brief of his defense. He probably wrote it so that his descendants would
understand. At the end of this Document, Dr. McLoughlin said: "By
British demagogues I have been represented as a traitor. For what?
Because I acted as a Christian; saved American citizens, men, women and
children from the Indian tomahawk and enabled them to make farms to
support their families.[55] American demagogues have been base enough to
assert that I had caused American citizens to be massacred by hundreds
by the savages. I, who saved all I could. I have been represented by the
Delegate from Oregon, the late S. R. Thurston, as doing all I could to
prevent the settling [of Oregon], while it was well known to every
American settler who is acquainted with the history of the Territory if
this is not a downright falsehood, and most certainly will say, that he
most firmly believes that I did all I could to promote its settlement,
and that I could not have done more for the settlers if they had been my
brothers and sisters, and, after being the first person to take a claim
in the country and assisting the immigrants as I have, my claim is
reserved, after having expended all the means I had to improve it, while
every other settler in the country gets his. But as I felt convinced
that any disturbance between us here might lead to a war between Great
Britain and the States, I felt it my bounden duty as a Christian, to act
as I did, and which I think averted the evil, and which was so
displeasing to some English demagogues that they represented me to the
British government as a person so partial to American interests as
selling the Hudson's Bay Company goods, in my charge, cheaper to
American than I did to British subjects.... Yet, after acting as I
have, spending my means and doing my utmost to settle the country, my
claim is reserved, while every other settler in the country gets his;
and how much this has injured me, is daily injuring me, it is needless
to say, and certainly it is a treatment I do not deserve and which I did
not expect. To be brief, I founded this settlement and prevented a war
between the United States and Great Britain, and for doing this
peaceably and quietly, I was treated by the British in such a manner
that from self respect I resigned my situation in the Hudson's Bay
Company's service, by which I sacrificed $12,000 per annum, and the
'Oregon Land Bill' shows the treatment I received from the Americans."
And so, worried and troubled without surcease, Dr. McLoughlin maintained
his grand, but kindly, attitude to the last. But these matters affected
his health. For several years before his death he was an invalid, but
his pride assisted him to persevere and to transact such business as he
could, although his heart was breaking. His flesh became greatly
reduced, his eyes deeply sunken. He grew so emaciated that his great
frame stood out, making him look gaunt and grim. For a few weeks, only,
before his death he was confined to his bed.
Thus encompassed and overcome, and crucified by robbery, mendacity, and
ingratitude, Dr. John McLoughlin died at Oregon City, September 3, 1857,
a broken-hearted man. He was buried in the churchyard of the Roman
Catholic Church in Oregon City, where his body now lies. The stone
which marks his grave bears the simple inscription:
"DR. JOHN McLOUGHLIN
DIED
Sept. 3, 1857.
AGED
73 Years.
The pioneer and Friend of Oregon.
Also the founder of this City."
Dr. John McLoughlin is not the only great character in history, whose
memory shall live for all time, but whose death was under sad
circumstances and whose heart, at the time of his death, was then filled
with thoughts of the wrong-doings and the ingratitude of others.
The frontispiece to this address is made from a photograph of a
daguerreotype of Dr. McLoughlin taken in 1856, when his sorrows and
tribulations were beginning to tell on him. This daguerreotype belongs
to Mrs. Josiah Myrick, of Portland, Oregon, who is a granddaughter of
Dr. McLoughlin. She kindly loaned this daguerreotype to have the
photograph made of it.
Governor L. F. Grover was elected Governor of Oregon for two consecutive
terms. He resigned during his last term to be an United States Senator,
to which latter office he was elected. He is now living in Portland, at
an advanced age. On the fourteenth of September, 1905, he gave me a
written statement of an incident which occurred in the last sickness of
Dr. McLoughlin. In this statement Governor Grover said that he was
riding on horseback through Oregon City on his way from Salem to
Portland, and passed down the street directly in front of Dr.
McLoughlin's home, a few days before his death. As Governor Grover was
giving directions for the care of his horse, a messenger came to him
from Dr. McLoughlin requesting Governor Grover to call at Dr.
