USA > Oregon > History of Oregon, Vol. I, 1834-1848 > Part 58
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579
THE 'FISGARD.'
Captain Kaiser's company of Oregon Rangers, as they took that name, some of the same members being again enrolled, and the former captain acting as presi- dent of the meeting.
On the very day that Kaiser sent his report of these proceedings to Oregon's journal, Ogden, writing from Fort Vancouver to the same, announced the arrival at Nisqually of H. M. frigate Fisgard, forty-two guns, and a crew of three hundred and fifty men, which had come to remain for the summer, or as long as the war- cloud threatened.10 The news brought by the Fisgard, as late as December from England and January from New York, was rather quieting than otherwise. It was thought that the corn laws would be repealed and free-trade instituted, which would open British ports to American bread-stuffs, and it was believed greatly lessen the war feeling in the western states, where President Polk's supporters were strongest.11 The president had also made proposals for altering the tariff, favorable to Great Britain; all of which was reassuring. At the same time it was evident that the French government, whose officers in the Hawai- ian Islands courted the favor of the officers of the English fleet in the Pacific, would support the claims of Great Britain; and the pretensions of the French in the Pacific were tolerated by England in order to obtain this support. 12
10 The Fisgard was officered as follows: captain, J. A. Duntz; lieutenants, John Rodd, Charles Dyke, George Y. Patterson, Edward W. Lang, Edward D. Ashe; marines, Lieutenant Henry H. M'Carthy, and Fleetwood J. Rich- ards; master, Edmund P. Cole; chaplain, Robert Thompson; surgeon, Thomas R. Durm; purser, Thomas Rowe; second master, James Crosby; iustructor, Robert M. Joship; 14 midshipmen. Roberts says: ' A small building erected for a midshipmen's school at Nisqually was standing only a few years ago. It was known to us as the " castle of indolence."' Recollections, MS., 78.
11 Had the corn laws of England been abolished a few years earlier, so that a market could have been found for the grain raised in the Mississippi Valley, the history of Oregon might now be read differently, since the farmers who emigrated to the Pacific coast would have remained at home to raise corn and wheat for Great Britain.
12 The N. Y. Herald of Nov. 30, 1845, remarks: 'The accounts from Tahiti state that H. B. M. ship Collingwood, Admiral Sir George Seymour, had arrived there and saluted the French Protectorate flag. This is rather singular, and seems to indicate that the English, in order to carry some point in the Pacific,
580
THE WAR FEELING IN OREGON.
The newspaper mail of the Fisgard, however, revealed the fact that there was a majority of the democratic party in the United States house of repre- sentatives of nearly two to one, and in the senate a majority of six. This latter circumstance was re- garded as indicating that the president's policy would be carried out as defined in his message.
On the 23d of August, 1844, said President Polk, the negotiations on the subject of the Oregon boun- dary, which had been pending in London since October 1843, were transferred to Washington. The proposi- tion of the British plenipotentiary was to divide the Oregon Territory by the 49th parallel, from the Rocky Mountains to the point of its intersection with the northernmost branch of the Columbia River, and thence down that river to the sea, leaving the free navigation of the river to be enjoyed by both parties; the country south of this line to belong to the United States, and that north to Great Britain. In addition to this, it was proposed to yield a strip of coast north of the Columbia extending from Bullfinch Harbor to the Strait. of Fuca, and from the Pacific to Hood Canal; and to make free to the United States any ports they might desire, either on the Mainland or on Vancouver Island-a proposition identical with one offered in 1826, with the exception of the free ports, and which was promptly rejected by the United States plenipotentiary. A request was then made that the United States should frame a proposal. Nothing, however, had been done when the administration changed, and Polk came into office.
The president said that though he held the opinion that Great Britain had no title to the Oregon Terri- tory that could be maintained upon any principle of public law recognized by nations, he had felt it his duty to defer to the opinions and acts of his prede-
have concluded to recognize and tolerate the French aggressions in that sea. See also Mofras, Explor., tom. i. 294; Id., tom. ii. 254; Greenhow's Hist. Or., 159, 341-3.
