USA > Oregon > History of Oregon, Vol. I, 1834-1848 > Part 59
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While Lieutenant Howison was yet at Vancouver, intelligence arrived that congress had at length passed the notice bill-that is to say, the year's notice which should lawfully terminate the treaty-recommended by the president, and which the colonists had so long desired. 36 This agreeable news was brought by Selim E. Woodworth,37 bearer of the despatches to the
3+ Howison in his report said that the dangers of the bar were not only really great, but were magnified for political purposes by the Hudson's Bay Company, it not being to their interest to remove the fancied difficulties of the entrance. If Howison had said for commercial purposes, he would have been right; he was right in saying they had no charts, and wanted none.
35 Or. Spectator, April 15, 1847. Reeves was a good pilot and daring sailor. He went to California in the autumn of 1848 in a ship's long-boat, carrying two spars to be thrown over in a triangle as outriggers in case of a storm. Two men from Astoria accompanied him. He returned as pilot of a ship in the winter of 1848-9, and again sailed for California, where he sailed a small sloop, the Flora, on the bay, which was capsized in a squall in the month of May, drowning Reeves and a son of James Loomis of Oregon. Crawford's Nar., MS., 191.
36 Or. Spectator, Sept. 3, 1846; Id., Oct. 1, 1846.
37 Son of the author of 'The Old Oaken Bucket.' While in California, in February 1847, he went to the assistance of the California immigrants who took the Hastings cut-off, and were snow-bound in the Sierra.
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THE WAR FEELING IN OREGON.
United States squadron in the Pacific, including the commander of the Shark. No special communication was made to the government of Oregon, but a bundle of newspapers contained sufficient good tidings in the notice bill, and a bill requiring the president to estab- lish military posts between the Missouri and the Columbia, at suitable distances, and authorizing the raising of a regiment of mounted riflemen for service along the line of travel and in Oregon; with the promise also of a mail route to the Pacific, and talk of a railroad to the Columbia River. A pamphlet by George Wilkes was received, containing a memorial to congress, praying for the construction of such a road, appended to which was a memorial to the speaker and representatives of the legislature of Ore- gon, asking for an expression from them to the con- gress of the United States on the subject of a national railroad to the Pacific Ocean, in the hope that their prayer, joined to his own, might procure the passage of a bill then before congress for this purpose. 35
These subjects, so full of interest to the colonists, promising the fulfilment of their loftiest dreams, dulled their appreciation of the accompanying intelligence that the United States was actually at war with Mexico, and that, therefore, since England still main- tained a belligerent tone, there was prospect of serious work for the government. Nor did the fact create any obvious dissatisfaction that Benton, Oregon's champion for more than two decades, as well as Web- ster, Calhoun, and other distinguished statesmen, now advocated the final settlement of the question on the 49th parallel instead of the popular 'fifty-four forty' boundary. A salute was fired, and the American flag hoisted, while a general expression of cheerfulness and
38 This scheme was for a free national road to be supported by tolls suffi- cient to pay its expenses, and not a corporate monopoly. Wilkes was in advance of his times; but the principle he advocated is undoubtedly the cor- rect one for developing the great interior of the continent. See Cong. Globe, 1845-6, 414, 445, 1171, 1206; Or. Spectator, Sept. 17, 1846.
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THE BOUNDARY ESTABLISHED.
animation prevaded the entire community,39 inspired by the thought of a glorious future as a part of a federal union extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific. In this hopeful humor, and occupied by the changes occurring on the influx of a large immigration, two months passed rapidly by, and then came the grand announcement of the settlement of the Oregon boun- dary. The gratifying intelligence was found in Hono- lulu papers brought from the Islands by the bark Toulon." The British consul at the . Islands sent other papers to McLoughlin; in one of which, contain- ing the announcement that the Oregon Question was settled, was an extract from a letter by A. Forbes, consul at Tepic, to Sir George Seymour, commanding the English squadron in the Pacific.
