A History of Oregon, 1792-1849 Part 31

CHAPTER XL.

A combination of facts.--Settlers alive to their danger.--Mr.

Hines' disparagement of the Methodist Mission.--Indians want pay for being whipped.--Indian honesty.--Mr. Hines' opinion of the Indians' religion.--Mr. Geiger's advice.--Dr. McLaughlin's answer to Yellow Serpent.--Baptiste Doreo.--Four conflicting influences.

We now have before us a combination of facts and statements that no one living at the time they occurred will attempt to deny. Shortess and others still live to vouch for the truth of what is written. If Mr.

Hines has shown the least partiality in his writings, it is strongly in favor of influences that were operating against him and the cause he advocated; while such men as Rogers, Le Breton, Wilson, Whitman, and others still living, spoke and acted the American sentiment of the country. Mr. Hines and Dr. White had received two packages from Dr.

McLaughlin advising them not to go to the interior, and the Jesuit priest, Demerse, had come down bringing word that the "quarrel" was not with the _French_ and _English_, and that Dr. McLaughlin advised his Frenchmen to remain at home and let the Americans take care of themselves. Mr. Brewer is deceived as to the cause of the war rumors about him, and seems solicitous only about the Indians. With all these facts, as given by Mr. Hines, with his ability and experience, we are at a loss to understand how it is that he could take notes and publish, in 1851, statements as above quoted, and then proceed with the account that follows, rather excusing Dr. McLaughlin and the priests in the part they are taking in attempting to crush the American settlement, and actually aiding the Hudson's Bay Company in combining and marshaling the savages to weaken and destroy his countrymen!

The writer does not believe he intended to do any thing of the kind, yet the influences brought to bear upon him were such that he became an active instrument with Dr. White to accomplish the one great object of the Hudson's Bay Company and English government, and becomes the apologist for a premeditated and deliberate murder of his countrymen.

The Whitman ma.s.sacre he does not even mention.

The settlers were alive to their danger. They had no head, no organization, no one to look to for supplies or protection. They knew that the sub-agent of the United States government was the dupe of their worst enemy, and had betrayed them. They knew that it was the policy and disposition of the missions to keep them under their control.

We are fully aware of the fact that the leading clergymen of all the missions attempt to deny the position above stated. But in the covenant of Mr. Griffin with Mr. Munger, he admits that the articles of compact and arrangement of the various missionary societies all affirm the one principle, that laymen or members of their societies were subject to the orders and dictation of the clergymen, not only in religious, but all financial and secular matters,--hence the disposition and determination on the part of these clerical gentlemen to govern the early settlement of the country. The Hudson's Bay Company system of absolute government was favorable to this idea. The Jesuit priests, who combined their influence with the company, all contributed to oppress and keep down the settler. While the priests were active in combining and preparing the Indians in middle Oregon to rob and destroy the emigrant on his lonely, weary, toilsome way to this country, their agents and princ.i.p.al clerks were equally active in shaping matters in the various neighborhoods and settlements west of the Cascades.

On the 156th page of Mr. Hines' book he gives us a short summary of the labors of Revs. Daniel Lee, H. K. W. Perkins, and Mr. H. B. Brewer: "They are laboring to establish a permanent mission at this place [the Dalles] for the benefit of the Indians, but with doubtful success." That the Methodist Mission should be misled and become inefficient is not to be wondered at when such men as Mr. Hines, holding the position and a.s.suming a controlling influence as he did, should express himself in the language quoted above. The "doubtful success" attending all the missionary labors of the Methodist Mission was unquestionably attributable to the opinions of just such men, privately and publicly expressed, with corresponding "doubtful" and divided labors, while the ignorance of the religious supporters of the Roman missions enabled them to deceive their neophytes and patrons, and keep up their own missions and destroy those of the Protestants.

Soon after Mr. Hines and party arrived at the Dalles, some twenty Indians a.s.sembled to have a talk with Dr. White, who had in his visit in the fall of 1842 prevailed upon this band to organize an Indian government by appointing one high chief and three subordinates to see that all violators of his rules were punished by being flogged for offenses that formerly were considered trifling and evidence of native cunning and smartness. As was to be expected, some of the Indians would resist and use their knives and weapons in their own defense.

