An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho, Part 6

Author:
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: [S.l.] : Western Historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1524

USA > Idaho > Kootenai County > An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho > Part 6
USA > Idaho > Nez Perce County > An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho > Part 6
USA > Idaho > Shoshone County > An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho > Part 6
USA > Idaho > Latah County > An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho > Part 6

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Rivalry between these two companies was carried to such an extent that both were brought to the verge of bankruptcy. British interests were being en- dangered through this trade war and something had to be done. The governor general of Canada appointed a commission to investigate conditions, and that com- mission recommended a union of the two companies. Nothing, however, of material benefit resulted. Event- ually, in the winter of 1819-20, Lord Bathurst, Brit- ish secretary of state for the colonies, took up the matter and through his meditation a union was finally effected. On March 20, 1821, it was mutually agreed that both companies should operate under the charter of the Hudson's Bay Company, furnishing equal amounts of capital and sharing equally the profits, the arrangement to continue in force for twenty-one years.

By 1824 all the rights and interests of the stock- holders late of the Northwest Company had passed into the hands of the Hudson's Bay Company. The absorb- tion of the one corporation by the other was com- plete. The treacherous and perfidious treatment of Mr. Astor and the demoralization of his partners availed the greedy Northwesters but little, for they were soon after conquered and subdued and forever deprived of their identity as a company by their powerful rival and enemy.

The Hudson's Bay Company now became the sole owner and proprietor of the trade west of the Rocky mountains, and of all the rights accruing under the license of trade issued to it and the Northwest Com- pany by the British parliament. An "imperium in im- perio" Evans characterized this company and such it was for it was in possession of well-nigh absolute power over its employes and the native races with whom it traded. It was constituted "The true and ab- solute lords and proprietors of the territories, limits and places, save always the faith, allegiance and sov- ereign dominion due to us (the crown), our heirs and successors, for the same, to hold as tenants in fee and common socage, and not by knight's service, reserving as a yearly rent, two elks and two black beavers." Power was granted, should occasion arise, to "send ships of war, men or ammunition to any fort, post or place for defense thereof ; to raise military companies and to appoint their officers ; to make war or conclude peace with any people (not Christian), in any of their territories," also "to seize the goods, estates or people of those countries for damage to the company's inter- est, or for the interruption of trade ; to erect and build forts, garrisons, towns, villages; to establish colonies

HISTORY OF NORTH IDAHO.

and to support such establishments by expeditions fit- ted out in Great Britain ; to seize all British subjects not connected with the company, or employed by them, or in such territory by their license, and send them to England." Should one of its factors, traders or other employees "contemn or disobey an order, he was liable to be punished by the president or council, who were authorized to prescribe the manner and measure of punishment. The offender had the right to appeal to the company in England, or he might be turned over for trial by the courts. For the better discovery of abuses and injuries by the servants, the governor and company, and their respective president, chief agent or governor in any of the territories,. were authorized to examine on oath all factors, masters, pursers, super- cargoes, commanders of castles, forts, fortifications, plantations, or colonies, or other persons, touching or concerning any matter or thing sought to be investi- gated." To further strengthen the hands of the com- pany, the charter concludes with a royal mandate to all "admirals, vice-admirals, justices, mayors, sheriffs, constables, bailiffs, and all and singular other our of- ficers, ministers, liegemen, subjects whatsoever, to aid, favor, help and assist the said governor and company to enjoy, as well on land as on the seas, all the prem- ises in said charter contained, whensoever required."

