USA > California > The history of Oregon and California & the other territories of the northwest coast of North America > Part 43
USA > Oregon > The history of Oregon and California & the other territories of the northwest coast of North America > Part 43
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In order to determine whether the bill for the occupation of Oregon, passed by the Senate of the United States, in 1843, could, if it had become a law, have been carried into fulfilment without a breach of public faith, until after the abrogation of the existing convention with Great Britain, in the manner therein stipulated, it will be necessary first to analyze that convention, and to reduce the various permissions, requirements and prohibitions involved in it, to their simplest expressions. The two nations on agreeing, as by that convention, to leave the territory west of the Rocky Moun- tains, with its waters, free and open to the citizens and subjects of both, of course agreed, that neither should exercise any exclusive dominion, or do any thing calculated to hinder the people of the other from enjoying the promised advantages, in any part of that territory. Each nation of course reserved to itself the right to provide for the maintenance of peace and the administration of justice among its own citizens, and to appoint agents for that pur- pose to reside in the territory ; it was, indeed, the duty of each as a civilized power to do so without delay : and it was morally impera- tive upon these governments to enter into a supplementary compact for the exercise of concurrent jurisdiction, in cases affecting the per- sons or interests of subjects or citizens of both nations, unless provi- sion to that effect should have already been made in some other way. Finally, as the country was inhabited by tribes of savages, the citi- zens and subjects of each of the civilized nations residing therein,
390
REVIEW OF THE CONVENTION OF 1827.
[1843.
might take precautions for their defence against attacks from those savages, by military organization among themselves, and by the erection of the fortifications necessary for that special purpose ; and it here again became the duty of the contracting parties to settle by compact the manner in which their governments might jointly or separately aid their people in such defence. As the advantages offered to the citizens or subjects of the two nations are not defined, the terms of the convention relating to them, are to be understood in their most extensive favorable sense ; including the privileges, not only of fishing, hunting and trading with the natives, but also - of clearing and cultivating the ground, and using or disposing of the products of such labor in any peaceful way -of erecting build- ings for residence or other purposes, and making dams, dikes, ca- nals, bridges, and any other works which the private citizens or subjects of the parties might erect or make in their own countries ; under no other restrictions or limitations than those contained in the clause of the convention providing for the freedom and open- ness of the territory, or those which might be imposed by the re- spective governments.
This appears to be the amount of the permissions, requirements and prohibitions of the convention ; and had the two governments done all that is here demanded, no difficulties could have been rea- sonably apprehended, so long at least as the territory in question re- mains thinly peopled. These things, however, have not all been done. Not only has no supplementary compact been made, between the two governments, but the United States have neglected to secure the protection of their laws to their citizens, who have thus, doubt- less in part, been prevented from drawing advantages from the convention, equal to those long since enjoyed by British subjects, under the security of the prompt and efficient measures of their gov- ernment.
If this view of the existing convention between the United States and Great Britain, relative to the territory west of the Rocky Mountains be correct, and embrace all that it allows, demands and forbids, neither of the parties could be justified, during the subsistence of the agreement, in ordering the erection of forts at the mouth of the Columbia, where they certainly are not required for protection against any third power, and in promising to secure large tracts of land in that territory, by patent, to its citizens or subjects. Had the bill passed by the Senate in 1843, become a law, the convention
391
EMIGRANTS FROM THE UNITED STATES TO OREGON.
1843.]
would from that moment have been virtually and violently rescind- ed; and any attempt to enforce the measures would undoubtedly have been resisted by Great Britain. The abrogation of the con- vention, in the manner therein provided, or in some other way, by common consent of the parties, should precede all attempts by either, to occupy any spot in the territory permanently ; and whenever the government of either nation considers the time to be near, in which such occupation by its own citizens or subjects will be indispensa- ble, it should endeavor to settle by negotiation with the other power, some mode of effecting that object, before giving notice of its inten- tion to abrogate the agreement; for such a notice can only be regarded as the announcement of the determination of the party giving it, to take forcible possession of the territory, at the end of the period prescribed.
