USA > California > The history of Oregon and California & the other territories of the northwest coast of North America > Part 44
USA > Oregon > The history of Oregon and California & the other territories of the northwest coast of North America > Part 44
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According to Mr. Simpson, the colony, in 1339, contained between five and six thousand persons, almost all Indians or half-breeds, whose general character has been already given. The Scotch, who compose nearly the remainder of the popu- lation, are industrious and economical, and avoid as carefully as possible all amal- gamation with the others ; in order to avoid which, they generally retire to the United States, so soon as they have accumulated a moderate amount of property. Four fifthis of the people are Roman Catholics, for whose spiritual instruction and assistance, a bishop and three priests reside among them ; the number of Protestant clergymen was two.
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PROSPECTS OF SETTLERS IN OREGON.
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river, near Bulfinch's Harbor, near Puget's Sound, and in other places ; besides which, large quantities of salmon are annually taken and cured. From the use and exportation of the articles thus pro- duced, some revenue is gained ; but it is evident, that capital in- vested in such a manner cannot yield considerable dividends ; and no other modes for its employment are offered at present in these territories or farther north. Oregon indeed contains lands in small detached portions, which may afford to the industrious cultivator the means of subsistence, and also, perhaps, in time, of procuring some foreign luxuries ; but it produces no precious metals, no opium, no cotton, no rice, no sugar, no coffee ; nor is it, like India, inhabited by a numerous population, who may easily be forced to labor for the benefit of a few. With regard to commerce, it offers no great advantages, present or immediately prospective. It contains no harbor in which articles of merchandise from other countries will, probably at any future period, be deposited for reexportation ; while the extreme irregularity of its surface, and the obstructions to the navigation of its rivers, the removal of which is hopeless, forbid all expectation, that the productions of China or any other land border- ing on the Pacific, will ever be transported across Oregon to the Atlantic regions of the continent .*
* It will here be proper to introduce some observations on a subject which merits consideration from its connection with the interests and destinies of North-West America, namely - the question as to the practicability of effecting a passage for ships between the Atlantic and the Pacific, through the central parts of the Ameri- can continent, where those seas are separated by narrow tracts of land.
Humboldt, in his justly-celebrated essay on Mexico, indicated nine places in America, in which the waters of the two oceans, or of streams entering into them respectively, are situated at short distances apart. Of these places it is necessary here to notice but three, to each of which, attention has been strongly directed, at different times, and especially of late years, in the expectation that such a naviga- ble passage for ships might be effected through it. They are, - the Isthmus of Panamá - Nicaragua - and the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.
With regard to the last mentioned of these places, it has been determined, by accurate surveys, that the mountain chain, separating the two oceans, is nowhere less than a thousand feet in height above the level of the sea ; and that a canal connecting the River Guasecualco, flowing into the Mexican Gulf, with the Pacific, must pass through an open cut of nearly that depth, or a tunnel, in either case more than thirty miles in length, as there is no water on the summit to supply locks, should it be found practicable to construct them. Thus much for the Isth- mus of Tehuantepec.
In Nicaragua, it has been proposed to improve the navigation of the San Juan River, from its mouth on the Mosquito coast, to the great Lake of Nicaragua from which it flows, or to cut a canal from the Atlantic to that lake, whence another canal should be made to the Pacific. Now, without enumerating the many other
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SHIP CANAL FROM ATLANTIC TO PACIFIC.
[1843.
Thus, on reviewing the agricultural, commercial, and other eco- nomical advantages and disadvantages of Oregon, there appears to be no reason, founded on such considerations, which should render either of the powers, claiming the possession of that country, anx- ious to occupy it immediately, or unwilling to cede its own pre- tensions to the other, for a very moderate compensation. But political considerations, among which are always to be reckoned, as the principal, those proceeding from national and individual ambi- tion, jealousy, and hatred, ever have proved, and doubtless will in this
obstacles to this plan, any one of them sufficient to defeat it, were all things besides favorable, it may be simply stated - that one mile of tunnel and two of very deep cutting through volcanic rocks, in addition to many locks, will be required in the fifteen miles, which, by the shortest and least difficult route, must be passed be- tween the lake and the Pacific. Is such a work practicable ?