Something of the modus operandi of the company must now be given. The chief factors and chief trad- ers were paid no salaries, but in lieu thereof were given forty per cent. of the profits, divided among them on some basis deemed equitable by the company. The clerks received salaries varying from twenty to one hundred pounds per annum. Below these again were the servants, whose term of enlistment (for such in effect it was) was for five years, and whose pay was seventeen pounds per annum without clothing. The servant was bound by indentures to devote his whole time and labor to the company's interests ; to yield obe- dience to sprerior officers ;to defend the company's property; to faithfully ohey the laws, orders, etc; to defend officers and agents of the com- pany to the extent of his ability; to serve in the capacity of a soldier whenever called upon so to do; to attend military drill; and never to engage or be interested in any trade or occupation except in accordance with the company's orders and for its bene- fit. In addition to the pittance paid him, the servant was entitled, should he desire to remain in the country after the expiration of his term of enlistment, to fifty acres of land, for which he was to render twenty-eight days' service per annum for seven years. If dismissed before the expiration of his term, the servant, it was agreed, should be transported to his European home free of charge. Desertion or neglect might be punished by the forfeiture of even the wretched pittance he was to receive. It was, furthermore, the policy of the com- pany to encourage marriage with the Indian women, their purpose being to create family ties which should bind the poor slave to the soil. By the time the serv- ant's term of enlistment had expired, there was, there- fore, usually no choice left him but to re-enlist or ac- cept the grant of land. "In times of peace, laborers

and operatives were ever on hand at mere nominal wages ; in times of outbreak they were at once trans- formed into soldiers amenable to military usage and discipline."

The system was certainly a fine one, viewed from the standpoint of the company, but while it may com- mand admiration for its ingenuity, it is certainly not to be commended for magnanimity. Its design and purpose was to turn the wealth of the country into the coffers of the English noblemen who owned Hudson's Bay stock, even though this should be done at the ex- pense of the manhood, the self-respect and the inde- pendence of the poor sons of toil who foolishly or from necessity bound themselves to its service.

The Indian policy of the company was no less politic than its treatment of its employees, but it had much more in it that was truly commendable. Its purpose did not bring its employees into conflict with the Indian, nor require his expulsion, neither was there danger of the lands of the savages being appropriated or the graves of their people disturbed. The sale of intoxi- cants was positively and successfully prohibited. Con- ciliation was the wisest policy for the company, and it governed itself accordingly ; but when punishment was merited, it was administered with promptness and se- verity. When depredations were committed the tribe to which the malefactor belonged was pursued by an armed force and compelled to deliver up the guilty to his fate. A certain amount of civilization was in- troduced, and with it came an increase of wants, which wants could only be supplied at the company's forts. Indians were sent on hunting and trapping expedi- tions in all directions, so that concentration of tribes became difficult, and if attempted, easily perceived in time to circumvent it and prevent trouble. Thus the company secured an influence over the savage and a place in his affections, from which it could not easily be dislodged.

In its treatment of missionaries, civil and military officers and others from the United States, the com- pany's factors and agents were uniformly courteous and kind. Their hospitality was in the highest degree commendable, meriting the gratitude of the earliest visitors and settlers. The poor and unfortunate never asked assistance in vain. But woe to the American who attempted to trade with the Indian, to trap, hunt or do anything which brought him into competition with the British corporation. All the resources of a company supplied with an abundance of cheap labor, supported by the friendship and affection of the aboriginal peo- ples, backed by an almost unlimited capital, and forti- fied by the favor of one of the wealthiest and most powerful nations of the earth, were at once turned to crush him. Counter establishments were formed in his vicinity, and he was hampered in every way possible and pursued with the relentlessness of an evil fate until compelled to retire from the field.

Such being the condition. there was not much en- couragement for American enterprise in the basin of the Columbia. It is not, however, in the American character to yield a promising prospect without a strug- gle and many times efforts were made at competition in

HISTORY OF NORTH IDAHO.

the Oregon territory. William H. Ashley, Jedediah S. Smith, Captain Nathaniel J. Wyeth and others tried their hands but all were compelled to give up in de- spair.