There is an interesting incident related by Mr. Hines, in reference to Indian character, on his 157th page:--

"The Indians want pay for being whipped, in compliance with Dr.

White's laws, the same as they did for praying to please the missionaries, during the great Indian revival of 1839. Those appointed by Dr. White were desirous that his regulations should continue, because they placed the people under their absolute control, and gave them the power to regulate all their intercourse with the whites, and with the other Indian tribes. But the other influential men who were not in office desired to know of Dr. White of what benefit this whipping system was going to be to them. They said they were willing it should continue, provided they were to receive shirts and pants and blankets as a reward for being whipped.

They had been whipped a good many times and had got nothing for it, and it had done them no good. If this state of things was to continue, it was all _cultus_, good for nothing, and they would throw it away. The doctor wished them to understand that they need not expect pay for being flogged when they deserved it. They laughed at the idea, and separated."

Just here the writer will give one other incident, related of Yallop, an Indian belonging to the same tribe, as stated by Rev. Mr. Condon, of the Dalles:--

"Yallop was requested to remain at the house of Mr. Joslin during the absence of the family, one cold day, and see that nothing was disturbed, with the understanding that he was to go into the house and make himself comfortable till the family returned. On coming home they found the Indian outdoors under a tree, cold and nearly frozen. They inquired the reason of his strange conduct, and wanted to know why he did not stay in the house. Yallop said he went into the house and found every thing so nice and comfortable that by and by the old Indian came into him again and he wanted to steal all there was in the house, and the only way he could get over that feeling was to go out under the tree in the cold."

Mr. Hines, in speaking of this same band, says, 158th page: "As a matter of course, lying has much to do in their system of trade, and he is the best fellow who can tell the biggest lie, make men believe it, and practice the greatest deception. A few years ago a great religious excitement prevailed among these Indians, and nearly the whole tribe, consisting of a thousand, professed to be converted, were baptized, and received into the Christian church; but they have nearly all relapsed into their former state, with the exception that many of them still keep up the outward form of religion.

"Their religion appears to be more of the head than of the heart, and though they are exceedingly vicious, yet doubtless they would be much worse than they are, but for the"--("doubtful success," as Mr.

Hines affirms on his 156th page, while here he says)--"_restraining influences_ exerted by the missionaries."

Mr. Hines has given us an interesting history of those early missionary labors, but the greater portion of his book relates to himself,--to his travels on shipboard, and at the Sandwich Islands, a trip to China and back to New York, and his trip to the interior of Oregon.

He says: "The Cayuse Indians, among whom this mission is established, had freely communicated to Mr. Geiger, whom they esteemed as their friend, all they knew concerning it. When the Indians were told that the Americans were designing to subjugate them and take away their land, the young chiefs of the Cayuse tribe were in favor of proceeding immediately to hostilities. They were for raising a large war party and rushing directly down to the Wallamet settlement and cutting off the inhabitants at a blow. They frequently remarked to Mr. Geiger that they did not wish to go to war, but if the Americans came to take away their lands and make slaves of them they would fight so long as they had a drop of blood to shed. They said they had received their information concerning the designs of the Americans from Baptiste Doreo, who is a half-breed son of Madame Doreo,--the heroine of Washington Irving's 'Astoria,'--understands the Nez Perce language well, and had given the Cayuses the information that had alarmed them. Mr. Geiger endeavored to induce them to prepare early in the spring to cultivate the ground as they did the year before, but they refused to do any thing, saying that Baptiste Doreo had told them that it would be of no consequence; that the Americans would come in the summer and kill them all off and destroy their plantations.

"After Doreo had told them this story, they sent a Wallawalla chief--Yellow Serpent--to Vancouver, to learn from Dr. McLaughlin the facts in the case.