The Isthmus of Panamá remains to be considered. From recent and minute surveys, it has been proved that no obstacles to a ship-canal are presented by the surface of this isthmus, equal to those which have been surmounted in many in- stances of a similar nature in Europe and in the United States. On the other hand, the country contains only a few inhabitants of the most wretched description, from whose assistance in the work no advantage in any way could be derived ; so that all the laborers, with all their clothes, provisions, and tools, must be transported thither from a distance. The heat is at all times intense, and the wet season con- tinues during eight months of the year ; the rains in July, August, September, and October, being incessant, and heavier, perhaps, than in any other part of the world. As to salubrity, there is a difference of opinion ; but it is scarcely possible that the extremes of heat and dampness, which are there combined, could be otherwise than deleterious to persons from Europe, or from the northern states of the American Union, by whom the labor of cutting a canal must be performed, - unless, indeed, it should be judged proper to employ negroes from the West Indies on the work.
It seems, therefore, that a canal is practicable across the Isthmus of Panamá : there is, however, not the slightest probability that it will be made during this cen- tury, if ever ; the commercial utility of such a communication being scarcely suffi- cient to warrant the enormous expenses of its construction and maintenance. Ships from Europe or the United States, bound for the west coasts of America, or the North Pacific, or China, would probably pass through it, unless the tolls should be too heavy ; but in returning they would pursue the route around the Cape of Good Hope, which would be shorter, and in all respects more advantageous for them, as well as for all vessels sailing, in either direction, between the Atlantic coasts and India or Australia. Should the canal ever be made by any company or nation whatsoever, it will, in time, notwithstanding any precautions by treaty or otherwise, become the property of the greatest naval power, which will derive a vast increase of political strength from the possession.
The Isthmus of Tehuantepec offers many advantages for travellers, and even for the transportation of precious commodities, especially to the people of the United States. The mouth of the Guasecualco River, on its northern shore, is less than seven hundred miles from the mouth of the Mississippi, and only one hundred miles by the road from a port on the Pacific, near Tehuantepec, which might be made a good harbor ; so that even now a traveller might go in a fortnight from Washing- ton to the Pacific coast, and thence, by a steam-vessel, in ten days more, to the mouth of the Columbia, or to the Sandwich Islands.
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case prove paramount to the others. It is the unobjectionable, and indeed imperative policy of the United States, to secure the posses- sion of those territories, in order to provide places of resort and refreshment for their numerous vessels, engaged in the trade and fishery of the Pacific, particularly as there is a prospect that they may in time be excluded from the Sandwich Islands ; and also to prevent those territories from falling into the hands of any other power, which might direct against their western frontiers the hordes of Indians roving through the middle and westernmost divisions of the continents. Great Britain, on the other hand, can have no motive for opposing the occupation of Oregon by the United States, except that of checking their advancement, by excluding their ves- sels from the Pacific, and by maintaining an influence deleterious to their interests and safety, over the savages in their vicinity. That the latter nation should, within any period which it is now possible to foresee, furnish a population to the regions in question, there are certainly at present no grounds for supposing. Her prov- inces in America have no redundance of inhabitants ; and what inducements can be offered in good faith to her subjects in Europe, for undertaking a voyage of six months to the Columbia, or a voyage to Canada and a subsequent journey of five thousand miles through her wild and frozen Indian territories, so long as the West Indies, Southern Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and, lastly - the Uni- ted States - are open to them? The difficulties experienced by American citizens in their passage to Oregon, along the valleys of the Platte and the Lewis, great though they may be at present, sink into insignificance, when compared with those which British sub- jects must encounter, in proceeding to that country, by either of the routes above indicated : and the contrast becomes still stronger, when we compare the character and habits of Americans, trained from their childhood to struggle and provide against the hardships and privations incident to the settlement of a new country, with those of Europeans, accustomed only to a routine of labor the most simple, and the least calculated to nourish energies or to stimulate invention.
