USA > California > The history of Oregon and California & the other territories of the northwest coast of North America > Part 41
USA > Oregon > The history of Oregon and California & the other territories of the northwest coast of North America > Part 41
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In these endeavors to raise a barbarous people to civilization, and to place their country among Christian states, the American mission- aries were constantly opposed and thwarted by their own fellow- citizens and the subjects of other nations, who resorted to the islands for the purposes of trade, or of refreshment, after long and danger- ous voyages. The precepts of a religion enjoining self-denial in all things could not find favor among such persons, to whom its apos- tles became objects of hatred, as the destroyers of all their pleasures. Bickerings took place between the two parties : the missionaries were assaulted with sticks and stones, and knives, all which they fearlessly confronted, rather than yield a foot of the ground already occupied ; and the poor young king was alternately subjected to com- plaints from sea-captains and consuls on the one side, and to remon- strances from his spiritual advisers on the other. The missionaries nevertheless prevailed : severe laws were enacted against intoxication and other debauchery ; the drinking-shops and distilleries, though one belonged to the king, and another to his prime minister, were successively closed ; and, finally, on the 28th of August, 1838, a law was passed, forbidding the introduction of spirituous liquors into the islands.
occasioned, it may be asked, what would be said of an English History of Ger- many, in which Vienna should be written Wien, Cologne Coelln, Bohemia Boehmen, Moravia Maehren, according to their true German orthography ? Yet this would be fully as reasonable, and not more embarrassing, than the changes of Owyhee into Hawaii, of Atooi into Kauai, of Karakakooa into Keilakakua, of Tamoree into Kaumalii, and even of great Tamahamaha into Kamehameha, which are made in all the reports, histories, newspapers, &c., of the American missionaries and their friends.
The writer of these observations makes them in no captions or unkind spirit : he has himself, long since, mastered the difficulties of which he complains, though not without considerable labor, much more than the generality of persons will give to the subject : and he knows, from daily experience, that very few, even among the best informed and most intelligent men in the United States, have any idea, that Hawaii is identical with Owyhec, and that Tamahamaha and Kamehameha are not two distinct personages.
371
CATHOLICS EXPELLED FROM SANDWICH ISLANDS.
1839.]
But this course of things was not destined to run on smoothly. In 1831, two Catholic priests, Messrs. Bachelot, a Frenchman, and Short, an Irishman, who had resided some time in the islands, en- gaged in propagating their doctrines among the natives, were forci- bly expelled by the pious regent, Kaahumanu, on the ground, as it has been said, that they worshipped the bones of dead men, which was strictly prohibited by law. A chapel and a school were, how- ever, soon after opened at Honolulu, by another Catholic priest, named Walsh; and in 1838, Kaahumanu being dead, Messrs. Bachelot and Short ventured to return to the islands, from Califor- nia, where they had passed the greater part of their time, since their expulsion. They were, however, again ordered by the government to take their departure ; and, on their refusal, they were forcibly put on board of the vessel which brought thein, and thus sent away. Against this act of violence protests were made by the consuls of the United States and Great Britain, on the part of the owners of the vessel, and by the commanders of a British and a French ship of war, which arrived at the time in the islands ; but the king carried his determination into execution. That the Protestant missionaries were the instigators of this proceeding, has been asserted, though it is denied by their friends ; that they might, if they chose, have pre- vented the act, there can, however, be as little doubt, as that they should have done so, if it were in their power .*
For this act, which, besides being entirely at variance with the constant principle of protestantism, and with the spirit of toleration now so happily pervading the world, indicated extreme ignorance, and culpable disregard of consequences, on the part of those who directed it, a severe retribution was soon after exacted. On the 9th of July, 1839, the French frigate Artemise arrived at Hono- lulu, and her captain, Laplace, immediately demanded reparation for the insult offered to his country and its national religion ; with which object, he required - that the Roman Catholic wor- ship should be declared free throughout the islands, and its pro- fessors should enjoy all the privileges heretofore granted to Pro- testants ; - that the government should give a piece of ground for the erection of a Catholic church ; - that all Catholics im-
* History of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, p. 221. - "The American missionaries, as was their duty, labored to guard their hearers against the delusions of Romanism, but gave no advice concerning the removal of the priests."
