A History of Oregon, 1792-1849 Part 37

GEORGE W. LE BRETON, Recorder.

_Certificate._

This certifies that David Hill, Alanson Beers, and Joseph Gale were chosen the Executive Committee of the Territory of Oregon, by the people of said Territory, and have taken the oath for the faithful performance of the duties of their office as required by law.

GEORGE W. LE BRETON, Recorder.

WALLAMET, OREGON TERRITORY, July 5, 1843.

CHAPTER XLVI.

Description of the State House.--Conduct of the French settlers.--Arrival of Dr. Whitman's party of immigrants.--Prosperity of the settlers.--Change in the policy of the Hudson's Bay Company.--Their exorbitant claims.

A primitive State House was built with posts set upright, one end in the ground, grooved on two sides, and filled in with poles and split timber, such as would be suitable for fence rails; with plates and poles across the top. Rafters and horizontal poles held the cedar bark, which was used instead of shingles for covering. It was twenty by forty feet. At one end, some puncheons were put up for a platform for the president; some poles and slabs were placed around for seats; three planks one foot wide and about twelve feet long, placed upon a sort of stake platform for a table, for the use of the Legislative Committee and the clerks.

Perfect order and decorum prevailed throughout the proceedings. The bolder and more independent portion of the French settlers partic.i.p.ated in this convention, and expressed themselves pleased with the result.

They looked to this organization to relieve them from British tyranny; while by far the greater number of them kept aloof and refused to have any thing to do with, or to submit to, the organization.

This arose from the advice they had received from the company, and the instructions of the priests who were among them, as in the case of Dr.

White's effort to get a few of them to go with him to the interior, on the report of threatened Indian difficulties. The Hudson's Bay Company, as indicated in a communication to the Executive Committee, felt themselves abundantly able to defend themselves and their political rights.

This year, through the influence and representations by letters, reports, and the personal efforts of that devoted friend to Oregon, Dr.

Marcus Whitman, an immigration of eight hundred and seventy-five persons arrived in the fall, notwithstanding that deceitful servant of the Hudson's Bay Company, Grant, at Fort Hall, did all he could, under the instructions of the company, to induce as many as possible to go to California, by telling them all the frightful stories he and his men could invent, of their danger, and the difficulties they must encounter in getting through to the settlement on the Wallamet. This company brought with them thirteen hundred head of cattle. The immigration of 1842 amounted to one hundred and thirty-seven men, women, and children, a limited supply of cattle, and a number of wagons to Fort Hall, where they were induced to abandon most of them, through the false statements of the man in charge.

The immigration of 1843, under the guidance of Dr. Whitman, brought most of their wagons, teams, and cattle through all safe. They opened the road to the Columbia, and the trail through the Cascade Mountains, which was only an obscure Indian trail quite difficult to pa.s.s in 1842, on account of brush, logs, and fallen timber.

Our population, all told, now amounted to not far from twelve hundred.

Among the immigrants of 1842 and '43 there were many excellent families, and intelligent, industrious, n.o.ble-hearted young men; with a full proportion of miserable scoundrels. Most of the families soon found locations, and having some little means, with the a.s.sistance they could obtain from the Methodist Mission, and such as was brought by Captain Couch in the brig _Maryland_, and the barks _Lausanne_ and _Toulon_, by Captain Crosby, sent by Mr. Cushing of Newburyport, soon commenced permanent improvements. The winter was mild and the larger portion of them were prosperous and happy in their new homes.

The provisional government was formed and put in operation in July previous to the arrival of the large immigration of 1843. Supplies of flour, sugar, and tea had been sent from the settlement to meet such as might be in want on their way into the Wallamet Valley.

From the time it was known that Dr. Whitman had safely arrived in Washington, and the boundary line was not settled, the whole policy of the Hudson's Bay Company changed. Advances of outfits were made to such men as Hastings and his party, Burnett, and other prominent men.

Employment was given to a select few, and every encouragement and inducement held out to a.s.sist as many as could be prevailed upon to go to California; while those who contemplated making Oregon a permanent home were denied supplies or employment, especially those who had asked the protection of the American government. Those who proposed going to California could readily get all the supplies they required of the company by giving their notes payable in California.

It was well understood by most of them when they gave their notes that they never expected to pay them. Two of them informed us that they did not intend to pay if they went out of the country, as they understood it as equivalent to hiring, or giving them their outfit to induce them to leave.

This last remark applies particularly to the immigration of 1842, and the company that went to California with Mr. Hastings in the spring of 1843. This policy continued up to 1847-8, when the company found themselves, as they supposed, through the influence of their Jesuit missions and Indian allies, prepared to fully maintain their licensed mercantile privileges, but found themselves confronted by an army of five hundred brave and determined men, and an organization sufficiently strong and united to compel them to again change their policy, though not their secret hatred of what they termed American intrusion upon their imaginary rights in the country. In the seventeenth page of their memorial, they a.s.sert, "And they had therein and thereupon a right of trade which was virtually exclusive.----And such right of trade, and the control, possession, and use of said Territory, for the purposes thereof, independent of their foreign commerce and the sale of timber, exceeding in total value the sum of two hundred thousand pounds sterling ($973,333.33)." This statement is made in behalf of that company as their profits in trade before and up to 1846, which, together with the declaration of Dr. McLaughlin and Mr. Douglas, as found in chapter fifty-four, addressed to our Executive Committee under date March 11 and 12, 1845, is sufficient to indicate the true policy of the company, which will be more fully developed as we proceed.

