Part 2 (2/2)

The course and growth of a history whose beginnings cannot be discovered had ended only in the production of the degraded tribes among whom the most consecrated and ablest missionary apostles.h.i.+p the Church of Christ had sent out for centuries made almost superhuman efforts to plant the seed of the 'eternal life.' As a people they gave no fruitful response.”

And, on page 476, he says: ”Indeed, after Dr. Whitman rehabilitated his mission in the autumn of 1843, the work of that station lost much of its character as an Indian mission. It became rather a resting place and trading post, where the successive immigrations of 1844-'45-'46 and '47 halted for a little recuperation after their long and weary journey, before they pa.s.sed forward to the Willamette. This was inevitable.” And on page 478 Dr. Hines says that Dr. McLoughlin ”advised Dr. Whitman to remove from among the Cayuses, as he believed not only that he could no longer be useful to them, but that his life was in danger if he remained among them.”

J. Quinn Thornton in his ”History of the Provisional Government of Oregon,”[17] says: ”In the autumn of 1840 there were in Oregon thirty-six American male settlers, twenty-five of whom had taken native women for their wives. There were also thirty-three American women, thirty-two children, thirteen lay members of the Protestant Missions, thirteen Methodist ministers, six Congregational ministers, three Jesuit priests, and sixty Canadian-French, making an aggregate of one hundred and thirty-six Americans, and sixty-three Canadian-French [including the priests in the latter cla.s.s] having no connection as employees of the Hudson's Bay Company. [This estimate includes the missionaries who arrived on the Lausanne.] I have said that the population outside of the Hudson's Bay Company increased slowly. How much so, will be seen by the fact that up to the beginning of the year 1842, there were in Oregon no more than twenty-one Protestant ministers, three Jesuit priests, fifteen lay members of Protestant churches, thirty-four white women, thirty-two white children, thirty-four American settlers, twenty-five of whom had native wives. The total American population will thus be seen to have been no more than one hundred and thirty-nine.” (This was prior to the arrival of the immigration of 1842.)

[Ill.u.s.tration: DR. JOHN McLOUGHLIN

_Taken from a miniature of Dr. John McLoughlin painted on ivory. This miniature was probably painted in 1838 or 1839, when he was in London.

The original miniature belongs to the widow of James W. McL. Harvey, now living at Mirabel, California. Her husband was a grandson of Dr.

McLoughlin._]

In his _Missionary History_ Rev. Dr. Hines says (page 249) that in 1841 and 1842, prior to the arrival of the immigration of 1842, the Oregon Methodist Mission ”comprised nearly all the American citizens of the country.” And on page 239 he says: ”Up to 1840 it [the Methodist Mission] had been entirely an Indian Mission. After that date it began to take on the character of an American colony, though it did not lay aside its missionary character or purpose.” He also says that in 1840 there were only nine Methodist ministers in the Oregon mission. Some of the lay members, of which J. L. Parrish was one, became ministers, which probably accounts for the difference in the estimates of Thornton and of Dr. Hines. In the summer of 1843 Rev. Jason Lee was removed, summarily, as Superintendent of the Oregon Methodist Mission by the Missionary Board in New York, and Rev. George Gary was appointed in his place, with plenary powers to close the Mission, if he should so elect. He closed the Mission in 1844.

When the Lausanne arrived June 1, 1840, Dr. McLoughlin's power and fortunes were almost at their highest point. During his residence of sixteen years in the Oregon Country he had established the business of his Company beyond all question, and to the entire satisfaction of its board of directors. The Indians were peaceable and were friendly and obedient to him and to his Company. He was respected and liked by all its officers, servants, and employees. With them he was supreme in every way, without jealousy and without insubordination. He had become, for those days, a rich man, his salary was twelve thousand dollars a year, and his expenses were comparatively small. He was then fifty-six years old. He had prepared to end his days in Oregon on his land claim. His children had reached the age of manhood and womanhood. Few men at his age have a pleasanter, or more reasonable expectation of future happiness than he then had.

The half-tone portrait of Dr. McLoughlin, shown facing page 62, was taken from a miniature, painted on ivory, in London, probably when he was in London in 1838-9. It portrays Dr. McLoughlin as he was in his happy days. This miniature now belongs to the widow of James W. McL.

Harvey, who was a grandson of Dr. McLoughlin. It was kindly loaned by her so that the half-tone could be made for use in this address.

_Provisional Government._

For convenience I shall tell of the Provisional Government of Oregon before I speak concerning Dr. McLoughlin's land claim.

About 1841, owing to the death of Ewing Young, intestate, leaving a valuable estate and no heirs, the residents of the Oregon Country in the Willamette Valley saw the necessity of some form of government until the Oregon Question should be finally settled. As under the Conventions of 1818 and 1827 there was joint-occupancy between the United States and Great Britain, the Oregon Country was without any laws in force. It was commonly understood, at that time, that most of the Americans in Oregon favored a provisional organization--one which would exist until the laws of the United States should be extended over the Oregon Country. It was also commonly understood that the British residents in Oregon opposed a provisional government, as it might interfere with their allegiance to Great Britain. As there was a joint-occupancy, and the British were legally on an equality with the Americans, each had equal rights in the matter. February 17 and 18, 1841, a meeting of the inhabitants was held at the Methodist Mission. Although attempts were then made to form a government, several officers were appointed, and a committee appointed for framing a const.i.tution and a code of laws, the movement failed. The matter lay dormant until the spring of 1843. The immigration of 1842, although small, and although about half of them went to California in the spring of 1843, materially increased the strength of the Americans in Oregon.