372
THE FRENCH OBTAIN REPARATION.
[1842.
prisoned on account of their religion should be liberated ; and finally - that, as a security for the performance of these engage- ments, twenty thousand dollars should be placed, and should remain, in his hands. With these demands the king immediately com- plied ; and had the French commander contented himself with what he had thus effected, his conduct would have been blameless in the eyes of all unprejudiced men : but he also required and ob- tained, that the brandy and wines of his country, the introduc- tion of which, as of all other spirituous liquors, was most properly prohibited by law, should be admitted into the islands on paying a duty of not more than five per cent. on their value ; an act, con- sidering the relative degrees of civilization of the two parties, far more reprehensible than that for which he had just before exacted atonement. Captain Laplace also thought proper to declare, that in case he should make an attack on Honolulu, the American mission- aries should not enjoy the protection promised by him, in a circular, to the people of civilized nations generally - a threat, which, it is needless to show, would, if carried into execution, have occasioned a most serious breach of good understanding between France and the United States.
Difficulties about the same time arose between the government of the Sandwich Islands and the British consul ; in consequence of which, the king at length determined to despatch an agent to the United States, Great Britain, and France, in order to obtain, if pos- sible, the recognition of the independence of his dominions by those nations, and to make some definite arrangement for the prevention of difficulties in future. With these objects, Timoteo Haalileo, a young native who had been educated in the schools of the mission- aries, and had filled several important offices, was selected as the agent ; and he was to be accompanied by Mr. W. Richards, one of the American missionaries, who had long resided in the islands, and had distinguished himself for his zeal in behalf of the people and their sovereign. They arrived in Washington in the winter of 1842, and upon their application, President Tyler addressed a mes- sage to Congress,* in which, after briefly recapitulating the advan- tages derived by the United States from the Sandwich Islands, as a place of trade and refreshment for vessels in the Pacific, and allud- ing to the desire manifested by their government to improve the
" President Tyler's message of December 21st, 1842, and accompanying documents.
373
BRITISH OCCUPY SANDWICH ISLANDS TEMPORARILY.
1843.]
moral and social condition of the people, he declared - that any attempt by another power to take possession of the islands, colonize them, and subvert the native government, could not but create dis- satisfaction on the part of the United States ; and that should such attempt be made, the American government would be justified in remonstrating decidedly against it. The only immediate result of this message, however, was the despatch of an American agent to the islands, of whose negotiations no accounts have been published. Messrs. Richards and Haalileo proceeded to England, and thence to France, in each of which countries their efforts are said to have been crowned with success.
In the mean time, however, Lord George Paulet, a captain in the British navy, arrived at Woahoo, in February, 1843, in the ship Carysfort, and demanded from the king explanations with regard to the conduct of his government towards the consul and subjects of her Britannic majesty ; and, not receiving a satisfactory answer within the period prescribed, he threatened, in the event of longer delay, to make an attack on Honolulu. To this threat negotiations succeeded, and the king, finding himself unable to comply with the demands, or to resist them, declared that he surrendered all the islands under his dominion to the king of Great Britain, until the matter could be arranged between the government of that country and the agents whom he had already sent thither. Lord George Paulet accordingly hoisted the British flag, appointed commissioners to take charge of the administration, and issued various regulations for the government of the islands until further orders could be re- ceived from England.
The news of these events created much excitement in the United States ; and a protest against the occupation of the Sandwich Isl- ands by Great Britain, was addressed by the American government to the court of London. On the 25th of June, however, the British minister at Washington declared officially, - that the acts of Lord George Paulet were entirely unauthorized by her majesty's govern- ment, which had determined to recognize the independence of the islands, under their present chief ; it being, however, understood, that the government of the islands would be compelled to do full justice to all British subjects aggrieved by it : and, conformably with this declaration, on the 31st of July, the king was reinstated in all his honors and privileges, by rear admiral Thomas, the com- mander-in-chief of the British naval forces in the Pacific.