The history of the western section of America, has now been concluded. Accounts have been presented of all the expeditions, discoveries, settlements and other events worthy of record, in that
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CONCLUSION. [1844.
part of the world ; and of all the claims, and pretensions advanced by civilized nations, and all the discussions, negotiations and con- ventions between them with regard to it. Of these international questions, the only serious one remaining undetermined, is that between the United States and Great Britain, the subject of which is no less than the right of possessing the vast territories of the Columbia, commonly called the Oregon region. Concerning this question, it has been shown - that the United States asserted that right against Great Britain in 1815, as founded on the discoveries and settlements of their citizens, prior to any made by the other party ; and that having, in 1819, obtained by the Florida treaty, all the titles of Spain to those countries, their government has ever since claimed the entire and exclusive sovereignty over them, though it has more than once offered, for the sake of peace, to surrender to Great Britain, all north of the forty-ninth parallel of latitude. It has also been shown, that Great Britain first claimed the entire sovereignty of the Columbia territories, on the ground of their hav- ing been early taken possession of, and ever since considered as part of the British dominions, and then of settlements made in them by her subjects, coeval with, if not prior to, any made by American citizens ; after all which direct and positive assertions of absolute right, it was finally, in 1826, declared by that power in her ultimatum, - that she claimed no exclusive sovereignty over any portion of those territories, and that her pretensions with regard to them, were limited to a right of joint occupancy of the whole, in common with other states, agreeably to the Nootka convention of 1790, between her and Spain, leaving the right of sovereignty in abeyance. The grounds of all these conflicting claims, the nature and duration of the Nootka convention, and the extent and charac- ter of the provisions of the convention of 1827, between Great Britain and the United States, agreeably to which the part of Amer- ica in question, has remained to this day free and open to the citi- zens and subjects of both nations, have been examined and reviewed so fully in the preceding pages. that farther particulars with regard to them are unnecessary.
The period during which the right of dominion over the Oregon regions, might remain in abeyance, is now drawing to a close. Under the existing convention, Great Britain has enjoyed almost all the advantages which she could have derived from those countries in any case ; the United States have, however, secured the continuance
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CONCLUSION.
1844.]
of their title unimpaired ; that they did not obtain farther benefits from the arrangement, has been in a great measure due to them- selves, or rather to the consideration that they could direct their efforts more profitably elsewhere. This state of things can, however, no longer continue. American citizens, relying on the justice of the claims of their republic to the countries of the Columbia, are remov- ing thither in great numbers ; and it becomes the duty of their govern- ment, which has always asserted and supported those claims, to provide for their protection and secure enjoyment of the fruits of their labor, by measures entirely incompatible with the stipulations of the subsisting convention. With this view, Great Britain has been again invited to a negotiation, for the settlement of the questions of terri- torial right, already so often and so vainly discussed ; the invitation has been accepted, and the Hon. Richard Pakenham has arrived at Washington, as Minister Plenipotentiary from that government, provided - as there is reason to believe - with instructions to treat for a definitive partition of the countries to which these questions relate.
It is scarcely within the province of the historian to anticipate, or at least to carry his speculations farther than the immediate conse- quences of events which have already occurred. It appears, how- ever, to be certain, that under all or any succeeding circumstances, whether of peaceful partition of the countries in dispute, or - the only other probable alternative - of war between the two claimant powers, those countries will receive their population from the United States. Nearly a thousand citizens of the federal republic- a number far greater than that of the first settlers in Virginia or in New England - have within a few months entered Oregon ; and an equal number will soon follow, with the determination to make it their home. Many of them will, doubtless, like all other emigrants to new countries, repent of having engaged in such an enterprise ; and some will probably return, to seek a more agreeable abiding- place in the regions of the east : but the great majority will remain beyond the Rocky Mountains, and they and their descendants will spread northward and southward from the Columbia so far as soil and climate may invite.
END OF THE HISTORY.
PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
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PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
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ORIGINAL ACCOUNT OF THE VOYAGE OF THE GREEK PILOT JUAN DE FUCA ALONG THE NORTH-WEST COASTS OF AMERICA, IN 1592.