581
OREGON BEFORE CONGRESS.
cessors, who had offered to adjust the boundary on the 49th parallel, two of them also offering the free navigation of the Columbia; and a proposition had accordingly been made, repeating the offer of the 49th parallel, but withdrawing the free navigation of the Columbia ; and which in its turn had been indignantly rejected by the British plenipotentiary. He was now of opinion that the year's notice required by the con- vention of 1827 should be given, and the treaty of joint occupancy terminated, before which neither gov- ernment could rightfully assert or exercise exclusive jurisdiction over any portion of the territory.13
In the mean time he recommended such legislation by congress as would be proper under the existing treaty, and considered it beyond question that the pro- tection of the United States laws and jurisdiction ought immediately to be extended over Americans in Ore- gon, who had just cause to complain of long neglect, and who had been driven to organize a government for themselves. The extent to which jurisdiction might be extended over the territory should be in full as far as the British government had gone in the act of parliament of July 2, 1821, by which the courts of Upper Canada were empowered to take cog- nizance of civil and criminal cases,14 and to appoint justices of the peace and other political officers in Ore- gon. He also recommended that the laws of the United States regulating trade and intercourse with the natives east of the Rocky Mountains should be extended over the tribes west of the mountains; that a suitable number of military posts should be estab- lished on the route to Oregon, to give protection to emigrants; that an overland mail, as often as once a month, should also be established ; and in addition to these proposed measures, congress should be prepared,
13 29th Cong., 1st Sess., Sen. Doc. No. 1, 11-14; London Chronicle, Dec. 24, 1845; Or. Spectator, June 11, 1846.
14 Civil cases, not exceeding in the cause of action the sum of £200, and criminal cases, where the punishment was not capital. Wyse's America, ii. 304.
1
582
THE WAR FEELING IN OREGON.
as soon as the year's notice had expired, to make lib- eral grants of land to the settlers in Oregon.
The president closed that portion of his message which related to Oregon with the avowal of his belief in the Monroe doctrine of non-interference of foreign powers with North American territories, and the assurance that should any such interference be attempted it would be resisted at all hazards.15
Notwithstanding this decided policy of the new administration, it was generally thought by the lead- ing men in congress that there would be no war. The senate was entirely against it, and it was ridiculed even in the house, though the propriety of increasing the navy was considered, as a peace measure. The house would probably be in favor of giving notice; but in the senate the measure was opposed, particu- larly by southern members. 16
Such was the intelligence that reached Oregon in May, and was published in the Spectator in June. News of a few weeks' later date, received from the Islands, informed the colonists that a resolution had passed the house to give the notice, by a vote of one hundred and sixty-three to fifty-four; but that in the senate, the vote, if taken, it was believed would stand twenty-two for and thirty-four against it. Bv the
15 The president's message changed the tone of the French press. In the Spectator of August 20th was a quotation from the Washington Union, taken from the Courrier des Etats Unis, containing these comments on President Polk's message: 'Not that the message does not bear the impress, in all the questions to which it refers, of a frankness and vigor which invest it with a powerful interest or thrilling importance, but Mr Polk has displayed an ad- mirable skill in disguising the energy of thoughts and the boldness of inten- tions under forms full of moderation, address, and courtesy. It has been many years since the people of the United States held toward foreign nations a language so proud and so calm. Upon the Oregon Question the Courrier remarked that 'there had been little suspicion of the extent of the concessions which had, up to the last hour, been offered to Great Britain, and which are now for the first time revealed. Public opinion is scandalized, and with great reason, at the blundering obstinacy which England has shown in refusing these concessions; and those even who were least disposed to insist on the rights of the United States are of opinion that concessions were carried suf- ficiently far; and if they have any regrets, they are not disposed to blame the resolution taken by Mr Polk to yield nothing more to John Bull, whose avid- ity is insatiate.'
16 N. Y. Jour. of Commerce, Jan. 21, 1846.
583
THE FOURTH OF JULY.
same paper they learned that the frigate Congress, Commander Dupont, with Commodore Stockton on board, had sailed for the Pacific coast, her cruising ground supposed to be the Oregon coast; and also that it was rumored that the whole British force in the Pacific was making sail for the Columbia River.17
There was always something to protract anxiety ; yet the colonists continued the cultivation of their fields, building, and road-making, with unceasing faith that their claims to land and improvements would be protected. In this spirit preparations were made for a Fourth-of-July celebration in Salem, recently so named, and in Oregon City. At the latter place was erected a liberty-pole presented to the committee of arrangements by William Holmes; a round of thirty- one guns was fired, and an oration delivered by Peter H. Burnett,18 which was followed by a dinner and toasts, with cheering and firing of guns, the festivities being concluded by a ball in the evening.