Lord Palmerston was not mistaken in his estimate of the excite- ment existing in the United States on this subject; and that excite- ment has been infinitely increased, by the recent debates in the Senate. On the faith of the promise held out by the passage of the bill for the immediate occupation of Oregon, nearly a thou- sand American citizens, men, women, and children, began their march in June, 1843, from Missouri to the Columbia ;* and there
* These emigrants took their departure from Westport, in Missouri, the place of rendezvous, in the beginning of June, 1843, with about two hundred wagons, and a large number of horses and cattle ; and having soon after divided into four bodies, they pursued their march along the valley of the river Platte, through the Southern Pass in the Rocky Mountains, and over the great ridge, separating the waters of the Colorado from those of the Columbia, to Fort Hall, the Hudson's Bay Com- pany's post on the Lewis River, where they arrived in August. They lost six or seven of their number on their way to Fort Hall, from sickness, fatigue and acci- dents ; but, upon the whole, their progress was attended with fewer difficulties, or dangers, than they had anticipated. The Sioux and Blackfeet Indians did not venture to attack them ; but gazed at a distance, with wonder, on those pale-faces, leaving their sunny valleys on the Mississippi, for the rugged barren wastes of the Columbia. Since their departure from Fort Hall nothing has been heard from the emigrants ; but there is no reason to believe that they will meet with any obstacles of consequence, in their way to the Willamet Valley, which seems to be the place of their immediate destination.
It is somewhat curious, that on the first of July, 1843, whilst this large body of emigrants were quietly pursuing their way across the continent, an article ap- peared in the Edinburgh Review, - a work so generally correct on American affairs, and so reasonable in its views and speculations, with regard to them - containing such observations as the following - "However the political questions between England and America, as to the ownership of Oregon may be decided, Oregon will
never be colonized overland from the United States. *
* * The world must assume a new face, before the American wagons make plain the road to the Columbia as they
392
EMIGRANTS FROM THE UNITED STATES TO OREGON. [1843.
is reason to believe that even a greater number will soon follow, if the accounts from those already gone should prove as favorable as may be expected. These immigrations must necessarily change the aspect of the questions at issue between Great Britain and the United States, and materially affect the views of their governments ; arrangements which might have been made when the number of American citizens and the amount of American interests in Oregon were trifling, may have been thus rendered impracticable, and the obstacles to an amicable adjustment may have been considerably increased.
For the long and entire silence in the British legislature with regard to Oregon, the ministry appears to have made ample amends, by care and action ; and every thing seems to have been done which could tend to secure for Great Britain the ultimate possession of the whole territory drained by the Columbia, without infringing, in the mean time, the agreement made with the United States. For this purpose the British ministers could have no counsellors better qualified to advise, or whose interests were more completely identified with those of the government, than the Hudson's Bay Company ; and from the results, the utmost confidence may be supposed to exist between those two parties.
The Hudson's Bay Company, representing in all respects the interests of Great Britain, in North-West America, has indeed be- come a powerful body. The field of its operations was more than doubled by its union with the North-West Company, and by the license to trade, in exclusion of all other British subjects, in the countries west of the Rocky Mountains, where the fur-bearing ani- mals were more abundant than in any other part of the world ; while the extension of the jurisdiction of the Canada courts over the whole division of the continent, to which its charters apply, and the appointment of its own agents as magistrates, in those re- gions, gave all that could have been desired for the enforcement of its regulations. The arrangement made with the Russian American
have done to the Ohio. * * * Whoever, therefore, is to be the future owner of Oregon, its people will come from Europe." This is not the first occasion, in which European predictions, implying doubts as to the energy of American citizens, and the success of their undertakings, have been contradicted by facts so soon as ut- tered. Whatever may be the result of this enterprise, certain it is that the emi- grants from the Missouri, with their wives, their children and their wagons, arrived in Oregon ; and no one will question their power to maintain themselves there, if any other people can do so.
393
NEW GRANT TO HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY.
1843.]