The Oregon government received no official notifi- cation; this chance information was all; but eroded with care which threatened to wear away its founda- tion, the colony now threw off anxiety, assured that congress would establish the Territory of Oregon with a proper government at once; that without war and with no further trouble, this great boon was theirs; and such a country, broad, beautiful, majestic! Again the cliffs round Oregon City fling back the jubilant boom of cannon, and from a tall flag-staff on the banks of the Willamette, over the newly captured wilderness, proudly wave the stars and stripes, promise of happy homes and lofty endeavor. Men grasp each other by the hand, and the organ of a free people spreads in broad capitals across its front the stirring words 'Hail Columbia, happy land !'41
Such was the state of feeling when it was only known in general terms that the boundary was fixed at the 49th parallel, that Vancouver Island' was ex- cluded from the possession of the United States, and
39 Or. Spectator, Sept. 3, 17, 1846.
40 Polynesian, Aug. 29, 1846; New York Gazette and Times, June 19, 1846; S. I. News, August 1846.
41 Oregonian Spectator; Victor's River of the West, 380-1; Evans, in Cr. Pioneer Assoc., Trans., 1877, 27; Evans' Hist. Or., MS., 288-93.
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THE WAR FEELING IN OREGON.
that the navigation of the Strait of Fuca and neigh- boring waters was left open, while the Columbia remained free to the Hudson's Bay Company till the expiration of its charter. But when the treaty itself reached Oregon the disapproval of the Americans was general; not because of failure to secure the whole of Oregon, but because in the territory claimed by and relinquished to the United States, the Hudson's Bay Company were confirmed in the possession of land or other property occupied by them in the territory,42 and promised payment for the same in case they re- linquished it to the United States.
Man is a preposterous pig; probably the greediest animal that crawls upon this planet. Here were fertile lands and temperate airs; meadows, forests, and mountains; bright rivers and a broad ocean sea- board, enough of earth for half a dozen empires; and all for nothing-all stolen from the savages, and never yet a struggle, never yet a dollar in return, only fevers, syphilis, and the like by way of compensa- tion; and yet these colonial representatives of the great American nation grudge their brethren, but little later than themselves from Great Britain, a few squares of land round the posts which they had built and occupied so long, and that when they could not positively say with truth that these same British brethren had not as good a right as they to the whole of it. And they fell to cursing; they cursed the British, and particularly President Polk for failing to carry out his policy avowed before election. Believing
42 Articles III. and IV. of the treaty ran as follows: 'In the future appro- priation of the territory south of the 49th parallel of north latitude, as pro- vided in the first article of this treaty, the possessory rights of the Hudson's Bay Company and all British subjects who may be already in the occupation of land or other property lawfully acquired within said territory, shall be respected. The farm, lands, and other property of every description, belong- ing to Puget's Sound Agricultural Company, on the north side of the Colum- bia River, shall be confirmed to the said company. In case, however, the situation of those farms and lands should be considered by the United States to be of public and political importance, and the United States government should signify a desire to obtain possession of the whole or any part thereof, the property so required shall be transferred to the said government at a proper valuation, to be agreed upon between the parties.'
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DISSATISFACTION.
in that promise, they had inscribed on their wagon- covers "54° 40', all or none," and poverty-stricken and piggish, had wended their way to the Pacific in the faith that they were helping to accomplish this high destiny for the United States, this broad des- tiny for themselves; when lo ! here was a treaty which not only gave up nearly five degrees of latitude, but actually granted to the British company in possession south of the boundary all the lands occupied by them, the same being several of the choicest portions of the now undisputed American territory. "Eng- land," said the Spectator, "could have expected noth- ing more. We can say nothing for and much against the document. It can never be popular with the great body of Americans in Oregon. We shall wait anxiously to see how this singular circumstance can be accounted for at home, and how this surprising and unconditional surrender of right will be justified." 43
The people of Oregon were unable to do justice to Mr Polk on the Oregon Question, though the bril- liancy of his administration could not be denied. Nor can we fail now to see that he displayed great tact in the management and final settlement of the long-dis- puted Oregon affairs. He began his administration by informing the world in his message of the long controversy as to title, the concessions offered and rejected by Great Britain, his determination to insist at last upon the United States claim to the whole of Oregon, and with advice to congress to give the twelve months' notice required of the termination of the con- vention of 1818.