McLoughlin's house. Governor Grover says: "I found him extremely ill....
He said that he was dying by inches. He said: 'I shall live but a little
while longer and this is the reason I sent for you. I am an old man and
just dying, and you are a young man and will live many years in this
country, and will have something to do with affairs here. As for me, I
might better have been shot'--and he brought it out harshly--'I might
better have been shot forty years ago.' After a silence, for I did not
say anything, he concluded: 'than to have lived here and tried to build
up a family and an estate in this government. I became a citizen of the
United States in good faith. I planted all I had here and the government
has confiscated my property. Now what I want to ask of you is that you
will give your influence after I am dead to have this property go to my
children. I have earned it as other settlers have earned theirs, and it
ought to be mine and my heirs.' I told him I would favor his request,
and did."
_Justice to Dr. McLoughlin's Memory._
Although the Donation Land Law went into effect September 27, 1850, and
its section eleven provided that the "Oregon City Claim" should be at
the disposal of the Territory for the establishment and endowment of an
university, nothing was done with this land claim until 1862, three
years after Oregon became a state. In October, 1862, the Legislative
Assembly of the State of Oregon passed an act, which was approved by the
Governor October 17, 1862, conveying and confirming to the legatees
under the will of Dr. McLoughlin, who were his son, David, his daughter,
Eloisa, and her husband, Daniel Harvey, the McLoughlin or Oregon City
land claim, excepting Abernethy Island, upon the condition that said
legatees pay to the University Fund of Oregon, the nominal sum of one
thousand dollars. This was forthwith paid by Daniel Harvey and wife in
gold coin although they might have paid it in greenbacks, which were
then at a large discount. As the eleventh section of the Donation Land
Law provided that the proceeds of the sale of said Oregon City Claim
should be applied to the establishment and endowment of an university,
there had to be some consideration paid on its disposal by the State.
All this occurred twelve years after the passage of the Donation Land
Law and five years after the death of Dr. McLoughlin. During all those
twelve years the title of this land claim was in the Territory, or State
of Oregon. It stopped the growth of Oregon City. It impoverished Dr.
McLoughlin.
As appears by the Senate and House Journals of the Legislative Session
of 1862 said act passed the Senate, with two negative votes only, and
there were none in the House after the act was amended in the Senate in
the form in which the act became a law. The injustice of the Donation
Land Law to Dr. McLoughlin had appealed to the people of Oregon in the
twelve years which had elapsed since the passage of the latter law. What
Dr. McLoughlin had done for Oregon and its pioneers could not be
forgotten. Justice to him and his memory was, at last, triumphant. The
enactment and approval of this law of October 17, 1862, was an official
vindication of Dr. McLoughlin, by the Legislative and Executive
Departments of the State of Oregon, of all the false statements about,
and all charges against him made by Thurston and others, and of all
their misrepresentations of Dr. McLoughlin and of his acts. It was a
formal official acknowledgment of the injustice of the Oregon Donation
Land Law to Dr. McLoughlin. It was an official recognition of his
sterling qualities; of his humanity; of his great services in assisting
the early immigrants; of what he had done for Oregon; and of what was
due to him and to his memory as the Father of Oregon. It cleared his
character and reputation from every imputation of unfairness, injustice,
and chicanery. It was, in effect, an official condemnation of the acts
of the conspirators against him.
In 1846 the fame of Dr. John McLoughlin as a great and good man had
extended to Rome. That year Gregory XVI, then the Pope, made Dr.
McLoughlin a Knight of St. Gregory the Great, of civil grade. The
original patent, written in Latin, is now in the possession of a
descendant of Dr. McLoughlin. A copy in English is in the possession of
the Oregon Historical Society. The Pope sent to Dr. McLoughlin the
Insignia of the Order, which was delivered to him by Archbishop Francis
N. Blanchet on his return from Europe in August, 1847. It was a high and
deserved honor. But without it Dr. John McLoughlin was one of Nature's
knights in all qualities which the highest and best of knights should
have. He was such a knight, _sans peur, sans reproche_.