"Yellow Serpent returned and told the Cayuses that Dr. McLaughlin said he had nothing to do in a war with the Indians; that he did not believe the Americans designed to attack them, and that if the _Americans did go to war with the Indians, the Hudson's Bay Company would not a.s.sist them_. After they got this information from the Emakus Myohut (big chief), the Indians became more calm. Many of them went to cultivating the ground as formerly, and a large number of little patches had been planted and sown before we arrived at the station."

Mr. Hines soon learned that the reports about war that had reached the lower country were not without foundation. That the Indians still had confidence in Mr. Geiger, and that they did not wish to go to war. The reader will observe the statement of the Indians after they had told Mr.

Geiger they would fight if forced to do so. "They," the Indians, "said they had received their information concerning the designs of the Americans from Baptiste Doreo." This half-breed is also an interpreter of the Hudson's Bay Company, and an important leader among the half-breeds--next to Thomas McKay. After Doreo had told them his story, the Indians were still unwilling to commence a war against the Americans. They sent a messenger to Vancouver to consult Dr. McLaughlin, just as those same Indians in 1841 went to Mr. McKinley, then in charge of Fort Wallawalla, and wanted to know of him, if it was not good for them to drive Dr. Whitman and Mr. Gray away from that station because the Doctor refused to pay them for the land the mission occupied? Mr.

McKinley understood their object, and was satisfied that there were outside influences that he did not approve of, and told the Indians, "Yes, you are braves; there is a number of you, and but two of them and two women and some little children; you can go and kill them or drive them away; you go just as quick as you can and do it; but if you do I will see that you are punished." The Indians understood Mr. McKinley.

Whitman and Gray were not disturbed after this.

Dr. John McLaughlin we believe to have been one of the n.o.blest of men while he lived, but, like Messrs. Hines, White, Burnett, Newell, Spalding, and many others, influences were brought to bear upon him that led him to adopt and pursue a doubtful if not a crooked course. It was evident to any one conversant with the times of which we are writing that there were at least four elements or influences operating in the country, viz., the una.s.serted or _quasi_ rights of the American government; the coveted and actual occupancy of the country by the English Hudson's Bay Company and subjects, having the active civil organization of that government; the occupancy of the country by the American missions; and the coveted occupancy of the same by the Roman Jesuit missions.

These four influences could not harmonize; there was no such thing as a union and co-operation. The struggle was severe to hold and gain the controlling influence over the natives of the country, and shape the settlements to these conflicting views and national and sectarian feelings. The American settler, gaining courage and following the example and the track of the American missionaries with their wives, winds his way over the mountains and through the desert and barren plains down the Columbia River and through the Cascade Mountains,-- weary, way-worn, naked, and hungry. In one instance, with his rifle upon his shoulder, and his wife and three children mounted upon the back of his last ox, he plods his weary way through Oregon City, and up the Wallamet, to find his future home; and there the warm heart of the early missionary and his family is ready to feed, clothe, and welcome the wanderer to this distant part of our great national domain, in order that he may aid in securing Oregon to its rightful inhabitants, and in forming a fifth power that shall supersede and drive away all foreign influences.

For a time the struggle with the four influences was severe and doubtful; but men who had crossed the Rocky and Cascade mountains with ox-teams, were not made to give up their country's cause in the hour of danger, though Britain and Rome, with their savage allies, joined to subdue and drive them from it. With the British Hudson's Bay Company, Roman Jesuit missions, savage Indians, American missions, and American settlers the struggle is continued.

CHAPTER XLI.

Governor Simpson and Dr. Whitman in Washington.--Interviews with Daniel Webster and President Tyler.--His cold reception in Boston by the American Board.--Conducts a large emigration safely across the Rocky Mountains into Oregon.--The "Memorial Half-Century Volume."--The Oregon mission ignored by the American Board.--Dr.

McLaughlin.--His connection with the Hudson's Bay Company.--Catholic Cayuses' manner of praying.--Rev. C.

Eells.--Letter from A. L. Lovejoy.--Description of Whitman's and Lovejoy's winter journey from Oregon to Bent's Fort on the Arkansas River.

