Dr. John McLoughlin, the Father of Oregon Part 15

"'I desire you to give me as correct a description as you can at this late period, of the manner in which you and your party, and your enterprise in Oregon, were treated by the Hudson's Bay Company west of the Rocky mountains, and particularly by Dr. John McLoughlin, then its Chief Factor. This Dr. McLoughlin has since you left the country, rendered his name odious among the people of Oregon, by his endeavors to prevent the settlement of the country and cripple its growth. Now that he wants a few favors of our Government, he pretends that he has been the long-tried friend of Americans and American enterprise west of the mountains.'

"I have written Mr. Thurston, in reply to the above extract, that myself and parties were kindly received, and were treated well in all respects by J. McLoughlin, Esq., and the officers of the Hudson's Bay Co.; but from the tenor of his letter, I have no confidence that my testimony will be presented before any committee to whom may be referred any subjects touching the interests of said John McLoughlin, Esq.

"The very honorable treatment received by me from Mr.

McLoughlin during the years inclusive from 1832 to 1836, during which time there were no other Americans on the Lower Columbia, except myself and parties, calls on me to state the facts.

"The purpose of this letter is to ask the favor of you to inform me what matter is pending, in which Mr. McLoughlin's interests are involved, and before whom, and if you will present a memorial from me on the matters stated in Mr.

Thurston's letter as above.

"Respectfully and truly your ob't servant, "NATH. J. WYETH."

"Was.h.i.+ngton, Dec. 28, 1850."

"Dear Sir--I took the earliest opportunity to enquire of Mr.

Thurston what there was pending before Congress or the Executive, in which Mr. McLoughlin's character or interest were concerned. He would tell me nothing, nor am I aware of anything.

"Respectfully your ob't serv't, "R. C. WINTHROP."

"To. N. J. Wyeth, Esq."

"John McLoughlin, Esq.:

"Dear Sir--On the 19th of December, 1850, I received a letter from Sam'l R. Thurston, delegate from Oregon, of which see copy No. 1, and by same mail an Oregon newspaper containing a communication over your signature, the letter [latter], I think, addressed in your handwriting.

"From the tenor of Mr. Thurston's letter, I presumed he wanted my testimony for some purpose not friendly to yourself. I answered his letter as per copy No. 2, but doubting if my testimony, except it suited his views, would be presented, and being ignorant of his intentions, I wrote the Hon. R. C.

Winthrop, late Speaker of the House of Representatives, and at present a member of the Senate of the United States, as per copy, [No. 3] and received from him a reply as per copy [No.

4].

"Should you wish such services as I can render in this part of the United States, I shall be pleased to give them in return for the many good things you did years since, and if my testimony as regards your efficient and friendly actions towards me and the other earliest Americans who settled in Oregon, will be of use in placing you before the Oregon people in the dignified position of a benefactor, it will be cheerfully rendered.

"I am, with much respect, yours truly, "NATH. J. WYETH."

"Mr. Thurston writes to Mr. Wyeth, 'That Dr. McLoughlin has, since you left the country, rendered his name odious to the people of Oregon.' (That I have rendered my name odious to the people of Oregon, is what I do not know.) And 'By his endeavors to prevent the settlement of the country, and to cripple its growth.' I say I never endeavored to prevent the settlement of the country, or to cripple its growth, but the reverse. If the whole country had been my own private property, I could not have exerted myself more strenuously than I did to introduce civilization, and promote its settlement. 'Now that he wants a few favors of our Government, he pretends that he has been the long tried friend of Americans and American enterprise west of the mountains.' Mr. Wyeth states how I acted towards him and his companions, the first Americans that I saw on this side of the mountains. Those that came since, know if Mr. Thurston represents my conduct correctly or not. As to my wanting a few favors, I am not aware that I asked for any favors. I was invited by the promises held out in Linn's bill, to become an American citizen of this territory. I accepted the invitation and fulfilled the obligations in good faith, and after doing more, as I believe will be admitted, to settle the country and relieve the immigrants in their distresses, than any other man in it, part of my claim, which had been jumped, Mr. Thurston, the delegate from this territory, persuades Congress to donate Judge Bryant, and the remainder is reserved. I make no comment--the act speaks for itself, but merely observe, if I had no claim to Abernethy Island, why did Mr. Thurston get Congress to interfere, and what had Judge Bryant done for the territory to ent.i.tle him to the favor of our delegate? Mr.

Thurston is exerting the influence of his official situation to get Congress to depart from its usual course, and to interfere on a point in dispute, and donate that island to Abernethy, his heirs and a.s.signs, alias Judge Bryant, his heirs and a.s.signs.

"Yours respectfully, "JNO. MCLOUGHLIN."

With this correspondence was published the following letter from Doctor McLoughlin to the Editor of the _Oregon Spectator_: "I handed the following letters to the Editor of the _Statesman_, and he refused to publish them, unless as an advertis.e.m.e.nt." This last letter is quoted to show that the letters set forth in this Doc.u.ment O are authentic. The first number of the _Oregon Statesman_ was published March 28, 1851.[69]

DOc.u.mENT P

_Letter from Rev. Vincent Snelling to Dr. John McLoughlin of March 9, 1852._

The original of the following letter is now in the possession of the Oregon Historical Society, from which this copy is made. Rev. Vincent Snelling was the first Baptist minister who came to Oregon.