_Opinions by Dr. McLoughlin's Contemporaries._
In 1887 the people of Portland determined to raise six hundred dollars
for a three-quarter life-size portrait of Dr. McLoughlin, to be painted
by William Coggswell, the artist, to be owned by the Oregon Pioneer
Association. The money was raised by popular subscription. The total
amount subscribed was nearly double the sum required. This portrait was
formally presented to the Association at its annual meeting, June 15,
1887. Judge M. P. Deady made the presentation address. He was a judge
for forty years continuously in Oregon. A part of the time, six years,
he was on the Oregon Territorial Supreme Bench, and for thirty-four
years he was United States District Judge for Oregon, after Oregon
became a State. In his presentation address Judge Deady, speaking of Dr.
McLoughlin,[56] said: "The man, whose portrait now hangs before you,
came to this country from the Atlantic commissioned as Chief Factor and
Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company west of the Rocky mountains. He was
clothed with absolute power.... He was the ruler of this country, and
had the peace and security of the people in his hands. He was
distinguished for his justice and fair dealing with the Indians. When
the immigration came he was distinguished for kindness and hospitality.
He always literally obeyed the scriptural injunction to feed the hungry,
visit the sick and clothe the naked. The maintenance of law, order and
justice rested on his shoulders and he was equal to the occasion.
"The people of Portland have thought to honor his memory by having his
portrait painted and giving it to the Pioneer Association, to be taken
to the fair city of Salem and hung in the State Capitol, where you may
look at it and show it to your children, and they to their children, and
say: 'This is the old doctor, the good doctor, Dr. John McLoughlin.'
Thirty years ago he laid down his life at the Wallamet Falls, where he
had builded and lived since 1845, somewhat in obscurity, somewhat in
sorrow, somewhat in sadness and disappointment. But the political strife
and religious bigotry which cast a cloud over his latter days have
passed away, and his memory and figure have arisen from the mist and
smoke of controversy, and he stands out today in bold relief, as the
first man in the history of this country--the Pioneer of Pioneers."
The Oregon Pioneer Association deemed it best to present this portrait
to the State of Oregon. This was done February 6, 1889, at a joint
session of the Senate and House of the Oregon Legislative Assembly held
for the purpose. This portrait now hangs in the Senate chamber of the
State Capitol at Salem in the place of honor, immediately back of the
chair of the President of the Senate. John Minto, an honored pioneer of
1844, was selected to make the presentation address. In this address Mr.
Minto said:[57] "In this sad summary of such a life as Dr. McLoughlin's,
there is a statement that merits our attention, which, if ever proven
true--and no man that ever knew Dr. McLoughlin will doubt that he
believed it true, namely, that he prevented war between Great Britain
and the United States--will show that two of the greatest nations on
this earth owe him a debt of gratitude, and that Oregon in particular is
doubly bound to him as a public benefactor.... It is now twenty-six
years since the Legislative Assembly of the State of Oregon, so far as
restoration of property to Dr. McLoughlin's family could undo the wrong
of Oregon's land bill, gave gladness to the heart of every Oregon
pioneer worthy of the name. All of them yet living now know that (good
man as they believed him) he was better than they knew. They see him
now, after the strife and jealousies of race, national, business, and
sectarian interests are allayed, standing in the centre of all these
causes of contention--a position in which to please all parties was
simply impossible, to maintain which 'only a good man could bear with
patience'--and they have adopted this means of conveying their
appreciation of this great forbearance and patient endurance, combined
with his generous conduct. Looking, then, at this line of action in the
light of the merest glimpses of history known to be true by witnesses
yet living, can any honest man wonder that the pioneers of Oregon, who
have eaten the salt of this man's hospitality--who have been eye
witnesses to his brave care for humanity and participators of his
generous aid--are unwilling to go to their graves in silence, which
would imply base ingratitude--a silence which would be eloquent with
falsehood?"
In accepting this portrait, on behalf of the State of Oregon, Gov.