After several preliminary meetings had been held, the momentous meeting of May 2, 1843, was held at Champoeg, when, by the vote of 52 in favor and 50 against, the Provisional Government of Oregon was created.

Certain officers were elected and a legislative committee of six was appointed, the latter to report July 5, 1843. On the latter day most of the report was adopted, an executive committee of three persons, David Hill, Alanson Beers, and Joseph Gale, was chosen in place of a governor, and Oregon had at least a _de facto_ government, which, with some changes, continued until Oregon had a Territorial Government, in 1849.

George Abernethy, the steward of the Methodist Mission, was elected Governor in 1845, and by re-election continued to be Governor until the arrival of Gen. Joseph Lane, the first Territorial Governor, in March, 1849. The Mission Party was one of the strongest and most influential political parties in Oregon until the election of Governor Joseph Lane as Delegate to Congress, June 2, 1851.[18] At the time of the formation of the Provisional Government, the residents of Oregon seem to have been divided into three cla.s.ses, or parties: one favored a provisional government, favorable to the United States; another favored an independent government, which would be neutral as between the United States and Great Britain; the third believed that matters should remain _in statu quo_. For some reason Jason Lee and George Abernethy, and some others of the Methodist missionaries, seem originally to have belonged to or to have favored the third cla.s.s.[19] In the ”Political History of Oregon” by J. Henry Brown, he says (page 95) that at a meeting of the committee held at Oregon City, in March, 1843, ”Rev. Jason Lee and Mr.

Abernethy were disposed to ridicule the proposed organization [_i.e._, the Provisional Government] as foolish and unnecessary, and repeated some anecdotes to ill.u.s.trate their meaning.”

Dr. McLoughlin was not originally in favor of the Provisional Government. It was openly and avowedly advocated as being in favor of the United States, and against Great Britain. Once started, without a trial, no one could know where it would end. Already some of the Americans had denounced the Hudson's Bay Company and Dr. McLoughlin, and had made threats against the property of the Company. His loan of cattle had been misunderstood and denounced. Some of the Americans seemed not to be aware that the Hudson's Bay Company was lawfully in the Oregon Country, under the Conventions for joint-occupancy. To aid or to a.s.sist the establishment of a government, owing exclusive allegiance to the United States, would be, or might be disloyalty by Dr. McLoughlin to his Country and be injurious or fatal to his Company in Oregon. By the const.i.tution or compact of the Provisional Government, as established in 1843, each officer was required to take an oath or affirmation ”to support the laws of the territory,” without qualification. There was, too, his land claim at Oregon City, which the land laws of the Provisional Government, as established, sought to deprive Dr.

McLoughlin of, and to give, at least a part of it, to the Methodist Mission. About the status of his land claim I shall presently explain.

There was, also, the cry of ”54-40 or fight” and the chance of war over the Oregon Country between the United States and Great Britain. Dr.

McLoughlin appealed to the directors of his Company for protection to their property, but none came. In June, 1844, he received an answer from his Company that it could not obtain protection from the British Government, and that the Hudson's Bay Company must protect itself the best it could. The fortifications at Fort Vancouver were strengthened.

There was threatened trouble in the air. It looked as though there might be war in Oregon.

In 1845 the Provisional Government attempted to extend its jurisdiction north of the Columbia River. It became a question of acquiescence or actual opposition by the Hudson's Bay Company. Jesse Applegate, one of the best and n.o.blest of Oregon's pioneers, who was a member of the Provisional Legislature and one of a committee, privately interviewed Dr. McLoughlin. After consulting with James Douglas, his chief a.s.sistant, a compromise was finally agreed to by which the Hudson's Bay Company would be taxed only on goods sold to the settlers. August 15, 1845, the Hudson's Bay Company, with all the British residents, became parties to the Oregon Provisional Government. The oath of office as provided by the compact of 1843 had been changed by what is called the ”Organic Act” of the Provisional Government, adopted by the people, by popular vote, July 26, 1845. As so amended the oath of office required each officer to swear that he would ”support the organic laws of the Provisional Government of Oregon, so far as said organic laws are consistent with my duties as a citizen of the United States, or a subject of Great Britain.” The land law of 1843 was also changed by said vote of the people, July 26, 1845, by which the objectionable features, so far as Dr. McLoughlin's land claim at Oregon City was concerned, were largely eliminated. Under the circ.u.mstances joining the Provisional Government was a good and wise move on the part of Dr. McLoughlin. But he was severely criticized therefore by his Company. Unknown to Dr.

McLoughlin, there was then a large British fleet of war in the Pacific Ocean.

A few days after Dr. McLoughlin, for himself and his Company, had thus joined the Provisional Government, he was surprised by the arrival from Puget Sound of Lieut. Wm. Peel, son of Sir Robert Peel, and Captain Park of the Royal Marines, with a letter from Captain Gordon, commanding the British 50-gun s.h.i.+p-of-war America, then in Puget Sound, and also a letter from Admiral Seymour, commanding the British fleet, that ”firm protection” would be given British subjects in Oregon. Subsequently the British war sloop, Modeste, 18 guns, arrived at Fort Vancouver, where she remained until the boundary treaty of 1846 was entered into.[20]

_Immigration of 1842._

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