A History of Oregon, 1792-1849 Part 30

R. SHORTESS.

A. E. WILSON.

Our history would not be complete without these doc.u.ments. It will be noticed in Mr. Pomeroy's deed, as also all the other deeds given by Dr.

McLaughlin, that he "warrants and defends" against all lawful claims of all persons whomsoever, _the claims of the government only excepted_. He would not insert _United States government_, for he expected the English would get the country. He a.s.serts in his deeds, "And I, the said McLaughlin, _for myself_, do vouch and declare that I am the true and proper claimant of, and to the said premises and lot of land, and that I have in myself full power and good right."

Any one questioning his power and authority was made to feel it in a manner more severe than that of any governor of a State or of the President of the United States.

It was unfortunate that, at the time Dr. McLaughlin was making his claim to the land and his improvements at Oregon City, it was not known that he had, or would, sever his connection with the Hudson's Bay Company, and become an American citizen, as he afterward did. It was his connection with, and apparent control over, the affairs of the company, that created the strong American prejudice against him, and deceived many as to his intentions, besides giving occasion for a strong feeling in favor of Rev. Mr. Waller, who employed a Mr. John Ricord to prepare a declaration setting forth his claim to that location, as follows:--

"_To the People of Oregon:_

"FELLOW-CITIZENS,--Having been retained professionally to establish the claim of Mr. Alvin F. Waller to the tract of land on the east side of the Wallamet River, sometimes called the Wallamet Falls settlement, and sometimes Oregon City, I consider it a duty to my client and to the public to state, briefly and concisely, the several circ.u.mstances of his case, as they really exist, in order that his motives may not be impugned, nor his intentions misunderstood and misrepresented.

"The public are already aware that my client commenced the occupancy of this farm in the spring of A.D. 1840, when no one resided at the falls, and that, in the course of that summer, he built his house, moved his family into it, and cleared and fenced a good portion of the land; from which, in the ensuing years A.D. 1841 and 1842, he raised successive crops of corn, potatoes, and other vegetables usually cultivated by farmers. That he remained thus occupying undisturbed, until the month of December, A.D. 1842, about two years and six months, when Dr. John McLaughlin caused his farm to be surveyed, for the purpose of selling it in subdivisions to American citizens. It has since been currently reported and quite generally believed that my client had renounced his right in favor of Dr.

McLaughlin. This I am authorized to contradict, having perused the letter written by Mr. Waller, which not only contains no renunciation, but, on the contrary, is replete with modest and firm a.s.sertions of his rights in the premises; offering at the same time to relinquish his claim if the doctor would comply with certain very reasonable and just conditions. Upon this offer the parties had come to no final conclusion until my arrival in the colony, when Dr.

McLaughlin attempted to employ me to establish his claim, disregarding the rights of all other persons, which I declined doing. Mr. Waller thereupon engaged me to submit the conditions a second time to the doctor for his acceptance or rejection, which I did in the following words:--

"'1st. That your pre-emptive line be so run as to exclude the island upon which a private company of citizens have already erected a grist-mill, conceding to them as much water as may be necessary for the use of said mills.

"'2d. That Mr. Waller be secured in the ultimate t.i.tle to the two city lots now in his possession and other lots not exceeding in superficial area five acres, to be chosen by him from among the unsold lots of your present survey.

"'3d. That the Rev. Mr. Lee, on behalf of the Methodist Episcopal Mission, be, in like manner, secured in the lots claimed for the use of said mission.' They consist of church and parsonage lots, and are well known to the public.

"I received a letter from Dr. McLaughlin, dated November 10, 1843, in answer to mine, in which he declines complying with the above conditions, and thus puts an end to the offer of my client to relinquish his right of pre-emption. Under these circ.u.mstances Mr.

Waller has now applied to the Supreme Court of the United States, which, under the Const.i.tution, has original jurisdiction of 'all cases in law and equity, arising under treaties,' to grant him a commission for perpetuating the testimony of the facts in his case, _de bene esse_, in order that whenever Congress shall hereafter see fit to prescribe, by law, the conditions and considerations, he may be enabled to demand of the United States a patent; also praying the court to grant him such other relief in the premises as may be consonant with equity and good conscience.

"The legality of Mr. A. F. Waller's claim rests upon the following grounds:--

"1st. He was a citizen of the United States, of full age, and possessed of a family when he came to reside on the premises; 2d. He built a house upon them and moved his family into it, thus becoming in fact and in law a householder on the land; 3d. He cleared, fenced, and cultivated a portion of it during two years and six months before he was disturbed in his actual possession; and 4th.