Company, through the intervention of the two governments, se- cured to the Hudson's Bay Company the most advantageous limits in the north-west ; and the position assumed by Great Britain, in the discussions with the United States, respecting Oregon, were calculated to increase the confidence of the body, in the strength of its tenure of that country, and to encourage greater efforts on its part to assure that tenure.
The license granted to the Hudson's Bay Company in 1821, ex- pired in 1842, but another had been previously conceded, also for twenty-one years, containing some new and important provisions .* Thus, the Company was bound, under heavy penalties, to enforce the due execution of all criminal processes, by the officers and other persons legally empowered, in all its territories ; and to make and submit to the government such rules and regulations for the management of the trade with the Indians, as should be effectual to prevent the sale and distribution of spirituous liquors among them, and to promote their moral and religious improvement. It is moreover declared in the grant, that nothing therein contained should authorize the Company to claim the right of trade in any part of America, to the prejudice or exclusion of the people of " any foreign states," who may be entitled to trade there, in virtue of con- ventions between such states and Great Britain ; and the govern- ment reserves to itself the right to establish within the territories included in the grant, any colony or province, to annex any part of those territories to any existing colony or province, and to apply to such portion any form of civil government which might be deemed proper. Whether this last provision was introduced with some special and immediate object, or with a view to future contingen- cies, no means have as yet been afforded for determining. It is, however, certain, that the British government insisted strongly on retaining the above-mentioned privileges ; and it is most probable that the Red River and the Columbia countries were in view at the time, as the remainder of the territory, included in the grant and not possessed by the Company in virtue of the charter of 1669, is of little value in any way.
In addition to the assistance and protection thus received from the British government, the constitution of the Hudson's Bay Com- pany is such as to secure the utmost degree of knowledge and pru-
* See extracts from these charters, showing all their provisions, in the Proofs and Illustrations under the letter I.
50
394
GOVERNMENT OF HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY. [1843.
dence in its councils, and of readiness and exactness in the execu- tion of its orders. Its affairs are superintended by a Governor, a Deputy Governor, and a Committee of Directors, established at London, by whom all general orders and regulations are devised and issued, and all reports and accounts are examined and con- trolled. The proceedings of this body are enveloped in profound secrecy, and the communications made to the government in writ- ing, which are likely to be published, are expressed in terms of studied caution, and afford only the details absolutely required. The trade in America is especially directed by a Resident Governor, who occasionally visits and inspects all the principal posts ; under him, as officers, are chief factors, chief traders, and clerks, for the most part natives of North Britain, and an army of regular servants, employed as hunters, traders, voyageurs, &c., nearly all of them Canadians or half-breeds. The number of all these persons is small, when compared with the duties which they have to perform; but the manner in which they are admitted into the service, and the training to which they are subjected, are such as to render their efficiency and their devotion to the general interests as great as possible. The strictest discipline, regularity and economy are en- forced in every part of the company's territories ; and the magis- trates appointed under the act of parliament for the preservation of tranquillity, are seldom called to exercise their functions, except in the settlement of trifling disputes.
In the treatment of the aborigines of the countries under its control, the Hudson's Bay Company appears to have admirably combined and reconciled policy with humanity. The prohibition to supply those people with ardent spirits, appears to be rigidly en- forced. Schools for the instruction of the native children are estab- lished at all the principal trading posts, each of which also contains a hospital for sick Indians, and offers employment for those who are disposed to work, whilst hunting cannot be carried on. Missiona- ries of various sects are encouraged to endeavor to convert them to Christianity, and to induce them to adopt the usages of civilized life, so far as may be consistent with the nature of the labors re- quired for their support ; and attempts are made, at great expense, to collect the Indians in villages, on tracts where the climate and soil are most favorable for agriculture. Particular care is extended to the education of the half-breed children, the offspring of the marriage or concubinage of the traders with the Indian women,
395
POLICY OF HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY.
1843.]
who are retained, and bred as far as possible among the white peo- ple, and are employed, whenever they are found capable, in the service of the company. As there are few or no white women in those territories, except in the Red River settlements, it may be easily seen that the half-breeds must in a short time form a large and important portion of the native population.
