missionaries you will see in the
+following note from Mr. H. B. Brewer:--
+
+    "The Indians of this place intend to carry out the regulations you
+    left them to the letter. They have been quite engaged in cutting
+    logs for houses, and live in expectation of better dwellings by and
+    by. For the least transgression of the laws, they are punished by
+    their chiefs immediately. The clean faces of some, and the tidy
+    dresses of others, show the good effects of your visit."
+
+And here allow me to say, except at Wascopum, the missionaries of this
+upper country are too few in number at their respective stations, and in
+too defenseless a state for their own safety, or the best good of the
+Indians, the latter taking advantage of these circumstances, to the no
+small annoyance, and, in some instances, greatly endangering the
+personal safety, of the former. You will see its bearings upon this
+infant colony, and doubtless give such information or instructions to
+the American Board of Commissioners, or myself, as will cause a
+correction of this evil. It has already occasioned some difficulty and
+much cost. I have insisted upon an increase of numbers at Mr. Spalding's
+mission, which has accordingly been re-enforced by Mr. Littlejohn and
+lady, rendering that station measurably secure; but not so at Wailatpu,
+or some of the Catholic missions, where some of them lost a considerable
+amount in herds during last winter, and, I am told, were obliged to
+abandon their posts, their lives being endangered. This was in the
+interior, near the Blackfoot country. You will observe, from the reports
+of the different missions, which, so far as I am otherwise informed, are
+correct, that they are doing some positive good in the country, not only
+by diffusing the light of science abroad among us, but also by giving
+employment to many, and, by their drafts upon the different Boards and
+others, creating a circulating medium in this country; but, though they
+make comparatively slow progress in the way of reform among the
+aborigines of this country, their pious and correct example has a most
+restraining influence upon both whites and Indians, and in this way they
+prevent much evil.
+
+They have in successful operation six schools. Rev. Mr. and Mrs.
+Spalding (whose zeal and untiring industry for the benefit of the people
+of their charge entitle them to our best considerations) have a school
+of some two hundred and twenty-four, in constant attendance, most
+successfully carried forward, which promises to be of great usefulness
+to both sexes and all ages. Rev. Messrs. Walker and Eells I have not
+been at leisure to visit, but learn they have two small schools in
+operation; the one at Wailatpu, Dr. Whitman's station, is now
+recommenced with promise of usefulness.
+
+The Rev. Mr. Blanchet and associates, though zealous Catholics, are
+peaceable, industrious, indefatigable, and successful in promoting
+religious knowledge among the Canadian population and aborigines of this
+country. Their enterprise in the erection of mills and other public
+works is very commendable, and the general industry, good order, and
+correct habits of that portion of the population under their charge is
+sufficient proof that their influence over their people has been exerted
+for good.[7] The Rev. Mr. Lee and associates, from their well-conducted
+operations at the Dalles; upon the Columbia, and a school of some thirty
+scholars successfully carried forward upon the Wallamet, are doing but
+little for the Indians; nor could great efforts produce much good among
+the scattered remnants of the broken tribes of this lower district, who
+are fast disappearing before the ravages of the most loathsome diseases.
+Their principal hopes of success in this country are among the whites,
+where they are endeavoring to lay deep and broad the foundations of
+science. The literary institution referred to by Mr. Lee is situated
+upon a beautiful rising ground, a healthy and eligible location. Could a
+donation of five thousand dollars be bestowed upon the institution, it
+would greatly encourage its friends. The donations made by individuals
+of this country have been most liberal, several giving one-third of all
+they possessed. There is a small school established at Tualatin Plains
+by Rev. Mr. Clark and lady. There is also a school at the Catholic
+Mission, upon the Wallamet, and also one upon their station at Cowlitz.
+For further information I will refer you to the reports made, at my
+request, by the several missions, and accompanying these dispatches.
+
+    [Footnote 7] This statement about Rev. Mr. Blanchet and
+    associates, "their enterprise in erecting mills end other
+    public Works," shows how easy it was for the agent to
+    belittle his own countrymen's labors, and attribute to others
+    what they never attempted to do, and in the next paragraph
+    say they "are doing but little for the Indians;" while the
+    truth is, and was at the time, that Mr. Lee and his mission
+    were the only persons in the Wallamet Valley doing any thing
+    to improve the condition of the Indians, of which their
+    Indian school, now Wallamet University, is a permanent
+    monument, which Dr. White ignores in this report.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I must close by praying that measures may be speedily entered into to
+take possession of this country, if such steps have not already been
+taken. I left home before the close of the session of Congress, and by
+reason do not know what disposition was made of Hon. Mr. Linn's bill. As
+a reason for this praying, I would here say, the time was when the
+gentlemen of the Hudson's Bay Company and the missions wielded the
+entire influence over this small population; but as they have been
+re-enforced latterly from whale ships, the Rocky Mountains, and the
+Southwestern States, these hitherto salutary restraints and influences
+are giving way, and being measurably lost.
+
+At present I have considerable influence, but can not long expect to
+retain it, especially in the faithful discharge of my duty. As a reason
+for coming to such a conclusion, I had but just arrived from the
+interior, when I received an urgent call to visit the mouth of the
+Columbia. I left at once, in company with Nathaniel Crocker, Esq., Mr.
+Rogers (my interpreter), his lady, and her young sister (the females
+going only to the falls), with a crew of Indians, on our ill-fated
+expedition. We reached the falls at sunset, February 1, and, by reason
+of the water being higher than usual, in passing around a jutting or
+projecting rock, the canoe came up suddenly against a log constituting
+the landing, at which instant I stepped off, and in a moment the canoe
+was swept away, with all its precious cargo, over the falls of
+thirty-eight feet, three rods below. The shock was dreadful to this
+infant colony, and the loss was dreadful and irreparable to me, Mr.
+Rogers being more important to me than any one in the country; nor was
+there a more respectable or useful man in the colony. Nathaniel Crocker
+came in with me last fall from Tompkins County; he was much pleased with
+the country and its prospects, and the citizens were rejoiced at the
+arrival of such a man in this country; he was every way capacitated for
+usefulness. None of the bodies of the four whites or two Indians have
+been as yet found.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+On arriving at the mouth of the Columbia, I found a sailor by the name
+of George Geere, who had most evidently and maliciously labored to
+instigate the Indians to take the life of one of the mission gentlemen,
+by the offer of five blankets. Complaint being made, and having no
+better means, I prevailed upon Governor McLaughlin to allow him to
+accompany their express across the mountains to the States. I would here
+say, as the scamp was nearly a fool as well as villain, I allowed him to
+go without sending evidence against him, on condition of his going
+voluntarily, and never returning.
+
+I here likewise found a rash, venturesome character, about starting off
+on a trapping and trading excursion among a somewhat numerous band of
+Indians, and nowise well disposed toward the whites. As he saw and felt
+no danger, arguments were of no avail, and threats only prevented.
+
+Sir, shall men be allowed to go wherever they may please, however remote
+from the colony, and settle, under circumstances that endanger not only
+their own personal safety, but the peace and safety of the whole white
+population? Please give me specific instructions respecting this matter.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I have eight prisoners on hand at present, for various crimes,
+principally stealing horses, grain, etc.; and crimes are multiplying
+with numbers among the whites, and with scarcity of game among the
+Indians.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+No intelligence from abroad has reached us this winter. Mount St. Helen,
+one of these snow-capped volcanic mountains, some 16,000 feet above the
+level of the sea, and eighty miles northwest of Vancouver, broke out
+upon the 20th of November last, presenting a scene the most awful and
+sublime imaginable, scattering smoke and ashes several hundred miles
+distance.
+
+A petition started from this country to-day, making bitter complaints
+against the Hudson's Bay Company and Governor McLaughlin. On reference
+to it (as a copy was denied), I shall only say, had any gentleman
+disconnected with the Hudson's Bay Company been at half the pains and
+expense to establish a claim on the Wallamet Falls, very few would have
+raised an opposition. His half-bushel measure I know to be exact,
+according to the English imperial standard. The gentlemen of this
+company have been fathers and fosterers of the colony, ever encouraging
+peace, industry, and good order, and have sustained a character for
+hospitality and integrity too well established to be easily shaken.
+
+I am, sir, sincerely and most respectfully, your humble and obedient
+servant,
+
+                                  ELIJAH WHITE,
+                        Sub-Agent Indian Affairs, W. R. M.
+
+T. HARTLEY CRAWFORD, Esq.,
+Commissioner Indian Affairs.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI.
+
+     Letter of H. H. Spalding to Dr. White.--Account of his mission
+     among the Nez Perces.--Schools.--Cultivation.--Industrial
+     arts.--Moral character.--Arable land.--Letter of Commissioner of
+     Indian Affairs to the Secretary of War.
+
+
+MY DEAR BROTHER,--The kind letter which our mission had the honor of
+receiving from yourself, making inquiries relative to its numbers, the
+character of the Indian tribes among whom its several stations are
+located, the country, etc., is now before me.
+
+The questions referring to Indian character are very important, and to
+answer them demands a more extended knowledge of character and habits,
+from personal daily observation, than the short residence of six years
+can afford, and more time and attention than I can possibly command,
+amidst the numerous cares and labors of the station. I less regret this,
+as the latter will receive the attention of my better-informed and
+worthy associates of the other stations.
+
+Concerning many of the questions, I can only give my own half-formed
+opinions, from limited observations which have not extended far beyond
+the people of my immediate charge.
+
+Our mission is under the patronage of the American Board, and was
+commenced in the fall of 1836, by Marcus Whitman, M. D., and myself,
+with our wives and Mr. Gray. Dr. Whitman was located at Wailatpu, among
+the Cayuse Indians, twenty-five miles east of Fort Wallawalla, a
+trading-post of the Hudson's Bay Company, which stands nine miles below
+the junction of Lewis and Clarke rivers, three hundred from the Pacific,
+and about two hundred from Fort Vancouver. I was located at this place,
+on the Clearwater, or Koos-koos-ky River, twelve miles from its junction
+with the Lewis River, one hundred and twenty miles east of Wailatpu. Mr.
+Gray left the same winter, and returned to the States. In the fall of
+1838, Mr. Gray returned to this country, accompanied by Mrs. Gray,
+Messrs. Walker, Eells, and Smith, and their wives, and Mr. Rogers. The
+next season, two new stations were commenced, one by Messrs. Walker and
+Eells at Cimakain, near Spokan River, among the Spokan Indians, one
+hundred and thirty-five miles northwest of this station, and sixty-five
+miles south of Fort Colville, on the Columbia River, three hundred miles
+above Fort Wallawalla; the second by Mr. Smith, among the Nez Perces,
+sixty miles above this station. There are now connected with this
+mission the Rev. Messrs. Walker and Eells, Mrs. Walker and Mrs. Eells;
+at Cimakain, myself, and Mrs. Spalding at this station. Dr. Whitman is
+now on a visit to the States, and Mrs. Whitman on a visit to the Dalles,
+a station of our Methodist brethren. But two natives have as yet been
+admitted into the church. Some ten or twelve others give pleasing
+evidence of having been born again.
+
+Concerning the schools and congregations on the Sabbath, I will speak
+only of this station. The congregation on the Sabbath varies at
+different seasons of the year, and must continue to do so until the
+people find a substitute in the fruits of the earth and herds for their
+roots, game, and fish, which necessarily require much wandering. I am
+happy to say that this people are very generally turning their
+attention, with much apparent eagerness, to cultivating the soil, and
+raising hogs, cattle, and sheep, and find a much more abundant and
+agreeable source of subsistence in the hoe than in their bows and sticks
+for digging roots.
+
+For a few weeks in the fall, after the people return from their buffalo
+hunt, and then again, in the spring, the congregation numbers from one
+to two thousand. Through the winter it numbers from two to eight
+hundred. From July to the 1st of October, it varies from two to five
+hundred. The congregation, as also the school, increases every winter,
+as the quantity of provision raised in this vicinity is increased.
+
+Preparatory to schools and a permanent congregation, my earliest
+attention, on arriving in this country, was turned toward schools, as
+promising the most permanent good to the nation, in connection with the
+written word of God and the preached gospel. But to speak of schools
+then was like speaking of the church bell, when as yet the helve is not
+put in the first ax by which the timber is to be felled, or the first
+stone laid in the dam which is to collect the water from whence the
+lumber in the edifice in which the bell is to give forth its sounds.
+Suffice it to say, through the blessing of God, we have had an
+increasingly large school, for two winters past, with comparatively
+favorable means of instruction.
+
+But the steps by which we have been brought to the present elevation, if
+I may so speak, though we are yet exceedingly low, begin far, far back
+among the days of nothing, and little to do with.
+
+Besides eating my own bread by the sweat of my brow, there were the
+wandering children of a necessarily wandering people to collect and
+bring permanently within the reach of the school. Over this department
+of labor hung the darkest cloud, as the Indian is noted for despising
+manual labor; but I would acknowledge, with humble gratitude, the
+interposition of that hand which holds the hearts of all men. The hoe
+soon brought hope, light, and satisfaction, the fruits of which are
+yearly becoming much more than a substitute for their former precarious
+game and roots, and are much preferred by the people, who are coming in
+from the mountains and plains, and calling for hoes, plows, and seeds,
+much faster than they can be furnished, and collecting around the
+station in increasing numbers, to cultivate their little farms; so
+furnishing a permanent school and congregation on the Sabbath, from four
+to eight months, and, as the farms are enlarged, giving food and
+employment for the year. I trust the school and congregation will be
+permanent through the year. It was no small tax on my time to give the
+first lessons on agriculture. That the men of the nation (the first
+chiefs not excepted) rose up to labor when a few hoes and seeds were
+offered them, I can attribute to nothing but the unseen hand of the God
+of missions. That their habits are really changed is acknowledged by
+themselves. The men say, whereas they once did not labor with their
+hands, now they do; and often tell me in jesting that I have converted
+them into a nation of women. They are a very industrious people, and,
+from very small beginnings, they now cultivate their lands with much
+skill, and to good advantage. Doubtless many more would cultivate, but
+for the want of means. Your kind donation of fifty hoes, in behalf of
+the government, will be most timely; and should you be able to send up
+the plows you kindly proposed, they will, without doubt, be purchased
+immediately, and put to the best use.
+
+But to return to the school. It now numbers two hundred and twenty-five
+in daily attendance, half of which are adults. Nearly all the principal
+men and chiefs in this vicinity, with one chief from a neighboring
+tribe, are members of the school. A new impulse was given to the school
+by the warm interest yourself and Mr. McKay took in it while you were
+here. They are as industrious in school as they are on their farms.
+Their improvement is astonishing, considering their crowded condition,
+and only Mrs. Spalding, with her delicate constitution and her family
+cares, for their teacher.
+
+About one hundred are printing their own books with a pen. This keeps up
+a deep interest, as they daily have new lessons to print, and what they
+print must be committed to memory as soon as possible.
+
+A good number are now so far advanced in reading and printing as to
+render much assistance in teaching. Their books are taken home at
+nights, and every lodge becomes a schoolroom.
+
+Their lessons are scripture lessons; no others (except the laws) seem to
+interest them. I send you a specimen of the books they print in school.
+It was printed by ten select adults, yet it is a fair specimen of a
+great number in the school.
+
+The laws which you so happily prepared, and which were unanimously
+adopted by the people, I have printed in the form of a small
+school-book. A great number of the school now read them fluently. I send
+you a few copies of the laws, with no apologies for the imperfect manner
+in which they are executed. Without doubt, a school of nearly the same
+number could be collected at Kimiah, the station above this, vacated by
+Mr. Smith, the present residence of Ellis, the principal chief.
+
+_Number who cultivate._--Last season about one hundred and forty
+cultivated from one-fourth of an acre to four or five acres each. About
+half this number cultivate in the valley. One chief raised one hundred
+and seventy-six bushels of peas last season, one hundred of corn, and
+four hundred of potatoes. Another, one hundred and fifty of peas, one
+hundred and sixty of corn, a large quantity of potatoes, vegetables,
+etc. Ellis, I believe, raised more than either of the above-mentioned.
+Some forty other individuals raised from twenty to one hundred bushels
+of grain. Eight individuals are now furnished with plows. Thirty-two
+head of cattle are possessed by thirteen individuals; ten sheep by four;
+some forty hogs.
+
+_Arts and sciences._--Mrs. Spalding has instructed ten females in
+knitting, a majority of the female department in the schools in sewing,
+six in carding and spinning, and three in weaving. Should our worthy
+brother and sister, Mr. and Mrs. Littlejohn, join us soon, as is now
+expected, I trust, by the blessing of God, we shall see greater things
+than we have yet seen. From what I have seen in the field, the school,
+the spinning and weaving room, in the prayer-room, and Sabbath
+congregation, I am fully of the opinion that this people are susceptible
+of high moral and civil improvement.
+
+_Moral character of the people._--On this point there is a great
+diversity of opinion. One writer styles them more a nation of saints
+than of savages; and if their refusing to move camp for game, at his
+suggestion, on a certain day, reminded him that the Sabbath extended as
+far west as the Rocky Mountains, he might well consider them such.
+Another styles them supremely selfish, which is nearer the truth; for,
+without doubt, they are the descendants of Adam. What I have above
+stated is evidently a part of the bright side of their character. But
+there is also a dark side, in which I have sometimes taken a part. I
+must, however, confess that when I attempt to name it, and hold it up as
+a marked exception to a nation in similar circumstances, without the
+restraint of wholesome laws, and strangers to the heaven-born fruits of
+enlightened and well-regulated society, I am not able to do it. Faults
+they have, and very great ones, yet few of them seemed disposed to break
+the Sabbath by traveling and other secular business. A very few indulge
+in something like profane swearing. Very few are superstitiously
+attached to their medicine men, who are, without doubt, sorcerers, and
+are supposed to be leagued with a supernatural being (Waikin), who shows
+himself sometimes in the gray bear, the wolf, the swan, goose, wind,
+clouds, etc.
+
+Lying is very common; thieving comparatively rare; polygamy formerly
+common, but now rare; much gambling among the young men; quarreling and
+fighting quite rare; habit of taking back property after it is sold is a
+practice quite common, and very evil in its tendency. All these evils, I
+conceive, can be traced to the want of wholesome laws and well-regulated
+society. There are two traits in the character of this people I wish to
+notice. One I think I can account for; the other I can not. It is often
+said the Indian is a noble-minded being, never forgetting a kindness. So
+far as my experience has gone with this people, the above is most
+emphatically true, but in quite a different sense from the idea there
+conveyed. It is true they never forget a kindness, but after make it an
+occasion to ask another; and if refused, return insults according to the
+favors received. My experience has taught me that, if I would keep the
+friendship of an Indian, and do him good, I must show him no more favor
+in the way of property than what he returns some kind of an equivalent
+for; most of our trials have arisen from this source. I am, however,
+happy to feel that there is a manifest improvement as the people become
+more instructed, and we become more acquainted with their habits. This
+offensive trait in the Indian character I believe, in part, should be
+charged to the white man. It has been the universal practice of all
+white men to give tobacco, to name no other article, to Indians when
+they ask for it. Hence two very natural ideas: one is, that the white
+man is in debt to them; the other is, that in proportion as a white man
+is a good man he will discharge this debt by giving bountifully of his
+provisions and goods. This trait in Indian character is capable of being
+turned to the disadvantage of traders, travelers, and missionaries, by
+prejudiced white men.
+
+The last trait, which I can not account for, is an apparent disregard
+for the rights of white men. Although their eagerness to receive
+instruction in school on the Sabbath and on the farm is without a
+parallel in my knowledge, still, should a reckless fellow from their own
+number, or even a stranger, make an attack on my life or property, I
+have no evidence to suppose but a vast majority of them would look on
+with indifference and see our dwelling burnt to the ground and our heads
+severed from our bodies. I can not reconcile this seeming want of
+gratitude with their many encouraging characteristics. But to conclude
+this subject, should our unprofitable lives, through a kind Providence,
+be spared a few years, by the blessing of the God of missions, we expect
+to see this people Christianized to a great extent, civilized, and
+happy, with much of science and the word of God, and many of the
+comforts of life; but not without many days of hard labor, and sore
+trials of disappointed hopes, and nameless perplexities.
+
+The number of this people is variously estimated from two thousand to
+four thousand. I can not give a correct estimate.
+
+At this station there is a dwelling-house, a schoolhouse, storehouse,
+flour and saw mills (all of a rough kind), fifteen acres of land under
+improvement, twenty-four head of cattle, thirty-six horses, sixty-seven
+sheep. Rev. Messrs. Walker and Eells, I hope, will report of Wailatpu;
+but should they fail, I will say, as near as I can recollect, about
+fifty acres of land are cultivated by some seventy individuals; a much
+greater number of cattle and hogs than among this people. Belonging to
+the station are thirty-four head of cattle, eleven horses, some forty
+hogs; one dwelling-house of adobes (well finished), a blacksmith's shop,
+flour-mill (lately destroyed by fire), and some forty acres of land
+cultivated.
+
+_Arable land._--The arable land in this upper country is confined almost
+entirely to the small streams, although further observation may prove
+that many of the extensive rolling prairies are capable of producing
+wheat. They can become inhabited only by cultivating timber; but the
+rich growth of buffalo grass upon them will ever furnish an
+inexhaustible supply for innumerable herds of cattle and sheep. I know
+of no country in the world so well adapted to the herding system.
+Cattle, sheep, and horses are invariably healthy, and produce rapidly;
+sheep usually twice a year. The herding system adopted, the country at
+first put under regulations adapted to the scarcity of habitable places
+(say that no settlers shall be allowed to take up over twenty acres of
+land on the streams), and the country without doubt will sustain a great
+population. I am happy to feel assured that the United States government
+have no other thoughts than to regard the rights and wants of the Indian
+tribes in this country.
+
+And while the agency of Indian affairs in this country remains in the
+hands of the present agent, I have the fullest confidence to believe
+that the reasonable expectations in reference to the intercourse between
+whites and Indians will be fully realized by every philanthropist and
+every Christian. But as the Indian population is sparse, after they are
+abundantly supplied, there will be remaining country sufficient for an
+extensive white population.
+
+The thought of removing these tribes, that the country may come wholly
+in possession of the whites, can never for a moment enter the mind of a
+friend of the red man, for two reasons, to name no other: First, there
+are but two countries to which they can be removed, the grave and the
+Blackfoot, between which there is no choice; second, the countless
+millions of salmon which swarm the Columbia and its tributaries, and
+furnish a very great proportion of the sustenance of the tribes who
+dwell upon these numerous waters, and a substitute for which can nowhere
+be found east or west of the Rocky Mountains, but in herds or
+cultivating their own land.----
+
+               Your humble servant,
+                          H. H. SPALDING.
+
+Dr. WHITE,
+Agent for Indian Affairs west of the Rocky Mountains.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+                                                     DEPARTMENT OF WAR,}
+                               OFFICE OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, Nov. 25, 1844.}
+
+Communications have been received from Dr. Elijah White, sub-agent for
+the Indians in Oregon Territory, dated, severally, November 15, 1843,
+and March 18, 1844.----They contain much of interest in considerable
+detail. The establishment of white settlements from the United States,
+in that remote region, seems to be attended with the circumstances that
+have always arisen out of the conversion of an American wilderness into
+a cultivated and improved region, modified by the great advance of the
+present time in morals, and benevolent and religious institutions. It is
+very remarkable that there should be so soon several well-supported,
+well-attended, and well-conducted schools in Oregon. The Nez Perce tribe
+of Indians have adopted a few simple and plain laws of their code, which
+will teach them self-restraint, and is the beginning of government on
+their part.
+
+It is painful, however, to know that a distillery for the manufacture of
+whisky was erected and in operation west of the Rocky Mountains, which,
+however, the sub-agent, sustained by the resident whites, broke up and
+destroyed. There was, in February last, an affray between a very
+boisterous and desperate Indian and his party and a portion of the
+settlers, which ended in the death of several of the combatants. This
+unfortunate affair was adjusted, as it is hoped, satisfactorily and
+permanently, by the sub-agent, though he seems to apprehend an early
+outbreak. I trust he is mistaken.
+
+               Respectfully submitted,
+                                  T. HARTLEY CRAWFORD.
+
+Hon. WILLIAM WILKINS,
+Secretary of War.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII.
+
+     Dr. E. White's letter to the Secretary of War.--Excitement among
+     the Indians.--Visit to Nez Perces, Cayuses, and
+     Wallawallas.--Destitution and degradation of the Coast
+     Indians.--Dr. White eulogizes Governor McLaughlin and the Hudson's
+     Bay Company.--Schools and missions.--Mr. Jesse Applegate.--Dr.
+     White's second letter.--Letters of Peter H. Hatch and W. H.
+     Wilson.--Seizure of a distillery.--Search for liquor.--Letter of
+     James D. Saules.--Fight with Indians.--Death of
+     Cockstock.--Description and character of him.--The Molallos and
+     Klamaths.--Agreement with the Dalles Indians.--Presents to
+     Cockstock's widow.--Dr. White's third letter.--Letter of Rev. G.
+     Hines to Dr. White.--Letter of W. Medill.
+
+
+                                             WALLAMET VALLEY, OREGON,}
+                                                   November 15, 1843.}
+
+HONORED SIR,--Since my arrival, I have had the honor of addressing you
+some three or four communications, the last of which left early in
+April, conveyed by the Hudson's Bay Company's express over the Rocky
+Mountains, _via_ Canada, which I hope and judge was duly received.
+
+Immediately after this, I received several communications from
+missionaries of the interior, some from the Methodists and others from
+those sent out by the American Board, representing the Indians of the
+interior as in a state of great excitement, and under much apprehension
+from the circumstance that such numbers of whites were coming in, as
+they were informed, to take possession of their lands and country. The
+excitement soon became general, both among whites and Indians, in this
+lower as well upper district; and such were the constantly floating
+groundless reports, that much uneasiness was felt, and some of our
+citizens were under such a state of apprehension as to abandon their
+houses, and place themselves more immediately within the precincts of
+the colony. As in all such cases, a variety of opinions was entertained
+and expressed,--some pleading for me, at the expense of the general
+government, to throw up a strong fortification in the center of the
+colony, and furnish the settlers with guns and ammunition, so that we
+might be prepared for extremities. Others thought it more advisable for
+me to go at once with an armed force of considerable strength to the
+heart and center of the conspiracy, as it was represented, and if words
+would not answer, make powder and balls do it. A third party entertained
+other views, and few were really agreed on any one measure.
+
+As may be imagined, I felt the awkwardness of my position; but, without
+stopping to consult an agitated populace, selected a sensible clergyman
+and a single attendant, with my interpreter, and so managed as to throw
+myself immediately into their midst unobserved. The measure had the
+desired effect,--though, as in my report I will more fully inform you,
+it had like to have cost me my life.
+
+The Indians flocked around me, and inquired after my party, and could
+not be persuaded for some time, but that I had a large party concealed
+somewhere near, and only waited to get them convened, to open a fire
+upon and cut them all off at a blow. On convincing them of my
+defenseless condition and pacific intentions, they were quite astounded
+and much affected, assuring me they had been under strong apprehensions,
+having learned I was soon to visit them with a large armed party, with
+hostile intentions, and I actually found them suffering more from fears
+of war from the whites, than the whites from the Indians; each party
+resolving, however, to remain at home, and there fight to the last,
+though, fortunately, some three or four hundred miles apart.[8]
+
+    [Footnote 8] Who were the instigators of these alarms among
+    the Indians?
+
+The day following, we left these Wallawallas and Cayuses, to pay a visit
+to the Nez Perces, promising to call on our return, and enter into a
+treaty of amity, if we could agree on the terms, and wished them to give
+general notice to all concerned of both tribes.
+
+In two days we were at Mr. Spalding's station. The Nez Perces came
+together in greater numbers than on any former occasion for years, and
+all the circumstances combining to favor it, received us most cordially.
+Their improvement during the winter in reading, writing, etc., was
+considerable, and the enlargement of their plantations, with the
+increased variety and quantities of the various kinds of grains and
+products now vigorously shooting forth, connected with the better state
+of cultivation and their universally good fences, were certainly most
+encouraging.
+
+Spending some three days with this interesting tribe, and their
+missionaries, in the pleasantest manner, they accepted my invitation to
+visit with me the Cayuses and Wallawallas, and assist by their influence
+to bring them into the same regulation they had previously adopted, and
+with which all were so well pleased.
+
+Mr. Spalding, and Ellis, the high chief, with every other chief and
+brave of importance, and some four or five hundred of the men and their
+women, accompanied us to Wailatpu, Doctor Whitman's station, a distance
+of a hundred and twenty miles, where we met the Cayuses and Wallawallas
+in mass, and spent some five or six days in getting matters adjusted
+and principles settled, so as to receive the Cayuses into the civil
+compact; which being done, and the high chief elected, much to the
+satisfaction of both whites and Indians, I ordered two fat oxen to be
+killed, and wheat, salt, etc., distributed accordingly.----
+
+This was the first feast at which the Indian women of this country were
+ever permitted to be present, but probably will not be the last; for,
+after some explanation of my reasons, the chiefs were highly pleased
+with it; and I believe more was done at that feast to elevate and bring
+forward their poor oppressed women than could have been done in years by
+private instruction.
+
+The feast broke up in the happiest manner, after Five Crows, the Cayuse
+chief, Ellis, and the old war chief of whom I made particular mention in
+my last report as being so well acquainted with Clarke and a few others,
+had made their speeches, and we had smoked the pipe of peace, which was
+done by all in great good humor.
+
+From this we proceeded to the Dalles on the Columbia River, where I
+spent two months in instructing the Indians of different tribes, who
+either came in mass, or sent embassadors to treat with me, or, as they
+denominate it, take my laws, which are thus far found to operate well,
+giving them greater security among themselves, and helping much to
+regulate their intercourse with the whites. Being exceedingly anxious to
+bring about an improvement and reformation among this people, I begged
+money and procured articles of clothing to the amount of a few hundred
+dollars, not to be given, but to be sold out to the industrious women,
+for mats, baskets, and their various articles of manufacture, in order
+to get them clothed comfortably to appear at church; enlisted the
+cheerful co-operation of the mission ladies in instructing them how to
+sew and make up their dresses; and had the happiness to see some twenty
+of these neatly clad at divine service, and a somewhat large number out
+in the happiest mood to a feast I ordered them, at which the mission
+ladies and gentlemen were present.
+
+During these two months I labored hard, visiting many of their sick
+daily; and by the most prompt and kind attention, and sympathizing with
+them in their affliction, encouraging the industrious and virtuous, and
+frowning in language and looks upon the vicious, I am satisfied good was
+done. They gave evidence of attachment; and my influence was manifestly
+increased, as well as the laws more thoroughly understood, by reason of
+my remaining so long among them.
+
+During my up-country excursion, the whites of the colony convened, and
+formed a code of laws to regulate intercourse between themselves during
+the absence of law from our mother country, adopting in almost all
+respects the Iowa code. In this I was consulted, and encouraged the
+measure, as it was so manifestly necessary for the collection of debts,
+securing rights in claims, and the regulation of general intercourse
+among the whites.
+
+Thus far, these laws have been of some force and importance, answering
+well in cases of trespass and the collection of debts; but it is
+doubtful how they would succeed in criminal affairs, especially if there
+should happen to be a division of sentiment in the public mind.
+
+The Indians of this lower country, as was to be expected, give
+considerable trouble, and are most vexatious subjects to deal with. In
+mind, the weakest and most depraved of their race, and physically,
+thoroughly contaminated with the scrofula and a still more loathsome
+disease entailed by the whites; robbed of their game and former means of
+covering; lost to the use of the bow and arrow; laughed at, scoffed, and
+contemned by the whites, and a hiss and by-word to the surrounding
+tribes, they are too dejected and depressed to feel the least pleasure
+in their former amusements, and wander about seeking generally a scanty
+pittance by begging and pilfering, but the more ambitious and desperate
+among them stealing, and in some instances plundering on a large scale.
+Were it not that greater forbearance is exercised toward them than
+whites generally exercise, bloodshed, anarchy, and confusion would reign
+predominant among us. But thus far, it is but just to say, the Indians
+have been, in almost every instance, the aggressors; and though none of
+us now apprehend an Indian war or invasion, it appears to me morally
+impossible that general quiet can long be secure, unless government
+takes almost immediate measures to relieve the anxieties and better the
+condition of these poor savages and other Indians of this country. I am
+doing what I can, and by reason of my profession, with lending them all
+the assistance possible in sickness, and sympathizing with them in their
+numerous afflictions, and occasionally feeding, feasting, and giving
+them little tokens of kind regard, have as yet considerable influence
+over them, but have to punish some, and occasion the chiefs to punish
+more, which creates me enemies, and must eventuate in lessening my
+influence among them, unless the means are put in my hands to sustain
+and encourage the chiefs and well-disposed among them. _Good words_,
+_kind looks_, and _medicine_ have some _power_; but, honored and very
+dear sir, _you_ and _I_ know they do not tell with Indians like blankets
+and present articles, to meet their tastes, wants, and necessities. Sir,
+I know how deeply anxious you are to benefit and save what can be of the
+withering Indian tribes, in which God knows how fully and heartily I am
+with you, and earnestly pray you, and through you our general
+government, to take immediate measures to satisfy the minds, and, so far
+as possible, render to these Indians an equivalent for their once
+numerous herds of deer, elk, buffalo, beaver, and otter, nearly as tame
+as our domestic animals, previously to the whites and their fire-arms
+coming among them, and of which they are now stripped, and for which
+they suffer. But, if nothing can be done for them upon this score, pray
+save them from being forcibly ejected from the lands and graves of their
+fathers, of which they begin to entertain serious fears. Many are
+becoming considerably enlightened on the subject of the white man's
+policy, and begin to quake in view of their future doom; and come to me
+from time to time, anxiously inquiring what they are to receive for such
+a one coming and cutting off all their most valuable timber, and
+floating it to the falls of the Wallamet, and getting large sums for it;
+some praying the removal of licentious whites from among them; others
+requiring pay for their old homestead, or a removal of the intruders.
+So, sir, you see already I have my hands, head, and heart full; and if
+as yet I have succeeded in giving satisfaction,--as many hundreds that
+neither know nor care for me, nor regard in the least the rights of the
+Indians, are now flocking in,--something more must be done, and that
+speedily, or a storm ensues.
+
+I remove all licentious offenders from among them, especially if located
+at a distance from the colony, and encourage the community to keep
+within reasonable bounds, and settle as compactly as the general
+interest and duty to themselves will admit.
+
+The large immigrating party have now arrived, most of them with _their
+herds_, having left the wagons at Wallawalla and the Dalles, which they
+intend to bring by land or water to the Wallamet in the spring. Whether
+they succeed in getting them through by land the last sixty miles is
+doubtful, the road not having been as yet well explored. They are
+greatly pleased with the country and its prospects. Mr. Applegate, who
+has been so much in government employ, and surveyed such portions of
+Missouri, says of this valley, it is a country of the greatest beauty
+and the finest soil he has seen.
+
+The settlers are actively and vigorously employed, and the colony in a
+most prosperous state, crops of every kind having been unusually good
+this season. The little unhappy difference between the American settlers
+and the Hudson's Bay Company, arising from the last spring's petition to
+our government, has been healed, and we have general quiet,--both
+parties conducting themselves very properly toward each other at
+present. And here allow me to say, the seasonable services in which
+hundreds of dollars were gratuitously expended in assisting such numbers
+of our poor emigrant citizens down the Columbia to the Wallamet, entitle
+Governor McLaughlin, saying nothing of his previous fatherly and
+fostering care of this colony, to the honorable consideration of the
+members of our government. And I hope, as he is desirous to settle with
+his family in this country, and has made a claim at the falls of the
+Wallamet, his claim will be honored in such a manner as to make him
+conscious that we, as a nation, are not insensible to his numerous acts
+of benevolence and hospitality toward our countrymen. Sir, in the midst
+of slander, envy, jealousy, and, in too many instances, of the blackest
+ingratitude, his unceasing, never-tiring hospitality affects me, and
+makes him appear in a widely different light than too many would have
+him and his worthy associates appear before the world.
+
+The last year's report, in which was incorporated Mr. Linn's Oregon
+speech and Captain Spalding's statements of hundreds of unoffending
+Indians being shot down annually by men under his control, afflicts the
+gentlemen of the Hudson's Bay Company, and is utterly without
+foundation,--no company or gentlemen ever having conducted themselves
+more judiciously among Indians than they uniformly have done in this
+country; and I am of the governor's opinion, who declares, openly, there
+have not been ten Indians killed by whites in this whole region west of
+Fort Hall, for the last twenty years, nor do I know of that number, and
+two of those were killed by our citizens. What were destroyed by the
+Hudson's Bay Company suffered for willful murder, none pretending a
+doubt of the propriety of the course adopted.[9]
+
+    [Footnote 9] This statement of Dr. White's shows his
+    disposition to misrepresent his own countrymen, to favor the
+    Hudson's Bay Company and the foreign subjects who were
+    disposed to flatter his vanity.
+
+There are now four schools kept in the colony, of which I shall speak
+more fully in my annual report: one at the Tualatin Plains, under the
+direction and auspices of the Rev. Mr. Clark, a self-supporting
+missionary; a second (French and English) school is in successful
+operation by Mr. Blanchet, Roman Catholic missionary to this colony; a
+third is well sustained by the citizens, and kept at the falls of the
+Wallamet; a fourth (boarding and manual labor) sustained by the
+Methodist Board of Missions, for the benefit of Indian youth, of which
+Mr. Lee will speak particularly. The location is healthy, eligible, and
+beautiful, and the noble edifice does honor to the benevolent cause and
+agents that founded it. And while here, allow me to say, Mr. Jesse
+Applegate, from Missouri, is now surveying the mission claim, a plat of
+which will be presented to the consideration of the members of our
+government, for acceptance or otherwise, of which I have but little to
+say, as I entertain no doubt but Mr. Lee's representation will be most
+faithful. Should the ground of his claim be predicated upon the much
+effected for the benefit of the Indians, I am not with him; for, with
+all that has been expended, without doubting the correctness of the
+intention, it is most manifest to every observer that the Indians of
+this lower country, as a whole, have been very little benefited. They
+were too far gone with scrofula and venereal. But should he insist, as a
+reason of his claim, the benefit arising to the colony and country, I am
+with him heartily; and notwithstanding the claim is a valuable one, this
+country has been increased more by the mission operations than twice its
+amount in finance; besides, much has been done in advancing
+civilization, temperance, literature, and good morals, saying nothing of
+the evils that must have arisen in this lawless country in the absence
+of all moral restraint. Mr. Lee was among the first pioneers to this
+distant land, has struggled in its cares, toils, and trials, has risen
+with its rise; and it is but just to say, he and his associates are
+exerting a considerable and most salutary influence all abroad among us.
+I hope his reception will be such that he will return from Washington
+cheered and encouraged to pursue his benevolent operations in this
+country. The Catholic and the different Protestant missions have been
+prosperous during the last year, and are as generally acceptable to the
+whites as could, from their different pursuits, have been expected.----
+
+Great expectations are entertained, from the fact that Mr. Linn's bill
+has passed the Senate; and as it has been so long before the public, and
+favorably entertained at Washington, should it at last fail of passing
+the Lower House, suffer me to predict, in view of what so many have been
+induced to undergo, in person and property, to get to this distant
+country, it will create a disaffection so strong as to end only in open
+rebellion; whereas, should it pass into a law, it will be regarded as
+most liberal and handsome, and will be appreciated by most, if not all,
+in Oregon.
+
+As to the claim for the Oregon Institute, I need say nothing, having
+said enough in my last report; but, as that may have failed in reaching,
+I would just remark, that the location is a healthy one, and the site
+fine, with prospect charmingly varied, extensive, and beautiful.
+
+I leave this subject with Mr. Lee and the members of our liberal
+government, not doubting but that all will be done for this Institute,
+and otherwise, that can be, and as soon as practicable, to lay deep and
+broad the foundation of science and literature in this Country.----
+
+               Respectfully yours,
+                                  ELIJAH WHITE,
+                        Sub-Agent Indian Affairs, W. R. M.
+
+Hon. J. M. PORTER,
+Secretary of War.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+                                               WALLAMET, March 18, 1844.
+
+SIR,--On the evening of the 1st February, the two following letters came
+to me, finding me in the upper settlement of the Wallamet, distance
+forty miles:--
+
+                                      "WALLAMET FALLS, January 29, 1844.
+
+     "DEAR SIR,--The undersigned would take this occasion to inform you
+     that there have been of late in this place some few cases of
+     intoxication from the effects of ardent spirits. It is currently
+     reported that it is distilled in this place, and the undersigned
+     have good reason to credit such reports. While, therefore, the
+     undersigned will not trouble you, sir, with a detailed exposition
+     of the facts, they must be permitted to express their deliberate
+     conviction that that which has inflicted so much injury upon the
+     morals, the peace, and the happiness of the world, ought not to be
+     permitted to be manufactured in this country under any
+     circumstances. And your attention is respectfully invited to this
+     subject.
+
+     "We have the honor to be, dear sir,
+
+                                  "PETER H. HATCH, President.
+                                  "A. L. LOVEJOY, Vice-President.
+                                  "A. F. WALLER, Secretary.
+     "Dr. E. WHITE,
+     "Sub-Agent for Indian Affairs, Oregon Territory."
+
+
+                                      "WALLAMET FALLS, January 26, 1844.
+
+     "DEAR SIR,--I do not know but you have been written to already on
+     the subject which is the cause of no inconsiderable excitement at
+     this place, viz., the manufacture and use of that most degrading,
+     withering, and damning of all the curses that have ever visited our
+     race since the fall of Adam. As much as we regret it, deplore it,
+     and anathematize the men who make it, it is nevertheless made, and
+     men, or rather biped brutes, get drunk. Now, we believe if there is
+     any thing that calls your attention in your official capacity, or
+     any thing in which you would be most cordially supported by the good
+     sense and prompt action of the better part of the community, it is
+     the present case. We do not wish to dictate, but hope for the best,
+     begging pardon for intrusions.
+
+               "I am, dear sir, yours truly,
+
+                                  "W. H. WILSON.
+
+     "ELIJAH WHITE, Esq.,
+     "Sub-Agent Oregon Territory."
+
+I accordingly left at sunrise on the following morning, and reached the
+falls at sunset. Without delay, I secured the criminal and his
+distillery, broke his apparatus, and buried it in the Wallamet River. I
+put the aggressor under bonds, in the strongest penalty the nature of
+the case would admit,--$300,--few being willing to be his bondsmen even
+for this amount.
+
+Mr. Pettygrove, a merchant, of good habits and character, being accused
+of keeping and selling wine and brandy, I searched, and found, as he had
+acknowledged, half a gallon of brandy and part of a barrel of port wine,
+which has been used, and occasionally parted with, only for medicinal
+purposes; and, to avoid all appearance of partiality, I required the
+delivery of the brandy and wine on the delivery of the inclosed bond,
+which was most cheerfully and cordially given,--amount $1,000. I
+searched every suspicious place thoroughly, aided by the citizens, but
+found no ardent spirits or wine in the colony. Since this period, no
+attempts have been made to make, introduce, or vend liquors; and the
+great majority of the colonists come warmly to my support in this
+matter, proffering their aid to keep this bane from our community.
+
+On the evening of February 20, I received the following communication,
+accompanied by corroboratory statements from Mr. Foster, of Oregon
+City:--
+
+                                     "WALLAMET FALLS, February 16, 1844.
+
+     "SIR,--I beg leave to inform you that there is an Indian about this
+     place, of the name of Cockstock, who is in the habit of making
+     continual threats against the settlers in this neighborhood, and
+     who has also murdered several Indians lately. He has conducted
+     himself lately in so outrageous a manner, that Mr. Winslow Anderson
+     has considered himself in personal danger, and on that account has
+     left his place, and come to reside at the falls of the Wallamet;
+     and were I in circumstances that I could possibly remove from my
+     place, I would certainly remove also, but am so situated that it is
+     not possible for me to do so. I beg, therefore, that you, sir, will
+     take into consideration the propriety of ridding the country of a
+     villain, against the depredations of whom none can be safe, as it
+     is impossible to guard against the lurking attacks of the midnight
+     murderer. I have, therefore, taken the liberty of informing you
+     that I shall be in expectation of a decided answer from you on or
+     before the 10th of March next; after that date, I shall consider
+     myself justified in acting as I shall see fit, on any repetition of
+     the threats made by the before-mentioned Indian or his party.
+
+               "I am, etc., with respect,
+
+                                  "JAMES D. SAULES.
+
+     "Dr. E. WHITE, Superintendent, etc."
+
+As I well knew all the individuals concerned, I resolved to repair
+immediately to the spot, and, if possible, secure the Indian without
+bloodshed, as he was connected with some of the most formidable tribes
+in this part of the Territory, though a very dangerous and violent
+character. Accordingly I started, and reaching the falls on the
+following evening, collected a party to repair to the spot and secure
+him while asleep, knowing that he would not submit to be taken a
+prisoner without resistance. The evening was stormy, and the distance
+some eight miles, through thick wood and fallen timber, with two bad
+streams to cross. Being on foot, my party declined the attempt till
+morning,--a circumstance I much regretted; yet, having no military
+force, I was compelled to yield. In the morning I headed the party of
+ten men to take this Indian, who had only five adherents, in hopes to
+surprise and secure him without fighting,--enjoining my men, from many
+considerations, not to fire unless ordered to do so in self-defense.
+Unfortunately, two horses had just been stolen and a house plundered,
+and the Indians absconded, leaving no doubt on our minds of their being
+the thieves, as, after tracking them two or three miles into the forest,
+they had split off in such a manner as to elude pursuit, and we were
+forced to return to town unsuccessful, as further pursuit was little
+more rational than chasing an eagle amidst the mountains. Cockstock had
+sworn vengeance against several of my party, and they thirsted for his
+blood. Having no other means of securing him, I offered $100 reward to
+any who would deliver him safely into my hands, as I wished to convey
+him for trial to the authorities constituted among the Nez Perces and
+Cayuses, not doubting that they would feel honored in inflicting a just
+sentence upon him, and the colony thereby be saved from an Indian war,
+so much to be dreaded in our present weak and defenseless condition.
+
+Some six days subsequent, Cockstock and his party, six in all, came into
+town at midday, rode from house to house, showing his loaded pistols,
+and not allowing any one, by artifice or flattery, to get them out of
+his bosom or hand. He and his party were horridly painted, and rode
+about the town, setting, as the citizens, and especially his enemies,
+construed it, the whole town at defiance. The citizens endured it for
+several hours, but with great impatience, when at length he crossed the
+river, and entered the Indian village opposite, and, as the chief
+states, labored for some time to induce them to join him and burn down
+the town that night, destroying as many of the whites as possible.
+Failing in this (if serious or correct in statement, which is much
+doubted by some, as the chief and whole Indian village were inimical to
+him, and doubtless wished, as he was a "brave," to make the whites the
+instrument of his destruction), he obtained an interpreter, and
+recrossed the river, as other Indians state, for the purpose of calling
+the whites to an explanation for pursuing him with hostile intentions.
+By this time, the excitement had become intense with all classes and
+both sexes among the whites, and, as was to be expected, they ran in
+confusion and disorder toward the point where the Indians were
+landing,--some to take him alive and get the reward; others to shoot him
+at any risk to themselves, the wealthiest men in town promising to stand
+by them to the amount of $1,000 each. With these different views, and no
+concert of action, and many running merely to witness the affray, the
+Indians were met at the landing, and a firing commenced simultaneously
+on both sides, each party accusing the other of firing first. In the
+midst of a hot firing on both sides, Mr. George W. Le Breton, a
+respectable young man, rushed unarmed upon Cockstock, after the
+discharge of one or more of his pistols, and received a heavy discharge
+in the palm of his right hand, lodging one ball in his elbow and another
+in his arm, two inches above the elbow-joint. A scuffle ensued, in which
+he fell with the Indian, crying out instantly, "He is killing me with
+his knife." At this moment a mulatto man ran up, named Winslow Anderson,
+and dispatched Cockstock, by mashing his skull with the barrel of his
+rifle, using it as a soldier would a bayonet. In the mean time the other
+Indians were firing among the whites in every direction, with guns,
+pistols, and poisoned arrows, yelling fearfully, and many narrowly
+escaped. Two men, who were quietly at work near by, were wounded with
+arrows (Mr. Wilson slightly in the hip, and Mr. Rogers in the muscle of
+the arm), but neither, as was supposed, dangerously. The five Indians
+having shot their guns and arrows, retired toward the bluff east of the
+town, lodged themselves in the rocks, and again commenced firing upon
+the citizens indiscriminately. Attention was soon directed that way, and
+fire-arms having been brought, the Indians were soon routed, killing one
+of their horses, and wounding one of them, thus ending the affray.
+
+Mr. Le Breton (the surgeon being absent from town) was removed
+immediately to Vancouver, where he received every attention; but the
+canoe having been ten hours on the passage, the poison had diffused
+itself all abroad into his system, and proved mortal in less than three
+days from the moment of the horrid disaster. Mr. Rogers lived but one
+day longer, though but slightly wounded with an arrow in the muscles of
+his arm. Mr. Wilson has suffered comparatively little, but is not
+considered in a safe condition.
+
+This unhappy affray has created a general sensation throughout the
+colony, and all abroad among the Indians of this lower district. Now,
+while I am penning these lines, I am completely surrounded by at least
+seventy armed Indians, just down from the Dalles of the Columbia, many
+of them the professed relatives of the deceased, on the way to the falls
+of the Wallamet, to demand an explanation, or, in other words, to extort
+a present for the loss of their brother.
+
+They appear well affected toward me; remarkably so, though armed to the
+teeth, and painted horridly. I am every moment expecting my interpreter,
+when I shall probably learn particulars respecting their intentions. In
+the mean time, I will give a few particulars respecting this deceased
+Indian's previous course, which led to the disaster, showing how much we
+need authorities and discipline in this country.
+
+As it is said, a negro hired Cockstock for a given time, to be paid in a
+certain horse. Before the time expired, the negro sold the horse and
+land claim to another negro, the Indian finishing his time with the
+purchaser, according to agreement. Learning, however, to his chagrin and
+mortification, that the horse had changed owners, and believing it a
+conspiracy against his rights, he resolved to take the horse forcibly;
+did so, and this led to a year's contention, many threats, some wounds,
+and at last to the three deaths, and may possibly lead to all the
+horrors of savage warfare in our hitherto quiet neighborhood. It was
+this identical Cockstock that occasioned much of the excitement last
+spring among the whites of the colony, actually driving several from
+their homes to the more central parts of the settlement for protection.
+
+I saw and had an interview with the Indians in June following, and
+settled all differences, to appearances, satisfactorily; but, four
+months subsequently, having occasioned the authorities constituted among
+the Indians to flog one of his connections for violently entering the
+house of the Rev. H. K. W. Perkins, seizing his person, and attempting
+to tie, with a view to flog him, he took fire afresh, and in November
+last came with a slave to my house, with the avowed object of shooting
+me down at once; but finding me absent, after a close search in every
+part of the house, he commenced smashing the windows, lights, sash, and
+all, of my house and office, with the breech of his gun; and it is but
+just to say he did his work most effectually, not leaving a sound window
+in either. He next started hotly in pursuit of my steward, who was most
+actively retreating, but was soon overtaken and seized by the shoulder;
+his garment giving way saved the frightened young man from further
+violence.
+
+I returned late in the evening,--this having occurred at three
+P.M.--when the villains were too far away to be overtaken, though I
+pursued them with the best men of the colony during the whole night, and
+as long after as we could trace them. This was regarded as a great
+outrage, and created a strong sensation throughout the community:
+especially as none knew where to trace it until within a few weeks past.
+Some four weeks subsequently, fifteen Indians came riding into the
+neighborhood in open day, painted and well armed. I was the first, with
+one exception, that observed them, and learned that they were Molallas
+and Klamaths, and felt confident they were on an errand of mischief,
+being well informed of their marauding and desperate habits. As this is
+quite out of their province, the proper homes of the Klamaths being at
+least three hundred miles to the south, and the Molallas, with whom they
+intermarry, having their lodges in the Cascade Mountains, a distance of
+from forty to eighty miles, I resolved at once to turn their visit to
+account; sent my steward to Chief Caleb's lodge, where all had arrived,
+he being a Callapooya, and with his band having previously entered with
+me into the civil compact, and gave him a cordial invitation to call on
+me, with the chiefs of his district, in the morning, as I wished to see
+them and had some interesting and pleasing news to convey to them. The
+chiefs called in the morning, none, however, appearing so pleased and
+happy as Caleb. Of this I took no notice, but entered into cheerful
+conversation with Caleb for a few moments, and then rose up and invited
+them to walk out and see my plantation and herds.
+
+When we reached the cattle, I, as by accident, or incidentally, asked
+Caleb if he was prepared to give a feast to his distant friends who had
+so lately and unexpectedly called upon him. Answering in the negative, I
+told him to shoot down at once a fat young ox that was passing before
+us, and, while some were dressing it, others to come to the house and
+get some flour, peas, salt, etc., and go immediately back and feast his
+friends, lest they form a very unfavorable opinion of us here. I need
+not say that the summons was promptly obeyed, and Caleb the happiest man
+in the world. Now the rigid muscles of the stranger chiefs began to
+relax; in short, all distrust was soon lost, and, as they were about
+leaving for Caleb's camp, they found themselves constrained to inform me
+that they came over with very different feelings from what they were now
+leaving us with, and were very glad they had listened to Caleb's advice,
+and called upon me. Professing to be very much engaged at the moment, I
+told them to go and dine, and at evening, or early the following
+morning, I would come with my friend, Mr. Applegate, and make them a
+call.
+
+They feasted to the full, and I found them in fine humor, and in a
+better condition to smoke than fight. After some casual conversation I
+asked them how they would like to enter into the civil compact; and,
+while they were discussing the subject, this Indian (Cockstock) came
+first into my presence, well armed, and appeared cold and distant,
+though I had no suspicion of his being the character who had so lately
+broken to pieces the windows in my house and office.
+
+They had no scruples in saying they were entirely willing, and should be
+pleased on their part to enter upon the same terms, but did not know how
+it might be regarded by the residue of their respective tribes. They
+engaged to meet me on the 15th March, with the residue of their people,
+and use their influence to bring about so desirable an object. The party
+left the same day, apparently in a cheerful mood, passed over the
+prairie singing, talking, and laughing merrily. As a part, however, were
+passing their horses over a difficult stream, the other part fell upon
+and massacred them in a most shocking manner, this villainous Cockstock
+acting a conspicuous part in the bloody affray.
+
+I repaired to the spot without delay, as the whites were much excited,
+and wished to pursue and hang every one of them. I learned there had
+been unsettled feuds of long standing, and that in like manner, ten
+months previously, these unfortunate wretches had shot down a
+fellow-traveler. On conveying this information to the citizens, all I
+believe were satisfied to stay at home, and remain quiet for the
+present.
+
+Thus much for this Indian affair, which, my interpreter having arrived,
+I have settled to-day with the Dalles Indians most satisfactorily. As
+was to be expected, they wished presents for the death of their brother.
+I prevailed on all to be seated, and then explained the whole case
+slowly and clearly to their understanding. I told them we had lost two
+valuable innocent men, and they but one; and should our people learn
+that I had given them presents, without their giving me two blankets for
+one, they must expect nothing but the hottest displeasure from the
+whites. After much deliberation among themselves, they, with one voice,
+concluded to leave the whole matter to my discretion.
+
+I at once decided to give the poor Indian widow two blankets, a dress,
+and handkerchief, believing the moral influence to be better than to
+make presents to the chief or tribe, and to receive nothing at their
+hands. To this proposition they most cheerfully consented, and have now
+left, having asked for and obtained from me a written certificate,
+stating that the matter had been amicably adjusted. It is to be hoped
+that it will here end, though that is by no means certain, as at present
+there are so many sources of uneasiness and discontent between the
+parties.
+
+As I said before, I believe it morally impossible for us to remain at
+peace in Oregon, for any considerable time, without the protection of
+vigorous civil or military law. For myself, I am most awkwardly
+situated; so much so, indeed, that I had seriously anticipated leaving
+this spring; but the late successful contest against the introduction of
+ardent spirits, in connection with the excitement by reason of the
+unhappy disaster at the falls of the Wallamet, together with the fact of
+too many of our people being so extremely excitable on Indian and other
+affairs relating to the peace and interest of the colony and country, I
+have concluded to remain for the present, in hopes of being soon in some
+way relieved. I hope the draft that I have this day drawn in favor of
+John McLaughlin will be honored, as otherwise I may be thrown at once
+into the greatest difficulties, having no other house in this country
+where I can draw such articles as I require for necessary presents to
+Indians, to defray traveling expenses, etc.
+
+I have the honor to remain, with highest respect, your obedient humble
+servant,
+
+                                  E. WHITE,
+                         Sub-Agent Indian Affairs.
+
+Hon. J. M. PORTER,
+Secretary of War.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+                                             WALLAMET, March 22, 1844.
+
+HONORED SIR,--The within accounts, as per voucher No. 1, drawn on the
+Hudson's Bay House at Vancouver, are in part pay for interpreters and
+necessary assistants in guarding and conducting me from point to point,
+in my late unavoidable excursions during the excitement of the fall of
+1842 and spring of 1843, and other necessary voyages since, together
+with the presents in hoes, medicines, and clothes, to enable me to
+secure and hold a sufficient influence over the aborigines to prevent
+threatened invasions and serious evils to the colony and country.
+
+Those upon Mr. Abernethy and Mr. A. E. Wilson are for like purposes;
+drafts upon these houses being my principal means of paying expenses in
+this country.
+
+As I hire only when requisite, and dismiss at once when no longer
+necessary, my interpreter's bills, including clerks and all assistants
+for the different tribes, do not exceed $300 per annum up to the present
+time; notwithstanding, at one time, for sixty days, I was under the
+necessity of hiring two men at the rate of three dollars per day each.
+
+Traveling expenses in 1842, three hundred and eighty dollars ($380). In
+1843, three hundred and ninety-six dollars and fifty cents ($396.50). In
+presents for the two years and two months, two hundred and ninety
+dollars and seventy-five cents ($290.75); in medicines, hoes, and sundry
+useful articles, to encourage them and strengthen my influence among
+them, this being my only way to succeed to any considerable extent.
+Presents become the more indispensable from the fact of the
+long-continued and constant liberality of the Hudson's Bay Company
+toward the Indians of this country.
+
+Had all remained in as quiet a state as when the colony was small, and
+no jealousies awakened, most of those small expenses might have been
+avoided, but, unless a military post be at once established, or more
+means put into my hands to meet their increasing wants, my expense will
+be increased, and trouble multiply; but at this moment, were one
+thousand dollars placed in my hands to lay out judiciously in medicines,
+hoes, plows, blankets, and men, women, and children's clothes, to
+distribute annually, more security would be effected, and good done to
+the aborigines, than in ten times that amount expended in establishing
+and keeping up a military post,--such is their desire and thirst after
+the means to promote civilization.
+
+As this voyaging is most destructive to my wardrobe, saying nothing of
+the perils and hardships to which it exposes me, shall I be allowed the
+sum usually allowed military officers, which Esquire Gilpin informs me
+is ten dollars per each hundred miles? I will place it down and leave it
+to your honorable consideration, not doubting, sir, but you will do what
+is proper and right in the premises. I shall charge only for such
+traveling as was unavoidable in the execution of my official business.
+With highest respect, I am, dear sir,
+
+               Your humble and obedient servant,
+                                  ELIJAH WHITE,
+                      Sub-Agent Indian Affairs, W. R. M.
+
+Hon. J. M. PORTER,
+Secretary of War, Washington, D. C.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+                                                WALLAMET, Nov. 23, 1843.
+
+MY DEAR SIR,--As, in the order of Divine Providence, it appears to be my
+duty to leave this country in a few days to return to the United States,
+and, as I have had the pleasure of an acquaintance with all the
+important transactions in which you have been engaged, in your official
+capacity, since your arrival in this country in the fall of 1842, I
+consider it a duty which I owe to yourself, to bear my unequivocal
+testimony in favor of the course which you have generally pursued. Not
+pretending to understand what properly belongs to the office of an
+Indian agent, I flatter myself that I am capable of judging in reference
+to those matters which are calculated to effect the elevation and
+prosperity of the Indians, and the peace and security of those whites
+who settle in the Indian country. As I can not speak particularly
+concerning all your official acts in the country, permit me to refer to
+one expedition, which I consider to have been the most important of any
+in which you have been engaged, and in which I had the pleasure of being
+associated with you. I mean that long and excessively toilsome journey
+which you performed into the interior of this country early last spring.
+The causes which prompted you to engage in the enterprise, in my humble
+opinion, were the most justifiable. The whites in the country had been
+thrown into a panic by information received from the missionaries in the
+interior, that the Indians were forming a plan to effect the destruction
+of the white population. It was everywhere observed that our Indian
+agent should immediately repair to the infected region, and endeavor to
+quell the tumult, "for (it was repeatedly remarked) it was better for
+one man to expose his life than for the whole settlement to suffer."
+Without delay the exposure was made. And though life was not taken, yet,
+in accomplishing the object, you were compelled to pass through much
+difficulty, excessive labor, and great danger. The plans proposed to
+quiet the Indians, whom you found in a state of great excitement, were
+doubtless conceived in wisdom, and produced the desired effect. The
+expenses incurred were no more than were absolutely necessary. And I
+doubt not, if the results of the expedition are correctly represented,
+that our enlightened government will make an appropriation to cover all
+the expenses which accrued in consequence of the undertaking.
+
+With my most hearty and best wishes for your continued peace and
+prosperity, permit me to subscribe myself, yours, with feelings of
+unaltered friendship.
+
+                                  GUSTAVUS HINES,
+                          Missionary of the M. E. Church.
+
+Dr. ELIJAH WHITE,
+Sub-Agent of Indian Affairs west of Rocky Mountains.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+                                                     DEPARTMENT OF WAR,}
+                               OFFICE OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, Nov. 24, 1845.}
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Two interesting and very instructive reports have been received from the
+sub-agent west of the Rocky Mountains. They present that country in a
+new and important light to the consideration of the public.
+
+The advancement in civilization by the numerous tribes of Indians in
+that remote and hitherto neglected portion of our territory, with so
+few advantages, is a matter of surprise. Indeed, the red men of that
+region would almost seem to be of a different order from those with whom
+we have been in more familiar intercourse. A few years since the face of
+a white man was almost unknown to them; now, through the benevolent
+policy of the various Christian churches, and the indefatigable
+exertions of the missionaries in their employ, they have prescribed and
+well adapted rules for their government, which are observed and
+respected to a degree worthy the most intelligent whites.
+
+Numerous schools have grown up in their midst, at which their children
+are acquiring the most important and useful information. They have
+already advanced to a degree of civilization that promises the most
+beneficial results to them and their brethren on this side of the
+mountains, with whom they may, and no doubt will at some future period,
+be brought into intercourse. They are turning their attention to
+agricultural pursuits, and with but few of the necessary utensils in
+their possession, already produce sufficient in some places to meet
+their every want.
+
+Among some of the tribes, hunting has been almost entirely abandoned,
+many individuals looking wholly to the soil for support. The lands are
+represented as extremely fertile, and the climate healthy, agreeable,
+and uniform.
+
+Under these circumstances, so promising in their consequences, and
+grateful to the feelings of the philanthropist, it would seem to be the
+duty of the government of the United States to encourage their
+advancement, and still further aid their progress in the path of
+civilization. I therefore respectfully recommend the establishment among
+them of a full agency, with power to the President to make it an acting
+superintendency; and to appoint one or more sub-agents, whenever, in his
+judgment, the same may become necessary and proper.
+
+All which is respectfully submitted.
+
+                                  W. MEDILL.
+
+Hon. WM. L. MARCY,
+Secretary of War.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The reader will observe the clear statement of the United States Indian
+policy in the above communication. That schools, farming, and
+civilization are prominent. That the Indians, as the whole of this
+report indicates, are rapidly improving under the instructions of the
+missionaries in the interior,--Spalding and Whitman in particular. That
+Dr. White, in this report, as contained in the previous chapter,
+attempts to include Blanchet and associates as erecting mills, etc., for
+the benefit of the Indians, while Spalding's and Whitman's stations
+were the only places where mills had been erected.
+
+These facts brought so prominently before the British and foreign mind
+their sectarian and commercial jealousies; and national pride was so
+excited that it knew no bounds and could not be satisfied short of the
+effort that was made in 1847-8. Subsequent Indian wars were but the
+spasmodic and dying action of the spirit that instigated the first.
+
+It will also be observed that this report brings out the bold efforts of
+our foreign emissaries to excite the Indians in the settlement, and to
+disturb and divide the American population on the question of an
+organization.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII.
+
+     First council to organize a provisional government.--Library
+     founded.--Origin of the Wolf Association.--The Methodist Mission
+     influence.--Dr. White exhibits his credentials.--First "wolf
+     meeting."--Proceedings of the second "wolf
+     meeting."--Officers.--Resolutions.--Bounties to be
+     paid.--Resolution to appoint a committee of twelve for the civil
+     and military protection of the settlement.--Names of the members of
+     the committee.
+
+
+A consultation was held at the house of Gray to consider the expediency
+of organizing a provisional government. In it the whole condition of the
+settlement, the missions, and Hudson's Bay Company, were carefully
+looked at, and all the influences combined against the organization of a
+settlers' government were fully canvassed. The conclusion was that no
+direct effort could succeed, as it had already been tried and failed,
+from the combined influence of the Hudson's Bay Company and the Roman
+Catholic and Methodist missions. To the writer, who up to this time had
+not fully understood all the causes of the failure, it was doubtful. Two
+plans were suggested; one, at least, might succeed. The first was to get
+up a circulating library, and by that means draw attention and
+discussion to subjects of interest to the settlement, and secure the
+influence of the Methodist Mission, as education was a subject they had
+commenced. We found no difficulty in the library movement from them,
+only they seemed anxious to keep from the library a certain class of
+light reading, which they appeared tenacious about. This was not a vital
+point with the original movers, so they yielded it. The library
+prospered finely; one hundred shares were taken at five dollars a share;
+three hundred volumes of old books collected and placed in this
+institution, which was called the "Multnomah Circulating Library;" one
+hundred dollars were sent to New York for new books which arrived the
+following year. Now for the main effort to secure another position.
+
+It will be remembered that in the winter of 1836-7 the Wallamet Cattle
+Company was formed. All the settlers that could raise the funds entered
+heartily into the project, and such as had no means to advance money for
+stock at the time had succeeded in buying from those that would sell.
+Besides, part of the estate of Ewing Young had been sold and
+distributed, and the Hudson's Bay Company had also organized the Puget
+Sound Company, and had begun to distribute cattle; hence almost every
+settler, the missions, the Hudson's Bay Company, and some Indians were
+owning cattle.
+
+The wolves, bears, and panthers were very destructive to the cattle of
+all alike. Here was an object of sufficient interest to all, to bring a
+united action, and collect a large number of the settlers. Accordingly,
+a notice was given, requesting all interested in adopting some united
+action to get rid of the wild beasts, that were destroying our domestic
+animals, to meet at the house of W. H. Gray, on the 2d of February,
+1843. This was the first move to the provisional government. While this
+was being done in the valley, at Wallamet Falls, since Oregon City, the
+question of a provisional government was up before a lyceum held at that
+place and debated warmly for several evenings, and finally voted down.
+Dr. John McLaughlin took the side of an independent government. Mr.
+Abernethy, afterward governor, moved that, in case our government did
+not extend its jurisdiction over the country in four years, that then
+the meeting would be in favor of an independent government. This idea
+was favored by Dr. White, upon condition that the settlers would vote
+generally to elect him as their governor, as from the fact that he held
+the office of sub-Indian agent by the appointment of the President, he
+could officiate as governor, and it would be no additional expense to
+the settlers. This was a plausible argument, and had Dr. White been a
+man of moral principle and capable of understanding his duties in the
+office he held, the settlers would without a doubt have adopted his
+suggestions; but, unfortunately for him, they had lost all confidence in
+his executive and judicial ability, as also in his ability to deal with
+Indians. Besides, the leading members of the Methodist Mission were
+opposed to him on account of his shameful course while one of their
+number, though Mr. Hines seems to have held to his skirts during the
+greater portion of the time he was creating all the disturbance he was
+capable of among the Indians, and being the dupe of the Hudson's Bay
+Company.
+
+These facts were all known to the getters-up of the "Wolf Organization,"
+as it was called. In fact, Le Breton had participated in the discussions
+at the Wallamet Falls, and reported them to those of us in the valley.
+Our idea was, to get an object before the people upon which all could
+unite, and as we advanced, secure the main object,--_self-preservation,
+both for property and person_.
+
+The "wolf meeting" was fully attended, and all took a lively interest in
+it, for there was not a man in the settlement that had not been a loser
+from wild animals. There was a little suspicion in this first meeting
+that more than protection for animals was meant.
+
+Dr. Ira L. Babcock, who was elected our chairman, and who, we supposed,
+would be the first to suspect the main object, seemed to discard the
+idea as foolish and ridiculous, as he thought "we had all the protection
+for our persons that we needed in the arrangements already entered into,
+and the object for which the meeting was called was a good and laudable
+one; we were all interested in it; we had all lost more or less from the
+ravages of wild animals, and it became necessary to have a united effort
+to get rid of them and protect our property." This was the very point we
+wished to hold the doctor to. He had expressed the idea exactly, and
+placed it in a clear light. As settlers, we had nothing to do but submit
+to the rule of the Hudson's Bay Company, the missions, and Dr. White,
+and do all we could to protect their cattle and herds.
+
+The Oregon archives show that there were persons present who were
+prepared for the occasion. The remarks of our chairman were appropriate,
+for it was self-evident that our domestic animals needed protection; we
+could not spend all our time to guard them, hence a united effort would
+accomplish in a short time, and at comparatively little expense to all,
+what would otherwise be impossible, scattered as our settlements were,
+with our domestic animals exposed to the ravages of wild animals known
+to be numerous all over the country. It was moved that a committee of
+six be appointed to notify a general meeting, and prepare a plan, and
+report the matter for the action of the settlers.
+
+The chairman was called upon to appoint a committee to call a public
+meeting. Gray, Beers, and Wilson, already known to the reader, and
+Gervais and Lucie, Canadian-Frenchmen, who came to the country with
+Wilson G. Hunt's party, and Barnaby, a French Rocky Mountain hunter,
+were appointed.
+
+These three men were the most intelligent and influential French
+settlers that were then in the country, having considerable influence
+with the Canadian-French settlers, and generally favored American
+settlement and enterprise.
+
+The preparation for the general meeting, which was moved by Alanson
+Beers to be called at the house of Mr. Joseph Gervais on the first
+Monday in March next, at ten o'clock A.M., devolved on Gray, Beers, and
+Wilson. The giving of the notices, which Le Breton with his ready pen
+soon prepared, devolved on Gervais, Barnaby, and Lucie. Up to this time,
+no intimation of the proposed civil government had been given to any
+member of the missions, or the Hudson's Bay Company. All was moving on
+harmoniously, and all were interested in caring for and protecting our
+domestic animals. The "wolf meeting," and what was to be done, was the
+subject of general interest. Le Breton and Smith were busy in finding
+out the men who could be relied upon, and the men that would oppose the
+_one great object_ we had determined to accomplish, so that on the first
+Monday in March, 1843, the settlement, _except the clergy_, were all
+present. If my memory serves me, there was not in that meeting a single
+reverend gentleman of any denomination. James A. O'Neil, who came to the
+country with Captain Wyeth in 1834, and had remained in it, presided at
+this meeting. He was informed of the main object, and requested to hurry
+through the "wolf meeting" business as soon as possible.
+
+It will be seen that we had placed before the settlement, the Hudson's
+Bay Company, and both missions, an object they were deeply interested
+in. The clergy were just then all asleep, and so were the company, for
+while they were all willing that we should pay our money, spend our
+time, and hunt wild animals to protect their by far the largest portion
+of property exposed, they did not suspect we were looking to a far more
+important object--our _personal liberty_; hence the settlers' "wolf
+meeting" did not call for their attention, but they all gave it an
+encouraging word, and promised to contribute to its funds, which they
+did, till they saw the real object, when they dropped it without
+ceremony, or at least saw too late that their power was gone.
+
+The Methodist Mission influence was the most difficult to deal with. We
+were fully aware of their large pretensions to land, and of the
+consummate duplicity of White, in dealing with all parties. White, to
+secure the approval of the Methodist Mission, encouraged their large
+pretensions to mission lands, and also spoke favorably of the Jesuit
+influence among the Indians; while, if he had had two grains of common
+sense and common honesty, he could have seen their influence was tending
+to destroy all of his, as well as all American influence in the country.
+Still his supremely selfish ideas of self-honor and official dignity led
+him to pursue a course disgusting to all parties.
+
+During the time between the first and second "wolf meetings," White was
+called upon in a public manner to exhibit his authority from the
+President, which he was foolish enough to do. It was seen at once that
+he was in the country _only as a spy upon the actions of the Hudson's
+Bay Company_, while he assumed to make treaties with Indians, and govern
+the country, and make pledges and promises, which no one believed the
+government would ever attempt to fulfill.
+
+As a matter of history and curiosity, the proceedings of the "wolf
+meetings" are copied from the Oregon archives, which Mr. Hines, it
+seems, did not even know had an existence, showing, by his own
+statements, that he was so completely mixed up in his ideas of the
+origin of the provisional government, that though he is generally
+correct in his statements, yet he failed to distinguish the point of
+conception and birth of the _oldest State on the Pacific_, for I
+contend that justice to our effort and a proper understanding of our
+rights should have admitted us as a State instead of subjecting us to a
+Territorial _annoyance_, under such _demagogues_ as were sent among us
+up to the time we became a State.
+
+
+_Proceedings of a Meeting held at the Oregon Institute, February 2,
+1843._
+
+A public meeting of a number of the citizens of this colony was called
+at the house of W. H. Gray, in order to take into consideration the
+propriety of adopting some measures for the protection of our herds,
+etc., in this country.
+
+On motion, Dr. I. L. Babcock was called to the chair, who proceeded to
+state the objects of the meeting, and the necessity of acting.
+
+Mr. W. H. Gray moved, and Mr. Torn seconded the motion, "that a
+committee of six be appointed to notify a general meeting, and report
+business, etc.," which motion was carried, and Messrs. Gray, Beers,
+Gervais, Wilson, Barnaby, and Lucie, were appointed said committee.
+
+Mr. Beers moved "that a general meeting be called at the house of Mr.
+Joseph Gervais, on the first Monday in March next, at ten o'clock,
+A.M.," which motion was carried.
+
+     W. H. WILSON, Secretary.
+     I. L. BABCOCK, Chairman.
+
+
+_Journal of a Meeting at the house of J. Gervais, first Monday in March,
+1843._
+
+In pursuance of a resolution of a previous meeting, the citizens of
+Wallamet Valley met, and, the meeting being called to order, Mr. James
+O'Neil was chosen chairman. Mr. Martin was chosen as secretary, but
+declining to serve, Mr. Le Breton was chosen.
+
+The minutes of the former meeting were read.
+
+The committee appointed to notify a general meeting and report business,
+made the following report, to wit:--
+
+    "Your committee beg leave to report as follows: It being admitted by
+    all that bears, wolves, panthers, etc., are destructive to the
+    useful animals owned by the settlers of this colony, your committee
+    would submit the following resolutions, as the sense of this
+    meeting, by which the community may be governed in carrying on a
+    defensive and destructive war against all such animals.
+
+    "_Resolved_, 1st. That we deem it expedient for this community to
+    take immediate measures for the destruction of all wolves, panthers,
+    and bears, and such other animals as are known to be destructive to
+    cattle, horses, sheep, and hogs.
+
+    "2d. That a treasurer be appointed, who shall receive all funds,
+    and dispense the same, in accordance with drafts drawn on him by
+    the committee appointed to receive the evidences of the destruction
+    of the above-named animals; and that he report the state of the
+    treasury, by posting up public notices, once in three months, in the
+    vicinity of each of the committee.
+
+    "3d. That a standing committee of eight be appointed, whose duty it
+    shall be, together with the treasurer, to receive the proofs, or
+    evidences, of the animals for which a bounty is claimed having been
+    killed in the Wallamet Valley.
+
+    "4th. That a bounty of fifty cents be paid for the destruction of a
+    small wolf; three dollars for a large wolf; one dollar and fifty
+    cents for a lynx; two dollars for a bear; and five dollars for a
+    panther.
+
+    "5th. That no bounty be paid unless the individual claiming said
+    bounty give satisfactory evidence, or present the skin of the head
+    with the ears of all animals for which he claims a bounty.
+
+    "6th. That the committee and treasurer form a Board of advice to
+    call public meetings, whenever they may deem it expedient, to
+    promote and encourage all persons to use their vigilance in
+    destroying all the animals named in the fourth resolution.
+
+    "7th. That the bounties specified in the fourth resolution be
+    limited to whites and their descendants.
+
+    "8th. That the proceedings of this meeting be signed by the chairman
+    and secretary, and a copy thereof be presented to the recorder of
+    this colony."
+
+On motion, the report was accepted.
+
+It was then moved and seconded that the report be laid on the table,
+which was carried.
+
+It was moved and seconded that the first resolution in the report of the
+committee be adopted, which was carried.
+
+It was moved and seconded the a sum be raised by contribution for the
+protection of our animals, which was carried.
+
+It was moved and seconded that the third resolution, as amended, be
+adopted, which was carried.
+
+It was moved and seconded that two collectors be appointed to receive
+all subscriptions, retaining five per cent. for collecting the same, and
+pay the amount over to the treasurer, taking his receipt for the same,
+which was carried.
+
+On motion, the fifth resolution was adopted.
+
+On motion, it was resolved "that no one receive a bounty (except
+Indians) unless he pay a subscription of five dollars."
+
+On motion, the seventh resolution was adopted.
+
+On motion, the eighth and ninth resolutions were adopted.
+
+It was moved and seconded that the Indians receive one-half as much as
+the whites.
+
+It was moved and seconded that all claims for bounties be presented
+within ten days from the time of becoming entitled to said bounties,
+and, if there should be any doubts, the individual claiming a bounty
+shall give his oath to the various circumstances; which was carried.
+
+On motion, W. H. Gray was chosen treasurer.
+
+It was moved that Messrs. McRoy, Gervais, Martin, S. Smith, Dougherty,
+O'Neil, Shortess, and Lucie be the standing committee; which motion was
+carried.
+
+It was moved that G. W. Le Breton and Mr. Bridgers be the collectors.
+Carried.
+
+On motion, the following resolutions were adopted:--
+
+    "_Resolved_, That no money be paid to any white, or his descendants,
+    previous to the time of his subscription.
+
+    "_Resolved_, That the bounty of a minor child be paid to a parent or
+    guardian.
+
+    "_Resolved_, That the draft for receiving subscriptions be drawn by
+    Mr. Gray and Mr. Le Breton.
+
+    "_Resolved_, That drafts on Fort Vancouver, the Mission, and the
+    Milling Company be received on subscriptions, as payment."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+As a kind Providence would have it, the "wolf meeting" at Mr. Gervais'
+house on the Wallamet River was one of the most harmonious meetings I
+ever attended. Every one seemed to feel that a unanimous war had been
+declared against the despoilers of our domestic animals that were
+dependent upon us for protection.
+
+It was stated by one speaker "that no one would question for a moment
+that this was right. This was just and natural protection for our
+property in animals liable to be destroyed by wolves, bears, and
+panthers. How is it, fellow-citizens, with you and me, and our children
+and wives? Have we any organization upon which we can rely for mutual
+protection? Is there any power or influence in the country sufficient to
+protect us and all we hold dear on earth from the worse than wild beasts
+that threaten and occasionally destroy our cattle? Who in our midst is
+authorized at this moment to call us together to protect our own, and
+the lives of our families? True, the alarm may be given, as in a recent
+case, and we may run who feel alarmed, and shoot off our guns, while our
+enemy may be robbing our property, ravishing our wives, and burning the
+houses over our defenseless families. Common sense, prudence, and
+justice to ourselves demand that we act consistent with the principles
+we have commenced. We have mutually and unitedly agreed to defend and
+protect our _cattle and domestic animals_; now, fellow-citizens, I
+submit and move the adoption of the two following resolutions, that we
+may have protection for our persons and lives as well as our cattle and
+herds:--
+
+    "_Resolved_, That a committee be appointed to take into
+    consideration the propriety of taking measures for the civil and
+    military protection of this colony.
+
+    "_Resolved_, That said committee consist of twelve persons."
+
+There was not a dissenting vote in that meeting. Drs. Babcock and White
+were not present, but prudence and policy gave them both a place upon
+the proposed committee of twelve, while we knew the feelings of the
+balance of the committee.
+
+Messrs. Dr. Babcock, Dr. White, O'Neil, Shortess, Newell, Lucie,
+Gervais, Hubbard, McRoy, Gray, Smith, and Gay were appointed said
+committee.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV.
+
+     First meeting of the committee of twelve.--All invited to
+     participate.--The Rev. J. Lee and Mr. Abernethy ridicule the
+     organization.--Mr. Lee tells a story.--Letter from Governor
+     Abernethy.--The main question at issue.--Drowning of Cornelius
+     Rogers and party.--Conduct of Dr. White.--Methodist
+     Mission.--Catholic boasts of conversions.
+
+
+By mutual understanding the committee of twelve first met at Wallamet
+Falls, about the middle of March, 1843. My impression is that Dr.
+Babcock was not present with the committee, and that Dr. White was
+chosen temporary chairman. G. W. Le Breton was secretary of the
+committee. A motion was made and carried to invite the citizens of the
+village to participate in the deliberations of the committee. Rev. Jason
+Lee, Rev. Mr. Waller, Mr. Abernethy, R. Moore, in fact, nearly all the
+prominent men of the place, were present, and participated in the
+discussions.
+
+We found Rev. Jason Lee and Mr. Abernethy disposed to ridicule the
+proposed organization as foolish and unnecessary. Rev. Jason Lee in his
+argument illustrated the folly of the effort, by telling us of a company
+of militia gotten up somewhere in Canada. He said "the requisite notice
+had been given, and all the people liable to military duty were present
+on the day to elect the officers required for the company. When they had
+elected all their officers, there was one private soldier left. 'Well,'
+says the soldier, 'you may march me, you may drill me, you may face me
+to the right, or to the left, or about face, just as much as you please,
+but for mercy's sake don't divide me up into platoons.'"
+
+Mr. Abernethy made a little attempt to ridicule the proposed
+organization, in moving to amend the resolution recommending three
+justices of the peace and three constables. We are now in receipt of an
+explanation from the governor in reference to the question of an
+independent government, as debated at the Lyceum, which we give
+_verbatim_, as it places the governor with his own explanation on that
+question, and I think gives us the correct statement of the case, and
+shows his policy, which was, to defeat not only the proposition for an
+independent government, but any effort for a provisional one, for at
+least four years,--which were not only the views of Mr. Abernethy, but
+those of Messrs. Lee, Leslie, Babcock, and Hines:--
+
+                                               PORTLAND, March 11, 1866.
+
+     DEAR SIR,--Allow me to correct one statement in your History of
+     Oregon in the _Gazette_ of 5th March. You speak of a debate in a
+     Lyceum, and say: "Mr. Abernethy moved that in case our government
+     did not extend its jurisdiction over the country in four years,
+     that then the meeting would be in favor of an independent
+     government." The facts are these: We had weekly meetings for
+     discussion. Mr. Hastings, Dr. McLaughlin's lawyer, offered a
+     resolution, "That it is expedient for the settlers on this coast to
+     establish an independent government." This subject was warmly
+     discussed, Mr. Abernethy being, with a few others, opposed to it.
+     At the close of the discussion the vote was taken and decided in
+     favor of an independent government. Mr. Abernethy then offered the
+     following: "_Resolved_, That if the United States extends its
+     jurisdiction over this country within four years, it will not be
+     expedient to form an independent government," as the subject for
+     the next discussion. This was warmly discussed, many who voted for
+     the first resolution saying if the United States government is
+     extended over us, it is all we want, and voted in the affirmative.
+     The resolution was carried, and destroyed the effect of the first
+     resolution.
+
+     You will see by this you have the thing all wrong.
+
+               Yours truly,
+
+                        GEO. ABERNETHY.
+
+     P. S.--Dr. White, I think, was present; am not certain. This
+     independent government move was a prominent scheme of Dr.
+     McLaughlin.
+
+The main question at issue before the committee at the Falls meeting was
+the office of governor. Dr. Bailey was in the Sandwich Islands; nothing
+was to be feared from him; but Dr. White was, to say the least, an
+impudent candidate. I have been informed that Dr. Bailey, an Englishman,
+came to that meeting February 18, 1841, with all his French voters
+trained to vote for himself for governor, and that he nominated himself,
+in opposition to Mr. Hines and Dr. Babcock, for that office, and
+conducted himself in such a manner that it disgusted some, and was the
+means of breaking up the proposed civil government, as what Americans
+there were then in the country found they would be outnumbered by the
+French and English (which was unquestionably the fact), and thus they
+would be completely at the disposal of English rule.
+
+Such being the case, much credit is due to the men who defeated that
+effort, and I see no reason why Mr. Hines, in his account, and as an
+actor in those meetings, should attempt to give a different impression,
+and say that "the officers of the squadron were consulted, and were
+found to be decidedly opposed to the scheme." (Page 421 of his book.)
+This fact alone, and I have it from an actor and an eye-witness in the
+meeting referred to, is, to say the least, strange and unaccountable on
+the part of Mr. Hines. He either feared the influence of Bailey, or the
+truth, which he withheld in the case, and leaves a wrong impression upon
+the minds of his readers.
+
+From the sickening, fawning, and contemptible course of Dr. White, the
+committee at the Falls meeting were induced to yield the point of an
+organization without an executive head, and by that means got a
+unanimous vote to call a public meeting to organize a provisional
+government at Champoeg, on the 2d of May, 1843. This was effort number
+one of February and June, 1841, over again. Those of us who commenced
+this move did not feel that we had gained much, still we hoped for the
+best and prepared for the worst as well as the meeting at Champoeg on
+the 2d of May, 1843.
+
+We will let the provisional government rest till the 2d of May, 1843,
+while we take a look over the whole country, and at the actors in it,
+first stopping to drop a tear at the grave of our friends as we proceed.
+On the 2d of February our best and most esteemed friend, Cornelius
+Rogers, with whom we had spent years of the kindest confidence and
+friendship, left our house for Oregon City, as his future residence and
+home, with his young wife, the eldest daughter of Rev. David Leslie, and
+her youngest sister. They took passage down the river with W. W.
+Raymond, a man who came to the country with the re-enforcement of the
+mission of 1839-40. He was at that time a member of the Methodist
+Mission, in good standing. Dr. Elijah White and Esquire Crocker, of
+Lansingville, Tompkins County, New York, were also in the canoe, one of
+the largest of Chinook manufacturing. They arrived all safe at Canemah.
+It was let down stern first by a line, around a point of rocks just
+above the falls on the Oregon City side, since blasted away for a canal
+and boat channel. In the eddy formed by the point of rock a large tree
+had lodged, forming a convenient landing, and occupying a large portion
+of the eddy water, so that it was necessary for the canoe to remain
+close to the log for safety from the swift current. There were two
+Indians to guide the canoe into this landing, one in the bow and one in
+the stern. The one in the stern escaped by jumping from the canoe and
+catching upon a piece of drift-wood on a rock just above the fall.
+White, as the canoe came alongside of the log upon which all were to
+land, being near the bow of the canoe, and not thinking, or perhaps
+caring, for any one but himself, jumped upon the side of the canoe, and
+with a spring, upon the log, before there was time for any one to secure
+the bow of the canoe, to prevent it from swinging into the current. The
+force of White's spring upon the canoe to reach the log threw it into
+the current, which was too strong for Raymond and his Indians to hold,
+and in a moment it darted into the middle of the channel, and the next
+moment was plunged broadside over the falls, some twenty-five feet
+perpendicular. The force of the current threw the canoe to the bottom of
+the fall, right side up, but the under-swell threw it back to the sheet
+of falling water, which filled and upset the canoe in an instant. All
+that went over were lost. Raymond, who had attempted to hold the canoe,
+came over the point of rocks (a difficult place) and found White upon
+the log, and that he had made no effort to relieve the drowning party.
+
+Mr. Hines, I see, gives a more favorable account of this transaction for
+White. I think this the nearest correct, as Raymond gave the alarm, and
+a boat was launched, and reached within ten feet of Mr. Rogers before he
+sank to rise no more. His and Esquire Crocker's bodies were found and
+interred. Those of Mrs. Rogers and her sister were never found. Rev. G.
+Hines, W. H. Gray, and Robert Shortess, were appointed by Judge Babcock
+to appraise the estate of Mr. Rogers, which was found to be worth about
+$800, clear of all liabilities. His heirs at law resided in Utica, New
+York. Rev. Harvey Clark was appointed administrator, discharging that
+duty faithfully, and I think without compensation. None of the
+appraisers received a dime for their services. There followed this
+affliction a severe storm, and an unusually high flood in the Wallamet
+River. The appraisers were detained several days on account of it, but
+finally reached their homes in safety.
+
+The Methodist Mission had extended their stations to Fort Nasqualla on
+Puget Sound and Clatsop Plains, and made an effort to establish a
+mission station on the Umpqua River. At this last-named place the
+Indians had been prepared by the instructions they had received through
+the Hudson's Bay Company and the Jesuit priests to destroy Lee and
+Hines, and commence the slaughter of the settlement. (See Hines' account
+of the trip, pages 100 to 110 inclusive, made in 1842.)
+
+Messrs. Frost and Cowan had become disgusted with their missionary
+calling, and Rev. Dr. Richmond had also found his Nasqualla location not
+a suitable one, or at least, he by some means had become convinced that
+he could not benefit the Indians about the fort, and made up his mind to
+leave.
+
+It will be remembered that Vicar-General Brouillet, of Wallawalla, in
+his attempt to prove that the "Catholic stations and stationary priests"
+were early in the country, says "almost every Indian tribe possessed
+some Catholic members" as early as 1840, and that Mr. Demerse's labors
+among the Cayuses in 1840 "had made there a mission so fruitful that
+the Protestant missionaries had got alarmed and feared that all their
+disciples would abandon them if he continued his mission among them."
+(Page 87 of "Protestantism in Oregon," by Brouillet.) Neither Hines,
+Richmond, nor Smith could understand why it was that the Indians upon
+this coast and throughout the country were so different from the
+accounts they had heard and read of them up to 1840. In June, 1853, had
+either of those gentlemen picked up the New York _Freeman's Journal_,
+they would have seen the statement that, as early as 1840, "almost every
+Indian tribe [on this coast] possessed some Catholic members." A little
+further along they would have been startled with the announcement, that
+these Jesuit missions had become "so fruitful that the Protestant
+missionaries had got alarmed and feared that all their disciples would
+abandon them." This was but the work of two years,--from 1838, late in
+the fall, to 1840. This was, without doubt, a great triumph, and well
+does this Jesuit blow his trumpet; and well he may, for he had the
+active aid of an unscrupulous monopoly who are said to be attempting the
+same thing with just such implements upon their own countrymen in
+British Columbia. Why, I ask, have states and countries in Europe found
+it necessary to suppress that order of the Roman Church? And why is
+England, to-day, hesitating to give this church in particular the same
+confidence she does to all others?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV.
+
+     Meetings to oppose organization.--Address of the
+     French-Canadians.--Criticisms on it by the author.--The
+     Jesuits.--Jesuit oath.--Article from the Cincinnati _Beacon_.
+
+
+Between the meeting of the committee of twelve at Wallamet Falls, about
+the 16th of March, and the called meeting by that committee on the 2d of
+May, the priests and the Hudson's Bay Company were not idle. They held
+two distinct meetings, one at the falls and one at Vancouver, and two in
+the French Prairie at the Catholic church. At all of these meetings the
+course to be pursued by the company and the Catholic and French settlers
+was discussed and decided. The result of these meetings and discussions
+can be found on the 12th and 13th pages of the Oregon archives. The
+names of the signers should have been given. This document seems to be
+dated the 4th of March, 1843. The meeting at Gervais' was on the first
+Monday of March. So this document seems to have been prepared by our
+Jesuit Blanchet, just about the time the "wolf meeting" was convening,
+and in anticipation of the move for a provisional government. I am
+certain it was not before any public meeting of the settlers, and that
+it was handed in to the committee of three appointed by the Legislative
+Committee to revise and arrange the laws for the meeting on the 5th of
+July, 1843.
+
+G. W. Le Breton, clerk of the Legislative Committee, handed it in, when
+it was examined by the committee of three, and handed back to him with
+the remark "it was well enough to keep it with the public papers, as it
+would show the influences operating, and who were opposed to our
+organization, and the reasons they had for their opposition. At the
+meeting of May 2, all the signers of that document were present with
+their priests at their head, and voted to a man against the proposed
+organization.
+
+"Address of the Canadian citizens of Oregon to the meeting at Champoeg,
+March 4, 1843," It will be seen it should have been dated May 2. This
+mistake simply shows that it was prepared March 4, 1843, in anticipation
+of the action of the meeting to be held May 2, 1843.
+
+The address above referred to is here submitted as a matter of history,
+and is as follows:--
+
+    "We, the Canadian citizens of Wallamet, considering with interest
+    and reflection the subject which unites the people at the present
+    meeting, present to the American citizens, and particularly to the
+    gentlemen who called said meeting, the unanimous expression of our
+    sentiments of cordiality, and desire of union and inexhaustible
+    peace between all the people, in view of our duty and the interest
+    of the new colony, and declare--
+
+    "1st. That we wish for laws, or regulations, for the welfare of our
+    persons, and the security of our property and labors.
+
+    "2d. That we do not intend to rebel against the measures of that
+    kind taken last year, by a party of the people; although we do not
+    approve of certain regulations, nor certain modes of laws, let those
+    magistrates finish their time.
+
+    "3d. That we will not address a new petition to the government of
+    the United States, because we have our reasons, till the line be
+    decided, and the frontiers of the States fixed.
+
+    "4th. That we are opposed to the regulations anticipated, and
+    exposed to consequences for the quantity, direction, etc., of lands,
+    and whatsoever expense for the same lands, because we have no direct
+    guaranty from the government to come, and, perhaps, to-morrow, all
+    those measures may be broken.
+
+    "5th. That we do not wish a provisional mode of government, too
+    self-interested, and full of degrees, useless to our power, and
+    overloading the colony instead of improving it; besides, men of laws
+    and science are too scarce, and have too much to do in such a new
+    country.
+
+    "6th. That we wish either the mode of senate or council to judge the
+    difficulties, punish the crimes (except capital penalties), and make
+    the regulations suitable for the people.
+
+    "7th. That the same council be elected and composed of members from
+    all parts of the country, and should act in body, on the plan of
+    civilized countries in parliament, or as a jury, and to be
+    represented, for example, by the president of said council, and
+    another member, as a judge of peace, in each county, allowing the
+    principle of recalling to the whole senate.
+
+    "8th. That the members should be influenced to interest themselves
+    to their own welfare, and that of the public, by the love of doing
+    good, rather than by the hope of gain, in order to take off from the
+    esteem of the people all suspicions of interest in the persons of
+    their representatives.
+
+    "9th. That they must avoid every law loading and inexpedient to the
+    people, especially to the new arrivals. Unnecessary taxes, and
+    whatever records are of that kind, we do not want them.
+
+    "10th. That the militia is useless at present, and rather a danger
+    of bad suspicion to the Indians and a delay for the necessary
+    labors; at the same time, it is a load; we do not want it, either,
+    at present.
+
+    "11th. That we consider the country free, at present, to all
+    nations, till government shall have decided; open to every
+    individual wishing to settle, without any distinction of origin, and
+    without asking him any thing, either to become an English, Spanish,
+    or American citizen.
+
+    "12th. So we, English subjects, proclaim to be free, as well as
+    those who came from France, California, United States, or even
+    natives of this country; and we desire unison with all the
+    respectable citizens who wish to settle in this country; or we ask
+    to be recognized as free among ourselves, to make such regulations
+    as appear suitable to our wants, save the general interest of having
+    justice from all strangers who might injure us, and that our
+    reasonable customs and pretensions be respected.
+
+    "13th. That we are willing to submit to any lawful government when
+    it comes.
+
+    "14th. That we do not forgot that we must make laws only for
+    necessary circumstances. The more laws there are, the more
+    opportunities for roguery for those who make a practice of it; and,
+    perhaps, the more alterations there will be some day.
+
+    "15th. That we do not forget in a trial that before all fraud on
+    fulfilling of some points of the law, the ordinary proofs of the
+    certainty of the fact ought to be duly weighed, so that justice may
+    be done, and no shame given for fraud.
+
+    "16th. In a new country the more men employed and paid by the
+    public, the less remains of industry.
+
+    "17th. That no one can be more desirous than we are for the
+    prosperity, ameliorations, and general peace of the country, and
+    especially for the guaranty of our rights and liberties; and such is
+    the wish we make for all those who are, or may become, our
+    fellow-countrymen, etc., for long years of peace."
+
+Then follow our names and persons.
+
+Which, if our memory is correct, were not given or signed to the
+original document, for, if they had been, the document would have been
+noticed in the legislative proceedings, and some action taken upon it.
+It was considered by the revising committee, as an expression of the
+feelings of the subjects named in the twelfth paragraph, and that while
+they were opposed to the proposed organization they would act as per
+thirteenth paragraph. The second paragraph indicates an approval of
+previous political action. The third, their opposition to a connection
+with the United States. The fourth, their decided opposition to the
+proposed government. The fifth is a reason, and shows that they had no
+confidence in the ability of the people to make laws for themselves.
+The sixth indicates a preference for the Hudson's Bay Company's mode of
+government. The seventh shows a leaning to republican ideas of
+government. The eighth to the government of the country by the clergymen
+in it. The ninth, opposition to taxes which the French, or the class
+represented in that protest, continually manifested in refusing to pay
+until compelled by legal or superior force. The tenth shows that they
+considered themselves safe from Indian hostility, and were only anxious
+to expose the weakness of the settlement by avoiding a show of military
+strength. The eleventh affirms the freedom of the country to all, and
+their right to occupy it without interference. The fourteenth, a
+childish reason against restraint. The fifteenth is considerably mixed;
+it is advisory. We admit that the object of it is beyond our
+comprehension. The sixteenth looks to one man, or clerical rule. The
+seventeenth shows the ecclesiastical origin of the document, and a
+suspicion that in the future their conduct may be such that they may
+require a "guaranty" of their rights and liberties.
+
+We have an article, published in the Cincinnati _Beacon_, August, 1843,
+giving the oath taken by the Jesuits, and a short account of their
+objects and proceedings, which, as they had been introduced into Oregon
+by the Hudson's Bay Company in 1838, and commenced their operations as
+in the above document, we will copy the article entire, as we shall have
+occasion to speak of the part taken by them in the settlement of this
+country:--
+
+"The order of Jesuits was established by Loyola in 1535, having for its
+object the re-establishment of the pope's sway over the civil powers of
+the earth.
+
+"At that time it was found that a mighty effort was needed to regain to
+the pope what he had just lost by the Reformation, and this order was
+established for that object. Members of that society may be of any
+profession or of no profession, as they choose, and as best suits the
+object. They may prosecute their own business as merchants in foreign
+countries, or serve in the meanest capacity, provided they can by
+stealth exercise some destructive influence on any or every form of
+government except that under the 'sacred confirmation of the pope.'
+
+"A dispensation is granted them, _i.e._, permission to lay aside all
+professions of regard to the Papal cause, and make outward professions
+to any religion or government they choose, if by so doing they can
+better 'do their utmost to EXTIRPATE _the heretical Protestant doctrine,
+and destroy all its pretended powers_, REGAL _or otherwise_.'
+
+"Of course they were soon found in all the political intrigues which so
+long distracted Europe. This is a prominent fact on the page of history.
+One after another of the European powers became aware of this, and
+each, especially of the Protestant powers, when their intrigues could no
+longer be endured, banished the Jesuits as seen above. We may add Oregon
+as another special field of their operations since 1838.
+
+"The Jesuits are the most active and efficient agents of Popery in
+propagating the Catholic religion in foreign countries. In the following
+oath we notice:--
+
+"1. An acknowledgment that Protestant governments are illegal, without
+the 'sacred confirmation' of the pope, and may safely be destroyed.
+
+"2. A renunciation of 'any allegiance as due to any heretical' state,
+named Protestants.
+
+"3. A solemn pledge to do their utmost to 'destroy all their pretended
+powers, regal or otherwise.'
+
+"Comment on the relations which these agents of the pope sustain to our
+Protestant government is needless.
+
+
+"_The Oath of Secrecy of the Jesuits._
+
+"'I, A. B., now in the presence of Almighty God, the blessed Virgin
+Mary, the blessed Michael the Archangel, the blessed St. John Baptist,
+the holy apostles St. Peter and St. Paul, and the saints and sacred
+hosts of heaven, and of you my ghostly father, do declare from my heart,
+_without mental reservation_, that his holiness the Pope Urban is
+Christ's vicar-general, and is the true and only head of the Catholic or
+Universal Church throughout the earth; and that, by the virtue of the
+keys of binding and loosing given to his holiness by my Saviour Jesus
+Christ, he hath power to depose heretical kings, princes, states,
+commonwealths, and governments, all being illegal without his sacred
+confirmation, and that they may safely be destroyed; therefore, to the
+utmost of my power, I shall and will defend this doctrine, and his
+holiness' rights and customs, against all usurpers of the heretical (or
+Protestant) authority whatsoever; especially against the now pretended
+authority and Church of England, and all adherents, in regard that they
+and she be usurpal and heretical, opposing the sacred mother church of
+Rome. I do renounce and disown any allegiance as due to any heretical
+king, prince, or _state_, named Protestant, or _obedience to any of
+their inferior magistrates or officers_. I do further declare, that the
+doctrine of the Church of England, of the Calvinists, Huguenots, and of
+others of the name of Protestant, to be damnable, and they themselves
+are damned, and to be damned, that will not forsake the same; I do
+further declare, that I will help, assist, and advise all or any of his
+holiness' agents in any place wherever I shall be, in England, Scotland,
+and Ireland, or in any other territory or kingdom I shall come to, and
+do my utmost to extirpate the heretical Protestant doctrine, _and to
+destroy all its pretended powers, regal or otherwise_. I do further
+promise and declare, that notwithstanding I am dispensed with, to assume
+any religion heretical, for the propagating of the mother church's
+interests, to keep secret and private all her agents' counsels from time
+to time, as they intrust me, and not to divulge, directly or indirectly,
+by word, writing, or circumstance whatsoever; but to execute all that
+shall be proposed, given in charge, or discovered unto me, by you, my
+ghostly father, or any of this sacred convent. All which I, A. B., do
+swear, by the blessed Trinity, and blessed Sacrament, which I am now to
+receive, to perform, and on my part to keep inviolably: and do call all
+the heavenly and glorious host of heaven to witness these my real
+intentions, to keep this my oath. In testimony hereof, I take this most
+holy and blessed sacrament of the Eucharist; and witness the same
+further with my hand and seal, in the face of this holy convent, this
+day of Anno Domini, etc.'
+
+"The Jesuits were banished from England in 1606. They were expelled from
+France, A.D. 1764; from Spain and Sicily, A.D. 1767; from Portugal, A.D.
+1789; and totally suppressed by Pope Clement XIV., A.D. 1773. Everywhere
+they were prosecuted and repelled as injurious to youth, and dangerous
+to all existing forms of government. The present pope has revived the
+order, and now we find the Jesuits secretly and openly engaged again in
+their pernicious and wicked devices to re-establish his power in the
+United States, and in the Canadas."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVI.
+
+     The meeting at Champoeg.--Tactics of the Jesuit
+     party.--Counter-tactics of the Americans.--A division and its
+     result.--Public record.--Opposition to clergymen as
+     legislators.--Mr. Hines as an historian.--His errors.--Importance
+     of Mr. Hines' history.--Extract.--Difficulty among the
+     Indians.--Cause of the difficulty.
+
+
+The 2d of May, the day fixed by the committee of twelve to organize a
+settlers' government, was close at hand. The Indians had all learned
+that the "Bostons" were going to have a big meeting, and they also knew
+that the English and French were going to meet with them, to oppose what
+the "Bostons" were going to do. The Hudson's Bay Company had drilled and
+trained their voters for the occasion, under the Rev. F. N. Blanchet and
+his priests, and they were promptly on the ground in the open field near
+a small house, and, to the amusement of every American present, trained
+to vote "No" to every motion put; no matter, if to carry their point
+they should have voted "Yes," it was "No." Le Breton had informed the
+committee, and the Americans generally, that this would be the course
+pursued, according to instructions, hence our motions were made to test
+their knowledge of what they were doing, and we found just what we
+expected was the case. The priest was not prepared for our manner of
+meeting them, and, as the record shows, "considerable confusion was
+existing in consequence." By this time we had counted votes. Says Le
+Breton, "We can risk it; let us divide and count." "I second that
+motion," says Gray. "Who's for a divide?" sang out old Joe Meek, as he
+stepped out; "all for the report of the committee and an organization,
+follow me." This was so sudden and unexpected that the priest and his
+voters did not know what to do, but every American was soon in line. Le
+Breton and Gray passed the line and counted fifty-two Americans, and but
+fifty French and Hudson's Bay Company men. They announced the
+count--"fifty-two for, and fifty against." "Three cheers for our side,"
+sang out old Joe Meek. Not one of those old veteran mountain voices were
+lacking in that shout for _liberty_. They were given with a will, and in
+a few seconds the chairman, Judge I. L. Babcock, called the meeting to
+order, when the priest and his band slunk away into the corners of the
+fences, and in a short time mounted their horses and left.
+
+The minutes of the meeting are as follows:--
+
+"At a public meeting of the inhabitants of the Wallamet settlements,
+held in accordance with the call of the committee, chosen at a former
+meeting, for the purpose of taking steps to organize themselves into a
+civil community, and provide themselves with the protection secured by
+the enforcement of law and order, Dr. I. L. Babcock was chosen Chairman,
+and Messrs. Gray, Le Breton, and Wilson, secretaries.
+
+"The committee made their report, which was read, and a motion was made
+that it be accepted, which was lost.
+
+"Considerable confusion existing in consequence, it was moved by Mr. Le
+Breton, and seconded by Mr. Gray, that the meeting divide, preparatory
+to being counted; those in favor of the objects of this meeting taking
+the right, and those of a contrary mind taking the left which being
+carried by acclamation, and a majority being found in favor of
+organization, the greater part of the dissenters withdrew.
+
+"It was then moved and carried, that the report of the committee be
+taken up and disposed of article by article.
+
+"A motion was made and carried, that a supreme judge, with probate
+powers, be chosen to officiate in this community.
+
+"Moved and carried, that a clerk of the court, or recorder, be chosen.
+
+"Moved and carried, that a sheriff be chosen.
+
+"Moved and carried, that three magistrates be chosen.
+
+"Moved and carried, that three constables be chosen.
+
+"Moved and carried, that a committee of nine persons be chosen, for the
+purpose of drafting a code of laws for the government of this community,
+to be presented to a public meeting to be hereafter called by them, for
+their acceptance.
+
+"A motion was made and carried, that a treasurer be chosen.
+
+"Moved and carried, that a major and three captains be chosen.
+
+"Moved and carried, that we now proceed to choose the persons to fill
+the various offices by ballot.
+
+"A. E. Wilson was chosen to act as supreme judge, with probate powers;
+G. W. Le Breton was chosen to act as clerk of court, and recorder; J. L.
+Meek was chosen to fill the office of sheriff; W. H. Wilson was chosen
+treasurer.
+
+"Moved and carried, that the remainder of the officers be chosen by hand
+ballot, and nomination from the floor.
+
+"Messrs. Hill, Shortess, Newell, Beers, Hubbard, Gray, O'Neil, Moore,
+and Dougherty, were chosen to act as Legislative Committee; Messrs.
+Burns, Judson, and A. B. Smith were chosen to act as magistrates;
+Messrs. Ebbets, Bridgers, and Lewis, were chosen to act as constables;
+Mr. John Howard was chosen major; Messrs. Wm. McCarty, C. McRoy, and S.
+Smith were chosen captains.
+
+"Moved and carried, that the Legislative Committee make their report on
+the 5th day of July next, at Champoeg.
+
+"Moved and carried, that the services of the Legislative Committee be
+paid for at $1.25 per day, and that the money be raised by subscription.
+
+"Moved and carried, that the major and captains be instructed to enlist
+men to form companies of mounted riflemen.
+
+"Moved and carried, that an additional constable and magistrate be
+chosen.
+
+"Mr. Compo was chosen as an additional magistrate. Mr. Matthew was
+chosen as an additional constable.
+
+"Moved and carried, that the Legislative Committee shall not sit over
+six days.
+
+"The meeting was then adjourned.
+
+"The question having arisen with regard to what time the newly-appointed
+officers should commence their duties, the meeting was again called to
+order, when it was moved and carried, that the old officers act till the
+laws are made and accepted, or until the next public meeting.
+
+         "Attest,
+                "G. W. LE BRETON."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It will be remembered by those present, that in the appointment of the
+members of the Legislative Committee, Rev. J. S. Griffin was named as
+one of the committee. I am not positive that Mr. Griffin was present,
+but I remember that his nomination was opposed, or any clergyman of any
+denomination having any thing to do with making laws for the settlers.