A Note made by me, Michael Lock the elder, touching the Strait of Sea commonly called Fretum Anian, in the South Sea, through the North- West Passage of Meta Incognita .*
WHEN I was at Venice, in April, 1596, haply arrived there an old man, about sixty years of age, called, commonly, Juan de Fuca, but named properly Apostolos Valerianus, of nation a Greek, born in Cepha- lonia, of profession a mariner, and an ancient pilot of ships. This man, being come lately ont of Spain, arrived first at Leghorn, and went thence to Florence, where he found one John Douglas, an Englishman, a famous mariner, ready coming for Venice, to be pilot of a Venetian ship for England, in whose company they came both together to Venice. And John Douglas being acquainted with me before, he gave me knowledge of this Greek pilot, and brought him to my speech; and, in long talks and conference between us, in presence of John Douglas, this Greek pilot declared, in the Italian and Spanish languages, thus much in effect as followeth : -
First, he said that he had been in the West Indies of Spain forty years, and had sailed to and from many places thereof, in the service of the Spaniards.
Also, he said that he was in the Spanish ship which, in returning from the Islands Philippinas, towards Nova Spania, was robbed and taken at the Cape California by Captain Candish, Englishman, whereby he lost sixty thousand ducats of his own goods.
Also, he said that he was pilot of three small ships which the viceroy of Mexico sent from Mexico, armed with one hundred men, under a cap- tain, Spaniards, to discover the Straits of Anian, along the coast of the South Sea, and to fortify in that strait, to resist the passage and proceed- ings of the English nation, which were feared to pass through those
" Extracted from the Pilgrims of Samuel Purchas, vol. iii. p. 849. The orthogra- phy of the English is modernized. The letters inserted are, however, given in their original lingua Franca. See p. 87 of the History.
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PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
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straits into the South Sca; and that, by reason of a mutiny which hap- pened among the soldiers for the misconduct of their captain, that voyage was overthrown, and the ship returned from California to Nova Spania, without any thing done in that voyage; and that, after their return, the captain was at Mexico punished by justice.
Also, he said that, shortly after the said voyage was so ill ended, the said viceroy of Mexico sent him out again, in 1592, with a small caravel and a pinnace, armed with mariners only, to follow the said voyage for the discovery of the Straits of Anian, and the passage thereof into the sea, which they call the North Sea, which is our north-west sea; and that he followed his course, in that voyage, west and north-west in the South Sea, all along the coast of Nova Spania, and California, and the Indies, now called North America, (all which voyage he signified to me in a great map, and a sea card of mine own, which I laid before him,) until he came to the latitude of 47 degrees ; and that, there finding that the land trended north and north-east, with a broad inlet of sea, between 47 and 48 degrees of latitude, he entered thereinto, sailing therein more than twenty days, and found that land trending still sometime north-west, and north-east, and north, and also east and south-eastward, and very much broader sea than was at the said entrance, and that he passed by divers islands in that sail- ing; and that, at the entrance of this said strait, there is, on the north- west coast thereof, a great headland or island, with an exceeding high pinnacle, or spired rock, like a pillar, thereupon.
Also, he said that he went on land in divers places, and that he saw some people on land clad in beasts' skins ; and that the land is very fruit- ful, and rich of gold, silver, pearls, and other things, like Nova Spania.
And also, he said that he being entered thus far into the said strait, and being come into the North Sea already, and finding the sea wide enough every where, and to be about thirty or forty leagues wide in the mouth of the straits where he entered, he thought he had now well dis- charged his office; and that, not being armed to resist the force of the savage people that might happen, he therefore set sail, and returned home- wards again towards Nova Spania, where he arrived at Acapulco, anno 1592, hoping to be rewarded by the viceroy for this service done in the said voyage.
Also, he said that, after coming to Mexico, he was greatly welcomed by the viceroy, and had promises of great reward ; but that, having sued there two years, and obtained nothing to his content, the viceroy told him that he should be rewarded in Spain, of the king himself, very greatly, and willed him, therefore, to go to Spain, which voyage he did perform.
Also, he said that, when he was come into Spain, he was welcomed there at the king's court ; but, after long suit there, also, he could not get any reward there to his content; and therefore, at length, he stole away out of Spain, and came into Italy, to go home again and live among his own kindred and countrymen, he being very old.
Also, he said that he thought the cause of his ill reward had of the Spaniards, to be for that they did understand very well that the English nation had now given over all their voyages for discovery of the north- west passage; wherefore they need not fear them any more to come that way into the South Sea, and therefore they needed not his service therein any more.