CHAPTER XLVII.

Actions speak louder than words.--Efforts of the Hudson's Bay Company to discourage immigration.--Account of the two Jesuits, F.

N. Blanchet and P. J. De Smet.--Protestant missionaries discouraged.--Important position of the Rev. G. Hines.--Recall of the Rev. Jason Lee.--Efforts of the Hudson's Bay Company to prevent emigration to the Territory.--Statement of General Palmer.--Indian combinations.--The Donner party.--Mr. McBean's character.--Extent of Oregon at this time.

Reaching thoughts by actions. This the historian of the times has a right to do; and by comparing the act and result, he can arrive with almost mathematical certainty as to what the thought was that originated the act, and produced the result. But we are not confined to this mode of reasoning. We have their own, and the statements of those favorable to them, to substantiate our conclusions.

1st. The inadvertent statement of F. Ermatinger, one of their chief traders, in 1838, that in case the American government attempted to take this country, the Hudson's Bay Company would arm their eight hundred half-breeds, and with the aid of the Indians, drive back any force that could be sent across the continent to take it. Their navy could defend the coast. The Jesuits could influence the Indians.

2d. The arrangements made to bring to the country the Red River immigrants in 1842.

3d. The stationing of a ship of war at Vancouver to protect the company.

4th. The building of bastions at Fort Vancouver, and strengthening that post in 1845-6.

5th. The refusal of Mr. Douglas to furnish supplies to the provisional troops, sent to punish the parties engaged in the Wailatpu ma.s.sacre.

6th. The supplying of Indians, by Mr. Ogden, with a large amount of war material, and his avowal not to have any thing to do with American difficulties.

7th. The letters and correspondence of Sir James Douglas.

8th. The positive statements of William McBean.

9th. The statements of Vicar-General Brouillet.

10th. The correspondence and letters of Bishop Blanchet.

11th. The testimony they have produced in support of their claims.

12th. The designs of the British government as indicated by James Edward Fitzgerald.

13th. The sending of American immigrants from Fort Hall and Oregon to California.

14th. The attempt to supply the Indians in the interior, by the aid of Romish priests, with a large amount of ammunition.

15th. The implacable hatred implanted in the mind of the Indian against Americans, through the influence of the Hudson's Bay Company and the Jesuit missionaries brought to the country for that purpose.

16th. The strict rules of the company, and the continued effort to enforce those rules to the destruction of life and property.

We now come to the thoughts which originated and caused the foregoing acts.

_These American missionaries have done more to defeat us, to settle the country, and defer the establishment of the boundary line, than all other efforts and causes combined._ We must make another effort to destroy their influence, and drive them and their settlements from the country; and thus secure it to the British crown, for the use of the company, at the risk of a war between the two countries.

It will be remembered that Messrs. Lee, Parker, Whitman, Spalding, Gray, and other missionaries, had their pa.s.sports from the Secretary of War of the United States, giving them permission to travel through, and settle as teachers in, the Indian country; and that all military officers and agents of the government were instructed to facilitate their efforts, and, if at any time it was necessary, afford them protection. These pa.s.sports had been duly presented to the Hudson's Bay Company at Vancouver, and had the effect to prevent a direct effort to destroy or drive them from the country, as they had done to all who preceded them.

Hence, an extra effort must be made to get rid of this American missionary influence, and the settlements they were gathering around them.

We will now proceed to give historical facts as connected with results.

Two intelligent, jovial, yet bigoted priests had been brought to the country by the company. They had traveled all through it, and had actually discovered the pure silver and golden ores of the Rocky Mountains, and carried specimens to St. Louis and to Europe. These priests fully understood the licensed rights of the Hudson's Bay Company, and the efforts they were making to secure it to the British crown. They were also a.s.sured that, in case the American Protestant influence could be driven from it, the Papal would become the prevailing religion, as in California and Mexico. They knew that the English Episcopal effort was an early and utter failure, and that no renewed effort would be made in their behalf by the company, and that they were then using their influence to drive the Wesleyan missionaries from Moose Factory. Hence, they and their a.s.sociates entered upon their work with a zeal and energy only equaled by him who was their first victim.

F. N. Blanchet visited Canada, New York, and Rome, and was made Bishop of Oregon. His a.s.sociate, P. J. De Smet, gathered his priests and nuns, returned to the country, and entered vigorously upon their missionary work, having the substantial aid of the Hudson's Bay Company, and the personal a.s.sistance of its members. Their churches, nunneries, and schools sprung up as if by magic in French Prairie, Oregon City, Vancouver, the Dalles, Umatilla, Pen d'Oreille, Colville, and St. Marie.

The Protestant missions in the country were greatly annoyed by the unreasonable and threatening conduct of the Indians about their stations. They were demanding unreasonable pay for the lands upon which the stations were located, and paying but little or no attention to their American teachers. The American missionaries were becoming disheartened and discouraged, and were beginning to abandon their stations. Rev. A. B. Smith, of the Nez Perce mission, Dr. Richmond, from Nasqualla, Rev. Messrs. Kone and Frost, from Clatsop, and Mr. Edwards had left the country. Rev. Daniel Lee, Rev. H. K. W. Perkins, Mr.