+It was stated as a reason, that their duties and calling were not such
+as qualified them to enact laws adapted to a promiscuous community;
+they, as a matter of conscience and duty to what they, as a general
+thing, considered higher laws, disqualified themselves to enter the
+halls of legislation as law-makers. Besides, the settlers had once
+placed it in their hands and requested them to aid in the enactment of
+suitable laws for the government and protection of the settlement. This
+request they had neglected and refused to comply with, and we had before
+us the example and influence of one who had openly opposed our effort.
+In placing upon this committee a reverend gentleman from one
+denomination, we, as a matter of courtesy, must do the same to another,
+and, as in the former case, we would be liable to be defeated. Mr.
+Griffin did not receive a single vote, without it was that of the Rev.
+Mr. Kone, from Clatsop, who, I think, was present.
+
+We will now leave the Legislative Committee to do their business, as
+per instructions, and see what our very officious Indian agent and his
+friend, Rev. Mr. Hines, are about.
+
+During the fall of 1842 and winter and spring of 1843, "our plot
+thickens." We must go back a little, and notice, among other things,
+that as soon as Uncle Samuel's exploring squadron had looked at Oregon a
+little and Dr. McLaughlin's good liquors more (when the infirmities of
+the stomach required something stronger than water), and had found
+occasion to express great praise of the kind treatment and generosity of
+the Hudson's Bay Company, they also found it convenient to sanction the
+opposition to a temporary government for the settlement,--at least, Mr.
+Hines tells us they opposed it,--and leave the company to continue their
+kicking and changing the bushel, calling in their cattle and pay for all
+lost, and enter vigorously upon a settled system of opposition to all
+American settlements in the country. Their Jesuit missions were doing
+them good service in the interior. Their clerks and interpreters were
+ready to do their part. The puff-ball of folly and ignorance, in the
+shape of a sub-Indian agent, had been among the Indians, who were made
+to believe from his foolish statements,--confirmed or made worse by such
+old liars as Toupin, as in the case of Parker,--that the great parent
+was going to make them wise and rich, and give them all they wanted, if
+they would adopt his advice, and do as he wished them. All things
+combined aroused Mr. Hines to the solemn conclusion that it was his duty
+to volunteer and go with our sub-Indian agent, and assist him in
+pacifying the Indians. I suppose he must have gone in the capacity of
+prime minister or secretary of state. He says, page 146: "In the evening
+of the 17th, Dr. White arrived at my house, bringing intelligence from
+the falls." Le Breton returned the next day, and reported that
+Anderson's horse was stolen by an Indian,--the same that had stolen one
+from Mr. Hines two years before. Hines had the courage to go and get his
+horse, but Anderson, who was a Swede, had not. This transaction, it will
+be remembered, was on April 17, a month after the organizing committee
+of twelve had been appointed at Gervais'. White and Hines are in council
+at Hines' house. The visit to the interior tribes is before the council.
+White had been up among the Nez Perces and Cayuses in the fall of 1842,
+and with the aid of McKay (who was the most reliable half-native servant
+the company ever had), the Indians were induced to form a combination,
+exactly such a one as Frank Ermatinger, in 1838, told the writer the
+company would form, with the aid of their half-breed servants, to resist
+the occupancy of the country by the American government. Mr. Hines'
+stupidity led him to believe this was the policy of White, and not that
+of the company. He says, at the bottom of page 142:
+
+    "It had been the policy of the Hudson's Bay Company to destroy the
+    chieftainship, cut the different tribes into small clans, and divide
+    their interests as far as possible, so as to weaken them, and render
+    them incapable of injuring the whites, thus preventing them from
+    acting in concert." At the time this policy was adopted by the
+    company there were no whites in the country but themselves. Mr.
+    Hines believes that the American settlement was to be benefited by
+    this shrewd policy of the company, and attributes to Dr. White the
+    opposite policy. He says, page 143, that "the sub-agent adopted a
+    different policy."
+
+How natural and how easy for his reverence to fall into this error, and
+to say, on page 142, "Thomas McKay contributed much to allay the
+excitement among them, and, in connection with the sub-agent, induced
+the natives to adopt a code of laws and appoint a head chief, and
+inferior chiefs, sufficient to carry the laws into execution." Not the
+least suspicion of McKay's instructions and the Hudson's Bay Company's
+arrangements and consent in the matter, and that the sub-agent was the
+very man the company was making use of to get their own trained and
+educated Indian (Ellis) at the head of the Nez Perce tribe, to
+accomplish the object they had in view. Mr. Hines has given us a good
+history, for which we thank him in behalf of truth, and also for the
+assistance it has given us in showing to the world the damning policy,
+the accursed influences brought to bear against the little band of
+patriots that had the courage to contend against such fearful
+combinations of avarice, stupidity, superstition, and savagism; and here
+allow me to say, is the reason that Whitman, Harvey Clark, Shortess,
+Smith, Cornelius Rogers, J. L. Meek, Couch, and fifty others, had no
+confidence in White or his advisers and friends.
+
+Le Breton acted well his part; the company knew him better than Mr.
+Hines did; his death was a victory, as they supposed, to them, but the
+effort moved on. The act of a few Indians, in going to St. Louis in
+1832, for religious knowledge, brought Mr. Hines to the country with
+others more capable of meeting the combined influences of avarice,
+stupidity, bigotry, and superstition.
+
+And although many things have combined to keep them from any pecuniary
+reward, still facts, and the history of the country they have saved as
+the golden gem of our great Republic, will seek to know who it was whose
+efforts could successfully contend with such influences as were then
+held by the company, the Jesuit priests, Dr. White, and the Methodist
+Mission. We now know why our little settlement wept and mourned the
+death of Rogers, Le Breton, and Whitman, as they were substantial
+pillars in our temple of liberty on this coast. Does a simple slab mark
+the place of their rest? Their surviving associates are not able to
+answer in the affirmative.
+
+It will be borne in mind that while Dr. Whitman was on his way to
+Washington, Dr. White and Thomas McKay visited the Indians in the
+interior, in October, 1842,--about one month after Dr. Whitman had left
+for the States. Mr. Spalding was really more stupid than Mr. Hines in
+all matters of policy and deep-laid plans to accomplish any object. His
+courage was strong in ignorance of danger. Mr. Hines had personal
+courage, but his self-esteem was unbounded. Dr. White was shrewd enough
+to make use of both. Mr. Spalding was taken with Dr. White's smooth
+milk-and-water false statements about his office, powers, and duties. He
+was led to believe that White had all the powers he professed to have,
+and lent his influence to McKay to organize and combine the Indian
+tribes, supposing all the while he was doing it for Dr. White and the
+American cause.
+
+Messrs. Hines and Spalding were alike in this particular. The reader
+will not forget that I am speaking of men and their actions, and the
+influence they had at a certain time, and the effect of those actions
+upon the Indians and the religious, political, and general interests of
+the country. Personally, I have no malice against a single man of whom I
+write; many of them I know are dead, and at the proper time I will give
+you as faithful an account of their good deeds as I now do of their
+errors. Besides, I hope the children and friends of all of whom I write,
+will see and feel the virtue there is in doing right at all times, and,
+as we are told, "try the spirits," or persons, "to know whether they are
+good or evil."
+
+A large portion of the ninth chapter of Mr. Hines' book is too important
+in illustrating truth to be omitted in a history such as we are giving.
+The reader will understand the observations we have to make, bearing in
+mind that all these facts have an important bearing on a transaction
+that occurred four years later. He says:--
+
+    "April 14. This settlement has been thrown into a panic by
+    intelligence which has just been received from the upper country,
+    concerning the hostile intentions of the Cayuse, Nez Perce, and
+    Wallawalla Indians. It appears that they have again threatened the
+    destruction of the whites. Some time in October last, Indian report
+    said that these tribes were coming down to kill off the 'Boston'
+    people, meaning those from the United States. This intelligence
+    produced considerable excitement at the time, and induced the
+    sub-agent of Indian affairs to go directly to the upper country and
+    ascertain the truth of the report, and, if possible, settle all
+    matters of difficulty. On arriving among the Indians, he ascertained
+    that the report was not without foundation, but entered into such
+    arrangements with them as appeared to give satisfaction. Thomas
+    McKay contributed much to allay the excitement among them, and, in
+    connection with the sub-agent, induced the Nez Perces to adopt a
+    code of laws, and appoint a head chief and inferior chiefs,
+    sufficient to carry the laws into execution.
+
+    "It had been the policy of the Hudson's Bay Company to destroy the
+    chieftainship, cut the different tribes into smaller clans, and
+    divide their interests as far as possible, so as to weaken them, and
+    render them incapable of injuring the whites, by preventing them
+    from acting in concert. BUT THE SUB-AGENT ADOPTED A DIFFERENT
+    POLICY. _The individual appointed to the high chieftainship over the
+    Nez Perces was one Ellis, as he was called by the English, who,
+    having spent several years in the settlement on Red River, east of
+    the mountains, had, with a smattering of the English language,
+    acquired a high sense of his own importance; and, consequently,
+    after he was appointed chief, pursued a very haughty and overbearing
+    course._ The fulfillment of the laws which the agent recommended for
+    their adoption was required by Ellis with the utmost rigor.
+    Individuals were severely punished for crimes which, from time
+    immemorial, had been committed by the people with impunity. This
+    occasioned suspicions in the minds of the Indians generally that the
+    whites designed the ultimate subjugation of their tribes. They saw
+    in the laws they had adopted, a deep-laid scheme of the whites to
+    destroy them, and take possession of their country. The arrival of a
+    large party of emigrants about this time, and the sudden departure
+    of Dr. Whitman to the United States, with the avowed intention of
+    bringing back with him as many as he could enlist for Oregon, served
+    to hasten them to the above conclusion. That a great excitement
+    existed among the Indians in the interior, and that they designed to
+    make war upon the settlement, was only known to the whites through
+    the medium of vague report, until a letter was received from H. K.
+    W. Perkins, at the Dalles, in which he informed us that the Wascopum
+    and Wallawalla Indians had communicated to him in substance the
+    following information: That the Indians are very much exasperated
+    against the whites, in consequence of so many of the latter coming
+    into the country, to destroy their game and take away their lands;
+    that the Nez Perces dispatched one of their chiefs last winter on
+    snow-shoes, to visit the Indians in the buffalo country east of Fort
+    Hall, for the purpose of exciting them to cut off the party that it
+    is expected Dr. Whitman will bring back with him to settle the Nez
+    Perce country; that the Indians are endeavoring to form a general
+    coalition for the purpose of destroying all the 'Boston' people;
+    that it is not good to kill a part of them, and leave the rest, but
+    that _every one_ of them must be destroyed. This information
+    produced a great excitement throughout the community, and almost
+    every man had a plan of his own by which to avert the impending
+    storm. In the estimation of some, the Indians were to be upon us
+    immediately, and it was unsafe to retire at night, for fear the
+    settlement would be attacked before morning. The plan of the agent
+    was to induce men to pledge themselves, under the forfeiture of one
+    hundred dollars in case of delinquency, to keep constantly on hand
+    and ready for use either a good musket or rifle, and one hundred
+    charges of ammunition, and to hold themselves in readiness to go at
+    the call of the agent to any part of the country, not to exceed two
+    days' travel for the purpose of defending the settlement, and
+    repelling any savage invaders. This plan pleased some of the people,
+    and they put down their names; but many were much dissatisfied with
+    it; and as we had no authority, no law, no order, for the time
+    being, in the country, it was impossible to tell what would be the
+    result, if the Indians should attempt to carry their threats into
+    execution."
+
+We have before us, in these quotations, the facts of the change of
+policy of the Hudson's Bay Company, the combining of the Nez Perce
+tribe, the supposed ground of complaint against the Americans, and the
+failure of the sub-Indian agent to get the settlers to adopt his plan
+for protecting the settlement against the Indians. We will now give the
+reasons the company had for adopting the dividing and cutting-up policy
+among the Indians.
+
+The reader is requested to observe Mr. Hines' description of Ellis, Dr.
+White's Indian chief. It was this same Indian that drove the Rev. A. B.
+Smith in 1840 from his land, as stated by old Toupin on 15th page of
+Brouillet's history of the Whitman massacre. Up to this time he was not
+considered an important character by the company, on account of his
+self-importance and insolence. In this respect he resembled Tawatowe, of
+the Cayuses, who, when he had been promoted to the head chieftainship of
+that tribe, became insolent, and going so far as to get possession of
+Fort Wallawalla, had tied Mr. P. C. Pambrun, and kept him tied till he
+agreed to give the Indians better prices for their horses and furs. As
+soon as they had liberated him, Mr. Pambrun made a few trades with them
+and treated them kindly, and induced them to leave the fort. He sent at
+once to Vancouver and increased the number of his men, and told the
+chiefs that had had him tied, that he no longer regarded them as chiefs,
+and at once commenced to destroy their influence by refusing to give
+them the accustomed presents, and gave them to lesser chiefs, and in
+that way divided them up and broke their power as principal chiefs.
+
+While the American fur trader, Captain Wyeth, was in the country, the
+company had increased their tariff, and paid the Indians more for their
+horses and furs, but as soon as he had been driven from the country,
+they reduced it to their own prices. The Indians did not understand why
+the company gave them so much less than the Americans, or Bostons, did
+for the same things.
+
+The principal chiefs of the Nez Perces and Cayuses were together in the
+attempt to get better pay for the property they sold to the company,
+whose policy was to keep all the principal men down, and divide their
+power and influence, and prevent any large combinations among the
+tribes,--thus making it easy to control them. This statement of facts
+and policy I had from Mr. Pambrun and Mr. Ermatinger, both of the
+Hudson's Bay Company.
+
+Mr. Hines, on page 143, in speaking about the laws adopted by the
+Indians, seems altogether to ignore the fact that a desperate effort was
+then being made by the Hudson's Bay Company, as the conduct of the
+Indians plainly indicated, to drive all Americans from the country. The
+unreasonable punishments inflicted, and all other odious inferences,
+were the legitimate instruments to accomplish a specific object. The
+same was the case in the inferences drawn about Dr. Whitman's visit to
+the States. While Governor Simpson sends on his Red River settlers, and
+goes to Washington to secure the country to the British crown, Dr.
+Whitman and his mission become the special objects of misrepresentation
+and hate among the Indians. His mill and all his grain are burned, while
+a large immigration of British subjects and the Jesuit missionaries are
+received with open arms. Dr. Whitman and the American settlement must be
+stopped at all hazards. An Indian is sent on snow-shoes to the Buffalo
+Indians east of Fort Hall, for the purpose of exciting them to cut off
+the party that is expected with Dr. Whitman.
+
+The American government, according to Dr. White, is about to take
+possession of the country, and had sent him out as its first governor.
+He, to conciliate the Indians, adopts all the suggestions of the
+Hudson's Bay Company, and succeeds to his entire satisfaction, with the
+aid of Mr. McKay. While he can do nothing to unite the settlers for
+their own defense, the divide-and-weaken policy of the company is
+changed from Indians to the American settlers. White and Hines are
+equally useful to the company in doing the one, as they had been
+successful in the other. That the transaction related by Mr. Hines on
+his 145th page, under date of April 17, may be better understood, we
+will, in the next chapter, give a copy of the petition referred to. This
+document is mostly the work of Robert Shortess, and was signed by nearly
+every American in the country who had an opportunity.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVII.
+
+     Whitman's visit to Washington.--A priest's boast.--A taunt, and
+     Whitman's reply.--Arrival in Washington.--Interview with Secretary
+     Webster.--With President Tyler.--His return.--Successful passage of
+     the Rocky Mountains with two hundred wagons.--His mill burned
+     during his absence.
+
+
+In September, 1842, Dr. Whitman was called to visit a patient at old
+Fort Wallawalla. While there, a number of boats of the Hudson's Bay
+Company, with several chief traders and Jesuit priests, on their way to
+the interior of the country, arrived. While at dinner, the overland
+express from Canada arrived, bringing news that the emigration from the
+Red River settlement was at Colville. This news excited unusual joy
+among the guests. One of them--a young priest--sang out: "Hurrah for
+Oregon, America is too late; we have got the country." "Now the
+Americans may whistle; the country is ours!" said another.
+
+Whitman learned that the company had arranged for these Red River
+English settlers to come on to settle in Oregon, and at the same time
+Governor Simpson was to go to Washington and secure the settlement of
+the question as to the boundaries on the ground of the most numerous and
+permanent settlement in the country.
+
+The Doctor was taunted with the idea that no power could prevent this
+result, as no information could reach Washington in time to prevent it.
+"It shall be prevented," said the Doctor, "if I have to go to Washington
+myself." "But you can not go there to do it," was the taunting reply of
+the Briton. "I will see," was the Doctor's reply. The reader is
+sufficiently acquainted with the history of this man's toil and labor in
+bringing his first wagon through to Fort Boise, to understand what he
+meant when he said, "_I will see_." Two hours after this conversation at
+the fort, he dismounted from his horse at his door at Wailatpu. I saw in
+a moment that he was fixed on some important object or errand. He soon
+explained that a special effort must be made to save the country from
+becoming British territory.
+
+Every thing was in the best of order about the station, and there seemed
+to be no important reason why he should not go. A. L. Lovejoy, Esq., had
+a few days before arrived with the immigration. It was proposed that he
+should accompany the Doctor, which he consented to do, and in
+twenty-four hours' time they were well mounted and on their way to the
+States. They reached Fort Hall all safe; kept south into Taos, and
+thence to Bent's Fort, on the Arkansas River, when Mr. Lovejoy became
+exhausted from toil and exposure, and stopped for the winter, while the
+Doctor continued on and reached Washington.
+
+Thus far in this narrative I give Dr. Whitman's, Mr. Lovejoy's, and my
+own knowledge. I find an article in the _Pacific_ of November 9, from
+Mr. Spalding, which gives us the result:--
+
+    "On reaching the settlements, Dr. Whitman found that many of the now
+    old Oregonians--Waldo, Applegate, Hamtree, Keizer, and others--who
+    had once made calculations to come to Oregon, had abandoned the idea
+    because of the representations from Washington that every attempt to
+    take wagons and ox-teams through the Rocky and Blue Mountains to the
+    Columbia had failed. Dr. Whitman saw at once what the stopping of
+    wagons at Fort Hall every year meant. The representations purported
+    to come from Secretary Webster, but were from Governor Simpson, who,
+    magnifying the statements of his chief trader, Grant, at Fort Hall,
+    declared the Americans must be going mad, from their repeated
+    fruitless attempts to take wagons and teams through the impassable
+    regions to the Columbia, and that the women and children of those
+    wild fanatics had been saved from a terrible death only by the
+    repeated and philanthropic labors of Mr. Grant, at Fort Hall, in
+    furnishing them with horses. The Doctor told these men, as he met
+    them, that his only object in crossing the mountains in the dead of
+    winter, at the risk of his life, and through untold sufferings, was
+    to take back an American emigration that summer through the
+    mountains to the Columbia, with their wagons and their teams. The
+    route was practicable. We had taken our wagon, our cattle, and our
+    families through, seven years before. They had nothing to fear; but
+    to be ready on his return. The stopping of wagons at Fort Hall was a
+    Hudson's Bay Company scheme to prevent the settling of the country
+    by the Americans, till they could settle it with their own subjects
+    from the Selkirk settlement. This news spread like wildfire through
+    Missouri. The Doctor pushed on to Washington and immediately sought
+    an interview with Secretary Webster,--both being from the same
+    State,--and stated to him the object of his crossing the mountains,
+    and laid before him the great importance of Oregon to the United
+    States. But Mr. Webster lived too near Cape Cod to see things in the
+    same light with his fellow-Statesman who had transferred his worldly
+    interests to the Pacific coast. He awarded sincerity to the
+    missionary, but could not admit for a moment that the short
+    residence of six years could give the Doctor the knowledge of the
+    country possessed by Governor Simpson, who had almost grown up in
+    the country, and had traveled every part of it, and represents it as
+    one unbroken waste of sand deserts and impassable mountains, fit
+    only for the beaver, the gray bear, and the savage. Besides, he had
+    about traded it off with Governor Simpson, to go into the Ashburton
+    treaty, for a cod-fishery on Newfoundland.
+
+    "The Doctor next sought an interview with President Tyler, who at
+    once appreciated his solicitude and his timely representations of
+    Oregon, and especially his disinterested though hazardous
+    undertaking to cross the Rocky Mountains in the winter to take back
+    a caravan of wagons. He said that, although the Doctor's
+    representations of the character of the country, and the possibility
+    of reaching it by a wagon route, were in direct contradiction to
+    those of Governor Simpson, his frozen limbs were sufficient proof of
+    his sincerity, and his missionary character was sufficient guaranty
+    for his honesty, and he would therefore, as President, rest upon
+    these and act accordingly; would detail Fremont with a military
+    force to escort the Doctor's caravan through the mountains; and no
+    more action should be had toward trading off Oregon till he could
+    hear the result of the expedition. If the Doctor could establish a
+    wagon route through the mountains to the Columbia River, pronounced
+    impossible by Governors Simpson and Ashburton, he would use his
+    influence to hold on to Oregon. The great desire of the Doctor's
+    American soul, and Christian withal, that is, the pledge of the
+    President that the swapping of Oregon with England for a cod-fishery
+    should stop for the present, was attained, although at the risk of
+    life, and through great sufferings, and unsolicited, and without the
+    promise or expectation of a dollar's reward from any source. And
+    now, God giving him life and strength, he would do the rest; that
+    is, connect the Missouri and Columbia rivers with a wagon-track so
+    deep and plain that neither national envy nor sectional fanaticism
+    would ever blot it out[10]. And when the 5th of September, 1843, saw
+    the rear of the Doctor's caravan of nearly two hundred wagons, with
+    which he started from Missouri last of April, emerge from the
+    western shades of the Blue Mountains upon the plains of the
+    Columbia, the greatest work ever accomplished by one man for Oregon
+    was finished. And through that great emigration during that whole
+    summer, the Doctor was their everywhere-present angel of mercy,
+    ministering to the sick, helping the weary, encouraging the
+    wavering, cheering the mothers, mending wagons, setting broken
+    bones, hunting stray oxen, climbing precipices; now in the rear, now
+    at the front; in the rivers, looking out fords through the
+    quicksands; in the deserts, looking out for water; in the dark
+    mountains, looking out passes; at noontide or midnight, as though
+    those thousands were his own children, and those wagons and flocks
+    were his own property. Although he asked not, nor expected, a dollar
+    as a reward from any source, he felt himself abundantly rewarded
+    when he saw the desire of his heart accomplished, the great wagon
+    route over the mountains established, and Oregon in a fair way to be
+    occupied with American settlements and American commerce. And
+    especially he felt himself doubly paid, when, at the end of his
+    successful expedition, and standing alive at his home again on the
+    banks of the Wallawalla, these hundreds of his fellow summer
+    pilgrims, way-worn and sunbrowned, took him by the hand and thanked
+    him with tears for what he had done.
+
+    "During the Doctor's absence, his flour mill, with a quantity of
+    grain, had been burned, and, consequently, he found but a small
+    supply at his station on his return, raised by Mr. Geiger, a young
+    man. But what he had in the way of grain, garden vegetables, and
+    cattle, he gladly furnished the needy immigrants at the very low
+    figure of the Wallamet prices, which was six hundred per cent. lower
+    than what they had been compelled to pay at Forts Hall and Boise,
+    and one half lower than they are to-day in the same country. And
+    this was his practice every year till himself and wife and fourteen
+    immigrants were murdered in the fall of 1847, because, as
+    Vicar-General Brouillet says, 'they were American citizens', and
+    not, as I am bold to say and can prove, because he was a physician.
+    Shame on the American that will intimate such a thing! This
+    vicar-general of the Papal hosts on this coast does not thank you
+    for such an excuse. He tells you plainly it was to break up the
+    American settlements on this coast.
+
+    "Often the good Doctor would let every bushel of his grain go to the
+    passing immigrants in the fall, and then would have to depend upon
+    me for breadstuffs for the winter and the whole year till next
+    harvest, for his own large family and the scores of immigrants who
+    every year were obliged to stop at his station on account of
+    sickness or give-out teams. Although the Doctor had done so much for
+    his country, it seems his blood was necessary to arouse the
+    government to take formal possession of this coast, as it was his
+    death by savages that sent the devoted J. L. Meek over the mountains
+    to Washington, in the spring of 1848, to beg the government, in
+    behalf of the citizens of this coast, to send us help, and to extend
+    its jurisdiction over us."
+
+    [Footnote 10] They reached Fort Hall in safety, but there, in
+    the absence of Dr. Whitman from their camp, they were told by
+    Captain Grant, in the interest of the Hudson's Bay Company,
+    as others had been told before, that it was idle for wagons
+    to attempt to reach the Columbia. For a time there was a
+    heaviness of spirit among those families, which, like the
+    Israelites of old, had penetrated the depths of the "great
+    and terrible wilderness." But Dr. Whitman, on ascertaining
+    what had happened, reassured them by his bold and manly
+    words, saying to them, "My countrymen! you have trusted me
+    thus far; believe me now, and I will take your wagons to
+    Columbia River;" and he did so, and Oregon was saved by his
+    patriotism to the Union.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVIII.
+
+     Petition of the citizens of Oregon in 1843.--Complaints against the
+     Hudson's Bay Company.--The Milling Company.--Kicking the
+     half-bushel.--Land claims of Dr. McLaughlin.--Names of the
+     signers.--Reasons for not signing.--Notice, deed, and bond of John
+     McLaughlin.--Claim of Alvin F. Waller.
+
+
+_Petition of Citizens of Oregon in 1843._
+
+To the Honorable the Senate and House of Representatives of the
+United States of America in Congress assembled:--
+
+We, the undersigned, settlers south of the Columbia River, beg leave
+respectfully to represent to your honorable body:
+
+As has been before represented to your honorable body, we consider
+ourselves citizens of the United States, and acknowledge the right of
+the United States to extend its jurisdiction over us; and the object of
+the present memorial is to ask that the protection of the United States
+may be extended to us as soon as possible. Hitherto, our numbers have
+been small, and the few difficulties that arose in the settlement were
+speedily and satisfactorily settled. But, as our settlement increases in
+numbers, so our difficulties increase in number and importance; and,
+unless we can have laws to govern us that will be respected and obeyed,
+our situation will be a deplorable one. Where the highest court of
+appeal is the rifle, safety in life and property can not be depended on.
+
+The state of the country, its climate, resources, soil, productions,
+etc., has already been laid before your honorable body, in Captain
+Wyeth's memoir, and in former memorials from the inhabitants of this
+place.
+
+Laws are made to protect the weak against the mighty, and we feel the
+necessity of them in the steps that are constantly taken by the
+Honorable Hudson's Bay Company, in their opposition to the improvement
+and enterprise of American citizens. You have been apprised already of
+their opposition to Captain Wyeth, Bonneville, and others; and we find
+that the same spirit dwells with them at the present day. Some years
+ago, when the Hudson's Bay Company owned all the cattle in Oregon, they
+would not sell on any conditions; but they would lend their cows to the
+settler--he returning to the company the cows loaned, with all the
+increase; and in case of the death of a cow, he then had the privilege
+of paying for it. But after the settlers, at great risk and expense,
+went to California and purchased for themselves, and there was a fair
+prospect of the settlement being supplied, then the Hudson's Bay Company
+were willing to sell, and at lower rates than the settlers could sell.
+
+In the year 1842, feeling the necessity of having mills erected that
+could supply the settlement with flour and lumber, a number of the
+inhabitants formed themselves into a joint-stock company, for the
+purpose of supplying the growing wants of the community. Many of the
+farmers were obliged to leave their farms on the Wallamet, and go six
+miles above Vancouver, on the Columbia River, making the whole distance
+about sixty miles, to get their wheat ground, at a great loss of time
+and expense. The company was formed and proceeded to select a site. They
+selected an island at the falls of the Wallamet, and concluded to
+commence their operations. After commencing, they were informed by Dr.
+McLaughlin, who is at the head of the Hudson's Bay Company's affairs
+west of the Rocky Mountains, that the land was his, and that he
+(although a chief factor of the Hudson's Bay Company) claimed all the
+land on the east side of the Wallamet, embracing the falls down to the
+Clackamas River, a distance of about two miles. He had no idea, we
+presume, that the company would succeed. However, he erected a shed on
+the island, after the stuff was on the island to build a house, and then
+gave them permission to build under certain restrictions. They took the
+paper he wrote them, containing his conditions, but did not obligate
+themselves to comply with the conditions, as they did not think his
+claim just or reasonable.
+
+Many projects had been started by the inhabitants, but, for want of
+means and encouragement, failed. This fate was predicted for the Milling
+Company. But, after much labor and difficulty, they succeeded in getting
+a saw-mill erected, and ready to run, and entered into a contract to
+have a grist-mill erected forthwith. And now, as they have succeeded,
+where is the Hudson's Bay Company? Dr. McLaughlin employs hands to get
+out a frame for a saw-mill, and erect it at Wallamet Falls; and we find,
+as soon as the frame is up, the gearing, which has been made at
+Vancouver, is brought up in boats; and that which cost a feeble company
+of American citizens months of toil and embarrassment is accomplished by
+the chief factor of the Hudson's Bay Company in a few weeks. He has men
+and means, and it is said by him that in two weeks his mill will be
+sawing. And what will be the consequence? Why, if the Milling Company
+sell for $15 per thousand, he can sell for $12; if they reduce the price
+to $10, he can come to $8, or $5, or $2 per thousand. He says he will
+have a grist-mill started as soon as he gets the saw-mill in operation.
+
+All the wheat in Oregon they are anxious to get, as they ship it to the
+Russians on the northwest coast. In the first place they measured the
+wheat in a half-bushel, called by them imperial measure, much larger
+than the standard measure of the United States; this not answering, they
+next proceeded _to kick the half-bushel with the foot to settle the
+wheat_; then they brought up a measure larger than the former one; and
+now they fill this measure, then strike it _three times with a stout
+club_, and then fill up, and call it fair measure. Against such
+proceedings we need law that will be respected and obeyed.
+
+About twelve or fourteen years ago, the Hudson's Bay Company blasted a
+canal a few feet to conduct water to a mill they were going to build,
+the timber for which is now lying at the falls rotting. They, however,
+abandoned the thing altogether, and built their mills on the Columbia,
+about six miles above Vancouver, on the north side of the river.
+
+In the year 1837, agreeably to orders left by Mr. Slacum, a house was
+erected at the falls, to secure the claim for him.
+
+In 1840, the Methodist Mission erected buildings at the falls, and
+stationed two families there, and made a claim to sufficient land for
+their buildings, not interfering with any others who might wish to
+build. A short time previous to this, Dr. McLaughlin had a storehouse
+erected for the company, not occupied, however, further than to store
+wheat and other articles in, and as a trading-house during the salmon
+season.
+
+After this, in 1841, a shanty was erected, and a man kept at the falls,
+whose business it was to trade with the Indians for furs and salmon, and
+look out for the doctor's claim, he said, and to forbid persons building
+at the falls, as some had built, and others were about building. This
+man was, and still is, a servant of the Hudson's Bay Company.
+
+During the years 1841 and 1842, several families settled at the falls,
+when Dr. McLaughlin, who still resides at Fort Vancouver, comes on the
+ground, and says the land is his, and any person building without his
+permission is held as a trespasser. Without reference to any person's
+right or claim, he employs a surveyor to run out the plat; and as a bill
+was before the Senate of the United States to grant to every white male
+inhabitant a mile square, he has a mile run out to suit his views, and
+lays out a town plat at the falls, and calls it Oregon City. Although
+some, for peace's sake, asked him for the lots they had already in
+possession, and which he appeared very willing to grant, the doctor now
+felt himself secure, and posted up the annexed paper (marked A), which
+is the original; and all who had lots were required to pay Mr. Hastings
+five dollars for a deed of land which they knew very well the grantor
+did not own, but that Congress will pass a special act granting to each
+man his lot and improvements. Those that applied received (if they had a
+house on the lot) a deed, a copy of which is annexed (marked B); if they
+had no house, a bond was given for five dollars, a copy of which is
+annexed (marked C). To those that applied and paid their five dollars
+all was right with the doctor; while those who considered his title to
+the land not good, and that therefore he had no right to direct who
+should build and who should not, had their lots sold to others. In one
+case the purchaser came to the original claimant and ordered him to stop
+digging the ground which he was preparing for a garden, and commanded
+him to remove his fences, as he had Dr. McLaughlin's bond in his pocket
+for the lots; and if he did not move the fence he would, and take
+forcible possession. Those who desired to have no difficulty, and did
+not apply for a deed, have lost their lots, the doctor's promise, and
+all. And Mr. Hastings (the doctor's agent) is now offering for sale the
+lots on which part of the mission buildings stand; and if he succeeds in
+finding a purchaser, they must either contend or lose their buildings.
+
+Dr. McLaughlin has held claims in other places south of the Columbia
+River: at the Tualatin Plains and Clackamas Plains he had huts erected,
+to prevent others from building; and such is the power of Dr.
+McLaughlin, that many persons are actually afraid to make their
+situation known, thinking, if he hears of it, he will stop their
+supplies. Letters were received here from Messrs. Ladd & Co., of the
+Sandwich Islands, in answer to a letter written by the late Mr. Ewing
+Young, for a few supplies, that orders were received forbidding the
+company's vessels carrying any goods for the settlers of Oregon. Every
+means will be made use of by them to break down every thing that will
+draw trade to this country, or enable persons to get goods at any other
+place than their store.
+
+One other item, and we are done. When the United States government
+officers of distinction arrive, Vancouver is thrown open, and every
+facility afforded them. They were even more condescending to the
+settlers during the time the exploring squadron was in the Columbia;
+nothing was left undone to give the officers a high opinion of the
+Honorable Hudson's Bay Company. Our Indian agent is entirely dependent
+on them for supplies and funds to carry on his operations.
+
+And now your memorialists pray your honorable body that immediate action
+of Congress be taken in regard to this country, and good and wholesome
+laws be enacted for our Territory, as may, in your wisdom, be thought
+best for the good of the American citizens residing here.
+
+And your memorialists will ever pray.
+
+     Robert Shortess, A. E. Wilson*, W. C. Remick*, Jeffrey Brown, E. N.
+     Coombs, Reuben Lewis, George Davis, V. Bennett, J. Rekener, T. J.
+     Hubbard, James A. O'Neil, Jer. Horregon, William McCarty, Charles
+     Compo, John Howard*, R. Williams, G. Brown, John Turner*, Theodore
+     Pancott, A. F. Waller, J. R. Robb, J. L. Morrison, M. Crawford,
+     John Anderson, James M. Bates, L. H. Judson, Joel Turnham*, Richard
+     H. Ekin, H. Campbell*, James Force, W. H. Wilson*, Felix Hathaway*,
+     J. Lawson, Thomas J. Shadden*, Joseph Gibbs, S. Lewis, Jr., Charles
+     Roy, William Brown, S. Davis, Joseph Yatten, John Hopstatter*, G.
+     W. Bellomy*, William Brown, A. Beers, J. L. Parish, William H.
+     Gray, A. D. Smith*, J. C. Bridgers*, Aaron Cook, A. Copeland, S. W.
+     Moss, Gustavus Hines, George W. Le Breton*, Daniel Girtman, C. T.
+     Arrendrill, A. Touner, David Carter*, J. J. Campbell*, W. Johnson*,
+     John Edmunds, W. Hauxhurst, W. A. Pfieffer, J. Holman, H. B.
+     Brewer, William C. Sutton. Sixty-five in all.
+
+
+     * It is understood that the persons whose names are marked with an
+     asterisk (*) are now dead; the balance are supposed to be still
+     living.
+
+The foregoing are all the names which appear to the petition printed as
+Senate document 105, and presented to the Senate at the first session of
+the twenty-eighth Congress.
+
+                                  W. J. MCDONALD,
+                         Principal Clerk of Sec'y Senate.
+
+WASHINGTON, D. C., Jan. 5, 1866.
+
+
+Mr. George Abernethy declined to sign this petition through fear of
+injuring the Methodist Mission in its secular or business relations with
+the Hudson's Bay Company.
+
+Hugh Burns would not sign it because he did not wish Congress to be
+asked to confirm his title to lots and improvements.
+
+Jason Lee, though he thought it right to petition Congress for
+protection, yet on account of his position as superintendent of the
+Methodist Mission, and the influence of the company against them should
+he sign it, thought it best not to give his name.
+
+Dr. I. L. Babcock refused, because, by signing, he would lose his
+influence with the company.
+
+Walter Pomeroy, ditto.
+
+Dr. Bailey _did not wish any protection from the Congress of the United
+States_.
+
+Rev. H. K. W. Perkins was _ashamed_ of the petition. "What does Congress
+care about measuring wheat? or a contest between two milling companies?"
+
+George Gay did not care any thing about it. Congress might do as it
+pleased; he did not want its protection.
+
+The people in Tualatin Plains did not have an opportunity to sign or
+refuse for want of time to circulate it in that section. The bearer of
+it, William C. Sutton, was on his way to the States across the Rocky
+Mountains. Through the influence of Dr. White, who had clandestinely
+procured a copy of the petition and the names attached, and had made an
+effort to prevent its reaching Mr. Sutton, it had been delayed, but
+through the perseverance and promptness of Robert Shortess and A. E.
+Wilson, it was sent by Davis and Johnson and some Indians in an express
+canoe, and reached Mr. Sutton before he left the Cascades. For this
+service to his country and the persevering efforts of Mr. Shortess to
+maintain the rights of American citizens in it, he was early placed
+under the ban of the Hudson's Bay Company, and, it may be added, the
+Methodist Mission; and reports prejudicial to him have been freely and
+persistently kept before the public mind, as also against any others
+that have taken an active part against the infamous and despotic course
+of that company. This is to weaken their testimony, and to render them
+powerless to prevent the present proposed robbing of our national
+treasury. Instead of paying one dime to that company for doing all they
+dared to do to prevent the settlement of Oregon by Americans, a pension
+should be paid to Robert Shortess and many others who dared to maintain
+the rights of the American people to this western coast. Whitman periled
+every thing and lost his life to save the country. Shortess has periled
+all, and worn himself out in struggling under an influence that took the
+life of Dr. Whitman and many others, for which this Hudson's Bay Company
+are now to receive pay.
+
+It is unnecessary for me to make a single remark in reference to this
+petition. It is a history in itself of the times and events then
+occurring. Mr. Hines refers to it as of little moment, and on page 150
+says: "Not being one of the authors, but merely a signer of the
+petition, I did not come under the ban of the company; consequently, I
+obtained my outfit for the expedition, though at first there were strong
+indications that I would be refused."
+
+We would infer from this, that the Hudson's Bay Company did not regard
+it as a serious matter, but in the next line he tells us: "We remained
+at the fort over night and a part of the next day, and, after a _close
+conversation with the gentlemen in command_, were treated with great
+courtesy."
+
+This lets us into the whole mystery of the affair. The gentlemen in
+charge of the fort had become satisfied that Mr. Hines in his visit
+among the Indians would not interfere with their arrangements already
+made with McKay and White; in fact, that Mr. Hines approved of Dr.
+White's policy of uniting the tribes in the interior to accomplish the
+one great object of the company. The documents that follow are given to
+show the fact stated in the petition, as also the high-handed measures
+of the company and Dr. McLaughlin.
+
+
+A.
+
+Notice is hereby given to all whom it may concern, that those who have
+obtained grants of lots in Oregon City, will be expected to call upon L.
+W. Hastings, my authorized agent at Oregon City, and obtain a bond for a
+deed or deeds, as the case may be. Those who hold claims to any lot, and
+who comply with the above requisite, on or before the first day of
+February next, will be entitled to their lot or lots; otherwise, the
+lots upon which they hold a claim will thereafter be subject to any
+disposition which the undersigned may think proper to make of them.
+
+                                  JOHN MCLAUGHLIN.
+January 18, 1843.
+
+
+                                            OREGON CITY, March 27, 1843.
+
+We, the undersigned, do hereby certify that the above notice of John
+McLaughlin was posted up in the most public places in this town.
+
+                                  R. SHORTESS.
+                                  A. E. WILSON.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+B.
+
+_Deed--John McLaughlin to Walter Pomeroy._
+
+Know all men by these presents, that I, John McLaughlin, of Fort
+Vancouver, in the Territory of Oregon, for and in consideration of the
+sum of one dollar, to me in hand paid by Walter Pomeroy, of Oregon City,
+of the Territory aforesaid, the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged,
+have this day, and do, by these presents, remit, release, and forever
+quit claim unto the said Pomeroy, his heirs and assigns, all and
+singular, the following piece, parcel, and lot of land, bounded and
+described as follows, to wit: Commencing at the northeast corner,
+running thence southerly sixty-six feet to a stake, thence easterly one
+hundred feet to a stake at the place of beginning, being lot number
+four, in block number three, in the town of Oregon City, in the
+Territory of Oregon, which will more fully appear from a reference to
+the map and plan of said town:
+
+To have and to hold the same, together with all and singular the
+privileges and appurtenances thereunto in any wise appertaining or
+belonging unto the said Pomeroy, his heirs, executors, administrators,
+or assigns, forever.
+
+And I, the said McLaughlin, for myself, do vouch and declare that I am
+the true and proper claimant of and to the said premises and lot of
+land, and that I have in myself full power, good right, and sufficient
+authority to remit, release, and quit my claim in and to said lot and
+premises, in manner and form aforesaid.
+
+And I, the said McLaughlin, do hereby covenant and agree to warrant and
+defend the said premises, together with the privileges and appurtenances
+thereunto appertaining or belonging, to the said Pomeroy, his heirs and
+assigns, against all lawful claims of all persons whomsoever, _the
+claims of the government only excepted_.
+
+In testimony whereof, I, the said McLaughlin, have hereunto set my hand
+and affixed my seal, this the 2d of March, A.D. 1843.
+
+                                  JOHN MCLAUGHLIN. [L. S.]
+Per L. W. HASTINGS, his agent.
+
+
+We, the undersigned, do hereby acknowledge that the above is a true and
+correct copy of the original.
+
+                                  R. SHORTESS.
+                                  A. E. WILSON.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+C.
+
+_Bond--John McLaughlin to Albert E. Wilson._
+
+Know all men by these presents, that I, John McLaughlin, of Fort
+Vancouver, in the Territory of Oregon, am held and firmly bound unto
+Albert E. Wilson, of Oregon City, in the Territory aforesaid, in the
+full sum of five hundred dollars, federal money; for the punctual
+payment of which, well and truly to be made, I bind myself, my heirs,
+executors or administrators, firmly by these presents.
+
+In testimony whereof, I have hereunto below set my hand and affixed my
+seal, this the 26th day of December, A.D. 1842.
+
+Now, know ye, that the condition of the above obligation is such, that
+whereas the said Wilson hath this day, and doth by these presents,
+purchase of the said McLaughlin all and singular the following pieces,
+parcels, tracts, and lots of land, namely: Lots Nos. four and five, in
+block No. two, in the town of Oregon City, in the Territory of Oregon,
+as is more fully shown by the map and plan of said town, and hath, and
+by these presents doth agree to build upon and improve each of the lots
+within the term of one year from the date of these presents. In
+consideration of which, the said McLaughlin hath, and doth by these
+presents covenant and agree to make the said Wilson a good and
+sufficient quit-claim deed for and to all and singular the
+above-mentioned pieces, parcels, tracts, and lots of land, whenever he,
+the said Wilson, shall have complied with the above conditions on his
+part. Now, if the said McLaughlin shall well and truly make, or cause to
+be made, the said deed to the said Wilson, upon the said Wilson's
+complying on his part with the above condition, then, and in such case,
+the within obligation shall become entirely void and of no effect;
+otherwise to be and remain of full force and virtue.
+
+                                  JOHN MCLAUGHLIN. [L. S.]
+
+Per L. W. HASTINGS, his agent.
+
+We, the undersigned, do hereby acknowledge the above to be a true and
+correct copy of the original.
+
+                                  R. SHORTESS.
+                                  A. E. WILSON.
+
+
+Our history would not be complete without these documents. It will be
+noticed in Mr. Pomeroy's deed, as also all the other deeds given by Dr.
+McLaughlin, that he "warrants and defends" against all lawful claims of
+all persons whomsoever, _the claims of the government only excepted_. He
+would not insert _United States government_, for he expected the English
+would get the country. He asserts in his deeds, "And I, the said
+McLaughlin, _for myself_, do vouch and declare that I am the true and
+proper claimant of, and to the said premises and lot of land, and that I
+have in myself full power and good right."
+
+Any one questioning his power and authority was made to feel it in a
+manner more severe than that of any governor of a State or of the
+President of the United States.
+
+It was unfortunate that, at the time Dr. McLaughlin was making his claim
+to the land and his improvements at Oregon City, it was not known that
+he had, or would, sever his connection with the Hudson's Bay Company,
+and become an American citizen, as he afterward did. It was his
+connection with, and apparent control over, the affairs of the company,
+that created the strong American prejudice against him, and deceived
+many as to his intentions, besides giving occasion for a strong feeling
+in favor of Rev. Mr. Waller, who employed a Mr. John Ricord to prepare a
+declaration setting forth his claim to that location, as follows:--
+
+    "_To the People of Oregon:_
+
+    "FELLOW-CITIZENS,--Having been retained professionally to establish
+    the claim of Mr. Alvin F. Waller to the tract of land on the east
+    side of the Wallamet River, sometimes called the Wallamet Falls
+    settlement, and sometimes Oregon City, I consider it a duty to my
+    client and to the public to state, briefly and concisely, the
+    several circumstances of his case, as they really exist, in order
+    that his motives may not be impugned, nor his intentions
+    misunderstood and misrepresented.
+
+    "The public are already aware that my client commenced the occupancy
+    of this farm in the spring of A.D. 1840, when no one resided at the
+    falls, and that, in the course of that summer, he built his house,
+    moved his family into it, and cleared and fenced a good portion of
+    the land; from which, in the ensuing years A.D. 1841 and 1842, he
+    raised successive crops of corn, potatoes, and other vegetables
+    usually cultivated by farmers. That he remained thus occupying
+    undisturbed, until the month of December, A.D. 1842, about two years
+    and six months, when Dr. John McLaughlin caused his farm to be
+    surveyed, for the purpose of selling it in subdivisions to American
+    citizens. It has since been currently reported and quite generally
+    believed that my client had renounced his right in favor of Dr.
+    McLaughlin. This I am authorized to contradict, having perused the
+    letter written by Mr. Waller, which not only contains no
+    renunciation, but, on the contrary, is replete with modest and firm
+    assertions of his rights in the premises; offering at the same time
+    to relinquish his claim if the doctor would comply with certain very
+    reasonable and just conditions. Upon this offer the parties had come
+    to no final conclusion until my arrival in the colony, when Dr.
+    McLaughlin attempted to employ me to establish his claim,
+    disregarding the rights of all other persons, which I declined
+    doing. Mr. Waller thereupon engaged me to submit the conditions a
+    second time to the doctor for his acceptance or rejection, which I
+    did in the following words:--
+
+    "'1st. That your pre-emptive line be so run as to exclude the island
+    upon which a private company of citizens have already erected a
+    grist-mill, conceding to them as much water as may be necessary for
+    the use of said mills.
+
+    "'2d. That Mr. Waller be secured in the ultimate title to the two
+    city lots now in his possession and other lots not exceeding in
+    superficial area five acres, to be chosen by him from among the
+    unsold lots of your present survey.
+
+    "'3d. That the Rev. Mr. Lee, on behalf of the Methodist Episcopal
+    Mission, be, in like manner, secured in the lots claimed for the use
+    of said mission.' They consist of church and parsonage lots, and
+    are well known to the public.
+
+    "I received a letter from Dr. McLaughlin, dated November 10, 1843,
+    in answer to mine, in which he declines complying with the above
+    conditions, and thus puts an end to the offer of my client to
+    relinquish his right of pre-emption. Under these circumstances Mr.
+    Waller has now applied to the Supreme Court of the United States,
+    which, under the Constitution, has original jurisdiction of 'all
+    cases in law and equity, arising under treaties,' to grant him a
+    commission for perpetuating the testimony of the facts in his case,
+    _de bene esse_, in order that whenever Congress shall hereafter see
+    fit to prescribe, by law, the conditions and considerations, he may
+    be enabled to demand of the United States a patent; also praying the
+    court to grant him such other relief in the premises as may be
+    consonant with equity and good conscience.
+
+    "The legality of Mr. A. F. Waller's claim rests upon the following
+    grounds:--
+
+    "1st. He was a citizen of the United States, of full age, and
+    possessed of a family when he came to reside on the premises; 2d. He
+    built a house upon them and moved his family into it, thus becoming
+    in fact and in law a householder on the land; 3d. He cleared,
+    fenced, and cultivated a portion of it during two years and six
+    months before he was disturbed in his actual possession; and 4th.
+    That he is not at this moment continuing to cultivate his farm is
+    not his fault, since it was wrested from him.
+
+    "The illegality of Dr. McLaughlin's claim rests upon the following
+    grounds:--
+
+    "1st. He was a British subject owing allegiance to a foreign power,
+    and has so continued to be ever since the spring of A.D. 1840. For
+    this reason alone he could not acquire pre-emption to lands in the
+    United States.
+
+    "2d. He is chief officer of a foreign corporative monopoly. For this
+    reason alone he could not acquire pre-emption to lands in the United
+    States.
+
+    "3d. He does not now, and never did, reside on the land in question;
+    but, on the contrary, he resides, and has always continued to
+    reside, on the north bank of the Columbia River, the section of
+    country actually in dispute between the two governments, about
+    twenty miles from the land claimed by Mr. Waller, and there he is
+    obliged to remain so long as he continues to be chief factor.
+
+    "4th. He is not in fact the claimant. The Hudson's Bay Company, a
+    foreign corporation, is in fact the claimant, while Dr. McLaughlin
+    only lends his name; well knowing that a corporation, even though
+    it be an American one, can not acquire a pre-emption. This is
+    evinced by the employment of men to be his agents, and to sell lots
+    for him, who are at the same time partners in, and receiving
+    dividends and salaries from, the company.
+
+    "5th. The pretensions of Dr. McLaughlin arose, if at all, two years
+    and six months after the actual settlement of Mr. Waller; and
+    therefore they are in direct violation of the treaty of A.D. 1827,
+    converting the mutual and joint occupation into an exclusive
+    occupancy by British subjects.
+
+    "6th. The treaty of joint occupation (1827) does not, and was never
+    intended, on the part of the United States, to confer any rights of
+    citizenship upon foreigners. The power to confer such rights is, by
+    the Constitution, reserved to Congress. And the right to acquire
+    title by pre-emption is peculiar to citizens.
+
+    "These, fellow-citizens, are the facts and some of the points of law
+    in my client's case. Upon the same principle contended for by Dr.
+    McLaughlin, any of you may incur the risk of being ousted from your
+    farms in this colony, by the next rich foreigner who chooses to take
+    a fancy so to do, unless in the first instance you come unanimously
+    forward and resist these usurpations. It is not my client's
+    intention to wrong any who have purchased lots of the doctor; and to
+    guard against the injury which might result to individuals in this
+    respect, I have carefully drawn up the form of a bond for a
+    warrantee deed, which Mr. Waller is at all times ready, without any
+    further consideration, to execute to any person who has, in good
+    faith, bought of the doctor, prior to the date of this notice, by
+    being applied to at his residence. Mr. Waller does not require one
+    cent of money to be paid to him as a consideration for his
+    bonds--the trouble, expense, and outlays they have already incurred,
+    with a desire to save all such persons harmless from pecuniary loss,
+    is a good and sufficient consideration in law to bind him in the
+    proposed penalty of one thousand dollars. (See Cowan's
+    Digest--Assumpsit, B).
+
+    "I am of opinion that Mr. Waller has rights in the premises, which
+    neither Dr. McLaughlin, nor even Congress, by any retrospective
+    legislation, can take away from him,--and therefore,
+    fellow-citizens, in sincere friendship, I would counsel you to lose
+    no time in applying to him for your new bonds.
+
+                                  "JOHN RICORD,
+
+                   "Counselor in the Supreme Court of the United States,
+                          and attorney for Alvin F. Waller.
+
+    "Dated December 20, 1843."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIX.
+
+     Extracts from Mr. Hines' history.--Attempt to capture an Indian
+     horse-thief.--Dr. McLaughlin refuses to sell supplies to the
+     signers of the petition.--Excitement in the settlement.--Interview
+     with Dr. McLaughlin at Vancouver.
+
+
+"April 14.--Information was brought to the settlement from the Clackamas
+tribe of Indians, who live three miles below the falls of the Wallamet,
+which served to increase the excitement occasioned by the reports from
+the interior. It appears that an Indian of the Molalla tribe, connected
+with the Clackamas Indians by marriage, stole a horse from a man by the
+name of Anderson, and when asked by the latter if he had stolen his
+horse and rode him off, answered, 'Yes, I stole your horse, and when I
+want another one I shall steal him also.' To this Anderson replied, 'If
+you stole my horse you must pay me for him.' 'Yes,' said the Indian, 'I
+will pay you for him, take that horse,' pointing to a very poor horse
+which stood near by, with one eye out, and a very sore back. Anderson
+replied, 'That is a very poor horse, and mine is a good one; I shall not
+take him, and if you don't bring him back I will report you to Dr.
+White.' 'I am not afraid of Dr. White,' said the Indian; 'let him come
+if he wants to, and bring the Boston people with him; he will find me
+prepared for him.'
+
+"Anderson not being able to effect a settlement with the Indian,
+immediately reported him to the agent, whereupon the latter wrote to a
+man at the falls, by the name of Campbell, to take a sufficient number
+of men armed with muskets, and go very early in the morning to the
+Indian camp, and take the horse-thief a prisoner, and bring him to the
+falls.
+
+"Accordingly, Campbell procured five men, and went to the camp as
+commanded, but found thirty or forty Indians painted in the most hideous
+manner, and armed with muskets, bows and arrows, tomahawks and
+scalping-knives, and determined at all events to protect the
+horse-thief, and drive back those that should come to take him. Campbell
+rushed on to take the rogue, but met with much resistance from
+superiority of numbers; and finding that the enterprise, if urged
+forward, would terminate in bloodshed, if not in the loss of all their
+lives, sounded a retreat, and extricating himself from the Indians,
+returned to the falls. He communicated the result of his attempt to Dr.
+White, and the doctor started off immediately in company with G. W. Le
+Breton, resolved to capture the thief and bring the tribe to terms."
+
+This day's proceedings are given as a specimen of the foolish conduct of
+Dr. White and his friends.
+
+"April 17.--The excitement still continues, former reports having been
+confirmed, and all were engaged in repairing guns, and securing
+ammunition. A report was in circulation that Dr. McLaughlin refused to
+grant supplies for any consideration, to all those persons who
+subscribed the memorial praying the Congress of the United States to
+extend jurisdiction over Oregon. If this be so, the American population
+(as nearly all signed the memorial) will not be able to obtain
+ammunition, however necessary it may be, as there is none in the country
+except what may by found within the stockades of Vancouver. I think,
+however, that the report is false. Report says, furthermore, that the
+Klikitat Indians are collecting together back of the Tualatin plains,
+but for what purpose is not known. The people on the plains, consisting
+of about thirty families, are quite alarmed. There is also a move among
+the Calapooyas. Shoefon, one of the principal men of the tribe, left
+this place a few days ago, and crossed the Wallamet River, declaring
+that he would never return until he came with a band of men to drive off
+the Boston people. He was very much offended because some of his people
+were seized and flogged, through the influence of Dr. White, for having
+stolen a horse from some of the missionaries, and flour from the mission
+mill. His influence is not very extensive among the Indians, or we might
+have much to fear.
+
+"The colony is indeed in a most defenseless condition; two hundred
+Indians, divided into four bands, might destroy the whole settlement in
+one night.
+
+"In the evening of the 17th, Dr. White arrived at my house, bringing
+intelligence from the falls. He and Mr. Le Breton attempted to go to the
+falls on horseback, but in trying to ford Haunchauke River, they found
+the water so deep they were obliged to swim, and the doctor turned his
+horse's head and came out the side he went in; but Le Breton, being the
+better mounted of the two, succeeded in gaining the opposite shore; and
+having the doctor's letters in his possession, continued on to the
+falls. The doctor returned to the settlement. Le Breton returned the
+following day, and brought information from the five men who had
+attempted to take the Indian who had stolen Anderson's horse, that soon
+after their retreat the Indians became alarmed and broke up in great
+haste; but, before they left, they informed Anderson that the horse they
+had stolen from him was worn out and good for nothing, and tying a good
+horse to a tree near Anderson's house, they told him that he must take
+that and be satisfied. They then hurried away, saying that they should
+not be seen in that region again. It was ascertained that the Clackamas
+Indians had nothing to do with the stolen horse; that it was a band of
+the Molallas, the very same rascals that stole a horse from me two years
+before, and after having him in their possession several weeks, brought
+him down within a few miles of my house, where they encamped, and where
+I went with one man and took him from the midst of more than fifty
+grim-looking savages."
+
+This shows at least that Mr. Hines had personal courage.
+
+"On the 20th of April a letter was received in the settlement, written
+by H. B. Brewer, at the Dalles, which brings the latest intelligence
+from the infected region. This letter states that the Indians in the
+interior talk much of war, and Mr. Brewer urges Dr. White to come up
+without delay, and endeavor to allay the excitement. He does not inform
+us that the Indians design any evil toward the whites, but says that the
+war is to be between themselves, but that the Boston people have much to
+fear. As the doctor, in his visit to the interior last October, left an
+appointment to meet the Wallawalla Indians and the Cayuses, in their own
+country, on the 10th of May, and believing that a great share of the
+excitement originated in a misunderstanding of the Indians, he came to
+the conclusion at all hazards to go among them. At the solicitation of
+the agent, I determined to accompany him on the expedition.
+
+"The great complaint of the Indians was that the Boston people designed
+to take away their lands, and reduce them to slavery. This they had
+inferred from what Dr. White had told them in his previous visit; and
+this misunderstanding of the Indians had not only produced a great
+excitement among them, but had occasioned considerable trouble betwixt
+them and the missionaries and other whites in the upper country, as well
+as influencing them to threaten the destruction of all the American
+people. Individuals had come down from Fort Wallawalla to Vancouver,
+bringing information of the excited state of things among the Indians,
+and giving out that it would be extremely dangerous for Dr. White to go
+up to meet his engagements. Their opinion was, that in all probability
+he and the party which he might think proper to take with him would be
+cut off. But it was the opinion of many judicious persons in the
+settlement, that the welfare of the Indians, and the peace and security
+of the whites, demanded that some persons qualified to negotiate with
+the Indians should proceed immediately to the scene of disaffection, and
+if possible remove the cause of the excitement by correcting the error
+under which the Indians labored. Accordingly Dr. White engaged twelve
+men besides myself, mostly French-Canadians who had had much experience
+with Indians, to go with him; but a few days before the time fixed upon
+to start had arrived, they all sent him word that they had decided not
+to go. They were doubtless induced to pursue this course through the
+influence of Dr. McLaughlin and the Catholic priests."
+
+Most likely, Mr. Hines, but you seem to be afraid to express a decided
+opinion, even after they have accomplished their object.
+
+"When the day arrived for starting, we found ourselves abandoned by
+every person who had engaged to go, except Mr. G. W. Le Breton, an
+American, one Indian boy, and one Kanaka. With the two latter the doctor
+and myself left the Wallamet settlement on the 25th of April, 1843, and
+proceeded on horseback to the Butte, where we found Le Breton in waiting
+for us. He had provided a canoe and a few pieces of pork and beef for
+our use on the voyage.
+
+"Here we met a letter from Dr. John McLaughlin, at Vancouver,
+discouraging us from our undertaking in view of the difficulties and
+dangers attending such an expedition; but we had counted the cost, and
+were not to be diverted from our purpose, though danger stared us in the
+face. We supposed that if the Indians entertained any hostile intentions
+against the whites in general, there could be no better way to defeat
+their purposes than to go among them; convince them that they had no
+grounds of fear; and that the whites, instead of designing to bring them
+into subjection, were desirous of doing them good. Prevented by one
+thing and another from setting sail, on the night of the 27th we slept
+on a bank of sand at the Butte, and next day proceeded in our little
+canoe down to Wallamet Falls, where we continued until the 29th. Here we
+received another package from Dr. McLaughlin, giving us information that
+Rev. Mr. Demerse, a Catholic priest, had just come down from the upper
+country, bringing intelligence that the Indians are only incensed
+against the Boston people; that they have nothing against the French and
+King George people; they are not mad at them, but are determined that
+the Boston people shall not have their lands, and take away their
+liberties.
+
+"On receiving this intelligence from Mr. Demerse, Dr. McLaughlin advised
+the Frenchmen, who had engaged to go with Dr. White, to have nothing to
+do with the quarrel, to remain quiet at home, and let the Americans take
+care of themselves. He also expressed, in his letter, the opinion that
+all the people should remain quiet, and in all probability the
+excitement among the Indians would soon subside.
+
+"Not seeing sufficient reason to change our course, on the morning of
+the 28th we left our hospitable friends at the falls and continued our
+course down the Wallamet toward Vancouver. At noon we had sailed twenty
+miles, and stopped for dinner within five miles of the mouth of the
+Wallamet, on a low piece of ground, overgrown with luxuriant grass, but
+which is always overflowed at the rise of the Columbia, or about the
+first of June. Weighed anchor after dinner, and at four o'clock, P.M.,
+arrived at Vancouver. Called on Dr. McLaughlin for goods, provisions,
+powder, balls, etc., for our accommodation on our voyage up the
+Columbia, and, though he was greatly surprised that, under the
+circumstances, we should think of going among those excited Indians, yet
+he ordered his clerks to let us have whatever we wanted. However, we
+found it rather squally at the fort, not so much on account of our going
+among the Indians of the interior, as in consequence of a certain
+memorial having been sent to the United States Congress, implicating the
+conduct of Dr. McLaughlin and the Hudson's Bay Company, and bearing the
+signature of seventy Americans. I inquired of the doctor if he had
+refused to grant supplies to those Americans who had signed that
+document; he replied that he had not, but that the authors of the
+memorial need expect no more favors from him. _Not being one of the
+authors, but merely a signer of the petition, I did not come under the
+ban of the company_; consequently I obtained my outfit for the
+expedition, though at first there were strong indications that I would
+be refused.
+
+"We remained at the fort over night and a part of the next day, and
+after a close conversation with the gentleman in command, were treated
+with great courtesy."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XL.
+
+     A combination of facts.--Settlers alive to their danger.--Mr.
+     Hines' disparagement of the Methodist Mission.--Indians want pay
+     for being whipped.--Indian honesty.--Mr. Hines' opinion of the
+     Indians' religion.--Mr. Geiger's advice.--Dr. McLaughlin's answer
+     to Yellow Serpent.--Baptiste Doreo.--Four conflicting influences.
+
+
+We now have before us a combination of facts and statements that no one
+living at the time they occurred will attempt to deny. Shortess and
+others still live to vouch for the truth of what is written. If Mr.
+Hines has shown the least partiality in his writings, it is strongly in
+favor of influences that were operating against him and the cause he
+advocated; while such men as Rogers, Le Breton, Wilson, Whitman, and
+others still living, spoke and acted the American sentiment of the
+country. Mr. Hines and Dr. White had received two packages from Dr.
+McLaughlin advising them not to go to the interior, and the Jesuit
+priest, Demerse, had come down bringing word that the "quarrel" was not
+with the _French_ and _English_, and that Dr. McLaughlin advised his
+Frenchmen to remain at home and let the Americans take care of
+themselves. Mr. Brewer is deceived as to the cause of the war rumors
+about him, and seems solicitous only about the Indians. With all these
+facts, as given by Mr. Hines, with his ability and experience, we are at
+a loss to understand how it is that he could take notes and publish, in
+1851, statements as above quoted, and then proceed with the account that
+follows, rather excusing Dr. McLaughlin and the priests in the part they
+are taking in attempting to crush the American settlement, and actually
+aiding the Hudson's Bay Company in combining and marshaling the savages
+to weaken and destroy his countrymen!
+
+The writer does not believe he intended to do any thing of the kind, yet
+the influences brought to bear upon him were such that he became an
+active instrument with Dr. White to accomplish the one great object of
+the Hudson's Bay Company and English government, and becomes the
+apologist for a premeditated and deliberate murder of his countrymen.
+The Whitman massacre he does not even mention.
+
+The settlers were alive to their danger. They had no head, no
+organization, no one to look to for supplies or protection. They knew
+that the sub-agent of the United States government was the dupe of
+their worst enemy, and had betrayed them. They knew that it was the
+policy and disposition of the missions to keep them under their control.
+
+We are fully aware of the fact that the leading clergymen of all the
+missions attempt to deny the position above stated. But in the covenant
+of Mr. Griffin with Mr. Munger, he admits that the articles of compact
+and arrangement of the various missionary societies all affirm the one
+principle, that laymen or members of their societies were subject to the
+orders and dictation of the clergymen, not only in religious, but all
+financial and secular matters,--hence the disposition and determination
+on the part of these clerical gentlemen to govern the early settlement
+of the country. The Hudson's Bay Company system of absolute government
+was favorable to this idea. The Jesuit priests, who combined their
+influence with the company, all contributed to oppress and keep down the
+settler. While the priests were active in combining and preparing the
+Indians in middle Oregon to rob and destroy the emigrant on his lonely,
+weary, toilsome way to this country, their agents and principal clerks
+were equally active in shaping matters in the various neighborhoods and
+settlements west of the Cascades.
+
+On the 156th page of Mr. Hines' book he gives us a short summary of the
+labors of Revs. Daniel Lee, H. K. W. Perkins, and Mr. H. B. Brewer:
+"They are laboring to establish a permanent mission at this place [the
+Dalles] for the benefit of the Indians, but with doubtful success." That
+the Methodist Mission should be misled and become inefficient is not to
+be wondered at when such men as Mr. Hines, holding the position and
+assuming a controlling influence as he did, should express himself in
+the language quoted above. The "doubtful success" attending all the
+missionary labors of the Methodist Mission was unquestionably
+attributable to the opinions of just such men, privately and publicly
+expressed, with corresponding "doubtful" and divided labors, while the
+ignorance of the religious supporters of the Roman missions enabled them
+to deceive their neophytes and patrons, and keep up their own missions
+and destroy those of the Protestants.
+
+Soon after Mr. Hines and party arrived at the Dalles, some twenty
+Indians assembled to have a talk with Dr. White, who had in his visit in
+the fall of 1842 prevailed upon this band to organize an Indian
+government by appointing one high chief and three subordinates to see
+that all violators of his rules were punished by being flogged for
+offenses that formerly were considered trifling and evidence of native
+cunning and smartness. As was to be expected, some of the Indians would
+resist and use their knives and weapons in their own defense.
+
+There is an interesting incident related by Mr. Hines, in reference to
+Indian character, on his 157th page:--
+
+    "The Indians want pay for being whipped, in compliance with Dr.
+    White's laws, the same as they did for praying to please the
+    missionaries, during the great Indian revival of 1839. Those
+    appointed by Dr. White were desirous that his regulations should
+    continue, because they placed the people under their absolute
+    control, and gave them the power to regulate all their intercourse
+    with the whites, and with the other Indian tribes. But the other
+    influential men who were not in office desired to know of Dr. White
+    of what benefit this whipping system was going to be to them. They
+    said they were willing it should continue, provided they were to
+    receive shirts and pants and blankets as a reward for being whipped.
+    They had been whipped a good many times and had got nothing for it,
+    and it had done them no good. If this state of things was to
+    continue, it was all _cultus_, good for nothing, and they would
+    throw it away. The doctor wished them to understand that they need
+    not expect pay for being flogged when they deserved it. They laughed
+    at the idea, and separated."
+
+Just here the writer will give one other incident, related of Yallop, an
+Indian belonging to the same tribe, as stated by Rev. Mr. Condon, of the
+Dalles:--
+
+    "Yallop was requested to remain at the house of Mr. Joslin during
+    the absence of the family, one cold day, and see that nothing was
+    disturbed, with the understanding that he was to go into the house
+    and make himself comfortable till the family returned. On coming
+    home they found the Indian outdoors under a tree, cold and nearly
+    frozen. They inquired the reason of his strange conduct, and wanted
+    to know why he did not stay in the house. Yallop said he went into
+    the house and found every thing so nice and comfortable that by and
+    by the old Indian came into him again and he wanted to steal all
+    there was in the house, and the only way he could get over that
+    feeling was to go out under the tree in the cold."
+
+Mr. Hines, in speaking of this same band, says, 158th page: "As a matter
+of course, lying has much to do in their system of trade, and he is the
+best fellow who can tell the biggest lie, make men believe it, and
+practice the greatest deception. A few years ago a great religious
+excitement prevailed among these Indians, and nearly the whole tribe,
+consisting of a thousand, professed to be converted, were baptized, and
+received into the Christian church; but they have nearly all relapsed
+into their former state, with the exception that many of them still keep
+up the outward form of religion.
+
+    "Their religion appears to be more of the head than of the heart,
+    and though they are exceedingly vicious, yet doubtless they would be
+    much worse than they are, but for the"--("doubtful success," as Mr.
+    Hines affirms on his 156th page, while here he says)--"_restraining
+    influences_ exerted by the missionaries."
+
+Mr. Hines has given us an interesting history of those early missionary
+labors, but the greater portion of his book relates to himself,--to his
+travels on shipboard, and at the Sandwich Islands, a trip to China and
+back to New York, and his trip to the interior of Oregon.
+
+He says: "The Cayuse Indians, among whom this mission is established,
+had freely communicated to Mr. Geiger, whom they esteemed as their
+friend, all they knew concerning it. When the Indians were told that the
+Americans were designing to subjugate them and take away their land, the
+young chiefs of the Cayuse tribe were in favor of proceeding immediately
+to hostilities. They were for raising a large war party and rushing
+directly down to the Wallamet settlement and cutting off the inhabitants
+at a blow. They frequently remarked to Mr. Geiger that they did not wish
+to go to war, but if the Americans came to take away their lands and
+make slaves of them they would fight so long as they had a drop of blood
+to shed. They said they had received their information concerning the
+designs of the Americans from Baptiste Doreo, who is a half-breed son of
+Madame Doreo,--the heroine of Washington Irving's 'Astoria,'--understands
+the Nez Perce language well, and had given the Cayuses the information
+that had alarmed them. Mr. Geiger endeavored to induce them to prepare
+early in the spring to cultivate the ground as they did the year before,
+but they refused to do any thing, saying that Baptiste Doreo had told
+them that it would be of no consequence; that the Americans would come
+in the summer and kill them all off and destroy their plantations.
+
+"After Doreo had told them this story, they sent a Wallawalla
+chief--Yellow Serpent--to Vancouver, to learn from Dr. McLaughlin the
+facts in the case.
+
+"Yellow Serpent returned and told the Cayuses that Dr. McLaughlin said
+he had nothing to do in a war with the Indians; that he did not believe
+the Americans designed to attack them, and that if the _Americans did go
+to war with the Indians, the Hudson's Bay Company would not assist
+them_. After they got this information from the Emakus Myohut (big
+chief), the Indians became more calm. Many of them went to cultivating
+the ground as formerly, and a large number of little patches had been
+planted and sown before we arrived at the station."
+
+Mr. Hines soon learned that the reports about war that had reached the
+lower country were not without foundation. That the Indians still had
+confidence in Mr. Geiger, and that they did not wish to go to war. The
+reader will observe the statement of the Indians after they had told Mr.
+Geiger they would fight if forced to do so. "They," the Indians, "said
+they had received their information concerning the designs of the
+Americans from Baptiste Doreo." This half-breed is also an interpreter
+of the Hudson's Bay Company, and an important leader among the
+half-breeds--next to Thomas McKay. After Doreo had told them his story,
+the Indians were still unwilling to commence a war against the
+Americans. They sent a messenger to Vancouver to consult Dr. McLaughlin,
+just as those same Indians in 1841 went to Mr. McKinley, then in charge
+of Fort Wallawalla, and wanted to know of him, if it was not good for
+them to drive Dr. Whitman and Mr. Gray away from that station because
+the Doctor refused to pay them for the land the mission occupied? Mr.
+McKinley understood their object, and was satisfied that there were
+outside influences that he did not approve of, and told the Indians,
+"Yes, you are braves; there is a number of you, and but two of them and
+two women and some little children; you can go and kill them or drive
+them away; you go just as quick as you can and do it; but if you do I
+will see that you are punished." The Indians understood Mr. McKinley.
+Whitman and Gray were not disturbed after this.
+
+Dr. John McLaughlin we believe to have been one of the noblest of men
+while he lived, but, like Messrs. Hines, White, Burnett, Newell,
+Spalding, and many others, influences were brought to bear upon him that
+led him to adopt and pursue a doubtful if not a crooked course. It was
+evident to any one conversant with the times of which we are writing
+that there were at least four elements or influences operating in the
+country, viz., the unasserted or _quasi_ rights of the American
+government; the coveted and actual occupancy of the country by the
+English Hudson's Bay Company and subjects, having the active civil
+organization of that government; the occupancy of the country by the
+American missions; and the coveted occupancy of the same by the Roman
+Jesuit missions.
+
+These four influences could not harmonize; there was no such thing as a
+union and co-operation. The struggle was severe to hold and gain the
+controlling influence over the natives of the country, and shape the
+settlements to these conflicting views and national and sectarian
+feelings. The American settler, gaining courage and following the
+example and the track of the American missionaries with their wives,
+winds his way over the mountains and through the desert and barren
+plains down the Columbia River and through the Cascade Mountains,--
+weary, way-worn, naked, and hungry. In one instance, with his rifle upon
+his shoulder, and his wife and three children mounted upon the back of
+his last ox, he plods his weary way through Oregon City, and up the
+Wallamet, to find his future home; and there the warm heart of the early
+missionary and his family is ready to feed, clothe, and welcome the
+wanderer to this distant part of our great national domain, in order
+that he may aid in securing Oregon to its rightful inhabitants, and in
+forming a fifth power that shall supersede and drive away all foreign
+influences.
+
+For a time the struggle with the four influences was severe and
+doubtful; but men who had crossed the Rocky and Cascade mountains with
+ox-teams, were not made to give up their country's cause in the hour of
+danger, though Britain and Rome, with their savage allies, joined to
+subdue and drive them from it. With the British Hudson's Bay Company,
+Roman Jesuit missions, savage Indians, American missions, and American
+settlers the struggle is continued.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLI.
+
+     Governor Simpson and Dr. Whitman in Washington.--Interviews with
+     Daniel Webster and President Tyler.--His cold reception in Boston
+     by the American Board.--Conducts a large emigration safely across
+     the Rocky Mountains into Oregon.--The "Memorial Half-Century
+     Volume."--The Oregon mission ignored by the American Board.--Dr.
+     McLaughlin.--His connection with the Hudson's Bay
+     Company.--Catholic Cayuses' manner of praying.--Rev. C.
+     Eells.--Letter from A. L. Lovejoy.--Description of Whitman's and
+     Lovejoy's winter journey from Oregon to Bent's Fort on the Arkansas
+     River.
+
+
+Governor Simpson, of the Hudson's Bay Company, had reached Washington
+and been introduced to Mr. Webster, then Secretary of State, by the
+British Minister. All the influence a long-established and powerful
+monopoly, backed by the grasping disposition of the English government,
+can command, is brought to bear upon the question of the northwestern
+boundary. The executive of the American republic is about ready to give
+up the country, as of little value to the nation.
+
+Just at this time, in the dead of winter, an awkward, tall,
+spare-visaged, vigorous, off-hand sort of a man, appeared at the
+Department in his mountain traveling garb, consisting of a dark-colored
+blanket coat and buckskin pants, showing that to keep himself from
+freezing to death he had been compelled to lie down close to his
+camp-fire while in the mountains, and on his way to Washington he had
+not stopped for a moment, but pushed on with a vigor and energy
+peculiarly his own. It is but justice to say of this man that his heart
+and soul were in the object of the errand for which he had traversed the
+vast frozen and desert regions of the Rocky Mountains, to accomplish
+which was to defeat the plans of the company, as shown by the taunting
+reply of the Briton, "_that no power could make known to his government
+the purposes of those who had laid their plans and were ready to grasp
+the prize they sought_." While they were counting on wealth, power,
+influence, and the undisputed possession of a vast and rich country,
+this old pioneer missionary (layman though he was), having no thought of
+himself or of his ridiculous appearance before the great Daniel Webster
+and the President of a great nation, sought an interview with them and
+stated his object, and the plans and purposes of the Hudson's Bay
+Company and the British government: that their representations of this
+country were false in every respect as regards its agricultural,
+mineral, and commercial value to the nation; that it was only to secure
+the country to themselves, that the false reports about it had been put
+in circulation by their emissaries and agents; that a wagon road to the
+Pacific was practicable; that he had, in 1836, in opposition to all
+their false statements and influence to the contrary, taken a wagon to
+Boise; and that, in addition, wagons and teams had, in 1841, been taken
+to the Wallamet Valley, and that he expected, his life being spared, to
+pilot an emigration to the country that would forever settle the
+question beyond further dispute. He asserted that a road was
+practicable, and the country was invaluable to the American people. Mr.
+Webster coolly informed him that he had his mind made up; he was ready
+to part with what was to him an unknown and unimportant portion of our
+national domain, for the privilege of a small settlement in Maine and
+the fisheries on the banks of Newfoundland.
+
+There was but one other hope in this case. This old off-hand Oregon
+missionary at once sought an interview with President Tyler. He repeated
+his arguments and reasons, and asked for delay in the final settlement
+of the boundary question, which, to those high in office, and, we may
+add, total ignorance of all that related to this vast country, was of
+small moment. But that Dr. Whitman (for the reader has already guessed
+the name of our missionary) stood before the President of the United
+States the only representative of Oregon and all her future interests
+and greatness, a self-constituted, self-appointed, and without a
+parallel self-periled representative, pleading simply for delay in the
+settlement of so vast and important a question to his country,--that he
+should be able to successfully contend with the combined influences
+brought against him,--can only be attributed to that overruling power
+which had decreed that the nation, whose interests he represented,
+should be sustained.
+
+Mr. Tyler, after listening to the Doctor's statements with far more
+candor and interest than Mr. Webster was disposed to do, informed him
+that, notwithstanding they had received entirely different statements
+from gentlemen of the Hudson's Bay Company and the British minister,
+then in Washington, yet he would trust to his personal representation
+and estimate of the value of the country to the American people. He
+said: "Dr. Whitman, in accordance with your representations and
+agreeable to your request, this question shall be deferred. An escort
+shall be furnished for the protection of the emigration you propose to
+conduct to that distant country."
+
+It is with deep regret, not to say shame, that truth and justice compel
+us to give in this connection any notice of this faithful and devoted
+missionary's reception and treatment, on his arrival in Boston,
+derogatory to the Board whom he had served so faithfully for seven
+years. Instead of being received and treated as his labors justly
+entitled him to be, he met the cold, calculating rebuke for unreasonable
+expense, and for dangers incurred without order or instructions or
+permission from the mission to come to the States. Most of his reverend
+associates had, as the writer is credibly informed, disapproved of his
+visit to Washington, being ignorant of the true cause of his sudden
+determination to defeat, if possible, the British and Jesuitical designs
+upon the country; hence, for economical and prudential reasons, the
+Board received him coldly, and rebuked him for his presence before them,
+causing a chill in his warm and generous heart, and a sense of unmerited
+rebuke from those who should have been most willing to listen to all his
+statements, and most cordial and ready to sustain him in his herculean
+labors.
+
+His request at Washington to save this richest jewel of our nation from
+British rule is granted, while the American Board of Commissioners for
+Foreign Missions is appealed to in vain for aid to save the Indians and
+the country from becoming the boast of the Italian Jesuit, and a prey to
+his degrading superstitions. The Doctor's mission, with all its
+accumulated influence, labors, and importance, is left to be swallowed
+up and destroyed by the same influence that had divided and destroyed
+that of the Methodist Mission.
+
+Dr. Whitman disposed of his own little private property in the States,
+and, with the aid of his brother and brother's son, returned to
+Missouri, joined the emigration of 1843, and, as he had intimated to
+President Tyler, brought on an emigration outnumbering all the Hudson's
+Bay Company had brought to aid in securing the country to the British
+crown, proving to the American people and the world, what had long been
+asserted as impossible, that there was a practicable wagon road to the
+Pacific Ocean on American soil. His care, influence, aid, and attention
+to the emigration of 1843, I leave with those who can speak from
+personal observation. Their gratitude and deep sympathy for this
+self-devoted, faithful, and generous missionary led five hundred of them
+with uplifted hand to say they were ready with their own life-blood to
+avenge his death, and protect and defend the country. But influences,
+such as we have been speaking of, came in, justice was robbed of its
+right, and crime and murder permitted to go unpunished.
+
+The cause in which Dr. Whitman enlisted, labored, and fell a victim, is
+allowed to suffer and fall, and in a Memorial Volume of the American
+Board, page 379, a false impression is given to the world, and a whole
+mission ignored. In this splendid, well-bound, and elegantly gotten up
+"Memorial Half-Century Volume," justly claiming much credit for the
+fifty past years of its labors, this Board has ignored all its errors
+and mistakes, and with one fell swoop of the pen consigned to oblivion,
+so far as its great standard record is concerned, one whole mission and
+a vast Indian population, as unworthy of a name or a notice in their
+record, further than as "Rev. Samuel Parker's exploring tour beyond the
+Rocky Mountains, under the direction of the Board, in 1835, 1836, and
+1837, brought to light _no field for a great and successful mission_,
+but it added much to the science of geography, and is remarkable as
+having made known a practicable route for a _railroad_ from the
+Mississippi to the Pacific." This shows a want of candor and also a
+disposition to ignore all influences and causes of failure of one of
+their own missions, and directs the attention of the reader to foreign
+objects, leaving their missions to become an easy prey to avarice, the
+Indian tribes to ignorance and superstition, and their missionaries to
+be despised and superseded by Jesuits; giving their enemies the benefit
+of that influence which they should have exerted to save their own
+missionary cause. Such being the case, we are not to wonder at the cold
+reception of Dr. Whitman, or the boundless influence and avarice of the
+men who compassed the early destruction of that mission; and, failing to
+destroy the American settlement, that they should now seek to rob our
+national treasury as they sought to rob the nation of its rightful
+domain. After being defeated by the American settlers in the
+organization of the provisional government in 1843, by the provisional
+army of 1847-8, they now come forward with the most barefaced effrontery
+and claim millions of dollars for a few old rotten forts. They have
+fallen to the lowest depths of crime to obtain compensation for
+improvements of no real value.
+
+As we said when speaking of the "combination of influences and no
+harmony," we believe Dr. John McLaughlin to have been one of the best
+and noblest of men; yet the governing power of the Hudson's Bay Company
+would, if it were possible, have compelled him to starve the immigrants,
+and sacrifice all the early settlers of the country. Do you ask me how I
+know this? I answer, by the oaths of good and true American citizens,
+and by my own personal knowledge. These depositions or statements under
+oath but few of the readers of this history will ever see. In this
+connection we will give part of one deposition we listened to and
+penciled down from the mouth of the witness, who was the legal counselor
+and confidential friend of Dr. McLaughlin from the fall of 1846 till his
+death. This witness, in answer to the inquiry as to what Dr. McLaughlin
+told him about the Hudson's Bay Company's encouraging the early
+settlement of Oregon, said Dr. McLaughlin _had not encouraged the
+American settlement of the country_, but from the fact that immigrants
+arrived poor and needy, they must have suffered had he not furnished
+supplies on a credit; that he could have wished that this had not been
+necessary, because he believed there were those above him who _strongly
+disapproved of his course in this respect, affirming that it would lead
+to the permanent settlement of the country by American citizens_, and
+thus give to the United States government an element of title to the
+country; the United States government could not have a title to the
+country without such settlement, and these persons, thus alluded to as
+being dissatisfied, would report him to the Hudson's Bay Company's house
+in London; that he ascertained finally that such complaints had been
+made, but that he still continued to furnish the supplies, because, _as
+a man of common humanity_, he could not do otherwise; and he resolved
+that he would continue thus to do and take whatever consequences might
+result from it; that the company's managing and controlling office in
+London did finally call him to an account for thus furnishing supplies
+as already stated, and for reasons indicated; that he represented to
+them the circumstances under which he had furnished these supplies,
+alleging that as a man of _common humanity it was not possible for him
+to do otherwise than as he did_; that he foresaw as clearly as they did
+that it aided in the American settlement of the country, but that this
+he could not help, and it was not for him but for God and government to
+look after and take care of the consequences; that the Bible told him,
+"If thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he is naked, clothe him;" that
+these settlers were not even enemies; that in thus finding fault with
+him they quarreled with heaven (the witness said, "I do not know as that
+was the exact expression or word") _for doing what any one truly worthy
+the name of a man could not hesitate to do_, and that he immediately
+concluded by indignantly saying, "_Gentlemen, if such is your order, I
+will serve you no longer_," and from that day Oregon secured a warm and
+faithful friend in that old white-headed man, and he a base and infamous
+enemy in those who claimed the title of the Honorable Hudson's Bay
+Company, who in 1860 are claiming all the credit and pay for this old
+man's generous and noble deeds.
+
+The readers of our history will excuse this interruption in the order of
+events, or rather the introduction of this testimony at this time in our
+sketches, for we shall still have to speak of Dr. McLaughlin as the head
+of the Hudson's Bay Company, and continue him as a representative of
+that influence, as also connected with the Roman Catholic efforts in the
+country; for while we condemn and speak of base and infamous acts in
+all alike, we will not forget the good and the noble. We have other
+items of testimony that reveal to us the deep-laid plans, the vast
+influence used, and efforts made, _to prevent the American settlement of
+this country_, which shall be brought to light as we proceed.
+
+One other item we will now give as developed by the testimony above
+referred to. Dr. McLaughlin informed his attorney "that he had proposed
+to the company's authority in London, that if they would allow him to
+retain the profits upon the supplies and advances made as above
+mentioned to the settlers, he would very cheerfully personally assume
+the payment to the company of all the sums thus advanced, but this the
+company declined to do." The witness said: "My memory is not very
+distinct, at least, not so much as it is as to the statement above made,
+but my recollection is that he also informed me that the company,
+although it refused to permit him to retain the profits above mentioned,
+did hold him responsible for every dollar of the advances he made, and I
+do know that he regarded and treated the debts thus owing by American
+citizens as debts owing not to the Hudson's Bay Company, but to himself
+individually."
+
+Dr. McLaughlin charges ingratitude upon those who were able to, and did
+not pay him, and were guilty of denouncing him as an aristocrat. He was
+no aristocrat, but one of the kindest, most obliging, and familiar men;
+yet his tall, erect, and noble frame, a head covered with white hair, a
+long white beard, light complexion, rather spare but open countenance,
+with a full light blue or gray eye, made the coward and the mean man
+hate him, while the truly noble man would love him for his generous and
+unbounded benevolence. Like Dr. Whitman, the influences around him
+weighed heavily upon his soul; he keenly felt the pain of ingratitude in
+others; he felt it from the Hudson's Bay Company, whom he had faithfully
+served, and from the persons he had befriended. An attempt was made by a
+member of the company, who had previously sworn to the justness of their
+infamous claims, to excite the sectarian prejudice of the witness
+against Dr. McLaughlin on his cross-examination, by handing to the
+company's attorney the following questions to be asked the witness:--
+
+    _Ques._--"Do you not recollect that Dr. McLaughlin told you that
+    Sir George Simpson's complaint against him was his allowing a
+    credit of ten thousand pounds sterling to Bishop Blanchet, of the
+    Catholic mission, without any security?"
+
+    _Ans._--"This is the first time I have heard of that transaction."
+
+    _Ques._--"Do you not know from what Dr. McLaughlin told you, that
+    he gave large credits to the Catholic Mission while in charge of
+    the company's business?"
+
+    _Ans._--"I do not."
+
+In reference to the last two questions and answers, in looking over the
+items of account against our government, something over this amount is
+stated as an item of claim for improvements and a Catholic church
+building and two schoolhouses at Vancouver, as having been made by the
+Hudson's Bay Company for the Catholic missions and the benefit of the
+company's business, which are still standing and in possession of the
+priests and nuns of that order. This matter should be closely
+investigated. We have abundance of other evidence to show the intimate
+and continued connection of the Jesuit missions with the company, and we
+look upon this attempt to change the responsibility of that connection
+from the company to Dr. McLaughlin's individual account, as among the
+basest of their transactions. The Jesuitical Catholic concern was a
+child of their own, and one they are still nursing in all their vast
+dominions. They made use of Dr. McLaughlin as long as they could, and
+when they found he was inclined to favor the American settlement of the
+country, he fell under the displeasure of his superiors and was called
+to an account.
+
+These facts explain the careful and repeated injunctions, and positive
+directions given to the early missionaries not to interfere with the
+Hudson's Bay Company's trade, _and by no means to encourage the
+settlement of white men about their stations, compelling those white men
+to become subject to, and connected with, the missions_. They also
+explain the reasons for the extreme caution exercised by the company
+over the supplies granted to the American missions. They invariably
+limited them to the smallest possible necessity, and by this means
+sought to prevent the settlement of the country. It also explains fully
+the complaint of Rev. Mr. Griffin in his effort for an independent
+mission, and shows conclusively the continued effort of the company to
+check as much as possible the progress of the settlement, as also the
+desperate effort they made in 1847 to destroy the missions and all
+American settlements; and more than this, it explains the continued wars
+with all the Indians who have ever been under the influence of the
+company, or their _pet child, the Jesuit missions_.
+
+The Hudson's Bay Company had no fault to find with Dr. McLaughlin,
+except in his refusing to carry out their base designs upon the American
+settlers and for the assistance he rendered upon his own responsibility
+to the naked and starving immigrants that Grant, at Fort Hall, with the
+Indians along the route, had combined to deceive and rob, while on the
+way to the country. This old, white-headed man, who had served them for
+forty years, _was compelled_, in maintaining his honor as a man
+possessing one noble feeling of humanity, to leave their service.
+
+What think you, kind reader, of the Hudson's Bay Company's kindness and
+generosity to the American settler, when this same company held this old
+faithful servant of theirs individually responsible for every dollar,
+principal and profits, of the supplies his generous heart, claiming to
+be humane, was induced to advance to the early settler in the hour of
+his greatest need?
+
+Will you vote and pay a tax to pay claims of such a company, when one of
+the managing partners is still base enough to say, "It was a neglect of
+the company's agent, after Dr. McLaughlin's decease, that they did not
+present their accounts for payment to the doctor's heirs or
+administrator before the year's notice was up. It was now too late, and
+it was lost to the company unless they could get it allowed by the
+United States government?"
+
+We justly deprecate piracy, slavery, highway robbery, and Indian
+massacres. In what light shall we hold a company and government, who
+have pursued a course directly and indirectly calculated to produce all
+these, and with the uplifted hand say they are entitled to pay for such
+conduct?
+
+But we must still refer to Dr. McLaughlin as representing the Hudson's
+Bay Company, as we proceed with our history of events, agencies, men,
+and things occurring in 1843.
+
+Dr. Whitman is on his way back to Oregon with eight hundred and
+seventy-five persons, with all their equipments and cattle. Simpson is
+foiled and disappointed at Washington. Hines and Dr. White are among the
+Upper Columbia Indians. Dr. McLaughlin and the French-Canadians and
+priests are in commotion about the effort to organize the settlement
+into a provisional government, and the influence the Americans appear to
+be gaining over the Indians. Piopiomoxmox (Yellow Serpent) has returned
+and reported to the Cayuses the result of his visit to Dr. McLaughlin,
+and the determination of the company that, in case of a war with the
+Americans, "_they would not aid the Americans_, but let them take care
+of themselves." The old Indian chiefs had advised the young men to wait
+and see what the future designs of the Americans were; while the Jesuits
+had been careful to impress upon the savage mind their peculiar
+sectarian notions and prejudices, as illustrated by the religious
+instructions given by the priests to the Cayuses.
+
+The Rev. H. K. W. Perkins called at Young Chief's (Tawatowe) lodge, and
+was informed on entering, that they had not yet had their morning
+prayer. The chief caused a bell to be rung, at the sound of which all
+his band came together for devotion. Tawatowe then said to Mr. Perkins:
+"We are Catholics, and our worship is different from yours." He then
+fell upon his knees, all the rest kneeling and facing him. The chief had
+a long string of beads on his neck to which was attached a brass cross.
+After all were knelt, they devoutly crossed themselves, and commenced
+their prayer as follows: "We are poor, we are poor," repeating it ten
+times, and then closing with "Good Father, good Son, good Spirit," and
+then the chief would slip a bead on the string. This was continued until
+all the beads were removed from one part of the string to the other.
+When this mock devotion closed, Tawatowe said: "This is the way in which
+the priest taught us to worship God;" but Elijah (a boy that had been
+educated at the Methodist Indian school) said that "Tawatowe and his
+band prayed from the head, but we [meaning his own Wallawalla tribe]
+pray from the heart."
+
+Since writing the above, we have found in the _Missionary Herald_ of
+December, 1866, page 371, a letter from Rev. C. Eells, formerly of the
+Spokan Mission. In speaking of Dr. Whitman's visit to the States, he
+says: "Mr. Walker and myself were decidedly opposed, and we yielded only
+when it became evident that he would go, even if he became disconnected
+with the mission in order to do so. According to the understanding of
+the members of the mission, the single object of Dr. Whitman in
+attempting to cross the continent in the winter of 1842-43, amid mighty
+perils and sufferings, was to make a desperate effort to save this
+country to the United States."
+
+We are not much surprised at Mr. Eells' ignorance of influences
+operating in this country. His fears and caution have made him
+unreasonably timid. He is always so fearful that he will do or say
+something wrong, that the saving of this country to our government, and
+an attempt on the part of his associates to counteract Roman Catholic
+superstitions and maintain the influence of the Protestant religion on
+our western coast, are opposed by him and his equally timid associate.
+He has not the frankness or courage to state the whole truth in the
+case, as developed in Mr. Treat's remarks, who, after giving Mr. Eells'
+letter, says: "_It was not simply an American question, however_;" it
+was at the same time a Protestant question. He [Dr. Whitman] was fully
+alive to the efforts which the Roman Catholics were making to gain the
+mastery on the Pacific coast, and he was firmly persuaded that they were
+working in the interests of the Hudson's Bay Company, with a view to
+this very end. The danger from this quarter [which Messrs. Eells and
+Walker could never see, or, if they did, were too timid to speak or act]
+had made a profound impression upon his mind. Under date of April 1,
+1847, he said: "In the autumn of 1842, I pointed out to our mission the
+arrangements of the Papists to settle in our vicinity, and that it only
+required that those arrangements should be completed to close our
+operations."
+
+It is in reference to the facts above quoted from Dr. Whitman's
+letter--made in our presence to those timid associates--that we say they
+were cowards in not speaking and acting as they should have done at that
+time, and since his death.
+
+The following letter from General A. L. Lovejoy gives further proof of
+Dr. Whitman's efforts to save Oregon to his country:--
+
+                                     PORTLAND, OREGON, November 6, 1869.
+
+     _William H. Gray, Esq.:_
+
+     MY DEAR SIR,--Your note of the 27th ult., making inquiries touching
+     the journey of the late Dr. Marcus Whitman to the United States
+     from this coast in the winter of 1842 and '43, and his reception at
+     Washington, and by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign
+     Missions, etc., has but just come to hand, owing to my being absent
+     from home.
+
+     True, I was the traveling companion of the Doctor in that arduous
+     and trying journey, but at this late hour it will be almost
+     impossible for me to give many of the thrilling scenes and
+     hairbreadth escapes that we went through, traveling as we did,
+     almost the entire route, through a hostile Indian country, as well
+     as suffering much from the intense cold and snows that we had to
+     encounter in passing over the Rocky Mountains in midwinter.
+
+     Previous to our leaving Wailatpu, I often had conversations with
+     the Doctor touching the prospects of this coast. The Doctor was
+     alive to its interests, and manifested a very warm desire to have
+     this country properly represented at Washington, and, after some
+     arrangements, we left Wailatpu, October 3, 1842, overland, for the
+     Eastern States.
+
+     We traveled rapidly, and reached Fort Hall in eleven days, and
+     remained only a day or two and made some few purchases; took a
+     guide and left for Fort Wintee, as the Doctor changed from a direct
+     route to one more southern through the Spanish country, _via_ Taos
+     and Santa Fe. On our way from Fort Hall to Fort Wintee we met with
+     terribly severe weather; the snows greatly retarded our progress,
+     and blinded the trail, so much so that we lost much time. After
+     reaching Fort Wintee and making some suitable purchases for our
+     trip, we took a new guide and started on our journey for Fort
+     Macumpagra, situate on the waters of Grand River, in the Spanish
+     country.
+
+     Here again our stay was very short. We simply made some few
+     purchases, took a new guide, and left for Taos. After being out
+     some four or five days, as we were passing over high table-lands,
+     we encountered a most terrific snow-storm, which forced us to seek
+     shelter at once. A deep ravine being near by, we rapidly made for
+     it, but the snow fell so rapidly, and the wind blew with such
+     violence, that it was almost impossible to reach it. After reaching
+     the ravine, and cutting some cotton-wood trees for our animals, we
+     attempted some arrangements for camp as best we could under the
+     circumstances, and remained snowed in for some three or four days,
+     when the storm subsided, and it cleared off intensely cold. It was
+     with much difficulty that we made our way up upon the high lands;
+     the snow was so deep and the wind so piercing and cold, that we
+     felt compelled to return to camp and wait a few days for a change
+     of weather.
+
+     Our next effort was more successful, and after spending several
+     days wandering round in the snow, without making much headway, and
+     greatly fatiguing our animals, to little or no purpose, our guide
+     informed us that the deep snows had so changed the face of the
+     country, that he was completely lost, and could take us no further.
+
+     This was a terrible blow to the Doctor. He was determined not to
+     give it up without another effort. And we at once agreed that the
+     Doctor should take the guide and make his way back to the fort, and
+     procure a new guide, and that I should remain in camp with the
+     animals until his return, which was on the seventh day, with a new
+     guide.
+
+     We were soon under way, on our route, traveling through the snows
+     at rather a snail's pace. Nothing occurred of much importance,
+     other than hard and slow traveling until we reached, as our guide
+     informed us, the Grand River, which was frozen, on either side,
+     about one-third across. The current was so very rapid, that the
+     center of the stream remained open, although the weather was
+     intensely cold.
+
+     This stream was some one hundred and fifty, or two hundred yards
+     wide, and looked upon by our guide as very dangerous to cross in
+     its present condition. But the Doctor, nothing daunted, was the
+     first to take the water. He mounted his horse, and the guide and
+     myself pushed them off the ice into the boiling, foaming stream.
+     Away they went completely under water--horse and all; but directly
+     came up, and after buffeting the waves and foaming current, he made
+     to the ice on the opposite side, a long way down the stream--leaped
+     from his horse upon the ice, and soon had his noble animal by his
+     side. The guide and myself forced in the pack animals; followed the
+     doctor's example, and were soon drying our frozen clothes by a
+     comfortable fire.
+
+     With our new guide, traveling slowly on, we reached Taos in about
+     thirty days. We suffered considerably from cold and scarcity of
+     provisions, and for food were compelled to use the flesh of mules,
+     dogs, and such other animals as came in our reach.
+
+     We remained at Taos some twelve or fifteen days, when we changed
+     off our animals, and made such purchases as our journey required,
+     and left for Bent's Fort, on the headwaters of the Arkansas River,
+     where we arrived about the third day of January, 1843.
+
+     The Doctor left here on the 7th, at which time we parted, and I did
+     not meet him again until some time in the month of July, above Fort
+     Laramie, on his way to Oregon with a train of emigrants.
+
+     The Doctor often expressed himself to me about the remainder of his
+     journey, and the manner in which he was received at Washington and
+     by the Board of Missions at Boston.
+
+     The Doctor had several interviews with President Tyler, Secretary
+     Webster, and many members of Congress, touching the interests of
+     Oregon. He urged the immediate termination of the treaty with Great
+     Britain relative to this country, and the extension of the laws of
+     the United States, and to provide liberal inducements to emigrants
+     to come to this coast.
+
+     He felt much chagrined at the lack of interest, and the great want
+     of knowledge concerning Oregon, and the wants of this country,
+     though he was very cordially and kindly received, and many seemed
+     anxious to obtain every information which he could give them; and I
+     have no doubt, the Doctor's interviews resulted greatly to the
+     benefit of Oregon and the entire coast.
+
+     But his reception at Boston was not so cordial. The Board censured
+     him for leaving his post, for the waste of time and the great
+     expense attending so long a journey across the continent at that
+     season of the year.
+
+     The Doctor returned to the frontier settlements, urging the
+     citizens to emigrate to the Pacific coast. After his exertions in
+     this behalf, he left for Independence, Missouri, and started for
+     Oregon with a large emigrant train some time in the month of May.
+     With his energy and knowledge of the country, he rendered them very
+     great assistance, and continued to do so, till he reached his home
+     about the first of October (one year from the time he left), to
+     find the home of his choice sadly neglected, and the flouring mill
+     burned to the ground.
+
+     The Indians were very hostile about the Doctor's leaving at the
+     time he did, and I have no doubt, that during his absence, the
+     thistles of his destruction--the seeds of that awful massacre of
+     himself, Mrs. Whitman, and many others--were then sown by those
+     haughty and savage Cayuses, although it did not take place till
+     four years afterward.
+
+     As to your fourth inquiry relative to the Cayuse war. It is a long
+     time since these events took place; and most of them are on record,
+     and have passed into the history of the country; so that I would
+     not like to make many statements from memory, although I was an
+     adjutant-general, and was also one of the commissioners to raise
+     means to equip the first company, which was dispatched to the
+     Dalles the day after the sad news of the massacre reached Oregon
+     City.
+
+     There being no supplies at Oregon City suitable to fit out this
+     company, the commissioners proceeded at once to Fort Vancouver to
+     procure supplies for an outfit. The Hudson's Bay Company refused to
+     let us have any thing on account of the government; but would on
+     our joint and several note, to the amount of $1,000, which was
+     cheerfully given, and the outfit was obtained, and the company was
+     pushed on to its destination, and reached the Dalles in time to
+     prevent further bloodshed at that place by the red devils.
+
+                  Yours, with great respect,
+                                  A. L. LOVEJOY.
+
+     W. H. GRAY, Esq., Astoria, Oregon.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLII.
+
+     Assembly of the Nez Perces, Cayuses, and Wallawallas.--Mock
+     fight.--Council with the Indians.--Speeches by Yellow Serpent,
+     Tilokaikt, the Prince, and Illutin.--The secret of the whole
+     difficulty.--John, the Kanaka.--A cow for a horse.--Killing of a
+     medicine woman.
+
+
+We will return to Rev. Mr. Hines' narrative of his trip among the
+Cayuses, May 22, 1843.
+
+    "As the Indians refused to come together unless Ellis and his men
+    came down to meet us, we informed them that we would go up and see
+    Ellis in his own country; but being suspicious that we intended to
+    prevent his coming down, they were much opposed to our going.
+    Explaining to the chiefs the object of our visit, they seemed to be
+    satisfied."
+
+We have, in this short statement of Mr. Hines, an important fact. The
+Cayuse Indians had been instructed what to do; they were not to be
+diverted by any arrangements of the sub-agent. Notwithstanding, the
+agent and Mr. Hines had learned that Ellis was coming with several
+hundred warriors, they knew not for what purpose, some saying to make
+war upon the Cayuses, and they had determined to prevent the meeting of
+the two tribes if possible. During their absence the Cayuses all
+collected not far from Dr. Whitman's, and were waiting the arrival of
+the Nez Perces. On the 22d of May the Nez Perces, some six hundred
+strong, with a thousand horses, arrived on the plain. Some three hundred
+of the Cayuses and Wallawallas uniting formed a grand Indian cavalcade
+on the plain in front of Dr. Whitman's house, when a grand display of
+Indian horsemanship commenced, such as advancing in mock fantastic
+fight, with discharges of blank cartridges, wheeling and running in all
+directions, till the Indians had nearly worked themselves into a real
+fight and a great excitement. Ellis said that he thought the Cayuses
+were determined to have a fight in earnest.
+
+Tawatowe, the _Catholic_ chief, as he approached them appeared quite
+angry and disposed to quarrel. Seeing the excitement increasing, and
+fearing that it might end seriously unless the attention of the Indians
+could be drawn to some other subject, Mr. Spalding, who was present,
+gave notice that all would repair to Dr. Whitman's house for
+_tallapooso_ (worship). But Tawatowe came forward in a very boisterous
+manner and inquired what we had made all this disturbance for. The
+American party, followed by several hundred Indians, repaired to the
+station and engaged in religious exercises, when the excitement subsided
+for the night.
+
+On May 23, the chiefs and principal men of the three tribes assembled at
+the station to hear what the self-constituted United States Indian
+commissioner and his secretary of state had to say.
+
+"They were called to order by Tawatowe, who by this time had got over
+his excitement, and then was placed before them the object of our visit.
+They were told that much had been said about war, and we had come to
+assure them that they had nothing to fear from that quarter." If Dr.
+White was no more explicit in setting forth the object of this visit to
+the Indians than Mr. Hines is in giving the account of it, there
+certainly was room for a misunderstanding between him and the Indians.
+He said "the President of the United States had not sent him [Dr. White]
+to make war upon them, but to enter into arrangements with them to
+regulate their intercourse with the white people. We were not there to
+catch them in a trap, as a man would a beaver, but to do them good; and
+if they would lay aside their former practices and prejudices, stop
+their quarrels, cultivate their lands, and receive good laws, they might
+become a great and happy people; that in order to do this _they must all
+be united_." Exactly what the Hudson's Bay Company wished to have done
+to aid them in crushing the American settlement and preventing further
+American emigration to the country.
+
+As a reason for their being united, Mr. Hines says, 178-9th pages:
+
+    "They were told they were few in comparison to the whites, and if
+    they were not all of one heart they would be able to accomplish
+    nothing. The chiefs should set the example and love each other, and
+    not get proud and haughty, but consider the people as their brothers
+    and their children, and labor to do them good, that the people
+    should be obedient, and in their morning and evening prayers they
+    should remember their chiefs.
+
+    "Ellis remarked that it would not be proper for the Nez Perce chiefs
+    to speak until the Cayuse people should receive the laws. The Cayuse
+    chiefs replied: 'If you want us to receive the laws, bring them
+    forward and let us see them, as we can not take them unless we know
+    what they are.'
+
+    "A speech was then delivered to the young men to impress them
+    favorably with regard to the laws. They were told that they would
+    soon take the places of the old men, and they should be willing to
+    act for the good of the people; that they should not go here and
+    there and spread false reports about war; and that this had been
+    the cause of all the difficulty and excitement that had prevailed
+    among them during the past winter."
+
+With the information which Mr. Hines has already given us in the first
+part of his ninth chapter, we would suppose he would avoid this
+apparently incorrect statement to the Indians of the cause of the
+difficulties then existing. He and Dr. White appear to have acted under
+the same influence with Dr. McLaughlin, and to have carried all their
+acts and counsels to the one object, which was to combine the Indians,
+and divide and destroy the settlement. He tells us, in continuation of
+the proceedings of this council, that "the laws were then read, first in
+English, and then in Nez Perce."
+
+    "Yellow Serpent then rose and said: 'I have a message to you. Where
+    are these laws from? I would that you might say they were from God.
+    But I think they are from the earth, because, from what I know of
+    white men [a term claimed by Brouillet as belonging to the Hudson's
+    Bay Company and Frenchmen], they do not honor these laws.' In answer
+    to this, the people were informed that the laws were recognized by
+    God, and imposed on men in all civilized countries. Yellow Serpent
+    was pleased with the explanation, and said that it was according to
+    the instructions he had received from others, and he was glad to
+    learn that it was so, because many of his people had been angry with
+    him when he had whipped them for crime, and had told him that God
+    would send him to hell for it, and he was glad to know that it was
+    pleasing to God.
+
+    "Tilokaikt, a Cayuse chief, rose and said: 'What do you read the
+    laws for before we take them? We do not take the laws because
+    Tawatowe says so. He is a _Catholic_, and as a people we do not
+    follow his worship.' Dr. White replied that this did not make any
+    difference about the law; that the people in the States had
+    different modes of worship, yet all had one law.
+
+    "A chief, called the Prince, arose and said: 'I understand you gave
+    us liberty to examine every law,--all the words and lines,--and as
+    questions are asked about it, we should get a better understanding
+    of it. The people of this country have but one mind about it. I have
+    something to say, but perhaps the people will dispute me. As a body,
+    we have not had an opportunity to consult, therefore you come to us
+    as in a wind, and speak to us as to the air, as we have no point,
+    and we can not speak because we have no point before us. The
+    business before us is whole like a body; we have not dissected it.
+    And perhaps you will say it is out of place for me to speak, because
+    I am not a great chief. Once I had influence, but now I have but
+    little.'"