Thus Great Britain was made to understand that instead of gaining greater concessions by delay she was in danger of losing all. Her fleet repaired to the Pa- cific, but so did Mr Polk's, and there was no material difference in number of the guns that were carried on either side; while on the soil of Oregon itself the citi- zens of the republic greatly outnumbered those of
$3 Or. Spectator, April 1, 15, 1847.
HIST. OR., VOL. I. 38
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THE WAR FEELING IN OREGON.
Great Britain. England sent her spies to report upon these facts, and they found nothing to encourage them to expect a victory. The United States appeared quite as willing to maintain their rights as Sir Robert . Peel. So far Polk had redeemed his pledge to the people. But in May 1846 Buchanan, secretary of state, after the passage of the notice bill, received a proposition from the British plenipotentiary embody- ing the main points of a treaty which would be agree- able to the English government; namely, the 49th parallel and the Strait of Fuca for the northern boun- dary of the United States; security to British sub- jects north of the Columbia River and south of the 49th parallel, of a perpetual title to their lands and stations of which they were in actual occupation, in all respects the same as to citizens of the United States; and lastly, the present free navigation of the Columbia River, on the same footing as United States citizens.
But in reference to the lands occupied by the sub- jects of Great Britain, it was represented that their settlements north of the Columbia were not numerous; but consisted of "a few private farms, and two or three forts and stations;" and Buchanan was reminded that by their charter the Hudson's Bay Company were prohibited from acquiring title to lands, and that only the lands of these few private settlers, or the Puget Sound Company, would be required to be se- cured to them. As to the actual extent of the Puget Sound Company's lands the negotiators on both sides seemed equally ignorant, as well as the senate, when called upon for advice. It was also suggested to Buchanan that as there was impending a change in the British ministry, which was likely to take place before the end of June, it might be well for the presi- dent to make such modifications of the proposition offered as might be deemed necessary in case of its acceptance, in the hope that the whig minister, when he came into power, would not meddle with that which
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AS TO THE TREATY.
if left entirely to them might be more objectionable than the present offer.
These considerations were certainly not without weight, and President Polk hastened to lay the mat- ter before the senate, and to seek its advice. In his message on this occasion he declared: "My opinions and my action on the Oregon Question were fully made known to congress in my annual message of the 2d of December last, and the opinions therein ex- pressed remain unchanged. Should the senate, by the constitutional majority required for the ratifica- tion of treaties, advise the acceptance of this proposi- tion, or advise it with such modifications as they may, upon full deliberation, deem proper, I shall conform my action to their advice. Should the senate, how- ever, decline by such constitutional majority to give such advice, or to express an opinion on the subject, I shall consider it my duty to reject the offer."#
In asking the advice of the senate on a matter of so much importance as a war with Great Britain, the president only discharged his duty; in taking its ad- vice he was relieved, not only from the responsibility of war, but also from the terms of the treaty to which no important alterations were proposed by the presi- dent's advisers.
There were many, indeed, outside of Oregon, who shared the somewhat unintelligent and extremely partisan feelings of the late immigrants, who thought the president had betrayed the party which elected him. It was, besides, the general impression that the Hudson's Bay Company arranged the terms of the treaty, which was another affront to those who had ever regarded that company with hatred and dis- trust. There was at once truth and error in the sur- mise. The governor 45 of the Hudson's Bay Company,
" Cong. Globe, 1845-6, App. 1168.
45 Roberts' Recollections, MS., 80; Niles' Reg., lxx. 341; Applegate's Views of Hist., MS., 43. No member of the company was ever in the British cabinet. Sir Henry Pelly, governor in 1846, was an influential man. He afterward
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THE WAR FEELING IN OREGON.
while not a member of the government council of England, was consulted as to the third and fourth articles of the treaty, which were for a long time in contemplation by the company in Oregon, and in an- ticipation of which the posts south of the Columbia were not withdrawn, as the directors at one time ordered, to the north side of the river. From the Oregon-American standpoint, the United States had been overreached in the matter of these two articles; and instead of the treaty making an end of the fur company's monopoly, it seemed to fix it upon the ter- ritory more firmly than ever.