The conduct of the Hudson's Bay Company in these respects is certainly worthy of commendation. It is however to be observed, that of the whole territory placed under the authority of that body, only a few small portions are capable of being rendered productive by agriculture. From the remainder of the country, nothing of value in commerce can be obtained except furs, and those articles can be procured in greater quantities and at less cost, by the labor of the Indians, than by any other means. There is, consequently, no object in expelling or destroying the native population, which can never be dangerous from its numbers ; while on the contrary, there is a direct and evident motive of interest for preserving and con- ciliating them, and the British certainly employ the best methods to attain those ends. By the system above described, the natural shy- ness and distrust of the savages have been in a great measure re- moved ; the ties which bound together the members of the various tribes have been loosened, and extensive combinations for any pur- pose have become impossible. The dependence of the Indians upon the company is at the same time 'rendered entire and absolute ; for having abandoned the use of all their former arms, hunting and fishing implements, and clothes, they can no longer subsist without the guns, ammunition, fish-hooks, blankets and other similar arti- cles, which they receive only from the British traders. The portion of the Hudson's Bay Company towards the North-American Indians, is thus wholly different from that held by the East India Company with respect to the Chinese; the motives for prohibiting the intro- duction of spirits among the former people, being as strong on the one part as those for favoring the consumption of opium among the latter people, are on the other.
The course observed by the Hudson's Bay Company towards American citizens, in the territory west of the Rocky Mountains, has been equally unexceptionable, and yet equally politic. All the missionaries and emigrants from the United States, and indeed all strangers from whatsoever country they might come, were received at the establishments of the company on the Columbia with the
396
POLICY OF HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY. [1843.
utmost kindness and hospitality ; and they were aided in the prose- cution of their objects, - so far and so long as those objects were not commercial. But no sooner did any one, unconnected with the company, attempt to hunt, or to trap, or to trade with the natives, than all the force of the body was immediately directed towards him .* There is no evidence or well-founded suspicion, that the Hudson's Bay agents have ever resorted directly or indirectly to violence, in order to defeat the efforts of such rivals. And, indeed, those means would have been superfluous, whilst the company en- joys such great advantages in its organization, its wealth, and the minute knowledge of the country and influence over the natives, possessed by its agents. Wherever an American trading post has been established, or an American party has been engaged in trade on the Columbia, there appeared a Hudson's Bay agent, at the head of a number of hunters, or with a large stock of merchandise or a large amount of specie in hand, which were offered for skins on terms much more favorable to the Indians than those possessed by the citizens of the United States ; and the latter, in consequence, finding their labors vain, were soon obliged to retire from the field. Even without employing such extraordinary and expensive means, the British traders, receiving their goods in the Columbia by sea from London, free from duty, can always undersell the Ameri- cans, who must transport their merchandise two thousand miles over land, from the frontiers of the United States, where the articles best adapted for the trade have previously been subjected to an import duty. In pursuance of the same system, the company en- deavors, and generally with success, to prevent the vessels of the United States from obtaining cargoes on the north-west coasts of America ; though the mariners of all nations, when thrown upon these coasts by shipwreck or by other misfortunes, have uniformly received shelter and protection, at its posts and factories.
The furs and skins which have hitherto formed almost the whole returns from the territories of the Hudson's Bay Company, are collected at the different posts, in part by regularly employed hunters and trappers, but chiefly by trade with the Indians of the surround- ing country ; and they are nearly all shipped for London in the
* A worthy missionary, now established on the Columbia, while acknowledging, in conversation with the author, the many acts of kindness received by him from the Hudson's Bay Company's agents, at the same time declared - that he would not buy a skin to make a cap, without their assent.
-
397
1843.]