+
+This was one of the principal chiefs of the tribe that assisted in
+taking Fort Wallawalla and tying Mr. Pambrun to compel him to give more
+goods for horses and furs. "He was about to sit down, but was told to go
+on. He then said: 'When the whites first came among us, we had no
+cattle; they have given us none; what we have now got we have obtained
+by an exchange of property. A long time ago Lewis and Clarke came to
+this country, and I want to know what they said about us. Did they say
+they found friends or enemies here?' Being told that they spoke well of
+the Indians, the Prince said: 'That is a reason why the whites should
+unite with us, and all become one people. Those who have been here
+before you have left us no memorial of their kindness, by giving us
+presents. We speak by way of favor; if you have any benefit to bestow,
+we will then speak more freely. One thing that we can speak about is
+cattle, and the reason why we can not speak out now is because we have
+not the thing before us. My people are poor and blind, and we must have
+something tangible. Other chiefs have bewildered me since they came; yet
+I am from an honorable stock. Promises which have been made to me and my
+fathers have not been fulfilled, and I am made miserable; but it will
+not answer for me to speak out, for my people do not consider me as
+their chief.' [This was just what Mr. Pambrun, of the Hudson's Bay
+Company, had done to this Indian chief to break his power and destroy
+his influence with his tribe and his people. But let us hear him
+through.] 'One thing more; you have reminded me of what was promised me
+some time ago, and I am inclined to follow on and see, though I have
+been giving my beaver to the whites and have received many promises, and
+have always been disappointed; I want to know what you are going to do?'
+
+"Illutin, or Big Belly, then arose and said that the old men were
+wearied with the wickedness of the young men; that if he was alone he
+could say 'Yes' at once to the laws, and that the reason why the young
+men did not feel as he felt, was because they had stolen property in
+their hands, and the laws condemned stealing. But he assured them that
+the laws were calculated to do them good and not evil.
+
+"But this did not satisfy the Prince. He desired that the good which it
+was proposed to do them by adopting the laws might be put in a tangible
+form before them.
+
+"He said that it had been a long time since the country had been
+discovered by whites, and that ever since that time people had been
+coming along promising to do them good; but they had all passed by and
+left no blessing behind them."
+
+This chief said that "the Hudson's Bay Company had persuaded them to
+continue with them, and not go after the Americans; that if the
+Americans designed to do them good, why did they not bring goods with
+them to leave with the Indians? that they were fools to listen to what
+_Suapies_ (Americans) had to say; that they would only talk, but the
+company would _both talk and give them presents_."
+
+This Indian, as his speech shows, was shrewd, and thought he was certain
+to obtain his object, either from the Hudson's Bay Company or the
+Americans. He had been humbled by the company, and an offer to buy him
+back had been made. He bid for a higher price with the Americans. In
+doing so, he naturally exposed the secret influence of the company,
+which is given in this book of Mr. Hines', as a matter of course, and he
+passes along without note or comment upon what he saw, and heard.
+
+"In reply to the last Indian speech, Dr. White told the Indians that he
+did not come to them as a missionary or as a trader."
+
+To Ellis and Lawyer, who called on them in the evening to have a talk,
+"they said they expected pay for being chiefs, and wanted to know how
+much salary Dr. White was going to give them. Ellis said he had counted
+the months he had been in office, and thought that enough was due him to
+make him rich. They left at a late hour without receiving any
+satisfaction. In the council, efforts were made to induce the Nez Perces
+to unite under one chief in the fall of 1842. Thomas McKay had promised
+these chiefs large salaries and many presents that Dr. White and his
+government would give them as an inducement to form a union, knowing
+that White had not the ability or means to make good his promises to
+them, and in this way any influence as an agent of the American
+government he might have would be lost in this tribe.
+
+"Ellis was a Hudson's Bay Indian, educated at the Red River settlement.
+They left this private interview with White without any satisfaction,
+showing that the policy of the company was producing its legitimate
+effect upon Ellis's mind. The Lawyer, however, understood the matter in
+its true light. He explained to us the whole transaction, and the
+promises of McKay from the company. He thought Dr. White was foolish to
+let McKay talk so much for him and the American government.
+
+"Some hundreds again assembled the next day (May 24) to renew the
+business relative to laws; but the first thing investigated was the
+shooting of John, the Kanaka, by the Indian. John had gone to a lodge
+the day before, and in a dispute in a trade he had dared the Indian to
+shoot him. The Indian had seized his gun and fired it at John's head,
+making considerable of a hole in the scalp, but none in the skull. The
+Indian fled, but was brought back and found guilty and kept till the
+laws were adopted for sentence and punishment, and finally punished with
+forty lashes on the bare back.
+
+"The Indians continued to speak in reference to the laws. Their speeches
+were grave, energetic, mighty, and eloquent, and generally in favor of
+receiving the laws. After all had spoken it was signified that they were
+ready to vote whether they would take the laws or not, and the vote was
+unanimous in the affirmative. Having adopted the laws, it was now
+necessary to elect their chief, according to the provisions of the laws,
+and Tawatowe was nominated to the highest chieftainship. Some were
+opposed; a majority were in favor, and while the question was pending
+[this Indian had not consulted his priest, or he would have declined at
+once on this first proposition to elect him chief], Tawatowe arose and
+said, 'My friends, I rise to speak to you, and I want you all to
+listen.' He then adverted to his past history, and told them how much he
+had suffered in consequence of their divisions and quarrels. Tawatowe
+joined his influence with the Prince to get more pay from the Hudson's
+Bay Company for horses and furs, hence his tribe were encouraged to
+quarrel with and disrespect him. When we first arrived in the country he
+was seldom invited to the fort, and received no presents from the
+company. He inquired of his people if they would lay aside all their
+past difficulties and come up and support him if he would accept of the
+chieftainship.
+
+"It was now time to close for the day, and the vote being put, Tawatowe
+was declared duly elected to the high chieftainship of the Cayuse tribe.
+
+"Dr. White bought of Mrs. Whitman a fat ox and presented it to the
+Indians. Mrs. W. gave them a fat hog, which they butchered and feasted
+upon at night.
+
+"May 25.--A number of the chiefs came early in the morning at Mr. Hines'
+request, to settle a difficulty concerning some horses which they gave
+to Rev. Jason Lee when he first came to Oregon in 1834, Mr. Lee having
+requested Mr. Hines to come to some arrangement with them if possible.
+After a long talk we succeeded in settling with them by proposing to
+give them a cow for each horse that they had given to Mr. Lee. We found
+that the Indians always expected to be well paid for a present."
+
+The Jesuit missionaries and the Hudson's Bay Company had represented to
+the Indians that Mr. Lee's receiving their horses and not making them
+any presents was the same as stealing from them, and in this way the
+American missionary was regarded as having stolen the Indians' horses.
+In the conversations and talks the Indians had with Dr. Whitman about
+the land the mission occupied, the horses given to Mr. Lee were
+generally mentioned. Dr. Whitman was anxious that some arrangement
+should be made to settle that matter as soon as he learned the facts in
+the case. The Indians, as per arrangement with Mr. Hines, did receive a
+cow for each horse given, and thus the matter was satisfactorily
+settled.
+
+The Indians having again assembled, Tawatowe came forward and said that
+he had made up his mind that he could not accept of the chieftainship,
+in consequence of the _difference of his religion_ from that of most of
+his people.
+
+Here is Jesuitism and Hudson's Bay, combined with ignorance and
+religious bigotry, and shows the influence then operating upon the
+savage mind. This Indian declared a reason why he could not accept the
+chieftainship, which, four years later, would have fixed at once a crime
+upon that sect, without a shadow of doubt in their favor. As it was, the
+plan was deeper, and a Protestant Indian, or one that favored the
+Protestant cause and American missions, a younger brother of Tawatowe is
+selected. Tawatowe resigned, and his brother Five Crows is elected the
+American head chief of the Cayuse tribe, with the approval of the
+sub-agent of the United States. Bear these facts in mind as we proceed,
+that you may fully understand the deep-laid plots of the foreign
+influence then operating in the country to secure the whole or a large
+portion of it for themselves and their own government.
+
+In connection with this we will give one other incident as related by
+Mr. Hines on his tour among the Indians; to show the shrewdness, as also
+the long premeditated baseness of the Hudson's Bay Company in their
+efforts to get rid of all American missionaries and settlers, and to
+bring on a war with the Indians. Mr. Hines and party returned to the
+Dalles, and from there Mr. Hines embarked on one of the Hudson's Bay
+Company's boats with Mr. Ogden for Vancouver. A short distance below the
+Dalles they were driven ashore by a wind storm. While there, Mr. Ogden
+told the following story of the killing of a medicine woman, or
+doctress:--
+
+    "Mr. Ogden related some of his wonderful adventures among the
+    Indians, with whom he had resided more than thirty years. He was an
+    eye-witness to a remarkable circumstance that transpired at the
+    Dalles during one of his voyages up the Columbia.
+
+    "He arrived at the Dalles on the Sabbath day, and seeing a
+    congregation of some three hundred Indians assembled not far from
+    the river, he drew near to ascertain the cause, and found the Rev.
+    H. K. W. Perkins dispensing to them the word of reconciliation
+    through a crucified Redeemer. There was in the outskirts of the
+    congregation an Indian woman who had been for many years a doctress
+    in the tribe, and who had just expended all her skill upon a
+    patient, the only son of a man whose wigwam was not far distant, and
+    for whose recovery she had become responsible by consenting to
+    become his physician. All her efforts to remove the disease were
+    unavailing; the father was doomed to see his son expire. Believing
+    that the doctress had the power of preserving life or inflicting
+    death according to her will, and that instead of curing she had
+    killed his boy, he resolved upon the most summary revenge. Leaving
+    his dead son in the lodge, he broke into the congregation with a
+    large butcher-knife in his hand, and, rushing upon the now terrified
+    doctress, seized her by the hair, and with one blow across her
+    throat laid her dead at his feet."
+
+This story is a very plausible one, as much so as the one Mr. Hines
+tells us on the 110th page of his book, about Smith, Sublet, and
+Dripse's partner. There is an object in telling this story at this time
+to Mr. Hines, as much so as there was in a letter written by James
+Douglas, Esq., to S. N. Castle, Esq., and published in the March number
+of the _Friend_, at Honolulu, Sandwich Islands, which we will give in
+due time.
+
+The reader will observe in these sketches that our effort has been to
+speak of all the principal events and prominent and prospective
+influences in our early history, as in the year in which they occurred.
+In attending to other duties we have not been able to keep as close to
+dates and chronological order as we could wish; still, with patience and
+perseverance we can restore the "lost history" of our early settlement
+upon this coast, so that the future historian can have the material
+before him for an interesting chapter in the history of our country.
+
+We have, in addition to personal and public duties, to wade through an
+immense amount of what is called Oregon history, to gather up dates and
+events that have been given to the public at different times, without
+order, or apparent object, only to write a book on Oregon. We have no
+hesitancy in saying that Rev. G. Hines has given to the public the
+fullest and best book, and yet there is but a single chapter that is
+useful to the historian.
+
+Rev. Samuel Parker has many scientific and useful statements and
+observations, but all come in before our civil history began to develop
+itself.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIII.
+
+     The Legislative Committee of nine.--Hon. Robert Moore,
+     chairman.--Description of the members.--Minutes of their
+     proceedings.--Dr. R. Newell, his character.--Two specimens of his
+     speeches.--The dark clouds.
+
+
+In 1843 the people of Oregon showed signs of life, and sprang into
+existence as an American Territory with their provisional government,
+which we have allowed to be silently forming in the Wallamet Valley,
+while we have traced the operations of the Hudson's Bay Company, and Dr.
+Whitman to Washington; and also Dr. White and Mr. Hines among the
+Indians, all over the country. This will enable the reader to understand
+the strong influences operating against the American settlement; and if
+he will go with us, we will introduce him to the first Legislative
+Committee of nine, and tell him just what we know of their proceedings
+all through their deliberations.
+
+The record shows no instruction from the settlers, as to when or where
+the committee should meet to prepare the laws, to report at Champoeg,
+only, that they were limited to six days, and to be allowed $1.25 per
+day, and that the money be raised by subscription. Every member at once
+subscribed to the full amount of his own per diem pay, and in addition
+to this, Mr. Alanson Beers, Rev. J. L. Parish, and Dr. Babcock
+subscribed the full amount of the board of the whole nine, and the
+Methodist Mission furnished without charge the use of their granary at
+the old mission, as the first council chamber on this western coast. The
+building was a frame some sixteen by thirty feet, one and a half stories
+high, boards upright, with one square room in front, and the balance
+used for a granary, from which it derived its name; the upper part was
+for storing and sleeping use. The square room was used for schoolhouse
+and church, and now, for a legislative hall.
+
+We will enter this hall and introduce you to an old gray-headed man with
+a fair complexion, bald head, light eye, full face, frequent spasmodic
+nodding forward of the head, and a large amount of self-importance, not
+very large intellectual developments, with a superabundance of flesh,
+sitting by a square-legged table or stand, in a chair with square posts,
+and strips of rawhide for bottom; dressed in fustian pants, large blue
+vest, and striped shirt, and a common brown coat, who, on motion of Mr.
+Hill, was chosen Speaker of the House, and hereafter will be known in
+our history as Hon. Robert Moore, Esq.
+
+The first difficulty the committee found was to organize a government
+without an executive. They could organize a legislative body, and
+appoint all the committees and officers and draft all the laws
+necessary, but the folly and absurdity of the effort without an
+executive, was so apparent, that the first thing decided upon, was,
+Shall we have an executive head, called a governor, or a committee with
+executive powers! This was a difficult question, under all the votings
+and the discussions that had taken place. The committee were fully aware
+of all the opposition they must contend with. The judgeship had passed
+by vote of the people at Champoeg from a member of the Methodist Mission
+to Mr. A. E. Wilson, an intelligent, unassuming, and excellent young
+man, who came to the country in the employ of Mr. Cushing, and had
+become a settler.
+
+The committee were well assured that they could eventually secure the
+Methodist Mission influence, yet at this time it was extremely doubtful,
+and they feared that it would, as in the previous effort of 1841, go
+against them, with that of the Catholic Mission and the Hudson's Bay
+Company. An executive committee consisting of three men would form a
+council that could act in any emergency, and at the same time enable the
+Methodist Mission to be represented by one of their members in the
+Executive Council.
+
+Alanson Beers was a good, honest, faithful, and intelligent Christian
+man, acting with heart and soul with the interests of the settlement and
+the American cause. The settlers could rely upon him.
+
+David Hill was a resident of Hillsborough, Tualatin Plains, and was
+known to be decidedly opposed to the company, and not any too favorable
+to the Catholic and Methodist missions. He could be relied upon so far
+as the outside settlers were concerned, and Robert Newell could
+represent the Rocky Mountain men and such of the Canadian-French
+Hudson's Bay Company, and Roman Catholics as were disposed to join our
+organization. It was in consequence of his contending so strongly for
+the Hudson's Bay Company's rights, interests, and privileges, at
+Champoeg, on the 5th of July, that he was dropped, and Joseph Gale (who
+was one of the Ewing Young party to bring cattle from California to the
+Wallamet settlement) elected in his place.
+
+With the understanding as above indicated, the Legislative Committee,
+consisting of Hon. Robert Moore, David Hill, Robert Shortess, Alanson
+Beers, W. H. Gray, Thomas J. Hubbard, James A. O'Neil, Robert Newell,
+and William Dougherty, with the uplifted hand solemnly declared before
+God that they would faithfully perform the duties assigned them by the
+people of this settlement, at Champoeg, on the 2d day of May, A.D.
+1843, so far as they understood the duties thus assigned them. W. H.
+Gray then by request administered an oath to the Speaker elect, that he
+would faithfully and impartially discharge the duties of his office as
+presiding officer of the present appointed Legislative Committee of the
+people of Oregon, so help you God; to which Beers said, Amen. The
+question arose as to the appointment of a clerk for the committee, when
+the members agreed, if necessary, to pay his expenses per diem, if no
+other means were provided.
+
+George W. Le Breton, a young man of active mind, ready with the pen,
+useful and agreeable, and practical in his conversation, having come to
+the country as an adventurer in a vessel with Captain Couch, was chosen
+secretary and duly qualified by the Speaker. The records of the
+proceedings, as published, seem to have left out the preliminary part of
+this Legislative Committee's proceedings. This is owing to the fact that
+the compiler had no personal knowledge of them, and perhaps sought
+information from those as ignorant of the facts as himself; hence the
+meager and unsatisfactory document given to the country. Most, or all of
+the proceedings thus far mentioned were with closed doors, as will be
+seen by the record published. It was not deemed important by Messrs.
+Newell, O'Neil, and Hubbard, to have any record of our daily
+proceedings, only the result or report. Messrs. Shortess, Beers, Gray,
+Dougherty, and Hill thought it best to keep a record, which was
+commenced.
+
+    "WALLAMET, May 15, 1843.--The Legislative Committee met, and after
+    the preliminary discussions above alluded to, came to order by
+    electing Robert Moore, Esq., chairman, and G. W. Le Breton,
+    secretary.
+
+    "On motion of W. H. Gray, a committee of three was appointed by the
+    chairman to prepare rules and business for the house. This committee
+    (Messrs. Gray, Shortess, and Newell), at once, in a hasty manner,
+    prepared eight rules, and suggested the business proposed for the
+    committee as a whole to perform. The rules were taken up and adopted
+    with scarcely a single objection. Up to this time no one except
+    members of the committee had been allowed a place in the house as
+    spectators.
+
+    "On motion, it was decided that the committee sit with open doors.
+    O'Neil, Hubbard, and Dougherty favored the closed-door sessions, as
+    they did not want to expose their ignorance of making laws. Newell
+    thought we had better make as little display as possible, for it
+    would all be known, and we might be ashamed of what we had done.
+
+    "Shortess, Hill, Gray, and Beers were willing that all our efforts
+    to make laws for ourselves should be fully known, and were ready to
+    receive instructions and advice from any source. The deliberations
+    of the committee, they were confident, would not prevent opposition
+    or aid the opposers of our proposed organization.
+
+    "On motion, a judiciary committee was appointed by the Speaker or
+    chairman, consisting of Messrs. Beers, Hubbard, and Shortess.
+
+    "On motion, a committee of ways and means was appointed, consisting
+    of Messrs. Shortess, O'Neil, and Dougherty."
+
+The minutes at this stage show that there was a doubt as to the
+disposition of the Speaker, Mr. Moore, to place the best men as chairmen
+of the several committees. Mr. Moore had peculiar notions of his own
+about land claims, and had placed upon the committee, I think, Robert
+Newell, as favoring his and Dr. McLaughlin's pretensions to the entire
+water privileges at Wallamet Falls, which resulted in the appointment as
+above stated. The record seems to convey the idea that the first
+appointment was conferred by vote. This was not the case. It was the
+final action that was repeated and entered.
+
+    "On motion, a committee, consisting of Hubbard, Newell, and Gray,
+    was appointed on military affairs."
+
+We have not the original documents to refer to, but are of the
+impression that considerable correction was made in the first day's
+journal, and that more should have been made at the time. There was a
+little feeling on the part of the Speaker and the writer as to the
+necessity of an extended minute, and a disposition on the part of Mr. Le
+Breton to do as little writing as possible, not for want of time and
+material, but, from the deep interest he took in the discussions, he
+seemed to forget his work. I am not prepared to think the compiler has
+abridged the minutes, yet such may be the fact.
+
+    "On motion, Messrs. Shortess, Dougherty, and Hill were appointed a
+    committee on private land claims.
+
+    "On motion, Messrs. Gray, Dougherty, and Beers were appointed a
+    committee on districting the Territory into not to exceed five
+    districts."
+
+This committee, it seems by the motion, was to be appointed by the
+chairman or Speaker.
+
+    "Adjourned to 8 o'clock, A.M., May 17, 1843.
+
+    "The house was called to order by the chairman, and Mr. Gray
+    appointed secretary, _pro tem._ The session was then opened with
+    prayer by A. Beers. The minutes of yesterday's session were then
+    read, corrected, and accepted."
+
+The house then adjourned for one hour and a half to prepare business, at
+the expiration of which time they were called to order by the chairman.
+
+The judiciary committee reported progress. The military committee
+reported in part; also committee on districts.
+
+    "Reports accepted.
+
+    "It was moved that there be a standing committee on finance, which
+    was lost, as the vote at Champoeg had directed that the finance of
+    the government should be by subscription and voluntary contribution.
+
+    "Adjourned to 1.30 P.M.
+
+    "House called to order by Speaker.
+
+    "On motion, house went into committee of the whole upon reports of
+    committees, Gray in the chair. It was soon found that the business
+    before the committee of the whole was not in a shape to be properly
+    acted upon, and that by an open and informal meeting of the members,
+    it could be brought into shape for action, or rather that the
+    several members of the different committees had not had a full
+    expression upon the reports that were before them, and these
+    expressions could be shortened by separate committee consultation
+    and agreement among the members of the several committees; hence an
+    adjournment of one hour was agreed upon.
+
+    "At the close of the hour the house met and agreed, went into
+    committee of the whole as to the number of districts. The report of
+    the committee accepted, as amended in committee of the whole."
+
+The question arises here why did not this committee on districts, and
+the whole Legislative Committee, specify all north of the Columbia
+River?
+
+It will be remembered that the Hudson's Bay Company, with all the
+influence and votes they, with the priests, could collect, had met the
+settlers at Champoeg on the 2d of May previous, and opposed the entire
+organization; and the French priest had sent to the Legislative
+Committee a protest against any organization; at least the districting
+committee was aware that such would be the case, as the protest already
+given was in the hands of Le Breton, the secretary of the committee, and
+of the whole house. In specifying the districts beyond the limits named,
+or north of the Columbia, the additional votes and personal influence of
+the company would be thrown against us. The district committee contended
+that that influence and vote would defeat us, and make us an English or
+Hudson's Bay Company settlement. We could, without the interference of
+the company, manage our own affairs with such of the French settlers as
+chose to remain and vote with us. Such as did not like our laws could
+have a place to which they could continue their allegiance. Besides, we
+were confident we should receive a large immigration in the fall, and in
+that case we could extend our settlements and districts and laws to that
+section of the country.
+
+Another prominent, and perhaps the most prominent reason of all was, we
+were afraid to attempt to enforce any laws we might wish to adopt, or
+think necessary among ourselves, upon the servants of the company. We
+did not acknowledge their right to enforce any English laws over us, and
+we, as the writer thought then, and still thinks, wisely concluded if
+they would not openly interfere with us, we would not openly interfere
+with them, till we were strong enough to outnumber and control them, as
+will hereafter be clearly demonstrated.
+
+The journal of the proceedings of that committee shows that there were
+frequent short adjournments. These moments were all occupied in
+discussing and agreeing upon some report that was soon to be acted upon,
+and in coming to a unanimous vote as to the final result; there was but
+one thought and but one object with the majority of the members of the
+Legislative Committee.
+
+That thought and object was, to establish the provisional government
+they had undertaken to organize. They felt that union in their action
+was absolutely necessary, as the opposing elements were so strong, that
+without it we must fail, and subject ourselves and the settlement to the
+worst possible tyranny and humiliation from Dr. White and the Hudson's
+Bay Company.
+
+After the second recess, during the second day, the report of the
+military committee was before the house and instructions asked. Newell
+was opposed to any military arrangements at all. Hubbard was undecided.
+Gray insisted on carrying out the instructions and ideas of the meeting
+of the 2d of May in regard to military officers that had been appointed
+at that meeting, and in preparing rules to govern them in organizing and
+drilling the men. He was unwilling to leave the military power without
+any responsibility to any one but themselves; hence instruction was
+asked, and given, to proceed as indicated in the meeting at Champoeg,
+and prepare a military law, to be included in the articles of organic
+compact.
+
+    "May 18, 1843.--House met pursuant to adjournment. Session was
+    opened by prayer. Minutes of yesterday's session read, corrected,
+    and accepted.
+
+    "Robert Newell moved, and was seconded, that a committee be
+    appointed to prepare a paper for the signature of all persons
+    wishing an organization."
+
+The reader is already informed of the appearance of the French protest,
+and that it was in the possession of Le Breton. It is possible that
+Newell may have received it from the French priest. The writer has never
+been able to learn the exact facts in the case. At all events Newell's
+resolution shows, that however willing and ready he was to commence the
+organization of an American government with his _adopted_ countrymen, he
+is now in doubt as to the propriety of the step he, with others, had
+undertaken.
+
+He presents a resolution to get up a committee to prepare a paper to
+circulate among the people, to find out who were in favor of the
+organization we were then attempting to bring into shape, under the
+instructions already received.
+
+Perhaps the reader will understand Mr. Newell better if he is more fully
+informed as to his real genealogy, as there has always been a little
+doubt whether he belonged to the American or British nation. From the
+best information we could get about him, he was formerly from
+Cincinnati, Ohio, and the Rocky Mountains. From the earliest history we
+have of him, he has claimed to be an American, and represented the
+interests of a foreign monopoly, under a religious belief that he was
+conscientiously right in so doing. By keeping himself talking strong
+American sentiments to Americans, and acting strongly anti-American
+while in the mountains and in the settlement, he succeeded in obtaining
+and holding positions to benefit the trade of the Hudson's Bay Company;
+also a place in the Legislative Committee, and in the settler's
+government, to shield and protect those who were seeking the destruction
+of all American trade and influence in the country. He was a man of
+quite ordinary ability, yet smooth and insinuating in his manners, with
+a great abundance of plausible stories, to make a stranger believe he
+was learned in a profession. His real sentiments could never be learned
+except by his vote; his thoughts only read by his acts, which always
+tended to complicate and confuse legislation. This probably arose from a
+disposition to seek popularity and places he was incompetent to fill;
+as, also, from the title he assumed in early life, it naturally made him
+a hypocrite in action as well as profession. He had not the moral
+principle requisite to make known the truth, and to assume his proper
+position and be regarded as a plain man without a title. As plain Bob
+Newell he could be respected for his natural and genial talent. As _Dr._
+Newell he assumes an air to correspond with the title, and shows the
+hypocrisy of his life. He was at this time, and has continued to be, a
+faithful representative of the Hudson's Bay Company and Jesuit interests
+in the country, for which service they should enter his name upon their
+calendar of saints. As a public man, we are not aware that he ever
+originated a single act or law; but as representing a clique, or the
+interests of his masters, he has always been ready to do his utmost in
+every possible way. At the time we were called to vote upon Mr. Newell's
+first resolution, his position was fully known to but few, yet enough
+was understood of his duplicity to reject his proposition at once, and
+the house proceeded to amend its rules and add a ninth to those already
+adopted.
+
+The report of the military committee was recommitted with instructions
+for further notion. Mr. Hubbard was considerably under the influence of
+Newell, and in consequence of this fact the military rules or laws were
+remodeled in committee of the whole. Newell and Hubbard were disposed to
+defeat it altogether as unnecessary, as intimated in the tenth
+proposition in the French priest's address. In fact, Mr. Newell acted
+all through the proceedings of the Legislative Committee upon the ideas
+contained in that address, and opposed all measures looking beyond the
+suggestions contained in it.
+
+At this point, the judiciary committee, consisting of Beers, Hubbard,
+and Shortess, reported in part on the executive power, and opened the
+eyes of Dr. Newell to the awful responsibility and to a full realization
+of the fact that a majority of the committee were in favor of an
+organization, and a real, actual American government. He took the floor
+and commenced: "Wall, reelly now, Mr. Chairman, this 'ere report is a
+stumper, I see from the report of this 'ere committee that you are going
+on a little too fast. I think you had better find out if we can carry
+this thing through before we go too far. We have a good many people that
+don't know what we are about, and I think we had better adjourn before
+we go too far."
+
+In the midst of this speech, which was a repetition of the reasons for
+getting up the paper to find out who were favorable to our proposed
+government, the house was so uncourteous as to adjourn and leave the
+balance of Dr. Newell's speech unrepeated. Suffice it to say, that in
+those short adjournments as noted in the Oregon archives, nearly or
+quite all the little differences of opinion were quickly explained and
+understood by a majority of the members. The exact subjects that were
+before them at the several meetings we have no documents to indicate,
+and we can only be governed by such documents as we have, to wit, the
+record and our own memory.
+
+Newell was the only prominent opposer of the report of the judiciary
+committee, which was prepared by Robert Shortess, to whose memory we are
+indebted for a remarkable speech of Hon. Mr. Robert Newell on that
+occasion. Mr. Shortess says the discussion was on the question of who
+should be deemed voters. Most of the committee were in favor of
+universal suffrage, and, as Dr. Newell had a native wife, naturally
+supposed he would be quite as liberal as those who had full white
+families; but the doctor gave us one of his "stumpers," or, as he calls
+it, "_big fir-tree speeches_," by saying: "Wall, now, Mr. Speaker, I
+think we have got quite high enough among the _dark clouds_; I do not
+believe we ought to go any higher. It is well enough to admit the
+English, the French, the Spanish, and the half-breeds, but the Indian
+and the negro is a little too dark for me. I think we had better stop at
+the half-breeds. I am in favor of limiting the right to vote to them,
+and going no further into the dark clouds to admit the negro."
+
+We confess that till Mr. Shortess reminded us of this speech, and the
+manner of its delivery, it had escaped our memory, and that, without it,
+Mr. Newell could scarcely receive his proper position in the history of
+our early struggle for American liberty upon this coast. His position
+and the patronage he received from the Hudson's Bay Company were
+sufficient for him to work effectually in their interests through all
+our struggle.
+
+    "At the evening session of May 18, the committee on ways and means
+    were instructed to prepare a subscription for presenting at the
+    general meeting, to procure funds to defray the expenses of the
+    government, after spending a short time in committee of the whole.
+
+    "Adjourned till next day.
+
+    "May 19, 1843.--House met pursuant to adjournment. Opened with
+    prayer. Moved that the minutes of the 18th be accepted. Taking the
+    whole subject of the organization into consideration, Gray presented
+    the following resolution that a committee of three be appointed to
+    prepare and arrange all the business that has been done, or may be
+    done hereafter at this session, revising statutes of Iowa, etc.,
+    report at the next session of the committee, and request the clerk
+    to copy the same.
+
+    "Resolution adopted.
+
+    "Messrs. Gray, Beers, and O'Neil were appointed; these three living
+    within fifteen miles of each other, it was thought could meet and
+    superintend and revise the whole proceedings, and get them in shape
+    for the public meeting.
+
+    "Committee of ways and means reported a subscription, which was
+    accepted, and the military committee reported in part, which was
+    accepted.
+
+    "Adjourned to 2 P.M.
+
+    "At 2 P.M. house met. The judiciary committee reported in full.
+    Report accepted."
+
+On the 20th page of the archives, and in reference to the proviso in the
+fourth article of the organic law, the record does not give us the fact.
+The proviso referred to was prepared but not included in the original
+act, as reported and read at Champoeg, but was adopted at Champoeg. The
+report was duly referred to the revising committee, and the proviso left
+in the hands of Le Breton to be withheld or presented, as the occasion
+might require, in the final action of the people. The large pretensions
+to lands by the Methodist and Catholic missions were fully understood by
+the entire committee. They wished to curtail them as much as possible,
+and were fully aware that any direct action to this end would bring the
+whole influence of both missions against them.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIV.
+
+     Fourth of July, 1843.--Oration by Mr. Hines.--Meeting of July
+     5.--Debate on the land law.--How the Jesuits and the Hudson's Bay
+     Company secured their land claims.--Speech of the Rev. G. Hines
+     against the proposed Executive Committee.--The committee supported
+     by O'Neil, Shortess, and Lee.--W. H. Gray closes the debate.--The
+     report of the committee adopted.--Committee appointed to report to
+     Congress, another to make a Digest of Territorial laws, and a third
+     to prepare and administer an oath of office.
+
+
+On the 4th of July our national anniversary was observed, and an oration
+was delivered by the Rev. G. Hines. The committee favored the selection
+of Mr. Hines as orator, that they might gain his views, and be ready to
+meet him on the main questions that would be brought up on the fifth. In
+this, however, we failed, as he dwelt principally upon the subjects of
+temperance, the glorious deeds of our forefathers on the other side of
+the Rocky Mountains, and the influences and blessings of the day. No
+Englishman, or foreigner, could have taken any exceptions to his
+sentiments or language. On the 5th, Dr. Babcock, chairman of the meeting
+of May 2, being absent, the meeting was called to order by G. W. Le
+Breton, one of the secretaries of the May meeting. On motion, the Rev.
+Gustavus Hines was elected president of the convention by acclamation.
+R. Moore, Esq., chairman of the Legislative Committee, presented his
+report, which was read by Secretary Le Breton, and on motion accepted.
+Rev. L. H. Judson moved that the report of the committee on ways and
+means be accepted. This motion brought the land law up for discussion.
+The Legislative Committee as a whole reported that law entire, to the
+proviso in the fourth article. Upon the first part of that article a
+discussion arose between Mr. Newell and the members of the Methodist
+Mission, as to the right of any single individual to hold a claim of 640
+acres upon a city or town site, or extensive water privilege. Mr. Moore
+agreed with Mr. Newell on that question, as he claimed one side of the
+Wallamet River at the falls, and Dr. McLaughlin the other. The
+Methodist Mission also claimed a right to the east side of the Wallamet,
+and the Milling Company claimed the island, upon which they were
+erecting mills. Mr. Newell opposed the fourth article, to favor Dr.
+McLaughlin; the Methodist Mission and Milling Company favored the
+article on the ground that it secured them in their rights, and
+prevented a monopoly of that water-power by any single individual. Rev.
+Jason Lee was anxious to secure the rights and claims of the Methodist
+Mission. So far as the water privilege and town sites were concerned,
+there were no fears on the part of the committee, but in reference to
+the large claims of the Methodist Mission, there were fears that Mr. Lee
+and Mr. Hines would oppose our whole effort, and combine the influence
+of their mission against the organization. To satisfy Rev. Jason Lee, Le
+Breton presented the proviso as contained in the fourth article, which
+removed his objection. The committee were well assured that the Jesuit
+missions would claim the same right to land, and in this way, the one
+mission would be induced to give up to curtail the other. This occurred
+as anticipated, only the Methodist Mission held on to their claims, and
+attempted to maintain them publicly, while the Jesuits did the same
+thing silently, and by having their lands recorded in the supposed names
+of their members, or priests, the same as the Hudson's Bay Company
+recorded all their improvements and forts in the names of their
+different servants, so as to hold them for the company; the company and
+the Jesuits having, as they supposed, secured their own claims to land
+in the name of their respective servants, joined with the new
+immigrants, in condemning the large pretensions of the Methodist
+Mission, and in this way prejudiced the minds of the settlers against it
+for doing, openly, just what they had done in the names of their
+servants, secretly.
+
+On the final vote there were but few dissenting voices, except upon the
+adoption of the proviso. It may be asked why the land law was brought up
+first. The minutes as recorded on the twenty-third and twenty-fourth
+pages of the Oregon archives, show that Mr. Judson moved the adoption of
+the report of the committee on ways and means. This was all the minute
+that was made, as the business and discussion progressed. The report on
+the land law was deemed, by the committee, to be of the first
+importance, as all were personally interested in the law about land
+claims; and upon the discussion of that report, they could learn the
+result of the whole effort, and the feelings of the people as to the
+permanence of the proposed government. The notice of the report of the
+committee on ways and means, on page 24, and of the proviso, is entered,
+to show that the amendments alluded to were made. We are of the opinion,
+that had Mr. Le Breton lived to copy those minutes, he would have so
+changed them. He says such amendment and proviso were adopted. To this
+fact we have affirmed under oath as being a part of the provisional law
+adopted at that meeting. This brings us to the first clause of the
+organic law, as adopted by the people in mass convention.
+
+The preamble and first article were adopted on motion of Joseph
+McLaughlin, the second son of Dr. John McLaughlin, who took an active
+part in favoring the organization, against the wishes and influence of
+his family.
+
+The second article was read, and, on motion of L. H. Judson, was
+adopted.
+
+The third, on motion of C. McRoy, and the fourth, on motion of Joseph
+Holman, were also adopted.
+
+On motion to adopt the fifth article, "on the executive power," it was
+plain to be seen that the Rev. Mr. Hines was swelling and becoming
+uneasy, in proportion as the Rev. Jason Lee appeared to be satisfied
+with the proceedings. He hesitated to put the motion, called Robert
+Moore, the chairman of the Legislative Committee, to the chair, and
+commenced:--
+
+    "Mr. President, gentlemen, and fellow-citizens,--The Legislative
+    Committee which you appointed to prepare certain laws, and perform a
+    certain duty, have assumed to present for your approval something
+    they had no right, in all the instructions given them, to present.
+    They have commenced a course which, if not checked, will lead to the
+    worst possible form of despotism. Grant them the privilege which
+    they now ask, of imposing upon this settlement, upon you and me and
+    our families, this _hydra-headed monster_ in the shape of an
+    Executive Committee, and we have but the repetition of the Roman
+    Triumvirate--the Caesars upon the throne. We may be told by them, in
+    excuse for the violation of plain and positive instructions, that
+    they found it difficult to proceed with the organizing of a
+    temporary government without an executive; and here they have
+    brought before you this _monstrosity_--this _black bear_--this
+    _hydra-headed monster_, in the shape of an Executive Committee; and
+    ask you to adopt it, as necessary to preserve your civil liberties
+    and rights.
+
+    "Gentlemen and fellow-citizens,--You have but to look to past
+    history, to warn you of the dangers of so palpable a violation of
+    instructions on the part of public servants. You instructed them to
+    do a certain work, to prepare certain laws. If they could not do as
+    instructed, let them resign and go home. So far as they performed
+    the duties assigned them, we can approve of their acts; but when
+    they attempt to force upon us what we have not asked of them, but
+    said to them we do not want this monstrosity with three heads, yet
+    they persist in saying we do; and have gone on and made their laws
+    to correspond with this absurd and outrageous thing they call
+    _Executive Committee_. Is it wise, is it reasonable, that we should
+    submit to it? What assurance have we that the next Legislative
+    Committee, or body we may appoint, following the example set by
+    this one, will not give us a king or emperor, and tell us it is
+    necessary to complete our organization?"
+
+Many of the persons present at Champoeg on the 5th of July, 1843, will
+recollect this speech, and the strong and emphatic manner in which it
+was delivered. Why Mr. Hines did not move to strike out the executive
+clause has always been a mystery to us. When he had resumed his seat as
+president of the convention, Mr. O'Neil made a few remarks, explaining
+the position of the committee. Mr. Shortess followed, denying the
+assumption of power attributed to the committee, or a disposition to go
+beyond their instructions, and urged the necessity of a head or some
+controlling influence somewhere. Could we rely upon Captains McCarty, or
+McKay, or Smith to call out their companies; or Major Howard? Should the
+military control the civil power? "The thing is absurd," said Shortess.
+Rev. Jason Lee could not see the proposed executive head of the proposed
+provisional government in the light Mr. Hines did. If it was thought
+necessary to have a government at all, it was necessary to have a head,
+and an executive, or the laws were of no effect.
+
+It was arranged with the Legislative Committee, that Gray should meet
+Hines on this question, and make the last speech in favor of the
+executive department. Hence O'Neil and Shortess both spoke in favor of
+it. Dr. Babcock was opposed, on account of its going beyond present
+necessities, and looking too much like a permanent and independent
+government; whereas we only wished to form a temporary one. He thought
+with Mr. Hines, that the committee had gone beyond their instructions in
+providing for this executive power, still he was willing to abide the
+decision of the people. There was a little uncertainty us to Mr. Lee's
+final vote. Dr. Babcock was clearly against us. Mr. Hines made but the
+one speech. From the course the debate had taken, Gray had no fears as
+to the final result, and waited until it was evident that no more
+opposing speeches would be made when he commenced:--
+
+    "Mr. President and fellow-citizens,--The speech which we have just
+    listened to, from our presiding officer, is in the main correct. It
+    is true that the Legislative Committee were not instructed to bring
+    before you an executive department in the laws and government you
+    proposed to form, when you appointed your committee to prepare those
+    laws. It is also true, that when that committee met, they found that
+    they could not advance one step in accomplishing the work you
+    instructed them to perform, without some supervising influence, or
+    power, somewhere; in short, without a head. Their instructions were
+    against a governor. They have provided an Executive Committee, in
+    place of a single man for governor. This executive head is to act
+    in the place of senate, council, and governor. This provision is
+    before you for your approval or rejection. With this Executive
+    Committee our organization is complete; without it we have no head;
+    no one to see that our laws are executed, and no one to grant a
+    reprieve or pardon in case a law should be enforced against the life
+    or property of any one, for the violation of any law, no matter what
+    the circumstances connected with that real or supposed violation
+    might be. The pardon and mercy part of our law is in that '_horrible
+    hydra-headed monster_' that the gentleman spoke about, and warned us
+    against; and instead of its being as black as his '_bear_,' it
+    becomes light and mercy to the erring and the ignorant. As to the
+    example set by your committee for future despots to rob us of our
+    liberty, and place over us a king or an emperor, you and I have no
+    fears so long as we elect our own legislative bodies.
+
+    "Now, fellow-citizens, let us look calmly at our true situation. We
+    are two thousand five hundred miles from any point from which we can
+    receive the least assistance by land; and seventeen thousand miles
+    by water. A portion of our community are organized and ready to
+    protect themselves, and to defend all their rights and interests.
+    Another organization of a religious character is in our midst,--I
+    should say, two. They each have a head--an executive. How is it with
+    us? Who is our head in all that pertains to our civil liberty,
+    rights, and property? It is possible the gentleman may wish us to
+    remain as unprotected, as helpless and exposed to all the dangers
+    that surround us on every hand, as we have heretofore been. If he
+    does, you, fellow-citizens, I am sure, do not wish to add to his
+    feebleness by destroying the organization you have commenced,
+    because he is afraid of what some Caesar did in Rome some centuries
+    past. We are acting for ourselves and those immediately dependent
+    upon us for protection. In union there is strength. I believe you
+    are fully satisfied that your committee have acted honestly, and, as
+    they thought, for the good of all they represented. If such is the
+    case, you will approve of their acts, and our organization will be
+    complete as they have prepared it for this meeting."
+
+On the question being taken, there were but two or three votes against
+the executive, or fifth section. Mr. Lee informed the writer that he saw
+plainly enough that the meeting was determined to have a government of
+some kind, and that probably the Executive Committee was the best at
+first. This point gained, the remainder was soon disposed of.
+
+The marriage fee was changed, in the seventeenth article, from three
+dollars to one dollar.
+
+The resolution referred to as the nineteenth was: "_Resolved_, That a
+committee of three be appointed to draw up a digest of all the laws and
+proceedings of the people of this Territory, in relation to the present
+provisional government, and the reasons for forming the same; and
+forward said digest and report to the Congress of the United States for
+their information." Rev. Jason Lee, Rev. Gustavus Hines, and Mr. C. M.
+Walker were chosen that committee, and instructed to have access to all
+public documents, and to call upon any individual for any information
+they might deem necessary in carrying out their instructions.
+
+That committee, so far as performing their duty and carrying out the
+wishes of the people were concerned, did the same as the reverend
+Legislative Committee did in 1841; they neglected the thing altogether,
+and paid no attention to the object of the resolution. Still, at the
+present day, when the same reverend gentlemen are charged with having
+done all they could against the early settlers' government, they attempt
+to repel the charge, and take great credit to themselves for the
+perseverance of others in securing permanent laws and protection for
+themselves and the settlements.
+
+Messrs. Beers, Hill, and Gale, were chosen by ballot as the first
+Executive Committee.
+
+Hugh Burns, who had been chosen at the May meeting as justice of the
+peace, had resigned, and Robert Moore was chosen to fill his place.
+
+The committee had prepared a full list of the laws of Iowa, to recommend
+for the adoption of the people, which was presented and read, some
+slight amendments made, and the list adopted.
+
+The report of the Legislative Committee was adopted as a whole; and on
+motion it was "_Resolved_, That the president of the convention assisted
+by the Rev. Messrs. Lee, Clark, and Leslie, be a committee to draft and
+administer an oath of office to the civil officers elected on the 2d of
+May, 1843, and that said officers be required to subscribe to the same;
+and administer the oath to the supreme judge, who shall hereafter
+qualify all civil and military officers to be elected by the people." At
+this point, a question arose in the mind of the last-named committee,
+whether they would proceed that night to administer the proposed oath,
+or defer it till some other time. There were some earnest and determined
+men in that convention, who were not to be defeated at the last moment
+by the disposition of these reverend gentlemen to delay the concluding
+ceremony of drafting and administering the oath of office to the persons
+the people had chosen. To relieve them of all doubt as to the wish of
+the convention (although it was then nearly dark), it was moved and
+carried, "that the committee to qualify officers proceed to the
+performance of their duty, as far as practicable, this evening." Judge
+Wilson was not present.
+
+Rev. Jason Lee noticed that Mr. Beers received the smallest number of
+votes given for any member of the Executive Committee. This to him, and
+probably to Messrs. Leslie and Hines, was unaccountable; but not so to
+us, who understood the general feeling of opposition against the rule of
+the missionaries and their large claims to land; as also the secret
+prejudices excited against them by the Hudson's Bay Company and the
+Jesuits, who attributed the entire government movement to them, while
+the organization was that of the settlers unaided by any mission, except
+individual members of the Protestant missions. This was probably the
+reason for the proposition to delay qualifying the officers elected, and
+carrying out the decided wish of the convention. This fact simply shows
+a reluctant assent to the organization by the principal members of the
+missions. The French address showed the feelings of the French and
+Catholics, while the Hudson's Bay Company stood entirely aloof from it,
+and expected to defeat the whole movement by the influence of such men
+as the Rev. G. Hines, Dr. White, Robert Newell, and the Indians.
+
+We have two copies of the organic laws adopted by the people at
+Champoeg; one published by Charles Saxton in 1846, and the other by the
+compiler of the Oregon archives in 1853. That published by Mr. Saxton
+corresponds nearer with our own recollections of the facts of the case;
+hence we will copy them as given by him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLV.
+
+     Organic laws.--Resolutions.--Districts.--Militia law.--Land
+     claims.--Certificate.
+
+
+The Legislative Committee recommend that the following _organic laws_ be
+adopted:--
+
+    WE, the people of Oregon Territory, for purposes of mutual
+    protection, and to secure peace and prosperity among ourselves,
+    agree to adopt the following laws and regulations, until such time
+    as the United States of America extend their jurisdiction over us:--
+
+
+SECTION I.
+
+_Be it enacted by the free citizens of Oregon Territory_, That the said
+Territory, for the purposes of temporary government, be divided into not
+less than three, nor more than five, districts; subject to be extended
+to a greater number when an increase of population shall require.
+
+For the purpose of fixing the principles of civil and religious liberty
+as the basis of all laws and constitutions of government that may
+hereafter be adopted, _Be it enacted_, That the following articles be
+considered articles of compact among the free citizens of this
+Territory.
+
+ARTICLE 1. No person demeaning himself in a peaceable or orderly manner
+shall ever be molested on account of his mode of worship or religious
+sentiments.
+
+ART. 2. The inhabitants of said Territory shall always be entitled to
+the benefit of the writ of _habeas corpus_ and trial by jury, of a
+proportionate representation in the Legislature, and of judicial
+proceeding according to the course of common law. All persons shall be
+bailable, unless for capital offenses, where the proof shall be evident,
+or the presumption great. All fines shall be moderate, and no cruel or
+unnatural punishments inflicted. No man shall be deprived of his liberty
+but by the judgment of his peers, or the law of the land; and should the
+public exigences make it necessary, for the common preservation, to take
+any person's property, or to demand his particular services, full
+compensation shall be made for the same. And in the just preservation of
+rights and property, it is understood and declared that no law ought
+ever to be made, or have force in said Territory, that shall in any
+manner whatever interfere with, or affect, private contracts, or
+engagements _bona fide_ made and without fraud previously formed.
+
+ART. 3. Religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary to good
+government and the happiness of mankind, _schools_ and the means of
+education _shall forever be encouraged_.
+
+ART. 4. The utmost good faith shall always be observed toward the
+Indians, their lands and property shall never be taken from them without
+their consent, and in their property, rights, and liberty, they shall
+never be invaded or disturbed, unless in just and lawful wars,
+authorised by the representatives of the people. But laws, founded in
+justice and humanity, shall, from time to time, be made, for preventing
+injustice being done to them, and for preserving peace and friendship.
+
+ART. 5. There shall be _neither slavery nor involuntary servitude_ in
+said Territory, otherwise than for the punishment of crimes, whereof the
+party shall have been duly convicted.
+
+
+SECTION II.
+
+ARTICLE 1. _Be it enacted_ by the authority aforesaid, That the officers
+elected on the 2d of May instant shall continue in office until the
+second Tuesday of May, 1844, and until others are elected and qualified.
+
+ART. 2. An election for civil and military officers shall be held
+annually upon the second Tuesday in May in the several districts, at
+such places as shall be designated by law.
+
+ART. 3. Each officer heretofore elected, or that shall hereafter be
+elected, shall, before entering upon the duties of his office, take an
+oath or affirmation to support the laws of the Territory, and faithfully
+discharge the duties of his office.
+
+ART. 4. _Every free male descendant of a white man_, inhabitant of this
+Territory, of the age of twenty-one years and upward, who shall have
+been an inhabitant of this Territory at the time of its organization,
+shall be entitled to vote at the election of officers, civil and
+military, _and be eligible to any office_ in the Territory; _Provided_,
+That all persons of the description entitled to vote by the provision of
+this section, who shall emigrate to this Territory after the
+organization, shall be entitled to the rights of citizens after having
+resided six months in the Territory.
+
+ART. 5. The executive power shall be vested in a committee of three
+persons, elected by the qualified voters at the annual election, who
+shall have power to grant pardons and reprieves for offenses against the
+laws of the Territory, to call out the military force of the Territory,
+to repel invasions or suppress insurrections, to take care that the laws
+are faithfully executed, and to recommend such laws as they may consider
+necessary to the representatives of the people for their action. Two
+members of the committee shall constitute a quorum for the transaction
+of business.
+
+ART. 6. The legislative power shall be vested in a committee of nine
+persons, to be elected by the qualified electors at the annual election;
+giving to each district a representation in the ratio of its population,
+excluding Indians; and the said members shall reside in the district for
+which they shall be chosen.
+
+ART. 7. The judicial power shall be vested in a Supreme Court,
+consisting of the supreme judge and two justices of the peace; a Probate
+Court and Justice Court. The jurisdiction of the Supreme Court shall be
+both appellate and original; that of the Probate Court and Justice Court
+as limited by law; _Provided_, That individual justices of the peace
+shall not have jurisdiction of any matter or controversy when the title
+or boundaries of land may be in dispute, or when the sum claimed exceeds
+fifty dollars.
+
+ART. 8. There shall be a Recorder, elected by the qualified electors at
+the annual election, who shall keep a faithful record of the proceedings
+of the Legislative Committee, Supreme and Probate courts; also record
+all boundaries of land presented for that purpose, and brands used for
+marking live stock; procure and keep a record of the same; and also
+record wills, deeds, and other instruments of writing required by law to
+be recorded. The Recorder shall receive the following fees, viz.: For
+recording wills, deeds, and other instruments of writing, twelve cents
+for every hundred words; and for every weight or measure sealed,
+twenty-five cents. For granting other official papers and the seal,
+twenty-five cents; for services as clerk of the Legislature, the same
+daily pay as members of the Legislature; and for all other services
+required of him by this act, the same fees as allowed for similar
+services by the laws of Iowa.
+
+ART. 9. There shall be a Treasurer, elected by the qualified electors of
+the Territory, who shall, before entering upon the duties of his office,
+give bonds to the Executive Committee in the sum of fifteen hundred
+dollars, with two or more sufficient sureties, to be approved by the
+Executive Committee of the Territory, conditioned for the faithful
+discharge of the duty of his office. The Treasurer shall receive all
+moneys belonging to the Territory that may be raised by contribution, or
+otherwise, and shall procure suitable books in which he shall enter an
+account of his receipts and disbursements.
+
+ART. 10. The Treasurer shall in no case pay money out of the Treasury
+but according to law, and shall annually report to the Legislative
+Committee a true account of his receipts and disbursements, with
+necessary vouchers for the same, and shall deliver to his successor in
+office all books, moneys, accounts, or other property belonging to the
+Territory, as soon as his successor shall become qualified.
+
+ART. 11. The Treasurer shall receive for his services the sum of five
+per cent. upon all moneys received and paid out according to law, and
+three per cent. upon all money in the Treasury when he goes out of
+office, and two per cent. upon the disbursement of money in the Treasury
+when he comes into office.
+
+ART. 12. The laws of Iowa Territory shall be the laws of this Territory
+in military and criminal cases, _where not otherwise provided for_; and
+where no statute of Iowa Territory applies, the principle of common law
+and equity shall govern.
+
+ART. 13. The law of Iowa regulating weights and measures shall be the
+law of this Territory; _Provided_, The Supreme Court shall perform the
+duties required of the commissioners, and the recorder shall perform the
+duties of the clerk of the county commissioners, as prescribed in said
+laws of Iowa; and proved, that sixty pounds avoirdupois shall be the
+standard weight of a bushel of wheat, whether the same be more or less
+than two thousand one hundred and fifty and two-fifths cubic inches.
+
+ART. 14. The laws of Iowa respecting wills and administrators shall be
+the laws of this Territory in all cases not otherwise provided for.
+
+ART. 15. The laws of Iowa respecting vagrants is hereby adopted as far
+as adapted to the circumstances of the citizens of Oregon.
+
+ART. 16. The Supreme Court shall hold two sessions annually, upon the
+third Tuesdays of April and September, the first session to be held at
+Champoeg upon the third Tuesday of September, 1843, and the second
+session at Tualatin Plains, upon the third Tuesday of April, 1844. At
+the sessions of the Supreme Court the judge shall preside, assisted by
+two justices; _Provided_, That no justice of the peace shall assist in
+trying any case that has been brought before the court by appeal from
+his judgment. The Supreme Court shall have original jurisdiction in
+cases of treason and felony, or breach of the peace, and in civil cases
+where the sum claimed exceeds fifty dollars.
+
+ART. 17. All male persons of the age of sixteen years and upward, and
+all females of the age of fourteen years and upward, shall have the
+right to marry. When either of the parties shall be under twenty-one
+years of age, the consent of the parents, or guardians of such minors,
+shall be necessary to the validity of such matrimonial engagement. Every
+ordained minister of the gospel, of any religious denomination, the
+supreme judge, and all justices of the peace, are hereby authorized to
+solemnize marriage according to law, to have the same recorded, and pay
+the recorder's fee. The legal fee for marriage shall be one dollar; and
+for recording, fifty cents.
+
+ART. 18. All offices subsequently made shall be filled by election and
+ballot in the several districts upon the day appointed by law, and under
+such regulations as the laws of Iowa provide.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+1. _Resolved_, That a committee of three be appointed to draw up a
+digest of the doings of this Territory with regard to an organization,
+and transmit the same to the United States government for their
+information.
+
+2. _Resolved_, That the laws of Iowa--as laid down in the "Statute Laws
+of the Territory of Iowa, enacted at the first session of the
+Legislative Assembly of said Territory, held at Burlington, A.D.
+1838-9, published by authority in Dubuque, Russell & Reeves, printers,
+1839;" certified to be a "correct copy," by William B. Conway, secretary
+of Iowa Territory--be adopted as the laws of this Territory.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The Legislative Committee recommend that the Territory be divided into
+four districts, as follows:--
+
+First District, to be called the _Tualatin District_, comprising all the
+country south of the northern boundary line of the United States, west
+of the Wallamet or Multnomah River, north of the Yamhill River, and east
+of the Pacific Ocean.
+
+Second District, to be called the _Yamhill District_, embracing all the
+country west of the Wallamet or Multnomah River, and a supposed line
+running north and south from said river, south of the Yamhill River, to
+the parallel of forty-two degrees north latitude, or the boundary line
+of the United States and California, and east of the Pacific Ocean.
+
+Third District, to be called the _Clackamas District_, comprehending all
+territory not included in the other three districts.
+
+Fourth District, to be called the _Champoeg District_, and bounded on
+the north by a supposed line drawn from the mouth of the Haunchauke
+River, running due east to the Rocky Mountains, west by the Wallamet or
+Multnomah River, and a supposed line running due south from said river
+to the parallel of forty-two degrees north latitude, south by the
+boundary line of the United States and California, and east by the
+summit of the Rocky Mountains.
+
+The Legislative Committee also recommend the above districts to be
+designated by the name of "Oregon Territory."
+
+The Legislative Committee recommend that a subscription paper be put in
+circulation to collect funds for defraying the expenses of the
+government, as follows: We, the subscribers, hereby pledge ourselves to
+pay annually to the treasurer of Oregon Territory the sum affixed to our
+respective names, for defraying the expenses of government; _Provided_,
+That in all cases each individual subscriber may, at any time, withdraw
+his name from said subscription upon paying up all arrearages, and
+notifying the treasurer of the colony of such desire to withdraw.
+
+
+_Militia Law._
+
+ARTICLE 1. The militia of this Territory shall be arranged into one
+battalion, consisting of three or more companies of mounted riflemen.
+
+ART. 2. That in case of the vacancy of the office of major by death or
+otherwise, it shall be the duty of the Executive Committee to appoint
+another whose duty it shall be to serve in the place of such removed
+officer, until the annual election.
+
+ART. 3. That when a portion of country is so distant, or so situated,
+that in the opinion of the Executive Committee it would be inconvenient
+for persons residing therein to belong to an organized company, they
+shall be organized as a separate company under the command of a captain
+appointed by themselves, and give due notice to the major of the
+battalion, and be subject to the same laws and regulations as the other
+companies of the battalion.
+
+ART. 4. That all companies shall meet once in each year for company
+inspection upon the last Tuesday in September, well mounted, with a good
+rifle, or musket, and accouterments for company inspection and military
+exercise.
+
+ART. 5. It shall be the duty of the major to notify each captain of a
+company to notify each member of his company of the day and place of
+each annual meeting of his battalion and company at least six days
+previous to such time of meeting.
+
+ART. 6. It shall be the duty of each and every male inhabitant, over the
+age of sixteen years and under sixty, that wishes to be considered a
+citizen, to cause himself to be enrolled, by giving his name to the
+proper officers of the militia, and serve under the same, except such as
+are hereafter excepted.
+
+ART. 7. That fines shall be laid upon all who fail to adhere to the
+commands of the Executive Committee, and the same shall be expended for
+ammunition and arms, without delay, and persons appointed to take charge
+of the magazine wherever the Executive Committee shall direct its
+location.
+
+ART. 8. It shall be the duty of the Executive Committee to appoint a
+surgeon to the battalion, who shall serve in his profession when so
+ordered by the Executive Committee.
+
+ART. 9. It shall be lawful for any commissioned officer in case of
+invasion, or insurrection, to order out the militia under his command,
+provided he has sufficient reason for so doing, and give immediate
+notice thereof to the Executive Committee.
+
+ART. 10. The militia of this Territory shall, with the advice and
+consent of the Executive Committee, be subject to the call of the
+authorized agents of the United States government until she may send
+troops to support the same.
+
+
+_Land Claims._
+
+ARTICLE 1. Any person now holding or hereafter wishing to establish a
+claim to land in this Territory, shall designate the extent of his claim
+by natural boundaries, or by marks at the corners and upon the lines of
+said claim, recorded in the office of the Territorial recorder, in a
+book to be kept by him for that purpose, within twenty days from the
+time of making said claim; _Provided_, That those who shall be already
+in possession of land shall be allowed one year from the passage of this
+act, to file a description of their claims in the recorder's office.
+
+ART. 2. All claimants shall, within six months from the time of
+recording their claims, make permanent improvements upon the same, by
+building or inclosing, and also become occupant upon said claims within
+one year of the date of such record.
+
+ART. 3. No individual shall be allowed to hold a claim of more than one
+square mile, or 640 acres, in a square or oblong form, according to the
+natural situation of the premises, nor shall any individual be able to
+hold more than one claim at the same time. Any person complying with the
+provisions of these ordinances shall be entitled to the same process
+against trespass as in other cases provided by law.
+
+ART. 4. No person shall be entitled to hold such a claim upon city or
+town lots, extensive water privileges, or other situations necessary for
+the transaction of mercantile or manufacturing operations; _Provided_,
+That nothing in these laws shall be so construed as to affect any claim
+of any mission of a religious character made prior to this time, of
+extent not more than six miles square.
+
+Approved by the people, as per minutes, Wallamet, July 5, 1843.
+
+A true copy from original papers. Attest
+
+                                  GEORGE W. LE BRETON,
+                                             Recorder.
+
+
+_Certificate._
+
+This certifies that David Hill, Alanson Beers, and Joseph Gale were
+chosen the Executive Committee of the Territory of Oregon, by the people
+of said Territory, and have taken the oath for the faithful performance
+of the duties of their office as required by law.
+
+                                  GEORGE W. LE BRETON,
+                                             Recorder.
+WALLAMET, OREGON TERRITORY, July 5, 1843.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVI.
+
+     Description of the State House.--Conduct of the French
+     settlers.--Arrival of Dr. Whitman's party of
+     immigrants.--Prosperity of the settlers.--Change in the policy of
+     the Hudson's Bay Company.--Their exorbitant claims.
+
+
+A primitive State House was built with posts set upright, one end in the
+ground, grooved on two sides, and filled in with poles and split timber,
+such as would be suitable for fence rails; with plates and poles across
+the top. Rafters and horizontal poles held the cedar bark, which was
+used instead of shingles for covering. It was twenty by forty feet. At
+one end, some puncheons were put up for a platform for the president;
+some poles and slabs were placed around for seats; three planks one foot
+wide and about twelve feet long, placed upon a sort of stake platform
+for a table, for the use of the Legislative Committee and the clerks.
+
+Perfect order and decorum prevailed throughout the proceedings. The
+bolder and more independent portion of the French settlers participated
+in this convention, and expressed themselves pleased with the result.
+They looked to this organization to relieve them from British tyranny;
+while by far the greater number of them kept aloof and refused to have
+any thing to do with, or to submit to, the organization.
+
+This arose from the advice they had received from the company, and the
+instructions of the priests who were among them, as in the case of Dr.
+White's effort to get a few of them to go with him to the interior, on
+the report of threatened Indian difficulties. The Hudson's Bay Company,
+as indicated in a communication to the Executive Committee, felt
+themselves abundantly able to defend themselves and their political
+rights.
+
+This year, through the influence and representations by letters,
+reports, and the personal efforts of that devoted friend to Oregon, Dr.
+Marcus Whitman, an immigration of eight hundred and seventy-five persons
+arrived in the fall, notwithstanding that deceitful servant of the
+Hudson's Bay Company, Grant, at Fort Hall, did all he could, under the
+instructions of the company, to induce as many as possible to go to
+California, by telling them all the frightful stories he and his men
+could invent, of their danger, and the difficulties they must encounter
+in getting through to the settlement on the Wallamet. This company
+brought with them thirteen hundred head of cattle. The immigration of
+1842 amounted to one hundred and thirty-seven men, women, and children,
+a limited supply of cattle, and a number of wagons to Fort Hall, where
+they were induced to abandon most of them, through the false statements
+of the man in charge.
+
+The immigration of 1843, under the guidance of Dr. Whitman, brought most
+of their wagons, teams, and cattle through all safe. They opened the
+road to the Columbia, and the trail through the Cascade Mountains, which
+was only an obscure Indian trail quite difficult to pass in 1842, on
+account of brush, logs, and fallen timber.
+
+Our population, all told, now amounted to not far from twelve hundred.
+Among the immigrants of 1842 and '43 there were many excellent families,
+and intelligent, industrious, noble-hearted young men; with a full
+proportion of miserable scoundrels. Most of the families soon found
+locations, and having some little means, with the assistance they could
+obtain from the Methodist Mission, and such as was brought by Captain
+Couch in the brig _Maryland_, and the barks _Lausanne_ and _Toulon_, by
+Captain Crosby, sent by Mr. Cushing of Newburyport, soon commenced
+permanent improvements. The winter was mild and the larger portion of
+them were prosperous and happy in their new homes.
+
+The provisional government was formed and put in operation in July
+previous to the arrival of the large immigration of 1843. Supplies of
+flour, sugar, and tea had been sent from the settlement to meet such as
+might be in want on their way into the Wallamet Valley.
+
+From the time it was known that Dr. Whitman had safely arrived in
+Washington, and the boundary line was not settled, the whole policy of
+the Hudson's Bay Company changed. Advances of outfits were made to such
+men as Hastings and his party, Burnett, and other prominent men.
+Employment was given to a select few, and every encouragement and
+inducement held out to assist as many as could be prevailed upon to go
+to California; while those who contemplated making Oregon a permanent
+home were denied supplies or employment, especially those who had asked
+the protection of the American government. Those who proposed going to
+California could readily get all the supplies they required of the
+company by giving their notes payable in California.
+
+It was well understood by most of them when they gave their notes that
+they never expected to pay them. Two of them informed us that they did
+not intend to pay if they went out of the country, as they understood it
+as equivalent to hiring, or giving them their outfit to induce them to
+leave.
+
+This last remark applies particularly to the immigration of 1842, and
+the company that went to California with Mr. Hastings in the spring of
+1843. This policy continued up to 1847-8, when the company found
+themselves, as they supposed, through the influence of their Jesuit
+missions and Indian allies, prepared to fully maintain their licensed
+mercantile privileges, but found themselves confronted by an army of
+five hundred brave and determined men, and an organization sufficiently
+strong and united to compel them to again change their policy, though
+not their secret hatred of what they termed American intrusion upon
+their imaginary rights in the country. In the seventeenth page of their
+memorial, they assert, "And they had therein and thereupon a right of
+trade which was virtually exclusive.----And such right of trade, and the
+control, possession, and use of said Territory, for the purposes
+thereof, independent of their foreign commerce and the sale of timber,
+exceeding in total value the sum of two hundred thousand pounds sterling
+($973,333.33)." This statement is made in behalf of that company as
+their profits in trade before and up to 1846, which, together with the
+declaration of Dr. McLaughlin and Mr. Douglas, as found in chapter
+fifty-four, addressed to our Executive Committee under date March 11 and
+12, 1845, is sufficient to indicate the true policy of the company,
+which will be more fully developed as we proceed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVII.
+
+     Actions speak louder than words.--Efforts of the Hudson's Bay
+     Company to discourage immigration.--Account of the two Jesuits, F.
+     N. Blanchet and P. J. De Smet.--Protestant missionaries
+     discouraged.--Important position of the Rev. G. Hines.--Recall of
+     the Rev. Jason Lee.--Efforts of the Hudson's Bay Company to prevent
+     emigration to the Territory.--Statement of General Palmer.--Indian
+     combinations.--The Donner party.--Mr. McBean's character.--Extent
+     of Oregon at this time.
+
+
+Reaching thoughts by actions. This the historian of the times has a
+right to do; and by comparing the act and result, he can arrive with
+almost mathematical certainty as to what the thought was that originated
+the act, and produced the result. But we are not confined to this mode
+of reasoning. We have their own, and the statements of those favorable
+to them, to substantiate our conclusions.
+
+1st. The inadvertent statement of F. Ermatinger, one of their chief
+traders, in 1838, that in case the American government attempted to take
+this country, the Hudson's Bay Company would arm their eight hundred
+half-breeds, and with the aid of the Indians, drive back any force that
+could be sent across the continent to take it. Their navy could defend
+the coast. The Jesuits could influence the Indians.
+
+2d. The arrangements made to bring to the country the Red River
+immigrants in 1842.
+
+3d. The stationing of a ship of war at Vancouver to protect the company.
+
+4th. The building of bastions at Fort Vancouver, and strengthening that
+post in 1845-6.
+
+5th. The refusal of Mr. Douglas to furnish supplies to the provisional
+troops, sent to punish the parties engaged in the Wailatpu massacre.
+
+6th. The supplying of Indians, by Mr. Ogden, with a large amount of war
+material, and his avowal not to have any thing to do with American
+difficulties.
+
+7th. The letters and correspondence of Sir James Douglas.
+
+8th. The positive statements of William McBean.
+
+9th. The statements of Vicar-General Brouillet.
+
+10th. The correspondence and letters of Bishop Blanchet.
+
+11th. The testimony they have produced in support of their claims.
+
+12th. The designs of the British government as indicated by James Edward
+Fitzgerald.
+
+13th. The sending of American immigrants from Fort Hall and Oregon to
+California.
+
+14th. The attempt to supply the Indians in the interior, by the aid of
+Romish priests, with a large amount of ammunition.
+
+15th. The implacable hatred implanted in the mind of the Indian against
+Americans, through the influence of the Hudson's Bay Company and the
+Jesuit missionaries brought to the country for that purpose.
+
+16th. The strict rules of the company, and the continued effort to
+enforce those rules to the destruction of life and property.
+
+We now come to the thoughts which originated and caused the foregoing
+acts.
+
+_These American missionaries have done more to defeat us, to settle the
+country, and defer the establishment of the boundary line, than all
+other efforts and causes combined._ We must make another effort to
+destroy their influence, and drive them and their settlements from the
+country; and thus secure it to the British crown, for the use of the
+company, at the risk of a war between the two countries.
+
+It will be remembered that Messrs. Lee, Parker, Whitman, Spalding, Gray,
+and other missionaries, had their passports from the Secretary of War of
+the United States, giving them permission to travel through, and settle
+as teachers in, the Indian country; and that all military officers and
+agents of the government were instructed to facilitate their efforts,
+and, if at any time it was necessary, afford them protection. These
+passports had been duly presented to the Hudson's Bay Company at
+Vancouver, and had the effect to prevent a direct effort to destroy or
+drive them from the country, as they had done to all who preceded them.
+
+Hence, an extra effort must be made to get rid of this American
+missionary influence, and the settlements they were gathering around
+them.
+
+We will now proceed to give historical facts as connected with results.
+
+Two intelligent, jovial, yet bigoted priests had been brought to the
+country by the company. They had traveled all through it, and had
+actually discovered the pure silver and golden ores of the Rocky
+Mountains, and carried specimens to St. Louis and to Europe. These
+priests fully understood the licensed rights of the Hudson's Bay
+Company, and the efforts they were making to secure it to the British
+crown. They were also assured that, in case the American Protestant
+influence could be driven from it, the Papal would become the prevailing
+religion, as in California and Mexico. They knew that the English
+Episcopal effort was an early and utter failure, and that no renewed
+effort would be made in their behalf by the company, and that they were
+then using their influence to drive the Wesleyan missionaries from Moose
+Factory. Hence, they and their associates entered upon their work with a
+zeal and energy only equaled by him who was their first victim.
+
+F. N. Blanchet visited Canada, New York, and Rome, and was made Bishop
+of Oregon. His associate, P. J. De Smet, gathered his priests and nuns,
+returned to the country, and entered vigorously upon their missionary
+work, having the substantial aid of the Hudson's Bay Company, and the
+personal assistance of its members. Their churches, nunneries, and
+schools sprung up as if by magic in French Prairie, Oregon City,
+Vancouver, the Dalles, Umatilla, Pen d'Oreille, Colville, and St. Marie.
+The Protestant missions in the country were greatly annoyed by the
+unreasonable and threatening conduct of the Indians about their
+stations. They were demanding unreasonable pay for the lands upon which
+the stations were located, and paying but little or no attention to
+their American teachers. The American missionaries were becoming
+disheartened and discouraged, and were beginning to abandon their
+stations. Rev. A. B. Smith, of the Nez Perce mission, Dr. Richmond, from
+Nasqualla, Rev. Messrs. Kone and Frost, from Clatsop, and Mr. Edwards
+had left the country. Rev. Daniel Lee, Rev. H. K. W. Perkins, Mr.
+Brewer, and Dr. Babcock, had all become dissatisfied, and thought they
+had found a plausible excuse for leaving. A simple statement of a man in
+the employ of the Hudson's Bay Company had more influence with them than
+their missionary vows and obligations to the churches that sent them
+out.
+
+They were not satisfied with leaving themselves, but made charges
+against the purest and best man of their number, simply because that,
+while he was absent from Oregon in 1838-9, influences were brought into
+the country by the company, with the intent to defeat them, and destroy
+all Protestant missions,--applying the same policy to destroy the
+harmony and usefulness of the American missions, that they had used to
+destroy the power and influence of the Indian tribes; which was to
+divide them up into factions, and get them to quarreling among
+themselves, as in the case of Rev. J. S. Griffin and party. This would
+destroy their influence, and help to break up their settlements.
+
+The Rev. Mr. Hines, with all his wisdom, sound judgment, and experience,
+became, unwittingly, an important instrument and apologist in this
+deep-laid scheme to rid the country of Protestant missionaries and
+American settlements. He was led to join his influence against his
+truest and best friend, who is called home and superseded, and the
+mission stations abandoned and broken up.
+
+Mr. Hines, on pages 236-7 of his book, says: "With regard to the
+objections against Mr. Lee, arising from his not furnishing the Board
+with the desirable report concerning the disbursement of the _large
+appropriations_, it should be observed that no such charge of
+delinquency appears against him, up to the time of the appointment of
+the great re-enforcement." Dr. White was known to be a bitter enemy of
+Rev. Jason Lee, and a willing tool of the Hudson's Bay Company. Mr.
+Hines, as his book, and the letters he wrote to Dr. White and the Indian
+Department at Washington, show, was favorable to the proceedings and
+policy of Dr. White and the Hudson's Bay Company.
+
+We understand, through Rev. Mr. Geary, that Mr. Hines attributed to Mr.
+Lee's advice expenditures for buildings that were the pet objects of Mr.
+Hines himself; and thus Rev. J. Lee, to gratify the wish of others,
+yielded his own convictions of right, and in this way became an object
+of censure, which was the cause of his removal. The "changes
+inconceivably great with respect to the Indians of Oregon," which, Rev.
+Mr. Hines says "took place betwixt the time the great re-enforcement was
+called for, and the time of their arrival in the Columbia River," were
+brought to bear, and had their influence and effect, upon _him_, in his
+Umpqua missionary trip, in his trip to the interior, in his
+representations to his Missionary Board, in his opposition to the
+provisional government, and had their influence upon his missionary
+brethren. These men, Mr. Hines included, instead of studying the true
+interests of the country,--their obvious duty to the churches that sent
+them out, and the cause they represented,--were flattered and cajoled by
+the artful members of a foreign monopoly, and made to believe they had
+talents superior to the field in which they were placed by the influence
+and advice of the superintendent, Mr. Lee, forgetting the changes above
+intimated, and having no suspicions that a secret foreign influence was
+working to bring about the utter failure of their Indian missions; nor
+supposing that the brightest and best talents would secure the most
+attention, and the surest effort to render them dissatisfied.
+
+The whole statement about Mr. Lee's recall, and the reasons assigned,
+appear to us to be unjust (though, perhaps, not intended) to the
+character of Mr. Lee. It was after the great re-enforcement spoken of,
+that the large expenditures referred to were made; hence, Mr. Hines'
+excuse confirms the charge, and he only attempts to change the
+responsibility to another; while Mr. Lee, like Dr. McLaughlin, is
+suffered to fall by the influence of his professed friends.
+
+The Jesuit priests, co-laborers with the Hudson's Bay Company, did not
+hesitate to poison the minds of all who would listen to them against the
+Protestant missionaries and all their efforts; neither did they hesitate
+as to the means, so long as a certain object was to be accomplished. Le
+Breton, Lee, and Whitman must fall by their influence. The character of
+others must suffer by their malicious slanders and false statements. See
+Brouillet, pages 20 and 21, in which he attempts to show that Dr.
+Whitman and others were in the habit of poisoning melons to prevent the
+Indians from stealing them, while the fact is, the Doctor encouraged the
+Indians to come and get melons to eat freely, in order to induce them to
+cultivate for themselves; and we are certain that no one at the station
+at that time thought of putting poison into melons.
+
+As we said, we are reading thoughts by words and acts, so as to arrive
+at a correct conclusion as to the thought that caused the act.
+
+The American missionaries and settlements must be driven from the
+country. To do this, the Indians that have heretofore been kept at war
+among themselves, must now be united. Some changes must be made; Grant,
+of the Hudson's Bay Company, must occupy Fort Hall, and do all he can to
+turn immigrants to California, and rob such as persist in coming to
+Oregon.
+
+General Palmer says in his journal, page 43: "While we remained at this
+place (Fort Hall) _great efforts_ were made to induce the immigration to
+pursue the route to California. The most extravagant tales were related
+respecting the dangers awaiting a trip to Oregon, and the difficulties
+and trials to be surmounted. The perils of the way were so magnified as
+to make us suppose the journey to Oregon almost impossible. For
+instance, the two crossings of Snake River, and the crossings of the
+Columbia and other smaller streams, were represented as being attended
+with great danger. Also, that no company heretofore attempting the
+passage of these streams, succeeded but with the loss of men, from the
+violence and rapidity of the currents, as also that they had never
+succeeded in getting more than fifteen or twenty head of cattle into the
+Wallamet Valley.
+
+"In addition to the above, it was asserted that three or four tribes of
+Indians in the middle regions _had combined for the purpose of
+preventing our passage through their country_. In case we escaped
+destruction at the hands of the savages, that a more fearful
+enemy--famine--would attend our march, as the distance was so great that
+winter would overtake us before making the Cascade Mountains. On the
+other hand, as an inducement to pursue the California route, we were
+informed of the shortness of the route when compared with that to
+Oregon, as also of the many other superior advantages it possessed."
+
+It is not our intention to go into the history of California, but give
+what strictly relates to Oregon and her people in those early times. In
+the paragraph we have quoted from General Palmer's journal, the reader
+will see a fiendish, a damning policy; and if our language has any
+severer terms to express evil motives and intentions, let him use them,
+as belonging to the course pursued by that organization yclept Honorable
+Hudson's Bay Company, in attempting to prevent the settlement of Oregon,
+and sending whole families to starve and perish, and become cannibals in
+the mountains of California, rather than tell the truth, and aid them in
+getting to Oregon; as will be seen by the following extract from the
+_Gold Hill_ (Nevada) _News_, concerning the horrible sufferings of "The
+Donner Party:"--
+
+    "The world perhaps never produced a sadder and a truer story, nor
+    one which will be so long remembered by many whose fortunes were
+    cast on the Pacific slope in the early days of its settlement by the
+    Americans. We personally knew one of the families that perished
+    among the Donner party, and on reading the interesting letter in the
+    _Union_ it awakened in our memory a little incident in connection
+    with this sad calamity, which happened in the State of Illinois
+    twenty years ago last April. At that time we were publisher of a
+    newspaper in Putnam County, Illinois. Oregon and California were
+    beginning to attract the attention of the Western people; and in the
+    spring of 1846 a party of about fifty persons, farmers with their
+    families, and young men, was made up in that county destined for
+    Oregon. When the day of departure arrived, the whole party assembled
+    in a village called Magnolia to agree upon camp regulations,
+    appointment of officers, etc. As a journalist, we attended that
+    meeting and published a full account of its proceedings. Among the
+    party was 'Uncle Billy Graves' and his family, consisting of father,
+    mother, two daughters, and a son, the ages of the children ranging
+    from fifteen to twenty years. Uncle Billy Graves was a well-to-do
+    farmer, with every thing comfortable about him; and, having already
+    reached the age of threescore, it was a matter of surprise to many
+    that he should sell his farm and start off to make a new home in
+    such a far-off and wild country as Oregon then was. But the country
+    in Illinois was getting too thickly settled for the old man, and he
+    longed for the wild adventures of the far west. He pleaded and
+    persuaded us to go with him, and to bring our office along, as
+    Oregon would some day be a great country, and we would have the
+    credit of having been the first to publish a newspaper in it. But
+    circumstances over which we had no control prevented us, although
+    we certainly had the will and the wish just as Uncle Billy Graves
+    advised. We remained in Illinois, and the Graves family joined with
+    the overland party for Oregon. Letters written by the party during
+    the summer were published in our paper. The last one written by any
+    of the Graves family was dated at Fort Laramie, and this was the
+    last heard of the old farmer. He joined the Donner party, which
+    separated from the emigration to Oregon at Fort Hall, near the
+    headwaters of the Columbia, and wending his way westward toward
+    California, before its gold-fields were known in the world, he
+    perished in the mountains, and his good old wife perished with him.
+    The son and daughters of the Graves family were among the persons
+    who were rescued by the relief party of sailors and others who were
+    sent out by the benevolent Americans at Sutter's Fort and San
+    Francisco. A long letter written by one of the Graves girls was
+    published in our paper in the year 1847, and which contained a full
+    and sad account of the awful sufferings of the party. We shall never
+    forget the manuscript of the letter. It was blotted all over with
+    the tears which the poor girl shed while describing the sufferings
+    of her famishing parents, their death, and the flesh of their dead
+    bodies furnishing food for their starving children! Horrible!
+    horrible! Let the bleached bones and skulls of the Donner party be
+    gathered together and decently buried, for they once belonged to
+    good Christian people."
+
+The Indians also have become deeply interested in their schemes to
+prevent the settlement of the country.
+
+We are told by Mr. Hines, on page 143, that they sent one of their
+chiefs on snow-shoes, in the winter of 1842-3, to excite or induce the
+Buffalo Indians to join them to cut off the immigrants that were
+expected to come to the country with Dr. Whitman.
+
+Mr. McKinley, a professedly warm friend of Dr. Whitman, was removed from
+having charge of Fort Nez Perces, and William McBean, who (Mr. Roberts,
+an old clerk of the Hudson's Bay Company, says) "is one of the d----dest
+scoundrels that ever lived," put in his place.
+
+The reader will not forget that we are speaking of events and movements
+in a country where an Indian in a canoe or on horseback or snow-shoes
+was our swiftest messenger, and that its boundaries included what is now
+the State of Oregon, the Territories of Washington, Idaho, and Montana,
+besides Vancouver Island and British Columbia.
+
+The Hudson's Bay Company was a powerful and unscrupulous monopoly, and
+the only representative of a vast empire on this western part of our
+continent. To possess the whole, or a valuable part of it, was an object
+worth using the influence they had spent years of labor and thousands
+(not millions, as they claim) of dollars to secure.
+
+The time has now arrived when all is at stake. _The American missionary
+societies have accomplished what American commerce and fur traders have
+failed to do._ The trouble is now between a "_squawtocracy of British
+skin traders_" and Italian and Belgian Jesuits on one side, and American
+missionaries and settlements on the other. The traders and Jesuits have
+nearly overcome the American missionary influence. The settlements are
+organized. The old policy to get rid of all opposition fur traders,
+destroy Indian influence, and break up missions, must be tried, to
+prevent and destroy the settlements.
+
+The thoughts expressed in this chapter have carried us in advance of the
+date of culminating events; hence, we must return, in order that we may
+bring them in the order of their occurrence.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVIII.
+
+     1844.--The settlements alarmed.--Indian attack.--Death of G. W. Le
+     Breton.--Meeting at Mr. La Chapelle's.--Volunteer company
+     formed.--The _Modeste_ in the Columbia River.--The Legislative
+     Assembly.--Names of the members.--Peter H. Burnett.--Mr. David
+     Hill.--Oregon social standard.--M. M. McCarver.--"Old Brass
+     Gun."--A. L. Lovejoy.--Daniel Waldo.--Thomas B. Keizer.--Black
+     act.--Prohibitory liquor law.
+
+
+1844.--March 9th of this year found our settlements alive and in great
+alarm. The Indians in the vicinity of Oregon City had made an attack
+upon the town on the 4th instant, and three white men had been wounded
+and one Indian killed. G. W. Le Breton was wounded while attempting to
+take the Indian that commenced the attack, by a ball entering and
+breaking his arm, from the effect of which he died some twelve days
+after, and was buried at Vancouver, where he had been taken for surgical
+treatment. The other two received slight flesh wounds, although one
+proved fatal--probably made by a poisoned arrow. The Indians commenced
+the fight in open day, and continued it till their leader was taken by
+Le Breton, after his arm was broken.
+
+The Indian was placed under guard, and, on attempting to make his
+escape, was killed. Those who were with him, and took part in the fight,
+fled into the thick wood back of the town, and escaped.
+
+This account, which we have received from other sources, will be seen to
+differ slightly from the one already given by Dr. White in his letter to
+the Secretary of War.
+
+A proclamation was issued by the Executive Committee, calling for an
+organization of the military forces in the settlement. It appears, from
+the record of those times, that but one company was organized in
+Champoeg District. The proceedings of that meeting, as noted by the
+writer, and signed by the secretary, gives the fullest account we have,
+and properly belongs to the history of the times. The attempt to destroy
+the people and town at Wallamet Falls was made on the 4th of March; the
+news was conveyed to the old mission and Salem on the 5th; notices were
+immediately sent to the American population to meet on the 9th, with
+arms, to organize for defensive or offensive measures. In the mean time,
+each individual and family took such precautionary measures as were
+thought advisable, keeping guard over their separate and individual
+possessions. Most of the French or Hudson's Bay Company's servants
+showed no alarm on the occasion, and very few of them turned out, or
+paid any attention to the military call, though the meeting was at the
+house of a Frenchman.
+
+The citizens of Champoeg having met on March 9, at the house of Mr. La
+Chapelle, in accordance with the proclamation issued, the meeting was
+called to order by one of the Executive Committee, and the proclamation
+read.
+
+Upon the suggestion of the executive, W. H. Wilson was chosen chairman
+of this meeting, and T. D. Keizer, secretary.
+
+The object of the meeting was briefly explained by one of the Executive
+Committee, Hon. A. Beers, and the chairman. Information was called for
+concerning the depredations committed at Wallamet Falls on the 4th
+instant.
+
+Mr. Beers presented an official letter from Hon. D. Hill, one of the
+Executive Committee, which was read. Statements were made by Mr.
+Garrison respecting accounts received from other sources, and a letter
+was presented by the United States sub-Indian agent, from A. L. Lovejoy,
+Esq., respecting the affair of the 4th, which was read.
+
+Statements were made by Hon. A. Beers concerning the steps they had
+taken, and the orders they had issued.
+
+On motion, the United States sub-Indian agent was requested to give his
+views and advice on the subject. He accordingly related his proceeding
+in reference to the matter; said he was unprepared to give advice, or
+suggest what was best to be done in the present case. He was fully aware
+of the defenseless state of the colony and the dangers to which it was
+exposed. He knew the character of the Indian that was killed to be of
+the vilest kind, and that he had threatened and attempted the lives of
+citizens before. The agent said he had made an unsuccessful attempt to
+take him, and have him punished by the Cayuses, to avoid the danger that
+might result from the whites punishing him themselves. This renegade had
+attempted to induce the Indians at the falls to burn the town; and,
+failing in this object, he returned across the river. The citizens
+attempted peaceably to take him, but in the affray three whites were
+wounded, and one Indian killed. The agent thought a more efficient
+organization of the Territory necessary.
+
+Some remarks were made by W. H. Gray, and a resolution offered as
+follows:--
+
+_Resolved_, That in view of the facts presented, we deem it expedient to
+organize a volunteer company of mounted riflemen, to co-operate with
+other companies, to bring to justice all the Indians engaged in the
+affair of the 4th of March, and to protect our lives and property
+against any attempt at future depredations.
+
+Carried unanimously. Whereupon W. H. Gray presented some articles of
+compact as the basis of an organization of a volunteer company, which,
+on motion, and with warm expressions of approbation from the United
+States sub-Indian agent, were adopted, and immediately subscribed to by
+nineteen volunteers.
+
+The articles of compact allowed the company to elect a captain,
+lieutenant, and ensign, as soon as twelve men should be enlisted, so the
+company proceeded, by nomination, to elect their officers, to wit: For
+captain, T. D. Keizer; first lieutenant, J. L. Morrison; for ensign, Mr.
+Cason. The captain gave notice to the company of his acceptance of the
+appointment, requesting them to meet at the Oregon Institute, armed and
+equipped, on the 11th inst., for company drill.
+
+On motion, the following resolution was adopted, viz.:--
+
+_Resolved_, That this meeting recommend to our fellow-citizens of this
+Territory, to organize volunteer companies in their respective districts
+forthwith; and to rendezvous at the Oregon Institute, on Saturday, the
+23d instant, at 12 M.
+
+Moved, that the proceedings of this meeting be signed by the chairman
+and secretary, and as much of them as is deemed proper be transmitted to
+other districts. Carried.
+
+On motion, adjourned.
+
+                                               W. H. WILSON, Chairman.
+                                              T. D. KEIZER, Secretary.
+
+
+It will be seen by Dr. White's statement, that the Indian killed was a
+renegade from the Cayuse or upper country Indians. He was doing all he
+could to excite the Indians and get them to join in a general
+combination to destroy the American settlements in the Wallamet Valley.
+Dr. White, as he stated to the meeting, had now reached the utmost limit
+of his authority and influence. He knew not what to do. He was too big a
+coward to propose any bold measure, and too mean to be trusted by the
+settlers; hence, if the reader will carefully study the proceedings of
+this meeting, he will find a firm and steady influence, on the part of
+the settlers, leading on through all the dangers and excitements of the
+occasion. The proposed company was at once organized and elected its
+officers. Gray accepted the office of first sergeant in the company,
+which was soon filled up and drilled, and all were mounted on good
+horses. This soon became known throughout the settlements, and had the
+effect to frighten the Indians and keep them quiet, so that no further
+disturbance was made in the settlements of the Wallamet. It also had the
+effect to secure in the Columbia River the presence of the _Modeste_, a
+war vessel of the English government, which became _absolutely
+necessary_ (ironically speaking) to protect the property and interests
+of the Hudson's Bay Company from the threatened depredations of the
+Indians about their posts at Vancouver, as they were represented to be
+becoming far more hostile than formerly. The company had found that,
+since the Americans began to settle in the country, these Indians had
+become more dangerous and hostile to them; and as their people were
+scattered more extensively over the Indian country, it was absolutely
+necessary to have their principal depot more strongly fortified and
+protected, not against Indians, for they, by the course already pursued
+by that company, were fast melting away. Their country had been "hunted
+up" and made destitute of fur-producing animals by the advanced prices
+they had given in 1838-40, and now starvation was their only portion,
+unless the American settlers would share with them what they produced
+from the soil. This Indian difficulty was only an attempt to bring on an
+Indian war in the Wallamet to see how strong the settlements were, what
+means of protection they possessed, and what their offensive measures
+were likely to be.
+
+This opened the eyes of Sir James Douglas to the natural weakness of
+Fort Vancouver. The _Modeste_ was ordered to the river, and other
+preparations were made to defend that establishment from an attack of
+the American settlers. They found from the results of what occurred on
+the 4th of March, that there _was a real substantial power in the
+country_, and an influence of combination that they did not dream of;
+hence they found themselves, with all their Indian combinations, the
+weaker power.
+
+We will now leave the Honorable Hudson's Bay Company under the
+protection of the guns of her Majesty's ship _Modeste_, the fort being
+repaired, bastions built, and all other protective and defensive
+measures completed, while we look after the election and proceedings of
+the Legislative Assembly of 1844.
+
+The members elected from Tualatin District (since divided into
+Washington, Multnomah, Columbia, Clatsop, and Tilamook counties) were
+Peter H. Burnett, David Hill, M. M. McCarver, and Mr. Gilmore.
+
+Clackamas District, including all of Washington Territory, Idaho,
+Montana, and half of the eastern part of the State of Oregon, was
+represented by A. L. Lovejoy. Champoeg District, including Marion, Linn,
+Baker, Douglas, and Jackson counties, was represented by Daniel Waldo,
+from Missouri, Thomas D. Keizer, from Arkansas, and Robert Newell, from
+the Rocky Mountains.
+
+Peter H. Burnett was a lawyer from Missouri, who came to Oregon to seek
+his fortune, as well as a religion that would pay the best, and give
+him the most influence; which in the Legislative Committee was
+sufficient to induce that body to pay no attention to any organic law or
+principle laid down for the government of the settlements. In fact, he
+asserted that there were no constitutional provisions laid down or
+adopted by the people in general convention at Champoeg the year
+previous. Mr. Burnett was unquestionably the most intelligent lawyer
+then in the country. He was a very ambitious man--smooth, deceitful, and
+insinuating in his manners.
+
+On motion of Mr. Lovejoy (another lawyer), the several members were
+excused from producing their credentials, and on motion of the same
+gentleman, the house proceeded to elect a Speaker. M. M. McCarver was
+duly elected.
+
+The journal of the proceedings of this Legislative Committee shows that
+no regard was paid to any previous laws, or constitutional provisions.
+
+David Hill, of Tualatin District, was from Ohio. He was a tall, slim
+man, of sallow complexion, black hair, with strong prejudices, having no
+regard for religion or morality. He left an interesting wife and family
+in Ohio, and passed himself off in Oregon for a widower or bachelor. He
+was favorable to all applications for divorces, and married a second
+wife, as near as we could learn, before he obtained a divorce (if he
+ever did) from his first wife. He early took an active part in the
+provisional government, and was a decided opponent of the Hudson's Bay
+Company, as also of all missionary efforts in the country. This rendered
+him popular among the settlers, and secured his election as a
+representative for that district for several years, although his
+education was quite limited. As a citizen he was generally respected.
+Though intimately acquainted with two of his sons, we could never learn
+that he was any thing but kind and affectionate as a husband and father.
+The fact of his leaving a wife and young family in Ohio, coming to
+Oregon, and remaining for years without making any provision for them,
+is evidence of guilt in some one. The friends of his wife and family
+spoke of them as being highly esteemed by all who knew them. But it is
+of his public acts, as connected with the history of Oregon, that we
+wish particularly to speak.
+
+The social standard adopted by the people of Oregon was peculiarly
+adapted to favor men of Mr. Hill's morality, and aid them in rising from
+the effect of any former misconduct they may have been guilty of in any
+other country. This standard was, to receive as fellow-citizens all who
+came among us; to ignore their former actions, and give them a chance to
+start anew, and make a name and character in the country.
+
+There must be something noble and generous in a people occupying a new
+and wild country, as Oregon was in those days, that would lead them to
+adopt a standard for common action and citizenship, so peculiarly
+republican and in accordance with the most liberal and enlightened
+Christianity. To this spirit of toleration and benevolence must be
+attributed, under an all-wise Providence, the complete success and
+stability of the first civil government formed on this coast. Hence, as
+we have before said, we shall deal with men, morals, and politics as
+they belonged to Oregon at the time of which we are writing.
+
+M. M. McCarver, from having acted as commissary in the Black Hawk war,
+in Iowa, was called General. This title secured to him considerable
+influence, and many favors from the Hudson's Bay Company. General
+McCarver was a man of common education, making large pretension to
+political knowledge, without much judgment or understanding of political
+economy. He was an intolerable debater, and acquired, among the lobby
+members of the Legislature, the name of "_Old Brass Gun_." In his
+political course, he strove hard for popularity, and attempted to secure
+places of honor for personal promotion. He was what would be considered
+a _Simon Pure_ pro-slavery Democrat. Like the silly moth in the fable,
+he fluttered around the shadow of Dr. White, the sub-Indian agent, and
+assisted him in insulting the Legislative Committee of 1845, and
+attempted to get his name before the Congress of the United States as an
+important and influential man, which was divulged and defeated by
+another member of the same committee, though in a cowardly and
+dishonorable manner. We are not aware that General McCarver ever
+originated any important measure, or performed any extensive or
+important service in the country. His political schemes were generally
+so supremely selfish that they died still-born.
+
+Mr. Gilmore, from the same district, was a substantial farmer. He
+neither said or did much, and but little is known of him.
+
+A. Lawrence Lovejoy, formerly from Massachusetts, was a man of medium
+size, light complexion, light hair, rather impetuous and dogmatical in
+his conversation. He crossed the mountains with the immigration of 1842
+to Dr. Whitman's station; from that place he attempted to return to the
+United States with Dr. Whitman. As near as we can learn, he became
+utterly exhausted by the time they reached Bent's Fort on the Arkansas
+River, and was left there by the Doctor. In the summer of 1843 he
+returned to Oregon and pursued his profession of law. In Oregon he has
+always acted with the radical Democratic party, rather doubtfully on the
+pro-slavery platform. He was the first regular nominee for governor of
+Oregon. George Abernethy, the secular agent of the Methodist Mission,
+was run as an independent candidate, and, with the assistance of Peter
+H. Burnett, Mr. Russell, and his friends, who bolted the general
+convention, was elected governor, though at the time he was on a visit
+to the Sandwich Islands. A large number of political friends still
+adhered to Mr. Lovejoy, and made a second attempt to elect him governor.
+Mr. Abernethy was again the opposing candidate. It appeared in the
+canvass of that year, that the Hudson's Bay Company generally voted for
+Mr. Lovejoy; but the personal kindness of Mr. Abernethy to a priest
+traveling up the Wallamet, induced him to tell his people to vote for
+Mr. Abernethy, and by this vote he was elected, although a fair majority
+of the votes of the American settlers was given for Mr. Lovejoy. Mr.
+Lovejoy, like many of us, leaves but little usefulness or philanthropy
+to record, that his talents and position should have led him to aspire
+to. As a citizen and neighbor, he is kind and obliging, as a lawyer not
+above mediocrity, and it is generally understood that he makes no
+pretensions to religion.
+
+Daniel Waldo, formerly of Missouri, was a plain, substantial farmer, and
+the first man who ventured to experiment upon the hills, or upland
+portions of Oregon. He had owned extensive tracts of land on the banks
+of the Missouri, a large portion of which had been washed away by the
+floods, which cause continual changes along the banks of that river. In
+coming to Oregon, he had made up his mind to take the hills, if there
+were any in the country. He did so, and has proved by his experiment the
+value of a large portion of country that was before considered worthless
+for cultivation. From the time Mr. Waldo arrived in the country he
+became an enthusiastic admirer of Oregon. Soon after he had located in
+the hills bearing his name, an old acquaintance of his, and also of his
+brother in Missouri, came to Oregon on a visit, and was about to return
+to the States. He paid Mr. Waldo a visit, and after chatting awhile and
+looking over his farm, on which we could not see a single rail, except a
+few he had in a corral, his friend (Colonel Gilpin) said to him: "What
+shall I say for you, to your brother in Missouri?" "Tell him," said
+Waldo, "that I would not give the bare idea of owning a section of land
+in Oregon for all I own in Missouri [which was then two sections, 1,280
+acres], and that I would not give a section of land here for the whole
+State of Missouri." Such men gave a good report of Oregon, and it is to
+such that the country is indebted for her stability and prosperity. Mr.
+Waldo's experiment has shown the capacity of the country for settlement
+to be more than double what it was previously considered, and while some
+of those who laughed at him and called him an enthusiast here had their
+farms, cattle, and houses swept away by floods, he has remained in the
+hills uninjured and secure.
+
+Thomas D. Keizer, from Arkansas. Of this man's early history we have
+learned but little. It seems that, for some cause, he and his family
+were compelled to leave the State. Their story is that a gang of
+counterfeiters was exposed by them, and in consequence of their becoming
+informers they were surrounded by a mob and compelled to leave. On first
+arriving in the country they were not scrupulous as to the rights of
+their neighbors, or those of the Oregon Institute, or mission claims.
+They found themselves comfortably housed in the first buildings of the
+Oregon Institute, and occupied them till it suited their pleasure to
+leave, and to find other quarters upon land claimed by the mission. As
+was to be expected, Mr. Keizer was inclined to do all he could to
+curtail the mission and Institute claims, he being the gainer by
+curtailing the claims of others. As a politician, he considered all
+little dirty tricks and slanders against an opponent justifiable. In
+religion he professed to be a Methodist.
+
+Robert Newell has been previously described.
+
+Such being the composition of the Legislative Committee of Oregon in
+1844, it is not surprising that interests of classes and cliques should
+find advocates, and that the absolute wants of the country should be
+neglected. The whole time of the session seems to have been taken up in
+the discussions of personal bills. The question of convention of the
+people was before this session and was lost.
+
+There was one inhuman act passed by this Legislative Committee, which
+should stamp the names of its supporters with disgrace and infamy. We
+find its inception recorded on the 25th of July, the sixth day of the
+session.
+
+On motion, the rules were suspended for the special purpose of allowing
+Hon. P. H. Burnett to introduce a bill for the prevention of _slavery in
+Oregon_, without giving previous notice; which was received and read
+first time. It was read a second time next day in the forenoon, and in
+the afternoon of the same day the bill to prevent slavery in Oregon,
+_and for other purposes_, was read a third time, and on the question,
+"Shall the bill pass?" the yeas and nays were demanded, when the vote
+stood: yeas, Burnett, Gilmore, Keizer, Waldo, Newell, and Mr. Speaker
+McCarver--6; nays, Lovejoy and Hill--2.
+
+The principal provisions of this bill were, that in case a colored man
+was brought to the country by any master of a vessel, he must give bonds
+to take him away again or be fined, and in case the negro was found, or
+came here from any quarter, the sheriff was to catch him and flog him
+forty lashes at a time, till he left the country.
+
+These six Solons, who got up and carried through this measure, did it
+for the good of the black man of course, as one of the first principles
+laid down by the people the year previous in the organic law, and
+unanimously carried, was: "That slavery, except for the punishment of
+crime, whereof the parties shall have been previously convicted, shall
+never be tolerated."
+
+The principles of Burnett's bill made it a crime for a white man to
+bring a negro to the country, and a crime for a negro to come
+voluntarily; so that, in any case, if he were found in the country, he
+was guilty of a crime, and punishment or slavery was his doom.
+
+Mr. Burnett claimed great credit for getting up a prohibitory liquor
+law, and made several speeches in favor of sustaining it, that being a
+popular measure among a majority of the citizens.
+
+At the adjourned session in December, we find the executive urging the
+Legislative Committee to adopt measures to secure the permanent
+interests and prosperity of the country, also to amend their act
+relative to the corporal punishment of the blacks, and again urging the
+calling of a convention of the people.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIX.
+
+     Message of the Executive Committee.--Observations on the
+     message.--Generosity of the Hudson's Bay Company.--The Methodist
+     Mission.--The Oregon Printing-press Association.--George Abernethy,
+     Esq.
+
+
+_To the Honorable the Legislative Committee of Oregon:_
+
+GENTLEMEN,--As the expectation of receiving some information from the
+United States relative to the adjustment of the claims of that
+government and of Great Britain upon this country, was the principal
+cause of the adjournment of this assembly from June last to this day, we
+feel it our duty to communicate such information as we have been able to
+collect on the subject, and likewise to recommend the adoption of
+further measures for the promotion and security of the interests of
+Oregon.
+
+The lines defining the limits of the separate claims of the United
+States and Great Britain to this portion of the country had not been
+agreed upon when our latest advices left the United States, and as far
+as we can learn, the question now stands in the same position as before
+the convention in London, in 1818. At that time, the United States
+government proposed to draw the division line on the forty-ninth
+parallel of north latitude from the Lake of the Woods to the Pacific
+Ocean. To this Great Britain would only consent in part, that the line
+should run on the forty-ninth parallel from the Lake of the Woods to the
+dividing ridge of the Rocky Mountains; and it was finally agreed upon,
+between the parties, that all the country lying west of the Rocky
+Mountains, and on the Pacific Ocean, should, with its harbors, bays, and
+rivers, remain open for ten years to the vessels, subjects, or citizens
+of both countries. But it was at the same time expressly understood,
+that the said agreement was not to be construed to affect or prejudice
+the claims of either party, or any other power, to any portion of said
+country. Before this agreement expired, another convention was held in
+London, in 1827, by the two contracting powers, by which the former
+treaty was extended, with the provision, that when either of the parties
+thought fit, after the 20th of October, 1828, to abrogate the
+convention, they were at liberty to do so, by giving twelve months'
+notice to the other contracting party; but nothing in the treaty of 1827
+was to be construed so as to affect, in any manner, the claims which
+either of the contracting parties, or any other power, might have to any
+of the country lying west of the Rocky Mountains.
+
+The subject has again been called up for investigation by the two
+powers, and a negotiation was begun at Washington in the early part of
+the present year, but was for the time being suspended on account of a
+disagreement between the parties; and notice of the abrogation of the
+convention of 1827 had not been given by either party when our latest
+information left the United States. And we find that after all the
+negotiations that have been carried on between the United States and
+Great Britain relative to settling their claims to this country, from
+October, 1818, up to May, 1844, a period of nearly twenty-six years, the
+question remains in the following unsettled position, viz.:--
+
+Neither of the parties in question claim exclusive right to the country
+lying west of the Rocky Mountains, between the parallels of forty-two
+degrees and fifty-four degrees forty minutes north latitude, and
+bordering on the Pacific Ocean; but one claims as much right as the
+other, and both claim the right of joint occupancy of the whole without
+prejudice to the claims of any other state or power to any part of said
+country.
+
+We have submitted to you this information, gentlemen of the Assembly,
+for two reasons:--
+
+1st. To correct an error that occurred in our last communication to this
+body relative to the claims of the United States and Great Britain to
+this country.
+
+2d. That you may bear in mind, while legislating for the people of
+Oregon, the position in which this country stands with regard to those
+claims.
+
+We would advise that provision be made by this body for the framing and
+adoption of a constitution for Oregon, previous to the next annual
+election, which may serve as a more thorough guide to her officers, and
+a more firm basis of her laws. It should be constructed in such a manner
+as would best suit the local situation of the country, and promote the
+general interests of the citizens, without interfering with the real or
+pretended rights of the United States or Great Britain, except when the
+protection of life and property actually require it.
+
+We would suggest for your information that this government has now in
+its possession notes given by different individuals residing in the
+country, amounting to $3,734.26, most of which are already due. These
+notes are a balance in favor of Ewing Young, of Oregon, deceased,
+intestate, A.D. 1840, after all legal dues, debts, and damages are
+paid, that have come to the knowledge of the administrator or Probate
+Courts of Oregon up to this date. We would, therefore, advise that
+these claims should be collected and appropriated to the benefit of the
+country, the government being at all times responsible for the payment
+of them to those who may hereafter appear to have a legal right to the
+same.
+
+We would again call your attention to a measure recommended in our last
+communication, to wit, the expediency of making provision for the
+erection of a public jail in this country. Although the community has
+suffered very little as yet for the want of such a building, and perhaps
+another year might pass without its being occupied, which it is hoped
+may be the case, yet we are assured that it is better policy to have the
+building standing without a tenant than a tenant without the building.
+And in order to promote industry and the peace and welfare of the
+citizens of Oregon, this government must be prepared to discountenance
+indolence, and check vice in the bud.
+
+We would now recommend to your consideration the propriety of making
+provision for filling public offices which now are or may become vacant
+by resignation or otherwise, previous to the next annual election.
+
+We would recommend that the act passed by this assembly in June last,
+relative to blacks and mulattoes, be so amended as to exclude corporal
+punishment, and require bonds for good behavior in its stead.
+
+We consider it a highly important subject that the executive of this
+government should have laws which may direct them in settling matters
+relative to lands reserved by Indians, which have been, or may hereafter
+be, settled upon by whites.
+
+We would also recommend that provisions be made for the support of
+lunatics and insane persons in Oregon.
+
+With regard to the state of the treasury, we would refer you to the
+treasurer's report to this Assembly.
+
+We are informed that the number of immigrants who have come to this
+country from the United States during the present year amounts to upward
+of seven hundred and fifty persons.
+
+We would recommend that the act passed last June, defining the northern
+boundaries of Tualatin and Clatsop counties, be so explained as not to
+conflict with the act passed in this Assembly in June, 1843, extending
+the limits of Oregon to fifty-four degrees forty minutes north latitude.
+
+And we would suggest, in conclusion, that to preserve the peace, good
+order, and kind feeling, which have hitherto existed among the
+inhabitants of this country, depends very much upon the calm and
+deliberate judgment of this Assembly, and we sincerely hope that Oregon,
+by the special aid of Divine Providence may set an unprecedented example
+to the world of industry, morality, and virtue.
+
+And although we may now be unknown as a state or power, yet we have the
+advantages, by the united efforts of our increasing population, in a
+diligent attention to agriculture, arts, and literature, of attaining,
+at no distant day, to as conspicuous an elevation as any State or power
+on the continent of America.
+
+But in order to carry this important measure, and arise to that
+distinguished station, it becomes the duty of every citizen of this
+country to take a deep interest in its present and future welfare.
+
+As descendants of the United States and Great Britain, we should honor
+and respect the countries which gave us birth; and, as citizens of
+Oregon, we should, by a uniform course of proceeding, and a strict
+observance of the rules of justice, equity, and republican principles,
+without party distinction, use our best endeavors to cultivate the kind
+feeling, not only of our native countries, but of all the powers or
+states with whom we may have intercourse.
+
+                      Signed,
+                           OSBORNE RUSSELL,
+                           P. G. STEWART.
+                           Executive Committee of Oregon.
+
+Dated, WALLAMET FALLS, Dec. 16, 1844.
+
+
+To the honor of the country, Peter H. Burnett's negro-whipping law was
+never enforced in a single instance, against a white or black man, as no
+officer of the provisional government felt it incumbent upon himself to
+attempt to enforce it.
+
+The proposed constitutional revision was also strongly recommended by
+the Executive Committee, and the Legislative Committee went through the
+farce of calling a convention, and increased the number of
+representatives, and called it a Legislature. In fact, the whole
+proceedings seemed only to mix up and confuse the people; so much so,
+that some doubted the existence of any legal authority in the country,
+and the leading men of the immigration of 1843 denounced the
+organization as a missionary arrangement to secure the most valuable
+farming lands in the country.
+
+The Hudson's Bay Company, under the guidance of James Douglas and P. S.
+Ogden, carried forward their plans and arrangements by placing men at
+their posts along the line of the immigrant route, who were doing all
+they could, by misrepresentation and falsehood, to deceive and rob those
+who were journeying to this country.