Governor Simpson, of the Hudson's Bay Company, had reached Washington and been introduced to Mr. Webster, then Secretary of State, by the British Minister. All the influence a long-established and powerful monopoly, backed by the grasping disposition of the English government, can command, is brought to bear upon the question of the northwestern boundary. The executive of the American republic is about ready to give up the country, as of little value to the nation.

Just at this time, in the dead of winter, an awkward, tall, spare-visaged, vigorous, off-hand sort of a man, appeared at the Department in his mountain traveling garb, consisting of a dark-colored blanket coat and buckskin pants, showing that to keep himself from freezing to death he had been compelled to lie down close to his camp-fire while in the mountains, and on his way to Washington he had not stopped for a moment, but pushed on with a vigor and energy peculiarly his own. It is but justice to say of this man that his heart and soul were in the object of the errand for which he had traversed the vast frozen and desert regions of the Rocky Mountains, to accomplish which was to defeat the plans of the company, as shown by the taunting reply of the Briton, "_that no power could make known to his government the purposes of those who had laid their plans and were ready to grasp the prize they sought_." While they were counting on wealth, power, influence, and the undisputed possession of a vast and rich country, this old pioneer missionary (layman though he was), having no thought of himself or of his ridiculous appearance before the great Daniel Webster and the President of a great nation, sought an interview with them and stated his object, and the plans and purposes of the Hudson's Bay Company and the British government: that their representations of this country were false in every respect as regards its agricultural, mineral, and commercial value to the nation; that it was only to secure the country to themselves, that the false reports about it had been put in circulation by their emissaries and agents; that a wagon road to the Pacific was practicable; that he had, in 1836, in opposition to all their false statements and influence to the contrary, taken a wagon to Boise; and that, in addition, wagons and teams had, in 1841, been taken to the Wallamet Valley, and that he expected, his life being spared, to pilot an emigration to the country that would forever settle the question beyond further dispute. He a.s.serted that a road was practicable, and the country was invaluable to the American people. Mr.

Webster coolly informed him that he had his mind made up; he was ready to part with what was to him an unknown and unimportant portion of our national domain, for the privilege of a small settlement in Maine and the fisheries on the banks of Newfoundland.

There was but one other hope in this case. This old off-hand Oregon missionary at once sought an interview with President Tyler. He repeated his arguments and reasons, and asked for delay in the final settlement of the boundary question, which, to those high in office, and, we may add, total ignorance of all that related to this vast country, was of small moment. But that Dr. Whitman (for the reader has already guessed the name of our missionary) stood before the President of the United States the only representative of Oregon and all her future interests and greatness, a self-const.i.tuted, self-appointed, and without a parallel self-periled representative, pleading simply for delay in the settlement of so vast and important a question to his country,--that he should be able to successfully contend with the combined influences brought against him,--can only be attributed to that overruling power which had decreed that the nation, whose interests he represented, should be sustained.

Mr. Tyler, after listening to the Doctor's statements with far more candor and interest than Mr. Webster was disposed to do, informed him that, notwithstanding they had received entirely different statements from gentlemen of the Hudson's Bay Company and the British minister, then in Washington, yet he would trust to his personal representation and estimate of the value of the country to the American people. He said: "Dr. Whitman, in accordance with your representations and agreeable to your request, this question shall be deferred. An escort shall be furnished for the protection of the emigration you propose to conduct to that distant country."

It is with deep regret, not to say shame, that truth and justice compel us to give in this connection any notice of this faithful and devoted missionary's reception and treatment, on his arrival in Boston, derogatory to the Board whom he had served so faithfully for seven years. Instead of being received and treated as his labors justly ent.i.tled him to be, he met the cold, calculating rebuke for unreasonable expense, and for dangers incurred without order or instructions or permission from the mission to come to the States. Most of his reverend a.s.sociates had, as the writer is credibly informed, disapproved of his visit to Washington, being ignorant of the true cause of his sudden determination to defeat, if possible, the British and Jesuitical designs upon the country; hence, for economical and prudential reasons, the Board received him coldly, and rebuked him for his presence before them, causing a chill in his warm and generous heart, and a sense of unmerited rebuke from those who should have been most willing to listen to all his statements, and most cordial and ready to sustain him in his herculean labors.