At Salem the management of the celebration was placed in the hands of the newly organized military company, the Oregon Rangers. It was on this occa- sion that the company was presented with a flag made by Mrs Horace Holden and Miss Looney. The
17 Honolulu Friend, May 1, 1846; Polynesian, April 25, 1846.
18 As this was the first public celebration by the colonists of the Fourth of July, the following facts concerning its observance may not be without interest. The procession was formed under the management of Wm Finley, marshal of the day, at the City Hotel, kept by H. M. Knighton, and marched to the Methodist church, the flag of the United States being borne at the head. The ceremonies opened with prayer by J. L. Parrish; the declaration of independence was read by A. L. Lovejoy, after which followed the oration of Judge Burnett. The assembly then marched back to the hotel, where a public dinner was served, after which the usual toasts were read, with cheer- ing and firing of guns, but without the use of wines or liquors. There were 13 regular toasts, full of the spirit of 1776, and a number of others, all more or less colored by the peculiar situation of the country. The toast, 'Oregon belonging to the United States and rightfully claiming her protec- tion, and ever ready to repel any insult offered in seducing her from that path by hired emissaries, come from what source they may,' was received with 10 cheers and 3 guns. 'The United States of America, an example for the world, a bone of jealousy to tyrants, the home of the free, the land of the brave, and an asylum of the oppressed,' received 13 cheers and 5 guns. Among the volunteer toasts was one by A. L. Lovejoy, 'May the time soon come when the lion and unicorn may cease to go about the North American continent seeking whom they may bite !' Oregon Spectator, July 9, 1846.
584
THE WAR FEELING IN OREGON.
oration was delivered by W. G. T'Vault, after which a barbecue and public dinner was served, followed, not by a ball, but by a sermon, as was considered proper in a missionary town,19 delivered by Harvey Clark.
It had been a subject of annoyance to the colonists that two well-equipped British men-of-war should be stationed in Oregon waters, and that while a fleet of American vessels sported in the Pacific, not one was in the Columbia. But this grievance was removed when there entered on the 18th of July the schooner Shark, twelve guns, Neil M. Howison, commander,20 which had been repairing at the Islands since the month of April, and left Honolulu on the 23d of June. Reach- ing the mouth of the Columbia, she anchored, and fired guns signalling for a pilot, but no pilot appearing, Lieutenant Howison, with the master, pulled in be- tween the breakers and sounded the channel, after which he brought the vessel in. On rounding Cape Disappointment he was hailed by a boat which con- tained A. L. Lovejoy, H. H. Spalding, and W. H. Gray. The negro pilot, already mentioned, was recom- mended, but in twenty minutes he ran the schooner hard aground on Chinook shoal. Lovejoy and Gray immediately put off to Astoria for assistance, and in the morning Mr Latta, the pilot of the Hudson's Bay Company, was brought on board, who took the Shark to her anchorage off Astoria, the vessel having worked off the sands during the night. Howison then proceeded with his ship to Vancouver, where he was received July 24th with the utmost cordiality by the officers of the Modeste and the fort. On the 26th he made an attempt to cross the bar at the mouth of the Willamette, with the intention of as-
19 The ceremonies took place where the house of Asahel Bush now stands. Kaiser's Nar., MS., 11-12.
20 The Shark's officers were Neil M. Howison, lieut. commanding; W. S. Schenck, acting [master; James D. Bullock, lieut. ; Wm S. Hollis, purser; Edward Hudson, assist. surgeon; T. McLanahan, T. J. Simes, and H. David- son, midshipmen; J. M. Maury, passed midshipman, captain's clerk. Oregon Spectator, Aug. 6, 1846.
585
OTHER VESSELS OF WAR.
cending that river as far as possible; but not being able to get the schooner over, was forced to return to Vancouver, while a party of the Shark's officers pro- ceeded in a boat to Oregon City.21
Howison arrived at Vancouver in time to partici- pate in the first formal horse-races on record,22 which occurred on the 25th of July, and which, together with the advent of a United States war vessel, drew together an unusual number of people, and furnished the American officers an opportunity to become acquainted with the prevailing state of feeling. Every courtesy was extended to the commander of the Shark, which attentions were received as courteously as ren- dered; but, as in the case of Wilkes, the independent American settler would have preferred that the United States officers should not have been thus placed under obligations.