+
+But, says the sycophant, the early settlers of Oregon are greatly
+indebted to the Hudson's Bay Company for supplies of goods and
+provisions sent to aid the starving immigrants. General Palmer tells us
+(page 42) that flour at Fort Hall, when he came along, was twenty
+dollars per one hundred pounds; cattle were from five to twelve dollars
+per head. They could not be prevailed upon to receive any thing in
+exchange for their goods or provisions, except cattle or money.
+
+Two to four cows, or two yoke of oxen for a hundred pounds of flour is
+_great generosity_, and renders the man who gives his last cow or ox to
+the company, under great obligations; as much so as the early settlers
+and the company's servants were in taking care of their cattle for the
+little milk they could get from them, the company claiming the cow and
+increase, and pay for any animal lost. This was Hudson's Bay Company's
+generosity to the early settlers!
+
+They found that through the influence of Burnett, Newell, Pomeroy, and a
+few other Americans, they could accomplish more than by direct
+opposition, and therefore began to change their course, and manifest
+approval of the provisional government; so much so, that Ermatinger, a
+member of the company, was elected treasurer in 1845, in opposition to
+P. Foster, who served in 1844.
+
+During the summer of 1844, Rev. George Geary arrived in the country,
+"clothed with discretionary power," and had the destiny of missionaries,
+laymen, property, and all, put into his hands. He superseded Mr. Lee.
+Mr. Hines returned from the Sandwich Islands, and they proceeded at once
+to dispose of the missionaries and property of the Methodist Mission.
+
+The stations at Clatsop, Nasqualla, and the Dalles were given up. That
+at the Dalles was sold to the American Board, that on Clatsop to Rev. J.
+L. Parish, while the station at Nasqualla was abandoned by Rev. J. P.
+Richmond, who, with Rev. Messrs. Kone and Frost, had become dissatisfied
+with their Indian missionary labors, and returned to the States. Rev.
+Messrs. D. Lee and H. K. W. Perkins, Dr. Babcock, and Mr. Brewer had all
+made up their minds to leave the country.
+
+These missionaries, having enlisted in a cause surrounded, at the time
+of their engagements, with all the romance of early missionary life in
+the far west, as soon as they reached their field of labor, had found
+that romance and real life among the Indians did not accord with the
+feelings of their proud and supremely selfish hearts. They were not
+satisfied with silently withdrawing from the country, and encouraging
+others more capable and better adapted to the missionary work to come to
+it; but they joined with Dr. White, a bitter enemy of Rev. J. Lee, and
+succeeded in obtaining the latter gentleman's removal from the
+superintendency, and, through Rev. Messrs. Geary and Hines, the
+abandonment of their Indian mission.
+
+As an outside eye-witness of these transactions, we will state frankly
+our impressions as to the general closing up of the Methodist
+missionary labors among the Indians. The special and general
+watchfulness of the Hudson's Bay Company, and their influence over the
+leading members of the mission, and the effort they made to counteract
+the moral and civil improvement of the Indians, was brought to bear both
+directly and indirectly upon the superior and subordinate members, the
+same as it had been upon the members of the missions of the American
+Board, and caused a division in sentiment as to the usefulness and
+results of missionary labor, and thus crippled their efforts, and caused
+many of them to join with Dr. White, and complain of Superintendent Lee,
+as an excuse to abandon the missionary work.
+
+While these influences were working their intended results upon all the
+American missionaries, the Jesuits, having explored the country, under
+the patronage and by the assistance of the Hudson's Bay Company, were
+making extensive preparations to occupy it with their missionaries, who
+were then being collected, and sent from Belgium and Canada to Oregon,
+under the direction of that arch-Jesuit, P. J. De Smet, and Bishop
+Blanchet.
+
+By the time they arrived, the Methodist Indian missions were all
+disposed of; thus enabling the Jesuits to fix their undivided attention
+and combine their united influence against the missions of the American
+Board, which all admitted were accomplishing a noble work among the
+tribes of their charge.
+
+As Mr. Fitzgerald says: "But the company not only get rid of
+missionaries as soon as they can do so without dangerous unpopularity,
+but they obstruct them in the performance of their duties while in the
+country." (See page 189 of his work.)
+
+This opposition to the missionaries was not caused by the Indians, but
+the personal opposition of the company, as proved by Sir J. Pelly's
+answer to the question, "Have you found a disposition on the part of the
+natives to receive moral and religious instruction." "Very great. There
+were a couple of young lads sent from the Columbia District, to whom the
+names of Pelly and Garry were given; these lads were revered by the
+natives, when they returned, for the religious instructions they were
+enabled to give." (See page 195, of the work above quoted.)
+
+One Congregational and five Methodist ministers have left the country
+with their families. Five Jesuit priests and as many nuns are coming to
+it. Eight hundred emigrants are plodding their way over the mountains
+and plains with ox-teams, to find a home in this country. The sub-Indian
+agent has worked himself quiet. The Indians are waiting orders, watching
+the immigration, and getting ready to strike at the proper time.
+
+Mr. Lease had brought a band of five hundred head of California cattle
+to the country and disposed of most of them to the Hudson's Bay Company.
+
+The Oregon Printing-Press Association was formed, and about eighty
+shares, at $10 each, were subscribed, and the money sent to New York for
+press, type, and paper, by George Abernethy, Esq., who, after the
+provisional organization in 1843, became a valuable supporter of all the
+best interests of the country. His integrity of character, consistent
+piety, and unbounded generosity, but few will question. From his
+position, and connection with the Methodist Mission, he has suffered
+much pecuniary loss, from men who were ever ready to take undue
+advantage of a confiding and generous disposition.
+
+As a public officer he always held a negative position, the tendency of
+which was to hold all in suspense, and wait for some future action, or
+to be carried forward by events that might occur. He could not be called
+a leader in any civil, religious, or political measure, yet he truly
+represented, in his public capacity, the organization of which he was a
+member. So far as he was capable, he held in abeyance all laws and
+measures, to what he considered would be the policy of the United States
+government at some future time. The natural result of this position was,
+to accomplish nothing definitely. Hence we find in all his public acts,
+this tender spirit, and want of decided action.
+
+Mr. Hines started for the United States by way of China. The property of
+the Methodist Mission was distributed, and the settlers had increased;
+while the Hudson's Bay Company were busily preparing to defend their
+assumed rights by arming their forts and Indians in a manner so as not
+to excite suspicion, or alarm the American settlements.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER L.
+
+     Dr. White's report.--Seizure and destruction of a
+     distillery.--Homicide of Joel Turnham.--State of the
+     Territory.--Trials of Dr. White.--The liquor law.--Revenue
+     act.--Case of the negro Saul.--The Indians kill an ox.--Other
+     Indian difficulties.--Indian expedition to California.--Death of
+     the Indian Elijah.--State of the Territory.--Claim of the Hudson's
+     Bay Company on the north bank of the Columbia.--Letter of Peter H.
+     Burnett.--The Nez Perces and Cayuses.--Extract from the report of
+     the United States Senate.
+
+We give the following extracts from Dr. White's Indian report and
+proceedings in Oregon, that the reader may be informed as to what he
+claimed to be his influence, and also the way he maneuvered with the
+Indians and settlers; with his full account of the killing of the young
+Indian Elijah in California.
+
+The letters from the different missionaries show the condition of the
+American missions at the time. Mr. Lee and the Jesuit missionaries did
+not deem him the proper agent to report to. Notwithstanding, in his
+report, given in a previous chapter, he attributes to the Jesuit
+missionaries improvements wholly made by the Americans, not from
+ignorance of the fact, but from personal prejudice.
+
+It will be seen that the committee in Congress, to whom his report and
+petition was referred, deemed it equitable and just on general
+principles, and allowed it.
+
+                                             WALLAMET, November 4, 1844.
+
+     SIR,--The Hudson's Bay ship _Columbia_ sailing in a few days, _via_
+     Sandwich Islands, for England, by the politeness of her owners I
+     have the honor of again addressing you, and certainly under
+     circumstances most favorable and gratifying.
+
+     Since my last, forwarded in March, aside from two or three
+     incidents of an unpleasant nature, the colony and country have been
+     in a state of unusual quietness, and the season has been one of
+     great prosperity.
+
+     The legislative body, composed of nine members, met on the 24th of
+     May, at the falls at Wallamet, and closed their short but effective
+     session in nine days; having passed, in due form, twenty-five
+     bills, most of which were of importance to us in the regulation of
+     our intercourse. A few of these laws I transmit to you, and would
+     here remark, the taxes were in general cheerfully paid. The liquor
+     bill is popular, and the laws of Oregon are honored.
+
+     The Liquor act not coming in force under sixty days from its
+     passage, a few individuals (having clandestinely prepared, before
+     its passage) improved this favored moment to dispose of all they
+     could with any hopes of safety. Of this I was immediately notified,
+     and hastened in from the Tualatin Plains, all the mischief, "as
+     heretofore," being done in and about the town at the falls of the
+     Wallamet.
+
+     Liquor was in our midst, as was but too manifest from the noisy,
+     vulgar, obscene, and even diabolical expressions of those who had
+     previously ever conducted themselves in a quiet and orderly manner.
+
+     This was perplexing and exciting, as all professed ignorance; and
+     many opinions prevailed regarding the amount manufactured, and the
+     number interested, and especially regarding the seat of mischief or
+     point where distilled.
+
+     I resolved, at whatever danger or cost, to nip this in the bud,
+     procured the call of a public meeting at once, and had the
+     happiness to receive the following expression from all but one
+     convened:--
+
+     "_Resolved_, That it be the sense of this meeting, that Dr. White,
+     in his official relation, take such assistance as he may require,
+     and forthwith search out and destroy all intoxicating liquor that
+     may be found in this vicinity or district of country.
+
+                                  "P. G. STEWART.
+                                  "Executive Chairman.
+
+     "JOHN E. LONG,
+     "Secretary."
+
+
+I started with ten volunteers early the ensuing morning, and found the
+distillery in a deep, dense thicket, eleven miles from town, at three
+o'clock, P.M. The boiler was a large-size potash kettle, and all the
+apparatus well accorded. Two hogsheads and eight barrels of slush or
+beer were standing ready for distillation, with a part of one barrel of
+molasses. No liquor could be found, nor as yet had much been distilled.
+
+Having resolved on my course, I left no time for reflection, but at once
+upset the nearest cask, when the noble volunteers immediately seconded
+my measures, making a river of beer in a moment; nor did we stop till
+the kettle was raised, and elevated in triumph at the prow of our boat,
+and every cask, with all the distilling apparatus, was broken to pieces
+and utterly destroyed. We then returned, in high cheer, to the town,
+where our presence and report gave general joy.
+
+Two hours after my arrival, I received from James Connor, one of the
+owners, a written challenge for a bloody combat; which ended last week
+in his being indicted before the grand jury, fined $500, and
+disfranchised for life.
+
+Six weeks since, an unhappy affray occurred between one Joel Turnham,
+late from Missouri, and Webley Hauxhurst, of Wallamet, and serious
+threats passing from the former, a warrant was issued, and Turnham,
+resisting with a deadly weapon, was shot down by the officer; for which
+he comes before the grand jury to-morrow. Turnham expired at once, being
+shot with three mortal wounds through the neck and head, but with
+singular desperation fought and resisted to the last.
+
+So far as I understand the public expression, all unite in acquitting
+the officer, who has ever been a harmless, quiet, good citizen; while
+Turnham was regarded as a most desperate and dangerous character all
+abroad, having left Missouri under circumstances most unfavorable to his
+reputation and quiet here, where he has been particularly sour,
+irritable, and quarrelsome; and was the more obnoxious as he was reputed
+brave and generally too stout for his antagonist.
+
+November 8.--Since penning the last, the grand jury have unanimously
+declared no bill; and here allow me to say, having accompanied Judge
+Babcock to four of the courts embraced in the circuit of five counties,
+I have not seen in any country such uniform decorum and quietness as has
+prevailed throughout at these courts. Much of this mildness, sobriety,
+and good order, is doubtless attributable to the absence of all
+intoxicating drinks.
+
+The laws of this country, framed to meet present circumstances, are
+taking deeper and stronger root continually. And some are already
+suggesting, "notwithstanding our infancy," whether, if longer left
+without a mother's protection, it will not be well to undertake to run
+alone.
+
+The resources of the country are rapidly developing, and the
+expectations of the people are generally high; the mildness of the
+climate and the strength of the soil greatly encourage the large
+immigration of last year. For the last twelve months, mercury has ranged
+from 96 to 30; four-fifths of the time from 80 to 55; making an
+agreeable summer and mild winter, grazing being good throughout; so much
+so that the jaded and worn-down animals of the poor immigrants fatted up
+greatly to their surprise, before spring, without feeding or the least
+attention.
+
+Crops of all kinds usually good, even to Indian corn, and cheerfulness
+prevails throughout since harvesting. As statements have been made in
+the States derogatory to our soil, allow me to say, it is believed, with
+the same cultivation, no country produces better wheat, oats, peas,
+barley, potatoes, or any crop save Indian corn, for which the nights are
+generally too cool for a heavy growth. The wheat crops, being never
+injured by the frosts of winter or the rains of summer, as in the
+States, are remarkably sure; nor as yet have our crops been disturbed by
+flies or insects.
+
+Wheat crops are heavy, as you will judge when I assure you, from simply
+turning over the prairie in June, scattering the seed in October, and
+then with no further trouble than passing the harrow over it, ten acres
+upon my plantation grew five hundred and forty-one bushels and a half.
+The river flats, containing much alluvial deposit, are very rich; the
+plains beautiful and verdant, being admirably watered, but generally
+sparsely timbered; the high lands well timbered and watered in many
+parts, the soil tolerable, producing herbage for an abundance of deer,
+elk, mountain sheep, etc. The entire Wallamet and Umpqua valleys,
+capable of sustaining a population of several millions, it is generally
+believed can not be excelled, as a whole, for richness of soil, variety,
+grandeur, or beauty of scenery; nor, considering the latitude, can be
+equaled in mildness, equability, and agreeableness of climate.
+
+Since last writing, abundance of limestone has been found at the mouth
+of the Columbia, and likewise in this valley, conveniently obtained, and
+proves of an excellent quality. The Rev. Mr. De Smet arrived here in
+August last, bringing, as a part of his cargo, six priests and as many
+nuns, fine, hale-looking girls, very acceptable just now, particularly
+as the Methodist Mission is breaking up, and the half-breed Canadian
+daughters are rapidly multiplying.
+
+Having no pilot or chart to depend upon, and his commander a stranger,
+he sailed in through the south channel, greatly to the surprise and
+alarm of all on shore, but without injury or difficulty, not once
+touching, and reporting abundance of water for the heaviest burden
+ships.
+
+The sands are supposed to have changed and improved the channel; but of
+this I know nothing, and am not a little skeptical. I am induced to
+attribute their success more to the fine day and small vessel than
+change of the sands in their favor since Captain Wilkes left. Captain
+Couch, however, who has now been passing in and out here for the last
+five years in the service of Mr. Cushing, of Newburyport, pronounces it
+a better port to enter than theirs, and says, with pilots, there will be
+little difficulty or danger.
+
+Our exports are wheat, beaver, salmon, and lumber, for which, in return,
+we obtain from the Sandwich Islands, sugar, molasses, tea, coffee, and
+other commodities brought there from China, England, and America.
+
+We are much in want of a currency and market, American merchants being
+as yet a slender reliance; and in view of the large immigrating parties
+of each year, we should be greatly distressed for necessary articles of
+wearing apparel, but for the most commendable spirit of accommodation on
+the part of the Hudson's Bay Company.
+
+Could some arrangement be entered into for us to supply the navy of the
+Pacific with bread, beef, pork, fish, etc., we would thereby be much
+improved in our condition. This might, and perhaps ought to be done, in
+view of the encouragements held out for our people to emigrate to this
+country. Should it not be convenient for our ships of war to come to the
+Columbia for such supplies, they could be shipped to the Sandwich
+Islands, if required. But more of this another time.
+
+Having just taken the tour of the colony for the purpose of attending
+the courts and visiting the schools, it affords me pleasure to say I
+felt amply rewarded. I found throughout health, cheerfulness, and
+prosperity, and, certainly, most surprising improvements for the short
+time since the settlers commenced. The decorum of the courts I have
+spoken of, and now have only to speak of the schools and Indians, and I
+am done, fearing I have already wearied your patience. For the want of
+means, the Methodist manual labor Indian school has lately been broken
+up, and this is now occupied as a boarding-school for white children of
+both sexes. The school is yet small, but well conducted, and promises
+usefulness to the colony. The school at the falls of the Wallamet and
+Tualatin Plains, and likewise the one under the direction of Rev. Mr.
+Blanchet, Catholic clergyman, are all small,--numbering from fifteen to
+thirty only,--but are all well kept and doing good. I feel solicitous on
+this subject, and am saying and doing what I can to encourage education,
+but, like all other new countries, the people need and require their
+children much at home.
+
+Since the unhappy affair last spring, the Indians have been unusually
+quiet, and the summer has been spent without alarm. I sent my
+interpreter, Mr. Lee, to the Wallawallas six weeks since, to make some
+presents to the chiefs, as a safe conduct to the immigrants down to this
+place, but having, as yet, nothing from him of interest, I addressed a
+line to Mr. J. B. Littlejohn, who is just down from there, and received
+the annexed reply; all other statements are corroborative:--
+
+                                            "WALLAMET, November 1, 1844.
+
+     "DEAR SIR,--It is with the utmost pleasure I undertake to give you
+     what information I am able to do. I have resided with the
+     missionaries of the American Board for two years past; I have known
+     their hearts, and am well acquainted with all they have done. Their
+     influence among the Indians is by no means small, or their efforts
+     vain, as their condition is very much improved, both in a spiritual
+     and temporal point of view. And, dear sir, your efforts among and
+     for them have been much to their advantage, and at the same time
+     not to the disadvantage of the missionaries, but greatly to
+     increase their usefulness among them. I have no doubt you have
+     labored with this motive in view. The Indians are becoming
+     civilized as fast or faster than any tribes concerning whom I am
+     informed. Their anxiety for cattle, hogs, and sheep is very great;
+     leading them to make most commendable efforts to obtain them, and
+     their efforts are by no means vain. They have purchased a good
+     number from those who are emigrating to this country, by exchanging
+     their horses for cattle. Thus, while their horses have been very
+     useful to the immigrants, they have greatly benefited themselves.
+     They are enlarging their farms yearly,--improving much in fencing,
+     etc. Quite a number of families are enabled to live from what they
+     raise on their farms, the milk of their cows, and their beef. There
+     is perfect quietness existing between them, and I have no doubt
+     this state of things will continue to exist. Many things that are
+     interesting might be written, but time does not allow me to say
+     more at present.
+
+     "I am, dear sir, yours with the greatest respect,
+                                  "J. B. LITTLEJOHN."
+
+
+Thus far the Indians have kept their treaties of amity with me
+astonishingly well, and it is thought we have now as much to hope as
+fear from them, if we succeed in keeping out liquor, which, by the grace
+of God, not few of us are resolved to do, though we do not pass
+unopposed, nor slightly opposed; and had it not been for that most
+salutary liquor law, and the hearty co-operation of some of the friends
+of temperance with your agent, liquor would have already made ruinous
+havoc among us.
+
+The Methodist Mission, though we have not agreed on all subjects, has
+behaved very properly on this. And to it, in connection with the
+Honorable Hudson's Bay Company, will the colony be lastingly indebted
+for its commendable efforts.
+
+Since my first arrival, I have not received a line from the department
+save my last year's report. As my condition is peculiar, and not a
+little embarrassing, I should feel greatly obliged for an expression and
+further instruction from the department. I have had, as may well be
+judged, much to contend with, in the midst of lawless Indians of so many
+different tribes, and lawless whites of so many nations,--some bred upon
+old whale-ships, others in the Rocky Mountains, and hundreds on the
+frontiers of Missouri. I have at times waded in deep perplexing
+difficulties, but am now greatly relieved by the colonial government,
+which as yet is well administered. By reason of this I now have less to
+do, and sail in smoother seas, meeting with less opposition than
+heretofore, my proper official relations toward the whites and Indians
+being better understood.
+
+               I have the honor to be, etc.,
+                                  E. WHITE,
+                      Sub-Agent Indian Affairs, W. R. M.
+  Hon. J. M. PORTER,
+  Secretary of War, Washington.
+
+
+_An Act to prohibit the Manufacture and Sale of Ardent Spirits._
+
+_Whereas_ the people of Oregon, now occupying one of the most beautiful
+and interesting portions of the globe, are placed in the most critical
+and responsible position ever filled by men, owing, as they do,
+important duties to themselves, to their country, to posterity, and to
+mankind, as the founders of a new government and a young nation; and
+whereas the introduction, distillation, or sale of ardent spirits, under
+the circumstances in which we are placed, would bring withering ruin
+upon the prosperity and prospects of this interesting and rising
+community, by involving us in idle and dissolute habits, inviting hither
+swarms of the dissipated inhabitants of other countries, checking
+immigration, destroying the industry of the country, bringing upon us
+the swarms of savages now in our midst, interrupting the orderly and
+peaceable administration of justice, and, in a word, producing and
+perpetuating increasing and untold miseries that no mind can rightly
+estimate; therefore,
+
+_Be it enacted by the Legislative Committee of Oregon as follows:--_
+
+SECTION 1. That if any person shall hereafter import or introduce any
+ardent spirits into Oregon, with intent to sell, barter, or trade the
+same, and shall offer the same for sale, barter, or trade, he shall be
+fined the sum of fifty dollars for each and every such offense, which
+may be recovered by indictment or by trial before a justice of the
+peace, without the form of pleading.
+
+SEC. 2. That if any person shall hereafter sell, barter, or trade any
+ardent spirits of any kind whatever, directly or indirectly, to any
+person within Oregon, he shall forfeit and pay the sum of twenty dollars
+for each and every such sale, barter, or trade, to be recovered by
+indictment in the Circuit Court, or before a justice of the peace,
+without the form of pleading.
+
+SEC. 3. That if any person shall hereafter establish or carry on any
+manufactory or distillery of ardent spirits in Oregon, he shall be
+subject to be indicted before the Circuit Court as for a nuisance; and
+if convicted, he shall be fined the sum of one hundred dollars, and the
+court shall issue an order to the sheriff, directing him to seize and
+destroy the distilling apparatus, which order the sheriff shall execute.
+
+SEC. 4. That it shall be the duty of all sheriffs, judges, justices,
+constables, and other officers, when they have reason to believe that
+this act has been violated, to give notice thereof to some justice of
+the peace or judge of a court, who shall immediately issue his warrant
+and cause the offending party to be arrested, and, if such officer has
+jurisdiction to try such case, shall proceed to try such offender
+without delay, and give judgment accordingly; but, if such officer shall
+not have jurisdiction to try the case, he shall, if the party be guilty,
+bind him over to appear before the next Circuit Court of the proper
+county.
+
+SEC. 5. That all sales, barters, or trades, made under color of gifts or
+otherwise, with intent to evade this act, shall be deemed a violation of
+the same, and all fines and penalties recovered under this act shall go
+into the general treasury, and all officers receiving the same shall pay
+over to the sheriff, whose duty it shall be to pay the same into the
+treasury.
+
+SEC. 6. That this act shall not be so construed as to prevent any
+practicing physician from selling such liquors for medicine, not to
+exceed one gallon at one time.
+
+SEC. 7. That the clerk shall make out a copy of this act and put the
+same up in Oregon City as early as practicable.
+
+SEC. 8. That this act shall take effect within sixty days from and after
+its passage.
+
+Passed 24th June, 1844.                       M. M. MCCARVER, Speaker.
+Attest: J. E. LONG, Clerk.
+
+
+_An Act to provide for Ways and Means._
+
+_Be it enacted by the Legislative Committee of Oregon as follows:--_
+
+SECTION 1. That in order to raise a revenue for the purpose of defraying
+the expenses of the government, there shall be levied and collected a
+tax of one-eighth of one per cent. upon the following property, at a
+fair valuation, to wit: All merchandise brought into this country for
+sale; improvements in town lots; mills; pleasure-carriages; clocks;
+watches; horses; mules; cattle and hogs.
+
+SEC. 2. Every male citizen over the age of twenty-one years, being a
+descendant of a white man, shall be subject to pay a poll-tax of fifty
+cents.
+
+SEC. 3. That it shall be the duty of the collector of revenue to require
+of each and every merchant of Oregon to give him a statement of the
+amount of all merchandise on hand, in writing, to be stated upon oath or
+affirmation, which oath or affirmation the collector shall administer;
+and said collector shall collect and receipt for the tax upon such
+merchandise, which receipt shall serve said merchant for a license for
+the next year, commencing from the time given; and that, when a merchant
+shall wish to renew his license, he shall give a similar statement of
+all merchandise received by him for sale in the preceding twelve months,
+and the collector shall only require him to pay tax upon the amount of
+said imports.
+
+SEC. 4. That any person refusing to pay tax, as in this act required,
+shall have no benefit of the laws of Oregon, and shall be disqualified
+from voting at any election in this country.
+
+SEC. 5. That the sheriff shall serve as _ex officio_ collector of the
+revenue, for which he shall receive, as a compensation for his services,
+ten per cent. upon all moneys collected as revenue.
+
+SEC. 6. That the sheriff, before entering upon the duties of his office
+as collector of the revenue, shall enter into bond, with two or more
+good and sufficient securities, in a sum not less than five nor more
+than ten thousand dollars, to be approved by the executive, which
+approval shall be written upon the back of said bond, and the said
+collector's bond shall be filed in the office of the clerk of the court.
+
+SEC. 7. That the collector shall pay over to the treasury, on the first
+Monday in each and every month in the year, all moneys that may be in
+his hands, and get the treasurer's receipt therefor.
+
+SEC. 8. That it shall be the duty of the tribunal transacting county
+business to require the collector to settle with said court at each and
+every regular term of the court in Clackamas County.
+
+SEC. 9. The collector of the revenue shall make full payment into the
+treasury on or before the first Monday in December in each year.
+
+SEC. 10. The revenue of Oregon shall be collected in specie or available
+orders on solvent merchants in Oregon.
+
+SEC. 11. That all acts and parts of acts contrary to this act be, and
+the same are hereby, repealed.
+
+SEC. 12. This act to take effect from and after its passage.
+
+                                  M. M. MCCARVER, Speaker.
+Attest: J. E. LONG, Secretary.
+
+
+_Oregon Territory, Tualatin District, United States of America, May 1,
+1844._
+
+Charles E. Pickett, plaintiff, in the name of Oregon Territory,
+threatening to incense the Indians, _against_ Saul, a man of color.
+
+Complainant's oath and warrant issued, directed to J. L. Meek, sheriff,
+and summons for three witnesses, viz.: James Conner, William Hill, and
+Mr. Bird.
+
+May 3.--Sheriff made his return with defendant and witnesses, and jury
+of good and lawful men, viz., Philip Foster, W. C. Dement, J. W.
+Nesmith, John McCaddan, C. Spencer, and S. W. Moss, being duly sworn,
+returned a verdict of guilty of the charges alleged to him, and signed
+their names, viz.: Philip Foster, J. W. Nesmith, William C. Dement, John
+McCaddan, Chauncey Spencer, and S. W. Moss.
+
+Two witnesses, viz., William Hill and Mr. Bird, of lawful age, being
+duly sworn, did depose and say: that the threats in the deposition of
+Charles E. Pickett were correct; and that the Indians had come in a
+menacing manner; and that Saul said he would stand for the Indians'
+rights; and that he (Saul) was armed and prepared to do so; and that the
+Indians would burn and destroy his house and property. The charges being
+of a higher character than the Oregon laws have cognizance of, judgment
+is, that the United States sub-Indian agent, Dr. Elijah White, is the
+proper officer to take cognizance of him; and he, Saul, a man of color,
+be forthwith delivered into said agent's hand; which was forthwith done.
+
+                                  ROBERT MOORE, Justice of the Peace.
+
+
+The criminal was received and kept in custody for some weeks; but having
+no prison-house or jail to lodge him in, and the captain absolutely
+declining taking him on board his vessel, after the storm had blown over
+I suffered and encouraged him to leave this place, and stop with one of
+the mission families for the present, at the mouth of the Columbia.
+
+Though unsuccessful in getting employment as I had hoped, he remains in
+that vicinity with his Indian wife and family, conducting, as yet, in a
+quiet manner, but doubtless ought to be transported, together with every
+other negro, being in our condition dangerous subjects.
+
+Until we have some further means of protection, their immigration ought
+to be prohibited. Can this be done?
+
+                                  E. WHITE, Sub-Agent.
+
+
+                                           TERRITORY OF OREGON,}
+                                                               } _ss._
+                                          DISTRICT OF TUALATIN.}
+
+Charles E. Pickett, being duly sworn, says, that Saul (a man of color),
+of said Territory, has threatened to incense the Indians against his
+person and property, to destroy the same; and that he, the said Charles
+E. Pickett, verily believes that, unless measures are taken to prevent
+him, there are sufficient grounds to apprehend that he will carry those
+threats into execution.
+
+Sworn to and subscribed this 1st day of May, 1844, before me,
+
+                                  ROBERT MOORE, J. P.
+
+We, the jury, find the prisoner guilty of the charges alleged against
+him.
+
+     PHILIP FOSTER,
+     J. W. NESMITH,
+     WM. C. DEMENT,
+     JOHN MCCADDAN,
+     CHAUNCEY SPENCER,
+     S. W. MOSS.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+                                               OREGON, WALLAMET VALLEY,}
+                                                         April 4, 1845.}
+
+----Starting too late, and the winter rains setting in earlier than
+usual, subjected the immigrants to incredible suffering and hardships,
+especially from the Dalles of the Columbia down to the Wallamet Valley;
+but our early and delightful spring is exerting a cheering and most
+salutary influence upon their hitherto depressed spirits. They have,
+bee-like, been hived up in Oregon City during the winter, and are now
+swarming, to the entire satisfaction of the first occupants of the hive,
+it not being wide and large enough for such an unexpected increase. The
+last immigration, numbering about a thousand, are generally pleased with
+the country, and are setting about their spring work with becoming
+spirit and fortitude.
+
+The Indians of this lower country, whose national honor and dignity are
+laid in the dust, are looking upon the rapid growth and increased
+strength of the whites with sorrowful countenances and sad hearts. The
+present state of things between us and them is peculiar, critical,
+unenviable, and dangerous, at least, so far as peace and property are
+concerned.
+
+For instance, in proof: Soon after I sent my last dispatches, the chief
+of the Tualatin Plains, whose orderly conduct and that of his clan did
+honor to the Nez Perce laws, and the engagement we had mutually entered
+into, called on me, desiring my offices in procuring the mending of his
+gun. This being done, he invited me to come and see him and his people;
+said all was not right at his lodge; his tribe was divided, and all was
+not right; his influence was waning, and some of his people were
+becoming very bitter toward the Americans. Observing anxiety and mental
+reservation, I endeavored to draw out the secret, reminding him of the
+frequent communications he had brought me from the Rev. Messrs. Clark
+and Griffin, bearing such satisfactory testimony to their previous
+quiet, orderly, and proper conduct, etc., but all I could learn was,
+"Things are not right with us, and we are miserable."
+
+The _camass_, their principal dependence for food, was cut off last
+season by reason of drought; and the deer are hunted so much by the late
+hungry western immigrant riflemen, that they have become wild, poor, and
+few in number. The chief left.
+
+A few days after, I learned they had killed an ox and ate it, belonging
+to a neighboring white man. The owner was excited, and applied to one of
+the executive; a proclamation was issued, the military was called out
+(if it be lawful to call it such), and ample preparations made to avenge
+this national insult, and seek redress for this astounding loss. The
+army collected upon the opposite bank of the river, about six miles from
+the position occupied by the enemy, talked bravely, long, and loud, but
+the river was a little too high to cross that day; appointed another,
+the river being lower; none of the warriors appeared; nor could the
+executive, or owner, simply for the want of a few gallons of alcohol,
+obtain the necessary assistance to avenge the horrid wrong, and perform
+a brilliant military exploit. The chief, in his embarrassment and
+distress, came to me as usual for sympathy and succor. My coldness and
+look of severity (for which Heaven forgive me!) keenly afflicted him.
+After a deep sigh and painful pause, peculiar to a wounded or injured
+Indian, he slowly rose, gently smiting his breast, and said, "Dr. White,
+I am a true man, and carry an honest heart. Do you remember my coming to
+get my gun mended last fall? Do you remember my words, that all was not
+right with our people, and my inviting you to come and see us? We had
+just before killed that old ox, and were then eating it." I inquired,
+"Had you any thing to do with it personally?" "Yes, I helped to kill it,
+and, with my family, took and ate one-half of the animal. You saw the
+condition of my gun;--our provisions were out; I and others had hunted
+for two days,--our hunger was great. We held a council; and, hoping for
+success, I promised, on condition nothing was caught till the setting of
+another sun, we would kill the first animal we met. I traveled far, and
+wearied myself till evening; shot often but killed nothing;--we met this
+poor old ox, which our people would scorn to kill or eat but in case of
+extreme hunger;--my word was passed to my people; I could not go back
+from my word; I helped to kill and butcher the ox, and joined in eating
+him; and now my peace is gone. I am ashamed to see a white man's face;
+they look cold on me and shake the head;--I can not bear it--I can not
+live so; I come to you to help me, for I am told they want to kill me. I
+do not want such feelings to exist; nor do I want to be hunted as a bear
+or wild beast, for slaughter. I stand here a wisher of peace, willing to
+have you dictate the terms; but wish to have it remembered that we were
+distressed with hunger." "Suppose," said I, "the owner should require
+your rifle and four horses?" "You stand to judge between us, and I
+shall abide your decision." "But you have broken your engagement and
+forfeited confidence, and I fear it can not be settled, and some think
+you have killed before." "Dr. White, I am a true man, and lie not. I,
+nor my people, can not be so accused justly; this is injurious; none can
+meet my face and say it." I wrote, through him, to the owner, praying,
+as it was the first offense so far as we had the least evidence, and
+especially in view of our critical situation and his general good
+behavior, that he would fully indemnify himself; and then, in view of
+what I knew of the condition of his gun, and the probability that it was
+induced by hunger, to settle it; and requested him to assure the chief
+that he was convinced from my letter and all the circumstances, in
+connection with his past good conduct, that it must have been brought
+about by hunger.
+
+The advice was rejected, as the laws of the organization now had
+cognizance of the offense, and he wished to see them faithfully
+enforced. Public opinion became divided, and no judicial expression
+being made, and the poor chief becoming excessively tired of being held
+by public opinion in durance vile, came to see me a second time. I wrote
+again, and learned it was settled by the chief and his people paying his
+rifle and eight horses. If this be correct (as I fear it is), I
+abominate the act and dread its prejudicial influence.
+
+Week before last a hungry and mischievous lodge killed a cow. They were
+pursued by a party of whites, overtaken, and, in attempting to take
+them, the Indians fired upon the whites, killing one horse, and wounded
+another. The fire was returned; one Indian killed, and a second wounded.
+Thus ended this affair, which creates very little excitement among
+whites or Indians.
+
+The most painful circumstance that has occurred lately, transpired last
+fall at California. The Cayuses, Wallawallas, and some of the chiefs of
+the Spokans, entered upon the hazardous but grand and important
+enterprise of going directly through the Indian country to California,
+with a view of exchanging their beaver, deer, and elk skins, together
+with their surplus horses, for neat stock. As they had to travel through
+an extensive country inhabited by the savage and warlike Klamaths and
+Shastas, where Smith, Turner, and so many other white parties had been
+defeated, we are at a loss to conclude whether their valor is more to be
+commended than the rashness of their stupendous enterprise to be
+censured. They were well mounted and equipped; the chiefs clad in
+English costume, and the residue attired in dressed skins, molded
+according to their several tastes. The journey of seven or eight hundred
+miles, after some fighting, watching, and much fatigue, was
+accomplished, and their numbers not lessened.
+
+Taking their own statement, their reception was cordial, and the
+impression made upon the whites by these distant and half-civilized
+people, upon an errand so commendable, was most favorable. The treating
+and salutations being over, the trade commenced in good faith, and to
+mutual satisfaction. All moved on well, till, on an excursion to procure
+elk and deer skins, they met a marauding band of mountain freebooters;
+fought them, and, being victorious, took a prize of twenty-two horses,
+all previously stolen from the whites.
+
+On returning to the settlements, the Spaniards laid claim to the
+animals. The chiefs remonstrated, and said, agreeably to their customs,
+the horses were theirs. The Spaniards explained their laws, and showed
+the animals not to be vented, _i.e._, bearing a transfer mark, and told
+the Indians they must give them to the rightful owners, as all Americans
+and others did. The Indians seemed grieved and rather incensed; said in
+their country six nations of people were on terms of amity, and that in
+case any one of these six nations stole a horse, the tribe was
+responsible for the safe delivery of that animal to the rightful owner;
+but in case the Blackfeet or other formidable enemy steal or capture,
+the properly is supposed lost, without redemption; and as we have
+captured these horses at the hazard of our lives, from your long openly
+declared enemies, we think they ought in justice to be ours. The
+Spaniards condescended to offer ten cows for the redemption of the
+horses; the chief not replying, five more were added; he still remaining
+moody and without replying, the negotiation unhappily broke off. A day
+or two after, an American, seeing his mule among the number captured,
+told the Indians it was his mule, and have it he would. "Will you?" said
+a young chief by the name of Elijah Heading; and stepping into the
+lodge, he immediately loaded his rifle, came out and observed
+significantly, "Go now and take your mule." The American, much alarmed,
+remarked, "I hope you are not going to kill me." "No! I am going to
+shoot yonder eagle" (perched upon a neighboring oak). Not liking the
+appearances, the man left without attempting to obtain his mule. A day
+or two after, the Indians left their encampment and walked down to the
+fort of Captain Sutter to church; and from the best information we have
+obtained (all being _ex parte_), the following appears to be near the
+truth: After service Elijah was invited into another apartment, taking
+with him his uncle, a brave and sensible chief of the age of five and
+forty; while there, in an unarmed and defenseless condition, they
+commenced menacing him for things alleged against the river Indians of
+this upper country, in which none of them had any participation; called
+them indiscriminately dogs, thieves, etc. This American then observed:
+"Yesterday you were going to kill me; now you must die"--drawing a
+pistol. Elijah, who had been five or six years at the Methodist Mission,
+and had learned to read, write, and speak English respectably, said,
+deliberately: "Let me pray a little, first;" and kneeling down, at once
+commenced; and while invoking the Divine mercy, was shot through the
+heart or vitals dead upon the spot. Every measure, as the Indians say,
+was taken to cut them all off by the Spaniards, who brought out the
+cannon, with other fire-arms, and hotly pursued them, and tried to
+prevent their escape by checking and interrupting their passage across
+the ferries, etc. But at length they all arrived safely, after manifest
+suffering, leaving the herds they had paid for in California.
+
+They met three Americans on the way as they left the California
+settlements and had them in their power, but instead of revenging the
+death of Elijah, they mounted each on a horse of their own, and sent
+them on, telling them to go to the fort and acquaint the people that
+they could not kill innocent white people in their power and lodge.
+
+Taking for truth an Indian report, this horrible affair creates
+considerable excitement, and there is some danger of its disturbing the
+friendly relation that has hitherto existed between us here, and all
+those formidable tribes in the region of Wallawalla and Snake River.
+They had no sooner arrived, than Ellis, my interpreter, the high chief
+of the Nez Perces, was deputed to come down and learn our opinions
+regarding the affair. They could not have sent a better agent, the
+whites all giving him a handsome and cordial reception. From Wallawalla,
+he accompanied Mr. Grant, the chief trader at Fort Hall, down to
+Vancouver. He called on Dr. McLaughlin, whose great experience and
+address were serviceable. He spoke touchingly of the violent death of
+his own son upon the northwest coast, and left the impression that he
+could not avoid sympathizing with the father and friends of the deceased
+young chief. Mr. Douglas, too, an early friend, patron, and favorite of
+Ellis, aided much in convincing him that all the good and virtuous could
+not avoid the most painful regrets at so melancholy a circumstance,
+which must have occurred by reason of the difference in their customs or
+laws, imperfectly understanding each other, or from some, as he would
+charitably hope, excusable circumstance.
+
+Under the influence of this salutary language and interview, Ellis
+arrived at my residence, in Wallamet, about the 1st instant, having, a
+short time before, got a hasty communication, written in excitement,
+from Dr. Whitman, who was under serious apprehensions that it might be
+avenged upon some of the whites of the upper country. Be assured I was
+happy to see this my most faithful friend and interpreter. Sir, pardon
+me for saying--isolated as we are here, agitated as we have a thousand
+times been by faithless savages and still more faithless whites,
+responsible, yet powerless and defenseless, in our unsettled state of
+things--to meet with this honest man, this _real_ friend, though an
+Indian, gave me hearty pleasure.
+
+His thorough education at Red River molded him into more of the white
+man than Indian. His prudence and good management with his tribe
+sanctioned the choice that had been made, and all the whites spoke
+handsomely of his kind offices and obliging deportment, while
+immigrating through his country. Being satisfied of the safety and
+policy, I feasted him, and took at once unobserved measures to have him
+invited to every respectable place abroad, where the ladies and
+gentlemen received him so cordially, and feasted him so richly and
+delicately, that he almost forgot the object of his embassy, and, I
+verily believe, thought extremely highly of the whites of Wallamet,
+however ill he might have thought of the conduct of the Californians.
+
+Being anxious to make this visit useful to him and his people, as well
+as pleasant, after spending a few days in visiting the schools, as well
+as the principal inhabitants and places of interest, I showed him my
+little library; told him to make himself at home; put on my farmer's
+garb and commenced working upon my plantation. He soon came out,
+accompanied by a wealthy cousin, and begged for tools to assist me. I
+loaned them, and found he was much at home in their use. He spent with
+me a sufficient length of time to convince me of the truth reported
+concerning his cheerfulness in labor, as well as his knowledge,
+application, and assiduity in business. He spoke sensibly of the
+advantages of industry, and the astonishing change that had been
+effected among his people by the cultivation of the soil; assured me
+that every family or lodge now raised an abundance for home consumption,
+besides having considerable quantities to barter with the whites. He
+says he raised, himself, the past season, six hundred bushels of peas,
+with a fine crop of wheat, potatoes, beans, etc.; spoke properly of its
+moral and social effects. Wars were no longer talked of, and the chase
+was nearly abandoned; the book and the Bible consumed their leisure
+moments. Polygamy, once so common, was now done away with, except in two
+solitary cases, and not a lodge of his people but observed the Sabbath,
+and regularly attended morning and evening devotion. This was only
+corroborative of what I had previously heard from other sources. He
+spent ten days with me in the most cheerful, agreeable, and profitable
+manner, and at the close I felt myself the happier and better for the
+visit; nor did I marvel that his influence was increasing and the
+prospects of his people brightening.
+
+Pardon me, for, in thinking of his visit and dwelling upon his
+excellences, I had like to have forgotten his agency. Learning from Dr.
+Whitman, who resides in their midst, how much they were all excited by
+reason of the treacherous and violent death of this educated and
+accomplished young chief, and perhaps more especially by the loss they
+had sustained; and then, after suffering so many hardships and
+encountering so many dangers, losing the whole,--I apprehended there
+might be much difficulty in adjusting it, particularly as they lay much
+stress upon the restless disaffected scamps late from Wallamet to
+California, loading them with the vile epithets of "dogs," "thieves,"
+etc., from which they believed, or affected to, that the slanderous
+reports of our citizens caused all their loss and disasters, and
+therefore held us responsible. He assured me that the Cayuses,
+Wallawallas, Nez Perces, Spokans, Ponderays, and Snakes were all on
+terms of amity, and that a portion of the aggrieved party were for
+raising about two thousand warriors of these formidable tribes and
+marching to California at once, and, nobly revenging themselves on the
+inhabitants by capture and plunder, enrich themselves upon the spoils;
+others, not indisposed to the enterprise, wished first to learn how it
+would be regarded here, and whether we would remain neutral in the
+affair. A third party were for holding us responsible, as Elijah was
+killed by an American, and the Americans incensed the Spaniards. Ellis
+reminded me at the same time of the ill-success the chiefs met with in
+trading off their ten-dollar drafts for herds with the immigrants; which
+drafts I had sent up by Mr. Lee, my interpreter, to secure peace and
+safety while the immigrants were passing through their country, the year
+before so many having been pillaged and robbed of their effects, through
+the inattention of the chiefs.
+
+Sir, how this affair will end is difficult to conjecture; the general
+impression is, that it will lend to the most disastrous consequences to
+the Californians themselves, or to the colony of the Wallamet Valley. My
+principal fear is, that it will result in so much jealousy, prejudice,
+and disaffection, as to divert their minds from the pursuit of
+knowledge, agriculture, and the means of civilization, which they have
+been for such a length of time so laudably engaged in obtaining.
+
+Should this be the case with these numerous, brave, and formidable
+tribes, the results to them, and to us, would be indeed most calamitous.
+To prevent such a result, I wrote, through Ellis, a long, cordial, and
+rather sympathizing letter to the chiefs of these tribes, assuring them
+that I should at once write to the governor of California, to Captain
+Sutter, and to our great chiefs respecting this matter. With a view to
+divert attention, and promote good feeling, I invited all the chiefs to
+come down in the fall, before the arrival of the immigrants, in company
+with Dr. Whitman and Mr. Spalding, and confer with me upon this
+subject; at the same time, as they had been so unfortunate, to bring
+along their ten-dollar drafts, and exchange them with me for a cow and
+calf each, out of my own herds. I likewise wrote them, that on condition
+they would defer going to California till the spring of 1847, and each
+chief assist me to the amount of two beaver skins, to get a good manual
+labor literary institution established for the English education of
+their sons and daughters (a subject they feel the deepest interest in),
+I would use every measure to get the unhappy affair adjusted; and, as a
+token of my regard for them, would, from my private funds, give the
+chiefs five hundred dollars, to assist them in purchasing young cows in
+California. I likewise proffered, as they are so eager for it, to start
+the English school next fall, by giving them the services of Mr. Lee, my
+interpreter, for four months, commencing in November next.
+
+Ellis more than properly appreciated my motives and proffers, and said
+he was of the full belief the chiefs would accede to my proposition;
+spoke of the importance of the English school, and of the strong and
+general desire to obtain it. He left in high hopes of a continuance of
+peace and onward prosperity to his people.
+
+A few days later brought me into another excitement and difficulty at
+Vancouver. Two young men, named in McLaughlin's communication to this
+government (a copy of which, marked A, together with a reply,
+accompanies these dispatches), crossed the Columbia River, and,
+unobserved, in the midst of a little thicket something over half a mile
+from Fort Vancouver, felled some timber, threw up a few logs in the
+shape of a hut, intending soon to finish it, put up a paper upon a
+contiguous tree, stating that they had commenced and intended to
+establish a claim agreeably with ----; here the note ended. Some one
+about the establishment, observing the paper and commencement of the
+hut, reported it to the governor, who sent down at once and had all the
+timber removed from the vicinity, the tree felled, and that, with the
+paper likewise, removed. They had hardly cleared the ground when the
+claimants arrived with a surveyor, and commenced surveying off a section
+of land, embracing the post first commenced upon. They were inquired of,
+at the instance of Governor McLaughlin, as to their object and
+intentions. They at once laid down the chain, dropped all business, and
+walked up to the fort. Several respectable and influential American
+citizens happened to be present on business, who, with myself, were
+respectfully invited to hear the discussion.
+
+Williamson, a modest and respectable young man, demeaned himself with
+propriety; but Alderman, his associate, a boisterous, hare-brained young
+fellow, caused me (as occasionally others do) to blush for American
+honor. His language was most severe, and, but for the sake of the
+country's quiet, could not have been endured; the governor and Mr.
+Douglas displaying their usual calmness and forbearance. I heard the
+discussion for two hours; and, becoming satisfied that no possible good
+could grow out of it, remarked that with the cheerful consent of both
+parties I would give my sense of the matter.
+
+Each readily consenting, I thought best to come up on the blind side of
+Alderman; treated his measures with less severity, and himself with more
+consideration and respect, than he anticipated; then spoke of
+Greenough's construction of the treaty between the two governments
+(which I happened to have with me); of the immense district of country
+dependent upon this establishment for supplies in beef, pork, etc., and
+as evidence that they had no more land contiguous than was necessary for
+their purposes, spoke of the number of cattle and other stock that had
+died of starvation during the last winter; dwelt upon the importance of
+union and good feeling among all the whites, surrounded as we were by
+savages, in our weak and defenseless condition, and especially of the
+propriety of establishing correct precedents in our unsettled state,
+regarding land claims; and, without advising particularly either party,
+took my seat.
+
+Williamson and Alderman soon manifested a desire for a private
+interview, which resulted in a suspension of hostilities for the
+present, and probably an abandonment of the claim.
+
+Now, my dear sir, suffer me to write a few things concerning this
+country, which seemed to me strongly to demand the speedy attention of
+the members of our government. Take fifty men from the colony, of the
+most intelligence, firmness, and prudence, and anarchy and confusion
+follow. Suffer a free introduction of ardent spirits, and desolation,
+horror, dismay, and bloodshed ensue. Never were a people more illy
+prepared for self-government, nor more unfavorably circumstanced to
+succeed,--aside from the single fact of the absence of all intoxicating
+drinks.
+
+Sir, too great a portion of our population comes from the western
+suburbs of civilization, for one moment's safety to us in our present
+condition. I know not but I have as much patience as most men, but am
+heartily tired of this state of things. Nor would I run the risk again,
+by land and water, from whites and savages, for the safety and quietness
+of the colony and country, for all the wealth of earth. I have not
+shrunk from toil, danger, nor hardships, and though alone-handed and
+unsustained, black-balled and traduced, astonishing to say, my measures
+have yet succeeded. I think of the past with a clear conscience, yet at
+present, at peace as we are, I look upon our critical condition with an
+anxious, aching heart, feeling that the members of our government err
+exceedingly toward their citizens in Oregon.
+
+As I have so often said of this lower country, with its beauty,
+excellence of soil, and mildness of climate, it might be rendered the
+paradise of earth; but, sir, every thing is jeoparded by the tardiness
+of our government measures; not only the poor, injured natives, but the
+whites generally, have become wearied to impatience in waiting for an
+expression from our government, and disaffection, with a want of
+confidence, is taking the place of previous warm feeling and strong
+attachment.
+
+I regret this exceedingly, but feel it my duty to speak out in truth and
+distinctness upon this important point. I have said and done what I
+could to keep up confidence and hope; but already demagogues are
+haranguing in favor of independence, and using the most disparaging
+language regarding the measures of our government as a reason for
+action. These are but the beginnings, and, though I am glad to say such
+sentiments do not generally obtain, yet they are more favorably listened
+to this year than last; their natural results and practical tendency you
+will readily perceive.
+
+Your annual report of 1843 reached me only a few days since, having been
+broken open on the way, then put into the hands of Indians, and
+forwarded to me through that channel. And while I have to regret never
+having received any thing from your pen, be assured I am not insensible
+to the honor done me, in speaking as you did of my report, through yours
+of 1843 to the Secretary of War. I feel any kind expression from home
+the more sensibly, from the torrent of opposition I have been forced to
+meet and contend with here; but am happy to observe that my influence is
+increasing, and my measures are being better understood and appreciated.
+
+Influence here is most important; I felt this strikingly a few weeks
+since. Three among the most correct and sensible men of the colony
+formed a co-partnership to enter largely upon the brewery business. They
+had already taken some steps; and as the business promised to be
+lucrative, the probabilities were against me in attempting to dissuade
+them from their purpose. I visited them, labored calmly, honestly, and
+faithfully, and felt the difference dealing or talking with men of sense
+and principle, over many with whom I have to do in Oregon.
+
+The interview broke up most agreeably, not an unpleasant sentence having
+passed; the gentlemen engaging to give me their decision very soon. This
+was communicated to me two days after, in a delicate and handsome
+manner, which was entirely to my wishes, the business being altogether
+abandoned. This was most gratifying to me, as from such a quarter
+should beer be introduced, it would be impossible for us to prevent the
+introduction of stronger drink into the colony and country, which, of
+all others, is most illy prepared to receive it.
+
+The colony, now numbering about four thousand, is in a most flourishing
+state, and I am doubtful if any like number are more pleased or better
+contented in our wide domain. The schools of the country during the last
+winter have been well sustained; I have contributed to each, as was
+necessary, from ten to fifteen dollars, to pay rents, etc., and to
+encourage them forward in their laudable struggle to educate their
+rising families.
+
+I attended the examination of the Methodist Institute school a few weeks
+since, and was most agreeably impressed regarding the institution.
+
+The pleasant deportment and improved manners of the young ladies and
+gentlemen of the school, saying nothing of their astonishing advancement
+in the different departments of literature, was a cause of the highest
+gratification. I have nowhere attended an examination, taking all things
+into the account, more creditable to the principal or institution. I
+have called for a report, but am sorry it has not yet come to hand.
+
+The branches taught are rhetoric, grammar, geography, arithmetic,
+reading, writing, and spelling. The most enlightened and best disposed
+are using their influence to strengthen the organization, and perfect
+the laws of the colony. Many are favorable to the adoption of a
+constitution, by calling a convention for that purpose the present
+season. This being the most enlightened sense, and meeting with little
+opposition, I am of the opinion it will prevail. Should this be
+effected, the constitution, accompanied with a petition, will probably
+be forwarded by a delegate from this country to Washington City the
+coming winter. As the friends of the constitution generally wish best to
+the country, and desire to have every thing so conducted as not to
+embarrass, but to meet with acceptance at home, I am solicited to be
+said delegate, and represent the wants of Oregon. A circulating medium
+is greatly needed; however, the enterprise and onward march of this
+people can not easily be repressed. Through the auspices of the Hudson's
+Bay Company almost every man, requesting and needing it, is helped to
+sufficient means to commence upon his section of land; and, certainly,
+by far the greater number give evidence of well-placed confidence. The
+prairies are dotted over with houses, and the fruitful fields are
+spreading out widely all around us. Moral and religious influence, I
+regret to say, is waning; yet it is gratifying to observe an increasing
+interest upon the subject of schools and education; and I am happy to
+say we have now eleven schools this side the mountains, most of them
+small, to be sure, but they are exerting a salutary and beneficial
+influence.
+
+Pardon the length and want of interest of my report. Did not duty hold
+me here, or had I funds appropriated to travel abroad to explore this
+delightful region of surrounding country, from what I learn of vague
+reports I have little doubt but much interesting, curious, and important
+information might be collected. But here I am, doomed to sit, watch, and
+sometimes almost _fight_ for peace between whites and Indians--the
+question of right and wrong becoming more and more complicated
+continually; while here, allow me to say, the settling these
+difficulties necessarily costs me not a little. I believe most fully, in
+making a settlement with an Indian or tribe, to have it a happy,
+earnest, and hearty one; and, in order to effect this, they require a
+present as a seal. And, sir, this is my principal means of usefulness or
+influence over these poor, and, in many instances, injured natives.
+Their seeming confidence and regard makes one the more patient and
+cheerful in doing for them; nor can I complain, as so many east of the
+mountains have been obliged to, of violated faith on the part of the
+Indians. From all I can learn, on much of which little reliance is to be
+placed, there appear to be about forty-two thousand Indians in the
+Territory, allowing it to extend to 54 deg. 40' north latitude.
+
+Mr. Lee's (my interpreter) report accompanying this you will observe. I
+would have accompanied him but for the season of the year, and the
+prevalence of the dysentery, which is sweeping off the poor natives of
+this lower country. This gave rise to Dr. Long's bill, which, I hope,
+will be honored, as it was a work of humanity as well as policy. I
+directed it, as I could not possibly attend to those and these at the
+same time, there being forty miles between us.
+
+I hope, Providence permitting, to have the pleasure of seeing you and
+the other gentlemen of the departments, at Washington, in a few weeks,
+or months at longest, after this reaches, and of explaining my accounts
+and reasons for expenditures.
+
+I had not expected to draft on the department this spring; but there
+were no other means of settling with Governor McLaughlin, for the want
+of a circulating medium through which to operate.
+
+Inclosed is a letter from Peter H. Burnett, Esq., which I proposed
+forwarding in my last dispatches, but received too late for
+transmission.
+
+With great respect, I am, dear sir, your most humble and obedient
+servant,
+
+                                  ELIJAH WHITE,
+                        Sub-Agent Indian Affairs, W. R. M.
+
+
+_To the Citizens of Oregon:_
+
+GENTLEMEN,--We take the liberty of informing you that a person named
+"Henry Williamson," some time about the 15th of February, this year,
+took the liberty of erecting on the premises of the Hudson's Bay Company
+a few logs, in the form of a hut, and wrote a notice upon an adjoining
+tree that he had taken a section of land there. This was done without
+our knowledge or consent, within a few hundred yards of a house occupied
+by one of the Hudson's Bay Company's servants, and within the limits of
+their improvements. As soon as we were informed of that proceeding, we
+had the tree cut down and the logs removed, in order to prevent any
+future difficulty with a person who had, in a manner so unjustifiable,
+intruded on the Hudson's Bay Company's premises.
+
+The Hudson's Bay Company made their settlement at Fort Vancouver under
+the authority of a license from the British government, in conformity
+with the provisions of the treaty between Great Britain and the United
+States of America, which gives them the right of occupying as much land
+as they require for the operations of their business.
+
+On the faith of that treaty, they have made a settlement on the north
+bank of the Columbia River; they have opened roads and made other
+improvements at a great outlay of capital; they have held unmolested
+possession of their improvements for many years, unquestioned by the
+public officers of either government, who have, since the existence of
+their settlements, repeatedly visited it; they have carried on business
+with manifest advantage to the country; they have given the protection
+of their influence over the native tribes to every person who required
+it, without distinction of nation or party; and they have afforded every
+assistance in their power toward developing the resources of the country
+and promoting the industry of its inhabitants.
+
+The tract of land they occupy, on the north bank of the Columbia River,
+is indispensable to them as a range for their flocks and herds, but
+otherwise of little value, being in part inundated every summer by the
+waters of the Columbia, and in part unimprovable forest land.
+
+Occupying the said tract of land by the authority of law, and under the
+protection of the British government, they can not submit to the
+infringement of rights so acquired; and we, as their representatives,
+are bound to use every means sanctioned by the law which governs us
+against all trespassers on their premises, until otherwise directed by
+orders emanating from the Hudson's Bay Company.
+
+Permit us to assure you, gentlemen, that it is our earnest wish to
+maintain a good understanding, and to live on friendly terms with every
+person in the country. We entertain the highest respect for the
+provisional organization; and knowing the good it has effected, as well
+as the evil it has prevented, we wish it every success, and hope, as we
+desire, to continue to live in the exercise and interchange of good
+offices with the framers of that useful institution.
+
+The advantages of peace and harmony, of the support and maintenance of
+established rights, must be as evident to every member of the community
+as the evils flowing from a state of lawless misrule.
+
+With these considerations before us, we feel confident that every person
+who desires the well-being of the country, who wishes to see it
+prosperous and flourishing, will unite in putting down every course
+which may have a tendency to disturb the public peace, and in promoting,
+by every means in his power, the cause of justice, obedience to the
+laws, and mutual accommodation.
+
+With a fervent prayer to the Divine bestower of all good for the
+happiness and prosperity of every individual in the country, we have the
+honor to be, gentlemen, your obedient servants,
+
+                                  JOHN MCLAUGHLIN.
+                                  JAMES DOUGLAS.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+                                              VANCOUVER, March 18, 1845.
+
+GENTLEMEN,--I am sorry to inform you that Mr. Williamson is surveying a
+piece of land occupied by the Hudson's Bay Company, alongside of this
+establishment, with a view of taking it as a claim; and as he is an
+American citizen, I feel bound, as a matter of courtesy, to make the
+same known to you, trusting that you will feel justified in taking
+measures to have him removed from the Hudson's Bay Company's premises,
+in order that the unanimity now happily subsisting between the American
+citizens and British subjects residing in this country may not be
+disturbed or interrupted. I beg to inclose you a copy of an address to
+the citizens of Oregon, which will explain to you our situation and the
+course we are bound to pursue in the event of your declining to
+interfere.
+
+I am, gentlemen, your obedient humble servant,
+
+                                  J. MCLAUGHLIN.
+
+     WILLIAM BAILEY,
+     OSBORNE RUSSELL,
+     P. G. STEWART,
+           Executive Committee of Oregon.
+
+[The above documents must be considered a full declaration of war by the
+Hudson's Bay Company, as all future operations of theirs were merely
+preparatory to the final consummation and attack that was made through
+the Cayuses. The answer of our Executive Committee acknowledged treaty
+rights that did not exist, as neither the sovereignty of the soil, nor
+the boundary line, were settled, hence the joint occupancy of both as
+per treaty was good.]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+                                            OREGON CITY, March 21, 1845.
+
+SIR,--We beg to acknowledge the receipt of your letters,--one dated 11th
+of March, and the other 12th of March,--accompanied with an address to
+the citizens of Oregon.
+
+We regret to hear that unwarranted liberties have been taken by an
+American citizen upon the Hudson's Bay Company's premises, and it
+affords us great pleasure to learn that the offender, after due
+reflection, desisted from the insolent and rash measure.
+
+As American citizens, we beg leave to offer you and your much esteemed
+colleague our most grateful thanks for the kind and candid manner in
+which you have treated this matter, as we are aware that an infringement
+on the rights of the Hudson's Bay Company in this country, by an
+American citizen, is a breach of the laws of the United States, by
+setting at naught her most solemn treaties with Great Britain.
+
+As representatives of the citizens of Oregon, we beg your acceptance of
+our sincere acknowledgments of the obligations we are under to yourself
+and your honorable associate for the high regard you have manifested for
+the authorities of our provisional government, and the special anxiety
+you have ever shown for our peace and prosperity; and we assure you that
+we consider ourselves in duty bound to use every exertion in our power
+to put down every cause of disturbance, as well as to promote the
+amicable intercourse and kind feelings hitherto existing between
+ourselves and the gentlemen of the Hudson's Bay Company, until the
+United States shall extend its jurisdiction over us, and our authority
+ceases to exist.
+
+We have the honor to be, sir, your most obedient servants,
+
+                                  OSBORNE RUSSELL.
+                                  P. G. STEWART.
+
+     JOHN MCLAUGHLIN, Esq.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+                                      TUALATIN PLAINS, November 2, 1844.
+
+DEAR SIR,--Your communication of the 20th October, 1844, was duly
+received, and a press of business has delayed my reply till now.
+
+In relation to the subject of inquiry contained in your letter (being
+the natural resources of Oregon), I can truly say that I entertain a
+very high opinion of the great and decided advantages bestowed by nature
+upon this most interesting and beautiful portion of our globe.
+
+Our facilities for commercial enterprise are most decided, as the
+rapidly increasing commerce of the great Pacific lies at our very door.
+The climate of this country is more _equable_, subject to fewer extremes
+than any, perhaps, in the world. I have been here about one year, and
+have found it most delightful, and I can truly say that it is the most
+healthy country I have ever lived in. During the present year, I have
+scarcely heard of a case of fever in the whole country. The timber of
+Oregon is indeed most superior, and constitutes a large portion of its
+wealth; and we have not only the tallest, finest timber in the world,
+but we have everywhere water power to any desirable extent, suitable for
+propelling all kinds of machinery.
+
+The soil of this country is most excellent, and can be prepared and
+cultivated with less labor than that of any other country. Wheat is the
+great staple of the world, and as a wheat-growing country, this ranks in
+the very first class. The crop is not only of the _best quality, but is
+always large, and there is no such occurrence as a failure of the wheat
+crop_. For potatoes, melons, turnips, and garden vegetables generally,
+our soil is superior. Indian corn does not succeed well, and in fact we
+have no use for it, as our cattle live all the year upon the natural
+pastures of the country. Since I have been here, I have been myself
+engaged in farming occupations, and I have been astonished at the very
+small amount of labor required to cultivate a farm. Potatoes are
+planted, and nothing more is done to them until they are ready for
+digging, when they are not dug, but generally turned up with the plow.
+Peas are sown broadcast, like wheat, and are neither staked nor
+cultivated, and produce in great abundance. Plowing is done here from
+the month of September until July, and wheat is sown from October to
+May, and potatoes are planted in March, April, and May. A team of two
+horses, with a very light, easy plow, can break prairie land, but a team
+of two yoke of oxen is most generally used. I am informed that timothy,
+clover, and blue grass all grow well in the soil of Oregon. For
+pasturage this country is pre-eminent. Horses, cattle, and sheep require
+neither feed nor shelter, and keep fat all the year round. Hogs are
+raised here with partial feeding, and pork is generally fattened upon
+wheat, and finer pork I never saw anywhere.
+
+I omitted to mention in its appropriate place that our harvesting
+commences about the 20th of July, and continues throughout the month of
+August; and during the present year we had no rain from about the 1st of
+July to the 15th of October, so that we had the finest weather for
+saving our crops imaginable.
+
+One thing that strikes the beholder of this country with greatest force,
+is the unsurpassable beauty of its scenery. We have snow-clad
+mountains, beautiful valleys, pure, rapid streams running over pebbly
+beds, with numerous cascades and waterfalls, and trees of superior
+grandeur and beauty.
+
+The government of Oregon has grown up from necessity; and perhaps no new
+organization has been adopted and sustained with so much unanimity and
+good order. Every circumstance has tended to strengthen it. I attended
+the last term of the Circuit Courts in most of the counties, and I found
+great respect shown to judicial authority everywhere, and did not see a
+_solitary drunken juryman, or witness, or spectator_. So much industry,
+good order, and sobriety, I have never observed in any community. Our
+population seem to be exceedingly enterprising, and is making rapid
+progress to comfort and wealth. As yet, we have had no murders, no
+robberies, thefts, or felonies of any kind, except one assault with
+intent to kill. Our grand juries have exhibited very laudable assiduity
+in discharging their duties, and criminals here will meet with certain
+and prompt punishment.
+
+Nature has displayed here her most magnificent powers, and our country
+has its full share of natural advantages. Our prospects are most
+brilliant. If we can keep out intoxication, _and we will do it_, half a
+century will not roll away before there will exist in Oregon one of the
+most industrious, virtuous, free, and commercial nations in the world.
+
+I have already protracted this communication beyond its appropriate
+length, and will now close it by subscribing myself,
+
+               Yours, etc.,
+
+                        PETER H. BURNETT.
+
+     Dr. E. WHITE.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+                                        WALLAMET, OREGON, April 4, 1845.
+
+SIR,--I have the honor and happiness of informing you, and through you,
+if it be your pleasure, the American public, that measures have been
+taken by myself and the citizens in this colony, to open a wagon route
+through from the upper part of this valley, the present season, directly
+to Fort Hall, or Green River; the pilot returning and escorting the
+immigrants through the much shorter, easier, and every way more
+advantageous route. The immigrants will thereby be enabled to bring with
+them their herds, wagons, and all their effects at once directly into
+the heart of the Wallamet Valley; saving thereby an immense amount of
+toil, hardship, and suffering, saying nothing of the necessary
+destruction and increased danger of the other route.
+
+               Your humble and obedient servant,
+                                  E. WHITE,
+                      Sub-Agent Indian Affairs, W. R. M.
+
+The messenger is leaving.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+                                             OREGON CITY, March 4, 1845.
+
+_Dr. E. White:_
+
+SIR,--In compliance with the request you made to me, that I should
+notice and communicate to you whatever I might deem of interest during
+my visit, in your employ, to the various Indian tribes east of the
+Cascade Mountains, bearing to them presents with admonitions and advice
+from you in order to secure the safety and peace of the immigrants in
+their passage through their country, the following is submitted:--
+
+1. _The Nez Perces_.--Your acquaintance with this promising people
+renders it unnecessary for me to speak of their general character. I
+would simply remark, that their anxieties to become a civilized and
+literary nation have suffered no abatement since I left them in March
+last, after passing the winter with them most pleasantly, as teacher, in
+the employ of Rev. H. H. Spalding, missionary. Ellis, with most of the
+chiefs, was absent, having gone to meet the immigrants, then in the
+vicinity of Fort Boise, with a view to furnish them provisions, and
+trade them horses for cattle. You are aware of their eagerness to obtain
+domestic stock with all farming utensils, which I regard as one of the
+most interesting facts connected with Indian affairs west of the Rocky
+Mountains. Avarice is doubtless the ruling passion of most Indians, and
+forms a capital upon which those engaged in Indian affairs may operate
+for good or evil. With the Nez Perces, it has thus far been turned to
+good account, effecting results as beneficial to the whites and more
+salutary to the natives themselves, on this side the mountains, than has
+been effected on the other side by military force. Such is the
+prevalence of this "love of gain" among the Indians, that all efforts to
+control them by motives held out to any other passion, must prove
+ineffectual, at least, while we are unable to awe them by martial
+parade.
+
+The individual difficulties existing between James, Timothy, and others,
+in relation to their claims on the valley, about the Clearwater Mission,
+are, for the time, put to rest, by the promise that you will visit them
+soon, and have the matter properly adjusted. Their crops this year have
+been abundant, and they have furnished the immigrants large supplies of
+provisions, which, I am happy to say, were bartered in good faith, and
+the trade conducted with much amity and good feeling on both sides,
+while I have to regret that Ellis and his people were unable to procure
+cattle to any extent worthy of notice. The presents were received, and
+the advice heard with a most respectful attention.
+
+2. _The Cayuses_ are also manifesting a spirit of enterprise, highly
+commendable. They too, have raised much grain and potatoes, and are
+trading freely with the immigrants. A number of their chiefs and
+principal men were absent at the time, having gone, in company with a
+party of Wallawallas, to California, with horses to trade for cattle.
+They have since returned, and I sincerely regret to learn the failure of
+this, their first expedition of the kind. The Spaniards and other whites
+treated them badly; murdered one of the most promising young men of the
+Wallawallas, and the party returned without effecting the object of
+their trip. What influence this affair will have upon the conduct of
+these two tribes in reference to the next immigration passing through
+their countries, time alone must determine.
+
+The lawless bands along the river, from Fort Wallawalla to the Dalles,
+are still troublesome to the immigrants; and the immigrants are still
+very imprudent in breaking off into small parties, just when they should
+remain united. The Indians are tempted by the unguarded and defenseless
+state of the immigrants, and avail themselves of the opportunity to
+gratify their cupidity. Here allow me to suggest a thought. These
+robbers furnish us a true miniature likeness of the whole Indian
+population, whenever they fail to obtain such things as they wish in
+exchange for such as they have to give. These are robbers now, because
+they have nothing to give; all others will be robbers when, with what
+they have to give, they can not procure what they wish. I am satisfied
+of the correctness of this conclusion, from all that I have witnessed of
+Indian character, even among the praiseworthy Nez Perces. And should the
+government of the United States withhold her protection from her
+subjects in Oregon, they will be under the necessity of entering into
+treaty stipulations with the Indians, in violation of the laws of the
+United States, as preferable to a resort to force of arms. Hitherto, the
+immigrants have had no serious difficulty in passing through the
+territory of these tribes; but that their passage is becoming more and
+more a subject of interest to the Indians, is abundantly manifest. They
+collect about the road from every part of the country, and have looked
+on with amazement; but the novelty of the scene is fast losing its power
+to hold in check their baser passions. The next immigration will, in all
+probability, call forth developments of Indian character, which have
+been almost denied an existence among these people. Indeed, sir, had you
+not taken the precaution to conciliate their good feelings and
+friendship toward the whites, just at the time they were meeting each
+other, it is to be doubted whether there had not been some serious
+difficulties. Individuals on both sides have been mutually provoked and
+exasperated during the passage of each immigration, and these cases are
+constantly multiplying. Much prudence is required on the part of the
+whites, and, unfortunately, they have very little by the time they
+reach the Columbia Valley. Some of the late immigrants, losing their
+horses, and very naturally supposing them stolen by the Indians, went to
+the bands of horses owned by the Indians and took as many as they
+wished.
+
+You are too well acquainted with Indians to suppose that such a course
+can be persisted in without producing serious results. I am aware that
+this is looking at the dark side; but sir, perhaps it is wisdom to look
+at that side when it is more than half turned toward us, if, by looking,
+we can find some way to turn it back again. I look to Ellis, and the
+speedy action of the general government of the United States, as the
+brightest features in the prospect now before us. Your knowledge of my
+situation and circumstances render any apology unnecessary for this
+imperfect scroll.
+
+I remain, your humble servant,
+                          H. A. G. LEE.
+
+Dr. E. WHITE,
+Sub-Agent Indian affairs, W. R. M.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+                                         OREGON TERRITORY, July 8, 1845.
+
+_To the Hon. the Secretary of the War Department:_
+
+DEAR SIR,--I beg leave, most respectfully, to submit a few thoughts for
+your consideration, relative to the course pursued by Dr. E. White, our
+late Indian sub-agent, now on the eve of leaving us. I would not venture
+to intrude upon your time, but for the reason that I am aware that Dr.
+White leaves with an anxious and laboring mind, in view of the state of
+his finances, fearing, perhaps, a proper consideration might not be
+given to the situation and circumstances in which he has been placed in
+this isolated portion of our wide domain. I consider it but justice to
+Dr. White, to say, having crossed the mountains with him, that he
+exerted himself, and did much toward raising the first party that were
+of a sufficient number to travel independent of the trading companies to
+the mountains; thereby opening the way, and making the first track to
+Oregon; and since his arrival, by his promptness, decision, and
+firmness, we have been saved from the baneful influence and degradation
+of ardent spirits here, in our infant colony; and by his kind,
+conciliatory measures, active charity, and judicious conduct among the
+Indians, he has done much for them, and probably, in several instances,
+fended off the arrow of savage warfare.
+
+The indefatigable perseverance, expense, and time Dr. White has been at
+in ferreting out a road across the Cascade Mountains,[11] which will
+intersect the old wagon road in the vicinity of Fort Hall, cutting off
+some two or three hundred miles of the worst portion of the road,
+entirely avoiding the Columbia River, and the dangers incident to these
+waters, by an inexperienced, worn-out, and fatigued immigration. By this
+new route, the immigrants will find themselves greatly relieved, and
+saved from immense trouble, as they will as readily reach the head of
+the Wallamet settlement, as they would, by the old, reach Wallamet;
+avoiding the difficulties and dangers of the Snake and Columbia rivers.
+
+In conclusion, allow me to observe that the sacrifice one is obliged to
+make in funds of this country, to render them specie, or available
+drafts, is immense; and it is almost impossible to do it at all, to any
+amount. Consequently, the doctor finds himself very much embarrassed in
+his financial concerns, being obliged to draft on his government for his
+entire expenditures in his official capacity. Be pleased to accept,
+etc., my dear sir,
+
+While I remain yours, With due regard and great respect,
+
+                                 A. LAWRENCE LOVEJOY.
+
+    [Footnote 11] The Cascade ridge of mountains was found to be
+    high and difficult to pass; and it is doubtful with me if the
+    immigrants succeeded in crossing over with their wagons and
+    effects, into the valley of the Wallamet.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+                                                OREGON, August 14, 1845.
+
+The following resolution was introduced and adopted in the House of
+Representatives of Oregon Territory, this day:--
+
+_Resolved_, That this House recommend to the favorable consideration of
+the government of the United States, the just claims of Dr. Elijah
+White, sub-Indian agent, to remuneration for the heavy expense by him
+incurred, in attempting to discover a southern pass through the Cascade
+Mountains.
+
+M. M. MCCARVER, Speaker.
+Attest: J. E. LONG, Clerk.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+                                          WASHINGTON CITY, Dec. 9, 1845.
+
+_Hon. W. Medill:_
+
+DEAR SIR,--Allow me to say a word in behalf of my friend, Dr. Elijah
+White, Indian agent in Oregon, who desires to arrange at the department
+the accounts of his four years' service in that Territory. Dr. White,
+with whom I passed the winter of 1844 upon the Wallamet, has had
+unnumbered difficulties surrounding him, and has performed his duties
+with great delicacy and happy success. My conviction is, that he has
+performed services in Oregon, both to whites and Indians, equal to those
+of several agencies combined, on our western frontier, at a very
+inadequate compensation, and with very stinted means. All whom I heard
+comment upon the administration of his office have accorded to him great
+praise for ardor and industry; and those among whom he has officially
+acted will be gratified to hear that he has met a generous reception at
+the department.
+
+      Yours, with great respect,
+
+                            WILLIAM GILPIN.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+                                                       WAR DEPARTMENT, }
+                               OFFICE OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, Jan. 5, 1846. }
+
+SIR,--The Secretary of War is desirous that you should return to your
+agency as early as practicable, and has authorized me to say that the
+Department will allow to you the sum of three hundred dollars ($300) to
+defray your expenses there.
+
+Instructions in relation to your duties will be given you when you reach
+this city, or will be forwarded to you at such place as you may
+designate. An immediate reply will be expected.
+
+       Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
+                                  W. MEDILL.
+
+Dr. ELIJAH WHITE, Lansingville, Tompkins Co., N. Y.
+
+Since the above requirement I have been detained here waiting the action
+of Congress upon the following bill, to release me from the
+responsibilities of my government protested drafts, which, from the
+rapid influx of white population to that distant Indian country, the
+necessities of my position have compelled me to incur.
+
+I am now out of employment, and on heavy expenses, and under obligation,
+from important engagements, to leave for Oregon soon, in order to reach
+my destination this fall.
+
+Should the following report of the Senate committee prove satisfactory,
+and all be persuaded that I have acted correctly, and expended no more
+than the honor of our government and the necessities of my position
+required, I will feel greatly obliged if Congress, "now so much relieved
+from heavy national and public affairs," will take up my bill and pass
+it through informally, as these protested drafts crowd and embarrass me
+much.
+
+The Indian Department have reconsidered the case, and, as the report of
+the committee will show, done for me what they felt authorized to do;
+and I now most respectfully pray your honorable consideration to the
+payment of the residue, that I may go back to the land of my adoption
+unembarrassed, and happy in the consideration that our Congress will do
+right. And that any small presents, and other reasonable expenses to
+conciliate Indians where our citizens are settling on their unbought
+lands, will be cheerfully met.
+
+Should any member desire an explanation, please drop me a note, and I
+will call at the moment required. Only pray act, and let me be off; for
+I thirst to be on the prairies of the far west, making my way to the
+valley of the Wallamet.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The documents from the Legislature of Oregon arrived and defeated the
+doctor.
+
+The following extract is from the report of the Senate Committee on
+Indian Affairs on the petition of Dr. White:--
+
+     "Your committee finds this first charge to be the amount actually
+     and necessarily expended by the petitioner, and believes it to be
+     moderate and equitable, and that it ought to be allowed.
+
+     "The second charge appears equally just, and to have been made in
+     compliance with the instructions of T. Hartley Crawford,
+     superintendent of Indian affairs, of February 9, 1842, and enforced
+     by the resolution of the Oregon Legislature, expressing the hope
+     that Congress will reimburse the expenses of the petitioner thereby
+     incurred.
+
+     "The third charge is for moneys actually paid under the specified
+     heads by the petitioner, and for which drafts are now under
+     protest, being disallowed by the department. These accounts, your
+     committee finds, have been suspended by the department under a
+     decision made to restrict the petitioner to the amount allowed by
+     law to sub-agents, viz., $1,250 per annum in all. Your committee
+     believes that these amounts are equitably and justly asked, and
+     should be granted by Congress, although the committee approves of
+     the decision of the department, and thinks, in cases like the
+     present, that such extra allowances should be made only by
+     Congress.
+
+     "Your committee has had a variety of testimony before it, showing
+     that the affairs of his position have compelled the petitioner to
+     transact and regulate Indian relations among ten large tribes, and
+     many more smaller ones, speaking different languages, and for the
+     most part warlike, excitable, and suspicious people. The Indian
+     population, among whom he has been the only official organ, amounts
+     to twenty-five thousand souls. The petitioner has been left to
+     support himself by his solitary energies and exertions, without the
+     aid of troops, annuities, or the awe which the power of the
+     government exercises over Indians to whom it is known. The prices
+     of all articles (especially provisions), and the wages of
+     interpreters and assistants, and the means of traveling and
+     transportation are very high, and difficult to be procured.
+
+     "Your committee believes that the petitioner would be left without
+     any compensation for four years of arduous, harassing, and
+     vexatious services, unless the relief for which he prays be
+     extended to him by Congress.
+
+     "The committee, therefore, reports the accompanying bill, and
+     recommends its passage, as sanctioned by the equity and justice of
+     the case, and according with the uniform policy and practice of the
+     Congress of the United States in similar cases."
+
+We wish to state that the reason for quoting Dr. White's report so
+extensively is from the facts embodied in it, wholly independent of his
+self-lauding statement. Did we not know that Mr. Cornelius Rogers and
+Mr. H. A. G. Lee were his advisers and interpreters, we would not quote
+him as at all reliable in any of his Indian councils or proceedings.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LI.
+
+     1845.--Public meetings to elect delegates to
+     convention.--Candidates for governor.--Members elected to the
+     Legislative Committee.--Oath of office.--Mr. Applegate's
+     announcement.--Dr. McLaughlin's amphibiousness.--Description of the
+     members of the Legislative Committee.--Business of the
+     session.--Ermatinger's election contested.--Mr. Garrison's
+     resolutions.--Anti-slavery resolution.--Organic law
+     revised.--Improvements and condition of the country.
+
+
+1845.--Public meetings had been held in most of the districts, and
+nominations made for the Legislative Committee. Delegates were elected
+to meet at Champoeg in convention, to nominate candidates for governor,
+supreme judge, and Territorial recorder.
+
+In this convention A. L. Lovejoy, George Abernethy, O. Russell, and Dr.
+Bailey were candidates for governor. After several ballotings, Mr.
+Lovejoy received a majority of the votes, and was declared the regularly
+nominated candidate. Mr. Russell's friends were dissatisfied, and in the
+final vote at the June election, joined with Mr. Abernethy's friends and
+elected him, although he was absent from the country. This left the old
+Executive Committee in power until after the meeting of the Legislative
+Committee, and revision of the organic laws, which was the first
+business the committee attended to, and submitted the amended organic
+compact to the people for their approval.
+
+The members elected were:--
+
+From Clackamas County: H. A. G. Lee, W. H. Gray, H. Straight.
+
+From Champoeg County: R. Newell, J. M. Garrison, M. G. Foisy, and B.
+Lee.
+
+From Yamhill County: Jesse Applegate and A. Hendricks.
+
+From Tualatin County: M. M. McCarver, J. W. Smith, and David Hill.
+
+From Clatsop County: John McClure.
+
+The oath administered to this Legislative Committee shows the feelings
+of the mover (Mr. Applegate) toward the Hudson's Bay Company.
+
+    OATH OF OFFICE.--"I do solemnly swear that I will support the
+    organic laws of the provisional government of Oregon, so far as
+    the said organic laws are consistent with my duties as a citizen
+    of the United States, or a subject of Great Britain, and
+    faithfully demean myself in office. So help me God."
+
+In starting from Missouri to come to this country in 1843, Mr.
+Applegate announced to his traveling companions, as we have been
+credibly informed, that he meant to drive the Hudson's Bay Company from
+the country. To reach the country independent of them, he had sold or
+mortgaged his cattle to get supplies at Wallawalla. On arriving at
+Vancouver, he found Dr. McLaughlin to be much of a gentleman, and
+disposed to aid him in every way he could. The doctor advised him to
+keep his cattle and gave him employment as a surveyor, and credit for
+all he required. This kind treatment closed Mr. Applegate's open
+statements of opposition to the company, and secured his friendship and
+his influence to keep his Missouri friends from doing violence to them.
+He carried this kind feeling for them into the Legislative Committee.
+
+At this point the amphibious disposition of Dr. McLaughlin (a term
+applied to the doctor, by a member of the company, for his supposed
+friendship to the American cause) began to develop itself; and in
+proportion as he favored American interests he fell in the estimation of
+the company and the English government.
+
+The oath of office presented by Mr. Applegate, and supported by Messrs.
+Newell, Foisy, McCarver, Garrison, Smith, and Hendricks, shows that
+these men were favorable to a union with the company or the English
+party in the country. This would have been right and honorable, had
+there been a corresponding honorable confidence on their part; but, as
+the sequel will show, this was not the case. They were willing to favor
+our organization and give it a _quasi_ support while it served their
+purposes and afforded them an opportunity to work for its final
+overthrow.
+
+As a citizen, Mr. Applegate has been one of our best; as a politician,
+he has acted on the old Whig platform, that, with him, has never been
+revised. Though half the American continent has been changed since he
+adopted it, yet his political creed is the same as that announced by
+Hamilton in the _Federalist_. My first impression of him was, that he
+was better versed in the principles of that party than in those of
+religion, or the general interests of a new country. The fact that the
+Hudson's Bay Company, or rather Dr. McLaughlin, early secured his
+personal friendship, was the cause of his losing caste among his
+Missouri friends, and also among the larger portion of the settlers that
+the company were not disposed to favor. In his legislative capacity he
+was invaluable. His mind was clear and distinct, and he was generally
+correct in his conclusions. Though not a good debater, yet his
+mathematical calculations, and straight lines, always came close to the
+mark. He was kind and obliging to a friend or favorite, but severe on
+his enemies.
+
+Mr. Abijah Hendricks, from the same county, was a plain farmer, who
+followed the lead of Mr. Applegate, causing him to always count two in
+any vote.
+
+Mr. J. H. Smith, of Tualatin County, was also a plain farmer, and
+generally voted with Mr. Hill.
+
+Mr. M. G. Foisy, from Champoeg, a Frenchman, followed the lead of Mr.
+Newell.
+
+Mr. Barton Lee was of the independent Democratic pro-slavery school,
+generally voting against mission interests, from personal prejudice, and
+was equally ignorant of and prejudiced against the Hudson's Bay Company;
+following the lead of H. A. G. Lee.
+
+J. M. Garrison was a perfect weathercock, and none could tell from his
+speeches or actions what his vote would be.
+
+H. Straight, of Clackamas County, was a man of strong prejudices and but
+little legislative ability, pro-slavery in sentiment, and strongly
+opposed to the company and mission influences. He generally voted with
+Mr. Hill, of Tualatin District.
+
+John McClure, of Clatsop County, a man of fine appearance and generally
+respected for his age, but, as a politician, having no influence--merely
+occupying a place. He was of the pro-slavery school--extremely bitter
+and sarcastic in his conversation against all who fell under his
+displeasure, yet liberal to personal friends, and kind to strangers; but
+severe alike on the Hudson's Bay Company and religious societies. He was
+inclined in his own religious ideas to Romanism.
+
+H. A. G. Lee was a young man of talent, firmness, and unimpeachable
+character. He acted with caution, and generally right. He was not a
+verbose, but a conclusive debater. In short, the words of a debate were
+uttered by McCarver, and the conclusions and final action followed Lee,
+who was always ready, with Applegate and Gray, to do his full share of
+writing and labor.
+
+As we have before stated, the first business of this Legislative
+Committee was, to revise and prepare an organic law, which could be
+submitted for the adoption of the people. The whole number of voters was
+about eight hundred.
+
+While this was being done by a special committee consisting of H. A. G.
+Lee, Newell, Applegate, Smith, and McClure,--one from each county
+represented,--another special committee, consisting of Gray, Applegate,
+H. A. G. Lee, McClure, and D. Hill, were appointed to draft a memorial
+and petition, to be forwarded to the Congress of the United States,
+setting forth the condition, situation, relations, and wants of this
+country. These two objects occupied the greater portion of the time of
+this Legislative Committee, during their session of eleven days.
+
+On the third day of the session, the question as to the legality of
+allowing Francis Ermatinger to hold the office of treasurer came up, and
+it was finally decided that there were not sufficient grounds for
+contesting the election. Ermatinger was then a member of the Hudson's
+Bay Company, and so was Dr. McLaughlin. Hill and Straight were the only
+two who voted against Ermatinger's holding that office. I have no doubt,
+from the feeling and influence just then operating among the officers
+and servants of the company and English colonists (which subsequent
+events have proved), that they were laboring to divide the American
+influence, by coming in and appearing to act with us. Ermatinger was
+popular among the Americans, and received the entire French vote, and
+was declared duly elected by the Legislative Committee.
+
+On the fifth day of the session, J. M. Garrison (I think he was called
+Rev. in those days) brought in a set of resolutions which speak for
+themselves.
+
+    "On motion of Mr. Garrison--
+
+    "_Resolved_, That whereas the people of Oregon, assembled _en
+    masse_, did, on the 2d day of May, 1843, resolve that no tax should
+    be levied upon this people, confirming the same by the adoption of
+    the report of the committee of ways and means, adopted by the
+    Legislative Committee and referred to the people _en masse_, and by
+    them enacted on the 5th day of July, 1843; therefore,
+
+    "_Resolved_, That this house has no right to levy a tax of any kind,
+    without the consent of the free voters of this Territory previously
+    obtained.
+
+    "_Resolved_, That all acts and parts of acts on that subject passed
+    by the Legislative Committee were contrary to the express resolution
+    and action of the people."
+
+These resolutions were referred to committee of the whole, where they
+found a silent grave.
+
+Dr. White by this time is coming up for a big splurge. Our young friend
+H. A. G. Lee proposes to make him the bearer of our memorial to
+Congress, by introducing a resolution, "That the clerk be required to
+furnish to Dr. E. White a copy of the memorial to Congress, as soon as
+it shall be properly signed, as per resolution of yesterday."
+
+This resolution elicited a little discussion, and a statement that Dr.
+White was not to be trusted with any public document to the government,
+as he would more than probably change, or so arrange those documents as
+to secure his own personal ends, whatever they might be. By those
+unacquainted with Dr. White this was considered strange and unreasonable
+prejudice against him; so that on the final question there were but
+Gray, Hill, and Straight who voted against placing the documents in his
+hands.
+
+On the last day of this session Mr. Applegate introduced a test question
+on the subject of slavery, precisely the same as that introduced by
+Garrison four days previous.
+
+    "_Resolved_, That this government can recognize the right of one
+    person to the services of another only upon _bona-fide_ contract
+    made and entered into, and equally binding on both parties."
+
+_Yeas_--Applegate, Gray, Smith, McCarver, Garrison, Hill, H. A. G. Lee,
+Hendricks, and Foisy--10.
+
+_Nays_--Straight, B. Lee, and McClure--3.
+
+We must now adjourn our Legislative Committee a few days, and see what
+is going on outside.
+
+The organic laws of the people first adopted at Champoeg, July 5, 1843,
+had been revised, and unanimously adopted by the Legislative Committee,
+and submitted for the vote of the people, July 26, 1845.
+
+On page 431 of Mr. Hines' book, he says: "In the spring of 1844 a new
+Legislative Committee was elected, which embraced two or three lawyers,
+who arrived in the country the previous fall. This committee passed a
+vote recommending several important alterations in the organic laws,
+which were found to be, in their practical operations, somewhat
+defective. As the people had not yet surrendered their law-making power
+into the hands of the Legislative Committee, it was necessary to call an
+election to ascertain the will of the people in relation to the proposed
+alterations and amendments. This election took place, and resulted in
+the adoption of the organic laws, with the proposed alterations and
+amendments, by an overwhelming majority. The principal alterations thus
+effected relate to the three powers of government,--the legislative,
+executive, and judicial. Instead of a committee of nine, whose acts were
+to be confirmed or rejected by a subsequent vote of the people, the
+legislative power was vested in a House of Representatives, to consist
+of not less than thirteen nor more than sixty-one members, possessing
+all the powers usual to such bodies. Instead of a committee of three,
+the executive power was vested in one person, to be elected by the
+qualified voters at the annual election, and possessing the powers
+common to the governors of the different States."
+
+We are unable to understand Mr. Hines when he says, "As the people had
+not yet surrendered their law-making power into the hands of the
+Legislative Committee, it was necessary to call an election to ascertain
+the will of the people." This statement shows the ignorance of Mr. Hines
+as regards the organic laws adopted by the people of Champoeg. Mr.
+Saxton, who was in the country at the time, and took copies of those
+laws attested by Mr. Le Breton (which have already been given), found an
+organic law with an executive, legislative, and judicial department, the
+same as the committee of 1845, and all that was requisite was to revise,
+select out, and define the powers and duties of the several departments.
+
+As a matter of policy, and to harmonize and consolidate, as much as was
+possible, all the conflicting interests and influences in the country,
+the presence of British subjects was admitted, their treaty rights were
+acknowledged by our laws, and they were admitted to a voice and
+representation in the provisional government.
+
+The liberal course pursued by the Legislature of 1845 has fixed the deep
+stain of ingratitude and infamy upon the British subjects who
+participated in our organization, and received its benefits and
+protection, till they had completed their arrangements for its
+destruction, just as slavery grew under the fostering care of a liberal
+and generous government, and then attempted to crush and destroy its
+protector.
+
+From a review of Mr. Hines' book, I find that he was on a tour from
+Oregon to New York by way of China, during 1845 and 1846. This will
+account for his want of information regarding the political events that
+were taking place during that time; and also shows the views he
+entertained on leaving the country.
+
+Dr. McLaughlin had completed his saw-mill and flour-mill at Oregon City.
+The Milling Company had also put up mills at that place which were now
+in successful operation, and the country generally was in a prosperous
+condition.
+
+Dr. Whitman had much annoyance and difficulty with the Indians on
+account of interference and tales told them by old Toupin, Doreo,
+Gervais, the priests, and others who were jealous of his labors and
+success among them.
+
+He had purchased the Dalles station of the Methodist Mission, and
+engaged Mr. Hinman to occupy it until other arrangements could be made.
+
+Mr. Spalding was engaged in improving his farm, also printing books in
+the Nez Perce language on his small press, and translating and printing
+portions of the Bible, for the use of the natives. He had a saw-mill and
+grist-mill at his station; and about three hundred of his Indians, and
+one hundred at Dr. Whitman's, were cultivating patches of ground.
+
+Messrs. Walker and Eells were staying at Cimakain, ready to depart any
+time, as stated by Mr. Brouillet. On page 9 of his narrative, he says:
+"A missionary of the Spokans, writing to Dr. Whitman, as early as 1839,
+has said: 'The failure of this mission is so strongly impressed upon my
+mind, that I feel it necessary to have cane in hand, and as much as one
+shoe on, ready for a move. I see nothing but the power of God that can
+save us.'" _Query._--Where did Rev. Vicar-General Brouillet get this
+letter, and for what purpose did he preserve it? Did he find it among
+Dr. Whitman's papers, when he was hunting them over to find the vial of
+poison to show the Indians as per deposition in the case?
+
+Brouillet continues: "These facts and statements prove clearly, I think,
+that there existed among the Indians, long before the arrival of the
+bishop of Wallawalla and his clergy, _strong causes of dissatisfaction
+against the Protestant missionaries and the Americans in general, and
+that they formed a leaven that had been fermenting several years_." This
+statement of Vicar-General Brouillet is unquestionably true, but,
+unfortunately for him, he is standing on the outer line of the circle,
+and has no personal knowledge of inside influences; hence he reasons
+from effect and guesses at the cause. He is anxious to so arrange cause
+and effect, as to remove suspicion of crime from a sect, and thereby
+involves his friends and himself, and furnishes the strongest proof of
+the complicity and guilt of both in the crime alleged against them. The
+"leaven" that had been fermenting is just what we are bringing to light.
+
+The Hudson's Bay Company were repairing and strengthening their forts,
+under the plea that they wished some bastions from which they could
+salute her Majesty's ships on their arrival and departure from the
+river; at the same time they were laboring to secure political influence
+in the settlements, through their American dupes and tools.
+
+While combining the Indian tribes, they were encouraging Jesuitical
+religious teachers among them; and while preparing for self-defense,
+they were dividing the settlement into parties and factions.
+
+The Methodist Mission influence was but little, and mission credit was
+worse than greenbacks in 1864. As to commerce, it was nearly or quite
+under the control of the Hudson's Bay Company, also the market value of
+all produce in the country.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LII.
+
+     1845.--Second session of the Legislative Committee.--Mr. McCarver
+     removed from the office of Speaker.--Mr. Applegate's
+     resolutions.--Protest of Gray, Foisy, and Straight.--A legislative
+     incident.--Law against dueling.--Dr. White addresses the
+     Legislature.--Resolutions.--Dr. White denies the right of the
+     settlers to organize a provisional government.--McCarver signs
+     documents without authority.--Resolutions by the house on the
+     subject.--Impertinent letter from Dr. White to the house.--White
+     cornered by President Polk.--Incidents in White's temperance
+     movements.--Proposition to repeal all laws for the collection of
+     debts.--The Currency act.--Adjournment of the Legislature in
+     August.--Meets again in December.--Proposal to locate the capital.
+
+The Legislative Committee, at their second session, August 5, 1845, met
+under the revised and amended organic law, which had been previously
+adopted by the people by a majority of two hundred and three. There were
+between two and three hundred votes against the revision or amendments.
+Many voted against it, on account of its allowing the Hudson's Bay
+Company's English and French followers an equal voice with the Americans
+and others, and on account of its allowing the Legislature the power to
+_regulate_ the introduction, manufacture, and sale of liquors.
+
+McCarver claimed that he was Speaker of the house, under the organic law
+as revised. This caused some discussion and voting and the introduction
+of a resolution requesting him to resign his position as Speaker, which
+he declined to do. Gray moved that the vote electing him Speaker of the
+house be reconsidered. McCarver then proceeded to organize the house, to
+suit his views of matters, by appointing new committees, and went
+forward as if no previous committees had been appointed. When his
+appointments were all made, Gray inquired if, in the opinion of Mr.
+Speaker McCarver, the house was properly organized. He replied that it
+was. Gray then appealed to the house, and was sustained, McCarver having
+denied his own position by appointing new committees. On motion of Mr.
+Straight, Mr. McCarver was removed from his office as Speaker, and
+Robert Newell elected _pro tem_.
+
+Applegate, for reasons never fully explained, introduced two
+resolutions, which show either a short-sighted view of matters, or a
+foolish policy on his part, to wit:--
+
+    "_Resolved_, That the people of Oregon are not, in the opinion of
+    this house, morally or legally bound by any acts of the officers or
+    agents of the people not expressly authorized or sanctioned by the
+    instrument in virtue of which they had their official existence.
+
+    "_Resolved, further_, That this house can not assume, in behalf of
+    the people, the payment of any debt, or the refunding of any funds
+    borrowed, or otherwise unlawfully contracted or obtained, without
+    first obtaining the consent of the people."
+
+On motion, the vote referring said resolution to committee of the whole
+was reconsidered, when the rules were suspended, the resolution read a
+second time, and referred to committee of the whole.
+
+On the fifth day of the session, the resolutions of Mr. Applegate were
+called up, and Messrs. Applegate, Garrison, Hendricks, Hill, H. Lee, B.
+Lee, McClure, and Smith voted for, and Foisy, Gray, Straight, and
+McCarver against. Newell asked to be excused. These resolutions had the
+effect, designed or not, to destroy the credit of the provisional
+government.
+
+On the sixth day of the session, Gray, Foisy, and Straight presented,
+and, on motion, were allowed to enter, their protest against their
+adoption, as follows:--
+
+    "_Whereas_, A resolution, with a preamble, containing a direct and
+    positive censure upon the proceedings of the Oregon government, was
+    introduced into this house by Jesse Applegate, asserting that this
+    house, and the people of Oregon, are not morally or legally bound
+    for any act of said government, to the payment of any debts
+    contracted, or unlawfully borrowed, except they had previously
+    obtained the consent of the people.
+
+    "_And whereas_, From the wording of said resolution, two
+    constructions may be placed upon it; the one amounting to a
+    repudiation of all debts heretofore contracted, or money borrowed;
+    the other implying a want of confidence in the agents and officers
+    of this government; therefore,
+
+    "We, the undersigned, decidedly and solemnly protest against the
+    adoption of any such resolutions or expressions by this house, as
+    they not only do no good, but tend to great evil, in destroying the
+    confidence of the people in the agents and officers of this
+    government, without sufficient cause.
+
+                                  "W. H. GRAY.
+                                  "M. G. FOISY.
+                                  "H. STRAIGHT.
+    "OREGON CITY, Aug. 7, 1845."
+
+
+_The effect of these resolutions_ was at once manifest. Measures were
+taken to procure the launch of the _Peacock_ (which had been left in
+the care of Dr. McLaughlin by Captain Wilkes), for a pilot-boat at the
+mouth of the Columbia. The doctor informed the committee that he was not
+authorized to give it in charge of any irresponsible parties, without an
+order from as high authority as that from which he had received it.
+Hence the launch was allowed to rot upon the beach at Astoria; Mr.
+McClure, from that place, being one who voted to repudiate
+responsibility on the part of the provisional government.
+
+On the 11th of August, in the midst of business under the order of the
+day, Mr. Applegate came in, apparently under considerable excitement,
+and in quite an earnest manner asked that the rule be suspended, to
+allow him to present _a bill to prevent dueling_. No immediate or
+pressing reason was assigned, but from the earnest manner of Mr.
+Applegate, and from what a number of the members knew, or pretended to
+know, the rule was suspended, Mr. Applegate's bill to prevent dueling
+read first time; rule further suspended, his bill read by title second
+and third time and passed, and on his further motion, a special
+messenger, P. G. Stewart, Esq., was sent with it to the governor, for
+his approval and signature; and in half an hour's time from its
+introduction and reading in the house it became a law in this vast
+country, bounded by the Russian possessions on the north, the Rocky
+Mountains on the east, California on the south, and the Pacific on the
+west.
+
+Not long after this _telegraphic_ law on dueling was passed, it was
+discovered that a young man by the name of Holderness had considered
+himself insulted and slandered by some report said to have originated
+with Dr. White. Holderness was about to send him a challenge, or at
+least there was a prospect that they might fight, if either of them had
+the courage to do so. This law gave the doctor an honorable excuse to
+decline the challenge, and have Holderness indicted and punished for
+sending it. This matter was engineered through so handsomely by Mr.
+Applegate, that Dr. White expressed himself _highly gratified and
+pleased_.
+
+On the next day, the 12th, Mr. Applegate was honored with an important
+dispatch from Dr. White, which he presented in due form, together with a
+resolution of thanks to Dr. White, and an order was entered on the
+journal to have the doctor's communication filed for publication. This
+was not exactly what the doctor wanted, as the sequel will show. He had
+found that Applegate had the talent and influence requisite to carry
+through the resolutions necessary to accomplish his purposes.
+
+He, having spent a part of the summer in running about the Wallamet
+Valley, made a trip over to the coast, and one into the Cascade
+Mountains; wrote a journal of these trips, and presented it to the house
+through Mr. Applegate. After White's journal was read, Applegate
+presented a resolution, that the thanks of this house are due to Dr. E.
+White and his party for their meritorious exertions to find a passage
+through the Cascade Mountains, and that his account be filed for
+publication. On motion, _White was allowed to address_ the house, which
+he did in his usual self-lauding, plausible manner, insinuating the
+great labor and benefit he had done, in keeping the Indians quiet and in
+exploring the country. His chaff and bombast secured the co-operation of
+Robert Newell and Mr. Applegate. On the 14th, Mr. Applegate informed the
+house that he had in his possession several official documents,
+belonging to Dr. E. White, which he was requested to lay before the
+house. The report and documents were received.
+
+On motion of Mr. Applegate--
+
+    "_Resolved_, That, whereas the adoption of the amended organic law
+    by the people of Oregon was an act of necessity rather than choice,
+    and was intended to give to the people the protection which, of
+    right, should be extended to them by their government, and not as an
+    act of defiance or disregard of the authority or laws of the United
+    States; therefore,
+
+    "_It is further resolved_, 1st. That, in the opinion of this house,
+    the Congress of the United States, in establishing a Territorial
+    government, should legalize the acts of the people in this country,
+    so far as they are in accordance with the Constitution of the United
+    States. 2d. That Dr. Elijah White, sub-Indian agent of Oregon, be
+    requested to furnish a copy of the amended organic law to the
+    Congress of the United States. 3d. That these resolutions be
+    indorsed on said copy, with the vote of this house adopting the
+    same."
+
+On the adoption of the above, the vote was unanimous, which vote was
+taken by yeas and nays; and, on motion, the house decided that the
+members should not sign their names to said resolutions.
+
+It will be seen by the statement of Applegate in the first part of this
+resolution, or preamble, that he wished to deny an attempt to resist the
+government of the United States on the part of the people and
+provisional government; and the fact that Dr. White had allowed him to
+examine his official papers, and present them to the Legislative
+Committee, shows the manner he was working with Applegate to get
+documents, resolutions, and papers from the Legislature into his hands;
+also the desperate effort there was made to get a unanimous vote
+favoring White as the bearer of those documents.
+
+Dr. White had from the first _denied the right_ of the settlers to
+organize a provisional government unless they would elect him as their
+governor. Applegate is caught in his trap, as we shall see, and from
+that day he began to lose his influence, and soon found that he had
+committed an egregious mistake, notwithstanding he had obtained a
+unanimous vote, to place those documents in Dr. White's hands. In order
+to head off McCarver, the house had voted that the members should not
+sign their names to the resolutions. McCarver could not withstand the
+temptation to get his name as Speaker of the Oregon Legislature before
+the Congress of the United States; so, as soon as the documents came
+into White's hands, he went to the clerk and attached his name as
+Speaker of the house. Newell was not quite satisfied, or rather Dr.
+White was not; so he got Newell to present a resolution, as follows:--
+
+    "_Resolved_, That this house recommend to the favorable
+    consideration of the Congress of the United States the just claims
+    of Dr. E. White, sub-Indian agent, for a remuneration for the heavy
+    expenses by him incurred, in attempting to discover a southern
+    passage through the Cascade Mountains."
+
+In the afternoon session the resolution of Mr. Newell was called up,
+and, on its final passage, the yeas and nays were demanded, and were as
+follows:--
+
+_Yeas_--Messrs. Applegate, Foisy, Hendricks, H. Lee, McClure, Newell,
+Straight, and the Speaker--8.
+
+_Nays_--Messrs. Gray, Garrison, Hill, B. Lee, and Smith--5.
+
+So the resolution was passed.
+
+Dr. White waited for the passage of this resolution (keeping quiet as to
+McCarver's signing the others in violation of the order of the house),
+and as soon as it was safely in his pocket, left for Vancouver, on his
+way to the States.
+
+White had no sooner gone, than it leaked out that McCarver had signed
+the documents, and White _had broken the seals, and destroyed private
+letters intrusted to him_ to convey to the States, and had made Garrison
+his confidant respecting breaking open and destroying the letters. Here
+was a muss on hand such as none but White and McCarver could "_kick
+up_." Applegate was too much excited and insulted by these men to say
+any thing; but he presented through B. Lee a resolution as follows:--
+
+    "_Resolved_, That M. M. McCarver has been opposed to the organic
+    law, as adopted by the people of Oregon; and, contrary to the voice
+    of this house in regular session, clandestinely, and in a manner
+    unworthy the confidence reposed in him, placed his name to a copy of
+    those laws transmitted to the United States, thereby conveying a
+    false impression; and did, also, sign his name to two resolutions,
+    contrary to a direct vote of this house; therefore,
+
+    "_It is further resolved_, That we disapprove of the course he has
+    pursued, and feel ourselves under the humiliating necessity of
+    signifying the same to the United States government, by causing a
+    copy of this resolution to accompany those documents."
+
+Which was received, and referred to committee of the whole.
+
+In the afternoon, Dr. J. E. Long, clerk of the house, A. L. Lovejoy,
+Smith, and Hill were called before the house, and put on oath, to state
+what they knew of the matter. Mr. Applegate was chairman. The committee
+rose and reported that they had been engaged in investigating the
+subject referred to in Mr. B. Lee's resolution, but had not adopted the
+resolution. McCarver had been allowed to explain his course.
+
+On motion of Mr. Applegate--
+
+    "_Resolved_, That, whereas a copy of the organic laws of Oregon,
+    together with some resolutions, intended to be sent to the United
+    States, have not been attested and dispatched according to the
+    directions of this house; therefore,
+
+    "_Resolved_, That the clerk dispatch for them a messenger, to
+    Vancouver, with authority to bring said documents back, and that he
+    deliver them to the secretary, and that the expenses incurred be
+    paid by the members of this house who voted for the resolution."
+
+On the adoption of which the yeas and nays were called, and were as
+follows:--
+
+_Yeas_--Messrs. Applegate, Gray, B. Lee, McClure, and Newell--5.
+
+_Nays_--Messrs. Hill, Smith, and Straight--3.
+
+So the resolution was adopted. Messrs. Foisy, Garrison, Hendricks, and
+the Speaker were excused from voting.
+
+On motion, the house went into committee of the whole, Mr. Applegate in
+the chair.
+
+The committee rose, and reported, that the resolution of B. Lee having
+been under consideration, was laid upon the table.
+
+It is but justice to state that the clerk of the house, J. E. Long,
+favored Dr. White's and Mr. McCarver's course, and allowed McCarver to
+sign the documents he well knew the house did not wish him to sign. A
+majority of the house were inclined to believe that White had been
+slandered; and had McCarver allowed the documents to go as per vote,
+White's designs, as stated by his opponents, would not have been
+revealed; so the messenger was sent for the documents on account of
+McCarver's course.
+
+August 16, 1845.--The House met pursuant to adjournment.