There was, however, a weak spot in the treaty which was overlooked by the British plenipotentiary, and by the company itself; and that was in the second article, which left the Columbia River free to British traders, but placed them " on the same footing as citizens of the United States." Citizens of the United States paid duties on imported goods; and so hereafter must the fur company on the Columbia and on the Sound. This point, on the other hand, was not overlooked by Benton while the treaty was under discussion in the senate, but was pointed out to the objecting members by that avaricious but astute states- man.46 In Oregon this point was not at first perceived by either side, and it was only when a United States collector of customs appeared at the mouth of the Columbia that the company itself awoke to its true position.
As to the boundary, the company in Oregon held that England had made a concession, but that it had been wise to do so; and that in the settlement the United States had been treated by England, whose people could afford it, much as a kind parent treats a
was a director of the Bank of England, and also a director of the East India Company, and had the ear of government.
46 Cong. Globe, 1845-6, App., 868. Roberts says: 'Most certainly, in my opinion, the having to pay duties on importations did not occur to them; and no provision for supplying the interior posts (in advance) was made on that account. The company's own stores at Vancouver were, for a time, con- structive bonded warehouses.' Recollections, MS., 80.
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THE UNITED STATES RAMPANT.
wayward child. And in this they were right ; for had England been as unreasonable, overbearing, and insult- ing as the people of the United States, there assuredly would have been war. Yet, after all, in regard to the opposing views of the British and American inhab- itants 'of Oregon, I would not say that either was wrong. Both were educated to a belief in the views they professed, and to see in every circumstance con- firmation of their belief. That which in the eyes of a disinterested spectator might appear as an exhibition of the crudest selfishness was in their estimation only insisting in a manly spirit on their rights. That the Americans were most demonstrative in this display of feeling was natural. England in her dealings with the American colonies, and her behavior toward the young United States, had been far from reputable. The greed and selfishness of that nation has ever grown with its increasing strength. This the people of Oregon knew; and they would gladly have pre- vented Great Britain from occupying a rood of terri- tory on the American continent, and esteemed it a privilege as well as a duty to defend from her grasp any portion of it that by the most liberal construction might be claimed as territory of the United States. Maintaining this position, they felt that they were not only doing their duty to themselves, but serving posterity and enlarging free institutions. 47
But while, as I have elsewhere shown, many statesman were as opposed as ever to the division of the Northwest Coast with Great Britain, the time had come when a settlement must be made. It had come, too, at a juncture when the hands of the govern- ment were filled by the acquisition of new territory south of the southern limits of Oregon, extending to
47 Even the most temperate Americans in Oregon felt sore over the relin- quishment of so much territory. Mr Applegate, who labored so wisely and well to keep the peace, remarked later: 'If we had then as now a railroad across the continent, and had taken possession with an army of 100,000 men months before a British fleet could reach the coast, British arrogance would have taken a much lower key, and Mr Polk's administration would not have dared to yield an inch of Oregon.' Views of History, MS., 48.
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THE WAR FEELING IN OREGON.
the gulf of Mexico; and when Great Britain, perceiv- ing the rapidly growing strength of the republic, was beginning to consider whether it was not best to defer somewhat to its demands for more favorable commercial treaties. To involve the nation in a war at a moment so favorable to its prosperity would have been poor statesmanship. The treaty secured the better portion of the disputed territory to the United States, and made their northern boundary one con- tinuous line westward from the Lake of the Woods to the gulf of Georgia, where alone it deflected south and continued through the Strait of Fuca to the ocean.