That he is not at this moment continuing to cultivate his farm is not his fault, since it was wrested from him.

"The illegality of Dr. McLaughlin's claim rests upon the following grounds:--

"1st. He was a British subject owing allegiance to a foreign power, and has so continued to be ever since the spring of A.D. 1840. For this reason alone he could not acquire pre-emption to lands in the United States.

"2d. He is chief officer of a foreign corporative monopoly. For this reason alone he could not acquire pre-emption to lands in the United States.

"3d. He does not now, and never did, reside on the land in question; but, on the contrary, he resides, and has always continued to reside, on the north bank of the Columbia River, the section of country actually in dispute between the two governments, about twenty miles from the land claimed by Mr. Waller, and there he is obliged to remain so long as he continues to be chief factor.

"4th. He is not in fact the claimant. The Hudson's Bay Company, a foreign corporation, is in fact the claimant, while Dr. McLaughlin only lends his name; well knowing that a corporation, even though it be an American one, can not acquire a pre-emption. This is evinced by the employment of men to be his agents, and to sell lots for him, who are at the same time partners in, and receiving dividends and salaries from, the company.

"5th. The pretensions of Dr. McLaughlin arose, if at all, two years and six months after the actual settlement of Mr. Waller; and therefore they are in direct violation of the treaty of A.D. 1827, converting the mutual and joint occupation into an exclusive occupancy by British subjects.

"6th. The treaty of joint occupation (1827) does not, and was never intended, on the part of the United States, to confer any rights of citizenship upon foreigners. The power to confer such rights is, by the Const.i.tution, reserved to Congress. And the right to acquire t.i.tle by pre-emption is peculiar to citizens.

"These, fellow-citizens, are the facts and some of the points of law in my client's case. Upon the same principle contended for by Dr.

McLaughlin, any of you may incur the risk of being ousted from your farms in this colony, by the next rich foreigner who chooses to take a fancy so to do, unless in the first instance you come unanimously forward and resist these usurpations. It is not my client's intention to wrong any who have purchased lots of the doctor; and to guard against the injury which might result to individuals in this respect, I have carefully drawn up the form of a bond for a warrantee deed, which Mr. Waller is at all times ready, without any further consideration, to execute to any person who has, in good faith, bought of the doctor, prior to the date of this notice, by being applied to at his residence. Mr. Waller does not require one cent of money to be paid to him as a consideration for his bonds--the trouble, expense, and outlays they have already incurred, with a desire to save all such persons harmless from pecuniary loss, is a good and sufficient consideration in law to bind him in the proposed penalty of one thousand dollars. (See Cowan's Digest--a.s.sumpsit, B).

"I am of opinion that Mr. Waller has rights in the premises, which neither Dr. McLaughlin, nor even Congress, by any retrospective legislation, can take away from him,--and therefore, fellow-citizens, in sincere friendship, I would counsel you to lose no time in applying to him for your new bonds.

"JOHN RICORD,

"Counselor in the Supreme Court of the United States, and attorney for Alvin F. Waller.

"Dated December 20, 1843."

CHAPTER x.x.xIX.

Extracts from Mr. Hines' history.--Attempt to capture an Indian horse-thief.--Dr. McLaughlin refuses to sell supplies to the signers of the pet.i.tion.--Excitement in the settlement.--Interview with Dr. McLaughlin at Vancouver.

"April 14.--Information was brought to the settlement from the Clackamas tribe of Indians, who live three miles below the falls of the Wallamet, which served to increase the excitement occasioned by the reports from the interior. It appears that an Indian of the Molalla tribe, connected with the Clackamas Indians by marriage, stole a horse from a man by the name of Anderson, and when asked by the latter if he had stolen his horse and rode him off, answered, 'Yes, I stole your horse, and when I want another one I shall steal him also.' To this Anderson replied, 'If you stole my horse you must pay me for him.' 'Yes,' said the Indian, 'I will pay you for him, take that horse,' pointing to a very poor horse which stood near by, with one eye out, and a very sore back. Anderson replied, 'That is a very poor horse, and mine is a good one; I shall not take him, and if you don't bring him back I will report you to Dr.