+
+The rules were suspended to allow the introduction of resolutions, when,
+on motion of Mr. McClure, it was
+
+    "_Resolved_, That, whereas the Speaker of this house has signed
+    certain documents, ordered to be sent to the United States by a vote
+    of this Legislature, from a mistaken sense of duty, and not from
+    contumacy or contempt for this house; therefore,
+
+    "_Resolved_, That M. M. McCarver, said Speaker, have leave of
+    absence, for the purpose of following Dr. E. White to Vancouver; and
+    this house enjoins that said Speaker erase his name from said
+    documents, to wit, the organic laws, and two resolutions in favor of
+    Dr. E. White."
+
+On motion of Mr. Applegate, it was
+
+    "_Resolved_, That it was not the intention of this house, in passing
+    resolutions in favor of Dr. E. White, to recommend him to the
+    government of the United States as a suitable person to fill any
+    office in this Territory; and,
+
+    "_Be it further resolved_, That the clerk of this house forward, by
+    some suitable person, an attested copy of this resolution, to the
+    United States government."
+
+The house appointed J. M. Garrison, Speaker, _pro tem_.
+
+McCarver, being thus plainly invited, left the house, and found that the
+clerk's messenger had already gone for the documents. He returned in the
+afternoon and induced Mr. Smith, from Tualatin, to present the following
+resolution:--
+
+    "_Resolved_, That the vote requiring the Speaker to go in quest of
+    Dr. E. White, for the purpose of erasing his name from certain
+    documents in his possession to be by him conveyed to the United
+    States, be reconsidered, and the Speaker restored to the chair."
+
+On the 18th of August, the arrival of a letter from Dr. E. White was
+announced, which was read, as follows:--
+
+                                                        August 17, 1845.
+
+     _To the Hon., etc.:_
+
+     GENTLEMEN,--Being on my way, and having but a moment to reflect, I
+     have been at much of a loss which of your two resolutions most to
+     respect, or which to obey; but at length have become satisfied that
+     the first was taken most _soberly_, and, as it answers my purpose
+     best, I pledge myself to adhere strictly to that. Sincerely wishing
+     you good luck in legislating,
+
+               I am, dear sirs, very respectfully yours,
+                                  E. WHITE.
+
+
+On the 20th, on motion of Mr. Applegate, it was
+
+    "_Resolved_, That the secretary be requested to forward to the
+    United States government, through the American consul at the
+    Sandwich Islands, a copy of the articles of compact, as adopted by
+    the people of Oregon Territory, on the last Saturday of July, A.D.
+    1845; and that the same be signed by the governor, and attested by
+    the secretary; also, all resolutions adopted by this house relative
+    to sending said documents by E. White, late Indian agent of this
+    Territory; also, a copy of the letter of E. White, directed to this
+    house."
+
+These documents and papers, with depositions respecting White's opening
+and destroying private letters, were prepared, duly signed, and sent on
+to the Sandwich Islands by Captain Couch, of the _Lausanne_, and reached
+Washington just in time for President Polk to refuse White an important
+commission in New Mexico. The President, on receiving the documents and
+learning of White's course, asked an explanation, which he at first
+declined to give, on account of an attempt, as he alleged, of _some low
+blackguards in Oregon to slander him_. The legislative documents were
+referred to, when he found he was cornered, and left the President's
+house without his appointment.
+
+Thus ended, for a time, the official course of a base and unprincipled
+man, who seemed only to live and move for selfish ends. His influence as
+a missionary, and as an officer of the government, were alike vile and
+unprincipled. He sought friends and partisans only to deceive and betray
+them. Applegate, McCarver, Garrison, Lee, McClure, and Newell were
+compelled to acknowledge his deception. In fact, no one but the Hudson's
+Bay Company could make any use of him, and with them he was considered
+an irresponsible man, and only useful as a tool to combine the Indians,
+and divide and destroy the influence of the settlement, as he had done
+that of the Methodist Mission.
+
+The history of Dr. White, as connected with Pacific City and
+Spiritualism, and his secret agency under President Lincoln's
+administration, are of small moment when compared with the moral blight
+he fixed on the cause of missions and religion, in his early relations
+in Oregon. All who have ever attempted to associate with him, or assist
+him, have been made to feel his immoral influence. He made great
+professions of sustaining the temperance cause, while acting as Indian
+agent, and still allowed the Hudson's Bay Company to do as they pleased
+with their liquors, without a single word of complaint or remonstrance
+to the American government, while he pursued a high-handed and
+injudicious course toward the American citizen in his efforts to prevent
+the introduction or manufacture of liquors in the country. In his zeal,
+he hoarded a vessel of which Captain J. H. Couch was master, and
+asserted his right to search and seize all the liquors he had on board.
+Captain Couch, knowing his rights and duties better than the Indian
+agent did his, ordered his men to get ready a couple of swivels he had
+on board, ranging them fore and aft along the vessel. He then said to
+Mr. Indian Agent. "If you are able to take my ship, you can search and
+seize her, and not otherwise." The doctor found he was dealing with the
+wrong person, and left, to visit Mrs. Cooper, who had recently arrived
+in the country from Sydney, New South Wales, with a supply of liquors.
+He succeeded in getting a dram from "Old Mother Cooper," as she was
+called, and inquired if she had any more like it. The old woman had by
+this time a suspicion of his object, and informed him that, if she had,
+he could have no more.
+
+Soon after, he learned that Dick McCary had put up a teapot distillery
+somewhere near his own house. He then got a party of men and went down
+and destroyed the whole concern, except the kettle, which answered for a
+bell, upon which he beat and drummed on his way back to Oregon City, and
+then took an adz and stove a hole in it, thus destroying it. If this had
+been done on the ground, no exceptions would have been taken to it; but
+White's proceedings disgusted the friends of temperance so much, that a
+few days after, when Newell presented a communication from him to the
+Legislature, with a bill to prevent the sale of liquor, it was
+defeated--5 for and 8 against.
+
+The governor, having confidence in the morality and honesty of the
+people, suggested in his message the repeal of all laws for the
+collection of debts. He seemed to be of the opinion, that as they had
+lived and prospered under the mission and Hudson's Bay Company's rule
+without any such laws, the same rule would apply to a more numerous and
+civilized community. He was sustained in his opinion by Applegate,
+Hendricks, H. Lee, B. Lee, and Newell--5; Foisy, Gray, Garrison, Hill,
+McCarver, McClure, Straight, and Smith--8, were of a different opinion.
+
+This vote seemed to annoy Applegate, as he had taken an active part in
+shaping the governor's suggestions into a bill to prevent litigation,
+and he seemed to insist upon the experiment being tried in a more
+extensive manner in the government of Oregon. It is due to this
+legislative body and to the governor to state, that none of them had
+ever had any experience in law-making until they found themselves in a
+country where there were no laws, and where the representatives were
+without law-books (with the single exception of a copy of the statutes
+of Iowa) to guide them. They had to originate, revise, and do as the
+majority thought best, in all the laws presented. That they were adapted
+to the time and the people then in the country there can be no question.
+This shows the innate love of law and order in the American people, as
+also a disposition to abide by and sustain right principles, though not
+immediately in the presence of prisons and punishment.
+
+Had there been no foreign influences in the country, it would, perhaps,
+have been safe to risk the governor's suggestion, and Applegate's
+experiment. I arrive at this conclusion from my experience in four times
+crossing the continent, and in visiting the early mining regions of
+California, British Columbia, and Oregon. In all American caravans and
+mines, the company and miners make their own laws. In British mines, the
+government makes the laws, and the revenue officers enforce them. So
+with the Hudson's Bay Company and Roman missions: the committee in
+London, and the pope in Rome, give their subjects certain laws by which
+to be governed; and whenever those laws come in conflict with the more
+liberal American idea of government, there is opposition; for the
+disposition to oppress and the desire to be free can never harmonize.
+With the one is organized wealth and superstition, backed by irons,
+flogging, and ignorance. With the other is liberty and the love of
+right, sustained by intelligence, honesty, and virtue. No one acquainted
+with the early history of the people of Oregon can fail to admire their
+virtue and stability, and the firmness they displayed in maintaining
+their natural rights. We have already explained the secret influences
+that were combined to hold them in a state of half-savage and
+half-religious or ecclesiastical vassalage, till some action should be
+taken by the United States government.
+
+This state of things did not accord with the feelings of a great
+majority of the people. They had ruled their own individual actions too
+long to submit quietly to any religious or political power, in which
+they had no voice. Hence they were ready for any mutual organization,
+that was of their own choice and creation.
+
+They adopted a system of currency suitable to the time and country. This
+system became necessary, from the known disposition of the Hudson's Bay
+Company to oppress and force payment, in what did not then exist in
+sufficient quantity to meet the wants of the settlement; besides, they
+held the commercial power; and here again protection was required. The
+two petitions to the Congress of the United States of 1840 and 1842
+state their policy as to internal matters. The first section of this
+currency law is:--
+
+    "_Be it enacted by the House of Representatives of Oregon
+    Territory:_ 1st. That, in addition to gold and silver, treasury
+    drafts, approved orders on solvent merchants, and good merchantable
+    wheat at the market price, delivered at such place as it is
+    customary for people to receive their wheat at, shall be a lawful
+    tender for the payment of taxes and judgments rendered in the courts
+    of Oregon Territory, and for the payment of all debts contracted in
+    Oregon Territory, where no special contracts have been made to the
+    contrary.
+
+    "2d. The personal estate of every individual, company, body politic
+    or corporate, including his, her, or their goods or chattels, also
+    town or city property, or improvements claimed and owned in virtue
+    of occupancy, secured and allowed by the treaty between Great
+    Britain and the United States, shall be subject to execution, to be
+    taken and sold according to the provisions of this act; excepting,
+    that wearing-apparel shall not be considered as any part of the
+    estate of any defendant or defendants in execution; and no land
+    claim or improvement upon a land claim, held according to the laws
+    of this Territory, shall be subject to execution; and no stay upon
+    execution shall be permitted or allowed, except by the consent of
+    the party in whose favor the execution has been issued, nor for any
+    time other than the time agreed upon by the parties.
+
+    "3d. Specifies that personal property shall be sold previous to town
+    lots.
+
+    "4th. Exempts (if a family) one Bible, one cow and calf, one horse,
+    or yoke of cattle, five sheep, five hogs, household and kitchen
+    furniture not to exceed in value thirty dollars, one stove fixed up
+    in the house, one bed for every two in the family, farming utensils
+    not to exceed in value fifty dollars, one month's provisions for all
+    the family, all mechanics' necessary tools, and all the books of
+    private libraries not to exceed one hundred dollars' worth."
+
+Who says we were not willing to give a poor family a good show to start
+with in Oregon in 1845?
+
+    "5th. Fifteen days' notice of any sale was to be given.
+
+    "6th. No property was to be sold for less than two-thirds its
+    appraised value."
+
+On the second section of this act, there was a long and animated
+discussion, Newell and Garrison claiming that we had no right to subject
+the property of the Hudson's Bay Company, and the Methodist and other
+missions, to our laws; McCarver and Hill, that we ought to exempt town
+sites and lots from execution. On its final passage, the vote was
+Applegate, Foisy, Gray, Hendricks, McClure, Smith, Straight, and H.
+Lee--8, for; Garrison, Hill, B. Lee, Newell, and McCarver--5, against.
+
+This body adjourned _sine die_ on the 20th of August, 1845, and in
+consequence of there being no provision made for a new election in the
+amended organic compact, they were again called to meet on Tuesday,
+December 2, 1845, in accordance with the organic law, to arrange and
+fill up any deficiencies in the offices and laws.
+
+Applegate had resigned. There were present, Foisy, Garrison, Newell, and
+Barton Lee from Champoeg; Gray and Straight from Clackamas; Hill and
+McCarver from Tualatin; and McClure from Clatsop.
+
+There were absent, from Yamhill, Hendricks; from Tualatin, J. M. Smith;
+and from Clackamas, H. A. G. Lee.
+
+Newell, of Champoeg, was elected on the final vote as Speaker; Dr. J. E.
+Long, clerk.
+
+Jefferson's Manual, which had for the first time strayed across the
+Rocky Mountains, was presented to the house, and used to govern its
+proceedings, so far as it was applicable. I think it must have come into
+the Multnomah Circulating Library, in part payment for a share in that
+institution. Gray moved its adoption to govern the proceedings of the
+house, which was considered organized by the election of Speaker, clerk,
+and sergeant-at-arms.
+
+On the second day all the members were present except Applegate. The
+governor was called upon to issue his warrant to fill the vacancy, which
+he did. I think, however, that no election was held, as no
+representative appeared to claim the seat.
+
+An effort was made to locate the seat of government, but failed, on
+account of Dr. McLaughlin not having put in his bid in time to have it
+considered by the house; and a remonstrance was got up by Ermatinger and
+the Hudson's Bay Company's influence, with sixty names attached, against
+locating it at all.
+
+This was in accordance with the short-sighted policy of Dr. McLaughlin,
+aided by the influence secured over the people by such men as
+Ermatinger, Long, Newell, and McCarver, who had become a resident of
+Clackamas, while he represented Tualatin County.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LIII.
+
+     The liquor law.--Amended act of 1845.--Message of the governor on
+     the same.--Repeal of the prohibitory and passage of the license
+     law.--Letter of James Douglas.--Reply of Mr. Samuel Parker.--Dr.
+     Tolmie's resolution on the judiciary.--The governor's veto of the
+     license law.--Immigration for Oregon and California in
+     1846.--Arrival of the brig Henry.--The Oregon Printing
+     Association.--The _Spectator_, the first newspaper in Oregon.--W.
+     G. T. Vault, first editor.--H. A. G. Lee, second editor.--G. L.
+     Curry, third editor.--Judge Wait, fourth editor.
+
+
+_The Liquor Law._--Peter H. Burnett framed a law on this subject, which
+was revised by Newell in the summer of 1845, and lost on the final vote.
+In December, 1845, Gray, from committee on ways and means, reported a
+bill on ardent spirits, expressing the views, and gaining the approval
+of a decided majority of the people. Governor Abernethy, in his annual
+message the next year, expressed an opinion that this law required some
+amendment, but, by combining the whole liquor influence in the country,
+the law was repealed, and a license law substituted, by a two-thirds
+vote over his veto; while, at the same time, nearly two-thirds of the
+voters of the Territory voted to _prohibit_ the sale of liquor, instead
+of to _regulate_ it, as expressed in the organic law.
+
+The law, as reported by the committee of ways and means, was passed
+December 6, 1845, by the following vote: Gray, Garrison, Hendricks, H.
+Lee, B. Lee, McClure, and McCarver--7, for; Foisy, Hill, Straight, and
+Newell--4, against.
+
+On the 8th, the Monday following this vote (Hendricks and Barton Lee
+having been treated and tampered with), on motion of B. Lee--
+
+    "_Resolved_, That the house now reconsider the vote on the final
+    passage of the bill on ardent spirits."
+
+_Yeas_--Hendricks, Hill, B. Lee, Smith, Straight, and Newell--6.
+
+_Nays_--Foisy, Gray, Garrison, H. Lee, McCarver, and McClure--6.
+
+So the motion to reconsider was lost, and the bill published in the
+first newspaper ever published on this coast, as provided for in the
+bill itself, which is as follows:--
+
+
+_Amended Act of 1845._
+
+SECTION 2. That if any person shall hereafter sell, barter, give, or
+trade any ardent spirits of any kind whatever, directly or indirectly,
+to any person within the Territory of Oregon, he shall forfeit and pay
+the sum of twenty dollars for each and every such sale, trade, barter,
+or gift, to be recovered by indictment in the County Court, or before a
+justice of the peace, without the form of pleading.
+
+SEC. 3. That if any person shall hereafter establish or carry on any
+manufactory or distillery of ardent spirits in Oregon, he shall be
+subject to indictment before the County Court, as for a nuisance, and if
+convicted, he shall be fined the sum of one hundred dollars, and the
+court shall issue an order to the sheriff, directing him to seize and
+destroy the distilling apparatus, which order the sheriff shall execute.
+
+SEC. 4. Whenever it shall come to the knowledge of any officer of this
+government, or any private citizen, that any kind of spirituous liquors
+are being distilled or manufactured in Oregon, they are hereby
+authorized and required to proceed to the place where such illicit
+manufacture is known to exist, and seize the distilling apparatus, and
+deliver the same to the nearest district judge or justice of the peace,
+whose duty it shall be immediately to issue his warrant and cause the
+house and premises of the person against whom such warrant shall be
+issued to be further searched, and in case any kind of spirituous
+liquors are found in or about said premises, or any implements or
+apparatus that have the appearance of having been used, or constructed
+for the purpose of manufacturing any kind of spirituous liquors, the
+officer who shall have been duly authorized to execute such warrant
+shall seize all such apparatus, implements, and spirituous liquors, and
+deliver the same to the judge or justice of the peace who issued the
+said warrant. Said officer shall also arrest the person or persons in or
+about whose premises such apparatus, implements, or spirituous liquors
+are found, and conduct him or them to said judge or justice of the
+peace, whose duty it shall be to proceed against such criminal or
+criminals, and dispose of the articles seized according to law.
+
+SEC. 5. All the fines or penalties recovered under this act shall go,
+one-half to the informant and witnesses, and the other half to the
+officers engaged in arresting and trying the criminal or criminals, and
+it shall be the duty of all officers into whose hands such fines and
+penalties may come, to pay over as directed in this section.
+
+SEC. 6. This act shall not be so construed as to prevent any practicing
+physician from selling such liquors for medicines, not to exceed half a
+pint at one time.
+
+SEC. 7. That it shall be the duty of the secretary to publish this act
+in the first newspaper published in Oregon.
+
+
+I, John E. Long, secretary of Oregon, do hereby certify that the
+foregoing act on ardent spirits is truly and correctly revised by me.
+
+                                  JOHN E. LONG, Secretary.
+
+
+It will be seen in the final vote, that Foisy at first voted against
+this bill; but Hendricks and B. Lee changed their vote and Foisy changed
+his; thus the liquor law remained as it was, and was published February
+5, 1846, and remained in force till Saturday, December 19, 1846. On
+December 4 of that year, the governor called the attention of the
+Legislature to this law, in the following language:--
+
+    "The act passed at the last session of the Legislature, entitled 'An
+    Act to prevent the introduction, sale, and distillation of ardent
+    spirits in Oregon,' is one I should recommend for revision; there
+    are several points that are thought to be defective. The organic law
+    provides that the Legislature shall have power to pass laws to
+    regulate the introduction, manufacture, or sale of ardent spirits.
+    It is held that the power to prohibit the introduction, manufacture,
+    or sale is not granted by the organic law. Another objection is that
+    the fines collected under the act shall go, one-half to the
+    informant and witnesses, and the other half to the officers engaged
+    in arresting and trying: in fact, making the witnesses and judges
+    interested in the case. The fourth section makes it the duty of any
+    officer, or any private citizen, to act whenever it shall come to
+    their knowledge that any kind of spirituous liquors are being
+    distilled or manufactured in Oregon. It would be much better if it
+    were made the duty of the sheriff of each county to act, whenever he
+    should be informed that any liquor was being made or sold in his
+    county, and authorize him to raise a sufficient _posse_ to aid and
+    assist him in enforcing the law. We have, as a community, taken a
+    high stand in the cause of temperance; among our earliest efforts
+    may be found the abolishing of ardent spirits from our land, and to
+    this, in a great measure, may be attributed our peace and
+    prosperity. No new country can be pointed out where so much harmony
+    prevailed in its first settlement as in this: laws, we had none, yet
+    all things went on quietly and prosperously. I have no doubt if
+    ardent spirits are kept within their proper bounds, we shall
+    continue prosperous.
+
+    "It is said by some we have no right to say what a man shall make or
+    what he shall not make; yet, we find, in all large cities, certain
+    manufactories are forbidden to be carried on within the limits of
+    the city, because they annoy the inhabitants, and hence are declared
+    to be public nuisances, and by law are compelled to be removed; and,
+    if the city increase and extend to the place where they are
+    relocated, they are removed again. Intoxicating drink is an enormous
+    public injury and private wrong; its effects, in every way, shape,
+    and form, are evil, and therefore should be restrained within proper
+    limits by law. It deprives the wife and children of the inebriate of
+    the support and protection they have a right to expect from him; it
+    deprives the community of the labor which constitutes a nation's
+    wealth, for it is a well-known fact that a nation's wealth is made
+    up of individual labor, and every day, therefore, lost by the
+    laborer, caused by the effects of alcoholic drink, is a loss to the
+    community at large. Persons who have become habitually addicted to
+    ardent spirits, hearing that we had excluded the poison from our
+    land, and, believing they never could be free if they remained near
+    its influence, have left their homes and crossed the Rocky Mountains
+    to escape the ruin that threatened them. Shall _they_ be
+    disappointed? During the last year, persons taking advantage of the
+    defect in our law, have manufactured and sold ardent spirits. We
+    have seen the effects (although the manufacture was on a small
+    scale) in the midnight carousals among the Indians in our
+    neighborhood, during their fishing season, and while they had
+    property to dispose of; and, let me ask, what would be the
+    consequences if the use of it should be general in the country and
+    among the different tribes of Indians in the Territory? History may,
+    hereafter, write the page in letters of blood! And what are the
+    consequences, as presented to us in the history of older countries,
+    of an indiscriminate use of ardent spirits? Almshouses, hospitals,
+    prisons, and the gallows. I would, therefore, recommend that but one
+    person, and that person a physician, be authorized to import or
+    manufacture a sufficient quantity to supply the wants of the
+    community for medicinal purposes; to dispose of no liquor except
+    when he knows it to be necessary, or on an order from a regular
+    physician, stating that the person applying stands in need of it for
+    medicinal purposes; and to physicians to be used in their practice;
+    the person so empowered to import, manufacture, and sell, to keep a
+    record of the quantity manufactured or imported; also, a record of
+    the quantity sold, or disposed of, and to whom, and name of
+    physician on whose certificate given. This would be attended with
+    but little trouble, and might be required to be given under oath.
+    Many articles require alcohol to dissolve them; this could be done
+    by taking the article to the person appointed and having the alcohol
+    put into the ingredients in his presence. Section fifth I would
+    recommend to be altered, so that the fines should go one-half to the
+    informer, and the other half into the treasury. I would recommend
+    that the penalties be increased. If the indiscriminate sale of
+    liquor be admitted an evil, no good citizen can wish to be engaged
+    in it. Why should the majority suffer to benefit a few individuals?
+
+    "I have said more on this subject than I should have done, did I not
+    fear an attempt will be made to break down the barriers raised by
+    the early settlers of this land. Much of our prosperity and
+    happiness as a community depends upon your action in this matter."
+
+I am inclined to think that the governor was misinformed or mistaken in
+the statement that liquor had been manufactured in the settlement
+otherwise than by drugs and a composition called _rot-gut_, which there
+were men in the country base enough to produce. Had the governor been
+more energetic and taken the matter in hand, no manufacturing of liquors
+would have been allowed. He seems to have thrown himself back upon the
+faults of the law as an excuse for not seeing that it was executed as it
+should have been, and as it was executed in other places. Some of this
+drugged liquor was brought to Astoria by one George Geere, of Dr. White
+notoriety, and the citizens of Clatsop Plains being notified of the
+fact, came over prepared for a fight, and found Geere, with his liquors,
+his pistols, and a seven-shooter rifle. They took him and his pistols
+and rifle, also his two kegs, and several bottles of liquor. The liquor
+they turned out on the ground,--took Geere before Esquire Tibbetts, and
+gave him a jury trial before six men of his own choice, who found him
+guilty. He was fined one hundred dollars and costs of suit, which was
+all given, by unanimous consent, to the county. When such a man as
+Governor Abernethy could excuse himself from acting and enforcing a law,
+because he thought the distribution of the fines imposed made the
+officers and witnesses interested persons, it is not surprising that men
+of no principle should engage in destroying their fellow-men. The fact
+is, that the men whom the people had honored and trusted with their
+legal and executive duties were destitute of the firmness requisite to
+the position they occupied, with some few honorable exceptions. The
+people generally were in advance of their leaders in sustaining good and
+wholesome laws, hence but few cases of lawsuits or quarrels occurred.
+
+We will now give what we conceive to be the cause of the failure of the
+law.
+
+By a reference to the organization of the house in December, 1845, it
+will be seen that the Hudson's Bay Company was represented by Messrs.
+Dr. W. F. Tolmie, Chamberlain, McDonald, Newell, and Peers. The liquor
+interest was represented by Messrs. Boon, Hall, Hembree, Looney, Meek,
+Summers, Straight, T. Vault, Williams, and the Speaker. Six of the
+last-named representatives should have been fined for violations of the
+law on a small scale, and all of the first on a large scale, as
+connected more or less with the Hudson's Bay Company, and selling and
+giving to their men and Indians.
+
+While the Hudson's Bay Company yielded a _quasi_ assent to the
+organization, and had their representatives in the Legislature, they
+were using their influence to curtail the privileges of American
+citizens. They were ready to vote against the manufacture and sale of
+liquors, while they were constantly bringing it to the country in their
+ships, and distributing it to suit their trade.
+
+The composition of the house was peculiarly American and antagonistic to
+the Hudson's Bay Company. Any measure that gave to the company any
+advantage, such as it was urged the prohibitory law did, could not
+stand. Hence the friends of prohibition had to yield the point, on the
+ground of self-defense for national rights, and not from a disposition
+to consider the law unjust or improper. In other words, they licensed
+and sustained a great evil, to combat a privilege of equal evil, claimed
+and used by a foreign monopoly in our midst.
+
+When we take into account the facts as stated by the governor in his
+message, the actual condition of the country, the temporary nature of
+our government, and all the combinations that were forming at the time
+the license law was passed, I think all will join with me in condemning
+the course of the men who cursed the country with such a law. It is
+asserted that the organic law provided that the Legislature should
+_regulate_ this traffic. Very true; which they did by placing it in the
+hands of the practicing physician, where it belongs, and nowhere else.
+But these wise Solons of 1846 came to the conclusion that three, two, or
+one hundred dollars was ample pay to the country for the loss of any man
+in it. That for three hundred dollars the whole country might be filled
+with poisonous _rot-gut_, and for two hundred the wholesale business
+might go on, while for one hundred the miserable victims of the business
+could be turned loose to degrade themselves and blight the hopes of
+kindred and friends. I can count a hundred victims who have lost one
+hundred dollars' worth of property for every dollar received by the
+Territory, besides their own lives, in consequence of this traffic. I
+can count five hundred families that have suffered poverty and want,
+insult and abuse, purely chargeable to this _regulating_ law of these
+men.
+
+We read in histories of the church, that the pope of Rome sold
+indulgences to commit certain sins which by the common law would be
+considered crimes, such as adultery, theft, and even murder. The price
+of the indulgence was according to the crime to be committed. This law
+proceeds upon the principle of the amount of profits in the business,
+while its nature and effect upon the community is lost sight of. Or, in
+other words, the government sells the indulgence to commit the crime
+proposed by the manufacturer or wholesale and retail dealer. While the
+former law admitted that liquor as a medicine might be useful, and
+placed it in the hands of the practicing physician, the license law puts
+each seller under a one thousand dollar bond to keep a quiet house. They
+were ready to license _hells_ all over the land, provided the keepers
+would bind themselves not to violate the sanctity of the Sabbath. The
+morality and political economy of the business is forced to be satisfied
+with the amount paid as per law provided.
+
+This act, as a matter of course, opened all the liquor shops of the
+Hudson's Bay Company and of all the unprincipled men in the country. To
+give a better idea of this liquor question, a letter of James Douglas,
+found in No. 10, volume 1, of the _Oregon Spectator_, June 11, 1846, is
+given. Mr. Parker, in his stump speech, alluded to the liquor law, and
+asserted that it was daily violated by the Hudson's Bay Company. Mr.
+Douglas attempts to refuse the charge and sustain the law. The italics
+in the following letter are the author's:--
+
+     "MR. EDITOR,--In Mr. Parker's address to the electors of Clackamas
+     County, delivered at the meeting lately held in Oregon City, as
+     reported in the _Spectator_ of the 28th of May, I observe that he
+     is pleased to point out Mr. Douglas, a judge of the County Court,
+     who, he understood, was in the habit of selling ardent spirits.
+     This may have suited Mr. Parker's purpose, while attempting to
+     establish a position which appears to be a favorite with him, 'that
+     the oath of office binds a man to do just as he pleases!' As it can
+     not, however, be supposed that I admire the mode of illustration he
+     has chosen, and as I also happen to entertain a _very different
+     opinion_ touching the force and propriety of that oath, I hope it
+     will not be considered a breach of courtesy on my part, to offer,
+     through the medium of your respectable paper, a direct and
+     _unqualified denial of this charge of rum-selling_, in the only
+     sense it is plainly meant to be received, and can be considered at
+     all applicable to the subject in question. As a particular favor, I
+     ask Mr. Parker to bring forward a single proof in support of the
+     assertion he has so wantonly advanced. I refer him to all his
+     fellow-citizens. I ask him to search the country from one extremity
+     to another, and to put the question to each individual member of
+     the community with the absolute certainty that not one person will
+     be found who ever purchased ardent spirits from Mr. Douglas. A
+     stranger in the country, evidently unacquainted with its early
+     history, Mr. Parker may not have been informed that the members of
+     the Hudson's Bay Company have for many years past uniformly
+     discouraged intemperance" (by a regular daily allowance of liquor
+     to their men, as we shall see Mr. Douglas says) "by every means in
+     their power, and have also made great and repeated pecuniary
+     sacrifices to prevent the sale of ardent spirits in the country: an
+     article, moreover, which forms no part of their trade, either with
+     the white man or the Indian." (See Mr. Dunn's book, in which it is
+     asserted the company sells to Indians, and Fitzgerald, page 162).
+     "Mr. Parker does not indeed pretend to speak from his own personal
+     experience of the fact, but on the authority of others; and should
+     any doubt still linger in his mind with respect to the correctness
+     of what I have just said, he may perhaps have no objection to seek
+     other means of arriving at the truth; suppose, for instance, he was
+     to try the experiment of negotiating a purchase, I venture to
+     predict he would soon be convinced that Mr. Douglas is not in the
+     habit of selling ardent spirits.
+
+     "But let us inquire a little further into this matter. What could
+     have induced a person of character to hazard an observation in
+     public, which, he must know, would, if false, be as openly exposed.
+     Mr. Parker must have had some grounds for his assertion; he may
+     possibly have heard, or he may have supposed that her Majesty's
+     ship _Modeste_ was daily receiving supplies at Fort Vancouver. If,
+     with reference to these supplies, he had told his hearers that her
+     Majesty's ship _Modeste_, now stationed at Fort Vancouver, had,
+     with other supplies for ship use from the stores of the Hudson's
+     Bay Company, received several casks of rum; or if, referring to the
+     company's own ships, he had stated that a _small allowance of
+     spirits is daily served out to the crews_ of the company's vessels;
+     and that other classes of the company's servants, according to
+     long-accustomed usage, receive, on certain _rare occasions_, a
+     similar indulgence, he would have told the _plain and simple
+     truth_, and his statement would not this day have been called in
+     question by me.
+
+     "These acts, which I fully admit, and would on no account attempt
+     to conceal, can not by the fair rules of construction be considered
+     as infringing upon any law recognized by the _compact which we have
+     agreed to support_, in common with the other inhabitants of Oregon.
+     [The same argument is used to justify Mr. Ogden in furnishing
+     powder and arms to the Indians at the commencement of the Cayuse
+     war.]
+
+     "The framers of these laws, with a decree of wisdom and foresight
+     which does them honor, never entertained the idea that a person, in
+     becoming a member of the compact, thereby relinquished his
+     _distinctive national character_.
+
+     "On the contrary, _British subjects_ and citizens of the United
+     States, casting aside every shadow of illiberal prejudice, extended
+     to each other the right hand of good-fellowship, for the purpose of
+     mutual protection, to secure the peace and promote the prosperity
+     of the country, until protected by their respective governments.
+     The compact was formed and perfected upon that principle, and can
+     rest with security upon no other foundation.
+
+     "We are pledged, and do faithfully intend to support the organic
+     laws. They do not bind us to violate pre-existing engagements with
+     our servants, nor to withhold from the officers of our government
+     supplies of whatsoever kind the company's stores can provide. _In
+     the high character of the latter we enjoy the fullest security
+     against abuse to the detriment of the country._ With all other
+     parties we have most rigidly, and shall continue to enforce the
+     prohibitory statutes of Oregon. My wish in addressing you, Mr.
+     Editor, is to set Mr. Parker right in respect to this matter of
+     rum-selling, and the people may rest assured that if my wishes
+     could influence the community, there would never be a drunkard in
+     Oregon.
+
+                                  "JAMES DOUGLAS."
+
+
+Mr. Parker's answer, which, like the letter of Mr. Douglas, is addressed
+to the _Spectator_, says:--
+
+    "MR. EDITOR,--Our friend Mr. Douglas, in the _Spectator_ of the 11th
+    instant, denies, in the most unqualified terms, the charge of
+    rum-selling at Vancouver, and challenges me to the proof of the
+    assertion, by calling individually on all of our fellow-citizens for
+    testimony; and no other alternative is left me but to proceed in
+    accordance with his request; he will, I am sure, pardon me if I seek
+    this among the highest authorities, and I will produce one at least
+    whose veracity will not, I am sure, be called in question by our
+    friend.
+
+    "When I, in my speech, adverted to the fact that rum was sold at
+    Vancouver, contrary to law, the statement was based on the
+    thousand-tongued rumor, and I so qualified my remarks. But in Mr.
+    Douglas's confession, found in the paper alluded to, the matter of
+    doubt is settled, and we are now furnished with the authority of no
+    less a personage than Mr. Douglas himself. Hear his testimony. 'If,'
+    says he, 'with reference to these supplies, he had told his hearers
+    that her Majesty's ship _Modeste_, now stationed at Fort Vancouver,
+    had, with other supplies for ship use from the stores of the
+    Hudson's Buy Company, received _several casks_ of rum; or if,
+    referring to the company's own ships, he had stated that a _small
+    allowance of spirits is daily served out to the crews_ of the
+    company's vessels; and that other classes of the company's servants,
+    according to long-accustomed usage, receive, on certain rare
+    occasions, a similar indulgence, he would have told the plain and
+    simple truth,' etc.
+
+    "These facts, Mr. Douglas, who has charge of the trading-post at
+    Vancouver, fully admits, and upon his testimony in the matter I
+    place the most implicit confidence. It was not my intention to
+    charge our friend with having kept a tippling-shop at Vancouver, and
+    I wish to correct such, if any there are, who may have come to such
+    a conclusion; but I confess, I had not supposed that the law in
+    relation to ardent spirits (and which may be found in the first
+    number of the _Spectator_) had been so wantonly disregarded. We
+    know, from personal observation, that rum in considerable quantities
+    had found its way among our citizens from some quarter, and the
+    disclosure here made furnishes a key to the mystery, and we are now
+    broadly told that _casks of this article_ have been furnished to her
+    Majesty's officers stationed in Oregon, but that _in their high
+    character we enjoy the fullest security against its abuse, etc._
+
+    "And now, my dear sir, having heard much of the hollow and
+    ceremonious professions and hypocritical grimaces of courts, and men
+    in high places, and disgusted with every thing that savors of
+    aristocratical or monarchical parade, and smitten with the love of
+    republican simplicity and honesty, I can not admit that rank or men
+    in high places are guaranteed against our laws, nor are they so
+    framed as to justify such a conclusion. Raised as I was under these
+    simple institutions, which tend to bring all on an equality, I can
+    not perceive those _high guaranties_ or _pledges_ which are said to
+    emanate from rank or station in high places in society. With us, men
+    give pledges of honor and character, alone from their moral conduct;
+    and the bacchanalian carousals (one was a most disgraceful drunken
+    row kept up for several days by the officers of the _Modeste_, in
+    honor of the Queen's birthday) which came off in the Tualatin Plains
+    on Vancouver rum, last winter and spring, at the expense of the good
+    morals of our farming community, gave me abundant and additional
+    evidence to admire our simple and republican usages, while it serves
+    as a moral worthy the consideration of a prince, or the strongest
+    appendage of nobility. Our laws make no distinction in favor of the
+    officers on board of her Majesty's ship _Modeste_, nor of the
+    Hudson's Bay Company's servants. If their ships visit our ports, our
+    laws will protect them, and, according to the usages of all nations,
+    we expect them to submit to their provisions; but should these
+    officers, through the plenitude of their power, determine to
+    disregard our laws, it certainly could find no justification with
+    one filling the high judicial station which Mr. Douglas occupies. He
+    has sanctioned our law-making authority by accepting one of the
+    highest judicial offices under our organization. According to his
+    own confession, he has disregarded the law, not only by giving in
+    small quantities, but by selling ardent spirits by the cask; nor can
+    he find justification by dealing it out under pre-existing contracts
+    to the servants of the company. To admit that principle, dealers in
+    this article would only be required, when the prohibitory law was
+    about being passed, to contract for the supply of all their old
+    customers, and thus defeat the object and intention of the law by a
+    pre-existing contract. And as for the argument of long-existing
+    usages, that pays the poorest tribute of all. Why, the very toper
+    may plead his long indulgence in the use of this article, with as
+    much propriety. I should not have noticed the subject again, but for
+    my anxious desire that the matter should be fairly placed before the
+    public.
+
+                                  "SAMUEL PARKER."
+
+
+These two laws, and the two communications we have given, place the
+temperance question fully before the reader. The communication of Mr.
+Douglas shows the position and feelings of the English and the Hudson's
+Bay Company in relation to our laws, as also the liberty they claimed to
+violate them whenever it suited their interest or their convenience. Mr.
+Douglas says, "_with all other parties we have most rigidly, and shall
+continue to enforce the prohibitory statutes of Oregon._" It also shows
+another fact. _"The Modeste, now stationed at Fort Vancouver," is our_
+(the company's) protection, and you must not attempt to enforce a law
+upon English subjects, or English ships that enter the rivers or ports
+of the country. To say that many of us did not feel keenly this _taunt_,
+and almost despair of securing this vast country from the rapacious
+mouth of the crouching lion, whose drunken, beastly representatives were
+distributing their rum to every family that would receive them, would
+not be true.
+
+When their representatives entered our legislative councils, the most
+stupid of its members understood their object. They wished to make laws
+for Americans. Their own people needed no laws, and no other government
+than such as was provided for them by the Hudson's Bay Company. The
+reader is already informed how those laws were enforced.
+
+Dr. Tolmie, who at the present time (1870) stands at the head of the
+company in Vancouver Island and British Columbia, presented the
+following resolution to the house on the sixth day of the session,
+showing the true position of the English element:--
+
+    "_Resolved_, That the judiciary committee be discharged from further
+    duty, as the present Legislature deems it inexpedient to organize
+    the judiciary at the present time, in any manner different from the
+    present organization."
+
+By a reference to the journal of the house, we find Dr. Tolmie to be a
+member of the judiciary committee. Four days after, we find this same
+gentleman presenting another resolution:--
+
+    "That the Legislature deems it inexpedient, at the present time, to
+    legalize the manufacture and sale of ardent spirits."
+
+_Yeas_--_Chamberlain_, _McDonald_, and _Tolmie_--3. _Nays_--Boon, HALL,
+Hembree, LOUNSDALE, LOONEY, Meek, _Newell_, _Peers_, Summers, Straight,
+T. Vault, Williams and the Speaker--13. Hudson's Bay Company men in
+_italics_; doubtful, in SMALL CAPITALS.
+
+On the motion of Newell to lay the bill to regulate the manufacture and
+sale of ardent spirits on the table, it stood: _Yeas_--Chamberlain,
+Hall, Lounsdale, Looney, McDonald, Newell, and Tolmie--7. _Nays_--Boon,
+Hembree, Meek, Summers, Straight, T. Vault, Williams, and the
+Speaker--8. Peers absent.
+
+On the final vote to carry this bill over the veto of the governor, we
+find Hall, Lounsdale, and Looney changing their votes in favor of
+passing the bill over the veto, which is as follows:--
+
+                                             OREGON CITY, Dec. 17, 1846.
+
+     GENTLEMEN,--I return to your honorable body the act entitled "An
+     Act to regulate the manufacture and sale of wine and distilled
+     spirituous liquors," with my objections to the same.
+
+     Previous to our organization as a provisional government, public
+     sentiment kept liquor from being manufactured or sold in this
+     Territory. Heretofore, every act of the Legislature has been, as
+     far as ardent spirits were concerned, prohibitory in character. The
+     act lying before me is the first act that has in any manner
+     attempted to legalize the manufacture and sale of ardent spirits.
+     At the session of the Legislature in June, 1844, an act was passed
+     entitled "An Act to prevent the introduction, sale, and
+     distillation of ardent spirits in Oregon," and, as far as my
+     knowledge extends, the passage of that act gave satisfaction to the
+     great majority of the people throughout the Territory. At the
+     session of December, 1845, several amendments were proposed to the
+     old law, and passed. The new features given to the bill by those
+     amendments did not accord with the views of the people; the
+     insertion of the words "give" and "gift," in the first and second
+     sections of the bill, they thought was taking away their rights, as
+     it was considered that a man had a right to give away his property
+     if he chose. There were several other objections to the bill, which
+     I set forth to your honorable body in my message. I would therefore
+     recommend that the amendments passed at the December session of
+     1845 be repealed; and that the law passed on the 24th of June,
+     1844, with such alterations as will make it agree with the organic
+     law, if it does not agree with it, be again made the law of the
+     land. It is said by many that the Legislature has no right to
+     prohibit the introduction or sale of liquor, and this is probably
+     the strongest argument used in defense of your bill. But do you not
+     as effectually prohibit every person who has not the sum of one,
+     two, three hundred dollars to pay for his license, as does the law
+     now on the statute-book? Are not your proposed fines and penalties
+     as great or greater than those of the old law? Where, then, is the
+     benefit to the people? There is no doubt in my mind, but that the
+     law will be evaded as easily, and as often, under the new law, as
+     it was under the old, and, in addition to this, there will be the
+     legal manufacturers, importers, and sellers, who will be able,
+     under the sanction of law, to scatter all the evils attendant upon
+     the use of alcoholic drinks. We are in an Indian country; men will
+     be found who will supply them with liquor as long as they have
+     beaver, blankets, and horses to pay for it. If a quantity should be
+     introduced among the Wallawallas, and other tribes in the upper
+     country, who can foretell the consequences; there we have families
+     exposed out, off from the protection of the settlements, and
+     perhaps, at the first drunken frolic of the Indians in that region,
+     they may be cut off from the face of the earth. But we need not go
+     so far; we are exposed in every part of our frontier, and when
+     difficulties once commence, we can not tell where they will cease.
+
+     It has been proved before the House of Commons that one-half of the
+     insanity, two-thirds of the pauperism, and three-fourths of the
+     crimes of Great Britain may be directly traced to the use of
+     alcoholic drink. The testimony of our most eminent judges in the
+     United States shows that the same proportion of crime is
+     attributable to ardent spirits in that country. Statistics might be
+     produced, showing the enormous evil and expense of an
+     indiscriminate use of liquor.
+
+     As to revenue, the small amount received for licenses, instead of
+     being a revenue, would be swallowed up in the expenses attending
+     trials for crimes, etc., caused by the crime of these licenses.
+
+     But, leaving all other countries out of view, let us consider our
+     own state. Surrounded by Indians, no military force to aid the
+     executive and other officers in the discharge of their duties, not
+     a solitary prison in the land, in which to confine offenders
+     against the laws, and consequently no way of enforcing the
+     penalties of the law, I think these things should call for calm and
+     serious reflection, before passing your final vote on this bill. My
+     opinion is, the people are opposed to legalizing the introduction
+     and sale of liquor in this land. I may be mistaken, and therefore
+     should be in favor of the old law, or something similar should be
+     adopted, of referring the whole matter to the polls at the next
+     general election. If the people say "No liquor," continue to
+     prohibit; if they say, through the ballot-box, "We wish liquor,"
+     then let it come free, the same as dry-goods, or any other article
+     imported or manufactured; but, until the people say they want it, I
+     hope you will use your influence to keep it out of the Territory.
+
+     It is with regret that I return any bill unsigned, but I feel that
+     we both have duties to perform, and when we think duty points out
+     the way, I trust we may always be found willing to follow it.
+
+                                  GEO. ABERNETHY.
+
+     To the Hon. the Legislature of Oregon Territory.
+
+
+On motion of Mr. Hall, the communication was laid on the table.
+
+AFTERNOON SESSION.--At two o'clock the house met. A call of the house
+was made, and the sergeant-at-arms dispatched for the absent members,
+who, after a short absence, returned, and reported that the absentees
+had been notified, and were now present. Thereupon, the further call of
+the house was dispensed with.
+
+The house then reconsidered the bill to regulate the manufacture and
+sale of ardent spirits, and, after some deliberation, the question being
+put upon the passage of the bill, it was decided affirmatively, by the
+following vote:--
+
+_Yeas_--Messrs. Boon, Hall, Hembree, Lounsdale, Looney, Meek, Summers,
+Straight, T. Vault, Williams, and the Speaker--11.
+
+_Nays_--Messrs. Chamberlain, McDonald, Newell, Peers, and Dr. W. F.
+Tolmie--5.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+At St. Josephs, Elizabethtown, Iowa Point, Council Bluffs, and the
+Nishnabatona, were 271 wagons for Oregon and California. Allowing five
+to the wagon gives us about 1,355 souls that crossed the Missouri at
+these points. The quantity of loose stock was estimated at 5,000 head.
+From Independence, Missouri, for Oregon, 141 men, 71 women, 109
+children, and 128 wagons. From Independence, for California, 98 men, 40
+women, 57 children, 320 oxen, and 46 wagons. Total, 1,841 souls, as
+stated in Mr. Saxton's pamphlet, 1846. The larger portion of this
+immigration found their way into Oregon, notwithstanding the Hudson's
+Bay Company and Mr. Hastings did all they could to turn them to
+California. A statement by Mr. S. K. Barlow shows that 141 wagons, 1,559
+head of horses, mules, and horned cattle, and some 15 head of sheep
+passed on his road; seven more teams passed after this report was made.
+Besides the number that came over the Mount Hood or Barlow road, there
+were some persons, with wagons, who attempted to come in on the
+Applegate route, and a number came down the Columbia River.
+
+This year, on the 21st of February, the brig _Henry_, Captain Kilborn,
+started from Newburyport for Oregon, with eight passengers, including
+women and children; also the _Angelo_, Captain Hastings, from Boston,
+made the attempt, but failed. The brig _Henry_ arrived late in 1846.
+
+On Thursday, February 5, 1846, the first newspaper published on the
+Pacific coast was issued from the press of the Oregon Printing
+Association, at Oregon City. The originators of the Printing-Press
+Association were the same that started the Multnomah Circulating
+Library, the Wolf Association, and the provisional government, in
+1842-3.
+
+
+_Constitution of the Oregon Printing Association._
+
+PREAMBLE.--In order to promote science, temperance, morality, and
+general intelligence,--to establish a printing-press to publish a
+monthly, semi-monthly, or weekly paper in Oregon,--the undersigned do
+hereby associate ourselves into a body, to be governed by such rules and
+regulations as shall from time to time be adopted by a majority of the
+stockholders of this compact, in a regularly called and properly
+notified meeting.
+
+_Articles of Compact._
+
+ARTICLE 1. This association shall be known by the name of the "Oregon
+Printing Association," and shall hold an annual meeting at Oregon City,
+on the first Tuesday of December of each year.
+
+ART. 2. Its officers shall be a president, vice-president, secretary,
+treasurer, and a Board of three directors, who shall be elected annually
+by ballot, and shall hold their offices until their successors are
+elected.
+
+ART. 3. It shall be the duty of the president to preside at all the
+meetings of the association, to sign all certificates of stock, and
+drafts upon the treasurer for the payment of funds, and to preside at
+the meetings of the Board of Directors.
+
+ART. 4. It shall be the duty of the vice-president to perform the duties
+of the president in case of his absence, by death, or by removal from
+office.
+
+ART. 5.----The secretary to attend, and keep a record of all the
+meetings of the association, and of the Board of Directors, and to
+publish the proceedings of the annual and special meetings of the
+association, and such portions of the proceedings of the Board of
+Directors as the Board shall direct from time to time; to give one
+month's notice of all special meetings of the association.
+
+ART. 6. It shall be the duty of the treasurer to take charge of the
+funds of the association, and keep an account of all moneys received and
+disbursed, and pay out the same in accordance with drafts drawn on him
+by the president, and signed as per third article of this compact; to
+give such security to the president as shall be deemed sufficient by the
+Board of Directors for the faithful performance of his trust; to report
+the state of the treasury to the Board of Directors quarterly, and to
+pay over to his successor in office all funds of the association.
+
+ART. 7.----The officers and Board of Directors to manage and
+superintend, or procure a suitable person to do so, the entire printing
+and publishing association; to employ all persons required in the
+printing or editorial departments of the press; to publish a full
+statement of their proceedings semi-annually; to draft and adopt such
+by-laws as may be deemed proper for their government, provided no by-law
+contravenes the spirit of these articles of compact; to declare a
+dividend of any profits arising from the printing establishment as often
+as they shall deem it expedient; to fill any vacancy that may occur in
+their number; three of whom shall constitute a quorum, and be competent
+to transact business.
+
+ART. 8. _The press owned by or in connection with this association shall
+never be used by any party for the purpose of propagating sectarian
+principles or doctrines_, nor for the discussion of exclusive party
+politics.
+
+ART. 9. The stock of this association shall consist of shares, of ten
+dollars each, payable in cash or its equivalent.
+
+ART. 10. For every ten dollars paid to the treasurer of the association,
+the payer thereof shall receive a certificate for the same, signed by
+the president and countersigned by the secretary; and for every such
+certificate, the holder thereof, or his agent, on presenting to the
+Board of Directors satisfactory evidence that he is such, shall be
+entitled to one vote in all the annual and special meetings of this
+association; shall receive _pro rata_ of all moneys that may accrue from
+the profits of the printing establishment, and be allowed to transfer
+his stock to any one, by certifying and indorsing his name upon the back
+of his certificate.
+
+ART. 11. These articles, _except the 8th_, may be altered or amended at
+any annual or special meeting of the association, provided that the
+proposed amendment shall have been published in at least two numbers of
+the paper published by order of the association.
+
+_Officers of the Association_,
+
+                                  W. G. T. VAULT, President.
+                                  J. W. NESMITH, Vice-President.
+                                  JOHN P. BROOKS, Secretary.
+                                  GEORGE ABERNETHY, Treasurer.
+                                  JOHN H. COUCH,   }
+                                  JOHN E. LONG,    } Directors.
+                                  R. NEWELL,       }
+
+
+The first editor of this paper was W. G. T. Vault. A man more unfit for
+the position could scarcely have been found in the country. He professed
+to have been an editor of a paper in Arkansas, and blew and swelled
+like the toad in the fable, and whined like a puppy when he gave his
+valedictory, in the fifth number of the _Spectator_. He says: "We have
+among us a class of _mongrels_, neither American nor anti-American, a
+kind of foreign, hypocritical go-betweens,--as we would say in the
+States, _fence men_,--whose public declarations are, 'All for the good
+of the public, and not a cent for self.' The political sentiments of the
+conductors were at variance with his." Mr. T. Vault was led to believe
+that Mr. Newell was his only friend, from the fact that he was absent
+from the meeting of the Board when his successor was appointed; and
+complains of Dr. Long and J. W. Nesmith. Newell and Long acted together.
+H. A. G. Lee, who succeeded T. Vault as editor, was far better qualified
+for the position, though he did not suit this same Board of Directors,
+as Newell was the maneuvering spirit. Lee was too strongly American in
+his sentiments, and too intelligent to be a dupe of the influence of
+which T. Vault complained.
+
+Mr. Douglas declares the position of the English element in the tenth
+number of the _Spectator_. Mr. S. Parker answers him in the eleventh
+number; and Mr. Lee, in the fourteenth number, tenders his thanks to the
+Board for relieving him. The fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth
+numbers, each "run itself," as the expression is.
+
+On the eighteenth number, G. L. Curry, Esq., took charge, to the
+twenty-sixth number, which completed the first volume of the paper. He
+continued his editorial position till the twenty-fourth number of the
+second volume, when he brought his duties to a close by publishing a set
+of resolutions calculated to injure J. Q. Thornton, who had gone on to
+Washington to have a history of the country published, and, as was
+supposed, to secure the best federal appointments for himself and his
+friends. One-half of the legislators believing that unfair and improper
+means had been used by Mr. Thornton and his friends, the other half not
+caring to vote against Mr. Thornton's proceedings, being, perhaps, his
+real friends, the resolutions were lost by a tie vote. Mr. Curry, as
+editor of the _Spectator_, took sides against Mr. Thornton, and in favor
+of the objectionable resolutions, and published them under an editorial
+article, notwithstanding he had been requested, as he admits, not to
+publish them.
+
+Judge A. E. Wait succeeded Mr. Curry in the editorial department of the
+paper, and, by a foolish, vacillating course, continued to hold his
+position so as to please the Hudson's Bay Company and the Roman Catholic
+and Methodist influences in the country. The paper, by this means,
+became of little value to its patrons and the country, and soon getting
+involved in its financial affairs, it was sold and lost financially to
+the original proprietors.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LIV.
+
+     The Whitman massacres.--Narratives of, by J. B. A. Brouillet and J.
+     Ross Browne.--Extract from the New York _Evangelist._--Statements
+     of Father Brouillet criticised.--Testimony of John Kimzey.--Dr.
+     Whitman at Umatilla.--Returns home.
+
+
+We have before us two works purporting to give a true and authentic
+account of the Whitman massacre,--the one prepared by a Jesuit priest,
+J. B. A. Brouillet; the other by one J. Ross Browne, special agent of
+the United States revenue department. As this part of our history was
+written before that of J. Ross Browne (purporting to be an official
+report to the 35th Congress, 1st session, House of Representatives,
+Executive Document No. 38) came into our hands, it is proper that we
+should give this report a passing notice.
+
+Mr. Browne, upon the second page of his report, says: "In view of the
+fact, however, that objections might be made to any testimony coming
+from the citizens of the Territory, and believing also that it is the
+duty of a public agent to present, as far as practicable, _unprejudiced
+statements_, I did not permit myself to be governed by any
+representations unsupported by _reliable_ historical data."
+
+One would naturally conclude, from such a statement, that a candid,
+unprejudiced, and truthful report would be given; but, to our
+astonishment, we find that fifty-three of the sixty-six pages of this
+official document are an exact copy of the Rev. J. B. A. Brouillet's
+work, thus indorsing, and placing in an official document, one of the
+most maliciously false and unreliable accounts that a prejudiced and
+deeply implicated sectarian could give, claiming such to be "_reliable
+historical data_,"--thus showing both his prejudice and ignorance in the
+conclusion he arrived at as to the causes of the Indian wars.
+
+Had J. Ross Browne been willing to lay aside his unreasonable sectarian
+prejudice, and listen to the positive testimony then in the country, he
+could easily have learned who were the prime cause of all the Indian
+wars in it; or, had he made himself familiar (as he flippantly claims to
+have done) with the history of the English and American people, the
+policy of the English political and sectarian powers, and the commercial
+policy of the Hudson's Bay Company, he would have escaped the folly of
+placing in an official document such palpable errors, and showing such
+willful ignorance of the subject he was commissioned to investigate.
+
+He says, on page 2, "It was a war of _destiny_,--bound to take place
+whenever the causes reached their _culminating point_." The "_destiny_"
+and culminating point of that war was fixed by the Hudson's Bay Company
+and the Jesuit priests, as also the second and third wars with the
+Indians that followed, as we shall show by positive testimony of
+witnesses who are unimpeachable.
+
+Had J. Ross Browne carefully examined the tissue of statements prepared
+by Father Brouillet, he could have found statements like this on page 53
+(38 of J. R. B.), "_I knew that the Indians were angry with all
+Americans_;" page 54 (39 of J. R. B.), "_All that I know is that the
+Indians say the order to kill Americans_ has been sent in all
+directions."
+
+There was but one party in the country that could issue such an order,
+which Brouillet well knew, and the testimony we shall give will prove.
+
+On his third page, he says: "The same primary causes existed in every
+case,--encroachments of a superior upon an inferior race." He then
+refers to the agitation of the Oregon question in the Senate in 1840-41;
+to Mr. Thurston's course as a delegate; the treaties with the Indians,
+etc.,--showing conclusively the sources of his information, and his
+ignorance of the causes he professed to give a truthful and impartial
+account of,--barely alluding to the unwarranted assumptions of the
+British Hudson's Bay Company of an exclusive right to trade with the
+Indians. In fact, the whole report appears to be a studied effort to
+cover the prime causes of the difficulty, and of the Indian wars he was
+commissioned to investigate and report upon.
+
+It is not surprising that with the foreign emissaries then in the
+country, and the stupid ignorance or malicious bigotry of the United
+States agent, that such reports should be made; but that the government
+should adopt, and act upon, or publish them, is indeed surprising;
+unless, as the history of the late rebellion shows, it was the design of
+those agents to involve the whole nation in an ultimate dismemberment,
+and distinct, separate nationalities, under the auspices of African,
+Indian, and religious slavery. We regret the necessity of prefacing a
+chapter in this work with so severe a stricture upon a government
+official, yet his report is so manifestly false and malicious, and
+without the evidence of truth or candor toward the Protestant
+missionaries, to whom is due, more than to any other influence, the
+settlement of the country by the American people,--that, in justice to
+them, and the truth of history, we can say no less, while we proceed
+with the account of the murder of Dr. Whitman and those at his station.
+
+The necessity and importance of an extended and particular account
+becomes still more important from the fact that the Roman Jesuits in the
+country have succeeded in placing through such an agent their false
+account of the massacre in a permanent government document,--thus
+slandering not only the dead, but the living, whose duty it becomes to
+refute such vile slanders by publishing the whole truth in the case.
+Besides, the very Rev. J. B. A. Brouillet, in a second edition of his
+false and absurd production, refers to this report of J. R. Browne as
+additional official evidence of the truth of his own false statements,
+previously made through such agents, and such men as Sir James
+Douglas,--compelling us, in vindicating the truth of history, to place
+before the reader more of the statements of parties implicated than was
+our original design.
+
+Since this work has been in press, we have an article in the New York
+_Evangelist_ of 6th of January, 1870, from the pen of Rev. Mr. Treat,
+D.D., containing a brief statement of the Whitman massacre, and the
+following as the result of the investigations as had in several
+religious bodies in Oregon; the conclusion is as follows:--
+
+    "It so happens, however, that men who are more competent to
+    adjudicate the case have not hesitated to do so. The
+    Congregational Association of Oregon adopted a report in June
+    last, which condemns the 'prominent and absolute falsehoods' of
+    Father Brouillet's pamphlet, and expresses the belief, 'from
+    evidence, clear and sufficient to them, that the Roman Catholic
+    priests did themselves instigate violence to the missions,
+    resulting in massacre.' Similar action was taken by the Old School
+    Presbytery, the Cumberland Presbytery, and the U. P. Presbytery.
+    The Methodist Conference, composed of more than seventy preachers,
+    and under the presidency of Bishop Kingsley, adopted a
+    comprehensive and able report, which was published at Portland,
+    September 25, 1869, in which the massacre at Wailatpu is declared
+    to have been 'wholly unprovoked by Dr. Whitman or any other member
+    of the mission,' and to have arisen from the policy of the
+    Hudson's Bay Company 'to exclude American settlers,' and the
+    'efforts of Roman priests directed against the establishment of
+    Protestantism in the country.' It is believed that the other
+    evangelical denominations in Oregon have spoken with the same
+    distinctness and the same confidence.
+
+    "Valuable testimony is borne to the character of the missionaries
+    who survived Dr. Whitman, and who have been residents of Oregon to
+    this day, as also to the fidelity and success of their labors, but
+    there is not space for it in the present article. Suffice it to
+    say, that, while the motives of Hon. J. Ross Browne, in appending
+    Father Brouillet's pamphlet to his 'Letter,' and the reasons of
+    the House of Representative for publishing the same, are open to
+    grave suspicion, facts and opinions have been elicited, which
+    throw additional light upon the manifold bearings and uses of the
+    missionary enterprise."
+
+On page 40 of Rev. J. B. A. Brouillet's "Protestantism in Oregon" and
+page 33 of J. Ross Browne's report, we find, under date of September 5,
+1847, that "the Right Rev. Bishop Blanchet arrived at old Fort
+Wallawalla (now called Wallula), where he was cordially received by Mr.
+McBean, clerk in charge of said fort. He was accompanied by the superior
+of Oblates and two other clergymen. He had the intention of remaining
+but a few days at the fort, for he knew that Tawatowe (or Young Chief),
+one of the Cayuse chiefs, had a house which he had designed for the
+Catholic missionaries, and he intended to go and occupy it without
+delay; but the absence of the Young Chief, who was hunting buffalo,
+created a difficulty in regard to the occupation of the house, and in
+consequence of it he had to wait longer than he wished."
+
+The house here spoken of was erected during the summer of 1837, before
+any Catholic missionaries were thought of, at least among the Indians,
+or by the American missionaries, and it was late in the fall of 1838
+that Revs. Blanchet and Demerse passed down the Columbia River. These
+first missionaries of the Society of Jesus, wishing to do Mr. P. C.
+Pambrun, then clerk of the post, a special favor, baptized the infant
+son of the Young Chief, for whose benefit and occupation, Mr. Pambrun
+said, the company had ordered that house to be built. If it was designed
+for these priests, who was the designer?
+
+Mr. Brouillet, in his narrative, says:--
+
+    "On the 23d of September, Dr. Whitman, on his way from the Dalles,
+    stopped at Fort Wallawalla. His countenance bore sufficient
+    testimony to the agitation of his heart. He soon showed by his words
+    that he was deeply wounded by the arrival of the bishop. 'I know
+    very well,' said he, 'for what purpose you have come.' 'All is
+    known,' replied the bishop; 'I come to labor for the conversion of
+    the Indians, and even of Americans, if they are willing to listen to
+    me.' The doctor then continued, in the same tone, to speak of many
+    things. He attributed the coming of the bishop to the Young Chief's
+    influence! made a furious charge against the Catholics, accusing
+    them of having persecuted Protestants and even of having shed their
+    blood wherever they had prevailed. He said he did not like
+    Catholics----that he should oppose the missionaries to the extent of
+    his power.----He spoke against the _Catholic Ladder_![12] and said
+    that he would cover it with blood, to show the persecution of
+    Protestants by Catholics. He refused to sell provisions to the
+    bishop, and protested he would not assist the missionaries unless he
+    saw them in starvation."
+
+    [Footnote 12] A picture explaining the principal points of
+    Catholic faith.
+
+It is barely possible that Dr. Whitman said all that this priest says he
+did. In that case, did he forfeit his own and the lives of all that fell
+with him? This narrative of _Protestantism_ reveals a dark page in our
+history,--one that should be thoroughly investigated as well as
+understood by all.
+
+On the 24th page, 33d of Ross Browne's report, this priest says:--
+
+    "After such a manifestation of sentiment toward Catholics in general
+    and priests in particular, the bishop was not astonished in hearing
+    some hours after that Dr. Whitman, on leaving the fort, went to the
+    lodge of Piopiomoxmox (Yellow Serpent); that he had spoken a great
+    deal against the priests; that he had wished to prevail upon this
+    chief to co-operate with him, in order that by the aid of his
+    influence with the Cayuses, Des Chutes, and Dalles Indians, he might
+    be enabled to excite these nations against them, etc."
+
+That Dr. Whitman did as he is represented to have done no one acquainted
+with him will believe for a moment. But Bishop Blanchet's letter to
+Governor Abernethy is evidence conclusive that he and his priests had
+done exactly what they here say Dr. Whitman attempted to do.
+
+    "During the months of October and November," Brouillet says, "the
+    Doctor came to the fort several times to render his professional
+    services to Mrs. Maxwell and Mr. Thomas McKay; he was a little
+    more reserved than at the first interview, but it was always
+    visible enough that the sight of the bishop and his clergy was far
+    from being agreeable to him."
+
+It will be remembered that Mr. Brouillet is giving this narrative and
+speaking of a man whose blood had been shod in the cause of
+"_Protestantism in Oregon_," as he calls the title of his work, which he
+is writing to correct the impression that he and his associates were in
+some way concerned in bringing it about. In his allusions and
+statements, he seems to be anxious to prove that Dr. Whitman and all
+Protestants and Americans in the country are guilty of the crime laid to
+the influence of the priests, and by giving these statements expects
+everybody will believe _them_ to be wholly innocent. J. Ross Browne, in
+his report, 3d page, agrees with this priest, and refers to supposed
+transactions (_that did not occur_) in 1835. At that time there was not
+a band or tribe of Indians west of the Rocky Mountains but was ready to
+give land to any white man that would come and live in their country.
+This land question, as stated by Brouillet and Ross Browne, or the
+"_encroachments of a superior upon an inferior race_," had no part in
+the matter. It was a foreign national question, as we have already
+shown, and we now propose to quote these statements from his narrative,
+to show the intimate connection there was between the Jesuit priests,
+the Hudson's Bay Company, the Indians, and the Whitman massacre.
+
+According to Brouillet, the bishop and his priests remained at Fort
+Wallawalla from the 5th of September till the 26th of October (fifty
+days), enjoying the hospitality of Mr. McBean, and seeing Dr. Whitman
+occasionally, till, on the 26th, the Young Chief arrived. "The bishop
+wished to know of him if he wanted a priest for him and his young men,
+telling him that he could only give him one for the whole nation, and if
+the Cayuses wished to avail themselves of his services _they would do
+well to come to an understanding together concerning_ the location of
+the mission. The chief told the bishop he wished a priest, and that he
+could have his house and as much land as he wanted." So far this
+statement bears the natural impress of truth, but mark the words here
+put into the chief's mouth, "_but as a means of reuniting the Cayuses_
+who had been heretofore divided, and in order to _facilitate their
+religious instruction_, he suggested the idea of establishing the
+mission near Dr. Whitman's, at the camp of Tilokaikt."
+
+The previous history of this chief, as given by Revs. Hines, Perkins,
+and Dr. White, all goes to prove that he never made such a suggestion,
+and no one acquainted with Indian character will believe for a moment
+that he did. But the suggestion was without doubt made to him to impress
+upon his mind the importance of uniting with other bands of his tribe to
+get rid of Dr. Whitman, as shown by this priest in the council that was
+held on the 4th of November, by special request of the bishop sent to
+Tilokaikt on the 29th October, purporting to be by request of the Young
+Chief. The dates show, as per Brouillet, that the Young Chief was with
+the bishop on the 26th; on the 29th the bishop sent for Tilokaikt; and
+on the 4th of November the council was held, "at the bishop's request,"
+who opened the meeting in the fort. At this meeting the proposition is
+said to have been made to the bishop to give him Dr. Whitman's station,
+first driving him away. Says T. McKay, in his statement to acquit these
+priests, speaking of this meeting on the 4th of November: "One of the
+chiefs told the bishop that they would send the Doctor off very soon;
+they would give him his house if he wished. The bishop answered that he
+would not take the Doctor's house, that he did not wish him to send the
+Doctor away, and that there was _room enough for two missions_." This
+was, as understood by the Indians, "The bishop intends to have a place
+near Dr. Whitman's, and he wishes us to dispose of the Doctor in some
+way so that he can have a place where all the Cayuses can be instructed
+together in his religion."
+
+In accordance with the understanding had with the bishop and Cayuses in
+this council on the 4th, this priest says (see p. 44 of Brouillet, 34 of
+J. R. Browne): "On the 8th of November I went by order of the bishop to
+Wailatpu to look at the land which Tilokaikt had offered; but he had
+changed his mind, and refused to show it to me, saying that it was too
+small. He told me that he had no place to give me but that of Dr.
+Whitman, whom he intended to send away. I declared to him a second time
+the same as the bishop had done at the meeting, that I would not have
+the place of Dr. Whitman. I then went immediately to the camp of Young
+Chief, to notify him that I would take his house, since I was unable to
+procure a place from Tilokaikt." He further says he returned to the fort
+on the 10th, and on the 11th, an associate, Rev. Mr. Rousseau, left with
+his men to repair the house, which was ready by the 26th, and on the
+27th of November the bishop and his party started for the house, said to
+have been designed for them (of which there is no doubt). On their first
+arrival at Wallawalla, it would have been the wiser course for them to
+have accepted of it, instead of attempting, through the influence of the
+company, to get possession of Dr. Whitman's station, or the consent of
+the Indians, as they say they did, to locate near the station. But we
+have positive proof of the design of Mr. McBean, the agent of the
+company, and the bishop, as given in the testimony of Mr. John Kimzey.
+
+He says: "On my way to this country with my family last fall (1847), I
+called at Fort Wallawalla to exchange my team and wagon for horses.
+There were at the fort two Roman Catholic priests. During my stay of
+about two days, Mr. McBean, in the presence of my wife, said, '_The
+fathers have offered to purchase Dr. Whitman's station_, but Dr. Whitman
+has refused to sell.' He said they had requested the Doctor to fix his
+own price and they would meet it, but the Doctor had refused to sell on
+any conditions, I asked him who he meant by the fathers? He said '_The
+holy fathers, the Catholic priests._' He said the _holy fathers_ were
+about to commence a mission at the mouth of the Umatilla,--one in the
+upper part of the Umatilla, one near Dr. Whitman's station, _if they
+could not get hold of the station_, one in several other places which I
+can not name. They hired Mr. Marsh, whose tools I brought, to do off a
+room for the priests at the fort. He said, '_Dr. Whitman had better
+leave the country or the Indians would kill him; we are determined to
+have his station._' He further said, 'Mr. Spalding will also have to
+leave this country soon.' As I was about leaving, Mr. McBean said: 'If
+you could pass as an Englishman, the Indians would not injure you; if
+they do disturb you, show them the horses and the marks, and they will
+know my horses; show them by signs that you are from the fort, and they
+will let you pass.' The Indians noticed the marks on the horses and did
+not disturb me.
+
+                                  "JOHN KIMZEY."
+
+
+"Subscribed and sworn to before me, at my office in Tualatin Plains [now
+Washington County], this 28th day of August, 1848.
+
+                               "DAVID T. LENOX, Justice of the Peace."
+
+
+This is fully confirmed by the oath of R. S. Wilcox, as having heard the
+statement from Mr. Kimzey the night after he left the fort, in camp at
+the mouth of the Umatilla, before the same justice of the peace. Mr.
+Wilcox says Mr. Kimzey was much alarmed, and really believed that it was
+the design of the priests' party to kill Dr. Whitman and drive the
+American missionaries out of the country. His reply was, "The Catholics
+have not got that station yet."
+
+Had we not the best English testimony, Fitzgerald's, and the statements
+of P. J. De Smet and Hoikin in their letters to their missionary society
+in Brussels, to show the connection of the Hudson's Bay Company with
+this transaction, the facts above stated would fasten the conviction of
+a strong and outspoken determination to overthrow the Protestant
+missions. It will be remembered that these threats and efforts to get
+rid of Dr. Whitman were made before the appearance of any sickness or
+measles among the Cayuses.
+
+Mr. Brouillet, on the 84th page of his narrative, says, "But I affirm
+that such a demand has never been made to Dr. Whitman by any one of us."
+We are not disposed to dispute Mr. Brouillet's affirmation, be it true
+or false. The truth is all we seek to know.
+
+The reader will not be particularly interested in the long details of
+statements made by this priest to show that they had no part in bringing
+about the destruction of the Protestant missions and the Whitman
+massacre. Mr. McBean and Sir James Douglas have written extensively,
+together with P. H. Burnett, Esq., and this Rev. Vicar-General
+Brouillet, to show that nobody is responsible for that crime but the
+missionaries who were murdered and the Indians, while Rev. Messrs.
+Griffin and Spalding have attempted to fasten the whole crime upon the
+Roman priests alone. It appears from Mr. Spalding's account that he met
+Mr. Brouillet and the bishop at Wallawalla on the 26th of November, and
+had a sectarian discussion with them, which he thought was friendly, yet
+from the fact that this priest barely alludes to the visit, and not a
+word of the discussion is mentioned, we infer that Mr. Spalding had the
+best of the argument, and that he was entirely mistaken as to the
+friendly manner in which they could conduct their missions in the same
+section of country. We will not attempt to reconcile the conflicting
+statements of these missionary parties, but will collect the most
+reliable facts and particulars of the tragic events in which these
+parties and the whole country became so deeply involved,--a part of them
+so strongly implicated.
+
+That the massacre was expected to take place in a short time, and that
+all the Americans at the station, and all in any way connected with, or
+favoring, the Protestant missions and American settlements in the
+country, were to be included in the ultimate overthrow of those upper,
+or middle Oregon missions, there can be no doubt; as shown in the
+quotations we have given from our English Hudson's Bay Company's
+historian and Sir Edward Belcher, and the efforts of the company to
+colonize the country with English subjects from Red River, instead of
+encouraging them to come direct from England.
+
+It appears from the dates and accounts we have, that Dr. Whitman was
+sent for to visit Five Crow's lodge on the Umatilla, not far from the
+house to be occupied by the bishop and his priests; that Mr. Spalding
+accompanied the doctor to visit some of the Protestant Indians in that
+vicinity; that the same day (the 27th of November), the bishop and his
+priests started from Wallawalla to go to their station and occupy the
+house of Young Chief. They arrived at their places and learned that Dr.
+Whitman and Mr. Spalding were in the neighborhood. On the next day,
+Sunday, 28th, Dr. Whitman made a short call on them, and hastened home
+to attend on the sick about his place. While at the lodge of a French
+half-breed named Nicholas Finlay, the Indians were holding a council, to
+decide and arrange the preliminaries of the massacre, with Joe Lewis, a
+Canadian-Indian, and Joe Stanfield, a Frenchman. Of this last-named man,
+Mr. Brouillet says: "As to Joseph Stanfield, I admit that he was born
+and has been educated a Catholic." He lays great stress on the fact that
+this fellow had been tried and acquitted. He says: "Why should we
+pretend now to be more enlightened and wiser than the tribunals have
+been, and judge him more severely than they have done."
+
+Dr. Whitman arrived at his station about twelve o'clock at night,
+attended upon the sick, and retired. That night an Indian had died. In
+the morning, the Doctor, as usual, had a coffin and a winding-sheet
+prepared, and assisted the friends in burying their dead. He observed,
+on returning to the house, that but two or three attended at the grave.
+As he returned, great numbers of Indians were seen gathering about the
+station; but an ox had been killed, and was being dressed, which was
+supposed to be the cause, as the Indians on such occasions always
+collected in great numbers, and often from a distance.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LV.
+
+     Occupations of the victims immediately before the
+     massacre.--Description of the mission buildings.--The Doctor called
+     into the kitchen to be murdered.--Joe Lewis, the leader in the
+     massacre.--The scene outside.--The Doctor's house plundered.--Mrs.
+     Whitman shot.--Brutalities to the dead and dying.--Escape of some
+     and murder of others.--Safety of the French Papists and the
+     servants of the Hudson's Bay Company.--Fate of Joe Lewis.
+
+
+Joseph Stanfield had brought in the ox from the plains, and it had been
+shot by Francis Sager. Messrs. Kimball, Canfield, and Hoffman were
+dressing it between the two houses; Mr. Sanders was in the school, which
+he had just called in for the afternoon; Mr. Marsh was grinding at the
+mill; Mr. Gillan was on his tailor's bench in the large adobe house, a
+short distance from the doctor's; Mr. Hall was at work laying a floor to
+a room adjoining the Doctor's house; Mr. Rogers was in the garden; Mr.
+Osborn and family were in the Indian room adjoining the Doctor's
+sitting-room; young Mr. Sales was lying sick in the family of Mr.
+Canfield, who was living in the blacksmith shop; young Mr. Bewley was
+sick in the Doctor's house; John Sager was sitting in the kitchen but
+partially recovered from the measles; the Doctor and Mrs. Whitman, with
+their three sick children, and Mrs. Osborn and her sick child, were in
+the dining or sitting room.
+
+The mission buildings occupied a triangular space of ground fronting the
+north in a straight line, about four hundred feet in length. The
+Doctor's house, standing on the west end, and fronting west, was 18 x 62
+feet, adobe walls; library and bedroom on south end; dining and sitting
+room in the middle, 18 x 24; Indian room on north end, 18 x 26; kitchen
+on the east side of the house, 18 x 26, fireplace in the middle, and
+bedroom in rear; schoolroom joining on the east of the kitchen, 18 x 30;
+blacksmith shop, 150 feet east; the house called the mansion on the east
+end of the angle, 32 x 40 feet, one and a half stories; the mill, made
+of wood, standing upon the old site, about four hundred feet from either
+house. The east and south space of ground was protected by the mill-pond
+and Wallawalla Creek--north front by a ditch that discharged the waste
+water from the mill, and served to irrigate the farm in front of the
+Doctor's house, which overlooked the whole. To the north and east is a
+high knoll, less than one-fourth of a mile distant; and directly to the
+north, three-fourths of a mile distant, is Mill Creek. In a military or
+defensive question, the premises could be easily protected from
+small-arms or cavalry.
+
+While the Doctor was sitting with his family as above stated, several
+Indians, who had come into the kitchen, came to the door leading to the
+dining-room, and requested him to come into the kitchen. He did so,
+taking his bible in his hand, in which he was reading, and shut the door
+after him. Edward Sager sat down by his side and asked for medicine.
+Tilokaikt commenced a conversation with him, when Tamsaky, an Indian,
+called the Murderer, and the one that told the bishop at Wallawalla he
+would give him the Doctor's station, came behind him, and, drawing a
+pipe tomahawk from under his blanket, struck the Doctor on the back of
+his head. The first blow stunned him and his head fell upon his breast,
+but the second blow followed instantly upon the top of his head, and
+brought him senseless but not lifeless to the floor.
+
+John Sager, rising up, attempted to draw a pistol; the Indians before
+him rushed to the door by which they had entered, crying out, "He will
+shoot us;" but those behind seized his arms and threw him upon the
+floor; at the same time he received shots from several short Hudson's
+Bay muskets, which had been concealed under their blankets. He was cut
+and gashed terribly with knives, his throat was cut, and a woolen tippet
+stuffed into it,--still he lingered. In the struggle, two Indians were
+wounded, one in the foot, the other in the hand, by each other.
+
+Mrs. Whitman, as soon as the tumult commenced, overhearing and judging
+the cause, began in agony to stamp upon the floor and wring her hands,
+crying out, "Oh, the Indians! the Indians! That Joe (referring to Joe
+Lewis) has done it all!" Mrs. Osborn stepped into the Indian room with
+her child, and in a short time Mr. Osborn and family were secreted under
+the floor.
+
+Without coming into the other rooms, the Indians left the kitchen, to
+aid in the dreadful destruction without. At this moment Mrs. Hays ran in
+from the mansion-house, and, with her assistance, Mrs. Whitman drew her
+dying husband into the dining-room, and placed his mangled, bleeding
+head upon a pillow, and did all her frightful situation would allow to
+stay the blood and revive him, but to no purpose. The dreadful work was
+done. To every question that was put to him, he would simply reply,
+"No," in a low whisper. After receiving the first blow, he was probably
+insensible.
+
+About this time, Mr. Kimball ran into the room through the kitchen, and
+rushed up-stairs with a broken arm hanging by his side. He was
+immediately followed by Mr. Rogers, who, in addition to a wounded arm,
+was tomahawked in the side of the head and covered with blood. He
+assisted Mrs. Whitman in making fast all the doors, and in removing the
+sick children up-stairs.
+
+Joe Lewis, a Roman Catholic Indian, is asserted, by those who have
+traced his course, to have come from Canada with the party of priests
+and French that crossed the plains in 1847, and by whom it is affirmed
+the measles were brought into the immigrant trains that year. The
+priests' party brought him to Boise, and there left him to find his way
+to Dr. Whitman's. He attempted to make arrangements with an immigrant
+family to come to the Wallamet, but was afterward furnished with a horse
+and supplies, and traveled with a Cayuse Indian. While at Boise, making
+his arrangements with the immigrant family, he told them there was going
+to be a _great overturn at Dr. Whitman's and in the Wallamet_. How or
+what the overturn was to be, the party did not learn, but supposed it
+might be from immigration or some change in the government of the
+country. He arrived at Dr. Whitman's apparently destitute of clothes and
+shoes. He made himself at home at once, as he could speak English,
+French, and a little Nez Perce. He had been at the station but a few
+days, before the Doctor and the two Sager boys learned that he was
+making disturbance among the Indians. The Doctor finding some immigrant
+families who wanted a teamster, furnished him with shoes and a shirt,
+and got him to go with them. He was gone three days, and the second
+night ran away from the man he had agreed to go with, and returned about
+the station. He spent most of his time in the lodge of Nicholas Finlay,
+the common resort of Stanfield and the Indians engaged in the scenes we
+are relating; and was the leader in the whole affair. He was seen
+several times approaching the windows with a gun, but when Mrs. Whitman
+would ask, "Joe, what do you want?" he would ran away.
+
+The scene outside, by this time, had attained the summit of its fury.
+The screams of the fleeing women and children, the groans and struggles
+of the falling, dying victims, the roar of musketry, the whistling of
+balls, the blows of the war-club, the smoke of powder, the furious
+riding of naked, painted Indians, the unearthly yells of infuriated
+savages, self-maddened, like tigers, by the smell of human blood,--the
+legitimate fruits of Romish superstitions faithfully implanted in the
+savage mind.
+
+Mrs. Whitman remained by the side of her husband, who was pale and
+gasping in death. Two Americans were overpowered and cut down by the
+crowd under her window, which drew her attention, and gave an
+opportunity for an Indian, that had always been treated kindly by her,
+to level his gun. His victim received the ball, through the window, in
+her right breast, and fell, uttering a single groan. In a few moments
+she revived, rose and went to the settee, and kneeling in prayer was
+heard to pray for their adopted children (the Sager family, who had lost
+father and mother in crossing the plains, now again to be left orphans),
+and for her aged father and mother in the States, that they might be
+sustained under this terrible shock (made a thousand-fold more so by the
+infamous account of it given by Sir James Douglas in his Sandwich
+Islands letter), which the news of her fate must occasion. Soon after
+this she was helped into the chamber, where were now collected Mrs.
+Whitman, Mrs. Hays, Miss Bewley, Catharine Sager, Messrs. Kimball and
+Rogers, and the three sick children.
+
+They had scarcely gained this temporary retreat, when the crash of
+windows and doors, and the deafening war-whoop, tore the last hope from
+their fainting hearts. The rooms below were plundered of their
+property,--the furniture dashed to pieces and cast out. Joe Lewis was
+seen to be among the foremost to dash in the windows and bring out the
+goods. Here a deed was perpetrated similar to that of the refined and
+Christian Catholic people of Burgos, in Spain, when they murdered and
+cut up their governor for attempting to obey the law and take an invoice
+of church property.
+
+The Cayuse Indian Tilokaikt went into the room where the Doctor lay yet
+breathing, and with his hatchet deliberately chopped his face terribly
+to pieces, but left him still alive. Some Indian, also, cut the face of
+John Sager while he was yet alive.
+
+About this time, Joe Lewis went into the schoolroom and sought out the
+children, who were hid in the upper loft, and brought them into the
+kitchen to be shot. As Francis passed by his mangled, gasping brother,
+he stooped and took the woolen tippet from the gash in his throat, when
+John attempted to speak, but immediately expired. Upon this, Francis
+turned to his sister and said, "I shall soon follow my brother." The
+children were kept in this painful position for some time. Eliza
+Spalding was among them, and understood every word spoken by the
+Indians, who, having finished their terrible slaughter without, were
+filling the room and the doorways, with their guns pointed at the heads
+and hearts of the children, constantly yelling, "_Shall we shoot?_"
+Eliza says her blood became cold, and she could not stand, but leaned
+over upon the sink, covering her face with her apron, that she might not
+see them shoot her. From this place they were removed out of the door by
+the side of the Indian room, just before Mrs. Whitman was brought out to
+be shot.
+
+Immediately after breaking into the house, the Indians called to Mrs.
+Whitman and Mr. Rogers to come down, and on receiving no answer, Tamsaky
+(the Indian who was the most anxious to have the bishop and his priests
+take the Doctor's place), started to go up-stairs, but discovering the
+end of an old gun (placed there by Miss Bewley), he desisted, and
+entered into conversation with those above. He urged them to come down,
+assuring them that no one should hurt them. Mrs. Whitman told him she
+was shot, and had not strength to come down, besides she feared they
+would kill her. Tamsaky expressed much sorrow on learning that Mrs.
+Whitman was wounded, and promised that no one should be hurt if they
+would come down. Mrs. Whitman replied, "If you are my friend, come up
+and see me." He objected, and said there were Americans hid in the
+chamber with arms to kill him. Mr. Rogers, standing at the head of the
+stairs, assured him there were none, and very soon he went up and
+remained some time, apparently sympathizing with the sufferers, assuring
+them that he was sorry for what had taken place, and urged Mrs. Whitman
+to come down and be taken over to the other house where the families
+were, intimating that the young men might destroy the house in the
+night. About this time the cry was heard from Joe Lewis, "We will now
+burn."
+
+Mrs. Whitman was assisted down by Mr. Rogers and Mrs. Hays; on reaching
+the lower room, becoming faint, she was laid upon a settee, and taken
+through the kitchen over the dead body of young Sager, and through a
+crowd of Indians. As the settee passed out of the door, the word was
+given by the chief not to shoot the children. At this moment Mr. Rogers
+discovered their treachery, and had only time to drop the settee, raise
+his hands and exclaim, "O my God!" when a volley of guns was fired from
+within and without the house, part at Mrs. Whitman and part at himself.
+He fell upon his face, pierced with many balls.
+
+An Indian seized Francis Sager from among the children, and Joe Lewis
+drew his pistol, and with the expression, "_You bad boy,_" shot him. All
+manner of Indian brutality and insult were offered to the mangled bodies
+while they lay groaning and dying, till night closed upon the scene, and
+the Indians retired to Finlay's and Tilokaikt's lodges to consult as to
+further outrage upon the still living and helpless victims.
+
+The Canadian-Indian, Joe Lewis, was as active in abusing the helpless
+girls as he had been in selecting the children of the Hudson's Bay
+Company's servants to be protected and sent away from such as were to be
+abused and slaughtered.
+
+Mr. Kimball, the three sick children, and Catharine Sager remained in
+the chamber all night. Mr. Osborn lay under the floor of the Indian room
+till the Indians retired. He then made his escape to the fort at
+Wallawalla, with his family. The three men at the beef found themselves
+surrounded, and in the midst of a volley of balls from pistols and guns
+pointed at them. All three were wounded, but neither fell. They fled as
+best they could: Mr. Kimball to the house; Mr. Canfield to the
+blacksmith shop, and thence to the mansion, where he hid himself, and
+remained till night; then fled and reached Lapwai before Mr. Spalding
+did. Mr. Hall wrenched a gun, which had missed fire, from an Indian's
+hand, and ran for the bushes; reached the fort next morning; was put
+across the Columbia River by Mr. McBean's order; and was lost,--starved
+to death, or murdered by the Indians, we know not which. Mr. Gillan was
+shot upon his bench. Mr. Marsh was shot at the mill; ran a short
+distance toward the Doctor's house and fell. Mr. Saunders, hearing the
+guns, rushed to the door of the schoolroom, where he was seized by
+several Indians, who threw him upon the ground amid a shower of balls
+and tomahawks. Being a strong and active man, he rose, though wounded,
+and ran some rods, but was overtaken, surrounded, and cut down. Mr.
+Hoffman was cut down, after fighting desperately with a knife, his body
+cut open, and his heart and liver torn out.
+
+In the midst of all this fury and savage shedding of blood, _no children
+or servants of the Hudson's Bay Company, or Roman Catholics, or such as
+professed friendship for that faith_, were harmed in the least. Finlay,
+a half-breed of the company's, who had formerly kept its horses, was
+stopping close to the station, assisting and counseling with the
+Indians; Joe Lewis selected the two Manson boys and a half-breed Spanish
+boy the Doctor had raised, and arranged to send them to the fort.
+Whoever this Indian was, or wherever he was from, he seems to have
+understood and acted fully and faithfully his part in the "_great
+overturn_" that he said, while at Boise, was to take place at that
+station and in the lower country. How he came to know there was to be
+any change or overturn is yet a secret only to be guessed at. Mr. McBean
+says he returned to Boise and Fort Hall; and Mr. McDonald, that he
+killed the guide to a company of United States troops in the mountains,
+and was himself shot.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LVI.
+
+     Comments on Vicar-General Brouillet's arguments against the Whitman
+     massacre being the act of Catholics.--Joe Stanfield: Brouillet's
+     story in his favor.--Murders on the second day.--Deposition of
+     Daniel Young.--More murders.
+
+
+Vicar-General Brouillet, in his narrative of "Protestantism in Oregon,"
+says: "I could admit that _Joseph Lewis_, _Joseph Stanfield_, and
+_Nicholas Finlay_, who may have been seen plundering" (as proved on the
+trial of Stanfield), "_were Catholics_, without injuring in the least
+the cause of Catholicism; because, as in good reasoning" (Roman
+Catholic, of course), "it is never allowed to conclude from one
+particularity to another particularity, nor to a generality; in like
+manner, from the guilt of three Catholics it can not be reasonably
+concluded that other Catholics are guilty, nor, _a fortiori_, that all
+Catholics are guilty and Catholicism favorable to the guilt."
+
+No man, set of men, or sect, not interested in the result of a measure
+or a crime, will ever use an argument like the one we have quoted from
+this priest. Dr. Whitman and those about his station had been
+slaughtered in the most brutal and cowardly manner, by a band of Indians
+that this priest, his bishop, and associates, backed by the consent and
+influence of the Hudson's Bay Company, had brought about through the
+direct influence of these three men: all of whom knew, and consulted
+with the Indians as to the commission of the crime. And we have the
+strongest reason to believe that this priest and his party were, by
+their conversation, instructions, and direct teachings, adding their
+influence and approval to that horrid transaction. Besides, when the
+crime is committed, we find this same band of _fur traders and priests
+protecting, shielding, advising and assisting the murderers_ to the
+utmost of their power and influence, both in the country and in their
+foreign correspondence. If such facts do not implicate a party, we ask
+what will? The very book from which we are quoting, containing 108
+pages, has not a single sentence condemning the course or crime of these
+men, but every page contains some statement condemning Spalding,
+Whitman, or some American supposed to belong to, or in favor of, the
+American settlements or missions.
+
+But let us return to further particulars of this Whitman massacre. We
+have gathered up the statements and facts on both sides of this
+question, and with our own knowledge, previous to and since its
+occurrence, we write with assurance, if not with the best judgment in
+selecting the facts and evidence to place the truth before the public.
+
+We were in the midst of describing that horrible scene of savage blood
+and carnage, when we stopped for a moment to inquire after the character
+of three of the prominent actors, in fact, the leaders in the tragedy.
+
+Brouillet tells us (on page 89 of his narrative, page 56 of Ross Browne)
+in extenuation of the guilt of Stanfield, that "the following
+circumstance, if true, speaks very highly in his favor, and shows that
+if he has at any time forgotten the good principles he had received in
+his infancy, once, at least, those principles prompted him to an heroic
+action. It was on the morning of the day that followed the massacre.
+There were several Indians scattered in the neighborhood of the mission
+buildings, but especially a crowd of Indian women was standing near the
+door of the house in which all the white women and children were living.
+Stanfield, being then at a short distance from the house, Tilokaikt, the
+chief of the place, came up and asked him if he had something in the
+house. 'Yes,' said Stanfield, 'I have all my things there.' 'Take them
+away,' said the Indian to him. 'Why should I take them away? they are
+well there.' 'Take them off,' he insisted, a second time. 'But I have
+not only my things there; I have also my wife and children.' 'Yes,'
+replied Tilokaikt, who appeared a little surprised, 'you have a wife and
+children in the house! Will you take them off?' 'No,' replied Stanfield,
+'I will not take them away, and I will go and stay myself in the house.
+I see that you have bad designs; you intend to kill the women and
+children; well, you will kill me with them. Are you not ashamed? Are you
+not satisfied with what you have done? Do you want still to kill poor
+innocent creatures that have never done you any harm?' 'I am ashamed,'
+replied Tilokaikt, after a moment's hesitation. 'It is true, those women
+and children do not deserve death; they did not harm us; they shall not
+die.' And, turning to the Indian women who were standing near the door
+of the house waiting with a visible impatience for the order to enter
+and slaughter the people inside, he ordered them to go off. The Indian
+women then became enraged, and, showing them the knives that they took
+from beneath their blankets, they insulted him in many different ways,
+calling him _a coward, a woman who would consent to be governed by a
+Frenchman_; and they retired, apparently in great anger for not having
+been allowed to imbrue their hands in the blood of new victims. The
+above circumstance was related at Fort Wallawalla to Mr. Ogden, by
+Stanfield himself, under great emotion, and in presence of the widows,
+none of whom contradicted him. An action of that nature, if it took
+place, would be, of itself, _sufficient to redeem a great many faults_."
+
+We do not wish to question any good act this Frenchman may have done;
+but the guilt of knowing that crime was to be committed, and that the
+Americans were to be killed around him like the ox he had brought to the
+slaughter, which he knew was to be the signal for its commencement; and
+the manner he and his two associates conducted themselves on the ground;
+_the influence he had_ to stop the massacre at any time, and his
+_robbing the widows and orphans_ in the midst of the slaughter;--these
+make up a complication of crime that none but the vilest will attempt to
+excuse.
+
+On the 30th of November, Mr. Kimball and Mr. Young, a young man from the
+saw-mill, were killed. Mr. Kimball, in attempting to go from his
+concealment in the chamber for water for himself and the sick children,
+was shot by a young Indian, who claimed his eldest daughter for a wife
+as his lawful pay for killing her father.
+
+We will now give an original deposition which explains the killing of
+Mr. Young, and also of two other young men, who escaped the first and
+second, and became victims of the third more brutal slaughter.
+
+
+_Deposition of Mr. Daniel Young relative to the Wailatpu Massacre._
+
+    QUESTION.--When, and in what manner, did you learn of the
+    massacre?
+
+    ANSWER.--I was residing with my father's family at Dr. Whitman's
+    saw-mill, about twenty miles from Wailatpu, where we had gone for
+    the winter. My brother, a young man about twenty-four years of
+    age, and about two years older than myself, had gone down to the
+    station, the Tuesday before, with a load of lumber, and for
+    provisions, and was expecting to return about the last of the
+    week. Joseph Smith and family were also living at the saw-mill,
+    except his oldest daughter, who was at the station. His family was
+    out of flour and meat, and ours was now out of meat. On Saturday
+    evening, he proposed to me to go down the next day for provisions.
+    I did not wish to go down; told him if he wanted provisions he
+    could go. He said if he had a horse he would go. We offered him a
+    horse. He still urged me to go, as there was no one, he said, to
+    stay with his family. I went down on horseback on the Sabbath,
+    being the next Sabbath after the massacre. I did not go to the
+    place till about an hour after dark, and learned nothing of the
+    massacre till after I had got into the house. In the room where I
+    expected to find my brother, I found them eating supper, with
+    several Indians in the room. At the table was Mrs. Hays, and
+    Joseph Stanfield, and Mrs. Hall, with the remnant of her family.
+    About a couple of minutes after I went in, Joseph Stanfield left
+    the table and went out of the house (this was some time previous
+    to the rest leaving the table), and was gone for about three
+    hours, I knew not where; but after he returned, he said he had
+    started to go to Nicholas Finlay's, a half-breed's lodge, but had
+    got lost. Nicholas had come in about half an hour before Stanfield
+    returned. In the mean time I had learned from the Indian Beardy,
+    through Eliza Spalding (his interpreter), of the massacre. This
+    was in short sentences and much confused. Beardy said, however,
+    that the Doctor was his friend, and he did not know of it until a
+    good many had been killed, and he was sorry for what had taken
+    place; he said the Indians said the Doctor was poisoning them, and
+    that was the reason they did it, _but he_ (Beardy) _did not
+    believe it_. That he was there to protect the women and children,
+    and no more should be killed. During the evening I also learned of
+    the number that had been killed, and of those who had escaped from
+    the place; but it was not known what had become of them.
+
+    I was informed by Stanfield that my brother had met an Indian who
+    had told him to go back and stay for a week, but another Indian
+    told him he could safely go on for provisions, and that he would
+    go with him. He went on to within half a mile of the mission. The
+    Indians were said to have gone thus far with him. Stanfield said
+    he there found him dead, shot through the head near one eye, and
+    there he buried him. _Stanfield said_ also that evening that the
+    Doctor was poisoning the Indians, which had caused the massacre;
+    that Joe Lewis had heard from an adjoining room one night the
+    Doctor and Mrs. Whitman talking of poisoning them, and that the
+    Doctor had said it was best to destroy them by degrees, but that
+    Mrs. Whitman said it was best to do it at once, and they would be
+    rid of them, and have all their land and horses as their own; and
+    that he (Joe Lewis) had told the Indians this before the massacre.
+
+    Stanfield also asked me if I had heard of his being married. I
+    told him I had heard from my brother that he was going to take
+    Mrs. Hays for a wife. He said: "We are married, but have not yet
+    slept together." I said: "Yes, I understand, you pretend to be
+    married." He said: "We are married; that is enough." I thought it
+    strange why he was saved unless he was a Catholic, and during the
+    evening took an occasion, when I thought he would not suspect my
+    object, to ask Stanfield whether he was a Catholic? He said, "_I
+    pass for one._"
+
+    I slept with Stanfield that night; did not retire till late. Next
+    morning, Crockett Bewley, a young man about twenty-one or
+    twenty-two, I should think, who was sick at the time of the first
+    massacre, and whose clothes had been stolen (by Stanfield), came
+    into the room wrapped in a blanket or a quilt. _Bewley seemed to
+    speak of the Doctor's poisoning the Indians as something commonly
+    reported among them_ as the cause of the massacre, but said he did
+    not believe any thing of it, _but he believed Joe Lewis was one of
+    the leaders_, and _the Catholic priests were the cause of it_.
+    Stanfield replied, "_You need not believe any such thing, and you
+    had better not let the Indians hear you say that,_" and spoke in a
+    voice as though _he was somewhat angry_. Soon after this, Bewley
+    left the room; Stanfield turned to me and said: "_He had better be
+    careful how he talks; if the Indians get hold of it the Catholics
+    may hear of it._" As soon as I could do it without being
+    suspected, I sought an opportunity to caution Bewley about the
+    danger I thought he was running in speaking thus in the presence
+    of Stanfield, and asked him if he did not know of Stanfield being
+    a Catholic? He said he did not. I told him he might have known it
+    from the fact of most French being Catholics. He replied he did
+    not know of the French being Catholics more than any other people.
+    I told him to be cautious hereafter how he spoke, and he said he
+    would.
+
+    Soon after the conversation with Bewley, I told Stanfield I must
+    return home; he said I must not, the Indian chiefs would be there
+    after a while and would tell me what I must do; said he did not
+    think I could get off till the next day.
+
+    We now commenced making a coffin for one of the Sager children
+    that had died the night before. Soon after, the chief Tilokaikt
+    came. He told me I could not go back till the next day, that he
+    would then send two Indians back with me. I told Stanfield, in the
+    chief's presence, that I had told my folks I should be back on
+    Monday if I came at all. Stanfield told me in reply, that the
+    chief says, "Then you may go;" Stanfield also said, "The chief
+    says tell them all to come down and bring every thing down that is
+    up there; we want them to come down and take care of the families
+    and tend the mill. Tell them, '_Don't undertake to run away; if
+    you do, you will be sure to be killed_;' not be afraid, for they
+    shall not be hurt."
+
+    The chief had now done talking. Stanfield now told me to caution
+    them, our people, at the saw-mill, as to _what they should say_;
+    if they said any thing on the subject, "say that the Doctor was a
+    bad man, and was poisoning the Indians." He had also before that
+    told me the same. I got a piece of meat and asked for some salt;
+    but he said there was none about the house; afterward I found this
+    was not the case. I then returned home, and informed our people as
+    to what had taken place, and my father's first reply was, "_The
+    Catholics are at the bottom of it._" Mr. Smith admitted it, but
+    said, immediately, we must all become Catholics for our safety,
+    and before we left the saw-mill, and afterward, he said he
+    believed the Doctor was poisoning, and believed it from what Joe
+    Stanfield had told him before about the Doctor's misusing the
+    half-breeds and children at his mission. The next day, Tuesday, we
+    went down to the mission, and arrived after dark; found the young
+    men, Bewley and Amos Sales, who were sick at the time of the first
+    massacre, were both killed, and their bodies were lying outside of
+    the door near the house where they lay during the night, and
+    Stanfield said he could not bury them until he got the permission
+    of the Indians. The next day we helped to bury them.
+
+    Here I would say that the two Indians the chief wished to send
+    with me, as he said, to see us safe down, as Stanfield interpreted
+    to me at the time, were the chief's sons, and he wished me to wait
+    because Edward, Tilokaikt's son, had gone to the Umatilla to the
+    _great chief_, to see what to do with the two young men who were
+    sick. This, Stanfield told me, was the business which Edward
+    Tilokaikt had gone for, and he would not get back so as to go with
+    me that day. Three Indians, however, arrived within an hour after
+    I got to the saw-mill, viz., Clark Tilokaikt, Stikas and one whose
+    name I never knew, and came down a part of the way with us next
+    day. I learned from Mrs. Canfield and her daughter, that this same
+    Edward Tilokaikt, after he returned from the Umatilla, gave the
+    first blow with his whip, and broke and run out of doors, when
+    other Indians finished the slaughter of the sick men. While at the
+    station, Joseph Smith threatened me with the Indians if I did not
+    obey him. I felt our condition as bad and very dangerous from the
+    Indians, and feared that Smith would join them. He sometimes
+    talked of going on to the Umatilla to live with them. His daughter
+    was taken by the chief's sons (first Clark, and in the second
+    place, Edward) for a wife. I told Mr. Smith, were I a father, I
+    would never suffer that, so long as I had power to use an arm; his
+    reply was, "You don't know what you would do; I would not dare to
+    say a word if they should take my own wife." I continued to regard
+    our situation as exceedingly dangerous till we got out of the
+    country.
+
+    After we had arrived at Wallawalla, I said, in the presence of Mr.
+    McBean, that I supposed there were present some of the Indians who
+    had killed my brother, and if I knew them I would kill them yet.
+    Mr. McBean said, "_Take care what you say, the very walls have
+    ears._" He was very anxious to get us safe to the Wallamet.
+
+    Q.--Would you suppose one who was acquainted at that place liable
+    to get lost in going that evening to Finlay's lodge?
+
+    A.--I would not. It was in sight and a plain path to it, and was
+    not more than twenty-five yards off.
+
+    Q.--When did you learn from your brother that Stanfield was going
+    to take Mrs. Hays as a wife?
+
+    A.--Some two or more weeks before the massacre, something was said
+    as to Mr. Hoffman taking Mrs. Hays. My brother says, "No, I heard
+    Joe Stanfield say that he was going to take her as a wife."
+
+    Q.--Did your brother appear to believe that this was about to take
+    place?
+
+    A.--He did, and my brother talked about it,--made us believe it
+    was going to take place.
+
+    Q.--What opportunity had your brother to know about this, more
+    than yourself?
+
+    A.--He boarded at the station, and was some of the time teaming
+    from the saw-mill, and Mrs. Hays cooked for him and several others
+    of the Doctor's hands, among whom was Stanfield.
+
+    Q.--Why did you think Stanfield was a Catholic, as a reason for
+    his being saved?
+
+    A.--Because I heard Dr. Whitman say at the mill, that the
+    Catholics were evidently trying to set the Indians upon him, but
+    he thought he could keep it down for another year, when he would
+    be safe. I supposed he expected safety from the government being
+    extended over the country.
+
+    Q.--How did Stanfield seem to know that the chief would be there
+    after a while, and would tell you what you might do as to going
+    back to the saw-mill?
+
+    A.--I did not know.
+
+    Q.--Why did you tell your people that you would be back on Monday,
+    if at all?
+
+    A.--Because we were in an Indian country, and I remembered what I
+    had heard the Doctor say at the Umatilla, and my brother had not
+    returned as expected.
+
+    Q.--Had you any means of knowing what "_great chief_," at the
+    Umatilla, Tilokaikt spoke of, where his son Edward had gone to
+    learn what to do with the sick young men?
+
+    A.--I had not.
+
+    Q.--Did you know at that time that the bishop was said to be at
+    Umatilla?
+
+    A.--Yes.
+
+    Q.--Did you form in your own mind, at that time, any opinion as to
+    whom Edward had gone to consult?
+
+    A.--I thought the term "_great chief_" might have been put in to
+    deceive me, as Stanfield had told me, the evening before, that the
+    Catholics were going to establish a mission right away at that
+    place, and that they would protect the women and children, and _I
+    thought it might be the Catholics_ he was consulting, or it might
+    be some great Indian chief. This talk of establishing a station
+    there continued for more than a week after we got down to the
+    station. After I found Bewley and Sales were killed, I seemed to
+    forget much until even after I had got down, and even to the
+    plains, when the facts again came more clearly to my recollection,
+    and I spoke of them freely to my parents and to others.
+
+               (Signed,)        DANIEL YOUNG.
+
+    Sworn and subscribed to, before me, this 20th day of January, A.D.
+    1849, in Tualatin Plains, Oregon Territory.
+
+                                G. W. COFFINBURY, Justice of the Peace.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LVII.
+
+     How the country was saved to the United States.--Article from the
+     New York _Evening Post_.--Ingratitude of the American
+     Board.--Deposition of Elam Young.--Young girls taken for Indian
+     wives.--Statement of Miss Lorinda Bewley.--Sager, Bewley, and Sales
+     killed.
+
+
+In taking up our morning _Oregonian_ of November 16, 1866, our eye lit
+upon the following article from the New York _Evening Post_, which we
+feel assured the reader will not regret to find upon these pages, and
+which will explain the desperate efforts made to secure this country to
+the United States by Dr. Whitman, the details of whose death we are now
+giving from the depositions of parties upon the ground, who were
+eye-witnesses and fellow-sufferers at the fall of that good and noble
+man whose labors and sacrifices his countrymen are at this late day only
+beginning to appreciate. We ask in astonishment: Has the American Board
+at last opened its ears, and allowed a statement of that noble martyr's
+efforts to save Oregon to his country to be made upon its record? It
+has! it has! and here it is:--
+
+    "We presume it is not generally known to our citizens on the Pacific
+    coast, nor to many people in the Atlantic States, how near we came
+    to losing, through executive incompetence, our just title to the
+    whole immense region lying west of the Rocky Mountains. Neither has
+    due honor been accorded to the brave and patriotic man through whose
+    herculean exertions this great loss and sacrifice was prevented.
+
+    "The facts were briefly and freshly brought out during the recent
+    meeting at Pittsburg of the 'American Board of Commissioners for
+    Foreign Missions,' in the course of an elaborate paper read by Mr.
+    Treat, one of the secretaries of the Board, on the 'Incidental
+    Results of Missions.'
+
+    "In the year 1836 the American Board undertook to establish a
+    mission among the Indians beyond the Rocky Mountains. Two
+    missionaries, Rev. Mr. Spalding and Dr. Whitman, with their
+    wives,--the first white women who had ever made that perilous
+    journey,--passed over the mountains with incredible toil, to reach
+    Oregon, the field of their labor. After remaining there for a few
+    years, Dr. Whitman began to understand the object of the
+    misrepresentations of the Hudson's Bay Company. He saw, contrary to
+    the reiterated public statements of that company--
+
+    "1. That the land was rich in minerals.
+
+    "2. That emigrants could cross the Rocky Mountains in wagons, a feat
+    which they had constantly asserted to be impossible.
+
+    "3. That the Hudson's Bay Company was planning to secure the sole
+    occupancy of the whole of that country, by obtaining a surrender of
+    the American title into the hands of the British government.
+
+    "Seeing these things, but not knowing how very near the British
+    scheme was to its accomplishment, Dr. Whitman resolved, at every
+    hazard, to prevent its consummation. He undertook, in 1842, to make
+    a journey on horseback to Washington, to lay the whole matter
+    clearly before our government by personal representations. Being a
+    man of great physical strength and an iron constitution, he
+    accomplished the long and perilous journey, and reached Washington
+    in safety. The remainder of the story we will relate in the language
+    of the Boston _Congregationalist_: Reaching Washington, he sought an
+    interview with President Tyler and Daniel Webster, then Secretary of
+    State, and unfolded to them distinctly what was going on. Here he
+    learned that a treaty was almost ready to be signed, in which all
+    this northwestern territory was to be given up to England, and we
+    were to have in compensation greater facilities in catching fish.
+    Dr. Whitman labored to convince Mr. Webster that he was the victim
+    of false representations with regard to the character of the region,
+    and told him that he intended to return to Oregon with a train of
+    emigrants. Mr. Webster, looking him full in the eye, asked him if he
+    would pledge himself to conduct a train of emigrants there in
+    wagons. He promised that he would. Then, said Mr. Webster, this
+    treaty shall be suppressed. Dr. Whitman, in coming on, had fixed
+    upon certain rallying-points where emigrants might assemble to
+    accompany him on his return. He found nearly one thousand ready for
+    the journey. After long travel, they reached Fort Hall, a British
+    military station, and the commandant undertook to frighten the
+    emigrants by telling them that it was not possible for them to go
+    through with wagons; but Dr. Whitman reassured them, and led them
+    through to the Columbia, and the days of the supremacy of the
+    Hudson's Bay Company over Oregon were numbered."