More important perhaps than the loss of profits which might accrue to America from the successful prosecution of the fur trade was the weakening of America's title to the country, through the establish- ment of British trading posts, the colonization of re- tired officers and servants as cultivators of the public domain, etc. It is true that the joint occupancy con- ventions of 1818 and 1827, by which British and Ameri- cans alike were allowed to occupy the country, ex- pressly stipulated that no advantage should inure to either of the high contracting parties by virtue of any acts performed subsequent to the date of the first con- vention. However clear and explicit the language of the treaty, no observer could fail to note that the establishment of trading enterprises was giving Great Britain a decided advantage in the struggle for title to the Oregon country. The Hundson's Bay Company had a political mission and was playing a prominent part in inter-national affairs. This it openly avowed in 1837 in its application to the home government for a new license granting enlarged privileges. It pointed boastfully to its efficient services in successfully crush- ing out American enterprise, and in strengthening the British title to the territory, contrary to the spirit and letter of the joint occupancy treaties.

In presenting the petition, the company's chief rep- resentative in England, Sir John Henry Pelly, called the attention of the lords to the service rendered in securing to the mother country a branch of trade, wrested from subjects of Russia and the United States of America ; to the six permanent establishments it had on the coast, and the sixteen in the interior, besides the migratory and hunting parties ; to its marine of six armed vessels; to its large pasture and grain farms, affording every species of agricultural produce and maintaining large herds of stock. He further averred that it was the intention of the company to still further extend and increase its farms, and to establish an ex- port trade in wool, hides, tallow and other produce of the herd and the cultivated field, also to encourage the settlement of its retired servants and other emigrants under its protection. Referring to the soil, climate and other circumstances of the country, he said they were such as to make it "as much adapted to agricultural pursuits as any other spot in America ; and," said he, "with care and protection the British dominion may not only be preserved in this country, which it has been so much the wish of Russia and America to occupy to the exclusion of British subjects, but British interest and British influence may be maintained as paramount in this interesting part of the coast of the Pacific."

Sir George Simpson, who was in charge of the Hud- son's Bay Company's affairs in America, in making his plea for the renewal of the license, referred to the international import of the company's operations in this language : "The possession of that country to Great

Britain may be an object of very great importance ; and we are strengthening that claim to it (independent

of the claims of prior discovery and occupation for the purpose of Indian trade) by forming the nucleus of a colony through the establishment of farms, and the set- tlement of some of our retired officers and servants as agriculturists."

One might almost expect that Great Britain would offer some word of reproof to a company which could have the audacity to boast of violating her treaty com- pacts with a friendly power. Not so, however. She was a party to the breach of faith. Instead of admin- istering reproof, she rewards the wrong-doers by the promptly issuing of a new license to extend and be in force for a period of twenty-one years. This renewed license, the date of which is May 31, 1838, granted to the company "the exclusive privilege of trading with the Indians in all such parts of North America, to the northward and westward of the islands and territories belonging to the United States of America, as shall not form part of any of our ( Britishi) provinces in North America, or of any lands or territories belonging to the said United States of America, or to any European government, state, or power. Without rent for the first five years, and afterward the yearly rent of five shill- ings, payable on the Ist of June." The company was again required to furnish a bond conditioned on their executing by their authority over the persons in their employ, "all civil and criminal process by the officers or persons legally enipowered to execute such process within all territories included in the grant, and for the producing or delivering into custody, for the purpose of trial, all persons in their employ or acting under their authority within the said territories, who shall be charged with any criminal offenses." The license, how- ever, prohibited the company "from claiming or exer- cising any trade with the Indians on the northwest coast of America westward of the Rocky mountains to the prejudice or exclusion of any of the subjects of any foreign state, who, under or by any force of any con- vention for the time being between Great Britain and such foreign states, may be entitled to and shall be en- gaged in such trade." But no provision could be framed, nor was it the wish of the grantors to frame any, which should prevent the Hudson's Bay Company from driving out by harassing tactics and fierce compe- tition, any American who might enter the Oregon ter- ritory as a trader.