Howison's report is probably the best authority extant upon the condition of affairs in Oregon at this time. He came as an observer, had good opportunities of hearing both sides of the question, and appears to have written fairly, and without prejudice. There was no motive for him to conceal anything from the eyes of government. He affirms that he found pre- vailing an intense excitement on the boundary question among all classes; and that he enjoined his officers in writing to refrain from arguments touching the owner- ship of the soil, but to allay instead of increase the excitement, while at the same time they were to seek all the information they could gather respecting the country.23
But it would have been impossible, under the cir- cumstances, to prevent the marines and sailors from mixing with the people, and becoming inspired with
21 Howison's Coast and Country, 1-3.
22 Oregon Spectator, Aug. 20, Oct. 1, 29, 1846.
23 Coast and Country, 3. The excitement was kept up by the surmises of the Sandwich Islands papers concerning the destination of the English fleet, the Polynesian of the 6th of June reporting that the Collingwood was going to Puget Sound, to deposit naval stores and to fortify. Or. Spectator, Aug. 20, 1846.
586
THE WAR FEELING IN OREGON.
much of their intolerance of foreign intrusion; for in that spirit, notwithstanding the facts in the case, they insisted on viewing the presence of the British men- of-war, the Modeste, Fisgard, and Cormorant, which latter strongly armed. vessel was stationed at the entrance to Puget Sound. 24
The presence of the British flag, which had been a source of ill-suppressed ire, was rendered more openly obnoxious by the appearance of the United States colors,25 and the intelligence brought by the Shark that the United States squadron, consisting of the frigates Congress and Savannah, and the sloops of war Cyane, Portsmouth, Levant, and Warren, were on the coast of Mexico and California, while the store-ship Erie was at the Islands provisioning for the fleet. Thus sustained, the belligerent feelings of the ultra- patriotic were privileged to exhibit themselves. Nor was the feeling of hostility with which many of the colonists regarded the officers of the British vessels entirely of a national character. In the eyes of the free and independent emigrants from the border of the United States, anything so cultivated, disciplined, and formal as a British military officer was an offence. They were not inspired with awe, like an Englishman, but with dislike and envious contempt.26
After ascertaining that the Shark could not be taken into the Willamette, Howison visited Oregon City, where the people received him with a salute fired from a hole drilled in an anvil, probably the same which had done service on the 4th of July, and where
24 ' The Shark people had said they would take the Modeste out of the river any time they were ordered.' Jackson, in Camp-fire Orations, MS., 9.
25 ' Any future Martin who may write from the British side will say we got on smoothly, even lovingly, with the early immigrants, until after the advent of the U. S. schr. Shark, Capt. Howison. She came to show the flag. There was, we found, a noticeable change after that.' Roberts' Rec., MS., 49.
26 ' The English officers used every gentlemanly caution to reconcile our countrymen to their presence, but no really good feeling existed. Indeed, there could never be congeniality between persons so entirely dissimilar as an American frontier man and a British naval officer. But the officers never, to my knowledge, had to complain of rude treatment.' Howison's Coast and Country, 4; Gibbs, in Pacific R. Rept., i. 421.
587
SHIPWRECK OF THE 'SHARK.'
he became the guest of Abernethy. Accompanied by the governor, he made a tour of the Willamette Valley, after which Abernethy returned with him to Vancouver, where for two days he was entertained on board the Shark. A warm intimacy sprung up be- tween the commander and the governor, and every opportunity was afforded the former for becoming acquainted with the social interests of the country. While the commander was thus engaged, the other officers were visiting points on the Columbia with the same object, Howison being under orders to leave the river by the 1st of September. Meanwhile ten of his men deserted, tempted by the high price of labor and the prospect of owning land,27 always a great allure- ment to sailors. Two of the deserters were returned to the vessel, but the others succeeded in escaping arrest. Howison perceived that to retain his crew he must shorten his stay, and on the 23d of August took his departure from Vancouver. Passing slowly down the river, in going out on the 10th of October the Shark was carried on the south spit, and became a total wreck.