374
BRITISH AND FRENCH MOVEMENTS IN THE PACIFIC. [1843.
These acts of the British and the French, with regard to the Sandwich Islands, arose, doubtless, rather from political jealousy of each other, on the parts of those nations, than from the simple desire to protect their respective subjects, in their trade or religion. The French are earnestly endeavoring to obtain a firm position in the Pacific, as demonstrated by their attempt to form a settlement in New Zealand, by their occupation of the islands north of the Marquesas group, discovered by Ingraham in 1791, and by other circumstances ; whilst the British have shown their determination to counteract these efforts, especially in their resistance to the occu- pation of Otaheite by the French, during the summer of 1843. To either of these nations the Sandwich Islands would prove a most valu- able acquisition, as it would afford the means of controlling the trade and fishery of the North Pacific, and of exercising a powerful influence over the destinies of the North-west coasts of America and California. The United States, claiming the North-west coasts, and conducting nearly the whole of the fishery and trade of the North Pacific, are of course most deeply interested in all that may affect the independence of these islands ; and having neither the power nor the will, to establish their own authority over places so remote, it is the policy and duty of their government, to oppose, at almost any hazard, the attempts of other nations to acquire influ- ence or dominion over them. So long as these three nations con- tinue at peace with each other, the Sandwich Islands may continue independent, and may be regarded, nominally at least, as a civilized state ; but should a war, or even serious difficulties occur between any two of these powers, that independence will infallibly cease.
To conclude, with regard to the Sandwich Islands - their popula- tion is rapidly diminishing under the too great warmth of the civil- ization suddenly planted among them, by which new vices have been introduced, and new wants, unaccompanied by any increase of en- ergy and industry, have been engendered. The day is, probably, not far distant, when the aborigines will be reduced to a few wander- ers ; and the islands will be, effectively, occupied by Anglo Saxons, the certain, though comparatively mild, exterminators of the uncivil- ized races with which they are brought into contact .*
* The Sandwich Islands are ten in number, situated in the northern division of the Pacific Ocean, between the latitudes of 19 and 22 degrees ; about 2500 miles from the American coast and 5,000 miles from China. The principal islands are - Owyhee or Hawaii the largest, Mowee or Maui, Woahoo or Oahu, and Atooi or
375
CHAPTER XVIII.
1842 To 1844.
Excitement in the United States respecting Oregon - Treaty of Washington deter- mining Boundaries between the Territories of Great Britain and those of the United States, east of the Lake of the Woods - Mr. Linn's Bill in the Senate of the United States, for the immediate occupation of Oregon - Reflections on the Convention of 1827 - Present State of the Hudson's Bay Company's Territories - Conclusion.
DURING the latter years of the period to which the preceding chapter relates, the people as well as the government of the United States were becoming seriously interested in the subject of the claims of the republic to countries west of the Rocky Mountains. The population of the Union had, in fact, been so much increased, that large numbers of persons were to be found in every part, whose spirit of enterprise and adventure could not be restrained within the limits of the states and organized territories ; and, as the adjoining central division of the continent offered no inducements to settlers, those who did not choose to fix their habitations in Texas, began to direct their views towards the valleys of the Columbia, where they expected to obtain rich lands without cost, and security under the flag of the stars and stripes.
This feeling began to manifest itself, about the year 1837, by the formation of societies for emigration to Oregon, in various parts of the Union, and especially in those which had themselves been most recently settled, and were most thinly peopled. From these asso- ciations, and from American citizens already established in Oregon, petitions were presented to Congress, as well as resolutions from the legislatures of States, urging the general government, either to
Kauai ; the others, namely, Tahoorowa or Kahulawe, Morotai or Molokai, Moro- kini or Molokini, Ranai or Lanai, Oneehow or Nihaui, and Tahoora or Kaula, are all small. The superficial extent of the whole group is about 6,500 square miles, of which Owyhee includes about 4,500. Owyhee is supposed to contain 80,000 inhabitants ; the population of the remainder being about 70,000. The capital is Honoruru or Honolulu, in Woahoo, which is said to have 10,000 inhabitants ; the only other town of any size is Lahaina in Mowee.