His request at Washington to save this richest jewel of our nation from British rule is granted, while the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions is appealed to in vain for aid to save the Indians and the country from becoming the boast of the Italian Jesuit, and a prey to his degrading superst.i.tions. The Doctor's mission, with all its acc.u.mulated influence, labors, and importance, is left to be swallowed up and destroyed by the same influence that had divided and destroyed that of the Methodist Mission.

Dr. Whitman disposed of his own little private property in the States, and, with the aid of his brother and brother's son, returned to Missouri, joined the emigration of 1843, and, as he had intimated to President Tyler, brought on an emigration outnumbering all the Hudson's Bay Company had brought to aid in securing the country to the British crown, proving to the American people and the world, what had long been a.s.serted as impossible, that there was a practicable wagon road to the Pacific Ocean on American soil. His care, influence, aid, and attention to the emigration of 1843, I leave with those who can speak from personal observation. Their grat.i.tude and deep sympathy for this self-devoted, faithful, and generous missionary led five hundred of them with uplifted hand to say they were ready with their own life-blood to avenge his death, and protect and defend the country. But influences, such as we have been speaking of, came in, justice was robbed of its right, and crime and murder permitted to go unpunished.

The cause in which Dr. Whitman enlisted, labored, and fell a victim, is allowed to suffer and fall, and in a Memorial Volume of the American Board, page 379, a false impression is given to the world, and a whole mission ignored. In this splendid, well-bound, and elegantly gotten up "Memorial Half-Century Volume," justly claiming much credit for the fifty past years of its labors, this Board has ignored all its errors and mistakes, and with one fell swoop of the pen consigned to oblivion, so far as its great standard record is concerned, one whole mission and a vast Indian population, as unworthy of a name or a notice in their record, further than as "Rev. Samuel Parker's exploring tour beyond the Rocky Mountains, under the direction of the Board, in 1835, 1836, and 1837, brought to light _no field for a great and successful mission_, but it added much to the science of geography, and is remarkable as having made known a practicable route for a _railroad_ from the Mississippi to the Pacific." This shows a want of candor and also a disposition to ignore all influences and causes of failure of one of their own missions, and directs the attention of the reader to foreign objects, leaving their missions to become an easy prey to avarice, the Indian tribes to ignorance and superst.i.tion, and their missionaries to be despised and superseded by Jesuits; giving their enemies the benefit of that influence which they should have exerted to save their own missionary cause. Such being the case, we are not to wonder at the cold reception of Dr. Whitman, or the boundless influence and avarice of the men who compa.s.sed the early destruction of that mission; and, failing to destroy the American settlement, that they should now seek to rob our national treasury as they sought to rob the nation of its rightful domain. After being defeated by the American settlers in the organization of the provisional government in 1843, by the provisional army of 1847-8, they now come forward with the most barefaced effrontery and claim millions of dollars for a few old rotten forts. They have fallen to the lowest depths of crime to obtain compensation for improvements of no real value.