As to Oregon itself, the boundary left it in the best possible shape, with the Columbia River, Puget Sound, and all the harbors of the mainland belonging to it. But notwithstanding its apparent merits, the treaty was not a popular one in Oregon. Instead of healing all wounds, and establishing peace by removing causes of contention, it confirmed the hostility of the anti- British monopoly and missionary party, and set them to devising methods of doing for themselves what the treaty had not done for them-that is, to providing for the ejectment from the lands occupied by them of the members of the Hudson's Bay Company.48
The year of 1846, the most exciting and eventful of any since the settlement of the country, witnessed a great change at Fort Vancouver. John McLough- lin was no longer at the head of affairs, having retired to private life in Oregon City. James Douglas had removed to Vancouver Island, where a post had been established at Victoria, which became the company's headquarters, and Peter Skeen Ogden 49 was in con- mand on the Columbia. Mr Roberts, a clerk in the company's service, who had been fifteen years at Van-
48 I have before quoted a remark by Roberts, that it was the appearance of the American flag in the Columbia which first occasioned the colonists to show openly their dislike of the compary. It was not, however, the flag, it was the treaty which immediately followed it, which brought out the apparent change.
49 The factors at Vancouver after Ogden were Ballenden and McTavish.
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EXIT FORT VANCOUVER.
couver, and was factotum of the establishment, had been sent to the Cowlitz farm to superintend the affairs of the Puget Sound Company.
The ancient glory was departing from Vancouver. The Modeste remained through the winter, her offi- cers amusing themselves as best they could. To add to their entertainment, they had the society of Paul Kane, a painter whom Sir George Simpson patron- ized; who studied Indian character, customs, and cos- tumes, and wrote a book entitled Wanderings of an Artist, which contains much diversion and some in- struction, though for the most part superficial. His visit was preceded by that of the Prussian naturalist, Teck, who sailed from Oregon to the Hawaiian Isl- ands,50 in the autumn of 1845. In the latter part of April 1847 the Modeste took her departure, and the company she came to protect were left, at a time when they were most assailed, to care for themselves, their rights under the former convention being at an end.
How the adventurers of England trading into Hud- son's Bay succeeded in defending themselves from the disasters consequent on the inexorable outspreading of the great republic, the pages which follow will reveal.
50 Hines' Or. Hist., 248.
CHAPTER XXII.
POLITICS AND PROGRESS.
1846-1847.
WAITING FOR A TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT-THE QUESTION OF A DELE- GATE TO WASHINGTON-ATTEMPTS TO PROVIDE FOR THE EJECTMENT OF BRITISH SUBJECTS FROM THEIR LAND-LEGISLATIVE PROCEEDINGS- MEMORIAL TO CONGRESS-PUBLIC REPROOF TO TRESPASSERS-REELEC- TION OF ABERNETHY-DOUGLAS' BILL FOR ESTABLISHING A TERRITOBY, AND ITS FAILURE-ACTION OF THE PEOPLE-PRIVATE DELEGATE TO CONGRESS-BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES-THE IMMIGRATION OF 1847.
WITH the news that the notice bill had been passed, and before it was known that a treaty had been con- cluded, the subject of sending a delegate at once to Washington to make known to congress the wants of Oregon began to be agitated; for it was not doubted that immediate action would be taken to adopt the colony as a territory, and there were those who were solicitous as to the changes which must follow, and for official positions for themselves or friends. They said that thousands of people had been induced to emigrate to Oregon by a promise of land, which had been selected and located under the land law of the provisional government; and they wanted these claims confirmed as they were, before any United States surveyor should arrive with power to alter their boundaries in conformity to section lines and subdi- visions.
They needed a delegate to represent the matter in congress, and to give the cooperation asked for to the scheme of a national railroad to the Pacific; an agent who should go armed with a memorial signed
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DELEGATE TO CONGRESS.
by hundreds of men who had travelled the road to Oregon, and could speak intelligently of its facilities for railroad building. This delegate should also pro- mote the mail service to Oregon. It was mentioned with regret that the bill before congress for organizing a territory would allow a delegate to be sent only when there were 5,000 voters or 25,000 inhabitants in the country, and this could not be expected for three or four years. The present population could not afford to wait; they were not numerous, but they were far advanced beyond political infancy, and were in favor of demanding, if need be, the rights of men.1
On the 26th of September a public meeting was held at Oregon City to take into consideration matters relating to the interests of the country. At this meet- ing McCarver offered a resolution in favor of holding primaries in each of the counties, which should send delegates to a general convention to meet at Oregon City, which convention should elect a delegate to con- gress. The resolution also provided for as many delegates to the convention from each county as the law of apportionment would give them members in the legislature.
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