Sylvester Pennoyer, also an Oregon pioneer, who served two consecutive
terms as Governor of the State of Oregon, said:[58] "This gift is alike
creditable to the venerable men of your Association in its bestowment
and to the State of Oregon in its acceptance. It does honor to the
pioneers of Oregon, because it shows their full appreciation of the high
qualities of a true and noble manhood; and the placing of this painting
in the honorable position it now occupies in the senate-hall of the
state capitol evinces a like appreciation on the part of the
representatives and the people of this great State. Dr. McLoughlin was,
indeed, a most extraordinary man. Entrusted with a most responsible
position under the British flag at a time when there was a bitter
contest for governmental supremacy in Oregon, it was the undoubted and
honorable wish and prompting of his heart that the flag of his country
might continue to wave over Oregon soil, and yet in instances repeated
without number, he extended the hand of charity and unstinted aid to the
poor immigrants of the contesting people, whose advent here threatened
the supremacy of his government over the contested territory. While he
was loyal to his country he was, as became his lofty character, more
loyal to his conscience; and while never forgetting his full allegiance
as a Briton, he never forgot his higher duty as a man.... Then let this
picture of the grand old man, whose numerous deeds of charity are
inseparably interwoven in the early history of our State, ever enjoy the
place of honor it now holds; and when our children and our children's
children shall visit these venerated halls, let them pause before the
portrait of this venerable man and do homage to his memory, who, with
his patriotic devotion to his country and his devout service to his God,
crowned the full completeness of his high character with an unmeasured
love for his fellow men."
I have already spoken of the Rev. H. K. Hines, D.D., a Methodist
minister who came to Oregon in 1853, and of his memorable address
delivered at Pendleton, December 10, 1897. In this address Dr. Hines
said that "Dr. McLoughlin should escape the traduction of sectarian
rancor and bigotry, ... was perhaps an impossibility. He certainly did
not. Of course all could see at the outset, and none more clearly than
the missionaries themselves, that the attitude he assumed towards the
American missions and missionaries, must needs decide the success of
their work, and even the very inauguration of it.... Dr. McLoughlin was
a Christian, professedly, and it does not lie in me to say that he was
not really and truly. At this time, and long before, and for years
afterwards, he was a member of the Church of England. That subsequently,
in 1841, I think, he became a devout member of the Roman Catholic
church, does not, to my mind, take from or add to the estimate I make of
him as a devout believer in that form of religion called Christianity."
And speaking of Dr. McLoughlin's treatment of the missionaries of all
denominations, Dr. Hines said: "All these missionaries came while Dr.
McLoughlin was not connected with any of the churches they represented.
His treatment of them was on a broader and higher plane than that of the
sectary. It was that of the humanitarian and the Christian, and it
continued thus even after he must have seen that, at least, the missions
of Mr. Lee and Dr. Whitman were, in the order of events, gathering about
themselves the elements of an American civilization that indicated what
the future of Oregon would be--what it has long since become." And
referring to the early immigrants and Dr. McLoughlin's treatment of
them, Dr. Hines said: "What would Dr. McLoughlin do? Would he shut the
gates of his fortress? Would he lock the doors of his granaries? Would
he deny asylum to the weary, footsore, famishing immigrants? What would
he do? We can answer by rehearsing what he did. He forgot, in large
measure, that those who lay at his door, sick, weary, poor, and almost
ready to die, were not his friends. He fed them and pointed them out the
ways in which they could take living root in the soil of that very
Oregon which was the covet of England, and had so long been the
possession of his own Company, albeit they who came were American
citizens, and each brought an American flag in his heart if not in his
hand.
"To me it seems evident that Dr. McLoughlin clearly saw the inevitable
outcome of the struggle between dilatory and procrastinating diplomacy
and the steady tramp of the growing army of ox teams that slowly swung
down the slopes of the mountains, and, in his humanity, which was wider
than his national prejudices, and stronger to control him than his love
of gain, gave the final cast of his own act to humanity and peace,
rather than to gain and war. I cannot here trace the individual acts
that demonstrate this general conclusion, as my aim has been rather to
indicate the results and show the conclusions of history than to relate
its incidents and chronicle its dates.