This disaster, the second to a United States vessel at the mouth of the Columbia, was most complete. Offi- cers and men were cast ashore without food or cloth- ing, helpless and miserable. Leaving his crew poorly sheltered at Astoria, Howison returned to Vancouver, meeting by the way the cutter of the Modeste loaded with provisions, clothing, and such articles as were likely to be needed, which had been sent from the fort where the news of the wreck was received on the 14th. Purchasing the necessary supplies on the most favorable terms at Vancouver,26 Howison returned to
27 ' The few American merchant vessels which had visited the Columbia, suffered the greatest inconvenience from the loss of their men in this way, and it is now customary for them to procure a reenforcement of kanakas, in passing the Sandwich Islands, to meet this exigency.' Howison's Coast and Country, 4.
28 Cash, at Oregon City, and with the American merchants, was worth 12 per cent more than bills; yet the company furnished all Howison's requisi- tions, whether for cash or clothing, taking bills on Baring Brothers at par. Coast and Country, 5.
. 588
THE WAR FEELING IN OREGON.
Astoria, where three houses were erected for the winter quarters of the crew, there being then no ex- pectation of leaving the country for some time.29 The United States flag was planted on shore, the place taking on quite an air of military life.30 About the end of October the fur company's vessel Cadboro was chartered for the removal of the Shark's crew to San Francisco,31 and the 16th of November they went on board, but the winter storms prevented the vessel from crossing the bar before the 18th of January.
On the breaking-up of the Shark's quarters at Astoria, Howison presented to the government of Oregon the colors of the wrecked schooner, and also as many of the vessel's guns as could be recovered. This was the first flag owned by the territory ; 32 and the only gun they had hitherto was a twelve-pounder which had been presented to the corporation of Ore- gon City by Benjamin Stark, Jr., who arrived in Oregon as supercargo of the American bark Toulon in June previous. 33
The loss of the Shark was especially regretted by the
29 The houses were two log structures, 30 by 24 feet, 1} stories, well floored and boarded, with kitchen and bake-oven, and a large, square, 2-story frame building, intended for officers' quarters, but which was never finished. The latter, long known as the Shark House, was left in charge of Colonel John McClure. It was afterward put to a variety of uses, and served at one time as a custom-house; but was finally taken as a residence by W. H. Gray; and later turned to account as a cheap tenement-house. Scammon, in Overland Monthly, Dec. 1869, 496; Crawford's Nar., MS., 136.
30 Howison says the flag was hoisted on the 'very spot which was first settled by the white men on the banks of the Columbia; ' seeming unaware of the settlement made by the Winship brothers at Oak Point.
31 The price asked for the vessel's charter was £500, which Howison says in his opinion was an extravagant one. Coast and Country, 6. The company in this way, perhaps, reimbursed themselves for a part of their advances to American citizens; or considering the risk of crossing the bar at that season, the amount charged may not have been exorbitant.
32 Or. Spectator, Dec. 24, 1846.
33 Three of the Shark's carronades came ashore at Tillamook with a part of the hull, but only one of them could be dragged above high-water mark by the party sent by Howison to recover them. He notified Abernethy of the position, hoping that during the smooth seas of summer they might be taken on board a boat. But there is no account of their recovery. Howison remarks the singular fact that all the articles recovered were of metal, and heavy; and was evidently ignorar' .f the current setting into this Strait of Fuca, which would have carri. northward all the lighter portions of the wreck.
589
THE NOTICE BILL.
colonists, as damaging to the character of the Colum- bia's entrance. They chafed under the fact that the United States had lost two men-of-war on the sands at the mouth of the river, and that the reports of government officers were of a nature to alarm ship- masters and keep commerce away.34 The occasion was seized upon to discuss this subject in all its bear- ings in the columns of the Spectator, and, what was of more importance, the legislature of 1846 was im- pelled to pass a pilotage law, authorizing the governor to appoint commissioners to examine and license pilots for the bar and river, who should give bonds, keep suitable boats, and collect fees, according to law. Under this act, in April 1847, S. C. Reeves was ap- pointed the first pilot for the Columbia River bar, which office he retained until the gold discovery in California.35 Thus little by little, as necessity de- manded, were added those means of safe passage to and from the colony, by land and sea, which the means at hand afforded.
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