Also, he said that, understanding the noble mind of the queen of
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PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
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England, and of her wars against the Spaniards, and hoping that her majesty would do him justice for his goods lost by Captain Candish, he would be content to go into England, and serve her majesty in that voyage for the discovery perfectly of the north-west passage into the South Sea, if she would furnish him with only one ship of forty tons' burden, and a pinnace, and that he would perform it in thirty days' time, from one end to the other of the strait; and he willed me so to write to England.
And, upon conference had twice with the said Greek pilot, I did write thereof, accordingly, to England, unto the right honorable the old Lord Treasurer Cecil, and to Sir Walter Raleigh, and to Master Richard Hak- luyt, that famous cosmographer, certifying them hereof. And I prayed them to disburse one hundred pounds, to bring the said Greek pilot into England with myself, for that my own purse would not stretch so wide at that time. And I had answer that this action was well liked and greatly desired in England; but the money was not ready, and therefore this action died at that time, though the said Greek pilot, perchance, liveth still in his own country, in Cephalonia, towards which place he went within a fortnight after this conference had at Venice.
And, in the mean time, while I followed my own business in Venice, being in a lawsuit against the Company of Merchants of Turkey, to re- cover my pension due for being their consul at Aleppo, which they held from me wrongfully, and when I was in readiness to return to England, I thought I should be able of my own purse to take with me the said Greek pilot; and therefore I wrote unto him from Venice a letter, dated July, 1596, which is copied here under : -
* " Al Magco. Sigor. Capitan Juan de Fuca, Piloto de India, amigo mio charmo. en Zefalonia.
" MUY HONRADO SENNOR,
" Siendo yo para buelverme en Inglatierra dentre de pocas mezes, y accuerdandome de lo trattado entre my y V. M. en Venesia sobre el viagio de las Indias, me ha parescido bien de scrivir esta carta a V. M. para que se tengais animo de andar con migo, puedais escribirme presto en que maniera quereis consertaros. Y puedais embiarmi vuestra carta con esta nao Ingles, que sta al Zante (sino hallais otra coiuntura meior) con el sobrescritto que diga en casa del Sennor Eleazar Hyc- man, mercader Ingles, al tragetto de San Tomas en Venisia. Y Dios guarde la persona de V. M. Fecha en Venesia al primer dia de Julio, 1596 annos.
" Amigo de V. M., " MICHAEL LOCK, Ingles."
.
* To the Magnificent Captain Juan de Fuca, Pilot of the Indies, my most dear friend in Cephalonia.
MOST HONORED SIR,
Being about to return to England in a few months, and recollecting what passed between you and myself, at Venice, respecting the voyage to the Indies, I have thought proper to write you this letter, so that, if you have a mind to go with me, you can write me word directly how you wish to arrange. You may send me your letter by this English vessel, which is at Zante, (if you should find no better op- portunity,) directed to the care of Mr. Eleazer Hyckman, an English merchant, St Thomas Street, Venice. God preserve you, sir.
Your friend, MICHAEL LOCK, of England.
VENICE, July 1st, 1596. 52
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[A.
And I sent the said letter from Venice to Zante in the ship Cherubin ; and, shortly after, I sent a copy thereof in the ship Minion, and also a third copy thereof by Manea Orlando, patron de nave Venetian. And unto my said letters he wrote me answer to Venice by one letter, which came not to my hands, and also by another letter, which came to my hands, which is copied here under : -
* " Al Illmo. Sigor. Michael Lock, Ingles, in casa del Sigor. Lasaro, merca- der Ingles, al tragetto de San Tomas en Venesia.
" MUY ILLUSTRE SIGOR.
" La carta de V. M. recevi a 20 dias del mese di Settembre, por loqual veo loche V. M. me manda. Io tengho animo de complir loche tengo promettido a V. M. y no solo yo, mas tengo vinte hombres para lievar con migo, porche son hombres vaglientes; y assi estoi esperando por otra carta che avisé á V. M. parache me embiais los dinieros che tengo escritto a V. M. Porche bien save V. M. como io vine pover, porque me glievo Captain Candis mas de sessenta mille dncados, como V. M. bien save; embiandome lo dicho, ire a servir a V. M. con todos mis com- pagneros. I no spero otra cosa mas de la voluntad é carta de V. M. con tanto nostro Sigor. Dios guarda la illustre persona de V. M. muchos annos. De Ceffalonia a 24 de Settembre del 1596.
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