Document 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 Association 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 asserting 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 canvassed 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 assistance, 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’ narrative, and the description of the facilities which were ever afforded him, to the following passage from Sir Edward Belcher’s voyage:
“The difference of the reception which a frigate of the United States Navy met with, from that which one of Her Majesty’s ships experienced, is a most suspicious fact, as suggesting the animus of the Company’s agents upon the north-west coast. Sir Edward Belcher says: ‘The attention of the Chief to myself, and those immediately about me, particularly in sending down fresh supplies, previous to my arrival, I feel fully grateful for; but I cannot conceal my disappointment at the want of accommodation exhibited towards the crews of the vessels under my command, in a British possession.’
“We certainly were not distressed, nor was it imperatively necessary that fresh beef and vegetables should be supplied, or I should have made a formal demand. But as regarded those who might come after, and not improbably myself among the number, I inquired in direct terms what facilities Her Majesty’s ships of war might expect, in the event of touching at this port for bullocks, flour, vegetables, &c. I certainly was extremely surprised at the reply, that ‘they were not in a condition to supply.’... The American policy of the Hudson’s Bay Company would seem from the above facts, to be more than a matter of suspicion.
“It is very easy to say, these are idle tales; they are tales—but such tales, that Parliament ought to make a searching investigation into their truth.... It is certain that Dr. McLoughlin has now left the Hudson’s Bay Company, and has become nominally, what he seems to have been for years, really—an American citizen, living in the midst of an American population, which he collected around him, upon soil, to which he knew that his own country had, all along, laid claim.”
Sir Edward Belcher’s exploring expedition was at Fort Vancouver in August, 1839. He insisted that the crews of his vessels should be supplied with fresh beef. Dr. McLoughlin was not then at Fort Vancouver. Probably he had not returned from his trip to England in 1838-9. Mr. Douglas, who was in charge, refused Belcher’s request because the supply of cattle was not sufficient for that purpose. Fresh beef was supplied to Sir Edward Belcher and his officers.
Commodore Wilkes and his exploring expedition were on the Oregon Coast in 1841. He did not ask for his crews to be supplied with provisions. He was grateful for the kind treatment of himself, his officers and men, by Dr. McLoughlin and other officers of the Hudson’s Bay Company. Sir Edward Belcher, it seems, was not grateful.70
In relation to the Red River immigrants, who arrived in 1841, the statement of Fitzgerald is mostly untrue. These settlers came to Oregon in 1841 under the auspices of the Hudson’s Bay Company and settled on Nisqually Plains, near Puget Sound. These plains are almost sterile, being an enormous bed of very fine gravel mixed with some soil at the surface. It is easy to understand how these settlers were disappointed in living by themselves on the Nisqually Plains, when they could come to the Willamette Valley with its fertile soil and be near the settlers in the Willamette Valley. It must be borne in mind that when these Red River settlers went to the Willamette Valley, they were practically as much dependent on the Hudson’s Bay Company and Dr. McLoughlin, as though they had stayed on the Nisqually Plains.
Rev. Daniel Lee and Rev. J. H. Frost wrote a book entitled “Ten Years in Oregon,” which was printed in New York in 1844. On page 216 of that work they say of these settlers from Red River: “They went to Nesqually, on Pugit’s Sound; but, after spending a year, it was found that the land was of a very inferior quality, and that they could not subsist upon it. Thus, after having subjected themselves to many hardships, and privations, and losses, for almost two years, they had yet to remove to the Walamet Valley, as promising to remunerate them for their future toil, and make them forget the past. Accordingly most of them removed and settled in the Walamet in 1841-2.”