White.' 'I am not afraid of Dr. White,' said the Indian; 'let him come if he wants to, and bring the Boston people with him; he will find me prepared for him.'

"Anderson not being able to effect a settlement with the Indian, immediately reported him to the agent, whereupon the latter wrote to a man at the falls, by the name of Campbell, to take a sufficient number of men armed with muskets, and go very early in the morning to the Indian camp, and take the horse-thief a prisoner, and bring him to the falls.

"Accordingly, Campbell procured five men, and went to the camp as commanded, but found thirty or forty Indians painted in the most hideous manner, and armed with muskets, bows and arrows, tomahawks and scalping-knives, and determined at all events to protect the horse-thief, and drive back those that should come to take him. Campbell rushed on to take the rogue, but met with much resistance from superiority of numbers; and finding that the enterprise, if urged forward, would terminate in bloodshed, if not in the loss of all their lives, sounded a retreat, and extricating himself from the Indians, returned to the falls. He communicated the result of his attempt to Dr.

White, and the doctor started off immediately in company with G. W. Le Breton, resolved to capture the thief and bring the tribe to terms."

This day's proceedings are given as a specimen of the foolish conduct of Dr. White and his friends.

"April 17.--The excitement still continues, former reports having been confirmed, and all were engaged in repairing guns, and securing ammunition. A report was in circulation that Dr. McLaughlin refused to grant supplies for any consideration, to all those persons who subscribed the memorial praying the Congress of the United States to extend jurisdiction over Oregon. If this be so, the American population (as nearly all signed the memorial) will not be able to obtain ammunition, however necessary it may be, as there is none in the country except what may by found within the stockades of Vancouver. I think, however, that the report is false. Report says, furthermore, that the Klikitat Indians are collecting together back of the Tualatin plains, but for what purpose is not known. The people on the plains, consisting of about thirty families, are quite alarmed. There is also a move among the Calapooyas. Shoefon, one of the princ.i.p.al men of the tribe, left this place a few days ago, and crossed the Wallamet River, declaring that he would never return until he came with a band of men to drive off the Boston people. He was very much offended because some of his people were seized and flogged, through the influence of Dr. White, for having stolen a horse from some of the missionaries, and flour from the mission mill. His influence is not very extensive among the Indians, or we might have much to fear.

"The colony is indeed in a most defenseless condition; two hundred Indians, divided into four bands, might destroy the whole settlement in one night.

"In the evening of the 17th, Dr. White arrived at my house, bringing intelligence from the falls. He and Mr. Le Breton attempted to go to the falls on horseback, but in trying to ford Haunchauke River, they found the water so deep they were obliged to swim, and the doctor turned his horse's head and came out the side he went in; but Le Breton, being the better mounted of the two, succeeded in gaining the opposite sh.o.r.e; and having the doctor's letters in his possession, continued on to the falls. The doctor returned to the settlement. Le Breton returned the following day, and brought information from the five men who had attempted to take the Indian who had stolen Anderson's horse, that soon after their retreat the Indians became alarmed and broke up in great haste; but, before they left, they informed Anderson that the horse they had stolen from him was worn out and good for nothing, and tying a good horse to a tree near Anderson's house, they told him that he must take that and be satisfied. They then hurried away, saying that they should not be seen in that region again. It was ascertained that the Clackamas Indians had nothing to do with the stolen horse; that it was a band of the Molallas, the very same rascals that stole a horse from me two years before, and after having him in their possession several weeks, brought him down within a few miles of my house, where they encamped, and where I went with one man and took him from the midst of more than fifty grim-looking savages."

This shows at least that Mr. Hines had personal courage.

"On the 20th of April a letter was received in the settlement, written by H. B. Brewer, at the Dalles, which brings the latest intelligence from the infected region. This letter states that the Indians in the interior talk much of war, and Mr. Brewer urges Dr. White to come up without delay, and endeavor to allay the excitement. He does not inform us that the Indians design any evil toward the whites, but says that the war is to be between themselves, but that the Boston people have much to fear. As the doctor, in his visit to the interior last October, left an appointment to meet the Wallawalla Indians and the Cayuses, in their own country, on the 10th of May, and believing that a great share of the excitement originated in a misunderstanding of the Indians, he came to the conclusion at all hazards to go among them. At the solicitation of the agent, I determined to accompany him on the expedition.