"Oregon City, 9th March, 1852."

"Mr. John McLoughlin, Esq.,

"Dear Sir:

"Having learned that you intend shortly to visit Was.h.i.+ngton City, and knowing that you have been misrepresented by our Delegate from this country,--and wis.h.i.+ng as an honest man, and a friend to truth and justice, to contribute something toward the correction of those misrepresentations, I submit to your acceptance and disposal the following:

"I arrived in Oregon in the fall of 1844 and have been an observer of your treatment of and conduct to the American immigrants. I know that you have saved our people from suffering by hunger and I believe from savage cruelty also. I know you sent your boats to convey them down the Columbia river, free of charge, and that you also sent them provisions when they were in a state of starvation, and that you directed them to be distributed among the immigrants, to those that were dest.i.tute of money equally with those that had. Nor did your kindness stop there, as many of us lost nearly all we possessed by the time we arrived in the valley. You continued your favors by letting us have both food and raiment for the year, seed wheat, and charging no more than the same number of bushels the next harvest, plows and cattle to plow with. To conclude I do affirm that your conduct ever since I have known you has been such as to justify the opinion that you were friendly to the settlement of the country by Americans. I judge the tree [by]

its fruit; you have done more for the American settlers than all the men that were in it, at that time.

"With sincere wishes that you may obtain your rights,

"I subscribe myself yours, "VINCENT SNELLING, "Ord. Minister Gospel, Baptist."

DOc.u.mENT Q

_Excerpts from "The Hudson's Bay Company and Vancouver's Island" by James Edward Fitzgerald, published in London in 1849; and excerpt from "Ten Years in Oregon" by Rev. Daniel Lee and Rev. J. H. Frost, published in New York in 1844._

In order to show some of the unjustifiable abuse of Dr. McLoughlin from British sources, I here insert an excerpt from pp. 13-18, inclusive, of "The Hudson's Bay Company and Vancouver's Island" by J. E. Fitzgerald.

He says: "Dr. M'Loughlin was formerly an Agent in the North West Fur Company of Montreal; he was one of the most enterprising and active in conducting the war between that a.s.sociation and the Hudson's Bay Company. In the year 1821, when the rival companies united, Dr.

M'Loughlin became a factor of the Hudson's Bay Company. But his allegiance does not appear to have been disposed of along with his interests; and his sympathy with anything other than British, seems to have done justice to his birth and education, which were those of a French Canadian.

"This gentleman was appointed Governor of all the country west of the Rocky Mountains; and is accused, by those who have been in that country, of having uniformly encouraged the emigration of settlers from the United States, and of having discouraged that of British subjects.

"While the Company in this country were a.s.serting that their settlements on the Columbia River were giving validity to the claim of Great Britain to the Oregon territory, it appears, that their chief officer on the spot was doing all in his power to facilitate the operations of those, whose whole object it was to annihilate that claim altogether.

"There is one story told, about which it is right that the truth should be ascertained. It is said that a number of half-breeds from the Red River settlement were, in the year 1841, induced by the Company's officers to undertake a journey entirely across the continent, with the object of becoming settlers on the Columbia River.

"It appears that a number went, but on arriving in the country, so far from finding any of the promised encouragement, the treatment they received from Dr. M'Loughlin was such, that, after having been nearly starved under the paternal care of that gentleman, they all went over to the American settlement on the Wallamette valley.

"These emigrants became citizens of the United States, and it is further said, were the first to memorialize Congress to extend the power of the United States over the Oregon territory.

"For the truth of these statements we do not of course vouch. But we do say they demand inquiry.

"Dr. M'Loughlin's policy was so manifestly American, that it is openly canva.s.sed in a book written by Mr. Dunn, one of the servants of the Company, and written for the purpose of praising their system and policy.

"Sir Edward Belcher also alludes to this policy. He says,--'Some few years since, the Company determined on forming settlements on the rich lands situated on the Wallamatte and other rivers, and for providing for their retired servants by allotting them farms, and further aiding them by supplies of cattle &c. That on the Wallamatte was a field too inviting for missionary enthusiasm to overlook; but instead of selecting a British subject to afford them spiritual a.s.sistance, recourse was had to Americans--a course pregnant with evil consequences, and particularly in the political squabble pending, as will be seen by the result. No sooner had the American and his allies fairly squatted,--(which they deem taking possession of the country) than they invited their brethren to join them, and called on the American Government for laws and protection.'

"A great deal of importance is attached to the account given by Commodore Wilkes, U. S. N., of the operations of the Hudson's Bay Company on the north-west coast; and it is inferred that testimony, coming from such a quarter, is doubly in favour of the Company.

"Nothing, indeed, can be higher than the terms in which Captain Wilkes speaks of the Hudson's Bay Company's chief factor, Dr. M'Loughlin, and of the welcome he met, and the hospitality he experienced during his stay upon the coast.

"Captain Wilkes was far too sensible and discriminating a man, not to see, plainly enough, whose game Dr. M'Loughlin was playing. But there is something strange, if we turn from the perusal of Captain Wilkes'