Though the citizens of the United States failed to compete with the powerful British company for the profits of the fur trade, neither they nor their govern- ment viewed the aggressiveness of the British with any- thing like apathy. The value of the country early be- came appreciated by a determined little band in con- gress. The debates in that body, as well as the numer- ous publications sent out among the people, stimulated a few daring spirits to brave the dangers of Rocky mountain travel and to see for themselves the truth with regard to Oregon. Reports from these reacted upon congress, enabling it to reason and judge from premises more nearly in accordance with fact. Grad- ually interest in Oregon became intensified, and the determination to hold it for. the United States deep- ened. While the country never receded from its con-

HISTORY OF NORTH IDAHO.

viction of the existence of an absolute right of sover- eignty in itself. the people resolved to establish a title which even the British could not question, to win Oregon from Great Britain even in accordonce with the tenets of her own theory. They determined to settle and Americanize the territory. In 1834 an ele- ment of civilization was introduced of a vastly higher nature than any which accompanied the inroad of the Hudson's Bay Company's employees and of trappers and traders ; an element more potent also in its politi- cal effect as the event proved. We refer to the en- trance into the country of a party of Methodist mis- sionaries, which accompanied Wyeth's overland expe- dition. The party consisted of Rev. Jason Lee and his nephew, Rev. Daniel Lee, Cyrus Shepherd, Court- ney M. Walker and P. L. Edwards. These settled near the site of the present city of Salem, forming the nucleus of a thrifty American colony, for the party was perforce increased by the marriage of some of its members and by additions to its numbers as the neces- sities of the mission and the progress of its work de- manded. Not only that but the adventurous Rocky mountain men and other whites who became weary of their nomadic habits when they determined to set- tle down naturally sought its vicinity for the sake of its helpful society and influence.

Two years later came another missionary party, sent out by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, an organization then supported by the Congregational, Presbyterian and Dutch Reformed churches. The members of this party were Dr. Mar- cus Whitman and wife, Rev. H. H. Spalding and wife and W. H. Gray. We must pass over for the present the work of these men and those who later became their associates, but their political influence was not less potent than that of the Methodist mis- sionaries and it is certain that Whitman's famous mid- winter ride overland to the east had for one of its momentous results the stimulating of immigration into Oregon. Undoubtedly a large proportion of the near- ly nine hundred who were piloted over the Rockies by Whitman in 1843, were induced to come through the representations and efforts of that great mission- ary patriot.

But besides the missions, several other forces were at work to populate the Northwest with an American people which must be passed over here. The inde- pendent population of the country in 1841 was per- haps 253 ; in 1842 came an immigration of III per- sons : in 1843 came the immigration of 875 persons referred to above; the next year brought 800 more; 1846 added another thousand according to estimate, and so the population continued to grow by annual accretions. America had determined to oppose her citizens, as settlers and home builders, against the British fur traders, thus introducing into the Oregon question a feature, the vital force and import of which could not be denied by the adverse claimant.

But the transcendant importance of this great con- troversy demands that we trace briefly the history of diplomatic negotiations by which was effected a peace- ful adjustment of international interests so diametri-

cally opposed to each other as to twice all but occa- sion actual conflict of arms.

We need not attempt to trace all the conflicting claims which were at any time set up by different na- tions to parts or the whole of the old Oregon territory, nor to go into the controversy in all its multiform complications, but will confine our inquiry mainly to the negotiations after Great Britain and the United States became the sole claimants. France early estab- lished some right to what denominated "the western part of Louisiana," which, in 1762, she conveyed to Spain. This was retroceded to France some thirty- eight years later, and in 1803 was by that nation con- veyed with the rest of Louisiana to the United States. So France was left out of the contest. In 1819, by the treaty of Florida, Spain ceded to the United States all right and title whatsoever which she might have to the territory on the Pacific, north of the forty-second parallel.

What then were the claims of the United States to this vast domain ? Naturally they were of a three-fold character. Our government claimed first in its own right. The Columbia river was discovered by a citi- zen of the United States and named by him. The river had been subsequently explored from its sources to its mouth by a government expedition under Lewis and Clark. This had been followed and its effect strength- ened by American settlements upon the banks of the river. While Astoria, the American settlement, had been captured in the war of 1812-15, it had been re- stored in accordance with the treaty of Ghent, one pro- vision of which was that "all territory, places and pos- sessions whatsoever, taken by either party from the other during the war, or which may be taken after the signing of this treaty, shall be restored without de- lay."