"The great complaint of the Indians was that the Boston people designed to take away their lands, and reduce them to slavery. This they had inferred from what Dr. White had told them in his previous visit; and this misunderstanding of the Indians had not only produced a great excitement among them, but had occasioned considerable trouble betwixt them and the missionaries and other whites in the upper country, as well as influencing them to threaten the destruction of all the American people. Individuals had come down from Fort Wallawalla to Vancouver, bringing information of the excited state of things among the Indians, and giving out that it would be extremely dangerous for Dr. White to go up to meet his engagements. Their opinion was, that in all probability he and the party which he might think proper to take with him would be cut off. But it was the opinion of many judicious persons in the settlement, that the welfare of the Indians, and the peace and security of the whites, demanded that some persons qualified to negotiate with the Indians should proceed immediately to the scene of disaffection, and if possible remove the cause of the excitement by correcting the error under which the Indians labored. Accordingly Dr. White engaged twelve men besides myself, mostly French-Canadians who had had much experience with Indians, to go with him; but a few days before the time fixed upon to start had arrived, they all sent him word that they had decided not to go. They were doubtless induced to pursue this course through the influence of Dr. McLaughlin and the Catholic priests."

Most likely, Mr. Hines, but you seem to be afraid to express a decided opinion, even after they have accomplished their object.

"When the day arrived for starting, we found ourselves abandoned by every person who had engaged to go, except Mr. G. W. Le Breton, an American, one Indian boy, and one Kanaka. With the two latter the doctor and myself left the Wallamet settlement on the 25th of April, 1843, and proceeded on horseback to the b.u.t.te, where we found Le Breton in waiting for us. He had provided a canoe and a few pieces of pork and beef for our use on the voyage.

"Here we met a letter from Dr. John McLaughlin, at Vancouver, discouraging us from our undertaking in view of the difficulties and dangers attending such an expedition; but we had counted the cost, and were not to be diverted from our purpose, though danger stared us in the face. We supposed that if the Indians entertained any hostile intentions against the whites in general, there could be no better way to defeat their purposes than to go among them; convince them that they had no grounds of fear; and that the whites, instead of designing to bring them into subjection, were desirous of doing them good. Prevented by one thing and another from setting sail, on the night of the 27th we slept on a bank of sand at the b.u.t.te, and next day proceeded in our little canoe down to Wallamet Falls, where we continued until the 29th. Here we received another package from Dr. McLaughlin, giving us information that Rev. Mr. Demerse, a Catholic priest, had just come down from the upper country, bringing intelligence that the Indians are only incensed against the Boston people; that they have nothing against the French and King George people; they are not mad at them, but are determined that the Boston people shall not have their lands, and take away their liberties.

"On receiving this intelligence from Mr. Demerse, Dr. McLaughlin advised the Frenchmen, who had engaged to go with Dr. White, to have nothing to do with the quarrel, to remain quiet at home, and let the Americans take care of themselves. He also expressed, in his letter, the opinion that all the people should remain quiet, and in all probability the excitement among the Indians would soon subside.

"Not seeing sufficient reason to change our course, on the morning of the 28th we left our hospitable friends at the falls and continued our course down the Wallamet toward Vancouver. At noon we had sailed twenty miles, and stopped for dinner within five miles of the mouth of the Wallamet, on a low piece of ground, overgrown with luxuriant gra.s.s, but which is always overflowed at the rise of the Columbia, or about the first of June. Weighed anchor after dinner, and at four o'clock, P.M., arrived at Vancouver. Called on Dr. McLaughlin for goods, provisions, powder, b.a.l.l.s, etc., for our accommodation on our voyage up the Columbia, and, though he was greatly surprised that, under the circ.u.mstances, we should think of going among those excited Indians, yet he ordered his clerks to let us have whatever we wanted. However, we found it rather squally at the fort, not so much on account of our going among the Indians of the interior, as in consequence of a certain memorial having been sent to the United States Congress, implicating the conduct of Dr. McLaughlin and the Hudson's Bay Company, and bearing the signature of seventy Americans. I inquired of the doctor if he had refused to grant supplies to those Americans who had signed that doc.u.ment; he replied that he had not, but that the authors of the memorial need expect no more favors from him. _Not being one of the authors, but merely a signer of the pet.i.tion, I did not come under the ban of the company_; consequently I obtained my outfit for the expedition, though at first there were strong indications that I would be refused.

"We remained at the fort over night and a part of the next day, and after a close conversation with the gentleman in command, were treated with great courtesy."