376
TREATY OF WASHINGTON.
[1842.
settle the questions of right as to the country west of the Rocky Mountains, by definitive arrangement with the other claimant pow- ers, or to take immediate military possession of that country, and to extend over it the jurisdiction of the United States ; and bills, having for their object the accomplishment of one or the other of these ends, were annually introduced into each house of the fede- ral legislature. The executive branch of the government was like- wise assiduously engaged, in doing all that could be done by it, with the same object. Mr. Forsyth, the enlightened and energetic Secretary of State, exerted himself to procure every information, which might serve to establish the true grounds and extent of the rights of the United States, and the value of the countries claimed by them, in order that their government might, whenever it should act, be fully justified before the world ; and Messrs. Poinsett and Paulding, the secretaries of war and the navy, besides furnishing reports on various points connected with these subjects, which had been submitted to their respective departments, particularly instruct- ed Lieutenant Wilkes, the commander of the exploring vessels sent to the Pacific about this time, to survey the Columbia regions as completely as he could, and to inquire into the condition and pros- pects of their actual occupants .*
The information thus obtained by the executive departments and the legislative committees, was from time to time communicated to Congress, and published by its order ; t no bill, with regard to Ore-
* Of this expedition, partial accounts only have appeared ; a narrative of all the incidents and observations, will, however, soon be published, with maps, charts, tables, &c., which, there is reason to believe, will not yield in interest and import- ance to any similar work of the day. In addition to numerous explorations, dis- coveries and surveys in the southern division of the ocean, the Sandwich Islands, and the Columbia country, with the adjacent coasts, were carefully examined ; and many new facts, relating to the geography of those parts of the world, will, doubt- less, be communicated in the forthcoming narrative.
t Report to the Senate, by Mr. Linn, with Maps, June 6, 183S. Senate Document, No. 470 of the 2d Session of the 25th Congress.
Reports of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, of the House of Representatives, respecting the territory of Oregon, with a Map, presented Jan. 4th and Feb. 16th, 1839, by Mr. Cushing ; accompanied by a bill to provide for the protection of the citizens of the United States, residing in that territory or trading on the Columbia River. Report of House of Representatives, No. 101, 3d Session of 25th Congress.
Memoir, Historical and Political, on the North-West Coast of North America, and the adjacent Countries, with a Map and a Geographical View of those Countries. By Robert Greenhow, Translator and Librarian to the Department of State. Pre- sented Feb. 10th, 1840, by Mr. Linn. Senate Doc. No. 174, 1st Session of 26th Con- gress. See Preface to this History.
377
BILL IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES.
1842.] .
gon, however, passed either house of that body before 1843 ; and no decisive measure on that subject was adopted by the American government. In 1842, Lord Ashburton arrived at Washington, as a special plenipotentiary of Great Britain, for the settlement of cer- tain points of difference between that power and the United States ; and it was at first supposed by the public in both countries, that the arrangement of the questions respecting the countries west of the Rocky Mountains, was one of the objects of his mission. A treaty was, however, concluded, in August of that year, between him and Mr. Webster, the Secretary of State of the United States, in which all the undetermined parts of the line separating the terri- tories of the two nations, from the Bay of Fundy to the Lake of the Woods, were clearly defined and settled ; but no allusion was made to any portion of America situated farther west. This treaty was soon after ratified by both governments ; but the exclusion of the Oregon question from it, seems to have increased the excitement on that subject, among the people of the United States, and to have created a similar excitement in Great Britain.
In the message of President Tyler to Congress, at the commence- ment of the ensuing session, allusion was made to " the territory of the United States commonly called the Oregon territory, lying on the Pacific Ocean, north of the 42d degree of latitude, to a portion of which Great Britain lays claim. In advance of the acquire- ment of individual rights to these lands," continues the message, " sound policy dictates that every effort should be resorted to, by the two governments, to settle their respective claims. It became evident, at an early hour of the late negotiations, that any attempt, for the time being, satisfactorily to determine those rights, would lead to a protracted discussion, which might embrace in its failure other more pressing matters ; and the executive did not regard it as proper to waive all the advantages of an honorable adjustment. of other difficulties, of great magnitude and importance, because this, not so immediately pressing, stood in the way." Having thus indicated the circumstances which prevented the question from being discussed during the recent negotiation, the president inti- mated his intention " to urge on Great Britain the importance of its early settlement."
