The Partners Displeased With M’Dougal.--Equivocal Conduct of
That Gentleman--Partners Agree to Abandon Astoria.--Sale of
Goods to M’Tavish.--Arrangements for the Year.--Manifesto
Signed by the Partners--Departure of M’Tavish for the
Interior.
THE partners found Mr. M’Dougal in all the bustle of preparation; having
about nine days previously announced at the factory, his intention of
breaking up the establishment, and fixed upon the 1st of July for the
time of departure. Messrs. Stuart and Clarke felt highly displeased at
his taking so precipitate a step, without waiting for their concurrence,
when he must have known that their arrival could not be far distant.
Indeed, the whole conduct of Mr. M’Dougal was such as to awaken strong
doubts as to his loyal devotion to the cause. His old sympathies with
the Northwest Company seem to have revived. He had received M’Tavish and
his party with uncalled for hospitality, as though they were friends and
allies, instead of being a party of observation, come to reconnoitre the
state of affairs at Astoria, and to await the arrival of a hostile ship.
Had they been left to themselves, they would have been starved off for
want of provisions, or driven away by the Chinooks, who only wanted
a signal from the factory to treat them as intruders and enemies.
M’Dougal, on the contrary, had supplied them from the stores of the
garrison, and had gained them the favor of the Indians, by treating them
as friends.
Having set his mind fixedly on the project of breaking up the
establishment at Astoria, in the current year, M’Dougal was sorely
disappointed at finding that Messrs. Stuart and Clarke had omitted
to comply with his request to purchase horses and provisions for the
caravan across the mountains. It was now too late to make the necessary
preparations in time for traversing the mountains before winter, and the
project had to be postponed.
In the meantime, the non-arrival of the annual ship, and the
apprehensions entertained of the loss of the Beaver and of Mr. Hunt, had
their effect upon the minds of Messrs. Stuart and Clarke. They began
to listen to the desponding representations of M’Dougal, seconded
by M’Kenzie, who inveighed against their situation as desperate and
forlorn; left to shift for themselves, or perish upon a barbarous coast;
neglected by those who sent them there; and threatened with dangers
of every kind. In this way they were brought to consent to the plan of
abandoning the country in the ensuing year.
About this time, M’Tavish applied at the factory to purchase a small
supply of goods wherewith to trade his way back to his post on the upper
waters of the Columbia, having waited in vain for the arrival of the
Isaac Todd. His request brought on a consultation among the partners.
M’Dougal urged that it should be complied with. He furthermore proposed,
that they should give up to M’Tavish, for a proper consideration, the
post on the Spokan, and all its dependencies, as they had not sufficient
goods on hand to supply that post themselves, and to keep up a
competition with the Northwest Company in the trade with the neighboring
Indians. This last representation has since been proved incorrect. By
inventories, it appears that their stock in hand for the supply of the
interior posts, was superior to that of the Northwest Company; so that
they had nothing to fear from competition.
Through the influence of Messrs. M’Dougal and M’Kenzie, this proposition
was adopted, and was promptly accepted by M’Tavish. The merchandise sold
to him amounted to eight hundred and fifty-eight dollars, to be paid
for, in the following spring, in horses, or in any other manner most
acceptable to the partners at that period.
This agreement being concluded, the partners formed their plans for
the year that they would yet have to pass in the country. Their objects
were, chiefly, present subsistence, and the purchase of horses for
the contemplated journey, though they were likewise to collect as much
peltries as their diminished means would command. Accordingly, it was
arranged that David Stuart should return to his former post on the
Oakinagan, and Mr. Clarke should make his sojourn among the Flatheads.
John Reed, the sturdy Hibernian, was to undertake the Snake River
country, accompanied by Pierre Dorion and Pierre Delaunay, as hunters,
and Francis Landry, Jean Baptiste Turcotte, Andre la Chapelle, and
Gilles le Clerc, Canadian voyageurs.
Astoria, however, was the post about which they felt the greatest
solicitude, and on which they all more or less depended. The maintenance
of this in safety throughout the coming year, was, therefore, their
grand consideration. Mr. M’Dougal was to continue in command of it,
with a party of forty men. They would have to depend chiefly upon the
neighboring savages for their subsistence. These, at present, were
friendly, but it was to be feared that, when they should discover the
exigencies of the post, and its real weakness, they might proceed
to hostilities; or, at any rate, might cease to furnish their
usual supplies. It was important, therefore, to render the place as
independent as possible, of the surrounding tribes for its support; and
it was accordingly resolved that M’Kenzie, with four hunters, and eight
common men, should winter in the abundant country of Wollamut, from
whence they might be enabled to furnish a constant supply of provisions
to Astoria.
As there was too great a proportion of clerks for the number of privates
in the service, the engagements of three of them, Ross Cox, Ross,
and M’Lennan, were surrendered to them, and they immediately enrolled
themselves in the service of the Northwest Company; glad, no doubt, to
escape from what they considered a sinking ship.
Having made all these arrangements, the four partners, on the first of
July, signed a formal manifesto, stating the alarming state of their
affairs, from the non-arrival of the annual ship, and the absence and
apprehended loss of the Beaver, their want of goods, their despair of
receiving any further supply, their ignorance of the coast, and their
disappointment as to the interior trade, which they pronounced unequal
to the expenses incurred, and incompetent to stand against the powerful
opposition of the Northwest Company. And as by the 16th article of the
company’s agreement, they were authorized to abandon this undertaking,
and dissolve the concern, if before the period of five years it should
be found unprofitable, they now formally announced their intention to
do so on the 1st day of June, of the ensuing year, unless in the interim
they should receive the necessary support and supplies from Mr. Astor,
or the stockholders, with orders to continue.
This instrument, accompanied by private letters of similar import, was
delivered to Mr. M’Tavish, who departed on the 5th of July. He engaged
to forward the despatches to Mr. Astor, by the usual winter express sent
overland by the Northwest Company.
The manifesto was signed with great reluctance by Messrs. Clarke and D.
Stuart, whose experience by no means justified the discouraging
account given in it of the internal trade, and who considered the
main difficulties of exploring an unknown and savage country, and of
ascertaining the best trading and trapping grounds, in a great measure
overcome. They were overruled, however, by the urgent instances
of M’Dougal and M’Kenzie, who, having resolved upon abandoning the
enterprise, were desirous of making as strong a case as possible to
excuse their conduct to Mr. Astor and to the world.