+
+Twenty-four years after that noble, devoted, faithful servant and
+missionary of theirs had received a cold reproof, after enduring one of
+the severest and most trying journeys of several thousand miles, his
+Board at home, and unreasonably cautious associates in Oregon have
+consented to acknowledge that they owe to him a debt of respect for
+doing, without their consent or approval at the time, a noble,
+patriotic, and unselfish act for his country.
+
+And how shall we regard the cold indifference they have manifested to
+the present day, in regard to the infamous manner in which his life, and
+the lives of his wife and countrymen were taken, and the continued
+slanders heaped upon their names? Have they asked for, or even attempted
+an explanation, or a refutation of those slanders? Their half-century
+volume speaks a language not to be mistaken. Mr. Spalding, his first and
+most zealous associate, attempted to bring the facts before the world,
+but the caution of those who would whitewash his (Dr. Whitman's)
+sepulcher induced Mr. Spalding to give up in despair,--a poor
+broken-down wreck, caused by the frightful ending of his
+fellow-associates, and of his own missionary labors.
+
+Is this severe, kind reader, upon the Board and a portion of Dr.
+Whitman's associates? We intend to tell the truth if it is, as we are
+endeavoring to get the truth, the whole truth, and as few mistakes as
+possible in these pages. Therefore we will copy another deposition
+relative to this massacre.
+
+
+_Deposition of Mr. Elam Young._
+
+I met Dr. Whitman on the Umatilla, about the 1st of October, 1847. He
+engaged me to build a mill for him at his mission. As the lumber was not
+handy at the station, I moved up to the saw-mill to do a part of the
+work there.
+
+Some time in November, my son James, who was teaming for the Doctor,
+went from the saw-mill with a load of lumber for the mission station,
+and was to return with provisions for us. This was on Tuesday after the
+murder. Shortly after he had gone away, Mr. Smith, who was also at the
+saw-mill, appeared to be very uneasy; stated repeatedly that he was sure
+something had happened to him; said he had a constant foreboding of some
+evil; stated that Dr. Whitman was abusing the children at the mission,
+as he had understood by Stanfield; frequently spoke against Dr. Whitman.
+The next Sunday, beginning to feel uneasy, I sent my second son Daniel
+down to the station, who returned on Monday and brought the news of the
+massacre. _It instantly struck my mind that the Catholic priests had
+been the cause of the whole of it._ This conviction was caused by
+repeated conversations with Dr. Whitman, together with my knowledge of
+the principles of the Jesuits. Mr. Smith observed at the same time that
+we must all be Jesuits for the time being. Soon after Daniel returned,
+three Indians came up and told us we must go down to the station, which
+we accordingly did the next day. When we got there it was after night;
+we found that Crockett Bewley and Amos Sales had both been killed that
+day. The women told us that they had told the Indians, before we came
+down, that we were English, and we must not contradict it. The Indians
+soon began to question whether I was English. I told them I was of
+English parents, but born in the United States.
+
+A few days after we got there two young women were taken as wives for
+the Indians, which I opposed, _and was threatened by Mr. Smith_, who was
+very anxious that it should take place, and that other little girls
+should be given up for wives. Was employed while there in making coffins
+and grinding for the Indians.
+
+While there, Miss Bewley was taken off to the Umatilla. Tried to comfort
+her as much as I could, believing she would be _safer there at the
+Catholic station than where we were_. First ten days we were constantly
+told that the Catholics were coming there to establish a mission. Heard
+that Mr. Ogden had come up to Wallawalla to rescue us from the Indians.
+Went to grinding and preparing provisions for our journey. Smith and
+Stanfield, who appeared to be very friendly with each other, had the
+management of the teams and loading, took the best teams and lightest
+loads, gave us the poorest teams and heaviest loads. On the way to
+Wallawalla they drove off and left us. The hindmost teams had to double
+in the bad places. Reached the fort perhaps half an hour after Smith and
+Stanfield had; met Smith at the gate, who says: "Well, you have got
+along?" "Yes." "It is well you did, for the Indians found out that _you
+were not an Englishman, and were determined to have your scalp_." I
+asked him, "How do you know this?" to which he made no reply. Went into
+the fort and met Mr. McBean and the priest; supposed they would all
+rejoice at our escape, but their manner was very cold and distant. But
+Mr. Ogden greeted us cordially. The next day the Indians came into the
+fort in considerable numbers, and their actions were suspicious, and Mr.
+McBean seemed to interest himself very much in our behalf, and _told us
+to be very quiet and to keep in our own rooms_, and be careful what we
+said, as the very walls had ears. [If this does not show the sneaking
+dog, what does? Ogden is apparently all friendship, and McBean is all
+caution to the captives.]
+
+We arrived on Monday, and Mr. Spalding on Saturday after, and the next
+day all took boat for the lower country.
+
+Q.--Did your son give you any caution as to what to say when you reached
+the station.
+
+A.--He said Stanfield said we must say the Doctor poisoned the Indians.
+
+Q.--What did you learn about Mr. Rogers as having made a confession.
+
+A.--_Stanfield said that Mr. Rogers had made a confession that the
+Doctor had poisoned the Indians._ I replied, "Who knows this?" He said
+Mrs. Hays and Mrs. Hall heard it. I afterward asked Mrs. Hays if she did
+hear it. She replied, "_We must say so now_." I afterward, at the
+station, told Stanfield he had better not mention that to Americans, for
+there was not one from Maine to Georgia that would believe it. He
+replied, "We must say so." I told him I never would.
+
+Q.--What conversation with the Doctor led you to believe the Catholics
+were at the bottom of the whole of it?
+
+A.--That some years before (1841) he had had difficulty with the
+Indians, and he had found out satisfactorily where it came from, by
+charging the Indians of having been made jealous of a certain man. I do
+not recollect the name, but I think he said he was from Canada, and the
+Indians acknowledged it. [The difficulty here spoken of was about the
+horses given as a present to Rev. Jason Lee, on his way to Wallamet. The
+Indians had been told by the company's interpreter, old Toupin, that he
+had as good as stolen their horses, as he made them no presents in
+return, and they were encouraged to make that a cause of difficulty with
+Dr. Whitman.] At that time they had knocked off his hat, etc., but other
+Indians would obey him and pick it up, and so long as they would obey,
+he was satisfied of his safety; but this had long since passed off. [The
+writer was present, and saw the whole performance here alluded to, the
+particulars of which are given elsewhere]. And they were never in a
+better state until of late, when a body of priests and Jesuits had come
+in, and were constantly saying in their ears that this sickness came on
+them by the Americans; that the Americans were a very bad people, that
+the Good Being had sent on them as a punishment.
+
+Q.--Why did Mr. Smith appear anxious to have the young women given to
+the Indians?
+
+A.--I do not know, unless to appease them, and get their affection.
+
+Q.--Did the Doctor appear to wish to remain, against the wish of a
+majority of the Indians?
+
+A.--I heard him say repeatedly, if the Indians wished him to leave he
+would, but a large majority said he must not, and he thought the times
+would soon change. I understood him to expect a change from the
+extension of government.
+
+Q.--Did your son Daniel say any thing, before you moved from the
+saw-mill, of having cautioned C. Bewley for speaking unadvisedly before
+Joe Stanfield?
+
+A.--Yes, he gave that; that amounts to the same as he has given in his
+statement.
+
+Q.--Did you have any fears, while at the station, that Mr. Smith was
+liable, had the circumstances become more dangerous, to act with the
+Indians?
+
+A.--Certainly I did.
+
+Q.--Did you get any reason why Bewley and Sales were killed?
+
+A.--Though I did not get it directly from them, the Indian account was,
+the _great chief at the Umatilla said their disease would spread; but I
+believe it was because Bewley had spoken before Stanfield unadvisedly_.
+
+               (Signed,)      ELAM YOUNG.
+
+
+Sworn and subscribed to before me, this 20th day of January, 1849.
+
+                              G. W. COFFINBURY, Justice of the Peace.
+
+
+What shall we say of these depositions, and the facts asserted under the
+solemnity of an oath, the witnesses still living, with many others
+confirming the one fact, _that Roman priests and Hudson's Bay men,
+English and Frenchmen, were all safe and unharmed_ in an Indian--and
+that American--territory, _while American citizens were cut down by
+savage hands without mercy_? Can we regard the conduct of such men in
+any other light than as enemies in peace? Without the aid of religious
+bigotry and the appeal to God as sending judgments upon them, not one of
+those simple-minded natives would ever have lifted a hand to shed the
+blood of their teachers or of American citizens. We see how faithful and
+persevering Joe Lewis, Finlay, and Stanfield were in their part, while
+the bishop and his priests, and Sir James Douglas, at Vancouver, were
+watching at a distance to misrepresent the conduct of the dead, and
+excuse and justify their own instruments, as in Mr. Douglas's letters to
+Governor Abernethy and the Sandwich Islands; and Vicar-General
+Brouillet's narrative, with more recent proceedings, which are given in
+another chapter.
+
+We intended to give in this connection the account of this tragedy as
+given by Vicar-General Brouillet, but it accords so nearly with that
+given by Sir James Douglas in his Sandwich Islands letter to Mr. Castle,
+that the impression is irresistibly forced upon the mind that the whole
+account is prepared by one and the same person; hence we will not
+encumber our pages with more than a liberal amount of extracts,
+sufficient to show the full knowledge of the bishop and his priests of
+what was expected to take place at the Whitman station, and the brutal
+and inhuman part they took in forcing Miss Bewley into the arms of Five
+Crows, after that Indian was humane enough to permit her to return to
+the house of those, that Mr. Young, and all others who were ignorant of
+their vileness, might naturally suppose would be a place of safety from
+such treatment. She that was Miss Bewley is now dead, but she has left
+on record the statement of her wrongs. We give it a permanent place in
+our history, not to persecute or slander the Jesuit fraternity (for
+truth is no slander), but to warn Americans against placing their
+daughters and sons under any such teachings or influences.
+
+
+_Statement of Miss Lorinda Bewley._
+
+Q.--What time did the massacre commence?
+
+A.--I think half-past one.
+
+Q.--Who fled to the chamber?
+
+A.--Mrs. Hall, Mrs. Hays, Mrs. Whitman, Mr. Kimball, Mr. Rogers,--the
+three last wounded,--myself, Catharine Sager, thirteen years of age, her
+sisters Elizabeth, Louisa, and Henrietta, the three half-breed
+girls,--Miss Bridger, Mary Ann, and Helen,--last four very sick. After
+we got into the chamber the Indians broke in the windows and doors,
+filled the house and broke down the stair-door. Mr. Kimball advised to
+attempt the appearance of defense at the stairway. Mrs. Whitman and Mr.
+Rogers said, let all prepare for death. I found an old gun, and it was
+held over the staircase by Mr. Rogers. They appeared cool and deliberate
+in ordering all to prepare for death, when they were breaking up the
+house. The appearance of the gun appeared to check the Indians from
+coming up-stairs. A few words passed between Mr. Rogers and one of the
+Indians. Mr. Rogers said, "The Indians wish me to come down." Mrs.
+Whitman objected at first; some words passed between Mrs. Whitman and
+Mr. Rogers about his going down which I do not recollect; finally Mrs.
+Whitman took his hand and said, "The Lord bless you; go!" and he went
+nearly to the bottom of the stairs, but his head was all the time above
+the stairs; he was not there longer than two or three minutes. A few
+words passed between them, but I did not understand the language. Mrs.
+Whitman said, "The Indians say you have guns and want to kill us." Mr.
+Rogers says, "No, you wish to get us down to kill us." This seemed to be
+all they talked about. Mr. Rogers says to Mrs. Whitman, "Shall we let
+them come up?" Mrs. Whitman says, "Let one, Tamsaky, come up." Tamsaky
+came up and shook hands with us all, and spoke and advised us all to go
+down and go over to the other house, for the young men would burn the
+house; he led the way down while the Indians were hallooing wildly in
+the room below, but when we had got down, the Indians had gone out and
+were very still. While we were up-stairs the Doctor's face had been cut
+awfully to pieces, but he was yet breathing. Mrs. Whitman saw him and
+said she wanted air; they led her to the settee and she lay down. She
+appeared to think then, that we were going to be spared, and told us to
+get all the things from the press we needed. I put a blanket I had over
+her, and got a sheet for myself, and we put a good many clothes from the
+press on the settee; Mrs. Hall and Mrs. Hays got their arms full also.
+Mr. Rogers was going to take us over to the other house, and then come
+back for the sick children. This was Tamsaky's advice, as he said the
+Indians were going to burn the house. It was now getting dark. Mr.
+Rogers and Joe Lewis carried out the settee, over the bodies of the
+Doctor and John Sager, which were dreadfully mangled; they passed
+through the kitchen, and through the outside door toward the end of the
+house occupied as the Indian room. Here, to our surprise and terror, the
+Indians were collected, with their guns ready; the children from the
+school were huddled in the corner of the building. When the settee had
+gone about its length from the door, Joe Lewis dropped the end he was
+holding and the guns were immediately fired. Mr. Rogers had only time to
+raise his hands and say, "O my God, save me," and fell. I felt my
+fingers numb till next morning, from a ball that passed so near as to
+sting them. Mrs. Whitman received two balls when on the settee.
+
+I could not see what was done at the same time on all sides of me. On
+turning round I saw Francis Sager down bleeding and groaning. The
+children said an Indian hauled him out from among them and Joe Lewis
+shot him with a pistol. Mr Rogers fell down by my feet and groaned loud.
+All three appeared in great agony, and groaned very loud. The Indian
+women were carrying off things, and the Indians were shouting terribly;
+the Indians also started and cut Mrs. Whitman's face with their whips
+and rolled her into the mud. [This treatment of Mrs. Whitman will be
+explained in the statement of Stikas, as given from Mr. McLane's
+journal.] At this I attempted to escape to the other house. One of the
+Indians from Mrs. Whitman caught me,--I had run about two rods,--when I
+screamed and he shook his tomahawk over my head, and I kept screaming,
+not knowing that he wanted me to hush; then a great many others came
+round, and pointed their guns and shook their hatchets. I finally
+discovered they wanted me to be still, and when I was silent, one of
+them led me by the hand over to the mansion.
+
+Q.--Was Mr. Rogers wounded when he started into the house?
+
+A.--Yes; shot through the arm and tomahawked in the head.
+
+Q.--Did Mr. Rogers have any interview with the Indians after he got in
+until the one on the stairs?
+
+A.--No. As soon as he got in the house was locked, and none got in
+after that till we were all up-stairs, when they broke the doors and
+windows.
+
+Q.--Did the Indians have an interview with Mr. Rogers after the one on
+the stairs, up to the time he was shot?
+
+A.--No; the Indians were not in the room, except Tamsaky and Joe Lewis,
+and we were all very still and Mr. Rogers was all the time in my sight,
+except as I stepped to the bed for the sheet, and I was very quick.
+
+Q.--Did you hear it reported that Mr. Rogers said he overheard Dr. and
+Mrs. Whitman and Mr. Spalding talking at night about poisoning the
+Indians?
+
+A.--No; but after being taken to Umatilla, _one_ of the two _Frenchmen
+said_ that the Indians' talk was that an Indian who understood English
+overheard such conversation.
+
+Q.--Did you consider Mr. Rogers and Mrs. Whitman were meeting their fate
+like devoted Christians?
+
+A.--Yes.
+
+Q.--When did the priest arrive?
+
+A.--Wednesday, while the bodies were being prepared for the grave. The
+bodies were collected into the house on Tuesday evening.
+
+Q.--Did the Indians bury a vial or bottle of the Doctor's medicine?
+
+A.--They said they did. Joe Stanfield made the box to bury it in, and
+the Indians said they buried it.
+
+Q.--Why did they bury it?
+
+A.--They said _the priests said it was poison_. Stanfield and Nicholas
+were their interpreters to us.
+
+Q.--How did they obtain this vial?
+
+A.--The Indians said _the priests found it_ among the Doctor's
+medicines, and showed it to them, and _told them if it broke it would
+poison the whole nation_.
+
+Q.--Was there much stir among the Indians about this bottle?
+
+A.--Yes, a great deal.
+
+Q.--Why did the Indians kill your brother?
+
+A.--Edward Tilokaikt returned from the Umatilla, and told us (after they
+had killed him) the _great chief told them their disease would spread_.
+
+Q.--Did your brother make any effort to escape?
+
+A.--He told me the night before he was killed that he was preparing to
+make an effort to escape. I told him he must not, he was not able to
+walk. He said he had that day agreed with Stanfield to get him a horse,
+and assist him away. I said, "What will become of me?" He said, "I know
+you have been greatly abused, and all I care for my life is to get
+away, and make an effort to save you; but I may be killed before
+to-morrow at this time, but, if it is the Lord's will, I am prepared to
+die." This was Monday, a week from the first massacre. About three
+o'clock the next day my brother and Mr. Sales were killed, and _I have
+always thought that Joe Stanfield betrayed them_.
+
+Q.--Did the Indians threaten you all, and treat you with cruelty from
+the first?
+
+A.--They did.
+
+Q.--Did they on Tuesday assemble and threaten your lives?
+
+A.--Yes, and frequently threatened our lives afterward. (See statement
+of Stanfield by Brouillet, in a previous chapter, confirming the fact of
+his unbounded influence over the Indians.)
+
+Q.--When were the young women first dragged out and brutally treated?
+
+A.--Saturday night after the first massacre, and continually after that.
+
+Q.--When were you taken to the Umatilla?
+
+(Miss Bewley will answer this question after we have given Vicar-General
+Brouillet an opportunity to state his part in this tragedy.)
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LVIII.
+
+     Vicar-General Brouillet's statement.--Statement of Istacus.--The
+     priest finds the poison.--Statement of William Geiger, Jr.--Conduct
+     of Mr. McBean.--Influence of the Jesuit missions.
+
+
+We left Vicar-General Brouillet and Bishop Blanchet and his priests on
+their way to their station on the Umatilla, where they arrived on
+November 27. On the 28th, Brouillet says, page 47: "The next day being
+Sunday, we were visited by Dr. Whitman, who remained but a few minutes
+at the house, and appeared to be much agitated. Being invited to dine,
+he refused, saying that he feared it would be too late, as he had
+twenty-five miles to go, and wished to reach home before night. On
+parting, he entreated me not to fail to visit him when I would pass by
+his mission, which I very cordially promised to do.
+
+    "On Monday, 29th, Mr. Spalding took supper with us, and appeared
+    quite gay. During the conversation, he happened to say that the
+    Doctor was unquiet; that the Indians were displeased with him on
+    account of the sickness, and that even he had been informed that the
+    Murderer (an Indian) intended to kill him; but he seemed not to
+    believe this, and suspected as little as we did what was taking
+    place at the mission of the Doctor."
+
+The reader will note and remember the statement which follows: Brouillet
+says, on the 48th page of his narrative, the 36th of J. Ross Browne's
+report:--
+
+    "Before leaving Fort Wallawalla, it had been decided that, after
+    visiting the sick people of my own mission on the Umatilla, I should
+    visit those of Tilokaikt's camp, for the purpose of baptizing the
+    infants and such dying adults as might desire this favor; and the
+    Doctor and Mr. Spalding having informed me that there were still
+    many sick persons at their mission, I was confirmed in this
+    resolution, and made preparations to go as soon as possible.
+
+    "After having finished baptizing the infants and adults of my
+    mission, I left on Tuesday, the 30th of November, late in the
+    afternoon, for Tilokaikt's camp, where I arrived between seven and
+    eight o'clock in the evening. It is impossible to conceive my
+    surprise and consternation when, upon my arrival, I learned that the
+    Indians the day before had massacred the Doctor and his wife, with
+    the greater part of the Americans at the mission. I passed the
+    night without scarcely closing my eyes. Early the next morning I
+    baptized three sick children, two of whom died soon after, and then
+    hastened to the scene of death, to offer to the widows and orphans
+    all the assistance in my power. I found five or six women and over
+    thirty children in a situation deplorable beyond description. Some
+    had just lost their husbands, and others their fathers, whom they
+    had seen massacred before their eyes, and were expecting every
+    moment to share the same fate. The sight of those persons caused me
+    to shed tears, which, however, I was obliged to conceal, for I was
+    the greater part of the day in the presence of the murderers, and
+    closely watched by them; and if I had shown too marked an interest
+    in behalf of the sufferers, it would only have endangered their
+    lives and mine; these, therefore, entreated me to be upon my guard."
+
+The women that lived through that terrible scene inform us that this
+priest was as familiar and friendly with the Indians as though nothing
+serious had occurred. We have seen and conversed freely with four of
+those unfortunate victims, and all affirm the same thing. Their
+impression was, that there might be others he expected to be killed, and
+he did not wish to be present when it was done. According to the
+testimony in the case, Mr. Kimball and James Young were killed while he
+was at or near the station. Brouillet continues, on the 49th page:--
+
+    "After the first few words that could be exchanged under the
+    circumstances, I inquired after the victims, and was told they were
+    yet unburied. Joseph Stanfield, a Frenchman, who was in the employ
+    of Dr. Whitman, and had been spared by the Indians, was engaged in
+    washing the corpses, but being alone, he was unable to bury them. I
+    resolved to go and assist him, so as to render to these unfortunate
+    victims the last service in my power to offer them. What a sight did
+    I then behold! Ten dead bodies lying here and there, covered with
+    blood, and bearing the marks of the most atrocious cruelty,--some
+    pierced with balls, others more or less gashed by the hatchet. Dr.
+    Whitman had received three gashes on the face. Three others had
+    their skulls crushed so that their brains were oozing out.
+
+    "I assure you, sir, that, during the time I was occupied in burying
+    the victims of this disaster, I was far from feeling safe, being
+    obliged to go here and there gathering up the dead bodies. In the
+    midst of assassins, whose hands were still stained with blood, and
+    who, by their manners, their countenances, and the arms which they
+    still carried, sufficiently announced that their thirst for blood
+    was yet unsatiated. Assuming as composed a manner as possible, I
+    cast more than one glance aside and behind at the knives, pistols,
+    and guns, in order to assure myself whether there were not some of
+    them directed toward me."
+
+The above extract is from a letter addressed to Colonel Gilliam. The
+cause of the priest's alarm is explained in a statement found in the
+journal of Mr. McLane, private secretary to Colonel Gilliam, while in
+the Cayuse country, taken from the Indians' statement in the winter of
+1847-48. He was compelled to find the poison. Brouillet says:--
+
+    "The ravages which the sickness had made in their midst, together
+    with the conviction which a half-breed, named Joseph Lewis, had
+    succeeded in fixing upon their minds that Dr. Whitman had poisoned
+    them, were the only motives I could discover which could have
+    prompted them to this act of murder. This half-breed had imagined a
+    conversation between Dr. Whitman, his wife, and Mr. Spalding, in
+    which he made them say that it was necessary to hasten the death of
+    the Indians in order to get possession of their horses and lands.
+    'If you do not kill the Doctor,' said he, 'you will be dead in the
+    spring.'"
+
+
+_Statement of Istacus, or Stikas._
+
+In the first place, Joe Lewis told the Indians that the Doctor was
+poisoning. Tamsaky went to Camaspelo and told him he wanted to kill the
+Doctor, and wished him to help. He replied, pointing to his child, that
+his child was sick, and that was as much as he could attend to. Tamsaky
+then went to Tilokaikt, and he said he would have nothing to do with it.
+But his son and young men wished to do it, and they contended so long
+that at last he said: "If you are determined to do so, go and kill him."
+Afterward, the Indians presented a gun two different times to Tamsaky,
+and told him to go and kill the Doctor. He said he would not kill him.
+
+When the priests came, they got to quarreling; the Catholic priests told
+them that what the Doctor taught them would take them to the devil, and
+the Doctor told them what the priests taught them would take them to the
+devil. After the priests told them that, the Indians said they believed
+it, for the Doctor did not cure them.
+
+After the Doctor was killed, _the priest told the Young Chief_ that it
+was true that the Doctor had given them poison; before that, the Doctor
+had given them medicine and they died. After the massacre, all the
+Indians went to the priest's house (an Indian lodge near Dr. Whitman's
+station), and I said that I was going to ask the priest himself whether
+it was true or not, so that I could hear with my own ears. He (the
+priest) told them that the priests were sent of God. They did not know
+how to answer him. The Five Crows told me _that the priest told him the
+Doctor was poisoning them. I then believed it._
+
+They then went and killed the two sick men. I asked the Indians, if he
+gave us poison, why did the Americans get sick?
+
+[It is evident that this conversation took place at the camp of
+Tilokaikt, where Mr. Brouillet says he spent the night of the 30th of
+November.]
+
+Afterward, they went to the Doctor's place, and _the priest was there
+too_, and they asked him where the poison was that the Doctor gave them.
+After searching some time among the medicines, he found _a vial with
+something white in it_, and told them, "_Here it is._" I tell you what I
+heard.
+
+The priest then told them that _Mrs. Whitman had a father in the States
+that gave poison to the people there_, and that he had given this to
+her, to poison them all; then they all believed. I told them that I did
+not believe that the Doctor was poisoning them; I said I expected they
+brought the sickness with them from California, for many of them died
+coming from that place. Joe Lewis told them to make a box, and Beardy
+buried the vial in the square box, stating, if they did not, the
+Americans would get it and poison them all.
+
+_The head man of the priests told them all these things_, and the priest
+took all the best books to his house.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The above is a true extract from the journal of Mr. McLane, private
+secretary to Colonel Gilliam, the same as was read in my hearing to
+Mungo, the interpreter for Colonel Gilliam, when these statements were
+made, and he said it was true and correctly written.
+
+               (Signed,)         L. H. JUDSON.
+
+Sworn to and subscribed before me, this 25th day of November, 1848,
+Champoeg County, Oregon Territory.
+
+                                 AARON PURDY, Justice of the Peace.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+There are three important facts stated by this Indian which are
+confirmed by other testimony.
+
+First. That the priest was upon the ground, or in at the death.
+
+Second. He was ready to overhaul the Doctor's medicines and hunt out
+some vial, and tell the Indians, "_Here it is,--the medicine the Doctor
+has been killing you with._"
+
+Third. That he told them it was sent to the Doctor by Mrs. Whitman's
+father, who poisoned people in the States.
+
+This explains the terrible and brutal treatment of Mrs. Whitman's body,
+even after death.
+
+Brouillet says, "_Joseph Lewis had succeeded in fixing upon their minds
+that Dr. Whitman had poisoned them_," but Istacus, one of the first and
+most truthful Indians we became acquainted with in the country, tells us
+that the Indians did not believe Joe Lewis till the priest confirmed his
+statements, and this priest was required to show them the poison.
+
+It would not be strange, if, while he is compelled to hunt over the
+medicines of Dr. Whitman, to find any that he could call poison, and in
+exhibiting such evidence to the deluded murderers about him, that he
+should feel himself in danger, yet his whole conduct belies such a
+statement, for he well knew the ignorance of those about him as to any
+medicine he might select and call _poison_.
+
+This Indian's statement also explains the killing of the two young men,
+Sales and Bewley, and that as these priests "were sent of God," the
+disease of these young men would spread; in other words, their testimony
+would convict the parties implicated.
+
+We find in this same letter to Colonel Gilliam, other statements that
+are important in the history we are giving. He says: "_I knew that the
+Indians were angry with all Americans, and more enraged against Mr.
+Spalding than any other._" If this was the case, why did they not kill
+him first? There is certainly some mistake in this statement of Mr.
+Brouillet, or else the Indians were too hasty, which is probably the
+case. The Indians were not quite as much "_enraged_" against Mr.
+Spalding as his reverence, who claimed to know their feelings so well.
+
+Again, on the 54th page (39th of Ross Browne), in answer to Mr.
+Spalding's wild, despairing cry, "But where shall I go?" he answers: "I
+know not; you know the country better than I; all that I know is that
+the Indians say _the order to kill Americans has been sent in all
+directions_."
+
+How did this Rev. Father Brouillet know all this? We have yet to learn
+that he ever gave a single American, except Mr. Spalding, any
+information respecting their danger,--which he certainly could have done
+with perfect safety, by sending any one or all of them a written notice
+of the "order to kill Americans;" but instead of warning them of their
+danger, he was present to show to the Indians a vial of Dr. Whitman's
+medicine and tell them it was the _poison_.
+
+The long list of statements collected and given to the world as reliable
+historical data, by this priest, and embodied in an official report by
+J. Ross Browne, do but show the active part he, with his associate
+priests and the Hudson's Bay Company, took to destroy the American
+influence and settlements then in the country.
+
+Says the historian Bancroft: "It is the duty of faithful history to
+trace events not only to their cause, but to their authors."
+
+We will direct our attention for a short time to the proceedings of Mr.
+McBean in charge of Fort Wallawalla (or Fort Nez Perces), in council
+with the Indians. From the statement of Mr. Wm. Geiger, Jr., who was at
+Dr. Whitman's station during the winter of 1846-7, teaching school, we
+learn that the Indians showed some dissatisfaction, and were called
+together by Dr. Whitman, to consult and decide what they would do. The
+Doctor proposed to them that a majority of the tribe should let him know
+definitely, and a vote was taken, and but two or three were found to
+favor his leaving. During this council Mr. Geiger and the Doctor learned
+that there had been conversation and a council with the Indians at the
+fort, by Mr. McBean. That he had informed them of the Mexican war
+between the United States and Mexico, and of the prospect of a war
+between the United States and England (King George men), and that he was
+anxious to know which side the Cayuses would take in the event of such a
+war. This question Mr. McBean kept constantly before the Indians
+whenever they went to the fort. They would return to the station and say
+that Mr. McBean had given them more news of the prospect of war between
+the King George people and Americans, and that he wished to know which
+side they would take. Tamsaky, Tilokaikt, and one other Indian said they
+had told Mr. McBean that they would join the King George. Some said they
+had told him their hearts favored the Americans; others professed to be
+on the "_back-bone_," _i.e._, hesitating. All matters and causes of
+dissatisfaction between the Doctor's mission and the Indians were
+amicably settled. The Doctor and Mr. Geiger could not see why Mr. McBean
+should beset the Indians on that subject, unless it was to bring about
+what had been before, viz., to make allies of the Indians in case of
+war.
+
+On account of this dissatisfaction, the Doctor thought of leaving. Mr.
+Geiger says, "I told them I thought it their duty to remain. I thought
+the Indians as quiet as communities in general; in old places there were
+more or less difficulties and excitements."
+
+In the communication signed by Mr. Geiger, he is asked, "What was the
+cause of discouragement with the Doctor and Mr. Spalding at that time?"
+
+A.--"The influence of the Roman priests, exercised in talking to the
+Indians, and through the French half-breed, Lehai, Tom Hill, a Delaware
+Indian, and others."
+
+Q.--"What did the Indians mention was the instruction they received from
+Roman Catholics?"
+
+A.--"That the Protestants were leading them in wrong roads, _i.e._,
+even to hell. If they followed the _Suapies_ (Americans) they would
+continue to die. If they followed the Catholics, it would be otherwise
+with them; only now and then one would die of age. That they would get
+presents,--would become rich in every thing."
+
+We have a statement made by Brouillet as to their influence among the
+Indians on this coast, found on the 87th page of his narrative,
+"Protestantism in Oregon" (55th of Ross Browne.) He says:--
+
+    "Messrs. Blanchet and Demerse, the first Catholic missionaries that
+    came to Oregon, had passed Wallawalla in 1838, where they had
+    stopped a few days, and had been visited by the Indians. In 1839,
+    Mr. Demerse had spent three weeks in teaching the Indians and
+    baptizing their children. In 1840, he had made there a mission so
+    fruitful that the Protestant missionaries had got alarmed, and
+    feared that all their disciples would abandon them if he continued
+    his missions among them. Father De Smet, after visiting the
+    Flatheads in 1840, had come and established a mission among them in
+    1841; and from that time down to the arrival of the bishop, the
+    Indians of Wallawalla and of the Upper Columbia had never failed to
+    be visited yearly, either by Mr. Demerse or by some of the Jesuits,
+    and those annual excursions had procured every year new children to
+    the church. Almost every Indian tribe possessed some Catholic
+    member."
+
+We can bear positive testimony as to the effect and influence of those
+teachings up to 1842 among the Upper Columbia Indians; and it is to
+illustrate the bearing and result of those teachings, continued for a
+series of years upon the savage mind, and the influence of a foreign
+monopoly in connection with such teachers, that we bring these
+statements before the reader.
+
+The vast influence wielded by this foreign fur and sectarian monopoly
+was used to secure Oregon for their exclusive occupation. The testimony
+of Rev. Messrs. Beaver and Barnley, and Sir Edward Belcher, as given by
+Mr. Fitzgerald, and that of his Reverence Brouillet, as found on the
+56th page of his narrative, all affirm the close connection of these two
+influences. Leaving out of the question the statement of many others, we
+have that of this priest. He says:--
+
+"Some days after an express reached us from the fort, informing us that
+our lives were in danger from a portion of the Indians who could not
+pardon me for having deprived them of their victim; and this was the
+only reason which prevented me from fulfilling the promise which I had
+made to the widows and orphans of returning to see them, and obliged me
+to be contented with sending my interpreter" to the scene of the murder,
+to bring Miss Bewley to be treated as the evidence in the next chapter
+will show.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LIX.
+
+     Continuation of Miss Bewley's evidence.--The priests refuse her
+     protection.--Forcibly taken from the bishop's house by Five
+     Crows.--Brouillet advises her to remain with her Indian
+     violator.--Indecent question by a priest.--Mr. Brouillet attempts
+     to get a statement from her.--Two questions.--Note from Mrs.
+     Bewley.--Bishop Blanchet's letter to Governor Abernethy.--Comments
+     on the Jesuits' proceedings.--Grand council at the
+     bishop's.--Policy in forcing Miss Bewley to Five Crows'
+     lodge.--Speeches by Camaspelo and Tilokaikt.--Killing of Elijah and
+     the Nez Perce chief commented on.--The true story told.--Dr.
+     White's report.--The grand council again.--Review of Brouillet's
+     narrative.--Who were the real authors of the massacre.
+
+
+_Miss Bewley's Deposition Continued._
+
+Q.--When were you taken to the Umatilla?
+
+A.--Just at night, on Thursday the next week after the first massacre,
+having shaken with the ague that day; slept out that night in the
+snow-storm.
+
+Q.--Whose horses came after you?
+
+A.--Eliza Spalding said they belonged to her father; this led us to
+suppose Mr. Spalding was killed.
+
+Q.--When did you leave Umatilla?
+
+A.--On Monday before the Wednesday on which we all went to Wallawalla.
+
+Q.--When did you reach Wallawalla?
+
+A.--On Wednesday before the Saturday on which Mr. Spalding and company
+arrived, and we all started the next day for the lower country.
+
+Q.--Where did you spend your time when at the Umatilla?
+
+A.--Most of the time at the house of the bishop; but the Five Crows
+(Brouillet's Achekaia) most of the nights compelled me to go to his
+lodge and be subject to him during the night. I obtained the privilege
+of going to the bishop's house before violation on the Umatilla, and
+_begged_ and _cried to the bishop for protection_ either at his house,
+or to be sent to Wallawalla. I told him I would do any work by night and
+day for him if he would protect me. _He said he would do all he could._
+[The sequel shows that in this promise the bishop meant to implicate and
+involve the Five Crows, should a war with the American settlement grow
+out of the massacre.] Although I was taken to the lodge, I escaped
+violation the first four nights. There were the bishop, three priests,
+and two Frenchmen at the bishop's house. The first night the Five Crows
+came, I refused to go, and he went away, apparently mad, and _the bishop
+told me I had better go_, as he might do us all an injury, and _the
+bishop sent an Indian with me_. He took me to the Five Crows' lodge. The
+Five Crows showed me the door, and told me I might go back, and take my
+clothes, which I did.
+
+Three nights after this, the Five Crows came for me again. _The bishop
+finally ordered me to go_; my answer was, I had rather die. After this,
+_he still insisted on my going_ as the best thing I could do. I was then
+in the bishop's room; the three priests were there. I found I could get
+no help, _and had to go, as he told me, out of his room_. The Five Crows
+seized me by the arm and jerked me away to his lodge.
+
+Q.--How long were you at the Umatilla?
+
+A.--Two weeks, and from Friday till Monday. I would return early in the
+morning to the bishop's house, and be violently taken away at night. The
+Bishop provided kindly for me while at his house. On my return one
+morning one of the young priests asked me, in a good deal of glee, _how
+I liked my companion_. I felt that this would break my heart, and cried
+much during the day. When the two Nez Perces arrived with Mr. Spalding's
+letter, they held a council in the bishop's room, and the bishop said
+they were trying to have things settled. He said Mr. Spalding was trying
+to get the captives delivered up; I do not recollect what day this was,
+but it was some days before we heard that Mr. Ogden had arrived at
+Wallawalla. When the tall priest (Brouillet) that was at the Doctor's at
+the first was going to Wallawalla, after hearing of Mr. Ogden's arrival,
+he called me out of the door and told me if I went to the lodge any more
+I must not come back to his house. I asked him what I should do. He said
+I must insist or beg of the Indian to let me stop at his house; if he
+would not let me, then I must stay at his lodge. I did not feel well,
+and toward night I took advantage of this and went to bed, determined I
+would die there before I would be taken away. The Indian came, and, on
+my refusing to go, hauled me from my bed and threw my bonnet and shawl
+at me, and told me to go. I would not, and at a time when his eyes were
+off I threw them under the table and he could not find them. I sat down,
+determined not to go, and he pushed me nearly into the fire. The
+Frenchmen were in the room, and the bishop and priests were passing back
+and forth to their rooms. When the Indian was smoking, I went to bed
+again, and when he was through smoking he dragged me from my bed with
+more violence than the first time. I told the Frenchman to go into the
+bishop's room and ask him what I should do; he came out and told me that
+the _bishop said it was best for me to go_. I told him the tall priest
+said, if I went I must not come back again to this house; he said the
+priests dared not keep women about their house, but if the Five Crows
+sent me back again, why come. I still would not go. The Indian then
+pulled me away violently without bonnet or shawl. Next morning I came
+back and was in much anguish and cried much. _The bishop asked me if I
+was in much trouble?_ I told him I was. He said it was not my fault,
+that I could not help myself. That I must pray to God and Mary. He asked
+me if I did not believe in God; I told him I did.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+We will not stop to comment on the simple narrative of this young woman.
+No language of mine will more deeply impress the reader with the
+debasing character of these "holy fathers, the Catholic priests," that
+served the _Honorable_ Hudson's Bay Company and mother church so
+faithfully.
+
+It appears that Miss Bewley arrived at the bishop's on the 10th of
+December. On the 58th page of Brouillet's narrative (41st of Browne's)
+we find the following language:--
+
+    "On the 11th of December we had the affliction to _hear_ that one of
+    the captives had been carried off from the Doctor's house by the
+    order of Five Crows, and brought to him; and we learned that two
+    others had been violated at the Doctor's house."
+
+How seriously these holy fathers were afflicted, Miss Bewley has told us
+in language not to be misunderstood. Her statement continues:--
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Last summer, when I was teaching school near Mr. Bass, the tall priest,
+whose name I have learned was Brouillet, called on me, and told me that
+Mr. Spalding was trying to ruin my character and his, and said that Mr.
+Spalding had said that I had told him (Mr. S.) that the priests had
+treated me as bad as the Indians ever had. I told him I had not said so.
+He said he wanted to ask me some questions, and would send the Doctor,
+who could speak better English; he wished me to write it; I told him I
+would rather not do it. When at the Umatilla, the Frenchmen told me that
+they were making arrangements to locate the priests,--two at Mr.
+Spalding's as soon as Mr. S. got away, and two at the Dalles, and they
+were going to the Doctor's next week to build a house. This conversation
+was before Mr. Ogden arrived at Wallawalla.
+
+Q.--Did Dr. Whitman wish to have Joe Lewis stop at his place?
+
+A.--He let him stop at first only because he said he had no shoes nor
+clothes and could not go on; but when a good many, on account of
+sickness, had no drivers, the Doctor furnished Joe with shoes and
+shirts, and got him to drive a team. He was gone three days, and came
+back, but the Doctor never liked it. I heard Mrs. Whitman and the Sager
+boys say that Joe Lewis was making disturbance among the Indians.
+
+Q.--Did you ever hear the Doctor express any fears about the Catholics?
+
+A.--Only once; the Doctor said at the table: "Now I shall have trouble;
+these priests are coming." Mrs. Whitman asked: "Have the Indians let
+them have land?" He said: "I think they have." Mrs. Whitman said: "It's
+a wonder they do not come and kill us." This land was out of sight of
+the Doctor's as you come this way (west of the station). When the
+Frenchman was talking, at Umatilla, of going to build a house there, he
+said it was a prettier station than the Doctor's.
+
+               (Signed,)            LORINDA BEWLEY.
+
+Sworn to and subscribed before me, this 12th day of December, 1848.
+                                    G. WALLING, Justice of the Peace,
+                                  Clackamas County, Oregon Territory.
+
+
+We have another original statement of Miss Bewley's, as taken by Rev. J.
+S. Griffin, which we will give as a part properly belonging to the above
+statement.
+
+OREGON CITY, February 7, 1849.
+
+Questions to Miss Lorinda Bewley, in further examination touching the
+Wailatpu massacre:--
+
+Q.--Did the Five Crows, when you were taken to his lodge from the
+bishop's house by an Indian, send you back with your things in apparent
+anger, or did he appear at that time to pity you?
+
+A.--I thought at the time that I had good evidence, from his manner and
+behavior to me at the lodge in giving me up, that he was disposed to
+pity me, and not to abuse me.
+
+Q.--Did you anticipate that evening that he would demand you afterward?
+
+A.--No; I did not think he was disposed to.
+
+Q.--What was this Five Crows' English name?
+
+A.--Hezekiah (Brouillet's Achekaia).
+
+Q.--Did you have evidence that it was necessary for Hezekiah to hold you
+as a wife to save you from a general abuse by the Indians?
+
+A.--I was overwhelmed with such evidence at Wailatpu, but saw none of it
+at the Umatilla.
+
+Q.--What was the order of conversation to you when the priest went to
+Wallawalla, after hearing of Mr. Ogden's arrival?
+
+A.--I besought him to do all he could at the fort to obtain my delivery
+from bondage, and he said he would. A little after he called me to step
+out of the door from the rest, and told me if I went with the Indian I
+must not come back to his house any more, when I burst out crying, and
+asked him what to do; he said I must insist or beg the Indian to let me
+remain, or I must remain there. I begged him, as I was alone there, he
+would do everything in his power to get Mr. Ogden to take me away,
+whether he could obtain all the prisoners or not.
+
+Q.--Did you know of the priests having baptized any at the time of the
+burial at Wailatpu?
+
+A.--I did not; but they were baptizing a great many at the Umatilla,
+principally children; two the same day after I went there, and very
+frequently afterward. On Christmas day they baptized many.
+
+Q.--Was it understood among the Indians that the families at the mill
+were English?
+
+A.--Yes, sir; and Mr. Smith was an Englishman.
+
+Q.--Did the report reach the Indians at Wailatpu before you went to
+Umatilla, that the Indians were told at the Fort Wallawalla that they
+must not kill any more Americans?
+
+A.--Yes, sir. This seemed to be generally understood.
+
+Q.--Was it made known to you captives what Edward Tilokaikt was gone to
+the Umatilla for?
+
+A.--It was made known to us, after a council, that Edward was to go to
+the big chief at the Umatilla and see what was to be done with us, and
+especially with the young women; and, after his return, he immediately
+commenced the massacre of the sick young men, and the next morning
+announced to us that the arrangement had been made for Hezekiah to come
+and take his choice among the young women, and that Edward and Clark
+Tilokaikt were then to take the other two. Hezekiah was a chief [the one
+appointed by Dr. White in 1843], and regarded by us, and I believe by
+others, as a single man. Edward and Clark were only the sons of a chief.
+Hezekiah did not come for me himself, but sent a man [Brouillet says,
+page 56 (Ross Browne, 40), the caution he received from Mr. McBean
+"obliged me to be content with sending my interpreter"] and a boy for
+the young woman that was a member of Mrs. Whitman's family. The contract
+between my mother and Mrs. Whitman was, that I was to continue my
+studies with Mrs. Whitman, and take part with her in the instruction and
+care of the children.
+
+Q.--After Mr. Rogers entered the house wounded, and closed the doors,
+did he have any conversation with Nicholas or the Manson boys?
+
+A.--No. Neither of them came into the house.
+
+                                  LORINDA BEWLEY.
+
+
+Rev. J. S. Griffin says he is ready to testify to the fact that the
+above is a true statement, as made by Miss Bewley, and it was his own
+oversight at the time that her oath was not attached before a justice of
+the peace.
+
+There was no other person living at the time that could positively state
+the facts as given by Miss Bewley; others have given their depositions,
+which confirm her statements, and show them to be the simple,
+unvarnished truth of the whole scene that passed before her, and her
+treatment by those "_holy fathers, the bishop and his priests_."
+
+We are forced to confess, that, after studying and copying these old
+documents and papers, we dare not trust ourselves to express an opinion,
+lest the reader should say our feelings have overcome our better
+judgment. Therefore we will simply ask a question or two, and let each
+reader answer for himself.
+
+What think you, kind reader, of the Hudson's Bay Company and Roman
+Catholic Jesuits, and priests and bishop in Oregon in 1847-8?
+
+Did not Dr. Whitman, his wife, and all at his mission suffer, and many
+of them die, to save Oregon as a part of the great American Republic?
+
+We know that a few of the poor miserably deluded Indians belonging to
+his mission have suffered an ignominious death by being hung like dogs
+(a death, of all others, the most odious to them), and for what? Simply
+because they were deceived by those who knew at the time they were
+deceiving them; and who have since so managed as to deceive the
+Christian world, and bring falsehood to cover their participation in the
+transaction.
+
+We would not have been so particular, nor copied documents so
+extensively, had we not before us a narrative of 108 pages, written by
+one of these "_holy fathers_," Vicar-General Brouillet, purporting to
+give the causes both remote and immediate of this horrible massacre;
+giving it the title of "_Protestantism in Oregon_, account of the
+_murder of Dr. Whitman_, and the ungrateful calumnies of H. H. Spalding,
+Protestant missionary," in which he searches back even before the
+arrival of Dr. Whitman in the country, and cites Rev. Mr. Parker's first
+supposed or imaginary statements to the Indians as a cause of the
+massacre, which we know to be false and unfounded from the six years'
+early acquaintance we had with those Indians; and also from the personal
+allusions he makes to transactions with which we were intimately
+acquainted, and know to be false in fact and inference. These statements
+of this priest and his associates, McBean and Sir James Douglas, have
+induced us to extend the particulars of that massacre beyond our
+original design in giving the history of Oregon. As he claims great
+credit for himself and associates, Stanfield in particular, in burying
+the dead, and showing kindness to the widows and orphans, we will give
+another item to show the character of the _thief_, _liar_, and
+_accomplice_ in that massacre, whom this priest is so ready in his
+narrative to claim as a saint.
+
+Mrs. Catharine Bewley says: "Dr. Prettyman said to me that Joe Stanfield
+told him at his own house, when the sheriff had him in custody, that
+'the morning of the day when young Bewley was killed, he had gone into
+the room and had hid every thing in the room back of the bed he was
+upon.' This, the doctor thought, showed that he was the cause of his
+being killed."
+
+Under date of Umatilla, December 21, 1847, Father Blanchet, bishop of
+Wallawalla, writes to Governor Abernethy as follows:--
+
+    "As soon as I had been informed what had happened, I instantly
+    told the two chiefs near my house that _I hoped the women_ and
+    children would be spared until they could be sent to the Wallamet.
+    They answered: 'We pity them,--they shall not be harmed; they
+    shall be taken care of, as before.' _I have since had the
+    satisfaction to hear that they have been true to their word_, and
+    that they have taken care of these poor people."
+
+In Father Brouillet's narrative, page 57 (Ross Browne, page 41), he
+says: "On the 3d, the bishop called for the Young Chief and his brother
+Five Crows, in order to express to them how deeply he had been pained by
+the news of the horrible affair at Wailatpu, and _to recommend to their
+care the widows and orphans_, as well as the men who had survived the
+massacre. They protested to have given no consent to what had happened
+at Wailatpu, and promised to do all in their power for the survivors.
+
+"On the 10th we received the painful intelligence that two other young
+men, who, being sick, had been spared by the Indians at the time of the
+first massacre, had since been torn from their beds and cruelly
+butchered."
+
+The positive testimony in regard to these two young men is already
+before the reader. _If this bishop and priest do not act and narrate
+falsely, we ask, What is falsehood?_
+
+After giving a description of the grand council held at the Catholic
+mission house by Tawatowe, Tilokaikt, Achekaia, and Camaspelo, Brouillet
+says, on page 67: "Before taking leave of the chiefs, the bishop said to
+them all publicly, as he had also done several times privately, that
+those who had taken American girls should give them up immediately. And
+then all entreated Five Crows repeatedly to give up the one whom he had
+taken, but to no purpose." How does this compare with Miss Bewley's
+testimony?
+
+We must ask to be excused from at present commenting further upon the
+notes and extracts from the statements of these several parties. They
+are before you, reader, not as fiction or imagination; they are
+transactions connected with the history we are writing. The statements
+on the part of this bishop and his priests have been published and
+extensively circulated, and have been believed, and have had far too
+much influence in encouraging and sustaining them among their deluded
+victims; besides mystifying, and causing a public sentiment to be
+generally entertained derogatory to the Protestant and American
+missionary influence in Oregon.
+
+We have given an account of this bishop and his priests on the first
+commencement of their missionary efforts among the Cayuse Indians, and
+have followed them through their _labors_, and their legitimate results,
+till we now come to the 16th of December, the day on which they received
+a wild, incoherent--not to say injudicious and foolish--letter from Rev.
+Mr. Spalding, which they gave, with a flourish of trumpets and shout of
+triumph, on their arrival in Wallamet, to be published as evidence of
+their extensive influence over the Indians, and to destroy the influence
+of Mr. Spalding as a missionary. In this they have succeeded but too
+well, and for which we should look closely into their proceedings with
+the Indians.
+
+Brouillet, on the 58th and 61st pages (41st and 43d of Browne), in
+speaking of the Nez Perces who brought Mr. Spalding's letter, says:--
+
+    "We had reason to be astonished at that confidence of those
+    Indians, as we had had as yet no opportunity of seeing any one of
+    the Nez Perces since our arrival in the country.
+
+    "The two Nez Perce chiefs advised the Cayuses to take measures for
+    avoiding a war with Americans. They requested the bishop to write
+    to Governor Abernethy, begging him not to send up an army, but
+    rather to come himself in the spring and make a treaty of peace
+    with the Cayuses, who promised that they would then release the
+    captives of Wailatpu,--promising besides to offer no injury to
+    Americans until they heard the news from Wallamet. _The bishop
+    told them that he was glad of their proceeding, and was disposed
+    to assist them to the extent of his power_, but that he could not
+    write without knowing the opinion of the Cayuses, and that as soon
+    as he could learn this he would send an express below. He then
+    encouraged them to see all the chiefs about it."
+
+From the above and subsequent statements and transactions, we have no
+reason to doubt the truth of the bishop's remark, "_that he was glad of
+their proceeding_." There can be no question that he did all he could to
+help the Indians, and to defeat the provisional troops and government,
+as is proved by the evidence already given, and will be seen as we
+proceed. He tells the Indians that he could not write, without knowing
+the opinion of the Cayuses; he must be satisfied that they are all
+united, and when he has learned that fact, he can write with more
+assurance and effect to the governor. He extends consolation and
+encouragement to Camaspelo on the 18th, and two days after convenes the
+council alluded to.
+
+"Accordingly, on Monday, 20th December, 1847, at the Catholic Mission,
+the Cayuses assembled in grand council held by Tawatowe (or Young
+Chief), Tilokaikt, Achekaia (or Five Crows), and Camaspelo, all the
+great chiefs of the Cayuses, in presence of many other great men (second
+chiefs) of the nation." This council was held just three months and
+three days after. Brouillet says that Bishop Blanchet met Dr. Whitman
+at Wallawalla, and said to him, "All is known. I come to labor for the
+conversion of Indians, and even of Americans, if they are willing to
+listen to me." And we say, to crush and drive the Protestant missions
+from the country, including their heretical settlements.
+
+We wish to give these foreign _priests_ the full benefit of their own
+statements, as we shall express fully our opinion of them; besides, we
+presume that not one in a thousand will be able to understand the
+wonderful workings of Jesuitism among the Indians and the people of our
+country, without extensive quotations from their books.
+
+The narrative continues: "About ten o'clock in the morning they all
+entered the mission house. The bishop was present, together with Messrs.
+Rousseau, Leclaire, and myself [Vicar-General Brouillet, the writer of
+the narrative we are quoting from]. After a deep silence of some
+minutes, the bishop explained to them the object of the meeting. He
+began by expressing to them the pleasure he felt in seeing them thus
+assembled for the purpose of deliberating on a most important
+subject,--that of avoiding war, which is always a great evil. He told
+them that in matters of importance they should always hold a council and
+consult those who might be best able to give them good advice; that in
+giving their advice separately, they were liable to be misunderstood,
+and thereby expose themselves and their people to great misfortunes;
+that he was persuaded that if the chiefs had deliberated together they
+would not now have to deplore the horrible massacre of Wailatpu, nor to
+fear its probable consequences."
+
+The reader can understand how sincere these "holy fathers" were in
+saying "horrible massacre at Wailatpu," when, instead of calling on Dr.
+Whitman, as Brouillet says he "cordially promised to do," he went to an
+Indian lodge, learned of the massacre, and remained all night, writing,
+the Indians say, this false and infamous account of the transaction, to
+slander the dead and clear the guilty; and the next morning baptized
+three of the Indian children before going to the assistance of the
+widows and orphans.
+
+The bishop told them "that two Nez Perce chiefs had asked him to write
+to the great chief of Wallamet (Governor Abernethy) to obtain peace, but
+that he could not do so without the consent of the Cayuses."
+
+It will be remembered that up to the arrival of Dr. White, in 1842, as
+an official spy upon the proceedings of the Hudson's Bay Company,
+drawing the pay of a sub-Indian agent, the company had not allowed any
+effort to combine the Indians; but on the arrival of Dr. White, they at
+once made use of him, and also of the bishop and his priests, to form
+just the combinations they wished to make use of, to strike at the
+settlements at the proper time.
+
+Tawatowe, or Young Chief, was, up to the time of the taking of Fort Nez
+Perces, considered a head chief; but in consequence of the part he had
+taken in that affair his power had been broken. His brother, Five Crows,
+was advanced, and had become the favorite of Dr. Whitman, as well as of
+Dr. White, and was looked upon as friendly to the mission and the
+American cause. _Miss Bewley's being forced to become his wife was a
+part of the scheme to involve him in the war then in contemplation, and
+to bring about a union of the tribe under the very plausible reason
+given by this "holy father," and was one of the most important measures
+to implicate that humane and Protestant Indian in the war measures now
+in discussion before this grand Indian council at the house of the
+bishop._ The bishop says "that the propositions which those chiefs
+wished to send were these: 1st. That Americans should not come to make
+war; 2d. That they should send up two or three great men to make a
+treaty of peace; 3d. That when these great men should arrive, all the
+captives should be released; 4th. That they would offer no offense to
+Americans before knowing the news from below.
+
+    "The bishop then desired them to speak and to say what they thought
+    of these propositions.
+
+    "Camaspelo spoke first. He said he was blind and ignorant, and had
+    despaired of the life and salvation of his nation, but that the
+    words of the bishop had opened his eyes, consoled and encouraged
+    him; that he had confidence, and that he approved the propositions.
+
+    "The chief Tilokaikt then rose to say that he was not a great
+    speaker, and that his talk would not be long. He then reviewed the
+    history of the nation since the arrival of the whites (French people
+    or Hudson's Bay Company) in the country down to the present time. He
+    said that before they had been visited by white men the Indians were
+    always at war; that at the place where Fort Wallawalla now stood
+    nothing but blood was continually seen; that they had been taught by
+    the _whites_ that there was a God who forbids men to kill each
+    other." "A jewel of gold in a swine's snout." This is the Indian
+    that assisted in killing Dr. Whitman, and engaged his attention
+    while his companion gave the first blow; and he afterward cut the
+    Doctor's face horribly with a hatchet, while he was yet alive. But
+    let us continue this "holy father's" lesson of peace and morality
+    from the mouth of his converted Indian, for we have every reason to
+    believe he is now fully converted to that faith, and has given us a
+    specimen in the practice of the religion he has just commenced to
+    learn. He says, "that since this time they had always lived in
+    peace, and endeavored to persuade others to do the same. He
+    eulogized Mr. Pambrun; spoke of a Nez Perce chief who had been
+    killed when going to the States; afterward of the son of Yellow
+    Serpent, who had been killed by Americans in California; said that
+    they had forgotten all this. He spoke also of Dr. Whitman and Mr.
+    Spalding, and finished by saying that since they had forgotten all,
+    he hoped that the Americans would also forget what had been recently
+    done; that now they were even."
+
+This priest is careful to make his converted Indian tell a plausible
+story, as also to eulogize Mr. Pambrun and the Hudson's Bay Company, and
+to state that two Indians had been killed while in company with, or by
+Americans.
+
+As to the killing of the Nez Perce chief (so called), we knew much more
+of it than this priest or his Indian. The Nez Perce was killed in open
+fight with the Sioux, at Ash Hollow, on the Platte River, after the
+party had fought three hours, and killed fifteen and wounded eight of
+the Sioux. He was no connection of this Cayuse tribe, and is only
+referred to for effect. The bishop makes Tilokaikt tell a falsehood to
+shield a crime in himself and associates.
+
+The killing of Elijah, the son of Yellow Serpent, is equally false in
+the statement of the fact, and relation of the circumstances. Dr. White,
+sub-Indian agent, etc., was never known to tell the truth when a
+falsehood would suit his plans and purposes better; as is evident in
+this case, which is given that the reader may judge of its truth. Mr.
+Brouillet comments upon Dr. White's letter to the Department at
+Washington, April 4, 1845, as follows: "After speaking of some
+difficulties that occurred in California between the Cayuses and
+Wallawallas on one part, and the Spaniards and Americans on the other,
+on account of some stolen horses that the Cayuses and Wallawallas had
+taken from hostile Indians by fighting them [this is altogether a
+mistake, as the horses belonged to the Americans and Spaniards and they
+had their Indians guarding them, and the party here referred to killed
+the guard and attempted the life of an American], Mr. White passes on
+to relate a murder there, committed coolly by an American the fall
+previous upon the person of Elijah, the son of Yellow Serpent, the chief
+of the Wallawallas, in the following way: 'The Indians had gone to the
+fort of Captain Sutter to church, and, after service, Elijah was invited
+into another apartment, taking with him his uncle, Young Chief, of the
+Umatilla River, a brave and sensible chief of the age of five and
+forty.'" This priest, on page 30 (J. Ross Browne, page 28), makes Mr.
+McKinley say that in the fall of 1844, the Indians, a short time after
+their return from California, met one day at Fort Wallawalla, seven
+hundred in number, all armed, and decided to walk down immediately upon
+the colony of the Wallamet, and that they could be stopped only by the
+Young Chief, who, by his entreaties, decided them to abandon their
+undertaking and to go home. We are led to inquire, why did not these
+Indians, at this time, direct their attention to the American missions
+in their midst, and take their revenge then, instead of waiting three
+years, and then, as Brouillet says, making this murder a cause of the
+massacre? McBean, and Bishop Blanchet and his priests, were not then at
+the fort, nor among those Indians, to aid them in avenging themselves on
+the innocent.
+
+But let us finish the account of this horrid transaction on the part of
+our countrymen, as repeated by Brouillet to excuse the Wailatpu
+massacre.
+
+He says the Young Chief went into the room with Elijah, and "while there
+in an unarmed and defenseless condition, they commenced menacing him for
+things alleged against the River Indians of this upper country, in which
+none of them had any participation; called them indiscriminately dogs,
+thieves, etc." The truth is, that this party went from the Cayuse
+country to California expressly to steal horses and cattle. This same
+educated Indian boy was the leader of the party in going to the fort. He
+and the Young Chief were both arrested, and tried by a military court;
+the chief was acquitted, upon the evidence of the American referred to,
+as he saved his life, while Elijah was for killing him. Elijah was
+condemned, and shot, to prevent other similar parties from disturbing
+the settlements and killing peaceable Indians in California. This is the
+reason, as Mr. McKinley doubtless told Brouillet, why the Young Chief
+used his influence to prevent any attempt at retaliation.
+
+The narrative continues: "This American then observed, 'Yesterday you
+were going to kill me; now you must die,' and drawing a pistol--Elijah,
+who had been five or six years at the Methodist Mission, and had learned
+to read, write, and speak English respectably, said deliberately, 'Let
+me pray a little first;' and kneeling down, at once commenced, and, when
+invoking the Divine mercy, was shot through the heart or vitals, dead
+upon the spot. Taking for truth an Indian report [which in this case
+suited this priest and Dr. White's purposes better than a true statement
+of the facts would], this horrible affair created considerable
+excitement [which, he tells us in another place, the Young Chief, who
+was present, was able to quell], and there is some danger of its
+disturbing the friendly relations that hitherto existed between us here
+and all those formidable tribes in the region of Wallawalla and Snake
+River."
+
+This Indian story or tragedy is useful for three purposes. First, to
+show Dr. White's disposition to have his importance known to the
+department at Washington. Second, to show the disposition of this "_holy
+father, the Catholic priest_," to quote a case of the kind, to justify
+the Whitman massacre by the Indians, and deceive his readers and the
+world as to the real cause of that transaction; thus aiding us in
+bringing home the guilt of a crime where it belongs. Third, to show how
+capable he is of misrepresenting and falsifying historical facts, to
+excuse a foul murder of American citizens. He continues to quote Dr.
+White as follows:--
+
+    "Learning from Dr. Whitman, who resides in their midst, how much
+    they were all excited by reason of the treacherous and violent death
+    of this educated and accomplished young chief, and, perhaps more
+    especially by the loss they had sustained, and then, after suffering
+    so many hardships and encountering so many dangers, losing the
+    whole, I apprehended there might be much difficulty in adjusting it,
+    particularly as they lay much stress upon the restless, disaffected
+    scamps, late from Wallamet to California, loading them with the vile
+    epithets of dogs, thieves, etc., from which they believed or
+    affected to believe that the slanderous reports of our citizens
+    caused all their loss and disasters, and therefore held us
+    responsible. He, Ellis, the Nez Perce chief, assured me that the
+    Cayuses, Wallawallas, Nez Perces, Spokans, Ponderays, and Snakes
+    were all on terms of amity, and that a portion of the aggrieved
+    party were for raising a party of about two thousand warriors of
+    those formidable tribes, and march to California at once,[13] and,
+    nobly revenging themselves on the inhabitants by capture and
+    plunder, enrich themselves upon the spoils; while others, not
+    indisposed to the enterprise, wished first to learn how it would be
+    regarded here, and whether we would remain neutral in the affair. A
+    third party were for holding us responsible, as Elijah was killed
+    by an American, and the Americans incensed the Spaniards."[14]
+
+    [Footnote 13] Brouillet, in his haste to bring Dr. White to
+    prove his statements of the causes of the Whitman massacre,
+    has forgotten that he was assured by Mr. McKinley that they
+    intended to go to the Wallamet, instead of California.
+
+    [Footnote 14] See the whole of Dr. White's report, chapter
+    50, page 387 _et seq._
+
+The above extract is quoted by Brouillet for so base a purpose, that it
+seems necessary, in order to correct the errors of Dr. White and this
+priest, to give it in full. We have given the statement of Mr. McKinley,
+as quoted by Brouillet, which shows the absurdity of this whole
+document. If the Young Chief went into the room and saw Elijah shot down
+in the brutal manner represented by Dr. White, he certainly must have
+been a very remarkable and forgiving Indian if he used his influence to
+prevent his tribe from seeking revenge; besides, we find in the
+subsequent history, that even Elijah's own father did not seek to avenge
+his death, as stated by this priest on page 30 of this narrative (28th
+of Ross Browne's report).
+
+He says: "And in the spring of 1847, the Wallawalla chief himself,
+Yellow Serpent, started with a party of Wallawallas and Cayuses for the
+purpose of attacking the Americans in California, whom they thought
+unsuspicious. But having found them on their guard, and too strong to be
+attacked without danger, he took their part against the Spaniards,
+offered his services to them, and fought in their ranks."
+
+This, with the statement of Mr. McBean, as will be given in his letter,
+shows that this very Rev. Father Brouillet knew nothing of the subject
+he was writing about, and was ready to pick up any statement that might
+be made, without any regard to its absurdity or plausibility. I query
+whether there is a living man well acquainted with Dr. White, who will
+state that he believes he would tell the truth, officially or otherwise,
+when a falsehood would suit his purposes better; and from a careful
+study of the statements and writings of this reverend priest, we are
+forced to the same conclusion.
+
+Rev. Mr. Brouillet has filled four pages and a half of his narrative
+with the statements of William Craig, in answer to questions asked by
+Hon. P. H. Burnett, all of which show that Mr. Craig knew nothing of the
+massacre only as he was told, by two Indians, what some other Indian
+said that some other Indian had said. We are not surprised that Mr.
+Burnett gave up the contest with Mr. Spalding, after examining such a
+witness as Mr. Craig, and finding that he knew so little relative to the
+subject in question. Suppose Tom Hill and the Indian messenger that
+brought the news to Mr. Spalding's station told all they heard of the
+matter, did that make their statements true? Or did the repeating of
+these Indian statements by Mr. Craig make them true? Rev. Father
+Brouillet has showed, in these four pages, a weakness we did not expect
+to find in a man with so many sacred titles to his name. In fact, the
+greater part of his statements are from persons who make them as coming
+second-hand from the Indians. He makes Mr. Craig repent from the mouth
+of the Indian messenger the statement first published in Sir James
+Douglas's letter to the Sandwich Islands; and then in conclusion says,
+on page 29:--
+
+    "Now I am satisfied that every impartial and unprejudiced person,
+    after reading attentively the above documents, will come with me to
+    the conclusion that the true causes, both remote and immediate, of
+    the whole evil must have been the following: 1st. The promise made
+    by Mr. Parker to the Cayuses and Nez Perces of paying for their
+    lands every year, and the want of fulfillment of that promise."
+
+Which promise Mr. Parker never made, and which the Hudson's Bay Company
+and these Roman priests made up to cause difficulty with the Indians and
+American missions and settlements.
+
+"2d. The death of the Nez Perce chief, killed on his way to the United
+States, when he was in company with Mr. Gray, and in his service." This
+Mr. Gray knows to be false, both in statement and inference, as already
+explained.
+
+This priest says: "The conclusion is evident, from the circumstances
+which preceded that death, and from the proceedings of the Nez Perces
+against Mr. Spalding and all the people of his establishment on account
+of it, and likewise from the general habit of the Indians in such
+cases."
+
+We will here state that we were two years at Mr. Spalding's station, on
+returning from the States, and saw the whole Nez Perce tribe, and
+employed them for days and months, and worked with them, and explored
+their country to select farms for them, and know that the Nez Perces
+never, on any occasion, made the least disturbance about the station, or
+in any other place, on account of the death of that Indian; and we know
+that neither Mr. Spalding nor any of the people at his place were ever
+confined in their houses for an hour on account of it; and we further
+know that the statement made by Brouillet, as coming from old Toupin, is
+false and malicious, and only shows the ignorance and malice of this
+priest, who has made these false statements, as he has those about the
+killing of Elijah, to cover his own guilt in the infamous crime charged
+upon him and his associates.
+
+"3d. The murder committed by an American in California on the person of
+Elijah, the son of the Wallawalla chief, in 1844." Answered already.
+
+This priest says of Yellow Serpent: "On his way coming back from
+California he lost many of his people from sickness [to which Istacus
+alludes in his reasons for not believing that Dr. Whitman was the cause
+of the Indians dying by poison], so that he and his young men, when
+arrived at home in the fall, felt more ill-disposed than ever toward the
+Americans." This priest's fourth reason embraces the tales told by Tom
+Hill, Joe Lewis, Finlay, old Toupin, and Stanfield, which are all of the
+same class, and have all been learned from the same reverend teachers,
+and copied into Sir James Douglas's letter, for the benefit of the
+American Board, going by way of the Sandwich Islands.
+
+His fifth reason, about the small-pox, as stated by Craig--the Doctor
+and Gray's poisoning melons--the Doctor being a physician, shows that he
+is terribly pressed for a plausible reason for the crime he attempts to
+excuse. His sixth reason--lack of sincerity. Here he quotes Mr.
+Spalding's letter, written soon after his return home, after being
+exposed six days and nights to extreme fatigue, hunger, and cold,--his
+mind racked with anxiety and fear in regard to himself and family, and
+tortured with thoughts of the scene at Wailatpu; being ignorant of any
+of the particulars of the massacre, and of the part the bishop and his
+priests were taking in it, he wrote as to friends whom he thought would
+feel for his situation. He also quotes a letter he received through P.
+H. Burnett, signed J. Magone, who says: "I recollect distinctly,
+however, that he (Mr. Spalding) was not in favor of killing all the
+Cayuses, for he gave me names of some four or five that he knew to be
+friendly, and another whom I marked as questionable." (Mr. S. had
+learned more of the particulars of the massacre.) Does this letter prove
+that he was in favor of killing all the Indians but the ones mentioned,
+or does it show his anxiety lest the innocent should perish with the
+guilty, which led him to give those names to Major Magone, an officer in
+the provisional army?
+
+We have naturally left that deep, silent grand council of Indians,
+presided over by his reverence, Bishop Blanchet, and directed our
+attention to other important facts and statements relative to the
+subject of this chapter.
+
+We now have the touching appeal of Edward Tilokaikt, with whom the
+reader has become acquainted in the depositions already given. He is now
+brought before us in this grand council at the bishop's house (page 66
+of Brouillet; page 44 Ross Browne).
+
+    "Edward, the son of Tilokaikt, then came forward, bearing in his
+    hand the _Catholic Ladder_ stained with blood; he repeated the words
+    which Dr. Whitman had used when he showed it to them, one or two
+    weeks before he died: '_You see this blood! it is to show you that
+    now, because you have the priests among you, the country is going to
+    be covered with blood! You will have nothing now but blood!_' He
+    then related what had passed, gave a touching picture of the
+    afflicted families in seeing borne to the grave a father, a mother,
+    a brother, or a sister; spoke of a single member of a family who had
+    been left to weep alone over all the rest, who had disappeared. He
+    stated how and for what the murder had been committed, entered into
+    the most minute details, avoiding, however, _to give any knowledge
+    of the guilty_, repeated the words which _Joseph Lewis_ said had
+    passed between Dr. Whitman, his wife, and Mr. Spalding, and finally
+    spoke of the pretended declaration of Mr. Rogers at the moment of
+    his death: 'that Dr. Whitman had been poisoning the Indians.'"
+
+Reader, need I tell you that the language and sentiment above quoted as
+coming from Edward Tilokaikt, never entered his savage Indian brain;
+that this speech is the carefully combined and studied production of the
+author of the narrative we have quoted it from? It is given in
+connection, repeated and combined with a little variation by every
+individual who makes a statement favorable to those priests; and in the
+whole list of statements this priest Brouillet and McBean are the only
+two that could write or translate the Indian ideas into French or
+English; so that at the time these Indian speeches were said to have
+been made, and purport to have been translated by Brouillet, it is plain
+to be seen that he tells his own story to suit the case in hand; and the
+letter of Sir James Douglas to the Sandwich Islands shows this priest to
+be the author of the statements contained therein. These Indian
+assemblies or councils were held to more closely unite the tribe, and
+give a coloring of truth to the malicious statements of Joe Lewis and
+Edward Tilokaikt.
+
+All these false statements were written out and sent to the Sandwich
+Islands under date, Vancouver, 9th December, 1847, while Brouillet says
+this Edward Tilokaikt repeated them as a reason for the massacre on the
+20th December, 1847, eleven days before they are said to have been
+repeated by the Indians.
+
+Many important facts can only be reached by carefully studying the
+language of this priest, in connection with the evidence obtained from
+the survivors, and their subsequent conduct, and the foreign
+correspondence of the parties who were seeking the exclusive occupation
+of our country.
+
+From the statement that follows, it will be seen how careful this Jesuit
+is to inform us that these propositions come from the Nez Perces.
+
+He says, on page 65: "After having deliberated together, the chiefs
+concluded by adding something to the propositions of the Nez Perces,
+insisting principally upon the reasons which they pretended ought to
+excuse their action, and requested the bishop to send to the governor in
+their name the following manifesto."
+
+Before copying this important document and the letter which accompanied
+it to the governor of Oregon, we will place before our readers the
+"preface" to the book in which we find it, that they may see the full
+object of the author of that narrative in publishing it:--
+
+                                                   NEW YORK, June, 1853.
+
+     "The following interesting narrative was prepared by the very Rev.
+     Mr. Brouillet, vicar-general of Wallawalla, at the time of the
+     excitement consequent on the murder of Dr. Whitman by the Indians,
+     and in answer to Mr. Spalding, and other of Dr. Whitman's former
+     associates. Although the immediate occasion has passed away, it is
+     proper, still, to put the _facts of the case_ on record; and these
+     pages, which appeared recently in the columns of the New York
+     _Freeman's Journal_, will form an interesting and authentic chapter
+     in the history of Protestant missions.
+
+                                  "J. A. MCMASTERS."
+
+
+We will now turn to the 65th page of this false and malicious narrative,
+and find a document carefully prepared, _as stated by its author_, in
+grand council assembled under the eye of Bishop Blanchet, then bishop of
+Wallawalla, by the very Rev. Mr. Brouillet, etc. By a cursory glance at
+this narrative and document, it will be seen that it is prepared as
+coming from the Indians for the express purpose of blackening the
+character of Dr. Whitman, his wife, Mr. Spalding, and Mr. Rogers, and of
+charging them with being the cause of their own murder, and the murder
+of all who fell at Wailatpu by the hands of their own Indians, the
+Cayuses. That it embodies all the foul slanders against those missions
+that have been collected for a series of years, and asserts them to be
+true, without a single deposition or statement having been made before
+any court or justice of peace, known to the laws then in the country.
+These statements, from _preface to finis_, go upon the presumption that
+the title and professions of the men whose names are attached are
+sufficient evidence of the truth of any statements they may make,
+however unreasonable or false they may be. The documents above referred
+to are as follows (J. R. Browne, page 45):--
+
+    "The principal chiefs of the Cayuses, in council assembled, state:
+    That a young Indian (Joseph Lewis) who understands English, and who
+    slept in Dr. Whitman's room, heard the Doctor, his wife, and Mr.
+    Spalding express their desire of possessing the lands and animals of
+    the Indians; that he stated also that Mr. Spalding said to the
+    Doctor, 'Hurry giving medicines to the Indians, that they may soon
+    die;' that the same Indian told the Cayuses, 'If you do not kill the
+    Doctor soon, you will all be dead before spring;' that they buried
+    six Cayuses on Sunday, November 28, and three the next day; that
+    Mr. Rogers, the schoolmaster, stated to them before he died that the
+    Doctor, his wife, and Mr. Spalding poisoned the Indians; that for
+    several years past they had to deplore the death of their children;
+    and that, according to these reports, they were led to believe that
+    the whites had undertaken to kill them all; and that these were the
+    motives which led them to kill the Americans. The same chiefs ask at
+    present--
+
+    "1st. That the Americans may not go to war with the Cayuses.
+
+    "2d. That they may forget the lately committed murders, as the
+    Cayuses will forget the murder of the son of the great chief of
+    Wallawalla, committed in California.
+
+    "3d. That two or three great men may come up to conclude peace.
+
+    "4th. That as soon as these great men have arrived and concluded
+    peace, they may take with them all the women and children.
+
+    "5th. They give assurance that they will not harm the Americans
+    before the arrival of these two or three great men.
+
+    "6th. They ask that Americans may not travel any more through their
+    country, as their young men might do them harm.
+
+               "(Signed,)          "TILOKAIKT.
+                                   "CAMASPELO.
+                                   "TAWATOWE.
+                                   "ACHEKAIA.
+
+    "PLACE OF TAWATOWE, UMATILLA, December 20, 1847."
+
+
+    "The bishop accompanied this manifesto with a letter addressed to
+    the governor, which concluded in these terms: 'It is sufficient to
+    state that all these speeches went to show, that since they had been
+    instructed by the whites they abhorred war, and that the tragedy of
+    the 29th had occurred from an anxious desire of self-preservation,
+    and that it was the reports made against the Doctor and others which
+    led them to commit this act. _They desire to have the past forgotten
+    and to live in peace as before._ Your excellency has to judge of the
+    value of the documents which I have been requested to forward to
+    you. _Nevertheless, without having the least intention_ to influence
+    one way or the other, _I feel myself obliged to tell you_, that by
+    going to war with the Cayuses, _you will likely have all the Indians
+    of this country against you. Would it be for the interest of a young
+    colony to expose herself?_ That you will have to decide with your
+    council.'"
+
+Reader, you now have before you a full statement of the most important
+facts of the Whitman massacre, and of the part taken in it by "_the holy
+fathers, the Catholic priests_," as they were styled by Mr. McBean, of
+Fort Nez Perces, to Mr. Kimzey and his wife.
+
+The part taken by Mr. McBean, Mr. Ogden, and Sir James Douglas, will be
+given in another chapter.
+
+The above manifesto is given as having been made on the 20th of
+December, 1847. On the 23d, three days after, when this very Rev. Mr.
+Brouillet mounted his horse to go to the fort, he told Miss Bewley that
+"if she went to Five Crows' lodge any more she must not come back to his
+house." Miss Bewley says: "_The bishop told me I had better go._----The
+bishop sent an Indian with me; he took me to Five Crows' lodge.----_The
+bishop finally ordered me to go._----_I found I could get no help._"
+
+These are the solemn affirmations of this intelligent young American
+lady, who was present at the bishop's house when this manifesto was
+prepared.
+
+Were this Bishop Blanchet and his priests true and sincere in what they
+said, and in the advice they say they gave to the Indians?
+
+We have now traced what may be termed the missionary account of this
+painful tragedy, as given by both parties. Our readers must judge for
+themselves as to the guilt or innocence of all the parties involved, and
+also of the application to our subject of the extensive extracts we have
+given. We will now turn our attention to those whom we conceive to be
+the prime movers, and, in consequence, the most deeply implicated in
+this tragedy.
+
+We have had occasion to allude to the intimate connection existing
+between the Jesuit missions in Oregon and the Hudson's Bay Company. As
+early as 1836, that company brought a Protestant Episcopal chaplain to
+Vancouver for political reasons, whom they soon dismissed and attempted
+to disgrace, as unworthy of belief in any statement he might make. Soon
+after, in the fall of 1838, two Roman priests arrived at Vancouver and
+took charge of the religious and literary instructions of the members of
+the company,--of their children and servants, and, as far as possible,
+of all the Indians in the country; and while the company professed
+friendship for the American missionaries, they were active and vigilant
+to defeat all their efforts to enlighten and civilize the Indians,
+enlisting sufficient American influence to distract and divide the
+American people, so as to cover up their main object of securing the
+country for British Territory. This will be seen by evidence already
+quoted from our English authors, Mr. Fitzgerald and Sir Edward Belcher,
+and the refusal of Sir James Douglas to aid the provisional government,
+or furnish supplies for their troops, and the fact that they did embrace
+every opportunity to supply the Indians with guns, powder, and balls,
+and sought to combine the whole Indian power and prejudice against the
+settlements.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LX.
+
+     The Hudson's Bay Company's and the priests' part in the
+     massacre.--McBean's messenger.--Plot divulged to Hinman, Ogden, and
+     Douglas.--Douglas's remark to Hinman.--McBean's letter.--His
+     perversion of facts.--Comments.--Sir James Douglas's letter to
+     Governor Abernethy.--His Sandwich Islands letter.--Its falsehood
+     and absurdity.--Mr. Hinman's letter to Governor Abernethy.--The
+     dates.--Assertion of Robert Newell.--Hudson's Bay Company _v._
+     United States.
+
+
+We learn from Mr. McBean's letter, given below, that his horse guard and
+interpreter were at Dr. Whitman's mission and saw the dead bodies; and
+from Indians we learn that they were kept by the Rev. Mr. Brouillet, and
+took his account of the massacre (which he spent most of the night in
+preparing) to Mr. McBean. They also reported to him that three parties
+of Indians were preparing and about to start, to destroy the remaining
+Protestant missions and American settlements in middle Oregon, including
+the station at the Dalles; that the women and children were to be held
+as hostages, or captives for future disposal; that letters and a
+statement were prepared by Mr. McBean, and instructions given to his
+messenger that he might inform the Indians on his way down to Vancouver
+of what had happened, but he must not give any information to any
+American on the way, or at the Dalles. We learn from the Hon. A. Hinman
+that this messenger went to him at the Dalles station, and told him that
+he was sent by Mr. McBean to Vancouver for men, to replace such as had
+died of sickness at Fort Nez Perces. The messenger took dinner with Mr.
+Hinman, who went with him to the Indian lodges, where the messenger told
+the Indians of the massacre. Mr. Hinman procured a canoe and started
+with him to go to Vancouver. They reached Cape Horn, some thirty miles
+above that place, and there, while windbound, he informed Mr. Hinman of
+what had occurred, making a full confession, that "the _priests_, Mr.
+_McBean_, and _he_ were bad in trying to deceive him and have his family
+and people killed by the Indians;" told of his instructions, and of what
+was expected to be done with all the Americans in the country, and that
+he was the bearer of letters to Governor Ogden from Mr. McBean.
+
+We will now go with this express to Vancouver. Says the Hon. A. Hinman,
+who is still alive, and has made oath to the truth of his statements:
+"We went first to Mr. Ogden's room and informed him of the massacre. He
+was shocked, and said: '_Mr. Hinman, you can now see what opposition in
+religion will do._' We then went to Mr. Douglas's room and informed him,
+and when Mr. Ogden was pacing the room, he said: '_Mr. Douglas, you see
+now what opposition in religion does._' After a moment's pause, Mr.
+Douglas replied, '_There may be other causes._'"
+
+Reader, will you turn back and read over the chapter on the English
+Hudson's Bay Company's effort to secure Oregon, and see if there has not
+been a desperate effort made, since Dr. McLaughlin left that company, to
+overcome his mistakes and his humane policy toward Americans. Look also
+at the chapter on the _English Hudson's Bay Company's policy_ relative
+to Rupert's Land and Oregon, and learn fully what Mr. Ogden and Mr. (now
+Sir James) Douglas meant by these expressions made to Mr. Hinman, who
+says: "Mr. Douglas turned to me, and wished to know why I was not at
+home at so perilous a time. I told him I had received no letter from
+Wallawalla, and did not learn of the massacre till below the Cascades.
+At this he expressed surprise, and said, 'Mr. McBean ought by all means
+to have informed you of your danger.'
+
+"After this the express was opened, and Mr. Douglas read, and I listened
+to the account as given by Mr. McBean, and also of his account of three
+parties, which, Mr. McBean's letter said, Indian report says are fitting
+out, one to the saw-mill to kill the Americans at that place, and one to
+Rev. Mr. Spalding's station to cut off the Americans at that place, and
+one also to the Dalles to cut off those at that station.
+
+"I said to Mr. Douglas, 'How is it possible that Mr. McBean could have
+treated me in this way? How is it possible he did not inform me?' Mr.
+Douglas, after a little pause, said, '_Mr. Hinman, we must consider that
+the poor man was in circumstances of great perplexity, and might not
+know what to do._'"
+
+This was not the case, for Mr. McBean did give him positive
+instructions, as we learn from Mr. Hinman's statement. He says: "After
+hearing this dreadful account from the Canadian, I asked him why he did
+not inform me before I left my house. _He said Mr. McBean told him to
+say nothing about it to them at the Dalles!_"
+
+Soon after the messenger and Mr. Hinman left the Dalles, the Indians
+went to the station and informed P. Whitman, the doctor's nephew, that
+his uncle and aunt, and all the Americans at that place, were killed.
+This Indian report was not credited; they could not believe that Mr.
+McBean would send a messenger, as he had done, and not inform them of
+what had actually taken place.
+
+The reader will remember the deposition of Mr. Kimzey in relation to Mr.
+McBean's statements about the "holy fathers, the Catholic priests," and
+the subsequent instructions to him, to let the Indians know he was from
+the fort.
+
+We will now direct our attention to the mutilated letter of William
+McBean, as furnished by Sir James Douglas to Governor Abernethy, and
+published in the Oregon _Spectator_, December 10, 1849:--
+
+                                         FORT NEZ PERCES, Nov. 30, 1847.
+
+    "_To the Board of Managers_:
+
+    "GENTLEMEN,--It is my painful duty to make you acquainted with a
+    horrible massacre which took place yesterday at Wailatpu, about
+    which I was first apprised, early this morning, by an American who
+    had escaped, of the name of Hall, and who reached this place
+    half-naked and covered with blood, as he started at the outset;
+    the information I received was not satisfactory. He, however,
+    assured me that the Doctor and another man were killed, but could
+    not tell us the persons who did it, and how it originated. I
+    immediately determined on sending my interpreter and one man to
+    Dr. Whitman to find out the truth, and, if possible, to rescue Mr.
+    Manson's two sons and any of the survivors. It so happened that,
+    before the interpreter had proceeded half-way, the two boys were
+    met on their way hither, escorted by Nicholas Finlay, _it having
+    been previously settled among the Indians_ that these boys should
+    not be killed [Mr. McBean should have added, as per my
+    instructions]; as also the American women and children [as per
+    Joseph Stanfield's direction, as he had taken Mrs. Hays for a
+    wife, and several Indians were to have the young women at the
+    station for wives]. Tilokaikt is the chief who recommended this
+    measure. I presume that you are well acquainted that fever and
+    dysentery have been raging here and in the vicinity, in
+    consequence of which a great number of Indians have been swept
+    away, but more especially at the Doctor's place, where he had
+    attended upon the Indians. About thirty souls of the Cayuse tribe
+    died, one after another, who evidently believed the Doctor
+    poisoned them, and in which opinion they were, unfortunately,
+    confirmed by one of the Doctor's party. As far as I have been able
+    to learn, this has been the sole cause of the dreadful butchery.
+    In order to satisfy any doubt on that point, it is reported that
+    they requested the Doctor to administer medicine to three of their
+    friends, two of whom were really sick, but the third feigned
+    sickness, and that the three were corpses the next morning. After
+    they were buried, and while the Doctor's men were employed
+    slaughtering an ox, the Indians came one by one to his house, with
+    their arms concealed under their blankets, and, being all
+    assembled, commenced firing on those slaughtering the animal, and
+    in a moment the Doctor's house was surrounded; the Doctor, and a
+    young lad brought up by himself, were shot in the house. His
+    lady, Mr. Rogers, and the children had taken refuge in the garret,
+    but were dragged down and dispatched (excepting the children)
+    outside, where their bodies were left exposed.
+
+    "It is reported that it was not their intention to kill Mr.
+    Rogers, in consequence of an avowal to the following effect, which
+    he is said to have made, and which nothing but a desire to save
+    his life could have promoted him to do. He said, 'I was one
+    evening lying down, and overheard the Doctor telling Rev. Mr.
+    Spalding that it was best you should all be poisoned at once, but
+    that the latter told him it was best to continue slowly and
+    cautiously, and between this and spring not a soul would remain,
+    when they would take possession of your lands, cattle, and
+    horses.'
+
+    "These are only Indian reports, and no person can believe the
+    Doctor capable of such an action without being as ignorant and
+    brutish as the Indians themselves. One of the murderers, not
+    having been made acquainted with the above understanding, shot Mr.
+    Rogers."
+
+    This confession is made, as the reader will notice, and attributed
+    to Mr. Rogers, in order to give the coloring of truth to Joe
+    Lewis's statement. There appears, as will be seen by comparing the
+    statements of Vicar-General Brouillet's Indian council and this of
+    McBean's, a little doubt which to make the author of that story.
+    Sir James Douglas has adopted McBean's statement, as the most
+    plausible, in his report, as it is attributed to one of the
+    _Doctor's own party_.
+
+    The whole thing, as will be seen by the testimony of Miss Bewley,
+    is utterly false, and, as McBean has said, only Indian reports;
+    and, we will add, told to them by _Stanfield_, _Joe Lewis_, and
+    _Finlay_, a Frenchman, an Indian, and a half-breed, all under the
+    influence, and probably in the service, of the Hudson's Bay
+    Company and priests. And McBean, Sir James Douglas, and Brouillet
+    are more brutish than the Indians, in putting such reports in
+    circulation. If they had no confidence in them, why did they
+    repeat them, giving them the color of truth? And why do they
+    pretend to say "his life would have been spared," and it was only
+    a mistake that he was shot? Bewley and Sales were brutally
+    murdered the eighth day after Rogers was, for Bewley's saying he
+    did not believe the stories about poisoning Indians, and that he
+    believed the priests were the cause of it. If the Doctor, and Mr.
+    Spalding, and Mrs. Whitman were the only ones they thought
+    injuring them, why attempt to kill all the Americans at the
+    station? Why make the arrangements as extensive as Vicar-General
+    Brouillet tells Mr. Spalding they were (on page 51 of his
+    narrative, 38 of Ross Browne's report): "_I knew that the Indians
+    were angry with all Americans_, and more enraged against Mr.
+    Spalding than any other;"--on 54th page: "I know not; you know the
+    country better than I do. All that I know is, that the Indians say
+    _the order to kill Americans has been sent in all directions_."
+
+    Without the history of the Hudson's Bay Company and the Northwest
+    Fur Company before us, we would be quite incapable of
+    comprehending the expressions and statements of this priest to Mr.
+    Spalding. Were we ignorant of that history, and without a
+    knowledge of the statements to which they have made oath in
+    relation to their claims against our government, we could not
+    understand these letters of McBean and Douglas.
+
+    We are also in possession of other facts, respecting the treatment
+    of their own countrymen who have unfortunately fallen under their
+    displeasure, which is here repeated upon Dr. Whitman and Mr.
+    Rogers.
+
+    We would cut all these communications short, and make a general
+    statement, but we would be charged (as we have already been) with
+    "stringing together statements without facts;" besides, all these
+    Hudson's Bay documents and statements have had a powerful
+    influence to destroy the characters of good men who are dead, and
+    shield the vile conduct of the guilty, who are still living.
+
+    So far as McBean was concerned, he obeyed orders as implicitly as
+    Grant of the Hudson's Bay Company did, when _he sent forty
+    families, in 1846, into the mountains of California, to perish in
+    the snow with cold and hunger_. McBean must assist in blackening
+    the character of Whitman, Rogers, and Spalding, to protect that of
+    the "_holy fathers, the Catholic priests_."
+
+McBean in his letter further says: "It is well understood that eleven
+lives were lost and three wounded. It is also rumored that they are to
+make an attack upon the fort; let them come if they will not listen to
+reason; though I have only five men at the establishment, I am prepared
+to give them a warm reception; the gates are closed day and night, and
+bastions in readiness. In company with Mr. Manson's two sons was sent a
+young half-breed lad brought up by Dr. Whitman; they are all here, and
+have got over their fright."
+
+This portion of the letter is supposed, by Mr. Hinman, to have been put
+in by Mr. Douglas in place of that which related to sending parties to
+destroy Americans at other places; and to show to the world that they
+were threatened by the Indians, as well as the Americans. The same as
+Brouillet is careful to tell us that "he was afraid the Indians would
+kill him," and that the priests were not safe among them.
+
+    "The ringleaders in this horrible butchery are Tilokaikt, his son,
+    Big Belly, Tamsaky, Istacus [a true friend of the Americans, who
+    was only a witness of the murders], Towmoulisk, etc. I understand
+    from the interpreter that they were making one common grave for the
+    dead. The houses were stripped of every thing in the shape of
+    property; but when they came to divide the spoils, they all fell out
+    among themselves, and all agreed to put back the property. _I am
+    happy to state the Wallawalla chief_ had no hand in the whole
+    business."
+
+If this is true, the killing of the Wallawalla chief's son in California
+could not have been one of the causes of the massacre, as alleged in the
+narrative of the very Rev. Mr. Brouillet.
+
+     "_They were all the Doctor's own people,--the Cayuses._"
+
+This we should expect, as it would enable those who wished to make their
+own guilt appear innocence. The Doctor's people alone were to commence
+killing the Americans. It is asserted by good authority, that a part of
+Mr. Spalding's, and the Indians at the Dalles, were ready to engage in
+the same business, from the same advice and orders.
+
+     "_One American shot another, and took the Indians' part to save his
+     own life._"
+
+This statement by McBean is made, as will be seen, to give the
+impression that there was a quarrel among the Americans, and that they
+were ready to betray and shoot each other and take the part of the
+Indians. The reader will recollect that this shooting refers to the
+Indian Joe Lewis, in killing one of the Sager boys, and is explained
+particularly by Sir James Douglas in his Sandwich Islands letter, for
+the information of the American Board of Missions. This fact goes to
+show that Sir James had received a more particular and carefully
+prepared account than Mr. McBean had; while the one was a summary, the
+other was the particulars so arranged as to implicate Dr. Whitman, Mr.
+Spalding, Mr. Rogers, Mrs. Whitman, and another American, to show that
+they were not only ready to poison the Indians, but to kill and betray
+each other to save their own lives; thus showing the intimate connection
+and complicity of Sir James with the very rev. vicar-general, in giving
+countenance to this infamous slander, and publishing it to the world
+over his own signature, and using all his influence to shield and clear
+the instigators of the crime.
+
+It can not be urged that Sir James received his particular information
+at some other time, for his letters to Governor Abernethy and the
+Sandwich Islands were dated, the one to the governor, December 7, 1847,
+in which he says, "A copy of Mr. McBean's letter herewith will give you
+_all the particulars known to us_ of this indescribably painful event;"
+and the one to the Islands, December 9, 1847, in which he gives more
+particulars.
+
+The impression is irresistibly fixed in the mind, that Mr. Brouillet
+spent most of the night, on arriving at Wailatpu (before the dead were
+buried), in Tilokaikt's lodge or camp, arranging and writing those
+statements and particulars, so that Sir James Douglas could give his
+approval, and that they would go to the American Board of Missions and
+the friends of the murdered dead, with the sanction of his name,
+implicating the dead as having brought about this horrible massacre.
+
+Another reason for this impression is, that in all the public and
+private correspondence between any of these parties, there is, and
+always has been, the most intense anxiety shown to prevent the open
+discussion of that transaction, as will be seen in the next paragraph in
+McBean's letter, and by the promptness with which Mr. Ogden reported to
+Bishop Blanchet; Mr. Spalding's injudicious remarks to Major Magone on
+the trip down the river; the manner of Mr. Spalding's very unwise and
+imprudent letter to the bishop and his priests, was published and
+commented upon by them; the promptness of Mr. Douglas to demand an
+explanation of Colonel Gilliam's supposed statement; the refusal of the
+Hudson's Bay Company to furnish supplies to the provisional troops; and
+the fact that the company did supply 1,080 pounds of powder, 1,800
+pounds of balls and shot to the priests for the Indians, with three
+cases containing thirty-six guns, all of which were seized by Lieutenant
+Rogers at the Dalles, and should have been (but were not) confiscated.
+We will now ask the attention of the reader to the remainder of this (to
+the Hudson's Bay Company and Romanists in general) glorious news of the
+complete victory they had obtained over _Protestantism_ and its missions
+in Oregon.
+
+Mr. McBean, or Sir James Douglas, we do not know which, says: "Allow me
+to _draw a veil over this dreadful affair_ which is too painful to dwell
+upon, and which I have explained conformable to information received and
+with sympathizing feelings.
+
+               "I remain, with much respect, gentlemen,
+               "Your most obedient humble servant,
+
+                                  "WILLIAM McBEAN."
+
+
+We can scarcely retain the expressions of Whew! Horrible! etc., as we
+give the balance of this important letter, copied and given to the
+public of Oregon, under the eye of Sir James Douglas, with the--
+
+     "N. B.--I have just learned that the Cayuses are to be here
+     to-morrow to kill Serpent Jaune, the Wallawalla chief.
+
+                                  "W. McB."
+
+
+     "Names of those who were killed: Dr. Whitman, Mrs. Whitman, Mr.
+     Rogers, Hoffman, Sanders, Osborn [not killed], Marsh, John and
+     Francis Sager, Canfield [not killed], and a sailor, besides three
+     that were wounded more or less--Messrs. Hall, Kimball, and another
+     whose name I can not learn.
+
+                                  "W. McBEAN."
+
+
+Could the reader look at the exact original copy of that letter, and of
+that as found in the _Spectator_ of December 10, 1847, and hear the
+expressions of sentiment and feeling among a portion of the people at
+Oregon City; and listen to some of the private consultations, and hear
+the opinions there expressed, he would be able to understand the
+impression that this, with some other letters published at that time,
+made upon the public mind.
+
+There was in one little council of a number of the then representatives
+of Oregon, a disposition to let that foul murder pass, without making an
+effort to avenge those deaths, or punish the Indians. One of that little
+council exclaimed with an oath, "Gentlemen, we must not allow that
+murder to pass, without an effort to punish those concerned in it; and
+for one, I know that Dr. Whitman did not bring it upon himself. Our own
+existence in this country is involved in the action we take in this
+matter. It becomes absolutely necessary that we take measures to protect
+ourselves and punish the murderers."
+
+                                           FORT VANCOUVER, Dec. 7, 1847.
+
+     "_George Abernethy, Esq._:
+
+     "SIR,--Having received intelligence last night (on the 4th), by
+     special express from Wallawalla, of the _destruction_ of the
+     _missionary settlement_ at Wailatpu _by the Cayuse Indians of that
+     place_, we hasten to communicate the _particulars_ of that dreadful
+     event, one of the most atrocious which darkens the annals of Indian
+     crime.
+
+     "Our lamented friend Dr. Whitman, his amiable and accomplished
+     lady, with nine other persons, have fallen victims to the fury of
+     those remorseless savages, who appear to have been instigated to
+     the appalling crime by a horrible suspicion which had taken
+     possession of their superstitious minds, in consequence of the
+     number of deaths from dysentery and measles, that Dr. Whitman was
+     silently working the destruction of their tribe, by administering
+     poisonous drugs under the semblance of salutary medicines.
+
+     "With a goodness of heart and benevolence truly his own, Dr.
+     Whitman had been laboring incessantly, since the appearance of the
+     measles and dysentery among _his Indian converts_, to relieve their
+     sufferings, and _such has been the reward of his generous labors_.
+
+     "_A copy of Mr. McBean's letter herewith will give you all the
+     particulars known to us of this indescribably painful event._
+
+     "Mr. Ogden, with a strong party, will leave this place as soon as
+     possible for Wallawalla, to endeavor to prevent further evil, and
+     we beg to suggest to you the propriety of taking instant measures
+     for the protection of the Rev. Mr. Spalding, who, for the sake of
+     his family, _ought to abandon_ the Clearwater Mission _without
+     delay_, and retire to a place of safety, as he can not remain at
+     that isolated station without imminent risk in the present excited
+     and irritated state of the Indian population.
+
+               "I have the honor to be, sir,
+               "Your most obedient servant,
+
+                                  "JAMES DOUGLAS."
+
+
+We now give Sir James Douglas's letter to the Sandwich Islands, as found
+in the March number of the _Friend_:--
+
+                                          "FORT VANCOUVER, Dec. 9, 1847.
+
+     "_S. N. Castle, Esq._:
+
+     "SIR,--It is with feelings indescribably painful that I hasten to
+     communicate to you, _for the information of the Board of Missions_,
+     intelligence of a disastrous event which lately occurred at the
+     mission station of Wailatpu. Our esteemed friend Dr. Whitman, his
+     amiable and accomplished lady, and nine men and youths in the
+     mission employ, were murdered on the 29th ultimo by the Cayuse
+     Indians, with circumstances of the most revolting cruelty. The
+     lives of the women and children, with the exception of the lamented
+     lady already mentioned, were spared. The mission being situated in
+     the Cayuse country, they had a peculiar interest in protecting it
+     from harm, in gratitude for past favors, and for the blessings of
+     religious instruction so assiduously dispensed to them and to their
+     families; yet those very people, the objects of so much solicitude,
+     _were alone concerned in effecting the destruction of the
+     establishment_ founded solely for their benefit.
+
+     "The Cayuses are the most treacherous and untractable of all the
+     Indian tribes in this country [contradicted by Mr. Ogden], and had
+     on many former occasions alarmed the inmates of the mission by
+     their tumultuous proceedings and ferocious threats; but,
+     unfortunately, these evidences of a brutal disposition were
+     disregarded by their admirable pastor, and served only to arm him
+     with a firmer resolution to do them good. He hoped that time and
+     instruction would produce a change of mind,--a better state of
+     feeling toward the mission,--and might have lived to see his hopes
+     realized [had not the Hudson's Bay Company and the Roman priests
+     determined otherwise], had not the measles and dysentery, following
+     in the train of emigration from the United States, made fearful
+     ravages this year in the upper country, many Indians having been
+     carried off through the violence of the disease, and others through
+     their own imprudence.
+
+     "The Cayuse Indians of Wailatpu being sufferers in the general
+     calamity, were incensed against Dr. Whitman, [by the tales of Joe
+     Lewis, Stanfield, and the very Rev. Mr. Brouillet, who afterward
+     found a vial of white powder and called it poison, and ordered the
+     Indians to bury it, as per evidence in the case] for not exerting
+     his supposed supernatural power in saving their lives. They carried
+     this absurdity beyond that point of folly.
+
+     "Their superstitious minds became possessed with the horrible
+     superstition that he was giving poison to the sick instead of
+     wholesome medicine, with the view of working the destruction of the
+     tribe; their former cruelty probably adding strength to their
+     suspicions. Still some of the more reflecting had confidence in Dr.
+     Whitman's integrity, and it was agreed to test the effect of the
+     medicine he had furnished on three of their people, one of whom was
+     said to be in perfect health."
+
+The absurdity of this statement is so palpable, and so perfectly
+improbable in every respect, that, with all my study of Indian
+character, I am unable to understand why this statement is repeated by
+any of the parties concerned in bringing about that massacre. It can
+only be believed by the most stupid, as it has not the plausibility of
+truth in it; and Mr. Douglas showed a debasement of mind beyond
+comprehension in quoting it to his friend. We quote this whole letter,
+that it may be seen how low Sir James felt himself obliged to descend,
+to make an absurdity appear reasonable. The idea is started by
+Brouillet, increased by McBean, and completed by Douglas, who would give
+such accounts to the public to make others equally false appear
+probable. He continues:--
+
+     "_They unfortunately died, and from that moment it was resolved to
+     destroy the mission._"
+
+But we have positive testimony that the destruction of that mission,
+with Mr. Spalding's, was determined upon, and so stated by McBean before
+an Indian was known to be sick in the tribe or at the station. Mr.
+Douglas says:--
+
+     "It was immediately after burying the remains of these three
+     persons, that they repaired to the mission one after another, with
+     their arms hid under their blankets. The Doctor was at the school
+     with the children, the others were cutting up an ox which they had
+     just killed. When the Indians were numerous enough to effect their
+     object, they fell upon the poor victims, some with guns and others
+     with hatchets, and their blood was soon streaming on all sides.
+
+     "Some of the Indians turned their attention toward the Doctor; he
+     received a pistol-shot in the breast from one, and a blow on the
+     head from another. He had still strength enough to reach a sofa,
+     where he threw himself down and expired. Mrs. Whitman was dragged
+     from the garret and mercilessly butchered at the door. Mr. Rogers
+     was shot after his life had been granted to him.
+
+     "The women and children were also going to be murdered, when a
+     voice was raised to ask for mercy in favor of those whom they
+     thought innocent, and their lives were spared.
+
+     "It is reported that a kind of deposition made by Mr. Rogers
+     incensed the fury of this savage mob. Mr. Rogers was seized, was
+     made to sit down, and then told that his life would be spared if he
+     made a full discovery of Dr. Whitman's supposed treachery. That
+     person then told the Indians that the Doctor intended to poison
+     them; that one night, when Mr. Spalding was at Wailatpu, he heard
+     them say that the Indians ought to be poisoned, in order that the
+     Americans might take possession of their lands; that the Doctor
+     wished to poison them all at once, but Mr. Spalding advised him to
+     do it gradually. Mr. Rogers, after this deposition, was spared, but
+     an Indian, who was not present, having seen him, fired at and
+     killed him.
+
+     "An American made a similar deposition, adding that Mrs. Whitman
+     was an accomplice, and she deserved death as well as her husband.
+
+     "It appears that he concluded by saying that he would take the side
+     of the Indians, and that he detested the Americans. An Indian then
+     put a pistol into his hand, and said to him, 'If you tell the
+     truth, you must prove it by shooting that young American;' and this
+     wretched apostate from his country fired upon the young man shown
+     to him, and laid him dead at his feet.
+
+     "It was upon the evidence of that _American_ that Mrs. Whitman was
+     murdered, or she might have shared in the mercy extended to the
+     other females and children.
+
+     "_Such are the details, as far as known, of that disastrous event,
+     and the causes which led to it._
+
+     "Mr. Rogers' reported deposition, if correct, is unworthy of
+     belief, having been drawn from him by the fear of instant death.
+     The other American, who shed the blood of his own friend, must be a
+     villain of the darkest dye, and ought to suffer for his aggravated
+     crime."
+
+There is no evidence that Sir James Douglas ever exerted the least
+influence to arrest or punish one of those murderers; on the contrary,
+there is evidence that the Hudson's Bay Company assisted them and
+facilitated their escape from justice, and supplied the Indians with
+arms and ammunition to carry on the war that followed. Particulars of
+the whole truth, are given in another chapter. This letter of Sir James
+Douglas continues:--
+
+     "On the 7th instant, Mr. Ogden proceeded toward Wallawalla with a
+     strong party of the Hudson's Bay Company's servants, to endeavor to
+     prevent further evil.
+
+     "Accompanying, you will receive a copy of a letter which I
+     addressed to Governor Abernethy immediately after the arrival of
+     the melancholy intelligence at this place.
+
+     "All that can be collected will be considered important by the
+     friends of Doctor and Mrs. Whitman in the United States, who will
+     be anxious to learn every particular concerning their tragic fate.
+     It will be a satisfaction for them to know that these eminent
+     servants of God were faithful in their lives, though we have to
+     deplore the melancholy circumstances which accompanied their
+     departure from this world of trial.
+
+               "I am, sir, your obedient servant,
+
+                                  "JAMES DOUGLAS."
+
+
+We now have before us the statements of all the parties concerned in the
+most inhuman and disgraceful tragedy that has darkened the pages of our
+history. The crime itself was most inhuman and brutal, but, being mixed
+with religious prejudice and sectarian hate, guided and brought about by
+foreign commercial influences under the direction of a British monopoly,
+it demands a national investigation.
+
+That Sir James Douglas knew more of the inception and ultimate designs
+of that transaction is evident from the prompt and careful manner in
+which he answered Mr. Ogden's remark, that it was brought about from
+religious causes; he affirmed that "_there might be other causes_;" and
+when he had read the dispatches, he said, "_We must consider the poor
+man was in great perplexity, and might not know what to do._" These two
+expressions of Sir James Douglas to Mr. Ogden and Mr. Hinman are the key
+that unlocks the whole mystery in this desperate arrangement to hold
+this whole country for the exclusive benefit of that monopoly.
+
+As to the morality of the transaction, the great sympathy of Sir James
+and his conclave of bishops and priests, the church assumes all. The
+baptizing of three Indian children was of more importance to the church
+than all the suffering widows and orphans at that missionary settlement.
+
+The particular account, as given by Sir James, was of more importance
+than punishing the murderers, or even casting a suspicion, such as Mr.
+Ogden, his associate, had done, upon his accomplices in crime.
+
+These two letters show his duplicity, and the unblushing manner in
+which he gives one statement to Governor Abernethy, for Oregon, and
+another for the Board of Missions, and how careful he is to state
+circumstances and false impressions as to the facts he pretends to give
+with so much sympathy and apparent interest in the fate of the murdered
+dead.
+
+There are but two other persons who have given us any information of
+this tragedy, on the part of the priests and the Hudson's Bay Company.
+One of those was, at the time, in charge of Fort Nez Perces. His account
+was sent to Sir James,--mutilated, and not as carefully prepared for the
+people of Oregon as was this one for the great world beyond. The other
+is prepared by the very Rev. Mr. Brouillet, vicar-general of Wallawalla,
+and given to the world to form an "_interesting and authentic chapter in
+the history of Protestant missions_," and contains all the imaginary
+circumstantial statements of the massacre, as given over the name of
+James Douglas, and officially in the report of J. Ross Browne, December
+4, 1859.