As we said when speaking of the "combination of influences and no harmony," we believe Dr. John McLaughlin to have been one of the best and n.o.blest of men; yet the governing power of the Hudson's Bay Company would, if it were possible, have compelled him to starve the immigrants, and sacrifice all the early settlers of the country. Do you ask me how I know this? I answer, by the oaths of good and true American citizens, and by my own personal knowledge. These depositions or statements under oath but few of the readers of this history will ever see. In this connection we will give part of one deposition we listened to and penciled down from the mouth of the witness, who was the legal counselor and confidential friend of Dr. McLaughlin from the fall of 1846 till his death. This witness, in answer to the inquiry as to what Dr. McLaughlin told him about the Hudson's Bay Company's encouraging the early settlement of Oregon, said Dr. McLaughlin _had not encouraged the American settlement of the country_, but from the fact that immigrants arrived poor and needy, they must have suffered had he not furnished supplies on a credit; that he could have wished that this had not been necessary, because he believed there were those above him who _strongly disapproved of his course in this respect, affirming that it would lead to the permanent settlement of the country by American citizens_, and thus give to the United States government an element of t.i.tle to the country; the United States government could not have a t.i.tle to the country without such settlement, and these persons, thus alluded to as being dissatisfied, would report him to the Hudson's Bay Company's house in London; that he ascertained finally that such complaints had been made, but that he still continued to furnish the supplies, because, _as a man of common humanity_, he could not do otherwise; and he resolved that he would continue thus to do and take whatever consequences might result from it; that the company's managing and controlling office in London did finally call him to an account for thus furnishing supplies as already stated, and for reasons indicated; that he represented to them the circ.u.mstances under which he had furnished these supplies, alleging that as a man of _common humanity it was not possible for him to do otherwise than as he did_; that he foresaw as clearly as they did that it aided in the American settlement of the country, but that this he could not help, and it was not for him but for G.o.d and government to look after and take care of the consequences; that the Bible told him, "If thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he is naked, clothe him;" that these settlers were not even enemies; that in thus finding fault with him they quarreled with heaven (the witness said, "I do not know as that was the exact expression or word") _for doing what any one truly worthy the name of a man could not hesitate to do_, and that he immediately concluded by indignantly saying, "_Gentlemen, if such is your order, I will serve you no longer_," and from that day Oregon secured a warm and faithful friend in that old white-headed man, and he a base and infamous enemy in those who claimed the t.i.tle of the Honorable Hudson's Bay Company, who in 1860 are claiming all the credit and pay for this old man's generous and n.o.ble deeds.

The readers of our history will excuse this interruption in the order of events, or rather the introduction of this testimony at this time in our sketches, for we shall still have to speak of Dr. McLaughlin as the head of the Hudson's Bay Company, and continue him as a representative of that influence, as also connected with the Roman Catholic efforts in the country; for while we condemn and speak of base and infamous acts in all alike, we will not forget the good and the n.o.ble. We have other items of testimony that reveal to us the deep-laid plans, the vast influence used, and efforts made, _to prevent the American settlement of this country_, which shall be brought to light as we proceed.

One other item we will now give as developed by the testimony above referred to. Dr. McLaughlin informed his attorney "that he had proposed to the company's authority in London, that if they would allow him to retain the profits upon the supplies and advances made as above mentioned to the settlers, he would very cheerfully personally a.s.sume the payment to the company of all the sums thus advanced, but this the company declined to do." The witness said: "My memory is not very distinct, at least, not so much as it is as to the statement above made, but my recollection is that he also informed me that the company, although it refused to permit him to retain the profits above mentioned, did hold him responsible for every dollar of the advances he made, and I do know that he regarded and treated the debts thus owing by American citizens as debts owing not to the Hudson's Bay Company, but to himself individually."

Dr. McLaughlin charges ingrat.i.tude upon those who were able to, and did not pay him, and were guilty of denouncing him as an aristocrat. He was no aristocrat, but one of the kindest, most obliging, and familiar men; yet his tall, erect, and n.o.ble frame, a head covered with white hair, a long white beard, light complexion, rather spare but open countenance, with a full light blue or gray eye, made the coward and the mean man hate him, while the truly n.o.ble man would love him for his generous and unbounded benevolence. Like Dr. Whitman, the influences around him weighed heavily upon his soul; he keenly felt the pain of ingrat.i.tude in others; he felt it from the Hudson's Bay Company, whom he had faithfully served, and from the persons he had befriended. An attempt was made by a member of the company, who had previously sworn to the justness of their infamous claims, to excite the sectarian prejudice of the witness against Dr. McLaughlin on his cross-examination, by handing to the company's attorney the following questions to be asked the witness:--

_Ques._--"Do you not recollect that Dr. McLaughlin told you that Sir George Simpson's complaint against him was his allowing a credit of ten thousand pounds sterling to Bishop Blanchet, of the Catholic mission, without any security?"

_Ans._--"This is the first time I have heard of that transaction."

_Ques._--"Do you not know from what Dr. McLaughlin told you, that he gave large credits to the Catholic Mission while in charge of the company's business?"

_Ans._--"I do not."