Arrival of M’Tavish at Astoria.--Conduct of His Followers.--
Negotiations of M’Dougal and M’Tavish.--Bargain for the
Transfer of Astoria--Doubts Entertained of the Loyalty of
M’Dougal.
ON the 2d of October, about five weeks after Mr. Hunt had sailed in the
Albatross from Astoria, Mr. M’Kenzie set off with two canoes, and twelve
men, for the posts of Messrs. Stuart and Clarke, to appraise them of
the new arrangements determined upon in the recent conference of the
partners at the factory.
He had not ascended the river a hundred miles, when he met a squadron
of ten canoes, sweeping merrily down under British colors, the Canadian
oarsmen, as usual, in full song.
It was an armament fitted out by M’Tavish, who had with him Mr. J.
Stuart, another partner of the Northwest Company, together with some
clerks, and sixty-eight men--seventy-five souls in all. They had heard
of the frigate Phoebe and the Isaac Todd being on the high seas, and
were on their way down to await their arrival. In one of the canoes Mr.
Clarke came as a passenger, the alarming intelligence having brought him
down from his post on the Spokan. Mr. M’Kenzie immediately determined to
return with him to Astoria, and, veering about, the two parties encamped
together for the night. The leaders, of course, observed a due
decorum, but some of the subalterns could not restrain their chuckling
exultation, boasting that they would soon plant the British standard on
the walls of Astoria, and drive the Americans out of the country.
In the course of the evening, Mr. M’Kenzie had a secret conference with
Mr. Clarke, in which they agreed to set off privately before daylight,
and get down in time to appraise M’Dougal of the approach of these
Northwesters. The latter, however, were completely on the alert; just as
M’Kenzie’s canoes were about to push off, they were joined by a couple
from the Northwest squadron, in which was M’Tavish, with two clerks,
and eleven men. With these, he intended to push forward and make
arrangements, leaving the rest of the convoy, in which was a large
quantity of furs, to await his orders.
The two parties arrived at Astoria on the 7th of October. The
Northwesters encamped under the guns of the fort, and displayed the
British colors. The young men in the fort, natives of the United States,
were on the point of hoisting the American flag, but were forbidden
by Mr. M’Dougal. They were astonished at such a prohibition, and were
exceedingly galled by the tone and manner assumed by the clerks and
retainers of the Northwest Company, who ruffled about in that swelling
and braggart style which grows up among these heroes of the wilderness;
they, in fact, considered themselves lords of the ascendant and regarded
the hampered and harassed Astorians as a conquered people.
On the following day M’Dougal convened the clerks, and read to them
an extract from a letter from his uncle, Mr. Angus Shaw, one of the
principal partners of the Northwest Company, announcing the coming of
the Phoebe and Isaac Todd, “to take and destroy everything American on
the northwest coast.”
This intelligence was received without dismay by such of the clerks as
were natives of the United States. They had felt indignant at seeing
their national flag struck by a Canadian commander, and the British flag
flowed, as it were, in their faces. They had been stung to the quick,
also, by the vaunting airs assumed by the Northwesters. In this mood of
mind, they would willingly have nailed their colors to the staff, and
defied the frigate. She could not come within many miles of the fort,
they observed, and any boats she might send could be destroyed by their
cannon.
There were cooler and more calculating spirits, however, who had
the control of affairs, and felt nothing of the patriotic pride and
indignation of these youths. The extract of the letter had, apparently,
been read by M’Dougal, merely to prepare the way for a preconcerted
stroke of management. On the same day Mr. M’Tavish proposed to purchase
the whole stock of goods and furs belonging to the company, both at
Astoria and in the interior, at cost and charges. Mr. M’Dougal undertook
to comply; assuming the whole management of the negotiation in virtue
of the power vested in him, in case of the non-arrival of Mr. Hunt.
That power, however, was limited and specific, and did not extend to an
operation of this nature and extent; no objection, however, was made to
his assumption, and he and M’Tavish soon made a preliminary arrangement,
perfectly satisfactory to the latter.