+
+If these statements had first appeared, as they now do, over the name
+and by the authority or affirmation of the very Rev. Mr. Brouillet,
+etc., all the world, as J. Ross Browne did, would have adopted the idea
+of Mr. Ogden, and said truly this was the result of _opposition in
+religion_. But Sir James Douglas proves, by his own statements and
+letters, and subsequent conduct all through the war that followed, that
+it was not "_opposition in religion_ alone." It was a predetermined
+arrangement of the "_powerful company, the practical monopoly of the fur
+trade_," which, in 1865, he affirmed this company held over the country
+in 1846. The profits of that business were not to be lost to his
+powerful company by any missionary settlement in it.
+
+Are we correct in these conclusions? The statements are given by the
+parties implicated. Were we to allow our personal feelings and sectarian
+preferences to influence our conclusions, we would join in the general
+conclusion of Mr. Ogden; but a full knowledge of the facts forces us to
+believe the statement of Mr. Douglas as being the most correct;
+nevertheless, we will not abate one iota of the scathing condemnation
+justly due to the foreign sectarianism brought into the country to
+effect the object of that corporation, nor of the scorn and infamy due
+to the immediate controlling actors--Bishop Blanchet and his
+priests--under the garb of religion.
+
+We wish to keep as distinctly as possible before the mind the separate
+part each party has performed in this great drama of which we have been
+writing. As we have before said, there were four distinct parties or
+influences in the country, and the Indian formed the fifth. The Hudson's
+Bay Company and the Roman priests combined and formed one; the
+missionaries with the settlers formed another; and the Indian was
+between them. For a time, the American influence was the most
+prominent,--say in 1843, 1844, and 1845. In 1846, Bishop Blanchet was in
+Europe, making extensive preparations for missionary operations in
+Oregon, corresponding in extent with those made by the Rev. Jason Lee in
+1839-40.
+
+"On August 19, 1847, Bishop Blanchet arrived in the mouth of the
+Columbia River, in the _Morning Star_, Captain Menes, five and a half
+months from Brest, with five priests, three Jesuits, three lay brothers,
+two deacons, and seven nuns." In addition to these, we had, overland,
+eight priests and two nuns that same year. These, with the priests
+already in the country, gave us twenty-five of the Roman clerical order
+and fifteen nuns. This was a powerful and extensive effort to recover
+the lost foreign influence in the country. How well they succeeded is
+now a matter of history, and will enable the reader to understand the
+bold and defiant attitude of Mr. Douglas and his efficient co-laborers,
+Bishop Blanchet and his priests, among the Indians.
+
+The missionary settlement at Wailatpu was the most important point in
+the whole upper country. The influence and position of those Indians
+were such, that special efforts were required to commence and carry on
+the destruction of all American settlements in the country.
+
+We come now to the letter of Hon. A. Hinman, properly belonging to this
+chapter.
+
+                                       FORT VANCOUVER, December 4, 1847.
+
+     _Mr. George Abernethy_:
+
+     DEAR SIR,--A Frenchman, from Wallawalla, arrived at my place on
+     last Saturday, and informed me that he was on his way to Vancouver,
+     and wished me to assist in procuring him a canoe immediately. I was
+     very inquisitive to know if there was any difficulty above. He said
+     four Frenchmen had died recently, and he wished to get others to
+     occupy their places.
+
+     I immediately got him a canoe, and concluded to go in company with
+     him, in order to get some medicine for the Indians, as they were
+     dying off with measles and other diseases very fast. I was charged
+     with indifference. They said we were killing in not giving them
+     medicines, and I found if we were not exposing our lives, we were
+     our peace, and consequently I set out for this place. This side of
+     the Cascades I was made acquainted with the horrible massacre that
+     took place at Wailatpu last Monday. Horrid to relate! Dr. and Mrs.
+     Whitman, Mr. Rogers, Mr. Osborn, Mr. Sanders, a school-teacher, the
+     two orphan boys (John and Francis Sager), together with all the men
+     at that place,--eleven in all. Some are living at the saw-mill,
+     which is situated about twenty miles from the Doctor's. A party
+     set out for that place to dispatch them; also a party for Mr.
+     Spalding's, to dispatch them; and they are not satisfied yet, but a
+     party is said to have started for my place, and has, if true,
+     reached them before this time. Oh! had I known it when I was at
+     home. I can neither sleep nor take any rest, on account of my
+     family and those with them, viz., my wife and child, the Doctor's
+     nephew, Dr. Saffron, and Mr. McKinney and wife. If I had ten men I
+     could defend myself with perfect ease, by occupying the
+     meeting-house, which is very roomy and close. You see my situation,
+     as well as Mr. Spalding's. I have perfect confidence in your doing
+     all you can to get a party to come up and spend the winter there,
+     and likewise to go to the rescue of the women and children, and Mr.
+     Spalding, if alive, which I think very doubtful.
+
+     Delay not a moment in sending a few men for my protection; a few
+     moments may save our lives.
+
+     I expect to leave to-morrow for home, and perhaps the first
+     salutation will be a ball. My family is there, and I must return if
+     it costs my life.
+
+     We are in the hands of a merciful God, why should we be alarmed? I
+     will close by saying again, send a small force immediately without
+     the delay of one day. Farewell.
+
+               Yours truly,
+                                  ALANSON HINMAN.
+
+
+It will be seen that the main facts are given by Mr. Hinman, with the
+designs of other Indian parties to cut off the Americans at Mr.
+Spalding's, the saw-mill, and at the Dalles, which Mr. Douglas omits in
+his letter to Governor Abernethy, but informs him of the Indians'
+threatened attack upon Fort Nez Perces (Wallawalla).
+
+That part of Mr. Douglas's letter relating to Mr. Rogers' supposed
+statement to the Indians, the brother (still living) has requested Mr.
+Douglas to explain; but no explanation has been given. We know, from the
+depositions given, that Mr. Douglas made the statement without evidence
+of its truth; and it is evident he is too stubborn or proud to
+acknowledge or explain his error.
+
+There is one other fact in connection with this transaction that looks
+dark on the part of Sir James Douglas.
+
+It is shown in the dates of the several letters. Mr. Hinman's is dated
+December 4; Mr. Douglas's, December 7; that to the Sandwich Islands,
+December 9. Now, between the 4th and 7th are three days. In a case of so
+much importance, and professed sympathy,--as expressed in his
+letter,--how is it, that three, or even two days were allowed to pass
+without sending a dispatch informing Governor Abernethy of what had
+happened, and of what was expected to take place? which last he had left
+out of his letter, and the copy of McBean's; but does inform him of the
+threatened danger to Fort Nez Perces, as coming from McBean.
+
+Mr. Douglas is prompt to urge the removal of Mr. Spalding, but
+unreasonably slow to send an express twenty or thirty miles to notify
+the American settlement of its danger.
+
+We wish to say, once for all, that we are not giving the private history
+or character of any man or set of men. Their public conduct and
+proceedings are a part of our history. Mr. Douglas was, at the time we
+are writing, the acknowledged head of the Hudson's Bay Company, and, as
+such, acted and controlled the movements of its members. Bishop Blanchet
+was the acknowledged head of the Roman Church, and, as such, acted with
+Mr. Douglas; for while not one Roman priest, or a servant of either of
+these two parties were disturbed or harmed in the least, all Protestant
+missionaries and American citizens were either killed, or driven from
+the upper country by order of that company. As Robert Newell asserts,
+under date of October 25, 1866: "_And they could not have remained in
+the country a week_ without the consent and aid of that company, nor
+could any mission, in my opinion, in those days have been established in
+this (Wallamet) or that (Wallawalla) valley, without the aid and
+influence of the Hudson's Bay Company, nor could the settlers have
+remained in the country as they did up to 1848, for the same reasons."
+
+This statement is made by a gentleman who professes to know more of, and
+has been (without a question) more favored by the Hudson's Bay Company
+than any other American in the country. If his statement is true, which
+we have no doubt he believes it to be, then who is responsible for all
+the murders of American hunters, trappers, missionaries, immigrants, and
+settlers on their way to our country and in it. But we will not risk our
+conclusions upon the statement of an individual, who is totally ignorant
+of the policy of the company he undertakes to defend. We have, in
+addition, the sworn statement of Sir James Douglas as to the power and
+influence of his company, one year previous to the cutting off of the
+missionary settlement at Wailatpu.
+
+He says, under oath: "Their posts were so arranged as to practically
+enjoy a monopoly in the fur trade, and they possessed an extraordinary
+influence with the nations west of the Rocky Mountains." (Answer to
+interrogatory in claim Hudson's Bay Company _v._ United States.)
+
+That this influence was exerted to destroy that mission there can be no
+question; and that the same influence has since been exerted to spread,
+far and wide, statements originated by them and their associates to
+blast the character of the dead, and destroy the influence of the living
+in the cause of truth, is equally true.
+
+We find it stated in Brouillet's narrative that the most friendly and
+cordial relations existed between the Hudson's Bay Company and his
+mission; so much so, that he is present by special invitation at Mr.
+Ogden's council for arranging the purchase of the captives. He informs
+us, on page 69, "Protestantism in Oregon," that Mr. Ogden told them that
+"the Hudson's Bay Company had never deceived them; that he hoped they
+would listen to his words; that the company did not meddle with the
+affairs of the Americans; that there were _three parties_; the
+_Americans_ on one side, the _Cayuses_ on the other, and the _French_
+people and the _priests_ in the middle; the company was there to trade
+and the priests to teach them their duties; 'Listen to the priests,'
+said he, several times; 'listen to the priests; they will teach you how
+to keep a good life; the priests do not come to make war; they carry no
+arms,--they carry but their crucifixes,[15] and with them they can not
+kill.' He _insisted particularly_, and at several times, upon the
+_distinction necessary_ to be made between the affairs of the company
+and those of the Americans."
+
+    [Footnote 15] The Oblates, who constantly carry a crucifix on
+    their breasts, were present.
+
+The company's interests must not be interfered with. The professions of
+sympathy found in Mr. Douglas's letters are all explained, when the
+facts are fully developed. The complaint of the company, as stated in
+the memorial presented to the commissioners, April 17, 1865 (Hudson's
+Bay Company _v._ United States, page 19), states that "among these
+circumstances may be specified the aggressive acts and the general
+conduct of American citizens, and of persons acting under the authority
+of the United States, commencing shortly after the 15th of June, 1846,
+and continuing from year to year, by which the rights of the claimants
+under that treaty were violated and denied, and their property and
+possessions were, in some instances, usurped and taken from them, and,
+in others, were necessarily abandoned. This course of conduct was,
+perhaps, to be expected, from the anomalous position in which the
+company was placed,--a foreign corporation exercising a _quasi_
+sovereignty and exclusive rights over territory transferred to a power
+whose policy in dealing with such territory was diametrically opposed to
+that which the company pursued, and from which they derived their
+profits."
+
+This complaint demands careful consideration at the present time. The
+statements of Mr. Ogden to the Indians, the memorial of the company, and
+the testimony it has produced in support of its claims, the statements
+and correspondence of the Jesuit missionaries, all go to prove the
+settled policy of the company to maintain its "_quasi_ sovereignty" and
+exclusive asserted claims to the country at the time of the Wailatpu
+massacre.
+
+That company, with less than half its then powerful influence and
+capital, had compelled the more powerful and active French-Canadian
+Northwest Company, numerically stronger than itself, to yield and accept
+its terms of a union in 1821.
+
+They had driven from the country all American traders. They had, as they
+vainly imagined, secured an influence in the provisional American
+government sufficient to control all danger from that source, while they
+were ready to let loose the Indians upon the settlers, and prepared to
+supply them with the means to destroy or drive them from the country.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXI.
+
+     Preliminary events of the Cayuse war.--Message of Governor
+     Abernethy.--Journal of the house.--Resolutions.--Assembling of the
+     people at the call of the governor.--Enlisting of men.--Names of
+     the volunteers.--Names of the officers.--Their flag.--Their
+     departure.--Letter to Sir James Douglas.--His reply.--Commissioners
+     return.--Address to the citizens.--Public meeting.--Report of
+     commissioners to the Legislature.--Messenger sent to
+     Washington.--Memorial to Congress.--Champoeg County tax.--Strength
+     of the settlement called for.--Bishop Blanchet's letter to Governor
+     Abernethy.
+
+
+_Message of Governor Abernethy._
+
+                                          OREGON CITY, December 8, 1847.
+
+GENTLEMEN,--It is my painful duty to lay the inclosed communications
+before your honorable body. They will give you the particulars of the
+horrible massacre committed by the Cayuse Indians on the residents at
+Wailatpu. This is one of the most distressing circumstances that has
+occurred in our Territory, and one that calls for immediate and prompt
+action. I am aware that to meet this case funds will be required, and
+suggest the propriety of applying to the Hudson's Bay Company and the
+merchants of this place for a loan to carry out whatever plan you may
+fix upon. I have no doubt but the expense attending this affair will be
+promptly met by the United States government.
+
+The wives and children of the murdered persons, the Rev. Mr. Spalding
+and family, and all others who may be in the upper country, should at
+once be proffered assistance, and an escort to convey them to places of
+safety. I have the honor to remain, gentlemen,
+
+               Your obedient servant,
+
+                                  GEORGE ABERNETHY.
+
+To the Honorable Legislative Assembly, Oregon.
+
+
+
+_Journal of the House, December 8, 1847_
+
+At two o'clock the house met. The sergeant-at-arms announced a special
+communication from the governor, which was read by the clerk. It
+consisted of letters from Messrs. Douglas and McBean, of the forts on
+the Columbia, announcing the horrid murder of Dr. Whitman's family and
+others, accompanied by a letter from the governor, praying the immediate
+action of the house in the matter.
+
+Mr. Meek moved the reference of the communications to a committee of
+the whole house, which was lost. Mr. Nesmith offered the following,
+which was adopted:--
+
+    "_Resolved_, That the governor be, and is hereby, authorized and
+    required to raise, arm, and equip a company of riflemen, not to
+    exceed fifty men, with their captain and subaltern officers, and
+    dispatch them forthwith to occupy the mission station at the Dalles,
+    on the Columbia River, and hold possession until re-enforcements can
+    arrive at that point, or other means be taken, as the government
+    thinks advisable."
+
+Messrs. Nesmith, Reese, and Crawford were appointed a committee to wait
+on the governor and inform him of said resolution.
+
+The communications concerning the Indian depredations were referred to a
+committee consisting of Messrs. Ford, Rector, and White.
+
+The committee appointed to wait on the governor concerning the
+resolution for raising a company of riflemen, reported that they had
+discharged their duty, and received, in answer, that the governor will
+use his utmost endeavors to accomplish the object.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The governor called the people together in the evening, and, after the
+statements of the object of the meeting, some forcible and earnest
+remarks from Judge Nesmith and Messrs. Lee, Barlow, and others, the
+enrollment of the first company of Oregon riflemen commenced.
+
+The following true and noble-hearted men sprang to arms, and, in fifteen
+hours from the time they had enrolled their names as defenders of
+Oregon, were on their way to protect their own and their countrymen's
+lives from Hudson's Bay Company, Jesuitical, and Indian savagism.
+
+We will give the names of this noble little band a place in the history
+of the country they were so prompt and ready to defend. They are as
+follows:--
+
+  Joseph B. Proctor,
+  J. S. Rinearson,
+  H. A. G. Lee,
+  Thomas Purvis,
+  J. Magone,
+  C. Richardson,
+  J. E. Ross,
+  Isaac Walgamoutts,
+  John G. Gibson,
+  B. B. Rogers,
+  Benjamin Bratton,
+  Samuel K. Barlow,
+  Wm. Berry,
+  John Bolton,
+  George Moore,
+  Henry W. Coe,
+  William Buckman,
+  S. A. Jackson,
+  Jacob Witchey,
+  John Fleming,
+  A. C. Little,
+  A. J. Thomas,
+  George Westby,
+  Edward Robson,
+  Andrew Wise,
+  D. Averson,
+  J. H. McMellen,
+  John C. Danford,
+  W. M. Carpenter,
+  Lucius Marsh,
+  Joel McKee,
+  H. Levalley,
+  J. W. Morgan,
+  O. Tupper,
+  R. S. Tupper,
+  C. H. Devendorf,
+  John Hiner,
+  C. W. Savage,
+  G. H. Bosworth,
+  Jacob Johnson,
+  Stephen Cummings,
+  George Weston.
+
+Forty-two as noble and true men as ever breathed. They were soon
+organized under a set of energetic and brave young officers, who feared
+no danger, and were ready to meet in open fight the combined enemies of
+their country's rights upon the shores of the Pacific or in the
+mountains or valleys of Oregon. Their officers were:--
+
+  _Captain_, H. A. G. Lee.
+  _First Lieutenant_, J. Magone.
+  _Second Lieutenant_, J. E. Ross.
+  _Commissary_, C. H. Devendorf.
+  _Surgeon_, W. M. Carpenter, M. D.
+  _First Sergeant_, J. S. Rinearson.
+  _Second Sergeant_, W. Savage.
+  _Third Sergeant_, Wm. Berry.
+  _First Corporal_, Stephen Cummings.
+  _Second Corporal_, J. H. McMellen.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+    "At twelve o'clock on the afternoon of Tuesday, the company
+    assembled at the City Hotel, where they were presented with an
+    appropriate flag, by Judge Nesmith, in behalf of the ladies of
+    Oregon City, with an appropriate address. (No record of that
+    address or of the names of the donors can be found.) Captain Lee,
+    on the part of the company, made an exceedingly happy reply upon
+    receiving the beautiful token of the patriotism of the lovely
+    donors."
+
+In two hours after, the company started, amid the firing of cannon and
+the cheers of the assembled citizens. It speaks well for our city, that
+in less than twenty-four hours this detachment was raised and had
+started for the scene of action.
+
+It is to be regretted that the editor of the Oregon _Spectator_, at the
+time these deeply-interesting events were occurring, should fill the
+only public journal on the coast with accounts of personal piques, and
+allow the remarks of Judge Nesmith and the reply of Captain Lee to pass
+with the meager notice we have quoted; that the deeply-stirring events
+respecting the murder of his countrymen should find so small a place in
+his editorial. He tells us in this same paper that he means to keep us
+posted in the war news, but the next paper is filled with a personal war
+between himself and the directors of the Printing Association, about
+some political resolutions that did no good or harm to anybody, except
+to show the party spirit then existing in the country, in which he is
+foolish enough to engage, and degrade his noble position as a journalist
+and editor, which compels us to look to other sources for facts relative
+to the history of those times.
+
+Our little army of braves were accompanied by Governor Abernethy and
+three commissioners to Vancouver, where they completed their outfit
+before proceeding to the Dalles.
+
+They arrived at Vancouver on the 10th of December. On the 11th, the
+commissioners addressed a letter to Mr. Douglas, requesting him to
+furnish supplies, as follows:--
+
+                                      FORT VANCOUVER, December 11, 1847.
+
+     _To James Douglas, Esq._:
+
+     SIR,--By the inclosed document you will perceive that the
+     undersigned have been charged by the Legislature of our provisional
+     government with the difficult duty of obtaining the means necessary
+     to arm, equip, and support in the field, a force sufficient to
+     obtain full satisfaction of the Cayuse Indians for the late
+     massacre at Wailatpu, and protect the white population of our
+     common country from further aggression.
+
+     In pursuance of this object, they have deemed it their duty to make
+     immediate application to the Honorable Hudson's Bay Company for the
+     requisite assistance.
+
+     Though clothed with the power to pledge, to the fullest extent, the
+     faith and means of the present government of Oregon, they do not
+     consider this pledge the only security of those who, in this
+     distressing emergency, may extend to the people of this country the
+     means of protection and redress. Without claiming any especial
+     authority from the government of the United States to contract a
+     debt to be liquidated by that power, yet from all precedents of
+     like character in the history of our country, the undersigned feel
+     confident that the United States government will consider the
+     murder of the late Dr. Whitman and lady as a national wrong, and
+     will fully justify the people of Oregon in taking active measures
+     to obtain redress for that outrage, and for their protection from
+     further aggression.
+
+     The right of self-defense is tacitly accorded to every body politic
+     in the confederacy to which we claim to belong and in every case
+     similar to our own, within our knowledge, the general government
+     has promptly assumed the payment of all liabilities growing out of
+     the measures taken by the constituted authorities to protect the
+     lives and property of those residing within the limits of their
+     districts.
+
+     If the citizens of the States and Territories east of the Rocky
+     Mountains are justified in promptly acting in such emergencies, who
+     are under the immediate protection of the general government, there
+     appears no room to doubt that the lawful acts of the Oregon
+     government will receive a like approval.
+
+     Should the temporary character of our government be considered by
+     you sufficient ground to doubt its ability to redeem its pledge,
+     and reasons growing out of its peculiar organization be deemed
+     sufficient to prevent the recognition of its acts by the government
+     of the United States, we feel it our duty, as private individuals,
+     to inquire to what extent and on what terms advances may be had of
+     the Honorable Hudson's Bay Company, to meet the wants of the force
+     the authorities of Oregon deem it their duty to send into the
+     field.
+
+     With sentiments of the highest respect, allow us to subscribe
+     ourselves,
+
+               Your most obedient servants,
+                                 JESSE APPLEGATE,   }
+                                 A. L. LOVEJOY,     } Commissioners.[16]
+                                 GEO. L. CURRY,     }
+
+    [Footnote 16] Mr. Douglas's reply to the above was, in
+    substance, _a refusal to advance the means asked for in
+    consequence of the stringent rules laid down for his
+    government by the home company_. He, however, upon the
+    security of the governor and two of the commissioners,
+    advanced the amount necessary to fit out the first company of
+    Oregon riflemen, $999.59.--(See report of Loan Commissioners,
+    _Oregon Archives_, p. 323.)
+
+Captain Lee's company received their outfit as per arrangements
+through the governor, Mr. Applegate, and Mr. Lovejoy, and proceeded to
+the Dalles. The commissioners returned to Oregon City, and on the 13th
+December, 1847, addressed the merchants and citizens of Oregon as
+follows:--
+
+     GENTLEMEN,--You are aware that the undersigned have been charged by
+     the Legislature of our provisional government with the difficult
+     duty of obtaining the means necessary to arm, equip, and support in
+     the field a force sufficient to obtain full satisfaction of the
+     Cayuse Indians, for the late massacre at Wailatpu, and protect the
+     white population of our common country from further aggression. In
+     furtherance of this object, they have deemed it their duty to make
+     immediate application to the merchants and citizens of the country
+     for the requisite assistance.[17]
+
+    [Footnote 17] The paragraphs here omitted are the same as
+    those addressed to the Hudson's Bay Company.
+
+            *       *       *       *       *
+
+     Though the Indians of the Columbia have committed a great outrage
+     upon our fellow-citizens passing through their country, and
+     residing among them, and their punishment for these murders may,
+     and ought to be, a prime object with every citizen of Oregon, yet,
+     as that duty more particularly devolves upon the government of the
+     United States, and admits of delay, we do not make this the
+     strongest ground upon which to found our earnest appeal to you for
+     pecuniary assistance. It is a fact well known to every person
+     acquainted with the Indian character, that, by passing silently
+     over their repeated thefts, robberies, and murders of our
+     fellow-citizens, they have been emboldened to the commission of the
+     appalling massacre at Wailatpu. They call us women, destitute of
+     the hearts and courage of men, and if we allow this wholesale
+     murder to pass by as former aggressions, who can tell how long
+     either life or property will be secure in any part of this country,
+     or what moment the Wallamet will be the scene of blood and carnage?
+
+     The officers of our provisional government have nobly performed
+     their duty. None can doubt the readiness of the patriotic sons of
+     the West to offer their personal service in defense of a cause so
+     righteous; so it now rests with you, gentlemen, to say whether our
+     rights and our firesides shall be defended or not. Hoping that none
+     will be found to falter in so high and so sacred a duty, we beg
+     leave, gentlemen, to subscribe ourselves, your servants and
+     fellow-citizens,
+
+                                  JESSE APPLEGATE, }
+                                    A. L. LOVEJOY, } Commissioners.
+                                    GEO. L. CURRY, }
+
+
+On the evening of the 13th December, 1847, a public meeting of the
+citizens was called, and a public loan effected, and subscriptions
+commenced for the equipment and supply of the army, as will be seen by
+the following report of the commissioners:--
+
+     _To the Honorable the Legislative Assembly of Oregon Territory:_
+
+     The undersigned commissioners appointed by your honorable body for
+     the purpose of negotiating a loan to carry into effect the
+     provisions of an act entitled "An Act to authorize the governor to
+     raise a regiment of volunteers," etc., have the honor to inform
+     you, that, fully realizing the heavy responsibilities attached to
+     their situation, and the peculiarly difficult nature of their
+     duties, they at once determined to act with promptness and energy,
+     and to leave no fair and honorable effort untried that might have a
+     tendency to a successful termination of their undertaking.
+
+     They accordingly proceeded to Fort Vancouver on the 10th instant,
+     and there addressed a communication to James Douglas, chief factor
+     of the Hudson's Bay Company, a copy of which is already given. The
+     commissioners had anticipated the unfavorable reply of Mr. Douglas,
+     as agent of the Hudson's Bay Company, and its only effect was to
+     heighten their zeal and to occasion them stronger hopes of a more
+     satisfactory reliance upon the citizens generally of our common
+     country.
+
+     However, two of the commissioners, with the governor, became
+     responsible for the amount of the outfit for the first regiment of
+     Oregon riflemen, being $999.59.
+
+     Not at all disheartened by the unsuccessful issue of their mission,
+     the commissioners returned to this city on the 13th instant, and at
+     once entered into negotiations, the revelation of which herewith
+     follows. The commissioners, through a public meeting held at
+     Oregon City, on the night of the 13th instant, addressed the
+     "merchants and citizens of Oregon," at which meeting, from citizens
+     generally, a loan of about one thousand dollars was
+     effected.----The commissioners are happy to state that they have
+     succeeded in negotiating a loan of sixteen hundred dollars from the
+     merchants of Oregon City, with, perhaps, a likelihood of a further
+     advance. The commissioners feel well assured, from the interest
+     manifested by our fellow-citizens in the matter, and the prompt
+     action they have proposed to take in the several counties in the
+     Territory to assist the commissioners in the successful discharge
+     of their duties, that the government will ultimately succeed in
+     negotiating an amount adequate to the present emergency of affairs.
+
+     The commissioners would beg your honorable body, with as little
+     delay as possible, to appoint appraisers, whose duty it shall be to
+     set a cash valuation upon produce and other property, which may be
+     converted into means to assist government in its present
+     operations.
+
+     Therefore, gentlemen, as we believe we can no longer be useful to
+     our fellow-citizens as a Board, we hope to be permitted to resign
+     our trust into the hands of the proper accounting officers of this
+     government.
+
+               We have the honor to remain,
+
+                                  JESSE APPLEGATE,    }
+                                  A. L. LOVEJOY,      } Commissioners.
+                                  GEO. L. CURRY,      }
+
+
+It will be seen by reference to this last report of the loan
+commissioners, and the answer to their letter of the 11th December,
+1849, that Sir James Douglas had made up his mind to enforce "the
+_stringent rules_ laid down for his government _by the home company_."
+In other words, the time had now arrived to allow the Indians and
+half-breeds in the country to destroy the missionary settlements that
+were beginning to extend beyond the Wallamet Valley; and in case they
+succeeded in defeating the provisional troops, the settlement in the
+Wallamet would become an easy prey to the combined Indian forces, while
+the Hudson's Bay Company would pursue its accustomed trade without any
+further interference from American settlements.
+
+In addition to the proceedings above referred to, the Legislative
+Assembly, on the 10th of December, on motion of Hon. J. W. Nesmith,--
+
+    "_Resolved_, That in view of our critical situation with the
+    powerful tribes of Indians inhabiting the banks of the Columbia, and
+    with whom we are actually in a state of hostilities, it is the duty
+    of this Legislature to dispatch a special messenger, as soon as
+    practicable, to Washington City, for the purpose of securing the
+    immediate influence and protection of the United States government
+    in our internal affairs."
+
+On the 11th December, Cornelius Gilliam was elected by the Legislative
+Assembly, Colonel Commandant; James Waters, Lieutenant-Colonel; H. A. G.
+Lee, Major; and Joel Palmer, Commissary-General, in compliance with the
+bill passed on the 9th, authorizing the governor to call for one
+regiment of not to exceed five hundred men.
+
+On the 13th, Mr. Nesmith presented a bill to provide for sending a
+special messenger to Washington.
+
+On the 14th, on motion of Mr. Crawford, "_Resolved_, That a delegation
+of three persons be appointed by this house to proceed immediately to
+Wallawalla, and hold a council with the chiefs and principal men of the
+various tribes on the Columbia, to prevent, if possible, their coalition
+with the Cayuse tribe in the present difficulties."
+
+On the 15th, it was "_Resolved_, That the commodore of the United States
+squadron in the Pacific Ocean be solicited to send a vessel of war into
+the Columbia River for our relief, and to send such other assistance as
+may be in his power."
+
+A motion was adopted to appoint a committee of five to prepare a
+memorial to Congress.
+
+On the 16th, an act was passed appropriating one thousand dollars to
+defray the expenses of J. L. Meek, special messenger to Washington.
+
+On the 17th, Mr. Meek resigned his seat in the Legislative Assembly,
+preparatory to leaving for the United States with dispatches and a
+memorial to Congress.
+
+As to what those dispatches were, we have no copy or public document
+that gives us any information, but we presume he carried a copy of Mr.
+McBean's mutilated letter, and one of Sir James Douglas's, such as we
+have already given; and also the following:
+
+
+_Memorial to Congress._
+
+    "To the Honorable the Senate and House of Representatives of the
+    United States in Congress assembled:
+
+    "Your memorialists, the Legislative Assembly of Oregon Territory,
+    would respectfully beg leave once more to lay before your honorable
+    body a brief statement of their situation and wants.
+
+    "Having called upon the government of the United States so often in
+    vain, we have almost despaired of receiving its protection, yet we
+    trust that our present situation, when fully laid before you, will
+    at once satisfy your honorable body of the great necessity of
+    extending the strong arm of guardianship and protection over this
+    remote, but beautiful portion of the United States domain.
+
+    "_Our relations_ with the proud and powerful tribes of Indians
+    residing east of the Cascade Mountains, hitherto uniformly amicable
+    and pacific, have recently assumed quite a different character. They
+    have shouted the war-whoop, and crimsoned their tomahawks in the
+    blood of our citizens. The Cayuse Indians, after committing numerous
+    outrages and robberies upon the late immigrants, _have, without the
+    semblance of provocation or excuse, murdered eleven_ [seventeen]
+    American citizens. Among the murdered were Dr. Marcus Whitman and
+    his amiable wife, members of the American Board of Foreign Missions.
+
+    "Called upon to resent this outrage, we feel sensibly our weakness
+    and inability to enter into a war with powerful tribes of Indians.
+    Such outrages can not, however, be suffered to pass unpunished. It
+    will be the commencement of future and more extensive murders, and
+    our hitherto peaceful settlement will become the scene of fierce and
+    violent warfare. We do not doubt the readiness of the people of this
+    country to defend their lives and property, and to submit to all the
+    privations incident to a state of war in a new and remote settlement
+    like this. Circumstances warrant your memorialists in believing that
+    many of the powerful tribes inhabiting the upper valley of the
+    Columbia have formed an alliance for the purpose of carrying on
+    hostilities against our settlements. The number of white population
+    in Oregon is alarmingly insignificant compared with the swarms of
+    Indians which throng its valleys.
+
+    "To repel the attacks of so formidable a foe, and protect our
+    families and property from violence and rapine, will require more
+    strength than we possess. We are deficient in many of the grand
+    essentials of war,--such as men, arms, and treasure; for them, our
+    sole reliance is on the government of the United States; we have the
+    right to expect your aid, and you are in justice bound to extend it.
+    For although we are separated from our native land by ranges of
+    mountains whose lofty altitudes are mantled in eternal snows;
+    although three thousand miles, nearly two-thirds of which is a
+    howling wild, lie between us and the federal capital, yet our hearts
+    are unalienated from the land of our birth. Our love for the free
+    and noble institutions, under which it was our fortune to be born
+    and nurtured, remains unabated. In short, we are Americans
+    still,--residing in a country over which the government of the
+    United States have sole and acknowledged right of sovereignty,--and
+    under such circumstances we have the right to claim the benefit of
+    its laws and protection.
+
+    "Your memorialists would avail themselves of this opportunity to
+    invite your attention to other subjects of deep and vital interest
+    to the citizens of this Territory. The very nature of our compact
+    formed between the citizens of a republic and the subjects and
+    official representatives of a monarchy, is such that the ties of
+    political union could not be drawn so closely as to produce that
+    stability and strength sufficient to form an efficient government.
+    This union between the democrats of a republic and wealthy
+    aristocratic subjects of a monarchy could not be formed without
+    reserving to themselves the right of allegiance to their respective
+    governments. Political jealousy and strong party feeling have tended
+    to thwart and render impotent the acts of government, from its very
+    nature weak and insufficient."
+
+The deep, dark, and infamous schemes of a foreign monopoly and religious
+bigots were but just developing themselves; but, thank God, there was
+strength enough in the provisional government, which was formed in the
+face of their combined opposition. They had yielded to its power, to
+gain time to organize their savage hosts to crush it; calculating, no
+doubt, that the Mexican war would prevent assistance reaching us from
+the United States. The Indians, let loose upon the settlements, would
+soon clear the country. That such was the general English idea, we know
+from two different English subjects. The one, a chief trader in the
+Hudson's Bay Company, who said all they had to do was _to organize the
+Indians, under the direction of their eight hundred half-breeds, to
+drive back any American force_. The other, a gold commissioner, a Mr.
+Saunders, direct from England, in speaking of the small number of troops
+the English government had in British Columbia, remarked to us, that if
+they had not troops enough to subdue the Americans in British Columbia,
+"_all they had to do was to let loose the Indians upon them_."
+
+Such being the facts, it is not surprising that our Legislative Assembly
+should be made to feel its weakness, under this powerful
+combination,--the British monopoly that had refused to furnish necessary
+supplies to the provisional troops sent to punish the murderers of our
+citizens. It was not yet apprised of the efforts made by Mr. Ogden to
+supply the Indians with munitions of war, and the determination of the
+company not to allow itself to be considered by the Indians as favoring
+the American settlement of the country. Mr. Hines' book, in which he
+says Dr. McLaughlin had announced to those Indians in 1843 "that in case
+the Americans did go to war with them, the Hudson's Bay Company would
+not assist them," had not yet been published. The memorial continues:--
+
+     "In establishing a regular form of government, creating tribunals
+     for the adjustment of the rights of individuals, and the prevention
+     and punishment of crime, a debt has accumulated, which, though an
+     insignificant amount, your memorialists can devise no means of
+     liquidating. The revenue laws, from not being properly executed,
+     while they are burdensome to classes of our citizens and sections
+     of country, are wholly disregarded by others, and whole counties,
+     which for numerical strength are equal to any in the Territory, and
+     fully participating in all the advantages of our compact, have
+     never contributed any assistance in bearing the common burdens.[18]
+
+     "To coerce obedience to our temporary government would at once
+     destroy the great object which called it into existence,--the peace
+     and harmony of our country. Anxiously looking forward to that happy
+     period when we should again be under the protection of our revered
+     and parent republic, we have rather endeavored to maintain peace by
+     forbearance, hoping that the dangers and difficulties to be
+     apprehended from domestic discord and from the savages around us,
+     would be postponed until we became an acknowledged people, and
+     under the protection of our mother country.
+
+     "The action of your honorable body in regard to the land in Oregon
+     would seem to justify the expectation that liberal grants would be
+     made to our citizens; yet the uncertainty of our title, and the
+     uneasiness which is felt upon this subject, urge to press this
+     subject upon your attention. Our citizens, before leaving their
+     homes in the United States for Oregon, have had the strongest
+     inducements held out by Congress to settle in this country, and
+     their just expectations will not be met short of liberal donations
+     of land.
+
+     "On the subject of filling the offices that will be created in the
+     event of the extension of the jurisdiction of the United States
+     over this Territory, your memorialists would respectfully
+     represent, that, as the pioneers of the American population in this
+     country, the present citizens of this country have strong claims
+     upon the patronage of the general government, and that it would be
+     gratifying to have them filled by our fellow-citizens; but as few
+     of them of an equally deserving number can enjoy this mark of the
+     approbation of our parent republic, and in view of our peculiar and
+     difficult situation, it is the opinion of your memorialists that it
+     will be better for the future prosperity of our country, and that
+     the great mass of the people will concur with them in requesting
+     that important and responsible offices created here, such as the
+     office of governor and the several judgeships, should be filled
+     with men of the best talent and most approved integrity, without
+     regard to their present location."
+
+    [Footnote 18] Champoeg County being one, and represented by
+    Dr. R. Newell, then Speaker of the house.
+
+In relation to this last paragraph, emanating as it did from the
+Legislative Assembly of Oregon, it may appear strange that a body of men
+possessing the talent and ability there was in that Assembly, should be
+so liberal in requesting that most of the important federal appointments
+for the Territory should be filled from abroad, or with strangers to the
+condition and wants of the people; but the fact is plainly stated, and
+it becomes our duty to impart such information as will explain so
+strange a request. No one will contend for a moment that we did not have
+the men who were abundantly qualified to fill those offices, for they
+have since been filled with far better satisfaction to the country by
+men who were then in it, than by those sent by the federal government;
+hence we are led to inquire what was the reason for this request.
+
+The general politics of the country, as intimated in the memorial, were
+_English aristocratic_ and _American democratic_. The parties were
+nearly equally divided. At the same time, there was the pro-slavery
+influence laboring to so mold the Territory as to bring it in as a slave
+State, though it had started free, and upon the most liberal principles
+of a free government. The democratic pro-slavery influence was not
+strong enough to secure the federal appointments without cousining with
+the English aristocrats, who looked upon African slavery with
+abhorrence. Under these circumstances, the democrats of this assembly
+became liberal, and naturally sought aid from that party in the United
+States to which the anti-slavery influence yielded, and took their
+chances in the federal appointments. There was also in this Assembly a
+strong personal feeling against Judge Thornton, who was supposed to be
+in the federal capital seeking the organization of the Territory, as
+also its governorship; and, in that case, though Mr. Thornton was then
+acting with the democratic party, should he become the governor, or one
+of the judges, the pro-slavery influence would be the loser. Hence the
+"rule or ruin" party chose to make the strange request found in this
+memorial. The closing paragraph seems to be a flourish of rhetoric, and
+an appeal to _Uncle Samuel's_ tender feelings. Notwithstanding, it took
+him till August 14, 1848, to say that Oregon should be a Territory under
+its protection. The remainder of the memorial is as follows:--
+
+     "If it be at all the intention of our honored parent to spread her
+     guardian wing over her sons and daughters in Oregon, she surely
+     will not refuse to do it now, when they are struggling with all the
+     ills of a weak and temporary government, and when perils are daily
+     thickening around them and preparing to burst upon their heads.
+     When the ensuing summer's sun shall have dispelled the snow from
+     the mountains, we shall look with glowing hopes and restless
+     anxiety for the coming of your laws and your arms.
+
+     "The accompanying documents will afford additional information
+     concerning some of the subjects of which we have spoken.
+
+     "To insure the speedy conveyance of these papers to the federal
+     government, your memorialists have elected J. L. Meek, Esq., a
+     special messenger to bear the same, and respectfully ask your
+     honorable body to make him such compensation therefor as you may
+     deem just. And your memorialists will ever pray, etc."
+
+It will be seen by a reference to the first day's proceedings of this
+Legislative Assembly that Dr. Newell was chosen its Speaker. In tracing
+the history of events, we find this man always intimately in council
+with the English aristocratic party in the country. Although he
+sometimes favored unimportant American measures, he seemed always to
+guard carefully those in any way affecting the interests of this English
+monopoly. Champoeg, the county he in part represented, was the most
+numerous in population and wealth, and by reference to the _Spectator_
+of February 4, 1847, we find the following: "_Champoeg County
+tax._--There has been no tax for the year 1846, received by the
+treasurer from Champoeg County. How is this? Who is to blame, and where
+is the honorable County Court of Champoeg County?" This note explains
+the critical relations of the country and the scheming policy of the
+enemy we had to contend with, as also the personal bickerings among the
+Americans. When Mr. Crawford, on the 14th of December, introduced his
+resolution for a delegation of three persons to endeavor to prevent a
+coalition with the Indians, we find this measure deferred till near the
+close of the session, and this Honorable Hudson's Bay Company Speaker of
+the Assembly is one of the commissioners, as we shall see hereafter.
+
+On the 24th of December, Messrs. Nesmith, Rice, and Rector were
+appointed a committee to correspond with the American consul at the
+Sandwich Islands, and also with the Commander-in-chief of the army and
+navy on this coast, in California, soliciting help from them. On the
+25th, the house went into secret session for the purpose of conferring
+with the governor, colonel, lieutenant-colonel, and commissary-general,
+in relation to our Indian difficulties.
+
+The result of that secret council was embodied in a resolution presented
+to the house by Mr. Nesmith.
+
+    "_Resolved_, That the executive, as commander-in-chief, has full
+    power to adopt all measures necessary for the prosecution of the
+    existing war, and that it is the opinion of this house, that it is
+    expedient for the executive to issue orders for five hundred men,
+    and trust to the patriotism of the citizens of Oregon for their
+    support in the field."
+
+It will be seen by this resolution that there was sufficient reason to
+justify the calling of the whole strength of the settlement into the
+field. The captives had reached the settlement, and his _Reverence
+Bishop Blanchet_ had seen proper to inform the governor, "_that by going
+to war with the Cayuses to get redress for the murders committed at
+Wailatpu, he would have the whole Indian combination, or confederation,
+against him_. This, however, he must determine with his council," which
+we see was done, and the American settlement and Protestant missionaries
+gave them a cordial support. The Indian combination, which, the Jesuit
+Brouillet says, Dr. Whitman attempted to form, is here admitted by the
+bishop's letter to Governor Abernethy to have been formed, and ready to
+fight the American settlement. Who formed this confederation of Indian
+tribes is no longer a doubt.
+
+But we have kept our readers too long from the proceedings of our little
+army, under the command of Captain H. A. G. Lee, which we left on its
+way to the Dalles, to save that station from falling into the hands of
+the Indians.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXII.
+
+     The Cayuse war.--Letter of Captain Lee.--Indians friendly with the
+     Hudson's Bay Company.--Conduct of Mr. Ogden.--His letters to Mr.
+     Walker and Mr. Spalding.--Note of Rev. G. H. Atkinson.--Sir James
+     Douglas's letter to Governor Abernethy.--A rumor.--The governor's
+     reply.--Another letter from Sir James.--Mr. Ogden.--Extraordinary
+     presents to the Indians of arms and ammunition.--Colonel Gilliam's
+     campaign.--Indian fight.--Property captured.--The Des Chutes
+     Indians make peace.--Captain McKay's company of British subjects
+     join the army.--A nuisance.--"Veritas."--Nicholas Finlay gives the
+     signal for battle.--Running fight.--Captain McKay's
+     company.--Council held by the peace commissioners with the
+     Indians.--Governor Abernethy's address.--Speeches of the Indians
+     Camaspelo, Joseph, Jacob, Old James, Red Wolf, Timothy, Richard,
+     and Kentuck.--Letters of Joel Palmer, R. Newell, James Douglas, and
+     William McBean.--Who is responsible for the Cayuse war?
+
+
+If the reader has carefully perused the foregoing pages, he will be able
+to understand the movements of our little army in the Cayuse war, as to
+the prime cause of which, the development of twenty-five years, and the
+monstrous claims of the Hudson's Bay Company, have relieved our present
+history from all mystery and doubt, and have enabled us to arrange and
+combine the facts, without fear of a truthful contradiction. Major H. A.
+G. Lee, in a letter dated at Wascopum, December 26, 1847, writes:--
+
+     _To Governor Abernethy:_
+
+     "SIR,--I reached this place on the evening of the 21st instant,
+     with ten men, including Mr. Hinman, whom I met on his way to
+     Wallamet at Wind River Mountain, thirty miles below. The boats
+     being windbound, and hearing from Mr. Hinman that a party of the
+     Cayuses and river Indians had been down and driven off some horses
+     from the mission, and that he had left with his family soon after,
+     thinking it unsafe to remain longer, I was induced to lead the few
+     men that were with me (for we had been separated by the wind and
+     could not get together), and press to this place by land with all
+     dispatch, to save the houses from destruction; and I am very happy
+     to inform you that we arrived just in time, and that all is now
+     safe. The natives immediately about this place are friendly, and
+     hailed our arrival with much joy. Seletsa professes friendship, but
+     I shall keep an eye on him; his men have been killing cattle, and I
+     suspect with his consent, though he promises to make them pay for
+     them. We have been collecting the cattle and placing them below, in
+     order to stop the slaughtering that has been carried on above. We
+     have not yet learned the amount of mischief done at this place, but
+     are getting things under way quite as well as I could have
+     anticipated. Mr. Hinman has been of great service to me here; he
+     leaves to-day to join his family, whom he left on the river.
+
+     "We have no intelligence from Wailatpu, except Indian report,
+     which, if we may credit, is awful enough. It is said, after the
+     murder of the whites at the place, a general council had been held,
+     and that the Nez Perces were present by special invitation, _i.e._,
+     the chiefs; that it was determined to make '_a clean sweep_' of all
+     the Bostons, including Messrs. Spalding, Eells, and Walker above,
+     and Hinman here; that they had, in execution of that resolution,
+     returned and murdered all the women and children who had been spared
+     in the first place, with the exception of three females who had been
+     reserved for wives. Remember this is but native news. I must refer
+     you to Mr. Hinman for many other items which I dare not write.
+
+     "From all I can gather, the country east of the river Des Chutes is
+     all an enemy's country, and our movements should be directed
+     accordingly. Can you have us two or three small guns cast at the
+     foundery? Each one would be equal in effect to fifty men. I am
+     satisfied that the enemy is going to be much more formidable
+     against an invading force than many in Wallamet are willing to
+     believe. _The Indians are all friendly with the Hudson's Bay
+     Company's men, and I am truly sorry to learn that Mr. Ogden paid
+     them powder_ and _ball_ for making the portage at the Dalles. I
+     hope this will be stopped, and their supplies of ammunition
+     immediately cut off. Please take some measures to effect this
+     without delay.
+
+     "Mr. Rogers and Mr. Savage return immediately from this place,
+     feeling that the object for which they enlisted has been
+     accomplished; and as they would have to return, according to
+     promise, in the course of ten or twelve days, and there being no
+     active employment for them, they are permitted to return now. You
+     are aware that they are among my best men, and for their
+     persevering energy, so far, they deserve the praise due to good
+     soldiers, although they have not had the pleasure of a fight. They
+     are therefore honorably discharged from service in the 1st company
+     of Oregon riflemen.
+
+     "Sergeant McMellen will bear this to you and return to me as soon
+     as possible. If he gets down in time to accompany the next party,
+     he will be of much service to them on the river; he has few equals
+     in the service.
+
+     "While writing the above, one horse which had been stolen from the
+     immigrants has been brought in, and others reported on the way. I
+     think most of the property stolen near this place will be returned;
+     that above Des Chutes will probably be contended for. The Indians
+     about this place are evidently terrified, and I shall avail myself
+     of that fact, as far as possible, in furthering the object of our
+     trip. I have no fears of an attack on this place, yet I shall be as
+     vigilant as though an attack were certain. The boats which were
+     windbound eight days arrived this morning all safe and well.
+
+               "I remain, your most obedient humble servant,
+
+                                  "H. A. G. LEE."
+
+
+With the light that twenty-two years have shed upon the early history of
+Oregon, how shall we regard the policy and practice of the professedly
+kind and generous chief factors of the Hudson's Bay Company? The one,
+Sir James Douglas, attempting to deceive the American settlement and the
+world as to the real danger of the settlement and the cause of the
+massacre; the other, Mr. Ogden, supplying the Indians on his route, and
+at Wallawalla, with ammunition, and "_insisting_," while bargaining with
+the murderers for their captives, "_upon the distinction necessary to be
+made between the affairs of the company and those of the Americans_."
+
+We undertook, in our third position, to show the influences of this
+Hudson's Bay Company, as well as Romanism, upon our early settlements,
+and the causes of the Indian wars. These were backed by one of the most
+powerful nations then on the globe, while a handful of American pioneers
+found themselves involved in a savage war. _The Indians were advised,
+aided, and urged on by the teachings of Roman priests and this Hudson's
+Bay Company_, sustained by the British government, with assistance
+pledged to them by Bishop Blanchet and Chief-Factor Ogden, as he
+received the captives from their hands, and gave them more ammunition
+and guns than had ever before been given to them at any one time. He
+says, in a letter dated Fort Nez Perces, December 31, 1847, addressed to
+Rev. E. Walker, at Cimakain:
+
+     "I have been enabled to _effect my object without compromising
+     myself or others_, and it now remains with the _American
+     government_ to take what measures they deem most beneficial to
+     restore tranquillity to this part of the country, and this, I
+     apprehend, can not be finally effected without blood being made to
+     flow freely. So as not to compromise either party, I have made a
+     _heavy sacrifice of goods_; but these, indeed, are of trifling
+     value, compared to the unfortunate beings I have rescued from the
+     hands of the murderous wretches, and I feel truly happy. Let this
+     suffice for the present.
+
+     "On my arrival at the Dalles, Mr. Hinman's mission, the previous
+     day, had been plundered of four horses in open day, and in presence
+     of all the inmates of the mission; and on consulting me on the
+     propriety of remaining or removing under the present distracted
+     state of the country, _I advised him to move_, leaving a trusty
+     Indian, on whom he could rely, and who speaks the English language,
+     to remain in charge of the establishment; and he would have started
+     the same day I left it. I trust this arrangement will meet with
+     your approbation; under existing circumstances, could not
+     consistently give any other."
+
+               "Yours truly,
+
+                       "P. S. OGDEN."[19]
+
+
+With such powerful combinations, and such experienced, wise, and
+reverend advisers, it is not surprising that those Indians should feel
+themselves able to make, as Captain Lee says, "_a clean sweep of all the
+Bostons in the country_." Mr. Ogden, in his letter to Mr. Walker, does
+not intimate that the provisional government will presume to attempt to
+seek any redress for the murders committed; but consoles himself with
+the "_happy_" thought that the difficulty is to be settled by the United
+States. Mr. Hinman he advises to leave, and to Mr. Spalding he sends the
+following letter:--
+
+                                    "FORT NEZ PERCES, December 23, 1847.
+
+     "_Rev. H. H. Spalding:_
+
+     "DEAR SIR,--I have assembled all the chiefs and addressed them in
+     regard to the helpless situation of yourself and the rest at
+     Wailatpu, and I have got them to consent to deliver them all to me:
+     yourself and those with you, _save the two Canadians, who are safe
+     enough among the Indians_; and have now to advise you to lose no
+     time in joining me. At the same time, _bear in mind, sir, you have
+     no promises to make them_, or payments to make. Once more, use all
+     the diligence possible to overtake us.
+
+               "Yours truly,
+
+                       "P. S. OGDEN."[19]
+
+    [Footnote 19] Copied from the original letter.
+
+We place a note of Rev. G. H. Atkinson, D.D., in this connection, to
+show the influences that have for a series of years been operating, and
+how careful that unscrupulous monopoly was to combine its influences,
+and to deal out its hospitalities, to secure a good word from a reverend
+Protestant divine, who was connected with the United States Home
+Missionary Board, whose character is unimpeachable, and to whom it
+refers for evidence of its generosity. We are not surprised to find
+Doctor Atkinson attempting to ease the weight of censure due to that
+overgrown monopoly, from the fact, that on his first arrival in the
+country (after the Cayuse war), on one of the company's ships, unusual
+attention and kindness were evidently shown to him and his family by the
+company's agents, to gain his favorable representations of their
+proceedings, and a name for _honorable_ dealing and generous treatment
+of missionaries, as intimated in his note. Doctor Atkinson says:--
+
+    "The agents of the Hudson's Bay Company in Oregon furnished all
+    the missionaries with supplies at the usual trade rates until they
+    could supply themselves from home."
+
+In this the doctor is mistaken, as we have shown in previous pages. He
+continues:--
+
+    "After the death of Mr. Whitman and family, Mr. Ogden, an agent of
+    the company, brought the rest of the mission and the American
+    families to the Wallamet Valley, at considerable risk and sacrifice
+    to himself. The guilt of the plot to massacre Dr. Whitman and other
+    Americans is understood to belong to the Jesuits."
+
+The letters above quoted, from Mr. Ogden and Captain Lee, show the
+doctor's great mistake in this statement. Mr. Ogden ran no risk, and
+made no sacrifice, as the Hudson's Bay Company presented their bills,
+and have been paid every dollar they had the impudence to demand of our
+government, for transporting the captive women and children to a place
+of safety, and for all the supplies they so reluctantly furnished to our
+provisional troops. We do not believe it is good morals, or divinity, to
+say nothing of politics, to praise, encourage, or warm the serpent that
+improves every opportunity to sting us with his poisonous fangs. That
+company has enjoyed the monopoly of this vast country, and prevented its
+settlement too long, for any one to seek its praise or favor.
+
+We have another letter from Sir James Douglas, which shows us more
+clearly the exact position of that monster monopoly. It is as follows:--
+
+                                         "FORT VANCOUVER, Dec. 31, 1847.
+
+     "_To Governor George Abernethy, Esq.:_
+
+     "SIR,--A rumor having been in circulation, for some days past, that
+     it is General Gilliam's intention to levy contributions on the
+     Hudson's Bay Company's property, for the purpose of completing the
+     equipment of the troops ordered out in your late proclamation, for
+     the intended operations against the Indians, I feel it my duty to
+     communicate with you frankly on the subject, as it is most
+     important, in the present critical state of our Indian relations,
+     that there should be an entire absence of distrust, and that the
+     most perfect unanimity should exist among the whites of every
+     class. From my personal knowledge of General Gilliam, and his highly
+     respectable character, I should be the last person to believe him
+     capable of committing an outrage which may prove so disastrous in
+     the immediate and remoter consequences to the peace and best
+     interests of this country; _at the same time, as the representative
+     of a powerful British association_, it becomes my duty to take
+     instant measures for the protection of their property, until I
+     receive, through you, a distinct disavowal of any such intention as
+     herein stated. Difficulties of that nature were certainly not
+     contemplated by us when we dispatched a large part of our effective
+     force into the interior for the purpose of _receiving_ the
+     unfortunate women and children, the survivors of the massacre at
+     Wailatpu, who remained in the hands of the Indians. It was never
+     supposed that our establishment would be exposed to _insult or
+     injury_ from American citizens, while we are _braving the fury of
+     the Indians_ for their protection."
+
+_What a powerful and noble company_, and how much "_fury of the
+Indians_" they had to contend with, when they were handing them _guns
+and ammunition_ by the quantity; and all their servants and posts were
+unharmed by either whites or Indians, during all the Indian wars that
+have occurred on this coast. This letter continues:--
+
+     "Such a proceeding would, in fact, be so inconsistent with every
+     principle of _honor and sound policy_, that I can not believe any
+     attempt of the kind will be made; but I trust this explanation will
+     satisfactorily account for any unusual precaution observed in the
+     present arrangement of this establishment.
+
+     "Trusting that this note will be noticed at your earliest
+     convenience, I have the honor to be, sir,
+
+               "Your most obedient, humble servant,
+
+                                  "JAMES DOUGLAS, C. F., H. B. Co."
+
+
+Mr. Douglas, in this letter, has suddenly assumed a very honorable, as
+well as powerful position. As to his personal bravery, there is no
+question; but as to truth, there is. He says, "I can not believe any
+attempt of the kind will be made," and then tells us not to be alarmed;
+or, at least, as the "_rumor_ having been in circulation," we must
+excuse him for his "unusual _precaution_" in his establishment, while he
+has deceived, and intends to continue to deceive, the governor and the
+settlers as to his real motives of caution, and the deep-laid schemes
+that he and his "_powerful British association_" are bringing about, not
+against the "_fury of the Indians_," but against the American
+settlements.
+
+As was to be expected in those times, our governor and General Gilliam
+wilted right down, and the governor wrote:--
+
+                                          "OREGON CITY, January 3, 1848.
+
+     "SIR,--I received your favor of 31st ultimo yesterday evening, and,
+     in answering it, would thank you for your frankness in
+     communicating with me on the subject. Having had conversation with
+     Colonel Gilliam on this subject, I can state that he has no
+     intention of levying contributions on the Hudson's Bay Company's
+     property for any purpose whatever. He will probably cross the
+     Columbia River at the mouth of Sandy."
+
+     This was the information that Mr. Douglas wished to obtain, as we
+     have since learned from one of the company's clerks, and also the
+     extent of information received from Mr. Lee by his express.
+
+     "I trust nothing will occur that will in any way cause distrust
+     among the whites during this crisis. The reports from above lead to
+     the conclusion that Messrs. Spalding, Walker, and Eells have been
+     cut off, and the women and children, spared in the first place,
+     have since been murdered. Should these rumors prove true, we know
+     that peace can not be restored between the Indians and whites
+     without bloodshed."
+
+As near as we can learn, Governor Abernethy was disposed to follow the
+counsels of a writer in the _Spectator_, signed "Veritas," which was, to
+wait till spring opened, and then make a decent demonstration in the
+summer to punish the murderers. The energy of the people overruled his
+tender spirit, to use no harsher term, and pushed their forces up in the
+winter, which allowed most of the men to return in time to secure the
+following harvest, and produced the desired effect upon the Hudson's Bay
+Company and the Indians. The governor says:--
+
+     "Captain Lee informs me that Mr. Ogden paid the Indians powder and
+     ball for making the portage. The Legislature passed an act during
+     their last session prohibiting the sale of powder, lead, caps,
+     etc., to Indians. I trust you will see the necessity of complying
+     with this act; it will be published in the next _Spectator_.
+
+     "I trust the disavowal in this letter will prove satisfactory to
+     you. I have the honor to remain, sir,
+
+               "Your obedient servant,
+
+                                  "GEORGE ABERNETHY."
+
+
+The next day, the 4th of January, Mr. Douglas returned a long letter,
+which is as follows:--
+
+                                       "FORT VANCOUVER, January 4, 1848.
+
+     "_George Abernethy, Esq.:_
+
+     "SIR,--I have to acknowledge yours of yesterday's date, and
+     consider it perfectly satisfactory. I place little confidence in
+     the late reports from the Dalles, and entertain sanguine hopes
+     that they will prove unfounded.
+
+     "The Indians have been always paid with ammunition and tobacco by
+     our traveling parties, for passing boats at the portages of this
+     river, and _I can not see that Mr. Ogden had any reason to depart
+     from the established practice on the occasion mentioned in your
+     letter_, as these Indians have no fellow-feelings with the
+     Cayuses."
+
+     This statement of Sir James is notoriously untrue; the Cayuses have
+     always had more or less trade with the Dalles Indians, in dried
+     salmon, horses, etc., and have always been the superiors, and
+     treated them as they pleased. Mr. Douglas has invariably cautioned
+     us, in passing those portages, not to give ammunition, as it was
+     against the rules of the company to do so, _except to a very few_,
+     and in small quantities, and _that_ for packing goods by trusty
+     Indians. This sudden change from tobacco to powder is only a part
+     of the policy now being executed.
+
+     "These Indians behaved in the most friendly manner, and, I am
+     convinced, will not enter into any combination against the whites,
+     unless there be great mismanagement _on our part_.
+
+     "In fact, when we consider the object of Mr. Ogden's journey to
+     Wallawalla [which we consider really to have been to inform the
+     Indians, _as he did_, that the Hudson's Bay Company would take no
+     part in this quarrel between the Indians and Americans, and that
+     the company would supply them with ammunition and aid them in the
+     present war, we are not disposed to question but that the lives of
+     some of the men that were left would have been taken, but we doubt
+     if any more women would have been killed, unless the company had
+     consented to it; but it answered for a plausible argument for Sir
+     James, who says], and that the lives of sixty or seventy
+     fellow-creatures were, under Providence, mainly dependent on the
+     celerity of his movements, it can not be supposed he would allow
+     any minor consideration to weigh one moment in his mind against the
+     great object of their preservation. As he could not carry his boats
+     over the portages of the falls without the assistance of the
+     Indians, it would have been an act of great indiscretion on his
+     part to have _excited alarm_ and _created suspicion_ in their
+     minds."
+
+Doctor Saffron, in answer to the interrogatory, "In what way did you
+become acquainted with the Whitman massacre?" makes the following reply:
+"I was residing at the Dalles mission when the Canadian, bearing an
+express from Fort Nez Perces to Vancouver, came to the station and ate
+dinner, and with whom Mr. Hinman went to the lodge, and secured a canoe
+to assist him on his way to Vancouver, and went to Vancouver with him. A
+very short time after they were off,--I did not think they had scarcely
+got off before the Indians came from the lodges, and told what they said
+the Frenchman had told them, that Doctor Whitman was killed. The next
+information was from an Indian lad from Des Chutes, who came on
+horseback, in great haste, and said that two Cayuses were at Des Chutes,
+and had told them that Dr. Whitman, his wife, and all his people were
+killed, except the women, who had been taken for wives for the chiefs.
+In giving the causes which the two Cayuses had given them, he spoke of
+the sickness, and _also that the priests had made known to them that the
+Doctor was a dangerous medicine man to have among them_, and said
+something of their having said about the Doctor's medicines being the
+cause of their dying; and also of what Mr. McBean had said of Dr.
+Whitman's determining to have all their spotted horses. I can be
+_certain as to the priests'_ part, but not so certain as to McBean's
+part, being said by the young Indian at that time, or told me afterward
+by other Indians." Dr. Saffron states in this deposition that the
+Indians were very threatening about the station, and that he thinks the
+reason they did not commence the massacre of all at the station was the
+report that Mr. Ogden was just below with a party. "On Mr. Ogden's
+arrival, we stated to him these things, and he informed _Mr. Hinman_
+that we _had better get away as soon as possible_, which we did."
+
+In this letter from Mr. Douglas, in answer to Governor Abernethy, about
+supplying the Indians with powder, etc., he says:--
+
+     "It would have been an act of great indiscretion on his part to
+     have excited alarm and caused suspicion in their minds by
+     withholding the compensation of two or three pounds of gunpowder
+     and lead, which they had been _accustomed_ to receive for such
+     service, when it was certain that the omission would be regarded as
+     evidence of a hostile intent, and induce them to put every possible
+     obstacle in his way, whereby the object of the journey must have
+     been entirely defeated, and the unfortunate women and children left
+     to their cruel fate.
+
+     "To prohibit the sale of ammunition within certain districts in
+     arms against the whites would be the proper course; but to extend
+     the measure to every part of the country is to make the innocent
+     suffer with the guilty, and a departure from the conciliatory
+     course of policy which we have always found to answer best with
+     Indians; and will, I much fear, drive them to the most desperate
+     course. I am now only expressing an opinion on what the law is
+     reported to be, and await the next issue of the _Spectator_ with
+     some impatience, to discover its real character and value.
+
+     "You may rest assured that we will do nothing improper, or which
+     will, in any way, endanger the safety of the country.
+
+     "We have not yet heard from Mr. Ogden since he left the Dalles, but
+     are now daily expecting to hear from him.
+
+     "I have the honor to be, sir,
+
+               "Your most obedient servant,
+
+                                  "JAMES DOUGLAS."
+
+
+The careless reader, or one that is disposed to regard Sir James Douglas
+as an honorable, truthful, and upright man, will, on first reading this
+letter, in all probability, consider it a satisfactory reply to Governor
+Abernethy, and his reasons sufficient to justify Mr. Ogden's course at
+the Dalles and at Wallawalla.
+
+Doctor Saffron tells us, under oath, "On Mr. Ogden's arrival, we stated
+to him these things," about the massacre, the priests, McBean, and the
+Indians threatening, which Mr. Ogden admits in his letter to Mr. Walker,
+when he advised them to leave. He then proceeds on up the river, and
+does a thing which Sir James says was _common_, which we know Mr.
+Douglas has said to us _was not common_, for the company to give
+ammunition to the Indians for making those portages.
+
+On the present occasion, knowing all the facts, and the danger to the
+lives of all at the Dalles station, Mr. Ogden deliberately gave (Mr.
+Douglas says, "_as usual_") an unusual amount of war material; he then
+proceeds to Wallawalla, called the Indians together, and gave them
+"_twelve_ common guns, _six hundred_ loads of ammunition, twelve flints,
+thirty-seven pounds tobacco, sixty-two three-point blankets, sixty-three
+common cotton shirts."
+
+And what was the service that these Indians had rendered, for which
+these goods were given by this "_powerful organization_?" Six years
+before, when a Hudson's Bay servant got into a drunken row, and was
+killed by an Indian at the mouth of the Columbia, the Americans and
+company went in a body, and demanded and hung the murderer; but now,
+when Dr. Whitman and fifteen other _Americans_ are murdered, Mr. Ogden
+goes up and pays them more _guns_, _ammunition_, _blankets_, and
+_shirts_, than had ever before been given to them on any one occasion.
+Was that company weaker at this time than they had been before, that
+they could not manage or conquer the Cayuses? Sir James Douglas, under
+oath, says the company in 1846 "_practically enjoyed a monopoly of the
+fur trade, and possessed extraordinary influence with the natives_." And
+we say, the Whitman massacre is the result of that influence.
+
+Mr. Ogden, distinctly, and at several times, insisted upon the
+distinction necessary to be made between the affairs of the Americans
+and the company, and why? Simply, because the company had determined to
+suppress and crush the American settlements, if it could be done, by the
+Indians. They were now in a condition to furnish the Indians directly,
+or clandestinely, through their Jesuit missionaries, all the ammunition
+required. Hence the liberality of Mr. Ogden, and the care of Mr. Douglas
+to catch "_a rumor_" to defend Mr. Ogden's course; to manifest great
+sympathy for the sufferers, to deceive the settlement in every way
+possible; and refuse, under the plea of the "_stringent rules of the
+home department_," to supply munitions to the provisional troops.
+
+On the 23d of February, Colonel Gilliam, with fifty of his men, arrived
+at Wascopum, an express having been sent by Major Lee for him to hasten
+forward with his troops. On his arrival, he learned that the Des Chutes
+Indians were hostile. Was Mr. Douglas correct in his opinion?
+
+The main body of his troops having arrived on the 27th, he started with
+130 of his best mounted men, crossed Des Chutes, and ascended on its
+east or right bank. On the 28th, he sent forward Major Lee with twenty
+men to find the Indians, they all having fled from their usual
+encampments. At twelve o'clock at night, Major Lee returned, having
+found the Indians, and made the following report, which we give in Major
+Lee's own language. He says:--
+
+    "We proceeded this morning up the river some twenty miles, when we
+    discovered a considerable party of Indians with their families,
+    removing across the plains, and evidently to station themselves
+    higher up the canon, which was close by. We charged upon them,
+    killed one, took two females prisoners, and several horses; the rest
+    escaped into the canon, which was close by. Expecting a large war
+    party out immediately, we hastened toward camp with the prisoners,
+    but had not proceeded far when we discovered a large party of
+    mounted Indians making after us with all possible speed; we rode
+    down into a small canon, turned our horses loose below us, and
+    prepared for battle,--the Indians by this time all around us on the
+    hills, tumbling down huge stones in our midst, and annoying us much
+    with their savage yells, some with their arms. We were fighting some
+    two or three hours, killed and wounded, I suppose, some six or
+    eight, as they took care to keep at a respectful distance. They drew
+    no blood from us, and got only in return for their loss their horses
+    which we had taken, with four or five of ours that went out with
+    them, unperceived, through a small canon, during the engagement. We
+    have all returned safe, though much fatigued."
+
+On the 29th of this month the whole of the camp moved to the mouth of
+the canon, at the Meek crossing. On the 30th, ten A.M., as they entered
+the mouth of the canon, the Indians appeared on the hills immediately
+above, drawn up in order of battle, to about their own number. The
+colonel ordered his horses and train to a safe position under a strong
+guard, dismounted his men, ascended the hill, drove and killed, as was
+supposed, some twenty or thirty Indians, with but one man (a Spaniard)
+slightly wounded, capturing forty horses, four head of cattle, and three
+hundred dollars' worth of personal property, which the colonel had sold
+to the regiment, and credited to the paymaster, amounting to fourteen
+hundred dollars. Mr. Brown, first lieutenant, 5th company, died at
+Vancouver. The skirmishing and battle with the Des Chutes Indians
+brought them to terms, and a treaty of peace was made with them. The
+army was re-enforced by the arrival of Captain McKay's company of
+_British subjects_, as claimed by a writer in the _Spectator_, of
+February 24, 1848, who says:--
+
+    "The party consisted of _two Canadians_, fifty or sixty
+    half-breeds,--all _British subjects_,--and two or three American
+    citizens, while there is not a single Frenchman in it. It is due to
+    the _British subjects, Canadians, and half-breeds_, to state, that
+    many more would have gone, but, they know well, that winter is not
+    the time, in this country, to go to war, and that all that can be
+    done at this season is, to rescue the prisoners, which could be
+    effected only by negotiation, and acquire correct information, and
+    make all preparations necessary, so as to be able to act with the
+    _propriety_, _decorum_, and energy which the case required.
+
+                                  "VERITAS."
+
+
+By the statements of "Veritas," the feelings of the _British subjects_
+in our midst, at that time, can be seen. He evidently wished to claim
+credit for the British and half-breed subjects, who, in the operations
+of the provisional army, were found to be, to use no harsher term, a
+nuisance in the American camp, keeping the Indians and murderers well
+informed as to all the movements of the army, so that while they were
+permitted to remain, no movement of the army produced any satisfactory
+results.
+
+This statement is made upon the verbal information given to us at the
+time, as well as from personal knowledge, and a letter of Colonel Waters
+to Governor Abernethy, under date, Wailatpu, April 4, 1848, in the
+_Spectator_, April 20, 1848. The colonel says of the Indians, "They know
+our circumstances about as well as we do ourselves, both as regards
+ammunition and provisions, and it need not be thought strange if they
+act accordingly."
+
+Soon after the re-enforcement of this provisional army by Captain T.
+McKay's _British subjects_, there was a general engagement or battle. It
+commenced while the army was on the march in the open rolling prairie,
+between Mud Spring and the Umatilla. Nicholas Finlay, of the
+Whitman-massacre notoriety, met the scouts and officers, and while there
+was a consultation, or parley, it appears he prolonged it, to give time
+for the main body of the Indians to surround the troops; he then turned
+his horse, rode a short distance toward a party of Indians, and
+discharged his gun in the air, as a signal to commence the attack, while
+the peace commissioners were attempting to effect a compromise.
+
+At Finlay's signal, from five to seven hundred Indian warriors appeared
+on the plains all about them, with from two to three hundred Indian
+camp-followers, as spectators, all on horseback, consisting of boys and
+women, who had come to see the slaughter, and gather up the property
+that the Americans were going to throw down and run from, as soon as
+Nicolas Finlay fired his gun, and the warriors raised the yell. But
+instead of this, Colonel Gilliam, as soon as Finlay made his appearance,
+and other Indians were seen in the distance, ordered a hollow square to
+be formed to protect his train and cattle, and by the time the Indians
+were ready, he was, and the fight commenced, a sort of running, dashing,
+and, on the part of the Indians, retreating performance. There being no
+water near the place where the attack was commenced, it became necessary
+to continue upon the march, and they drove the Indians before them, till
+they reached water at night. By this time the Indians found that the
+Bostons were not _all clochemen_ (women), as they had been told by the
+"_British half-breeds_."
+
+A stranger would naturally conclude from the accounts published in the
+_Spectator_ at that time, that the company under Captain T. McKay did
+all the fighting on this occasion. They, we infer from the printed
+account as given in C. McKay's letter, made some gallant dashes in true
+Indian style, and as prudent retreats back to the protection of the
+"_Boston men_," making a great show of bravery and fight, without much
+effect. At the close of this demonstration, the Indians retired in their
+usual confused manner, while the Americans moved on to find water and a
+camp for the night. They continued their march till they reached Fort
+Waters, at Wailatpu.
+
+At this place the commissioners called for the principal chiefs of all
+friendly tribes to meet them, to have a big talk. In this council, one
+Cayuse war-chief, Camaspelo, and two of the lower grade of the Nez
+Perces,--Joseph and Red Wolf,--with several prominent Indians of the Nez
+Perces, were present, and received the commissioners with the governor's
+letter, and made the speeches hereafter given.
+
+_Governor Abernethy's address_ to the Indians asserted the fact, that
+Dr. Whitman was invited by the Indians themselves to remain in their
+country, and teach them the arts of civilization, agriculture, a
+knowledge of books and of religion; that the Indians had not regarded
+the Doctor's instructions, else they would not have stolen property
+belonging to the immigrants, and, on the 29th of November, murdered him
+and Mrs. Whitman. That the Doctor, in giving them medicine, was not
+poisoning them, but doing all he could to save their lives, and relieve
+their sick. That Americans died of the disease as well as the Indians.
+That if the Doctor was poisoning them, which they knew was not the case,
+why did they kill all the Americans at his place? That the Doctor was
+their best friend, and always trying to do them good; and now he
+required of them, that they should give up the murderers, and those who
+had taken and forced young women to be their wives, to be punished
+according to our laws. He named Tilokaikt and Tamsaky in particular.
+They were also required to restore or pay for the property stolen from
+the immigrants, while on their way to the Wallamet Valley.
+
+CAMASPELO (a Cayuse chief).--"My people seem to have two hearts. I have
+but one; my heart is as the Nez Perces. I have had nothing to do with
+the murder. Tamsaky came to me to get my consent to the murder, before
+it was committed. I refused. I pointed to my sick child, and told him my
+heart was there and not on murder; he went back and told his friends he
+had obtained my consent; it was false. I did not give my consent to the
+murder, neither will I protect or defend the murderers."
+
+JOSEPH (a Nez Perce chief, half-brother of Five Crows).--"Now I show my
+heart. When I left my home I took the book (a testament Mr. Spalding had
+given him) in my hand and brought it with me; it is my light. I heard
+the Americans were coming to kill me. Still I held my book before me,
+and came on. I have heard the words of your chief. I speak for all the
+Cayuses present and all my people. I do not wish my children engaged in
+this war, although my brother (Five Crows) is wounded. You speak of the
+murderers; I shall not meddle with them; I bow my head; this much I
+speak."
+
+JACOB.--This Indian had once been a celebrated medicine man among the
+Nez Perces. He said: "It is the law of this country that the murderer
+shall die. That law I keep in my heart, because I believe it is the law
+of God,--the first law. I started to see the Americans, and when on the
+way I heard the Americans were coming to kill all the Indians; still I
+came. I have heard your speech, and am thankful. When I left home I
+believed the Americans were coming for the murderers only. I thank the
+governor for his good talk."
+
+JAMES was an old Indian who was for a long time a pet of Mr. Spalding's;
+but, through the influence of Mr. Pambrun and the priest, he had been
+induced to receive a cross and a string of beads. He was the
+acknowledged owner of the land on which the Lapwai station was located,
+and, by the influence above referred to, caused Mr. Spalding
+considerable annoyance, though nothing of the difficulty asserted by
+Brouillet, page 14. He says: "The Indians then met together and kept all
+the whites who lived at the station blockaded in their houses for more
+than a month." Living at the station at the time, I know there was no
+quarrel or disturbance with the Indians, nor were any at the station
+confined to their houses for a moment at any time, as stated by this
+priest; it is one of a great number of just such statements made to
+cover their guilt in a great crime.
+
+Old James said: "I have heard your words and my heart is glad. When I
+first heard of this murder, our white brother Spalding was down here; I
+heard the Cayuses had killed him also, and my heart was very sad. A few
+days after, when he returned, I met him as one arose from the dead. We
+spoke together; he said he would go to Wallamet. I told him to tell the
+chiefs there my heart. We have been listening for some word from him.
+All these chiefs are of one heart."
+
+RED WOLF was connected by marriage with the Cayuses, and, it seems from
+his speech, was instructed as to the information he should give to the
+Americans. He says: "You speak of Doctor Whitman's body. When I heard of
+the Doctor's death, I came and called for the murderers. I wished to
+know if it was the work of the chiefs. I went to Tawatowe, and found it
+was not of all, but of the young men. I did not sleep. I went to Mr.
+Spalding and told him the chiefs were engaged in it. Mr. Spalding said,
+'I go to Wallamet and will say the Nez Perces have saved my life, and I
+will go to Wallamet and save yours.' We have all been listening to hear
+from the white chief."
+
+TIMOTHY.--This Indian had always been a firm friend of the Americans,
+and of the mission, and was a consistent member of the mission church.
+He seems to have taken no decided part. He says: "You hear these chiefs;
+they speak for all. I am as one in the air. I do not meddle with these
+things; the chiefs speak; we are all of the same mind."
+
+RICHARD was one of the Indian boys taken to the States by Doctor Whitman
+from the American rendezvous in 1835, and brought back in 1836, and was
+always more or less about the mission. He was an active and intelligent
+young Indian, and was basely murdered by a Catholic Indian after being
+appointed a chief by Indian Agent H. A. G. Lee. He said: "I feel
+thankful for the kind words of your chief. My people will take no part
+in this matter. Our hearts cling to that which is good. We do not love
+blood. This is the way our old chief (Cut Nose) talked; his last words
+were: 'I leave you; love that which is good, be always on the side of
+right, and you will prosper.' His children remember his words. He told
+us, take no bad advice. Why should I take bad words from your enemies,
+and throw your good words away? Your chief's words are good; I thank him
+for them. My chief is in the buffalo country; he will be glad to hear I
+talk thus to you. They would be sorry should I talk otherwise. This much
+I tell you of the hearts of my people."
+
+KENTUCK, a good-natured, sensible, and yet apparently crazy Indian,
+said: "The chiefs have all spoken; I have listened, and now I wish to
+speak a little. I have been much with the Americans and French; they
+know my heart, can any one tell any thing bad of me? In war with the
+Blackfeet, I and my father fought with the Americans, and my father was
+killed there. He (pointing to Mr. Newell) knows it. Last year I was in
+California at Captain Sutter's, and helped Captain Fremont,--not for
+pay, but from a good heart. I came home, and heard the Doctor was
+killed! We heard that the whites were told we were with the Cayuses. We
+have not such hearts. I and my people are from the furthermost part of
+our country. We had heard there that you were coming to kill off the
+last Indian west of the mountains. We have never shed the blood of the
+Americans. We are glad to hear that you want none but the murderers."
+
+In the _Spectator_ of March 23, 1848, we find the following letters:--
+
+                                               "WAILATPU, March 4, 1848.
+
+     "_William McBean, Esq.:_
+
+     "DEAR SIR,--I have been requested by Captain McKay to apprise you
+     of the progress we have made in adjusting the difficulties between
+     the whites and Cayuses, and I am happy to say that matters are
+     assuming a favorable appearance. With your and his assistance, with
+     that of a little forbearance on the part of the troops, I believe
+     all that could be devised will be accomplished without further
+     shedding of blood.
+
+     "_Captain McKay thinks that Captain Grant_ (of the Hudson's Bay
+     Company) _can travel through the country with perfect safety_. Mr.
+     Meek will leave the first of the week. Doctor Newell will write to
+     Captain Grant, according to your request. In haste, I have the
+     honor to subscribe,
+
+               "Your humble servant,
+
+                                  "JOEL PALMER."
+
+
+     DEAR SIR,--I only have time to say a word. Stikas was here
+     yesterday, and things look more favorable since Gervais arrived. _I
+     wish to go down when your people go._ I will be ready in a few days
+     and come to the fort; no time for particulars; _Mr. Meek leaves
+     to-night._
+
+               "With respects, yours, etc.,
+
+                                  "R. NEWELL."
+
+
+                                        "FORT VANCOUVER, March 15, 1848.
+
+     "_Governor Abernethy, Esq.:_
+
+     "DEAR SIR,--One of the company's servants has this moment arrived
+     with dispatches from Wallawalla, of date the 7th instant; I hasten
+     to communicate the intelligence received, for your information. The
+     army had made its way to Wailatpu, and taken possession of the
+     remains of the mission, the Cayuses having been defeated, with
+     considerable loss, some days previously, in a pitched battle near
+     the Umatilla River; and had since fallen back upon the Nez Perce
+     country. Serpent Jaune, chief of the Wallawalla tribe, had visited
+     the commissioners, and decided on remaining quiet; the Nez Perces
+     had in part also decided for peace, and were expected in camp
+     within a few days. The remaining part of the tribe appeared still
+     undecided about the part they would take, and will, no doubt, be
+     much influenced in their future conduct by the success which
+     attends the operations of the army. _Their sympathies are with the
+     Cayuses_; but fear may restrain them from taking an open part
+     against the whites. The Cayuses remain, therefore, without any open
+     support from the more powerful tribes in their neighborhood, and in
+     such circumstances can not be expected to make a very protracted
+     defense.
+
+     "The accompanying copy of a letter from Mr. Palmer possesses much
+     of interest, and will put you in possession of further particulars.
+
+     "Our dates from Fort Colville are up to the 23d of January; the
+     Indians were all quiet and well disposed, _though they had been
+     severe sufferers from the measles and dysentery_. Their detestation
+     of the brutal conduct of the Cayuses has been openly and generally
+     expressed, as well as their determination to oppose the repetition
+     of such atrocities in the country. Messrs. Walker and Eells have
+     been induced, by the friendly protestations of the Indians about
+     them, to continue their residence at the mission near Spokan.
+
+     "We have letters from Fort Hall up to the 30th of December. A city
+     has sprung up, as if by enchantment, in the midst of the desert,
+     near the southern extremity of great Salt Lake. It contains a
+     population of 3,000, and numbers within its precincts 600 houses.
+     One flour-mill was in operation, and four saw-mills were nearly
+     finished.
+
+               "In haste, yours truly,
+
+                                  "JAMES DOUGLAS."
+
+
+As to the letter of General Palmer, he has informed us that, while he
+was attempting to effect an arrangement with the Indians, he was
+satisfied that McBean was using his influence against the Americans, and
+doing all he could to keep up the hostile feelings then existing, but,
+by humoring and flattering him, he would do less harm than by opposing
+his self-conceit.
+
+As to Dr. Newell's note, it showed his disposition to crawl under the
+shade of McBean and the Hudson's Bay "_people_" and to give them
+information that would enable them to cut off the messenger sent to
+Washington.
+
+General Palmer informed McBean that he would leave the first of the
+week. Newell says, "_Mr. Meek leaves to-night._"
+
+Mr. Douglas is all friendship and affection. He has just learned that a
+large body of American people are in Salt Lake Valley, and that the
+Indians about the Spokan station are friendly, notwithstanding the
+measles and dysentery have been severe among them.
+
+The Indians had been defeated with considerable loss, but the
+"_sympathies of the Nez Perces are with the Cayuses_." Whence did Sir
+James get this information? When he wished to convince Governor
+Abernethy that Mr. Ogden had done right in giving powder and ball for
+making the portages at Des Chutes, he said, "_These Indians have no
+fellow-feeling with the Cayuses._" We will give _another remarkable
+letter_, in answer to the one Mr. Douglas refers to:--
+
+                                        "FORT NEZ PERCES, March 4, 1848.
+
+     "_To the Commissioners, Messrs. Palmer and Newell:_
+
+     "GENTLEMEN,--I have to acknowledge your esteemed favor of this
+     date, which was handed me this evening.
+
+     "I am happy to learn that your success to effect peace has so far
+     rewarded your endeavors, and that the Nez Perces _are on your
+     side_. Previous to their visiting you, the most influential chiefs
+     came to me, to know your real intention, which I fully explained,
+     and addressed them at length. They left me well disposed, and, I am
+     glad to learn, have acted up to their promise."
+
+Put this statement of Mr. McBean by the side of that of Sir James
+Douglas, and how does it read? March 7, "_Their sympathies are with the
+Cayuses._" What are we to understand by such information given to two
+different parties? Mr. McBean professes to know the views of the Nez
+Perces, and, on March 4, tells the American commissioners he is happy to
+learn they are on their side; and, three days after, writes to his
+superior, at Vancouver, "_Their sympathies are with the Cayuses._"
+General Palmer, nor any one else, need mistake the character of such a
+man; and we will give the company credit for ability to select their men
+to perform their appropriate business, and at the proper time.
+
+     "I now forward letters to Fort Hall and Fort Boise, and have to
+     request, in behalf of the company, that you be kind enough to get
+     them forwarded by Mr. Meek. They are of importance. On their being
+     delivered depends loss or gain to the company.
+
+                                  "WILLIAM McBEAN.
+
+     "P. S.--Please present my best respects to General Gilliam and
+     Major Lee."
+
+
+There are two remarkable facts in these two letters. The first, "the
+most influential chiefs" went to him, and he explained the real
+intentions of the Americans, which, according to his report to his
+superior, made them sympathize with the Cayuses; but to accomplish
+another object, he would have us believe he made them favorable to the
+Americans, and claims all the credit for doing so. This would have done
+very well, only it leaked out, in the speeches of the Indians, the part
+this agent of the company was playing.
+
+Query 1. How came the Nez Perces, who had always been friendly with the
+Americans, and never had shed any of their blood, but always fought with
+and for them, to be at war--that it should require the consent or advice
+of McBean, or any other Hudson's Bay Company's servant or clerk, to go
+and make peace with friends?
+
+Query 2. The importance of two letters to Forts Boise and Hall? The
+_loss or gain_ to the company was of more importance to him than the
+lives of the missionaries and all at the Dalles, for he would not allow
+his messenger to inform them of their danger. We have in their
+communications a specimen of a high and a low agent of that company
+during the Cayuse war. _The Cayuse tribe_ was always more dependent upon
+Fort Nez Perces for supplies than the Nez Perces, who have always had
+more or less intercourse with American traders. From the deposition of
+Mr. Geiger, we learn that this agent (McBean) of the company was in the
+habit of interfering with the affairs of the American Indians and
+missionaries, and from the deposition of Mr. Kimzey, that he was equally
+officious in favoring the Jesuit missions. And now, from his own
+officious letter, we learn his position in relation to the war then in
+progress; that he was attempting to deceive the commissioners, as to his
+operations and instructions to the Indians, is shown in the information
+he communicated to Mr. Douglas, and in the letter of Colonel Waters to
+Governor Abernethy.
+
+Putting all these facts together, who is responsible for the massacre
+and the war with the Cayuses?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXIII.
+
+     Letter to General Lovejoy.--Call for men and ammunition.--Yankama
+     chief.--His speech.--Small supply of ammunition.--Letter of Joseph
+     Cadwallader.--Claim and a girl.--Combined Indian tribes.--Ladies of
+     Oregon.--Public meeting.--A noble address.--Vote of
+     thanks.--Address of the young ladies.--Death of Colonel
+     Gilliam.--His campaign.--Colonel Waters' letter.--Doubtful position
+     of Indians.--Number at Fort Wallawalla.--Results of the
+     war.--Jesuit letters.--Fathers Hoikin and De Smet.--The
+     Choctaws.--Indian confederacy.--Last hope of the Indian.--Jesuit
+     policy.--The Irish in the war of the Rebellion.--Father
+     Hecker.--Boasts of the Jesuits.--Letter of Lieutenant
+     Rogers.--Priests supply the Indians with arms and
+     ammunition.--Ammunition seized.--Oregon _Argus_.--Discovery of
+     gold.--No help for the Indian.--Withdrawal of the Hudson's Bay
+     Company to Vancouver.--The smooth-tongued Jesuits yet remain.
+
+
+Let us now turn our attention from scenes of baseness and treachery to
+such as can not fail to draw forth the more noble sentiments of the
+heart. We find in the _Old Spectator_, April 20, 1843:--
+
+     "_General A. L. Lovejoy:_
+
+     "SIR,--The following was written for the _Express_, but in the
+     hurry and bustle of business, was omitted to be forwarded: To call
+     the men (158) who fought on the Tukanon and Tuchet rivers brave
+     were but common praise,--officers and privates fought with
+     unequaled bravery and skill. Captains Hall, Owens, and Thompson
+     behaved with all that deliberate judgment and determined bravery
+     that was requisite to so hard-fought and long-continued a battle.
+
+     "The incomparable services of Sergeant-Major Birch, Quartermaster
+     Goodhue, Judge-Advocate Rinearson, Sergeant Cook, Paymaster Magone,
+     can not be passed unnoticed, and deserve their country's praises.
+     Captains English and McKay were not in the engagement--the latter
+     being sick, the former returning from the Tuchet with the wagons
+     and the stock.
+
+                                  "H. J. G. MAXON,
+                          "Commanding at Fort Wascopum."
+
+
+                                          "FORT WASCOPUM, April 7, 1848.
+
+     "_General A. L. Lovejoy:_
+
+     "SIR,--We received your letter of instructions, by express, on the
+     3d instant, and I assure you it gave me great satisfaction to make
+     them known to the troops under my command. Since the promotion of
+     Major Lee to the command, the boys have taken fresh courage; though
+     some of them can hardly hide their nakedness, they are willing
+     under your promises to stick it out like men.
+
+     "Give us five hundred men, and plenty of ammunition, with Colonel
+     Lee at our head, and I think we will soon bring the war to an
+     honorable close.
+
+     "_The Yankama chiefs_ came over to see us a few days ago, and
+     stated that they had written to the white chief but had received no
+     answer. [Who was the writer for the Indians? No American dare
+     remain in the country beyond the protection of the army.] Therefore
+     they had come over to see him. They spoke to us as follows:--
+
+     "'We do not want to fight the Americans, nor the French; neither do
+     the Spokans, a neighboring tribe to us. Last fall the Cayuses told
+     us that they were about _to kill the whites at Dr. Whitman's_. We
+     told them that was wrong, which made them mad at us; and when they
+     killed them, they came and wished us to fight the whites, which we
+     refused. We loved the whites; but they said, if you do not help us
+     to fight the whites, when we have killed them we will come and kill
+     you. This made us cry; but we told them we would not fight, but if
+     they desired to kill us they might. We should feel happy to know
+     that we die innocently.'
+
+     "I answered them as follows: 'We are glad you have come, because we
+     like to see our friends, and do not like to make war on innocent
+     people. The Great Spirit we love has taught us that it is wrong to
+     shed innocent blood; therefore we wish everybody to be our friends.
+     Our peace men long ago sent you word, that we did not come to make
+     war on any but those murderers who shed the blood of our
+     countrymen, and insulted our women. When we get those wicked men we
+     will go home, but those we will have; if not now, we will fight
+     until we do get them. We do not want to kill any but the murderers;
+     but all who fight with them, we consider as bad as they are. All
+     tribes which receive them we must make war upon, because their
+     hearts are bad, and we know that the Great Spirit is angry with
+     them. We hope your nation will not receive them. We hope that you
+     will not let your young men join them, because we do not wish to
+     kill innocent people. We hope, that if the murderers come among
+     you, you will bring them to us; then the Great Spirit will not be
+     angry with you. We that fight do not care how many bad people we
+     have to fight. _The Americans and Hudson's Bay Company people are
+     the same as one_, and you will get no more ammunition until the war
+     is at a close.'
+
+     "I gave them a plow as a national gift, and told them that I gave
+     that kind of a present because we thought tilling the ground would
+     make them happy. They remained with us a day and night, and then
+     left for their country with an assurance of friendship.
+
+     "The ammunition boats arrived here this evening, and I shall start
+     to-morrow for Wailatpu with nine provision wagons and baggage
+     wagons besides, and about one hundred men to guard them, leaving
+     McKay's company to guard this place until Colonel Lee's arrival
+     here.
+
+     "The _scanty supply of ammunition_ sent us is almost disheartening.
+     If the rumor that the Indians brought us this evening be true, I
+     fear that we will have to shoot the most of it at the Indians
+     before we can reach the boys. The Indians reported here this
+     evening that the horse-guard at Wailatpu was killed by the Indians,
+     and all the horses run off. I shall lose no time, I assure you, but
+     will relieve them with all possible speed.
+
+               "Your obedient servant,
+
+                                  "H. J. G. MAXON, S. C. C. O. D."
+
+
+We will not stop to comment on the facts and points stated in this
+letter relative to the Yankama Indians and Captain Maxon's remarks to
+them, but continue our narrative from a letter of Jesse Cadwallader from
+Fort Waters, April 4, 1848. At the time of writing, he did not know of
+Colonel Gilliam's death. He says:--
+
+    "At present we are not in a very pleasant fix for fighting, as we
+    are but 150 in number, and nearly out of ammunition. Colonel
+    Gilliam, with the rest of the men, left here on the 20th ult. for
+    the Dalles for supplies. We look for them in a few days, and hope to
+    see more men with them. We look for the Indians to come upon us
+    every day. They say they will give us one more fight, and drive us
+    from the country. We expect they will number 1,200. The Cayuses, Nez
+    Perces, Wallawallas, Spokans, and Paluces will all join and fight
+    us, and you may expect a call for more men in a short time; we are
+    preparing for an attack. We are killing beef and drying it to-day. I
+    think we can defend this post; we shall do so or die in the
+    attempt.----
+
+    "We can not complain of our living, so far; we have a plenty of beef
+    and bread, nearly all the time. We have found several _caches_ of
+    wheat, peas, and potatoes. We have about thirty bushels of wheat on
+    hand, and the mill fitted up for grinding.
+
+    "I wish you would see to my claim on Clear Creek, for I expect to
+    return when this war is over, and occupy it, with some man's girl as
+    a companion."
+
+The following proceedings of the ladies of Oregon City and vicinity,
+which was responded to all over the country, showing how the ladies of
+Oregon and this Pacific coast can respond to the call of their country,
+found a welcome place in the columns of the _Spectator_. We understand
+that considerable clothing has been contributed by the ladies for the
+volunteers in the field. Such acts by ladies are highly commendable to
+them, and can not fail to have a favorable influence in the army:--
+
+     "At a meeting convened at the Methodist church, according to
+     previous notice, on the 12th instant, to consult upon the best
+     means to aid in relieving the necessities of the soldiers, the
+     meeting was called to order by Mrs. Hood, when Mrs. Thornton was
+     called to the chair, and Mrs. Thurston (the wife of our first
+     delegate to Congress), was appointed secretary. Mrs. Thornton
+     (whose husband was then in Washington, doing all he could for the
+     country as a volunteer representative of its interests, while his
+     noble wife was teaching school and ready to aid in sustaining our
+     almost naked army) briefly stated the object of the meeting, when,
+     on motion, it was resolved to form a society, the object of which
+     should be to aid and assist in supporting the war (Sanitary
+     Society). On motion, the meeting proceeded to choose officers;
+     which resulted in the election of Mrs. Thornton, President; Mrs.
+     Robb, Vice-President; Mrs. Leslie (second wife of Rev. D. Leslie),
+     Treasurer; and Mrs. Thurston, Secretary.
+
+     "On motion, it was voted to appoint a committee of three, whose
+     duty it should be to assist the society in raising funds, etc. The
+     president appointed Mrs. Hood (an active, energetic old lady), Mrs.
+     Crawford (the wife of our first internal revenue collector), and
+     Mrs. Herford, said committee.
+
+     "Mrs. Robb then introduced the following address as expressive of
+     the sense of the meeting, to be forwarded to the army with the
+     clothing raised by the ladies, which, on being read, was
+     unanimously adopted:--
+
+                                          "'OREGON CITY, April 12, 1848.
+
+     "'The volunteers of the first regiment of Oregon riflemen will
+     please accept from the ladies of Oregon City and vicinity the
+     articles herewith forwarded to them. The intelligence which
+     convinces us of your many hardships, excessive fatigues, and your
+     chivalrous bearing also satisfies us of your urgent wants.
+
+     "'These articles are not tendered for acceptance as a compensation
+     for your services rendered; we know that a soldier's heart would
+     spurn with contempt any boon tendered by us with such an object;
+     accept them as a brother does, and may, accept a sister's tribute
+     of remembrance--as a token, an evidence, that our best wishes have
+     gone to, and I remain with you in your privations, your marches,
+     your battles, and your victories.
+
+     "'Your fathers and ours, as soldiers, have endured privations and
+     sufferings, and poured out their blood as water, to establish
+     undisturbed freedom east of the Rocky Mountains; your and our
+     mothers evinced the purity of their love of country, upon those
+     occasions, by efforts to mitigate the horrors of war, in making and
+     providing clothing for the soldiers. Accept this trifling present
+     as an indorsement of an approval of the justice of the cause in
+     which you have volunteered, and of your bearing in the service of
+     our common country as manly, brave, and patriotic.
+
+     "'The war which you have generously volunteered to wage was
+     challenged by acts the most ungrateful, bloody, barbarous, and
+     brutal.
+
+     "'Perhaps the kindness which the natives have received at the hands
+     of American citizens on their way hither, has, to some extent,
+     induced a belief on the part of the natives, that all the Americans
+     are "women" and dare not resent an outrage, however shameful,
+     bloody, or wicked. Your unflinching bravery has struck this foolish
+     error from the mind of your enemies, and impressed them with
+     terror, and it is for you and a brotherhood who will join you, to
+     follow up the victories so gloriously commenced, until a succession
+     of victories shall compel an honorable peace, and insure respect
+     for the American arms and name.
+
+     "'We have not forgotten that the soul-sickening massacre and
+     enormities at Wailatpu were committed in part upon our sex. We know
+     that your hardships and privations are great; but may we not hope,
+     that through you these wrongs shall not only be amply avenged, but
+     also that you inscribe, upon the heart of our savage enemies, a
+     conviction never to be erased, that the virtue and lives of
+     American women will be protected, defended, and avenged by American
+     men.
+
+     "'The cause which you have espoused is a holy cause. We believe
+     that the God of battle will so direct the destinies of this infant
+     settlement, that she will come out of this contest clothed in
+     honor, and her brave volunteers covered with glory.
+
+     "'The widows and orphans, made so by the massacre which called you
+     to the field, unite with us in the bestowment of praise for the
+     valuable service already rendered by you; and he who has already
+     proclaimed himself the widow's God, Judge, and Husband, and a
+     Father to the fatherless, will smile upon and aid your exertions.
+     Fight on, then!--Fight as you have fought, and a glorious victory
+     awaits you.'
+
+            *       *       *       *       *
+
+     "On motion, a vote of thanks was tendered to Mrs. Hood for her
+     unwearied exertions in behalf of the suffering soldiers.
+
+     "Mrs. Robb moved, That when this society adjourn, it do so to meet
+     at this place again on the 26th instant.
+
+     "On motion, it was then voted that the proceedings of this meeting,
+     with the address adopted, be published in the Oregon _Spectator_.
+
+     "On motion, the meeting then adjourned.
+
+                                  "Mrs. N. M. THORNTON, President.
+
+                                  "Mrs. E. F. THURSTON, Secretary."
+
+
+The thought and sentiment manifested in the above proceedings and
+address allow the reader to look right at the heart and soul of our
+people. No one who reads our history will have occasion to blush or be
+ashamed to know that his father or mother crossed the vast mountains and
+plains of North America, found a home in Oregon, and fought back the
+savages, and their more savage foreign leaders. _Oregonians_, the fact
+that your father or mother was a pioneer on this coast will redound to
+your honor,--as a reference to the deeds of our fathers and mothers, on
+the eastern part of our continent, strengthened and nerved our hearts,
+when the whole host of savage instruments of cruelty and barbarism were
+let loose upon us, and many of our dearest friends fell by their
+ruthless hordes! We know not who the author of that address is, but the
+sentiment--the soul--belongs alone to Oregon.
+
+In the same paper we find the sentiment still further illustrated in a
+declaration of a number of young ladies. We only regret that we have not
+their names; the sentiment is too good to be lost, as it shows the finer
+and nobler sentiments of virtue and religion among the mothers and
+daughters of Oregon, in those trying times. The communication is as
+follows:--
+
+                                               "WALLAMET VALLEY, OREGON.
+
+     "Response by young ladies to the call of Captain Maxon for young
+     men in the army.
+
+     "We have read with much interest the late report from the army, and
+     feel ourselves under obligations to reply to the appeal made to us
+     in that report. We are asked to evince our influence for our
+     country's good, by withholding our hand from any young man who
+     refuses to turn out in defense of our honor and our country's
+     right.
+
+     "In reply, we hereby, one and all, of our own free good will,
+     solemnly pledge ourselves to comply with that request, and to
+     evince, on all suitable occasions, our detestation and contempt for
+     any and all young men, who _can_, but _will not_, take up arms and
+     march at once to the seat of war, to punish the Indians, who have
+     not only murdered our friends, but have grossly insulted our sex.
+     We never can, and never will, bestow our confidence upon a man who
+     has neither patriotism nor courage enough to defend his country and
+     the girls;--such a one would never have sufficient sense of
+     obligations to defend and protect a _wife_.
+
+     "Do not be uneasy about your claims and your rights in the valley;
+     while you are defending the rights of your country, she is watching
+     yours. You must not be discouraged. Fight on, be brave, obey your
+     officers, and never quit your posts till the enemy is conquered;
+     and when you return in triumph to the valley, you shall find us as
+     ready to rejoice with you as we now are to sympathize with you in
+     your sufferings and dangers."
+
+               (Signed by fifteen young ladies).
+
+
+Soon after the peace arrangements, as related in the previous chapter,
+the colonel and major left for the lower country. They arrived at the
+Dalles, where the colonel was accidentally shot by attempting to remove
+a rifle from the hind end of one of his wagons; the cap was burst, and
+he received the contents of the gun, which proved fatal in a few hours.
+In his death the country lost a valuable citizen, the army a good
+soldier, and his family a kind husband and affectionate father. As a
+commander of the provisional troops, he succeeded probably as well as
+any man could under the circumstances.
+
+_The deep schemes_ of the British fur monopoly, the baser schemes of the
+Jesuits, both working together, and in connection with the Indians and
+all the American dupes that they with their influence and capital could
+command, it is not surprising that, as a military man, he should fail to
+bring to justice the immediate or remote perpetrators of the crime he
+was expected to punish. In fact, but few at the present day are able to
+comprehend the extent and power of opposing influences. One of the
+commissioners informed us that from the time the colonel opened a
+correspondence with the priests, he appeared to lose his influence and
+power and control of the troops. He lacked an essential quality as a
+commander--promptness in action and decision to strike at the proper
+time, as was manifest in his whole campaign. Yet, for this he is to a
+certain extent excusable, as he had with his army the Indian peace
+commissioners, and was acting under the orders of a governor who was
+greatly deceived as to the prime movers in the war.
+
+One of the commissioners was notoriously the dupe and tool of the
+foreign monopoly in our midst, as his own history before and since has
+proved. He claimed to know exactly how to deal with the difficulty. This
+influence was felt by the troops, and generally acknowledged, and, as
+we know from the best of authority, was the cause of the colonel's being
+ordered to report at head-quarters.
+
+After lying at Fort Waters for a considerable time, his men becoming
+dissatisfied (as intimated in letters), he mounted his horse, and most
+of his men volunteered to follow him for a fight. He pursued what he
+supposed to be the correct trail of the murderers to a point on the
+Tukanon, and there fought a small party, and learned that the murderers
+were at the crossing of Snake River, some thirty miles distant. He
+continued his march all night. The next morning, the murderers having
+learned of his expedition in another direction, he came upon them and
+surprised their whole camp. An old man came out of the lodge and made
+signs of submission and pretended that the murderers were not in his
+camp, but that their cattle were upon the hills. This induced the
+colonel to order his men to gather the cattle and return to Fort Waters
+(while Tilokaikt was then crossing the river), instead of attacking
+them, as he should have done. The Indians soon gathered their best
+horses, which were kept separate from the common band, and commenced an
+attack upon his cumbered, retreating column, till they came near the
+ford on the Tuchet, when a running fight was kept up, and an effort made
+to get possession of the ford by the Indians, which it required all the
+colonel's force to defeat; and like the crow and the fox in the fable,
+while the colonel was giving the Indians a specimen of American
+fighting, he neglected his cattle, and the Indians drove them off. But
+few were wounded on either side, though, in the struggle to gain the
+ford and bushes contiguous, there was swift running and close shooting,
+which continued till dark. The Indians retired with their cattle, and
+next day the colonel and his party, with the wounded, reached Fort
+Waters, and thence he obeyed the summons of the governor to return and
+report at head-quarters. While Major Lee is on his way with the body of
+Colonel Gilliam to the Wallamet, and to obtain recruits and supplies of
+arms and ammunition, we will see what Colonel Waters is about at
+Wailatpu, April 4, 1848.
+
+In his letter of the above date, he says:--
+
+     "Since Colonel Gilliam's departure from this place, our relations
+     with the _supposed friendly_ Indians have undergone a material
+     change; not seeing any, either friendly or hostile, for several
+     days, I concluded to send an express to Fort Wallawalla, and if
+     possible to gain some information concerning their movements, as I
+     had reason to believe from their long silence that there was
+     something wrong; I accordingly addressed a short note to Mr. McBean
+     on the evening of the 1st of April, and dispatched two of my men
+     with the same, charging them strictly to remain there during the
+     day, and return, as they went, in the night. They returned
+     yesterday in safety, and their narrative, together with Mr.
+     McBean's written statements, fully confirms me in my previous
+     views.
+
+     "The Wallawalla chief, notwithstanding his professions of
+     friendship to Colonel Gilliam and the Bostons, now looks upon us as
+     enemies. The law prohibiting the sale of ammunition appears to be
+     his principal hobby. By refusing it to him and his people he says
+     we place them on an equal footing with the guilty, and if this law
+     is not abrogated, they will become murderers. This sentiment he
+     expressed in the presence of our express bearers. [The sentiment of
+     Sir James Douglas, as expressed in his letter to Governor
+     Abernethy.]
+
+     "There were then at the fort some sixty lodges, and between two and
+     three hundred warriors. Mr. McBean gave what purported to be
+     information where the murderers had gone, stating that Ellis and
+     sixty of his men had died in the mountains with the measles, and
+     this had produced its effect upon our superstitious friends.
+
+     "The Cayuses and Nez Perces have had a big feast, which to my mind
+     speaks in language not to be misunderstood. Mr. McBean further
+     states, that the Paluce Indians, Cayuses, and part of the Nez
+     Perces, are awaiting the American forces, to fight them on the Nez
+     Perces, or Snake River; but the signs of the times justify the
+     conclusion that we will be attacked nearer home, and much to our
+     disadvantage, unless soon supplied with ammunition. They know our
+     circumstances about as well as we do ourselves, both as regards
+     ammunition and provisions, and it need not be thought strange if
+     they act accordingly.
+
+     "Welaptulekt (an Indian chief) is at the fort, and has brought
+     quite an amount of immigrant property with him, which he delivered
+     to Mr. McBean; says he was afraid Colonel Gilliam would kill him,
+     which was the reason of his not meeting him. This is the report of
+     the men; Mr. McBean did not mention his name. My opinion is that we
+     have nothing to hope from his friendship.
+
+     "I see by General Palmer's letter to Colonel Gilliam, that he
+     (McBean) _refused to accept the American flag_, which was presented
+     by his own Indians; he, of course, had nothing to fear from them.
+
+     "I have now given you the outlines of our unpleasant situation, and
+     doubt not that you will make every exertion to forward us
+     ammunition, and _men too of the right stripe_. I have exaggerated
+     nothing, nor has any active cautiousness prompted me to address you
+     upon this subject. If they do come upon us, be their numbers what
+     they may, rest assured, while there is one bullet left, they will
+     be taught to believe that the Bostons are not all _clochemen_
+     (women).
+
+     "I have succeeded in getting the mill to work, and we are grinding
+     up the little grain we found. Mr. Taylor died on the 24th of March.
+     The wounded are doing well. I regret to say our surgeon talks
+     strongly of leaving us the first opportunity. My impression is that
+     a more suitable person could not be obtained in that capacity. His
+     commission has not been sent on, which no doubt has its weight with
+     him.
+
+     "I have the honor to remain,
+
+               "Your obedient servant,
+
+                                  "JAMES WATERS, Lieutenant-Colonel."
+
+
+As to the propriety of Governor Abernethy's publishing this entire
+letter, there was at the time a question. With the facts since
+developed, it is plain that it should not have been given to the public;
+but, as we have before stated, the governor was one of those easy,
+confiding, unsuspecting men, that gave a wily and unprincipled enemy all
+the advantage he could ask. It was only the determined energy and
+courage of the settlers that enabled them to overcome their secret and
+open foes.
+
+The evidence is conclusive, that Colonel Gilliam, through the influence
+and duplicity of Newell, McBean, and the Jesuits, was induced to
+withhold his men from punishing the Indians, and received and treated
+with bands as guilty as the murderers themselves, thus giving an
+impression to the Indians of weakness and cowardice on the part of the
+troops, as well as a want of the requisite qualities for a successful
+commander.
+
+Major Lee returned to the settlement, obtained more troops and
+ammunition, and was appointed colonel of the regiment in place of
+Colonel Gilliam, deceased. This place he was justly entitled to fill by
+seniority in the service. He then returned to Fort Waters, and, finding
+the troops in the field satisfied with Colonel Waters, resigned at once,
+and filled a subordinate place in the army. The troops were soon put in
+motion. Captain McKay and his company of _British subjects_ were
+disbanded, after being stationed a short time at Wascopum.
+
+The troops soon drove the murderers off _to buffalo_, "_with the
+propriety, decorum, and energy which the case required_," as per
+"Veritas." They gathered up such of the murderers' cattle and horses as
+were not claimed by professed friendly Indians, and retired to the
+Wallamet, leaving a small garrison at Fort Waters and at Wascopum.