DECREASE OF FUR-BEARING ANIMALS.
company's vessels at Montreal, or York Factory on Hudson's Bay, or Fort Vancouver on the Columbia ; the goods for the trade and the supply of the posts being received in the same way. The average annual value of the furs thus exported for several years before 1838, was estimated at about one million of dollars ; and that of the merchandise introduced at about two hundred thousand dollars. It is, however, certain that the fur-trade is declining in every part of these territories, from the diminution in the numbers of the animals, whilst the price of the furs does not increase, in consequence of the use of other articles in their place. The Hud- son's Bay Company endeavors to prevent this decrease of the ani- mals, particularly in the countries east of the Rocky Mountains, by withdrawing its hunters and traders from certain districts during several years in succession ; but in Oregon, where its control is less absolute, and its tenure less secure, no precautions of that kind are observed, and many of the posts have been recently abandoned, or reduced, from want of sufficient business. How much longer the fur-trade may be prosecuted with advantage in the Columbia re- gions, it is impossible to judge from the imperfect data as yet afforded ; but there is reason to believe that the Hudson's Bay Company must ere long abandon that part of America, unless some other mode of employing its capital there, can be adopted.
With regard to colonization, it has been already said that a very small proportion of the Hudson's Bay Company's territories is capa- ble of being rendered productive by cultivation. The only place east of the Rocky Mountains, in which attempts have been made to found permanent agricultural settlements, is on the Red River, be- tween the 49th parallel of latitude, there forming the northern boundary of the United States, and Lake Winnipeg, into which that river empties. Of the cession of this country by the Hudson's Bay Company to Lord Selkirk, and the unfortunate results of his first efforts to colonize it, accounts have been already given. New efforts, with the same object, were afterwards made by the son and successor of that nobleman, with but little success ; and the territory was at length, in 1836, retro-ceded to the company, which has, with much difficulty and expense, established on it about six thou- sand persons, white, Indian, and half-breed, under what conditions as to tenure of the soil, is not known. The land produces wheat, rye, potatoes, hemp and some other vegetables, and grass for cattle, tolerably well, and it may be considered fertile, when compared with
398
RED RIVER COLONY.
[1843.
other parts of the continent situated so far north ; it is, however, deficient in wood, and notwithstanding all the advantages held out to the inhabitants by the Hudson's Bay Company, there is no proba- bility that it will ever rise to importance in any way, and least of all, as a check to incursions from the United States, which seems to be one of the principal objects proposed by its founders .* West of the Rocky Mountains the Hudson's Bay Company has not, so far as is known, either formed, or encouraged others to form, permanent settlements ; nor does it appear that any grant or sale of lands, either immediate or prospective, has been made in these territories, by any British authority. Some of the retired servants of the company have indeed been allowed to remain in the country with their families, as agriculturists ; but they are in all respects subject to the company, and liable, at any moment, to be expelled from their homes by its agents.
As the fur trade in the countries of the Columbia decreased, the Hudson's Bay Company began to turn its attention to other objects. Farms were laid out on an extensive scale, and mills for grinding grain and sawing wood were erected near the lower part of the great
* Mr. Pelly, the governor of the Hudson's Bay Company, in a letter addressed, on the 10th of February, 1837, to Lord Glenelg, the British secretary for the colo- nies, says, with respect to the Red River settlement, " This rising community, if well governed, may be found useful at some future period, in the event of difficul- ties occurring between Great Britain and the United States of America, who have several military posts, say those of the Sault Saint Marie, Prairie du Chien, and the River Saint Peters, established on their Indian frontiers, along the line of boundary with British North America." On the other hand, Mr. Simpson, in his interesting account of the discoveries made in the northernmost parts of America, by himself, and his unfortunate companion Mr. Dease, in 1838 and 1539, states that the settlers on the Red River, have "found out the only practicable outlet for their cattle and grain, in the fine level plains leading to the Mississippi and the St. Peters, where there is the promise of a sufficient market among the Americans ; " particularly as, - " the bulky nature of the exports, [tallow, flax, hemp and wool] a long and dan- gerous navigation to Hudson's Bay, and above all, the roving and indolent habits of the half breed race, who form the mass of the population, and love the chase of the buffalo better than the drudgery of agriculture or regular industry, seem to pre- clude the possibility of this colony rising to importance."
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