Mr. Stuart, and the reserve party of Northwesters, arrived shortly
afterwards, and encamped with M’Tavish. The former exclaimed loudly
against the terms of the arrangement, and insisted upon a reduction of
the prices. New negotiations had now to be entered into. The demands
of the Northwesters were made in a peremptory tone, and they seemed
disposed to dictate like conquerors. The Americans looked on with
indignation and impatience. They considered M’Dougal as acting, if not a
perfidious, certainly a craven part. He was continually repairing to
the camp to negotiate, instead of keeping within his walls and receiving
overtures in his fortress. His case, they observed, was not so desperate
as to excuse such crouching. He might, in fact, hold out for his own
terms. The Northwest party had lost their ammunition; they had no goods
to trade with the natives for provisions; and they were so destitute
that M’Dougal had absolutely to feed them, while he negotiated with
them. He, on the contrary, was well lodged and victualled; had sixty
men, with arms, ammunition, boats, and everything requisite either for
defense or retreat. The party, beneath the guns of his fort, were at his
mercy; should an enemy appear in the offing, he could pack up the most
valuable part of the property and retire to some place of concealment,
or make off for the interior.
These considerations, however, had no weight with Mr. M’Dougal, or were
overruled by other motives. The terms of sale were lowered by him to the
standard fixed by Mr. Stuart, and an agreement executed on the 16th of
October, by which the furs and merchandise of all kinds in the country,
belonging to Mr. Astor, passed into the possession of the Northwest
Company at about a third of their value. * A safe passage through the
Northwest posts was guaranteed to such as did not choose to enter into
the service of that Company, and the amount of wages due to them was to
be deducted from the price paid for Astoria.
The conduct and motives of Mr. M’Dougal, throughout the whole of this
proceeding, have been strongly questioned by the other partners. He
has been accused of availing himself of a wrong construction of powers
vested in him at his own request, and of sacrificing the interests
of Mr. Astor to the Northwest Company, under the promise or hope of
advantage to himself.
He always insisted, however, that he made the best bargain for Mr. Astor
that circumstances would permit; the frigate being hourly expected,
in which case the whole property of that gentleman would be liable to
capture. That the return of Mr. Hunt was problematical; the frigate
intending to cruise along the coast for two years, and clear it of all
American vessels. He moreover averred, and M’Tavish corroborated
his averment by certificate, that he proposed an arrangement to that
gentleman, by which the furs were to be sent to Canton, and sold there
at Mr. Astor’s risk, and for his account; but the proposition was not
acceded to.
Notwithstanding all his representations, several of the persons present
at the transaction, and acquainted with the whole course of the affair,
and among the number Mr. M’Kenzie himself, his occasional coadjutor,
remained firm in the belief that he had acted a hollow part. Neither
did he succeed in exculpating himself to Mr. Astor; that gentleman
declaring, in a letter written some time afterwards, to Mr. Hunt, that
he considered the property virtually given away. “Had our place and our
property,” he adds, “been fairly captured, I should have preferred it; I
should not feel as if I were disgraced.”
All these may be unmerited suspicions; but it certainly is a
circumstance strongly corroborative of them, that Mr. M’Dougal, shortly
after concluding this agreement, became a member of the Northwest
Company, and received a share productive of a handsome income.
* Not quite $40,000 were allowed for furs worth upwards of
$100,000. Beaver was valued at two dollars per skin, though
worth five dollars. Land otter at fifty cents, though worth
five dollars. Sea-otter at twelve dollars, worth from forty-
five to sixty dollars; and for several kinds of furs nothing
was allowed. Moreover, the goods and merchandise for the
Indian trade ought to have brought three times the amount
for which they were sold.
The following estimate has been made of the articles on hand, and the
prices:
17,705 lbs. beaver parchment, valued at $2.00 worth $5.00
465 old coat beaver, valued at 1.66 worth 3.50
907 land otter, valued at.50 worth 5.00
68 sea-otter, valued at 12.00 worth 45 to 60.00
30 sea-otter, valued at 5.00 worth 25.00
Nothing was allowed for
179 mink skins, worth each.40
22 raccoon, worth each.40
28 lynx, worth each 2.00
18 fox, worth each 1.00
106 fox, worth each 1.50
71 black bear, worth each 4.00
16 grizzly bear, worth each 10.00