This part of the president's message was referred to the com- mittees on foreign affairs in both houses of Congress, and a few days afterwards, Mr. Linn, one of the senators from Missouri, who
48
378
BILL IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES. [1843.
had always displayed the strongest interest in all that related to the territories west of the Rocky Mountains, and had assiduously en- deavored to effect their incorporation into the republic, brought a bill into the Senate " to authorize the adoption of measures for the occupation and settlement of the territory of Oregon, for extend- ing certain portions of the laws of the United States over the same, and for other purposes." This bill proposed - that the presi- dent be authorized and required to cause to be erected, at suitable places and distances, a line of stockade and blockhouse forts, not exceeding five in number, from some points on the Missouri and Arkansas Rivers, into the best pass for entering the valley of the Oregon, and also at or near the mouth of the Columbia River - that provision be made by law, to secure and grant six hundred and forty acres of land to every white male inhabitant of the territory of Oregon, of the age of eighteen years and upwards, who shall cultivate and use the same for five consecutive years, or to his heirs at law, if such there be, in case of his decease ; and to every inhabitant or cultivator, being a married man, in addition, one hundred and sixty acres for his wife, and the same for each of his children under the age of eighteen years, or who may be born within the five years above mentioned ; provided, that no sale or other alienation of such lands, or execution or lien on them, shall be valid until the patents have been issued for them - that the civil and criminal jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and the District Courts of the territory of Iowa be extended over that part of the Indian countries lying west of the present limits of Iowa, south of the 49th parallel of latitude, east of the Rocky Mountains, and north of the boundary line be- tween the United States and Texas, not included within the limits of any state ; and also over the Indian countries comprising the Rocky Mountains, and the country between them and the Pacific Ocean, south of the latitude of 54 degrees 40 minutes, and north of the 42d parallel ; and that justices of the peace be appointed for all these countries, as now appointed by law for Iowa, who shall have power to arrest and commit for trial, agreeably to the laws of Iowa, all offenders against the laws of the United States ; provided, - that any subject of Great Britain, who may have been so arrested for crimes or misdemeanors committed in the countries west of the Rocky Mountains, while they remain free and open to the people of both nations, shall be delivered up to the nearest or most conve- nient British authorities, for the purpose of being tried according to
379
DEBATES IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES.
1843.]
British laws ; - and that an additional judge of the Supreme Court of Iowa be appointed, and empowered to hold courts in the coun- tries to which the bill relates. A preamble to the bill, declaring the rights of the United States to all the territories west of the Rocky Mountains, between the latitudes of 42 degrees and 54 de- grees 40 minutes, and the determination of the government to main- tain them, was struck out, at the suggestion of Mr. Archer, upon the ground that it was at best unnecessary, and was certainly un- courteous towards the other party claiming the same territories, which would be thus directly taxed with advancing an empty pre- tension.
This bill was defended, generally, on the grounds that its adop- tion would be the exercise by the United States of rights, which were unquestionable, and had been long unjustly withheld from them by Great Britain ; and that taking this for granted, it afforded the best means, in all respects, of making good those rights, and securing to the Republic, the ultimate possession of the territories west of the Rocky Mountains, which must otherwise remain, irretrievably, in the hands of another power. The opponents to the bill, all in- sisted that the proposed cession of lands would be a direct infraction of the convention of 1827, with Great Britain, which could not be legally abrogated, by either party, until a year's notice of such in- tention had been given to the other ; and that independently of this consideration, the measures proposed were impolitic, expensive, and by no means calculated to attain the end in view. With regard to its particular provisions, the advocates of the bill appear to have been unanimous, in considering them all essential to its objects, and were unwilling to admit any material amendments ; its oppo- nents differed as to some of those provisions, but they were united in disapprobation of the clause relating to grants of lands to settlers.
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