It was a well established and universally recog- nized principle of international law that the discovery of a river, followed within a reasonable time by acts of occupancy, conveyed the right to the territory drained by the river and its tributary streams. This, it was contended, would make the territory between forty-two degrees and fifty-one degrees north latitude the rightful possession of the United States.

The Americans claimed secondly as the successors of France. By the treaty of Utrecht, the date whereof was 1713, the north line of the Louisiana territory was established as a dividing line between the Hudson's Bay territory and the French provinces in Canada. For centuries it had been a well recognized principle of international law that "continuity" was a strong element of territorial claim. All European powers when colonizing the Atlantic seaboard, construed their colonial grants to extend, whether expressly so stated or otherwise, entirely across the continent to the Pa- cific ocean, and most of these grants conveyed in ex- press terms a strip of territory bounded north and south by stated parallels of latitude and east and west by the oceans. Great Britain herself had stoutly main- tained this principle, even going so far as to wage with France for its integrity, the war which was ended by the treaty of 1763. By that England acquired

HISTORY OF NORTH IDAHO.

Canada and renounced to France all territory west of the Mississippi river. It was therefore contended on the part of the United States that England's claim by continuity passed to France and from France by as- signment to this nation. This claim, of course, was subject to any rights which might prove to belong to Spain.

Thirdly, the United States claimed as the succes- sor of Spain, all the rights that nation might have ac- quired by prior discovery or otherwise having accrued to the United States by the treaty of Florida.

In the negotiations between Great Britain and the United States, which terminated in the Joint-Occu- pancy treaty of 1818, the latter nation pressed the former for a final quit claim of all territory west of the Rocky mountains. In so doing it asserted its inten- tion "to be without reference or prejudice to the claims of any other power," but it was contended on the part of the American negotiations, Gallitin and Rush. that the discovery of the Columbia by Gray, its exploration by Lewis and Clark, and the American settlement at Astoria rendered the claim of the United States "at least good against Great Britain to the country through which such river flowed, though they did not assert that the United States had a perfect right to the country."

When, however, the United States succeeded to Spain, it was thought that all clouds upon its title were completely dispelled, and thereafter it was the contention of this government that its right to sole occupancy was perfect and indisputable. Great Brit- ain, however, did not claim that her title amounted to one of sovereign or exclusive possession, but simply that it was at least as good as any other. Her theory was that she had a right to occupancy in conjunction with other claimants, which by settlement and other- wise might be so strengthened in a part or the whole of the territory as to ultimately secure for her the right to be clothed with sovereignty.

In the discussion of the issue, the earliest explora- tions had to be largely left out of the case, as they were attended by too much vagueness and uncertainty to bear any great weight. The second epoch of ex- ploration was, therefore, lifted to a position of promin- ence it could not otherwise have enjoyed. Perez and Heceta, for the Spainards, the former in 1774, and the latter a year later, had explored the northwest coast to the fifty-fifth parallel and beyond, Heceta dis- covering the mouth of the Columbia river. To offset whatever rights might accrue from these explorations, England had only the more thorough but less exten- sive survey of Captain James Cook, made in 1778. The advantage in point of prior discovery would, therefore, seem to be with the United States as assignee of Spain.

After the Joint-Occupancy treaty of 1818 had been signed, negotiations on the subject were not re- opened until 1824. In that year, obedient to the mas- terly instructions addressed to him on July 22, 1823, by John Quincy Adams, secretary of state, Richard Rush. minister to England, entered into negotiations with the British ministers Canning and Huskisson

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An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho, Part 6

Author: Publication date: 1903 Publisher: [S.l.] : Western Historical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1524

Author:
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: [S.l.] : Western Historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1524