+
+The war, though attended with little or no loss of life to the
+settlement or the Indians, was of incalculable value to the American
+cause. It taught the Indians, the British monopoly, and their allies,
+the Jesuits, that, not withstanding they could drive from the upper
+country, or middle Oregon, the missionaries of the American Board, they
+could not conquer and drive the settlements from the country.
+
+While the main effort of the Hudson's Bay Company was to rid the country
+of American settlements, the Jesuits were working against American
+Protestantism, and endeavoring to secure the whole country, middle
+Oregon in particular, for their exclusive Indian mission. One of them,
+A. Hoikin, S. J., in a letter to the editor of the _Precis Historiques_,
+Brussels, dated "Mission of Flatheads, April 15, 1857" (this mission was
+established by Father De Smet as early as 1841 in opposition to that of
+the American Board at Spokan), says:--
+
+    "If the less well-intentioned Indians from the lower lands would
+    keep within their own territory, and if the whites, the number of
+    whom is daily augmenting in St. Mary's Valley, could act with
+    moderation and conduct themselves prudently, I am convinced that
+    soon the whole country would be at peace, and that not a single
+    Indian would henceforward imbrue his hands in the blood of a white
+    stranger.
+
+    "Were I authorized to suggest a plan, I would have all the upper
+    lands _evacuated by the whites and form of it a territory
+    exclusively of Indians_; afterward, I would lead there all the
+    Indians of the inferior portion, such as the Nez Perces, the
+    Cayuses, the Yankamas, the Coeur d'Alenes, and the Spokans.
+    Well-known facts lead me to believe that this plan, with such
+    superior advantages, might be effected by means of a mission in the
+    space of two or three years.
+
+    "For the love of God and of souls, I conjure you, reverend fathers,
+    not to defer any longer. All the good that _Father De Smet and
+    others have produced by their labors and visits will be lost_ and
+    forgotten if these Indians are disappointed in their expectation.
+    They weigh men's characters in the balance of honesty; in their
+    eyes, whosoever does not fulfill his promises is culpable; they do
+    not regard or consider whether it be done for good reason, or that
+    there is an impossibility in the execution.
+
+    "Some of them have sent their children to _Protestant schools_, and
+    they will continue to do so as long as we form no establishments
+    among them. From all this you may easily conclude that there is
+    _apostasy and all its attendant evils_."
+
+In connection with the above, Father De Smet says:--
+
+     "These four letters of Rev. Father Hoikin show sufficiently, my
+     dear and reverend father, the spiritual wants of these nations and
+     their desire of being assisted. _Apostasy_ is more frequent than is
+     generally believed in Europe. Oh, if the zealous priests of the
+     continent _know what we know_,--had they seen what we have
+     witnessed, their generous hearts would transport them beyond the
+     seas, and they would hasten to consecrate their lives to a ministry
+     fruitful in salutary results.
+
+     "Time passes; already the _sectaries_ of various shades are
+     preparing to penetrate more deeply into the desert, and will wrest
+     from those degraded and unhappy tribes their last hope,--that of
+     knowing and practising the _sole_ and _true faith_. Shall they, in
+     fine, obtain the _black-gowns_, whom they have expected and called
+     for during so many years.
+
+     "Accept, reverend father, the assurance of my sincere friendship.
+
+                                  "P. J. DE SMET."
+
+
+Would men entertaining the sentiments above expressed--sent among our
+American Indians, carried about, supplied and fed, by a fur monopoly,
+who were seeking in every way possible, to hold the country
+themselves--be likely to teach the Indians to respect American
+institutions, American missionaries, or American citizens?
+
+Let us look at another sentiment of this Father Hoikin; he says: "When,
+oh, when! shall the oppressed Indian find a poor corner of the earth on
+which he may lead a peaceful life, serving and loving his God in
+tranquillity, and preserving the ashes of his ancestors, without fear of
+beholding them profaned and trampled beneath the feet of an _unjust
+usurper_." We can not discover in this sentiment any respect or love for
+the American people, or for their government, which is looked upon by
+this reverend priest, as an "_unjust usurper_" of Indian
+privileges;--something their own church and people have done the world
+over; but being done by a free American people, it becomes "_unjust_,"
+profane, and horrible. We will make a few other quotations, which we
+find in the very extensive correspondence of these Jesuitical fathers,
+with their society in Brussels. The writer, Father P. J. De Smet, after
+enumerating the usual complaints against our government and its agents,
+makes his Indian complainingly to say, "The very contact of the whites
+has poisoned us." He then puts into the mouth of a Choctaw chief, a
+proposition from a Senator Johnson to establish three Indian territorial
+governments, "with the provision of being admitted later as distinct
+members of the _Confederate United States_."
+
+"On the 25th of last November, 1862," he says, "Harkins, chief among the
+Choctaws, addressed a speech on this subject to his nation assembled in
+council. Among other things he said: 'I appeal to you, what will become
+us, if we reject the proposition of Senator Johnson? Can we hope to
+remain a people, always separate and distinct? This is not possible. The
+time must come; yes the time is approaching in which we shall be
+swallowed up; and that, notwithstanding our just claims! I speak boldly.
+It is a fact; our days of peace and happiness are gone, and
+forever.----If we will preserve among us the rights of a people, one
+sole measure remains to us; it is to _instruct_ and _civilize_ the youth
+_promptly and efficiently_. The day of fraternity has arrived. We must
+act together, and, by common consent, let us attentively consider our
+critical situation, and the course now left us. One false step may prove
+fatal to our existence as a nation. I therefore propose that the council
+take this subject into consideration, and that a committee be named by
+it, to discuss and deliberate on the advantages and disadvantages of the
+proposition made to the Choctaws. Is it just and sage for the Choctaws
+to refuse a liberal and favorable offer, and expose themselves to the
+destiny of the Indians of Nebraska?'
+
+"According to news received recently, through a journal published in the
+Indian country, the speech of the chief has produced a profound
+impression, and was loudly applauded by all the counselors. All the
+intelligent Choctaws approve the measure.
+
+"_The Protestant missionaries oppose the bill, and employ all their
+artifices and influence to prevent its success. Harkins proposes their
+expulsion._ 'It is our money,' said he, 'that these missionaries come
+here to get. Surely, our money can get us better teachers. Let us
+therefore try to procure good missionaries, with whom we can live in
+harmony and good understanding; who will give us the assurance that
+their doctrine is based on that of the apostles and of Jesus Christ.'
+
+"The Chickasaws are represented as opposed to Senator Johnson's measure.
+We trust, however, that the vote of the majority will prove favorably
+and that the three territorial States will be established.
+
+"It is, in my opinion, a last attempt, and a last chance of existence
+for the sad remnants of the poor Indians of America. It is, I will say,
+if I may here repeat what I wrote in my second letter in 1853, their
+only remaining source of happiness; _humanity and justice_ seem to
+demand it. If they are again repulsed, and driven inland, they will
+infallibly perish. Such as refuse to submit, and accept the definite
+arrangement,--the only favorable one left,--must resume the nomad life
+of the prairies, and close their career with the vanishing buffaloes and
+other animals."
+
+We have known this Father De Smet for many years, and have known of his
+connection as chaplain in the United States army, and of his extensive
+travels among the various Indian tribes of our country. We were well
+aware of his zeal and bigotry as a Jesuit; but we did not suppose he
+would take the first opportunity to combine all his associates, and the
+Indians under his influence, against the government that had favored him
+and his Indian missionary operations so readily. Yet perhaps we ought
+not to be surprised at this even, as the Roman hierarchy expressed more
+open sympathy and favor to the Southern rebellion than any other
+European power, by acknowledging the Southern Confederacy, and
+furnishing a man to assassinate President Lincoln.
+
+We have introduced these quotations in our sketches of early history, in
+order to show to the reader the far-reaching policy, as also the
+determination of foreign powers, through the Jesuit missionaries, to
+accomplish the overthrow of our American institutions, and prevent the
+spread of them upon this coast. The following is copied from the
+_Christian Intelligencer_:--
+
+     "_Rome in the Field._
+
+     "There are those who believe that Rome has an evil eye on this
+     country, and that our next great battle will be with her hosts,
+     rapidly mustering on these shores. We would not be alarmists, but
+     we would not have our countrymen ignorant of matters which most
+     nearly and vitally concern our country's welfare. If the policy of
+     Rome is to rule or ruin, let us know it. If it be first to ruin,
+     and then to rule, let us know that.
+
+     "We purpose to go no further back than the beginning of the war,
+     and to let the facts which we shall name speak for themselves. If
+     they have no other lesson, they will, at least, show that Rome,
+     during our terrible struggle for national existence, was true to
+     her ancient history and traditions, as the enemy of civil liberty
+     and the friend of the oppressor the world over.
+
+     "It will not be forgotten how generally and enthusiastically our
+     adopted citizens, the Irish, enlisted in the army when the call
+     first came for men to put down rebellion. In the early part of the
+     war, there were Irish battalions, and regiments, and brigades, but
+     there were few, if any, at its close. The truth is, after the
+     second year of the war, the Irish changed front, and suddenly
+     became sympathizers with treason and rebellion. It was noticed that
+     the girls in the kitchen began to roll their fierce gutturals
+     against Mr. Lincoln; their brothers in the army began to curse the
+     cause for which they fought; desertions were frequent; enlistments
+     stopped; and the attitude of the Irish mind before Mr. Lincoln's
+     second election was one of disloyalty and hostility to the
+     government of the United States.
+
+     "And these facts can not be changed by the habit which these people
+     have of boasting about fighting our battles, and saving our
+     country. By actual examination of our muster-rolls, the simple
+     truth appears to be, that only eight per cent. of our grand army
+     were of foreign birth; the balance--ninety-two per cent.--were
+     native Americans, who returned at length, worn and battle-scarred,
+     to find their places on the farms, in the factories, and
+     elsewhere, filled by Irish who had sought safety and profit at
+     home, while our boys were courting danger and death in battle.
+
+     "It may be interesting to know when this change came over the Irish
+     mind. What dampened their ardor, what quenched the glow of their
+     patriotic impulse? The coincidence is so complete, that the cause
+     is doubtless the same.
+
+     "It will be remembered that Bishop Hughes went abroad during the
+     second year of the war, as was supposed, by authority of our
+     government to interest the Catholic sovereigns of Europe in our
+     favor. Instead of this, however, the archbishop went direct to
+     Rome, and straightway the pope acknowledged the independence of the
+     Confederate States. His insignificance gave him impunity, and
+     purchased our silence. But the act had its influence; Biddy in the
+     kitchen, Mike in the army, Patrick on the farm, and Mac in the
+     factory, fell to cursing Mr. Lincoln as a tyrant and butcher.
+     Enlistments among the Irish stopped from that time, unless it was
+     bounty-jumpers and deserters. They banded together to resist the
+     draft, as in New York, where they rioted in blood for three long
+     days, and only yielded to the overwhelming power of United States
+     troops. The spirit that actuated these human fiends came from Rome,
+     and to Rome must be awarded the sole honor of welcoming to the
+     family of nations a Confederacy whose first act was treason, and
+     whose last was assassination. Indeed, it was Rome that furnished
+     the assassin and his conspirators against the greatest life of
+     modern times. And that assassin struck not against the life of a
+     man, but against the life of the Republic; and if guilt lies in the
+     intent, then is Rome guilty of the nation's life.
+
+     "With such a record, Rome vainly puts herself among the friends of
+     our free institutions. She misjudged, we think, but she no doubt
+     thought the time had arrived to destroy what had come of
+     Puritanism. And for this, she was willing to be the ally of a
+     government whose corner-stone was negro slavery. Are we still
+     dreaming that Rome is changed, or that she has surrendered the hope
+     of supplanting Protestant freedom on these shores? Would not every
+     Fenian lodge in the country rally to the help of the South, if
+     there was a chance to restore the old negro-hating oligarchy to
+     power.
+
+     "It can hardly have escaped every observing man that the Irish mind
+     is expectant and exultant in regard to this country. They do not
+     conceal their belief that the Catholic Church is to rise to the
+     ascendant here, and that Protestantism is to do it reverence.
+
+     "But a few weeks since, Father Hecker, one of the lights of the
+     Catholic Church in this country, said in a public lecture, in New
+     York, that his church had numbered eleven millions of our people,
+     or one-third of our population; and that if the members of his
+     church increased for the next thirty years as it had for the thirty
+     years past, in 1900 Rome would have the majority, and would be
+     bound to take the country and rule it in the interest of the
+     church. 'And,' continued the reverend father, 'I consider it my
+     highest mission to educate our people up to this idea, that America
+     is ours, and belongs to the church.'
+
+     "It is all of a pattern. Rome during the war sought to ruin us in
+     order to rule us. She failed in the first, but is no less
+     tenaciously striving to accomplish the last. In a future number we
+     will hope to show how she means to do this through the freedmen."
+
+It appears that, when our government became apprised of the value of
+Oregon as a part of its domain, and was informed officially by the
+provisional government of the situation of affairs generally at the time
+of the Whitman massacre, at the same time the information was so
+arranged, and the circumstances so stated, that the government and
+people were generally deceived as to the cause and ultimate object of
+that transaction. It is clear that the Hudson's Bay Company designed to
+hold the country. It is also evident that the British government
+expected that the arrangements of the company were such that their title
+to the Oregon Territory was secured beyond a question.
+
+The far-seeing shrewdness of P. J. De Smet, S. J., in relation to his
+efforts and church influence, was in a measure superior to both; for he
+made use of both to secure his object and add to the numerical strength
+of his church, and by that means gain political consideration in the
+United States and in other countries. For instance, all the Indian
+children and adults they have ever baptized (as may be seen by their
+letters to their society in Brussels) are counted, numbering two hundred
+and ninety-four thousand,--nearly one-half of their American converts.
+This, with all their foreign population, as claimed by them, and
+improperly allowed in the United States census, gives to that sect a
+political influence they are not entitled to; and were the question
+agitated openly, as it was undertaken once secretly, the result would
+show their weakness. While that church professes the open Catholic
+faith, it still holds to its secret Society of Jesus, and through it has
+carried its missions and influence into every department of our American
+government, more especially into that of the Indians. General Grant
+seems to understand our Indian relations, and has advised the best plan
+for disposing of the Indian question, _i.e._, place it under the
+exclusive control of the military department; and if an Indian becomes a
+settler, let him be protected as such.
+
+After the greater portion of our provisional troops had been disbanded,
+Revs. Eells and Walker and their families were ordered out of the upper
+country, it not being deemed safe for them to remain, on account of
+hostile Indians who were notoriously friendly with every one claiming to
+belong to the Hudson's Bay Company or to the priests' party; as asserted
+by Father Hoikin, who says: "_The country is as safe for us as ever_; we
+can go freely wherever we desire. No one is ignorant that the
+black-gowns are not enemies; those at least who are among the Indians."
+
+Notwithstanding the order had been given, by Indian Agent Major Lee,
+that all the missionaries among those Indians should leave the country
+till troops could be stationed to protect all alike, still not one of
+the Jesuit missionaries obeyed it. On the 21st of August, Lieutenant A.
+T. Rogers writes to Governor Abernethy, as follows:--
+
+                                     "FORT LEE, WASCOPUM, Aug. 21, 1848.
+
+     "Believing it to be my duty to let you know any thing of moment
+     that transpires at this station, for this purpose I now address
+     you.
+
+     "At about 2 o'clock, P.M., at this place, a boat arrived,
+     consigned to the French priests who have taken up their residence
+     here, loaded with eight casks of powder; six of them 150 pounds
+     each, and two of them 90 pounds each, making 1,080 pounds. I also
+     took fifteen sacks of balls, 100 pounds in each cask; three sacks
+     of buck or goose shot, 100 pounds each, making 1,800 pounds of ball
+     and buck-shot; counted one sack of the balls and found about 3,000
+     balls. I also took three boxes of guns; opened one box, and found
+     twelve guns.
+
+     "The general conviction at the fort was, that not more than 500
+     pounds of powder in all had been forwarded for the army by the
+     government, probably not even that amount. I was told by the priest
+     from an interior station, as also by one at the Dalles, that the
+     powder was for four stations, viz.: Coeur d'Alenes, Flatheads,
+     Ponderays, and Okanagons; and this had been purchased at Vancouver
+     the year before. I judged that at least one-third of their outfit
+     was ammunition.
+
+     "Three days previous to the arrival of the ammunition, four
+     Indians, embracing their chief from the Waiama village, near the
+     mouth of Des Chutes, came into the fort, much alarmed, saying there
+     had been Cayuses to them, declaring that the priests were going to
+     furnish them plenty of ammunition, and that they were going to kill
+     off all the Americans and all the Indians about that place, and the
+     Cayuses wanted them to join them; said also that out of fear of the
+     Cayuses they had sent away all their women and children. We had the
+     best of evidence that they were frightened. Out of some four or
+     five hundred souls along the river, between the fort and the
+     Chutes of the Columbia, not a soul was to be seen on either
+     side,--all, they said, were hid in the mountains. It was some ten
+     days before the Indians came from their hiding-places.
+
+     "When the munitions came, Quartermaster Johnson swore he believed
+     the priests designed them for the Cayuses; said also, a man in this
+     country did not know when he was in a tight place.
+
+     "I must say I also believed it.
+
+                         "A. T. ROGERS, Lieutenant Commanding Post."[20]
+
+
+    [Footnote 20] From original letter.
+
+The following editorial notice of the above letter is copied from the
+Oregon _Spectator_ of September 7, 1848:--
+
+     "By reference to the above letter by Lieutenant Rogers to Governor
+     Abernethy, it will be seen that the arms and ammunition attempted
+     to be taken into the upper Indian country by Catholic priests, have
+     been seized by Lieutenant Rogers, and deposited in Fort Lee. Orders
+     had been dispatched to Lieutenant Rogers to seize and detain those
+     munitions. [A mistake of the editor. Lieutenant Rogers seized the
+     ammunition, and wrote for orders.] Much credit is due to Lieutenant
+     Rogers and the little garrison at Fort Lee for the promptness and
+     efficiency with which they acted in the matter.
+
+     "We understand that there was no disposition on the part of the
+     officers of the government to destroy or confiscate those
+     munitions, but that they were detained to prevent their
+     transportation into the Indian country under the present juncture
+     of affairs.
+
+     "We had intended to have spoken upon the attempt by Catholic
+     priests to transport such a quantity of arms and ammunition into
+     the Indian country at this time, but as those munitions have been
+     seized and are now safe, we abstain from present comment upon the
+     transaction!"
+
+The above notice of the transaction, as given by Lieutenant Rogers, is a
+fair specimen of the man who occupied the place of an editor at the time
+this infamous course was being carried on in Oregon by the two parties
+engaged in supplying the Indians with war materials. No one will suppose
+for a moment that these priests ever bought or owned the powder and
+arms; their own private supplies may have been in the cargo, but the
+ammunition and arms were on the way into the Indian country, under their
+priestly protection, for the benefit of their masters, the Hudson's Bay
+Company, who, as we have repeatedly proved, were acting in concert upon
+the prejudices and superstitions of the Indians.
+
+Was it a great undertaking for that company to drive a thousand or
+twelve hundred American settlers from Oregon at that time?
+
+Robert Newell, already known to our readers, says, in speaking of
+missionaries and settlers, "They could not have remained in the country
+a week without the consent and aid of that company, nor could the
+settlers have remained as they did up to 1848." We are willing to admit
+Mr. Newell's position only in part. We know that company's power and
+influence in Washington and London; we also know fully what they
+attempted to do from 1812 to 1821, and only succeeded by a compromise
+with their opponent. We also know all about their operations and
+influences in Oregon, and are ready to admit that they had the
+disposition to destroy the American settlements. We also know the extent
+of the effort made to establish a claim to the Oregon country by means
+of their French and Hudson's Bay half-breeds, and we are fully aware of
+their effort to procure witnesses to substantiate their monstrous claims
+for old rotten forts and imaginary improvements. Knowing all this, we
+deny that that company had the courage, or would have dared to molest a
+single American citizen or missionary, only as they could influence the
+Indians by just such means as they used to destroy _Smith's party on the
+Umpqua_, drive Captain Wyeth and the American Fur Company from the
+country, and destroy Dr. Whitman's settlement. Any other course would
+have involved the two countries in a war, and led to an investigation of
+their proceedings and of their charter.
+
+"That company," says Mr. Fitzgerald, "have submitted to all manner of
+insult and indignity, and committed all manner of crime, and they dare
+not go before any competent tribunal for the redress of any real or
+supposed injury, or right they claim."
+
+This brings us to the reason that Mr. Douglas gave in answer to Mr.
+Ogden, in the presence of Mr. Hinman, "_There might be other than
+sectarian causes_" _for the Whitman massacre_, and here we have the
+united effort of priests and Hudson's Bay Company to attribute the
+massacre to _measles_ and _superstition_, while we have the positive
+testimony of Mr. Kimzey and others to show that the whole was determined
+upon before any sickness was among the Indians. From the testimony of
+General Palmer, the Donner party, Mr. Hines, and Mr. Ogden, we find but
+the one effort; which was, to prevent, or diminish as much as was
+possible, the settlement of the country. And why? To answer this
+question clearly, we have traced the early history of that _monster
+monopoly_ in previous chapters, and given their proceedings in countries
+under their exclusive control. To illustrate more clearly the subject
+of the previous and present chapters, we will give an article we find in
+the Oregon _Argus_ of February 9, 1856, eight years after the war. The
+article is headed:--
+
+"_The Catholic Priests and the War--'A Catholic Citizen' attended to._
+
+     "_To the Editor of the Oregon Argus:_
+
+     "SIR,--For the past month I have noticed several virulent articles
+     in each issue of your paper, all tending to impress upon the minds
+     of your readers the idea that the Catholic priests were the head
+     and front of the present Indian difficulties; and being fearful
+     that your constant harping upon that one subject might render you a
+     monomaniac, I am induced to submit to your _Argus_ eyes a few facts
+     in relation to the conduct of the Catholic priests prior to and
+     during the present war. In your issue of the 8th inst., I find an
+     article based upon the following extract from the official report
+     of Colonel Nesmith:--
+
+     "'With sundry papers discovered in the mission building, was a
+     letter written by the priest, Pandozy, for Kamaiyahkan, head chief
+     of the Yankama tribe, addressed to the officer in command of the
+     troops, a copy of which is communicated with this report. There was
+     also found an account-book kept by this priest Pandozy, which is
+     now in the custody of Major Raines. This book contains daily
+     entries of Pandozy's transactions with the Indians, and clearly
+     demonstrates the indisputable fact that he has furnished the
+     Indians with large quantities of ammunition, and leaving it a
+     matter of doubt whether _gospel_ or _gunpowder_ was his principal
+     stock in trade. The priest had abandoned the mission, but it gave
+     unmistakable evidence of being cared for, and attended to, during
+     his absence, by some Yankama Indian parishioners.'
+
+     "You then proceed with great _sang froid_ to pride yourself upon
+     the correct 'position' which you took about a month previous,
+     relative to the above subject, and presuming upon the safe
+     'position' which you thus assumed, you say the priests have in a
+     measure prompted the Indians to the late outbreak! A bold
+     presumption, truly, when we find the puny evidence which you have
+     to back your 'position.' You further assert as a fact, 'that in
+     this, as in the Cayuse war, these priests have been detected in the
+     very act of conveying large quantities of powder in the direction
+     of the camp of the enemy.' This, sir, is a _fact_ which emanated
+     from your own disordered imagination, as during the Cayuse war no
+     priest was ever detected in any such a position, and you _know_ it;
+     but then, it must be recollected that a little buncombe capital
+     does not come amiss at this time, and if you can make it off of a
+     poor priest by publishing a tissue of groundless falsehoods against
+     him, why even that is 'grist to your mill.'"
+
+     "The foregoing is a portion of a communication which appeared in
+     the _Standard_ of December 13, over the signature of 'A Catholic
+     Citizen.' The writer of that article, in endeavoring to blind the
+     eyes of his readers, and his pretending to correct us in reference
+     to certain statements we had made concerning a few things connected
+     with the present Indian war, as also the Cayuse war of 1848, in
+     which the Catholic priests had by their intercourse with the
+     savages created more than a suspicion in the minds of the community
+     that they were culpably implicated in the crimson character of
+     these tragedies, wisely intrenched himself behind a fictitious
+     signature. He has thereby thrown the responsibility of some three
+     columns of pointless verbiage, flimsy sophistry, and Jesuitical
+     falsehoods, upon the shoulders of an irresponsible, intangible,
+     ghostly apparition, probably very recently dismissed from some
+     sepulcher at Rome, or from the carcass of an Irishman just swamped
+     in the bogs of Ireland.
+
+     "Seven or eight weeks have now elapsed since we called upon this
+     Roman Catholic citizen to emerge from his hiding-place among the
+     tombstones, and if he was really incarnate, with a body of flesh
+     and bones, such as the rest of us have, to throw off the mask, and
+     not only give us a full view of his corporeal developments, but
+     also to send us a copy of the book by which he cleared Pandozy, and
+     justified himself in issuing, from his sweat-house Vatican, his
+     bull of excommunication against us.
+
+     "We have thus far 'harked' in vain for a sound 'from the tombs.'
+     Like a true Jesuit, that loves darkness rather than light, he not
+     only still persists in keeping his name in the dark, and keeping
+     the 'book' we rightfully called for in the dark, but attempts to
+     enshroud the whole subject in total darkness, by making up his own
+     case from such parts of Pandozy's book as he chooses to have
+     exposed, and then thrusting the whole manuscript into a dark corner
+     of his dark-colored coat, and in order to darken what light we had
+     already shed in upon the dark nest of Jesuits, among the
+     dark-skinned and dark-hearted savages, he most solemnly denies as
+     false the most important of the dark charges we made against them,
+     and then, after 'darkening counsel' by a whole column of 'words
+     without knowledge,' by which, like the cuttle-fish, he darkens the
+     waters to elude the hand of his pursuer, and then, under cover of
+     all this darkness, he dodges into his dark little sweat-house, and
+     issues his terrible bull consigning us to a _very_ dark place,
+     where the multitudes of dark Jesuits that have gone before us have
+     doubtless made it 'as dark as a stack of black cats.' But what
+     makes the case still darker is, that while 'Catholic Citizen'
+     refuses to expose his personal outlines to our 'Argus eyes,' but
+     intimates that as he is a member of the Catholic Church, and of
+     the Democratic party, if we let off a broadside upon either of
+     these societies, and wound either of their carcasses, the one
+     bloated on the blood of saints, and the other on the juice of corn,
+     we shall of course inflict a material injury upon him, upon the
+     principle that 'when one of the members suffers, all the members
+     suffer with it;' we say, that in view of the fact that after
+     'Catholic Citizen' has claimed to be a member of both these
+     organizations, the Corvallis organ of the Sag Nichts and Jesuits
+     has whet the razor of authority, and lopped him off, as a heterodox
+     member, and consigned him to the fires of damnation, because
+     'Catholic Citizen' has intimated that the two bodies were not
+     identical, thus wisely enveloping him in a dark cloud, and
+     translating him far beyond the reach of our guns, makes the case
+     terribly dark indeed.
+
+     "'He (Catholic Citizen) displays the cloven foot of either direct
+     opposition to the Democratic organization, or sore-head-ism and
+     disaffection with that organization.----We can hardly conceive that
+     the author of that communication is a Catholic, or a friend of the
+     Catholic Church.'--_Statesman_ of Dec. 25.
+
+     "Thus it will be seen that the editor of the 'organ' takes him by
+     the top tuft, and applies the 'rapin hook' to his neck as a
+     heretic, and not a genuine Catholic, because of his 'sore-head-ism
+     and disaffection with the Democratic organization,' thus
+     unequivocally asserting that the church and the clique are
+     identical, or so closely identified that in placing himself in
+     opposition to the one, he proves that he is not a friend of the
+     other. Now whether the action of the organ has been from a
+     malicious desire to 'bury him out of our sight' as an 'unfruitful
+     branch' of the Catholic and Democratic trunk, or whether he
+     intended in _mercy_ to wrap him up in his Nessean shirt, and hide
+     him from our view by denying to him the only earthly position he
+     assumed, it matters not particularly to us. We shall probably teach
+     him, or his ghost, in due time, a lesson which we long since
+     whipped into the tough and slimy hide of the biped who controls the
+     _Statesman_, and which he and his ilk would do well to read in the
+     welts that checker his back, before they make their onslaughts upon
+     us, viz., whenever we state a thing to be true, you may rest
+     assured that it _is_ so, and by calling it in question, you may be
+     sure you will provoke the _proof_. We are not of that class of
+     lying editors who make false charges which they are not able to
+     sustain, and we have never yet vouched for the truth of a
+     statement, and been afterward compelled to back out of it. Whenever
+     we make a mistake, on account of bad information, we are sure to
+     make the correction as soon as we are apprised of it, whether the
+     statement affects the character or interest of friend or foe, or
+     neither.
+
+     "Your vile innuendo, that we wished to make a little buncombe
+     capital off a poor sniveling priest, is readily excused, knowing as
+     we do your impressions from associating with political comrades who
+     neither yield to nor expect justice or decency from their political
+     opponents; and presuming also that the moment you stepped your foot
+     upon American soil, with your little budget of Irish rags, some
+     demagogue put a loco-foco hook into your nose, and led you off to
+     the political pound to learn your catechism, so fast that the
+     remaining half of the nether extremity of your old swallow-fork
+     made a right angle with your stalwart frame. We know very well what
+     sort of lessons you have learned out of that catechism; how you
+     have been duped to believe that the principles of Jefferson and
+     other old sainted Democrats were still cherished by the designing
+     demagogues who have taken you in tow; how we who oppose this
+     office-hunting party are 'down upon Catholics and foreigners'
+     simply because they are such; and how you had only to put in the
+     'clane dimocratthic ticket' to insure yourself great and glorious
+     privileges. Under this sort of training, it is not surprising to us
+     that you not only expect us to persecute you to the full extent
+     that a priest is sworn to 'persecute' heretics, but that you are
+     constantly in fear that the '_Noo Nothins_' will soon be ladling
+     soup from a huge kettle that contains your quarters boiled up with
+     Irish potatoes.
+
+     "We were not led to make the remarks we did in reference to the
+     priests because they were _Papists_, but because we had reason to
+     believe they were traitors to our government, and were identified
+     with the savages in the present war. If Methodist, Presbyterian, or
+     _any other Protestant clergymen_ had rendered themselves equally
+     obnoxious, we should probably have given our opinion at the time,
+     that they deserved to be brought out of the Indian country, with
+     all their 'traps,' to undergo a trial before a jury for their
+     lives.
+
+     "But, sir, to one of your falsehoods:--
+
+     "'You further assert as a fact, "that in this, as in the Cayuse
+     war, these priests have been detected in the very act of conveying
+     large quantities of powder in the direction of the camp of the
+     enemy." This, sir, is a _fact_ which emanated from your own
+     distorted imagination, as during the Cayuse war no priest was ever
+     detected in any such a position, and you _know_ it.'
+
+     "Now, sir, we did not suppose that there was a man green enough in
+     all Oregon (excepting, perhaps, the _Statesman_) to call our
+     statement in question. We happen to be an old Oregonian ourself,
+     and profess to be pretty well posted in reference to many
+     occurrences which will make up the future history of this lovely
+     yet blood-stained land. The proof of our assertion we _supposed_
+     could be come at by our file of the _Spectator_. The fact was
+     still vivid in our memory. At the date of this transaction (August
+     21, 1848), there were three papers printed in the Territory: The
+     _Free Press_, an 8 by 12 sheet, edited by G. L. Curry, present
+     governor of Oregon, and the Oregon _Spectator_, a 22 by 32 sheet,
+     edited by A. E. Wait, Esq., both published at Oregon City; besides
+     a semi-monthly pamphlet, printed in the Tualatin Plains, and edited
+     by Rev. J. S. Griffin. Although all of these papers at the time
+     spoke of the transaction referred to, we believe none of them,
+     excepting the _Spectator_, contained the official correspondence
+     necessary to make out our case. We supposed, and so did many
+     others, that all the old files of the _Spectator_ were long since
+     destroyed, excepting the imperfect one in our office. When 'A
+     Catholic Citizen' called our statement in question, we, of course,
+     referred to our 'file' for proof, but to our astonishment this
+     particular paper was missing, although the immediate preceding and
+     succeeding numbers were all there, embracing the whole summer of
+     1848. The missing number was _accidentally_ (?) misplaced, of
+     course, and the _proof_ of that transaction supposed to be beyond
+     our reach. By the kindness of a gentleman we have been furnished
+     with the desired copy from his own file." (See official note and
+     letter as previously quoted.)
+
+     "Now, will 'A Catholic Citizen' contend that our statement, in
+     reference to the 'large quantities of powder,' is not fully covered
+     by '_seven or eight hundred pounds of powder, fifteen hundred
+     pounds of lead, and three boxes of guns_.'
+
+     "A man who can unblushingly utter such a falsehood as he has been
+     guilty of, to create a public sentiment in favor of these priests,
+     is below contempt, and we feel our task of exposing him to be truly
+     humiliating. We have branded this goat with an L----, which will
+     stick to his hide as long as Cain carried _his_ mark; and we now
+     turn him out to browse for a while with B., who wears about a dozen
+     of the same brands, under the pain of which we have sent him off
+     howling. 'A Catholic Citizen' may feed on '_ferrin_' till we get
+     time to clap the same brand to him again, when we shall tie him up
+     to the post and again scorch his wool."
+
+In reference to the article, as quoted from the Oregon _Argus_, it is
+not certainly known who "Catholic Citizen" is, but the impression is
+that the production is from the pen of Hon. P. H. Burnett or Sir James
+Douglas, and not impossible from Robert Newell, with such assistance as
+he could obtain.
+
+If from either of those gentlemen, he may have been correctly informed
+as to the real owners of the munitions, but we can hardly believe Mr.
+Douglas or Newell would lay themselves liable to the falsehood charged
+upon them, as they were in the country, and must have known of the facts
+in the case. Mr. Burnett was in California, and may have been misled by
+his informant. Be that as it may, the munitions were found on their way
+into the Indian country in charge of the priests, and the remarks of the
+editor of the _Argus_, W. L. Adams, Esq., shows the true history of the
+times, and the continued effort of the Jesuits and their neophytes to
+continue the Indian wars, to prevent the Protestant missionary stations
+from being reoccupied and the settlement of the country by the
+Americans, as intimated by Father Hoikin, in his letter to his society
+in Brussels.
+
+Our provisional army did not capture a single murderer or prominent
+Indian engaged in the massacre, though many of them were known to have
+been frequently with the priests and at Fort Wallawalla. Neither the
+priests, McBean, nor the indescribably sympathizing Sir James Douglas
+made the least effort to bring the murderers to justice. A part of them
+were given up by the tribe,--tried and hung at Oregon City under the
+Territorial government of the United states, Judge Pratt presiding. In
+the trial, the same influence was used to get the murderers acquitted
+that had instigated and protected them in the commission of the crime.
+
+The discovery of gold in California took place before our troops had all
+returned; the universal excitement in relation to it caused the
+desertion of a large portion of the Hudson's Bay Company's men, and
+almost an abandonment of the fur trade in the country for the time.
+They, however, still kept up the semblance of fur trade; and, at the
+expiration of their parliamentary license in 1858, withdrew to British
+Columbia and Vancouver Island to repeat upon their own people what they
+have practiced so successfully and so long upon the Americans.
+
+There is, connected with this foreign company, a sort of Jesuitical
+suavity of manner and boasting propensity that naturally deceives all
+who come within its influence.
+
+All its titles and little performances of charity are sounded forth with
+imperial pomposity. The man that does not acknowledge his obligations to
+it for being permitted to remain in the country previous to the
+expiration of its parliamentary license, is considered ungrateful by it,
+and by such as are blind to its infamous practices.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXIV.
+
+     Missions among the Western Indians.--The Coeur d'Alene
+     Mission.--Protestant and Catholic missions compared.--What the
+     American Protestant missionaries have done for the country and the
+     Indians.--Extent of their influence, progress, and
+     improvements.--Patriotism of Dr. Whitman.
+
+
+Any person who has read the previous pages of this volume will not
+charge us with being ignorant of missionary operations on our western
+coast. Though we were but eight years connected in mechanical and
+business relations with them, still we have never lost sight of their
+labors, or their intellectual, moral, religious, political, or physical
+operations, nor of their personal conduct, or their adaptation to the
+work assigned them. We have spoken plainly our views, and impressions of
+the character, conduct, and influence of all prominent men in the
+country. Our main object has been to introduce the reader to the people
+of Oregon at the time in which they were acting in a public capacity.
+The private morals of the country have only been incidentally drawn out
+by reference to a petition sent to Congress, signed by the Rev. David
+Leslie, in 1840. In that document Mr. Leslie does himself and the
+country an injustice, by asserting that "theft, murder, infanticide,
+etc., are increasing among them to an alarming extent" (Senate Doc.,
+26th Congress, 1st Session, No. 514). Those charges Mr. Leslie no doubt
+sincerely thought to be true at that time, from the occurrence of the
+two most serious crimes about the time he wrote. But such crimes were by
+no means common.
+
+It is often asked, _What good have the missionaries done to the
+Indians?_ If this question applied alone to the Jesuit missionaries,
+brought to the country by the Hudson's Bay Company, we would say
+unhesitatingly, _None at all_. What few Indians there are now in the
+country that have been baptized by them, and have learned their
+religious catechisms, are to-day more hopelessly depraved, and are
+really poorer and more degraded than they were at the time we visited
+them twenty-two years since, looking carefully at their moral and
+pecuniary condition then and now. In proof of which we give the
+following article:--
+
+    "_Coeur d'Alene Mission._
+
+    "The old Mullan road from the Bitter Root or Missoula River to the
+    Coeur d'Alene Mission, shows to the traveler little evidence that
+    it was once explored, laid out, and built by a scientific engineer.
+    Decayed remnants of bridges are scattered all along the Coeur
+    d'Alene and St. Regis Borgia rivers; excavations have been filled up
+    by the _debris_ of fallen timber; huge bowlders that have rolled
+    down the mountain side, constantly crumbling masses of slate, and
+    huge chasms, worn or torn by the furious progress of the streams
+    swollen by the melting snows and spring rains, obstruct entirely the
+    passage of vehicles of all kinds, and render the passage of pack and
+    saddle horses almost impossible. In the distance of eighty miles,
+    you cross these two rivers one hundred and forty-six times, climb
+    the precipitous sides of numerous mountains, continually jumping
+    your horses over fallen timber, and filing to the right and left to
+    avoid the impassable barriers which the mountain tornadoes have
+    strewn in your way. The gorges, through which the road sometimes
+    winds to avoid the mountains of rocks that close in even to the edge
+    of the main stream, are narrow, and so completely shaded, that the
+    rays of the sun have never penetrated, and one everlasting cold
+    chill dampness prevails. Our party were halted for an hour in one of
+    those passes to allow the passage of a herd of two hundred Spanish
+    cattle, and, although when we emerged from the canon we found the
+    sun oppressively hot, I do not remember ever to have suffered more
+    from cold in any climate or in any altitude. The oppressiveness
+    seemed to spring from something besides the mere temperature. We
+    found but one living thing in those narrow canons, and that was the
+    most diminutive of the squirrel species. There was no song of birds
+    or whir-r-r of partridge or grouse. It had the silence of the cold,
+    damp grave.
+
+    "After arriving within six miles of the mission, the canon of the
+    Coeur d'Alene opens out to about four miles in width, and you come
+    suddenly to Mud Prairie,--a broad, open park, with here and there a
+    solitary pine, and the ground covered with a heavy growth of swamp
+    grass, which stock will only eat when nothing better can be
+    obtained. Two hours more, and the mission, with its stately church
+    (so it appears in the mountains), suddenly presents itself to view.
+
+    "Dilapidated fences are passed, rude Indian houses made of 'shakes,'
+    fields of wheat and vegetables overrun with weeds, and at last,
+    making the one hundred and forty-sixth crossing of the river, you
+    halt your hungry and jaded horses in front of the rudest piece of
+    architecture that ever supported a cross or echoed to the _Ave
+    Maria_ of the Catholic faith. Rude though it is, when we consider
+    the workmen by whom it was constructed and the tools employed, the
+    feeling of ridicule and smile of contempt will give way to
+    admiration of the energy and (though I think mistaken) zeal which
+    sustained the Jesuit fathers during what was to them, at that time,
+    a most herculean labor. The building is 46 by 60 feet, and 30 feet
+    posted, and was two years in process of construction. The workmen
+    were two or three Jesuit priests, assisted by a few Indians, and the
+    reverend fathers showed me a saw, an auger, an ax, and an old
+    jack-plane, their only tools. It is situated on a little elevation
+    from the main valley. On the left is the dwelling of the fathers,
+    and still to the left is the storehouse, hospital, workshop, and
+    building for the sick and crippled recipients of their benefactions.
+    Around the slope of the elevation are scattered Indian huts and
+    tepees, and at its base lies the resting-place of departed Indians
+    who had died in the faith and gone to the hunting-grounds of the
+    Great Spirit. In front of all, the Coeur d'Alene, seemingly
+    satisfied with the havoc which its furious progress had made, runs
+    slowly and sluggishly along. The interior of the church is a
+    curiosity. Here you see the marks of an unfortunate stroke from a
+    clumsy ax-man; there a big Indian had sawed a stick of timber half
+    off in the wrong place; in another spot, a little Indian had amused
+    himself boring holes with the auger, while the joints 'broke' like a
+    log-house before chinking. I was told that in its original
+    construction there was not a nail used; but lately some efforts have
+    been made to smooth down the rough exterior by the addition of
+    cornice and corner-boards.
+
+    "The priests are very jealous of their claims to the territory
+    around the mission, and regard the unlimited control of the Indians
+    as a right which they have acquired by their self sacrificing
+    labors, and as a duty on the part of the Indians in return for the
+    salvation of their souls and absolution from their sins. For my
+    part, from an acquaintance with twelve tribes of Indians, among whom
+    the gospel has been preached, and the forms, mysteries, and
+    ceremonies of the Catholic Church introduced, I have failed to see a
+    soul saved, or one single spark of Indian treachery, cruelty, or
+    barbarism extinguished. The lamented General Wright thrashed the
+    murdering propensities of the Coeur d'Alene Indians out of them.
+    The balance of their virtues--stealing, drinking, and supreme
+    laziness--they possess in as large a share as they did before the
+    heart of Saint Alene was sent among them. I would like to give a
+    favorable portrait of this mission and its occupants, if I could. I
+    would like to say that the reverend fathers were neat, cleanly,
+    intelligent, hospitable individuals, but there are too many who
+    travel that road, and it would be pronounced false. I would like to
+    say they were sowing the seed of civilization and cultivating it
+    successfully in the untutored mind of the poor red man, but truth
+    forbids. I would at least be glad that they urged upon the Indians
+    to obey the laws of this government and respect the property of its
+    citizens, but must leave that task to some one who has never bought
+    of them horse meat for beef, and traveled for days on foot, because
+    they would not, from pure deviltry, sell him one horse out of a band
+    of two or three hundred. I say not these things with any reference
+    to the Catholic Church or its belief, nor am I forgetful of what I
+    have read of the Jesuits of St. Bernard and their acts of humanity;
+    but for the filthy, worthless, superannuated relics of Italian
+    ignorance, who have posted themselves midway between the extremes of
+    Pacific and Atlantic civilization, acknowledging no law save that of
+    their church, I have not the slightest particle of respect, and
+    believe with an old packer, 'that it was a great pity General Wright
+    had not carried his threat into execution, and blown the den over
+    the range.'"[21]
+
+    [Footnote 21] From the Oregon Herald of May 5, 1866.
+
+These Indians were among the most honest, peaceable, and hopeful of any
+west of the Rocky Mountains. The mission here spoken of is the one
+represented by Fathers De Smet and Hoikin as their most successful one
+west of the mountains. We have reason to believe that Colonel Dow's
+statements are correct, from remarks made by other travelers, as also
+from Father Joset's own confession. On the 61st page of "Indian
+Sketches," he says: "I have been here nearly fifteen years; I am not yet
+master of the language, and am far from flattering myself with becoming
+so. My catechist remarked to me, the other day, 'You pronounce like a
+child learning to talk; when you speak of religion we understand you
+well, but when you change the subject it is another thing,' That is all
+I want, I have at last succeeded in translating the catechism; I think
+it is _nearly_ correct. You can hardly imagine what it cost me to do it;
+I have been constantly at it since my arrival here; I finished it last
+winter; nevertheless it is short; it has but fourteen lessons; it is
+based upon the first part of the Catechism of Lyons. This catechism is
+printed, not on paper, but on the memory of the children."
+
+According to Father Joset's own statement, it has taken him nearly
+fifteen years to learn their language sufficiently well to teach the
+children fourteen lessons in the catechism, about as much time as some
+of our Protestant missionaries have consumed in translating the whole of
+the New Testament, and a large part of the Old, into heathen languages,
+besides establishing schools, where they teach the people to read the
+pure word of God and practice its sacred principles, instead of
+following the traditions of men.
+
+Father Joset continues: "From the end of November to Palm Sunday, on
+which day this ceremony (children's first communion) took place, they
+had catechism at the church three times a day, and it was rare that one
+missed the exercise; besides this, there was a repetition every day,
+either before the chief or the catechist. I give catechism three hundred
+times a year. I doubt whether there is a catechist in the world more
+utterly deprived of the means of encouraging his pupils. Some prayer
+beads would have been a great reward, but I could give them nothing but
+a medal to each, as a memorial of their first communion."
+
+This reverend father, in speaking of the Church of the Sacred Heart, as
+it is called, says: "It is a magnificent monument to the faith of the
+Coeur d'Alenes, who have given the lie to their name by its erection.
+If it were finished, it would be a handsome church even in Europe. The
+design is by Father Ravalli; it is ninety feet long by forty wide; it
+has twenty-eight pillars, two and a half feet square by twenty-five feet
+in height; all the rest is of timber, and in proportion."
+
+Compare this with Colonel Dow's description of the same building. It
+will be seen, by the quotations we have given, how these "_filthy,
+worthless, superannuated relics of Italian ignorance_" employ themselves
+and the Indians under their instruction. None but a bigot or a Jesuit
+will pretend that such instructions tend to enlarge, to elevate, or
+civilize the savage mind. We have only to look to countries grown old
+under just such teachings, to see its legitimate results.
+
+From the Roman Catholic works before us, on the Oregon missions,
+embracing over eight hundred pages, one would conclude that over forty
+different tribes who have been visited by these Jesuits, in the
+territory of the United States, were all converted and Christian
+Indians, ready to shout, "Glory to God in the highest," and peace all
+over our Indian country. But Colonel Dow says he failed to see "one
+single spark of Indian treachery, cruelty, or barbarism extinguished"
+among the tribes he visited, who were taught by these priests.
+
+De Smet, the prince and father of Jesuitism in the Indian country, as
+early as December 30, 1854, five years before the Southern rebellion
+commenced, communicated to his society in Brussels his approval and
+desire to have all these Indians join the confederate United States, as
+their last and only hope. This measure, he says, the Protestant
+missionaries strongly opposed. He says, also, that Harkins, the Choctaw
+chief, proposes the expulsion of the Protestant missionaries; we add,
+for their strong allegiance to their government, and their opposition to
+this Jesuitical confederate United States scheme (See his letter,
+"Western Missions," page 206). Such missionaries, we are forced to
+admit, have done no good to the Indians, and, we again repeat the
+question, _What good have the missionaries done?_
+
+The writer will answer, that before he left the Whitman station in 1842,
+there were three hundred and twenty-two Indian families among the Cayuse
+and Nez Perce tribes that had commenced to cultivate, and were beginning
+to enjoy the fruits of their little farms. About one hundred of them
+were talking about locating, and were looking for places and material
+for building themselves more permanent houses. We have never doubted for
+a moment that the Cayuse, Nez Perce, and Spokan tribes would, in
+twenty-five years from the time the missions of the American Board were
+located among them (if let alone by the Hudson's Bay Company and Roman
+priests), have become a civilized, industrious, and happy Christian
+people, ready to have entered as honorable and intelligent citizens of
+our American Republic.
+
+The unparalleled energy and success attending the efforts of the
+missionaries among these two powerful migratory tribes excited the
+jealousy, and aroused the extreme opposition of the Hudson's Bay
+Company, and caused them to encourage the largest possible number of
+Jesuits to come to the country and locate themselves immediately in the
+vicinity of those missions, and use every possible influence to dissuade
+the Indians from attending the missionary schools, cultivating their
+little farms, or attending in the least to any instruction, except such
+as was given by the priests when they came to the Hudson's Bay Company's
+forts for trade, as they came at stated times to the fort, before the
+American missionaries came to the country. The Jesuit missionary
+teaching did not interfere with the roving and hunting life of the
+Indians, while the plan of settling and civilizing them proposed, and in
+a measure carried out, by the American missions, did directly interfere
+with the company's fur trappers and hunters. This at first was not so
+regarded, but a moment's reflection establishes the fact. Every Indian
+that became a settler, or farmer, had no occasion to hunt for furs to
+get his supplies.
+
+The moral influence of those missions upon the Indians was good: the Nez
+Perce and the Protestant part of the Cayuses and Spokans have, through
+all the Indian wars, remained true and loyal to the American government,
+while, with perhaps a single exception, those who have been under the
+opposing religious teachings have been at war with our American people
+all over our territory. The Methodist missionary influence upon the
+natives was good, so far as they had an opportunity to exert any. At the
+Dalles it was certainly good and lasting, notwithstanding the Jesuits
+placed a station alongside of them. The Methodists were, from the
+commencement of their mission, interfered with in every way possible,
+in their efforts to improve the condition of the Indians, and induce
+them to cultivate their lands and leave the hunting of fur animals. As
+Rev. Mr. Beaver said of the Hudson's Bay Company, the life (and, we will
+add, the present condition and future happiness) of the Indian race had
+no influence upon that company when put in comparison with the few
+beavers they might hunt and sell to them. Still the Methodist influence
+was sufficient, up to the arrival of the French priests, and four years
+after, to keep up a flourishing native school, notwithstanding the
+French half-breed children were withdrawn from them, and placed under
+the tuition of the priests on French Prairie. The result of that
+Jesuitical teaching is embodied in the law disfranchising all
+half-breeds, except American, from the privileges of American citizens,
+for the course they took in the Indian wars against the American
+settlements and government. The larger portion of them, and especially
+those adhering to the company and the teachings of their priests, have
+gone into British Columbia, carrying with them an implacable hatred of
+our people and government. As to the good the American missionaries have
+done to the Indians on this coast, we can point to-day, more than thirty
+years from the commencement of their labors, to improvements, made and
+kept up by the Indians, that were commenced under the direction of those
+missionaries. We can point to Indian families who have strictly adhered
+to the Protestant religious forms of worship taught them by the American
+missionaries. We have the testimony of General Benjamin Alvord, of the
+United States army, on this point. After saying (September 10, 1854)
+that the Nez Perces never shared in the hostile feelings of the Cayuses,
+declined to join in the war of 1847 against the whites, and have since
+steadily and repeatedly refused to do so, he proceeds as follows: "In
+the spring of 1853 a white man, who had passed the previous winter in
+the country of the Nez Perces, came to the military post at the Dalles,
+and, on being questioned as to the manners and customs of the tribe, he
+said that he wintered with a band of several hundred in number, and that
+the whole party assembled every morning and evening for prayer, the
+exercises being conducted by one of themselves, and in their own
+language. He stated, that on Sunday they assembled for exhortation and
+worship. The writer of this communication made repeated inquiries, and
+these accounts have been confirmed by the statements of others who have
+resided among them. Thus, six years after the _forced_ abandonment of
+the mission, its benign effects are witnessed among that interesting
+people."
+
+In addition to the above, we would add our own observations made in 1861
+among those Indians. That year they were more sorely tried than ever
+before. Gold had just been discovered in their country, and thousands of
+unarmed miners were passing and repassing all through it. The
+disaffected Cayuses were among them, urging them to join and rescue
+their country from the Bostons. We met some twenty-five of the chiefs
+and principal men, and conversed with them in the most friendly and
+familiar manner about their country and their situation; the old scenes
+of the mission; the killing of Dr. Whitman and those at his station; all
+the reasons assigned; the causes and the result of the Doctor's death,
+and its effect on the Cayuses. Having no disposition to deceive them, we
+inquired distinctly if there was gold in their country. They told us
+frankly there was, and that they had seen it, as the Americans had taken
+it away. They then asked what they had better do;--if it was not best
+for them to join the Cayuses, and drive the Americans from their
+country. They said the agent had told them to keep quiet, and in a few
+years the whites would get out the gold and leave the country, and their
+buildings and improvements would be their own. We replied: There are two
+things you can do. These miners will come to your country; they are
+bound to have the gold. Now, you can join the Cayuses, and go to killing
+them off if you choose, but you will soon find yourselves in the
+condition of the Cayuses,--roving about, without a home or country, and
+the more miners you kill, the sooner you will be cut off, and your
+country occupied by strangers. Our advice is, that you remain quiet and
+improve your farms; as fast as you can, educate your children; become
+like the Americans, and live in peace with all who come to settle, or
+dig gold in your country. This course will insure you protection from
+the American people.
+
+We have reason to believe this advice was followed in a measure, at
+least, as no whites have been killed by them, and they remain peaceable
+and friendly. In this same meeting they wished to know if Mr. Spalding
+could come back as their teacher. We inquired particularly how many of
+them wished him to come back, and found that a majority of the tribe
+were in favor of his return. He went back as their teacher; but we have
+since learned that such influences were brought to bear upon him, as
+made him feel that he was compelled to leave the tribe. The mission
+right of the property, as we are fully assured, has since fallen into
+Jesuit hands, for the paltry sum of $500 in greenbacks. Who is
+responsible for the giving up of that mission, we are unable to say. No
+money consideration should ever have induced the American Board of
+Missions to relinquish their legitimate claim.
+
+We have not recently been permitted to visit the Indians at Rev. Messrs.
+Walker and Eells' station; but we have the testimony of others in regard
+to the good effect of the teachings of their missionaries upon them.
+Major P. Lugenbeel, who was in command of New Fort Colville for years,
+and also acted as Indian agent, said to Mr. Eells in 1861, "Those
+Indians of yours are the best I ever saw. I wish you would go back and
+resume missionary labor among them."
+
+Mr. Eells says, in the _Missionary Herald_, December, 1866:--
+
+    "Some fifteen or twenty of these Indians spent a portion of last
+    winter in Wallawalla. On the Sabbath a larger proportion of them
+    than of the citizens of the place could be collected in a house of
+    worship. I met them as my class in connection with the Sabbath
+    school in the Congregational Church. As we were allowed our share of
+    the time allotted to singing, we sang, in their tongue, the words
+    which I arranged for them more than twenty-five years ago. So far as
+    I have learned, their conduct in transactions with whites has been
+    less objectionable than that of the superior race."
+
+We have frequently met individual Indians from about all those early
+stations, and found a most cordial greeting from them, and always a
+regret that they have lost their Boston teachers.
+
+We have always regretted the course pursued by the American Board, in
+allowing those missions to be given up, as unwise and injudicious. If
+the men who first commenced them had not the courage to return and
+continue their labors, others should have been sent to take their
+places.
+
+The Whitman Institute has come up from the ashes of that noble and
+devoted martyred missionary, which to the writer looks like
+"white-washing the sepulchers of the prophets" whose death we have
+seemed to approve, by our silence (not to say cowardice) in not
+ferreting out and exposing the authors of that crime.
+
+Mr. Spalding has not been sustained in his recent efforts among the Nez
+Perces, but feels that he has been driven away from among his Indian
+brethren and disciples by Jesuit influence.
+
+The cowardly, timid, hesitating, the half-God and half-mammon Christian
+may say, What will you have us do? We answer, Maintain the natural
+rights of men and Christians, and leave consequences to a higher power.
+
+We have thus briefly summed up the labors of the Protestant and Roman
+missions, and shown the influence of each upon the Indians on the
+western portion of our American continent. In further proof that this
+Roman Jesuit influence tends only to the destruction of the Indian race,
+I might refer to California, Mexico, and other countries where they have
+had the exclusive religious teaching of the people; the result is the
+same.
+
+We know from long experience that it has always been the policy of the
+Hudson's Bay Company to place an opposing post or trader by the side of
+an opponent in the fur trade. The same policy was adopted, and carried
+out by the Jesuits in regard to the Protestant missions in American
+territory. We will be told that the Hudson's Bay Company people were
+principally of the English Episcopal Church. This is true, and they, to
+satisfy the Christian sentiment of the English people, brought an
+Episcopal minister to Vancouver, and allowed a few in the vicinity of
+Moose Factory, when they wished to renew their fur license, but
+dismissed them as soon as possible after their object was accomplished,
+for reasons already stated, and introduced these Jesuit missionaries for
+no other purpose than to facilitate their trade among the Indians, and
+destroy the American influence in the country. But, thank God and the
+energy of a free people, the country, with all its untold wealth and
+prospective grandeur, is ours, and to-day, as we hear the lightning tap
+of intelligence, from the Old World to Oregon, we have not one solitary
+regret that thirty of the best and most active years of our life have
+been spent, in contending publicly and privately, by day and by night,
+in season and out of season, against that influence. We know what it is
+to feel its power, as an assistant missionary, as a settler, as a
+representative and as an officer of the provisional, Territorial, and
+State governments. We have no complaint of personal unkindness to us, or
+ours; but we feel that the withering condemnation of every true
+American, and Englishman too, should rest upon the Hudson's Bay Company
+while that name is claimed by any association of men, for the
+unrighteous course they have been, and still are, pursuing.
+
+It is obvious that to the American missionaries our nation owes an
+honorable record, and the names of Dr. Whitman, Rev. J. Lee, Mr. C.
+Shepard, Mr. C. Rogers, Rev. Harvey Clark, Mr. A. Beers, and Dr. Wilson,
+and Mrs. Whitman, Mrs. Spalding, Mrs. Lee, Mrs. Leslie, Mrs. Beers, and
+Mrs. Smith, among the dead, and many others still living, should find a
+prominent place in the catalogue of noble men and women who not only
+volunteered to civilize and Christianize the Indians, but did actually
+save this western golden coast, to honor and enrich the great Republic
+in the time of her greatest peril.
+
+It would be ungenerous to confine the answer to our question alone to
+the good that the early American missionaries did to the Indians of our
+western coast. The whole country, now within the jurisdiction of the
+United States, is more indebted to them than most men are willing to
+admit.
+
+The country, as all are aware, was first occupied by Astor's Company in
+1811, followed by the Northwest Company in 1813, and by the Hudson's Bay
+Company in 1821. For twenty-three years the British Hudson's Bay
+Company was scarcely disturbed by an American. No effort was made by it
+to comply with the conditions of its charter, in regard to the civil and
+religious instruction of the Indians, supposing that charter to have
+been valid.
+
+In 1832, the Indians themselves asked for the American missionary. They
+had previously asked the Hudson's Bay Company for religious teachers,
+but they only allowed a few Indian boys to go to Red River, there to
+receive a very limited English education, and return to be employed by
+the company as interpreters or traders. This did not satisfy the Indian
+longing for light and knowledge. The tribes in middle Oregon resorted to
+the American rendezvous, and, although there was little or no moral
+influence there, they discovered a more liberal and generous spirit
+among the Americans than among the English or French. This led to
+further inquiry as to the cause, and by some means they concluded that
+it must arise from their religious notions or worship. They asked to see
+the Americans' sacred book, about which they had heard, as it was said
+that book told about the Great Spirit above. For a time they received
+packs of cards, but were not satisfied,--there must be something more.
+They sent some of their number to St. Louis, and as has been before
+stated, Mr. Catlin learned their object, and gave the information that
+started the missions.
+
+While the American missionaries were going to the country, the American
+fur traders were being driven from it. Rev. Jason Lee and associate were
+allowed to locate in the Wallamet Valley. He labored, and measurably
+filled, gratuitously, the chartered stipulations of the company.
+
+As there were no women in this first missionary party, no fears were
+excited as to the supremacy of the soil, or the future occupation of the
+country by the company's retired servants.
+
+In 1836, Dr. Whitman and Mr. Spalding and their wives arrived, with
+cattle and other material for a distinct and independent mission. They
+at once commenced their labors, and sent for assistance by the overland
+route. Rev. Mr. Lee received a re-enforcement by sea, with which came a
+wife for himself and Mr. Shepard. Dr. Whitman and Mr. Spalding's
+associates arrived overland; more cattle were brought across the
+mountains, and, through the exertions and means of Mr. Lee and his
+associates, cattle were brought through from California.
+
+Schools and farms were opened; mills, houses, and churches built; and
+more and better improvements made by the missionaries, than were then
+owned by the company, with the single exception of a farm at Vancouver.
+
+The American missionaries did not stop with the mills and farms, nor
+with cattle and swine. Sheep and a printing-press were brought from the
+Sandwich Islands, and soon the Indian beholds the clean white paper made
+into a book, and his own thoughts and words placed before him, and he is
+taught to read for himself. In the Wallamet Valley an extensive building
+for an Indian boarding-school was erected, and one for whites and
+half-breed children, almost entirely by the American missionaries. A
+second school was started by the Rev. Harvey Clark and his friends at
+Forest Grove, which is now Pacific University. There were also private
+schools and churches all through the settlements, mostly under the
+Methodist influence; while the Hudson's Bay Company, with their priests,
+established three schools,--one for boys at Vancouver, one for girls at
+Oregon City, and one at French Prairie. These last institutions were
+particularly an opposition to the American schools.
+
+The improvements spoken of above were accomplished within twelve years
+from the first arrival of the American missionaries. This laid the
+foundation for education and civilization, upon which the country has
+been steadily advancing. While the Legislative Assemblies refused to
+take action on the subject of education, the missionary influence was
+active, and strongly in favor of sectarian schools.
+
+In the Legislature of 1845, an ineffectual effort was made to establish
+a common-school system for the country. In 1846, Mr. T. Vault, from the
+committee on education, made a report recommending a memorial to
+Congress on the subject of education. This is all that was done that
+year. In 1847-8, the Cayuse war, the liquor question, and the gold mines
+excitement, seem to have absorbed the whole attention of the
+Legislature; hence the subject of education was left to the direction
+and influence of the religious sects and individual effort, until the
+Territorial organization in 1849, in which we find a very imperfect
+school law; and the one at the present day, 1870, is no honor to our
+State. This, however, is wholly due to the influence of the various
+sects, each seeking to build up its own peculiar sectarian schools, thus
+dividing the whole educational interests of the country to promote
+sectarian education.
+
+It is to be hoped that our next Legislature will adopt a system that
+will at once lay aside all sects, and place the education of our youth
+upon a national, instead of a sectarian basis, honorable alike to the
+State and nation. With all due credit and honor to all previous
+missionary and sectarian efforts, we say, give us a national standard of
+education that shall qualify our youth to become the honored sovereigns
+of a free, intelligent, industrious, virtuous, and forever united
+nation.
+
+We have occupied much more space than we would, in giving quotations,
+knowing, as we do, the ignorance there is in relation to our early
+history, and the efforts of the British Hudson's Bay Company and Roman
+Church to secure the exclusive control of Oregon. We will here give an
+article which we find in the _Missionary Herald_. The writer says:--
+
+    "While it is apparent from the letters of Dr. Whitman at the
+    missionary house, that, in visiting the Eastern States in 1842-3, he
+    had certain missionary objects in view, it is no less clear that he
+    would not have come at that time, and probably he would not have
+    come at all [which we know to be the case], had it not been for his
+    desire to save the disputed territory to the United States. It was
+    not simply an American question, however,--it was at the same time a
+    Protestant question. He was fully alive to the efforts which the
+    Roman Catholics were making to gain the mastery on the Pacific
+    coast, and _he was firmly persuaded that they were working in the
+    interest of the Hudson's Bay Company_, with a view to this very end.
+    The danger from this quarter had made a profound impression upon his
+    mind. Under date of April 1, 1847, he said: 'In the autumn of
+    1842-3, I pointed out to our mission the arrangements of the Papists
+    to settle in our vicinity, and that it only required that those
+    arrangements should be completed to close our operations.'"
+
+To the statement of Dr. Whitman as here quoted from his letter to the
+Board, we can bear positive testimony. He did point out to his
+associates all the dangers to which they were exposed.
+
+    "Dr. Whitman evidently regarded his visit to Washington, and his
+    success in conducting the immigrants of 1843 [eight hundred and
+    seventy-five souls] across the Rocky and Blue mountains, as settling
+    the destiny of Oregon. In the letter just referred to, he said, 'It
+    may be easily seen what would have become of American interests in
+    this country, had the immigration of 1843 been as disastrous as were
+    the immigrations of 1845 and 1846.' [In both those years the route
+    which he had selected was abandoned for another.] In confirmation of
+    this opinion, we find a writer in the _Colonial Magazine_ using this
+    language:--
+
+    "'By a strange and unpardonable oversight of the local officers,
+    missionaries from the United States _were allowed_ to take religious
+    charge of the population; and these artful men lost no time in
+    introducing such a number of their countrymen as reduced the
+    influence of the British settlers to complete insignificance.'"
+
+The above quotation from the _Colonial Magazine_ is but a repetition of
+evidence already given from other English testimony, relative to their
+determination to hold the country. We also have the expectation of
+Chief-Factor A. McDonald, as expressed in 1842 to Rev. C. Eells: "He
+also gave it as his opinion that if England should obtain the desired
+portion of Oregon, it would be made over to the Hudson's Bay Company."
+He thought that fifty years from that time, the Hudson's Bay Company's
+descendants would be the only occupants of the country. Dr. Whitman, in
+expressing an opinion upon the same subject, thought that fifty years
+from that time they would not be found.
+
+In the closing remarks of the article from which we have quoted the
+above, there is a strange mixture of truth and ignorance. The writer
+says: "It is not too much to say, perhaps, that Dr. and Mrs. Whitman
+lost their lives in consequence of the success of the endeavors already
+described. The immigrants of 1847 carried diseases into the Indian
+country, which proved very fatal to the aborigines. Some became
+suspicious of him; some were exasperated; and a few affirmed that he was
+poisoning them with his medicines, to get them out of the way. It is
+believed by many, moreover, that the Roman Catholics were in a measure
+responsible as directly or indirectly, for the catastrophe of Wailatpu.
+But it is inexpedient to discuss this question at the present time."
+
+It is evident from this last quotation, that Sir James Douglas's letter
+for the information of the Board of Missions produced its desired
+effect; and it is only from the recent statements respecting that
+transaction, that the Board have allowed the subject to come before
+them; they have asked and received from the most cautious missionary
+they have ever sent to the country, a statement of the facts in the
+case. He has complied with their request, and the result is a repetition
+of the _slander_ of the murdered dead. We are unwilling to believe that
+the Rev. Mr. Treat, D.D., in this closing paragraph, intended to give
+the impression that he believed the statement; yet we can not understand
+his object in reporting the statement made to blast the character of a
+good man, and to shield his murderers from the punishment due to their
+crime; leaving the impression upon the mind, that it was the _Indian
+superstitions_ alone that were the cause of the massacre. Those who have
+read the foregoing pages will not be deceived as to those causes. Mr.
+Treat should have given us the benefit of his authority for that
+statement, as we are assured by the Indians themselves that there is not
+one of them that ever believed those reports till they were affirmed by
+the priests, and even then they doubted. We have been several times
+among the Indians of that tribe; and were present at the first
+consultation held with them by Indian Agent R. R. Thompson in 1853, and
+took particular pains to inquire as to their belief in that matter. I
+could not find one, even among the Roman Catholic Indians, that would
+say he believed that Dr. Whitman did as he is represented by the
+priests and the company to have done. The Indians invariably told me
+that the priests, Finlay, Stanfield, Joe Lewis, or Mr. McBean said so,
+but they believed Dr. Whitman was their friend, and their hearts had
+wept and cried because they had consented to his being killed.
+
+It was to develop the facts and influences operating in our early
+history that we commenced to write. It does not matter to us whence a
+statement comes or by whom it is made, if it does not correspond with
+the facts in the case, we intend to give what we conceive and firmly
+believe to be the truth; letting such as are ignorant of the facts, or
+have been deceived by commercial, religious, or sectarian statements,
+judge as to the correctness or truth of our conclusions.
+
+A great crime has been committed in our land;--a poor, ignorant, and
+harmless and comparatively innocent people, have been charged with
+committing it through "_superstitious prejudices_," which, if the very
+men who make the charge are to be believed, fixes the crimes upon their
+own heads, for they tell us that they were unharmed amid the scenes of
+blood and murder, while gathering up the remains of the first missionary
+victims and consigning them to a common grave. Their messengers pass and
+repass all through the country, and mingle freely, and "_rejoice_" that
+the ignorant murderers will come to them for advice, which is cheerfully
+given, and a pledge made to assist them to avoid its consequences; while
+the commercial party in this great crime is handing over to the
+murderers munitions for defense, and to continue the slaughter of
+American settlers, the Jesuitical party is confirming the doubtful mind
+of the Indians in the justness of the crime they have committed. Such
+were the parties seeking to control our destiny from 1834 to 1849, and
+such as we have quoted are the sentiments of men high in giving
+direction to truth and righteousness in a great nation in 1866-7.
+
+We feel, and admit, that our task has been most difficult and
+arduous,--to seek out and bring to light the truth in relation to events
+so momentous, and consequences so important to the interests of this
+western part of our continent. It would be far more gratifying to us to
+dwell upon the pleasing and happy influences and incidents that float
+upon the surface of society; but these are commonplace and the natural
+growth of circumstances, such as the most careless could scarcely fail
+to observe.
+
+Oregon was ours by right of discovery, exploration, and cession; as well
+as settlement by Astor in 1811-12. A foreign monopoly, having knowledge
+of the American Fur Company's weakness and danger, paid a nominal price
+for its goods and possessions, and has held and robbed the country, as
+by its own statements, of twenty million pounds sterling, in profits. As
+we have before stated, that company dared not use the same instruments
+at first, to drive out or destroy the missionaries, that it had used
+against fur traders and hunters. The Indians regarded the American
+missionaries as teachers sent from God, and received them, and protected
+them, till forced by the teachings and influence of their masters to
+attempt to cut off the American settlement.
+
+The English people, as a whole, charge the American missionaries, _and
+justly_, with being the means of their losing Oregon. They also charge
+the Hudson's Bay Company, _wrongfully_, as favoring the American
+settlement of the country. Dr. John McLaughlin, all honor to his name
+and memory, told his superiors in London the truth, when he said to
+them, "Gentlemen, as a man of common humanity, I could not do otherwise
+than to give those naked and starving people to wear and to eat of our
+stores. They were not our enemies. I did what I thought was right, and
+must leave consequences to God and the government, and if you insist
+upon my compliance with your rules in this particular, _I will serve you
+no longer_."
+
+Contrast this noble sentiment of Dr. McLaughlin, though a Canadian-born
+subject and supporter of the Roman Catholic faith in the country, with
+that of his successor, Sir James Douglas, who refused supplies to punish
+the murderers and protect the American settlements, he having been an
+officer under the provisional government, and taken an oath to protect
+and defend it.
+
+Did it conflict with his duties as a British subject? The reason
+assigned by him for his refusal was, "_the stringent rules laid down for
+his government by the home company_," which the noble old Canadian said
+he would resign his position sooner than obey.
+
+It is not difficult to see that Oregon, during the existence of the
+provisional government, was a country possessing peculiarly interesting
+relations to the two nations who were claiming its allegiance and
+sovereignty. Had the Hudson's Bay Company been true to its own country,
+and encouraged the settlement of loyal British subjects in it, there is
+no question but, with the facilities and capital at its command, it
+could have secured the country before an American settlement could have
+acquired any strength in it. The same was the case with California. One
+or two ships a year from 1835 to 1840, or even 1846, leaving out the
+Roman and Jesuit missionaries, could have brought substantial English
+families with their English chaplains, and formed their colonies and
+absorbed the American missionary settlements in it, and no one would
+have questioned their right, or attempted to defeat them; but the
+L7,000 or more of clear profits in the fur trade, and native
+associations, were too strong. The country becomes valuable in its
+estimation, as others have improved and developed its wealth. The
+natives with the furs of the country were the only source of wealth to
+it, and especially to the home company in London. If the least possible
+credit is due to it from any source, it is for its stupidity and
+ignorance as to the real value of the country, of which no one can give
+a true history without developing the avaricious character and degrading
+influences and proceedings of that company; for it had, as we remarked
+at the commencement of our history, and as every one knows, the absolute
+control of it up to the organization of the provisional government in
+1843. Those influences were active and in full operation up to 1842,
+when it was discovered, by Dr. Whitman and a few others, that the whole
+country was about to pass into the hands of the English, as was asserted
+by the over-zealous priest at Wallawalla: "_The country is ours! America
+is too late! They may now whistle._" An American heard, and to hear with
+him was to act. "_If the Board dismisses me, I will do what I can to
+save Oregon to my country_," was his remark to us, as he gave his hand
+and mounted his horse, to see what could be done at Washington. The
+result of that trip was the delay of the boundary question and an
+immigration and settlement, that no Hudson's Bay and Jesuit
+exterminating combinations have been able to overcome or drive from the
+country.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXV.
+
+     Description of the face of the country.--Agricultural and mining
+     productions.--Timber.--The Wallamet.--Columbia.--Dalles.--Upper
+     Columbia.--Mountains.--Rivers.--Mineral wealth.--Climate.--The
+     Northern Pacific Railroad.--Conclusion.
+
+
+Thus far I have confined myself to the history of the Hudson's Bay
+Company, the early settlement of the country, its public men, the
+provisional government, adverse influence, and the American and Jesuit
+missions. We will now proceed to describe its geographical and physical
+position and value.
+
+Previous to the treaty of 1846, all that portion of country lying south
+of the Russian possessions, west of the Rocky Mountains, and north of
+California, was called Oregon. By that treaty the 49th parallel was
+constituted the boundary line between the United States and the British
+possessions.
+
+In the act of Congress passed August 14, 1848, the boundaries were thus
+defined: "All that part of the territory of the United States which lies
+west of the summit of the Rocky Mountains, north of the 42d degree of
+north latitude, known as the Territory of Oregon, shall be organized
+into, and constitute a temporary government, by the name of The
+Territory of Oregon." Unfortunately, though our national Congress
+contained many noble, intelligent, and talented men, none of them knew
+any thing about the country they were defining as Oregon Territory.
+
+Thomas H. Benton, about this time, made his famous Oregon speech. In it
+he declared that all north of the 49th parallel of latitude was only fit
+for the poorest and most meager animal existence; that it was the
+"derelict of all nations," not fit for the subsistence of civilized man.
+
+This impression of Mr. Benton was received from high British--and no
+doubt he thought the most correct and reliable--authority. In fact, in
+the mind of this, and many other of our statesmen, the entire territory
+was of but little value. It is scarcely necessary to say whence this
+impression arose, and for what purpose it was so persistently kept
+before the minds of our most eminent statesmen. The immense fur trade of
+the country, carried on at a nominal expense, was too profitable to
+allow the truth to be told, or an experiment to be made, to show the
+value of the soil, or the amount or variety of its productions. The
+soil, like the furs and the natives, must be misrepresented, neglected,
+and slandered, that it may yield its silent income to avarice and
+idleness.
+
+The American missionary arrives in the country, and is assured by the
+Hudson's Bay Company that but a very small portion of the country is
+susceptible of cultivation; that no extensive settlements can ever be
+formed in it. These statements are made by men who have spent their
+lives in the country, and say they have tested the qualities of the soil
+faithfully, and found it to be unproductive. The missionaries partially
+believe these statements, and communicate to their friends in the east
+their doubts as to the extent and richness of the arable land in the
+country. In the mean time they must provide for their own subsistence.
+The Missionary Boards that sent them out are not able to pay the prices
+demanded for a continual supply of such food as can be raised in the
+country. This they knew and were prepared for it, and at once commenced
+to experiment upon the soil for themselves. Their first effort
+astonishes and delights them. Instead of a hard, barren, unproductive
+soil, as they had been told, it proves to be a light rich clay loam all
+through the Wallamet Valley, and in the interior, a dark, mellow,
+inexhaustible alkali soil, of the richest kind, and, when properly
+cultivated, very productive.
+
+The missionary experiments are continued and extended. They soon begin
+to send glowing accounts to their friends of the richness of the valleys
+of Oregon--eight hundred bushels of potatoes, or from thirty to sixty
+bushels of wheat, to the acre. The American trappers and hunters gather
+into the Wallamet Valley, around the Methodist Mission. The
+Canadian-French, British subjects, who have become worn out and
+unprofitable to the company, are permitted to locate in the same valley,
+but, with the clumsy and imperfect farming implements furnished them,
+and their ignorance of farming, they were not able to accomplish much,
+and are still referred to, as proof of the worthlessness of the country.
+
+The American settler comes in, and proves the truth of the missionaries'
+large farming stories, and finds that he can do, with two yoke of oxen,
+what it required six to do in the Mississippi Valley--his labor
+producing double pay. He is more than satisfied--he is delighted--with
+the soil, the climate, and country, and reports his success to his
+friends.
+
+By this time a few peaches and apples have been produced outside the
+inclosures and garden of Fort Vancouver, which convinces the American
+settler that fruit can be produced in Oregon; and soon we find every
+known variety to be profitably cultivated.
+
+_Timber._--The fir, spruce, and hemlock are superabundant, all along the
+coast range, from California to Puget Sound. The fir, pine, oak, ash,
+and maple are abundant in the valleys of the Wallamet and Cowlitz, and
+on the western slope of the Cascade range of mountains; there is also an
+abundance of pine, fir, oak, and maple on the eastern slope.
+
+The Wallamet Valley is from forty to sixty miles wide, and one hundred
+and eighty long. It has less timber land than fine level prairie;
+through which winds with its tributaries the beautiful Wallamet, skirted
+all along its banks and level bottoms with cotton-wood, ash, alder, oak,
+fir, yellow pine, yew, and soft maple, with a small amount of cedar.
+This river has its source in the Umpqua Mountains; and its tributaries
+in the Coast and Cascade ranges,--the main river running north, or west
+of north, till it joins the majestic Columbia. Its meandering streams,
+and valleys composed mainly of prairie interspersed with groves of oak,
+pine, fir, and cotton-wood, make up a scenery which for beauty and
+loveliness can not be surpassed. The Cascade range on the east is
+dotted, at intervals of from a hundred to a hundred and fifty miles
+apart, with towering, snow-capped mountains from 15,000 to 18,600 feet
+high, and is cut at right angles, midway between the California
+Mountains on the south, and Mount Baker on the north, by the great river
+of Oregon, the noble Columbia, which forces its resistless current over
+its rocky bed, till it finds its way to the ocean.
+
+Ascending this river from the ocean, for sixty miles, to the mouth of
+the Cowlitz, we find it lined on either bank with lofty and dense
+forests of spruce, hemlock, cedar, and fir, with scarcely a sign of
+prairie; from, this up, the timber is interspersed with prairie, till we
+enter the Cascade Mountains, one hundred and twenty-five miles from the
+ocean, and ten below the Cascade portage, which is five miles long,--now
+made by railroad; thence to the Dalles is thirty-eight miles, making
+fifty miles of the roughest and grandest river and mountain scenery on
+our continent.
+
+Old ocean in its mightiest heavings is but a placid lake, when compared
+with this fifty-five miles of mountain roughness, grandeur, and
+sublimity, from various points of which may be seen Mounts Baker,
+Rainier, St. Helens, Adams, Hood, and Jefferson, with others of less
+note, all raising their lofty heads above the regions of perpetual snow.
+
+Prominent among them stands Mount Hood, about thirty miles south of the
+Columbia, towering to the height of 18,600 feet, with his everlasting
+white cap on, and overlooking the lovely valleys of the Wallamet to the
+south and west; the Columbia and Cowlitz to the west and north; and the
+great upper basin of the Columbia to the northeast, east, and southeast.
+From the Dalles we ascend this mighty river fourteen miles by rail,
+where the water has worn its crooked course amid solid basaltic rocks
+to unknown depths, not exceeding a hundred and fifty feet in width,
+causing the river, in discharging its annual floods, to rise at this
+point over eighty feet in perpendicular height.
+
+At the end of the railroad the steamboat receives the traveler, when, as
+he ascends the river, the land on either side diminishes in height, till
+he reaches Castle Rock; seventy-one miles above the Dalles. This is a
+lone pile of basaltic rocks having the appearance of an old castle in
+the midst of a great plain to the east, south, and west of it.
+
+A large portion of this plain, lying along the river, is of course
+gravel and sand, dry, and comparatively barren; yet producing the
+artemisia, sage, and a luxurious growth of wild mustard in the early
+spring; with but little grass, and abundance of the low sunflower.
+
+The lands back from the river are high rolling prairie, covered with
+rich bunch grass, having a light soil composed of pulverized basaltic
+sandstone.
+
+This soil, to the eye of the careless observer, though it is thickly set
+with the bunch grass, generally appears barren and worthless; yet, with
+irrigation, or with winter grains, or grasses adapted to the soil, it
+can not be exhausted.
+
+Twenty-five miles above Castle Rock stands the thriving little town of
+Umatilla, at the mouth of the river of the same name, and nine miles
+above is Windmill Rock. In ascending the river fifteen miles from this
+place, the land on either side rises to some fifteen hundred feet above
+the level of the river which occupies the entire bottom from rocks to
+rocks on either side; when the land suddenly drops from this high plain
+which extends from the Blue Mountains on the east to the Cascade range
+on the west, forming, as it were, a great inland dam across the Columbia
+River, fifteen hundred feet high at the place where the river has broken
+through the dam. As you pass out of this gap, in looking to the north
+and east, the eye rests upon another vast, high, rolling plain, in the
+southeastern part of which lies the beautiful valley of the Wallawalla.
+At the upper or eastern end was situated the Whitman or Cayuse Mission.
+Some six miles above is the flourishing town of Wallawalla. The most of
+this vast, high, rolling plain, and especially the valleys, have more or
+less of alkali soil; the high plains are similar to those we have just
+passed,--destitute of all kinds of timber, except at the foot of the
+mountains, and small patches of willow and cotton-wood, in some little
+nook or corner, near some spring or stream.
+
+Imagine Wallawalla a little east of the center of a great plain one
+hundred miles wide, east and west, one hundred and eighty long, north
+and south, situated just inside of this great mountain dam we have
+described; with the majestic Cascade range of mountains on the west, the
+Blue Mountains on the east, and this vast open plain covered with bunch
+grass, and no tree in sight, except upon the mountains; you can then
+form some idea of the middle Columbia plains. Ascending to the north one
+hundred miles, over the same high rolling plains, you begin to find the
+yellow pine and larch; not in dense forests, but scattering trees, the
+ground beneath being covered with a species of coarse, wild grass. These
+woods form a delightful change to the traveler after riding for days
+beneath the scorching rays of a summer sun. As you near the forty-ninth
+parallel, the timber increases in size, quantity, and quality. The soil
+is light, and, when the frosts of winter give place to the sleet and
+rain of early spring, forms a soft, deep mud, till the ground becomes
+settled, which is generally about the first of May; then all this vast
+country is in full bloom, with its myriads of beautiful wild flowers.
+
+The northern portion of Oregon, now Washington Territory, is beautifully
+interspersed with timber and prairie, in good proportions, and has a
+rich clay soil.
+
+The whole country abounds in trap-rock and granite, singularly mingled
+with basalt. Near the mouth of Spokan River is found a splendid variety
+of marble; some sections of it are of a pure white, while others are
+beautifully clouded with blue, brown, and green. The face of the country
+is not so uneven as that further south.
+
+Some sixty miles south of the forty-ninth parallel, we come to the mouth
+of the Okanagon River, which is the outlet of a chain of lakes in
+British Columbia, from which it takes its name; it has an extensive and
+rich valley for settlement.
+
+At Colville, in the vicinity of the Kettle Falls, on the Columbia, are a
+United States military post, the Hudson's Bay Company's post, and a
+considerable settlement. Some fifteen miles from the mouth of the
+Spokan, and sixty from Kettle Falls, was located the Cimakain--or Rev.
+Messrs. Walker and Eells'--Mission. About sixty miles in a southeasterly
+direction is the Coeur d'Alene Italian Jesuit Mission.
+
+Turning to the north, east, and southeast, we enter the gold and silver
+mountains of the Pacific Slope; this range is cut through by the Snake
+River, or south branch of the Columbia. Millions of dollars' worth of
+treasure is taken out of the mines within these desolate and
+barren-looking regions, and untold millions still await the miner's
+toil. The reader will remember that we are now traveling east. This
+range is, on the north of Snake River, called Salmon River Mountains,
+and on the south, the Blue Mountains; thence, on to the southern
+portions of Oregon, it joins the Sierra Nevada and Cascade ranges, bends
+to the west, and, near the forty-second parallel, runs into those vast
+promontories that jut into the Pacific Ocean.
+
+Passing through this range of Salmon River and Blue Mountains, which are
+not as high as the Cascade range, we descend into the great basin of the
+Rocky Mountains, which is intersected by high, broken ranges running
+east and west for about three hundred miles, to what is usually called
+the top of the Rocky Mountains, and the eastern boundary of this vast
+basin. The principal rivers which flow into and through this immense
+plain, are the Boise, Snake, Portneuf, Owyhee, and their tributaries. On
+the north is Clarke's or Flathead River, which runs northwest into the
+Columbia, near the northern boundary of the United States.
+
+In all the northern portion of this great inland mountain plain there is
+an extensive placer and quartz mining country, besides numerous rich
+farming valleys, with an abundance of timber for all practical uses;
+most of the rough, rocky ranges of mountains being covered about
+half-way up their sides with timber, till you reach the open prairies
+along the main valley.
+
+To the south, and along Snake River, are the high barren sage plains,
+extending from the Rocky Mountains on the east to the Blue Mountains on
+the west.
+
+There are large tracts of arable land in the region just described,
+though to the weary traveler coming from the green plains of Kansas or
+the valley of the Wallamet, every thing looks forbidding and desolate,
+especially during the dry season. But remove the sage from any of these
+dry, barren places, and the rich bunch-grass takes its place. As well
+might the farmer expect his wheat to grow in a hemlock wood or cedar
+swamp, as for any thing but sage to grow on these plains till that is
+destroyed. Hence, from the experiments we have made on the soils of
+which we have been speaking, we are confident that the greater portion
+of the country now and for years past pronounced barren and useless,
+will be found, with intelligent and proper cultivation, to rank among as
+good lands as any we have, and probably more desirable. As to timber,
+that must be cultivated till it becomes accustomed to the soil.
+Cotton-wood is found in small quantities all over this plain, in the
+vicinity of streams and springs. The northeastern part of this basin is
+Montana; the southwestern is Idaho. The mineral wealth of this country,
+especially that of north Idaho and Montana, is inexhaustible. Gold,
+silver, copper, iron, lead, cinnabar, and tin, are found in abundance in
+these Territories, and in eastern and middle Oregon.
+
+    "_Owyhee Bullion._--John A. Post, internal revenue collector,
+    furnishes the following _resume_ of the bullion product from January
+    1 to November 1, 1866, as assayed by different parties. The figures
+    are greenback valuation:--
+
+    January      $36,632 81
+    February      62,874 00
+    March         15,640 85
+    April         11,959 25
+    May           34,570 34
+    June          46,224 44
+    July          46,456 26
+    August       177,704 15
+    September    293,921 53
+    October      371,173 13
+              -------------
+    Total     $1,073,256 78
+
+    "During the early part of the year, Mr. Post says, there was a great
+    amount of treasure sent out in various shapes, of which he could get
+    no account. To the foregoing must still be added the many tons of
+    ruby, silver, polybasite, etc., shipped just as it came from the
+    Poorman mine,--enough, at a rough estimate, to increase the total to
+    fifteen hundred thousand, at least. It is safe to say that the
+    product of the present year will be two millions, and that of next
+    year go beyond five millions."[22]
+
+    [Footnote 22] From the _Oregonian_.
+
+    "_Treasure._--There has been shipped from this city during the past
+    year, the sum of $8,070,600 in treasure. The amount passing through
+    private hands may be safely estimated at $3,000,000."[23]
+
+    [Footnote 23] From the _Portland Herald_.
+
+We take the following from an official report to the Secretary of the
+Treasury, a copy of which has been sent to Congress:--
+
+    "From the best information available, the following is a near
+    approximation to our total gold and silver product for the year
+    ending January 7, 1867:--
+
+    California                          $25,000,000
+    Nevada                               20,000,000
+    Montana                              12,000,000
+    Idaho                                 6,500,000
+    Washington                            1,000,000
+    Oregon                                2,000,000
+    Colorado                              2,500,000
+    New Mexico                              500,000
+    Arizona                                 500,000
+    Add for bullion derived from unknown sources within the States
+      and Territories, unaccounted for by assessors and express
+      companies, etc.                     5,000,000
+                                        -----------
+    Total product of the United States  $75,000,000
+
+    "The bullion product of Washington is estimated by the
+    surveyor-general at $1,500,000. That of Oregon is estimated at
+    $2,500,000. Intelligent residents of Idaho and Montana represent
+    that the figures given in the above estimate, so far as these
+    Territories are concerned, are entirely too low, and might be
+    doubled without exceeding the truth. The product of Idaho alone, for
+    this year, is said to be $15,000,000 to $18,000,000. That of Montana
+    is estimated by the surveyor-general at $20,000,000. Similar
+    exceptions are taken to the estimates of Colorado, New Mexico, and
+    Arizona."
+
+_The climate_ varies in the three sections of country we have described,
+exactly in the ratio of soil and timber. On the coast, contiguous to the
+ocean, we have more rain than we require. Like our superabundance of the
+tallest and best of fir-timber, there is so much of it that we would be
+glad if we could divide with the second and third places we have
+described. We have enough rain and timber to supply all the country; and
+perhaps, when we can cut down our tall trees, that filter the rain out
+of the clouds, they may get more and we less. Be that as it may, our
+winters are mild and rainy, our summers cool and pleasant, with
+sufficient rain and ocean mist to supply the vegetable creation with
+abundant moisture.
+
+In middle Oregon the winters are mild and frosty, with a small amount of
+snow--seldom severe; farmers should feed stock a month or six weeks;
+summers warm, and sometimes sultry in July and August; rains in the
+spring and late in the fall, scarcely enough for the farmers' use.
+
+In the eastern plain or great mountain basin, the winters are cold and
+dry, snow and frost severe. Snow seldom falls to exceed two feet in
+depth,--average winters, eighteen inches,--but it falls deep upon the
+mountains and remains till it is melted by the warm winds and sun of
+early summer, causing the summer floods. The principal rise in the
+rivers is during the mouths of June and July. Less rain, spring and
+fall, than in middle Oregon; summers dry and hot. In the northern part,
+the country is better supplied with rain. This may arise from the ranges
+of the mountain currents of air and the winds from the South Pacific
+Ocean along the inland plains, and the cool atmosphere around our
+snow-clad mountains. We will leave further speculation on this point to
+those who have had more experience in such matters than ourselves.
+
+Taking the country as a whole, with our inexhaustible gold, silver, and
+other minerals; our extensive farming valleys; our vast forests of
+timber upon the borders of an ocean comparatively destitute of this
+essential element of civilization; there is no plausible reason why this
+western portion of the United States may not in a few years become the
+abode of industrious and thriving millions.
+
+
+_The Northern Pacific Railroad._
+
+The following article on the Northern Pacific Railroad is from the pen
+of Mr. Philip Ritz:--
+
+    "Having spent most of the last year in traveling through Washington,
+    Idaho, and Montana Territories, and having crossed the continent in
+    midwinter, partly on both of the great railroad routes, and at the
+    earnest request of Ex-Governor Smith, of Massachusetts, who is
+    president of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, and of some
+    members of Congress, I compiled, while in Washington, the following
+    statistics, on the practicability of the Northern route:--
+
+    "On the first section of the country from Puget Sound, there are two
+    routes, both practicable; one _via_ the Columbia River, to the mouth
+    of Snake River; the other _via_ Snoqualmie Pass and Yakima River, to
+    the same point. On either route there will not be much heavy
+    grading. There is on this section an abundance of the finest timber,
+    excepting on that part of the Columbia from the Dalles to Snake
+    River, and a short distance of the route from Yakima to the mouth of
+    Snake River.
+
+    "The second section, lying between the Columbia River and the Bitter
+    Root Mountains, a distance of about two hundred and twenty miles, is
+    over a rolling prairie country, with splendid grazing, and fine
+    timber on the Spokan River, a distance of about one hundred miles.
+
+    "On the third section, which includes the mountainous part, a
+    distance of two hundred and fifty miles, and lying between the 116th
+    and 112th degrees of longitude, the grading will, in places, be
+    heavy, and will require three or four short tunnels. This will
+    include the entire Rocky Mountain district, the work on which will
+    be heavy, but not more difficult than on the Baltimore and Ohio
+    road, between the Ohio River and Harper's Ferry. On this entire
+    section there is an abundance of the finest timber. On this section
+    there is considerable good wheat land, as has been proven by the
+    fine crops raised in Hell Gate Valley last season.
+
+    "This extends from the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains to Lake
+    Superior, a distance of about one thousand and ten miles. The route
+    here passes over a rolling prairie, susceptible of settlement the
+    entire distance.
+
+    "It will be seen that the entire distance on this route, between the
+    head of Lake Superior and Puget Sound, is about 1,810 miles, and
+    that there is scarcely a mile of the entire country but will
+    eventually be settled. It is much shorter than any other route
+    across the continent, connecting navigable waters. The mountains are
+    much lower and the country much more fertile. It is really the only
+    easy pass across the American continent, for it is the only part of
+    the continent where two large rivers rise immediately together and
+    flow in opposite directions--the Columbia cutting its way entirely
+    through the mountains on a water level to the Pacific; and the
+    Missouri connecting with the great plains bordering on the lakes.
+    The Rocky Mountains at this point are really so low, that the
+    miners, last summer, actually took large streams in ditches from the
+    waters of the Missouri, over the divide to the Pacific side for
+    mining purposes. In consequence of the low passes through to the
+    Pacific, the climate is warmer than it is in the mountains in the
+    latitude of Salt Lake City, 400 miles due south. I crossed the
+    summit of the Rocky Mountains near Deer Lodge Valley, in Montana, on
+    the 17th of December. There was no snow; the roads dry and dusty,
+    and the weather mild and pleasant, and none of the streams frozen
+    over. When I reached Salt Lake City, the snow on the Wasatch and
+    Rocky Mountain ranges was twenty-six inches deep, and the night we
+    crossed the Wasatch range, the thermometer stood at ten degrees
+    below zero, and Green River and all those streams in the mountains
+    had been frozen over six weeks, so that the stage rolled over on the
+    ice. Such was the difference in the climate of the two routes. The
+    differences in the real wealth and resources of the two routes is
+    perhaps even greater than that of climate. The central route, after
+    it leaves the mining country of Nevada, around Virginia City, passes
+    up the Humboldt country toward Salt Lake, for a distance of 500 or
+    600 miles, over the most desolate and barren country on the American
+    continent. The country has neither mines, timber, nor any other
+    redeemable quality about it. Salt Lake Valley is a small and rather
+    fertile valley; the only fertile spot for hundreds of miles. From
+    Salt Lake City to Denver, a distance of six hundred miles, the route
+    lies over an alkali and sage plain. On the other hand, there is not
+    one mile on the northern route that does not either furnish timber,
+    grazing, agricultural lands, or minerals, and, in some instances,
+    all together. Montana is just in its infancy; its mines scarcely
+    prospected; and yet, last season, according to the report of the
+    Treasury Department, Montana stood second on the list in the amount
+    of gold produced; California producing $25,000,000; Montana,
+    $18,000,000; Idaho and Colorado, $17,000,000 each; and Nevada,
+    $16,000,000.
+
+    "The mountains of Montana are a perfect net-work of quartz ledges,
+    immensely rich in gold and silver. Five years from this time, I
+    believe there will be as much as $40,000,000 of gold and silver
+    taken from the mines of Montana per year; more than one-fourth
+    enough to build and equip the Northern Pacific Road, ready for use.
+    There are also immense mines of coal, iron, copper, and lead, in the
+    country. The northern route crosses but one range of mountains, and
+    that at a point which, so far as the experience of white men have
+    gone, is known to be as passable in winter as the Michigan Central
+    Railroad. In deciding the question of relative distance, we must
+    consider the entire distance between Liverpool and Canton. Say the
+    mean latitude of the North Pacific route is 46 degrees, and of the
+    Central 37-1/4, and a difference of nine degrees exists. Now a
+    degree of longitude (longitude contracting as we approach the poles)
+    is about six miles shorter on the former than the latter. There are
+    240 degrees of longitude between Liverpool and Canton; this makes
+    the navigator's distance, on the line of the North Pacific, 1,440
+    miles less than the Central. This longitudinal difference is quite
+    an item. This difference in distance is not the only item in favor
+    of the northern route. It is an established fact that every sailing
+    vessel, bound directly from San Francisco to Hong Kong, comes up to,
+    and even beyond, the latitude of Puget Sound, before striking
+    directly west, in order to take advantage of the wind currents of
+    the Pacific Ocean. Time, these days, being an important
+    consideration in commercial transactions, the argument would still
+    be in favor of the North Pacific route, admitting rates of
+    transportation to be equal on both lines. But these rates would not
+    be the same, even if the distance of the two were equal, for the
+    reason that the country would be self-supporting on nearly every
+    mile of the Northern route, while on the Central, for hundreds of
+    miles between Salt Lake and Nevada, not a tie for the track, nor a
+    stick, nor a pound of coal for fuel can be had. All these things
+    must be brought from abroad.
+
+    "Now, owing to adventitious circumstances,--the discovery of the
+    precious metals in California, Nevada, and Colorado, and the
+    settlement of Mormons in Utah,--the bulk of local business seems to
+    be on the side of the Central route. But Montana will soon outstrip
+    California in the yield of gold; besides, the route passes through a
+    country susceptible of settlement all the way from Lake Superior to
+    Puget Sound, and there is no doubt but that five years hence there
+    will be as much local business through Minnesota, Dakota, Montana,
+    Idaho, Washington, and Oregon, as through Nebraska, Colorado, Utah,
+    Nevada, and California. Accident gives the Central route the present
+    pre-eminence; nature insures the Northern the final victory.
+
+    "It is not generally known, the large amount of business that was
+    done in Montana last season. From May, 1866, to October 1, 1866, C.
+    C. Huntley carried, on his line of stages between Fort Benton and
+    Helena, 2,500 passengers, and during the same period 9,500 tons of
+    freight passed from Benton to Helena; 4,375 freight-wagons passed
+    over the same route; 45 steamboats, with passengers and freight,
+    arrived at Fort Benton from St. Louis and other points in the east,
+    and this, be it remembered, is the first season that this trade has
+    been carried on to any extent, and also, that this is but one point
+    in the Territory. It is really the commencement of a great trade,
+    that will require a vast capital, and employ the energy and industry
+    of a large number of persons.
+
+    "There are no less than four lofty ranges of mountains to cross on
+    the Central route, the Rocky Mountains, at Bridger's Pass, being the
+    most passable crossing; the Wasatch, the Humboldt, and the Sierra
+    Nevada are barely passable in summer. By the way of Pen d'Oreille
+    Lake, on the Northern route, freight can be taken from the Columbia
+    to the Missouri nearly all winter. Another advantage possessed by
+    the Northern route is, that at present the distance is less than 600
+    miles between the head of steamboat navigation on the Missouri and
+    Snake rivers, and when the boats are completed which are now
+    building on the Pen d'Oreille Lake and Clarke's fork of the
+    Columbia, the land travel will be reduced to about 390 miles.
+
+    "Did time and space permit, I might give further proof of the
+    superiority of the Northern route. In my comparative reasoning, I
+    have made these distinctions with no invidious feeling. The sooner
+    San Francisco is connected by rail with New York, the better for
+    Washington and Montana, in common with all the mountain regions. It
+    is gratifying to see our friends to the southward prosecuting their
+    enterprise with so much vigor. But I am perfectly satisfied in my
+    own mind that the time will come when the trafficking wealth of
+    Europe and Asia will be poured across the mountains and valleys of
+    Washington and Montana Territories.
+
+    "Our prospects, it is true, look rather dull here at present, the
+    whole energy of the Pacific coast being concentrated in building the
+    Central road, and for a short time we may expect dull times. The
+    attention of capitalists can not be diverted from this enterprise
+    much longer, and when once fully examined, there will be millions of
+    capital ready to invest in it.
+
+    "Let us open up the Mullan road and the lake route, and all other
+    routes to the Missouri River, and invite travelers and emigrants to
+    come this way and see the advantages of this northern country, and
+    then we will have no trouble in getting money to build a railroad."
+
+
+CONCLUSION.
+
+As the reader will have discovered, we commenced our history with Oregon
+as it was in 1792. With the single exception of the feeble effort made
+by Mr. Astor in 1810-11, and Captain Wyeth in 1834-5, no one ever
+attempted any thing like an organized opposition to the British fur
+companies on the Pacific coast.
+
+In regard to Captain Wyeth, we admit with Mr. Newell that he was driven
+from the country "not by fair and open competition in the trade," and
+that he is entitled to much credit for his discernment and forethought
+in leaving when he did, for if he had not accepted the terms offered to
+him by Dr. McLaughlin, that gentleman said to us that the company would
+have insisted on other means being used to relieve its trade from his
+competition, so that whatever credit or honor there is due in the case
+belongs to Captain Wyeth's judgment and decision in accepting such
+compensation as the company chose to give, and not to the company for
+giving it; for it was that, or a crime to be committed in getting rid of
+him and his party; and, as in the case of Smith and Dr. Whitman, to be
+charged upon the Indians.
+
+As Americans, we must not conclude that it could do a dishonorable or
+mean act to our traders, hunters, missionaries, or even settlers. No one
+must presume to think that the Honorable Hudson's Bay Company would ever
+conduct any but an honorable trade, or engage in any but an honorable
+business, in the country; notwithstanding, its own countrymen charge it
+with having seized and sunk vessels belonging to them, by running them
+ashore in Hudson's Bay; robbed and fought with the Northwest Company
+before they combined their interests; and had its own Governor Semple
+killed in fighting for its interests, besides all its transactions with
+its own countrymen; this would be ungenerous and mean in the estimation
+of men unable to distinguish between a selfish and a generous act, or a
+cause and a crime of civilized and savage men.
+
+Missionary efforts were first made in the country by Rev. Jason Lee. He,
+being a Canadian-born subject, was received with less objection than
+Rev. Messrs. Parker and Spalding, and Dr. Whitman; but, as has been
+shown, the English people expected to hold the country by the power and
+influence of their Hudson's Bay Company.
+
+The company, as such, could not act against the American missionaries as
+it did against American traders and hunters; hence, the Episcopal or
+Established Church influence from London was made use of, and a
+clergyman sent to Vancouver. While missionary operations were confined
+to the Wallamet Valley this was sufficient, but when those efforts were
+extended to the Cayuses and Nez Perces, and efforts were being made to
+establish missions further north by another responsible religious
+society, the company became alarmed for its profits by the fur trade;
+and by one of its own unprincipled, dishonorable, as well as
+hypocritical arrangements, under the specious pretense of having
+religious teachers to look after the moral and religious instructions of
+its Canadian-French Catholic servants, it sent for, and continued in its
+service, the very religious order of the Roman Church that was at that
+time proscribed by the laws of the country from which it held its
+license. This showed the moral principle by which it was governed in
+relation to its own country. The interests of its trade were paramount
+to all moral principles or religious teachings; and while it was
+professing warm friendship for one religious sect, it was encouraging
+secretly and openly an opposite and strongly bigoted one, to divide and
+distract the moral and religious sentiments of the ignorant natives;
+claiming for itself an exclusive monopoly in trade, as being beneficial
+to the Indian race, which was admitted by all. This was the moral and
+religious condition of the whole country when the American settlers came
+to it. They, with the American missionaries, combined in forming a
+provisional government, and established a _quasi_ independent American
+republic, with the condition that, whenever the United States government
+saw fit to extend its jurisdiction over the country, this temporary
+government should cease.
+
+The English and French united with us in this organization, on condition
+that they should not be required to do any thing that would conflict
+with their duties as subjects of Great Britain.
+
+The reader will perceive that, in carrying out the plan laid down in our
+preface, we have been obliged to give the Hudson's Bay Company a
+prominent place in our history, as we have had to meet them in every
+step of our progress.
+
+No history of Oregon can be written, without acknowledging the immense
+influence that company held in the country, and the zeal and energy it
+put forth, in counteracting American ideas and influence. It was its
+original design to colonize and secure to the British crown all the
+countries which it might explore and occupy. And had it carried out that
+design, no American effort could have succeeded in securing the country
+to the government of the United States. But from a selfish,
+short-sighted, and mistaken policy; and a blind perception of its
+asserted commercial rights, privileges, and powers, it "_hunted up_" the
+country, and expected to secure to itself undisturbed possession of the
+northwestern part of the continent.
+
+For this purpose, while it was destroying the valuable fur animals in
+what is now United States territory, it was protecting such as were to
+be found further north; and by this means continued the enormous profits
+of its trade, for a series of years longer than it otherwise could have
+done. The discovery of gold on the Frazer River in 1858, the rush of
+miners, and the organizing of British Columbia, partially checked this
+fur company, and led to the formation of a sickly colony strangled in
+the embrace of an avaricious monopoly. To counteract the American and
+Protestant missionary efforts, it brought to Oregon the Roman and French
+Jesuits. To compete with the Americans in stock and agricultural
+products, it originated the Puget Sound Company. To outnumber the
+American settlers, it brought on a colony of half-breeds from Red River.
+
+While by the influence of its Jesuits it could destroy one branch of the
+Protestant missions, and bring on an Indian war, the settlement had
+gained strength sufficient to maintain independence without its aid.
+
+While the country has increased in population and wealth, this English
+monopoly has been decreasing in power and influence.
+
+While the Protestant religion has continued to widen and deepen its hold
+upon the American people, the Papal superstition has increased among the
+Indians, thus rendering them more hopelessly depraved, and consigning
+them and their descendants to unending superstition and ignorance, or to
+utter oblivion as a race, to be superseded by an enlightened Christian,
+American people.
+
+With unfeigned thanks to all who have assisted us in this work, we take
+our leave, hoping the facts we have given will be useful, and abundantly
+reward the reader for his time and money.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+TRANSCRIBER NOTES:
+
+Punctuation has been corrected without note.
+
+Footnotes have been moved closer to their reference point.
+
+"Corrections" noted at the beginning of the book have not been
+incorporated.
+
+"Hudson Bay Company" changed to "Hudson's Bay Company" without note for
+consistency.
+
+page 19: "by" added (would not be made slaves by the King George warriors).
+
+page 63: "Kingdon" changed to "Kingdom" (from the United Kingdom).
+
+page 67: duplicate word "to" removed (who went to London).
+
+page 75: "monoply" changed to "monopoly" (a commercial monopoly) and (to
+the fur monopoly).
+
+page 86: the table regarding property values has several either typos
+and/or incorrect calculations based on the text preceding. Corrections
+of typos have been made to match the preceding text, however, the total
+dollar amount stated in the next paragraph is incorrect and has not been
+changed.
+
+page 128: "supppose" changed to "suppose" (I suppose by this
+expression).
+
+page 177: "bring" changed to "bringing" (bringing with them to Fort
+Hall).
+
+page 210: "foregn" changed to "foreign" (generous to a foreign
+monopoly).
+
+page 221: "sufficent" changed to "sufficient" (a sufficient number to
+command).
+
+page 246: "sufferered" changed to "suffered" (suffered for willful
+murder).
+
+page 249: duplicate "of" removed (repetition of the threats made).
+
+page 294: "peace'" changed to "peace's" (for some peace's sake).
+
+page 315: "souyht" changed to "sought" (prize they sought).
+
+page 323: duplicate "and" deleted (Messrs. Eells and Walker).
+
+page 332: "scull" changed to "skull" (but none in the skull).
+
+page 359: "how" changed to "now" (Any person now holding).
+
+page 374: duplicate "their" removed (starvation was their only portion).
+
+page 376: "peculiary" changed to "peculiarly" (so peculiarly republican
+and in accordance with).
+
+page 449: duplicate "only" removed (not only by giving in).
+
+page 487: "surpise" changed to "surprise" (Here, to our surprise and
+terror).
+
+page 495: "though" changed to "through" (and through the French
+half-breed).
+
+page 504: "victms" changed to "victims" (sustaining them among their
+deluded victims).
+
+page 507: duplicate "that" removed (said that they had forgotten all
+this).
+
+page 514: "Witman's" changed to "Whitman's" (slept in Dr. Whitman's
+room).
+
+page 582: "againt" changed to "against" (that assassin struck not
+against).
+
+The original book included a list of errata which has been applied to
+the text. The original list of errata is below.
+
+ERRATA. (From original text)
+
+Page 526, 11th line from top, for "becamed," read "became."
+
+Page 568, 6th line from bottom, for "Moxon," read "Maxon." Also on pages
+570 and 573 the same error occurs.
+
+Page 583, 19th line from top, for "that British," read "that the
+British."
+
+Page 592, 7th line from bottom, for "propriety," read "propensity."
+
+Page 602, 7th line from top, for "where," read "when."
+
+Page 613, 4th line from bottom, for "ten," read "one hundred."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A History of Oregon, 1792-1849, by
+William Henry Gray
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