"A few years pass on. The great Company, erst and long the rulers of
Oregon, disown the acts and reprove the conduct of this man of men.
Rising to an even higher altitude of resplendent manhood, with a
magnificent scorn he casts down his lofty office, with its salary of
$12,000 a year, at the feet of these knights of the counting-house and
ledger, cuts all the bonds that bind him to their service, comes back
from the palaces of London to the green woods and soft plains of Oregon,
takes his place as an American citizen under the stars and stripes, and
thus wins the place of imperishable honor and fame as the true 'Father
of Oregon.' There his ablest contemporaries place him. There the great
State within whose bounds he died and whose foundations he laid, by the
voice of her legislature and her chief executive has crowned him. There
history, whose verdict I record to-night, and with which my own heart
agrees, enshrines him as the greatest of our really great pioneer era."
I have given these opinions because they are those of men who personally
knew Dr. McLoughlin. And years after his death, after careful
consideration and reflection, they have properly estimated him and, thus
remembering, have spoken truly and justly.[59]
_Eulogy upon Dr. McLoughlin._
Like many others of the world's great men, Dr. John McLoughlin had many
characteristics, apparently conflicting, but making in the aggregate a
wonderful and harmonious whole. He was the autocrat of the early Oregon
Country, yet all his feelings and political sympathies were for a
republican form of government, and for rule by the people, and for
personal liberty; he was a trader, with the training of a trader and of
a business man, yet he gave credit, without security, to the early
pioneers, because he was a humanitarian; he was quick tempered and
impulsive, yet he was courteous and kind, for he was a gentleman; he was
stern and severe and a strict disciplinarian, yet he had a sympathy like
that of a woman, and a heart as tender and susceptible as that of a
little child.
Whatever Dr. John McLoughlin did to or for the Oregon settlers,
missionaries and immigrants, he did to every citizen of Oregon, man,
woman, and child, for all time, then, now, and to come. In honoring him,
we honor ourselves. To fail to honor him and his memory, we would
dishonor ourselves. To every true, honest Oregon pioneer, and to the
descendants of every Oregon pioneer, has come the pleasing and loving
duty of letting the whole world know of Dr. McLoughlin's actions and
character, so that memory of him and his humanity shall never perish.
The time will come--and it should come soon--when a magnificent and
stately monument will be erected in Oregon in honor of Dr. John
McLoughlin. But it must be a monument of such size and beauty as, in
that manner, to show the appreciation of the people of Oregon for him,
and of the good and noble deeds of this grand old man.
His name should be enrolled in the Temple of Fame of distinguished
Americans. A county in each of the states of Oregon and Washington
should be named for him. For prior to March 2, 1853, what is now the
State of Washington, was a part of the Territory of Oregon, and Fort
Vancouver, where his noblest deeds were performed, is in the State of
Washington. That State would do itself great honor if it should change
the name of Thurston County to that of McLoughlin. I am glad that the
last Legislative Assembly of Oregon restored the name of Mt. McLoughlin
to that sublime, snow-covered mountain in Southern Oregon, sometimes
called Mt. Pitt, but, prior to 1838, named for Dr. John McLoughlin by
the early residents of Oregon, and for years called and shown on the
maps as Mt. McLoughlin. It will forever be known by his name. It would
have been appropriate if the Legislative Assembly of Oregon had changed
the name of Mount Hood to that of Mount McLoughlin, for, in the days
when Dr. John McLoughlin was in charge at Fort Vancouver, it was the
custom of the Indians, in what is now called Eastern Oregon and Eastern
Washington, to point to Mt. Hood as showing near where was his
residence.
Dr. McLoughlin died more than forty-nine years ago. Under the canons of
the Roman Catholic Church no one can be canonized until he or she has
been dead at least fifty years. If I may do so with propriety, I suggest
that, when the fifty years have passed, those in proper authority in
that Church cause Dr. John McLoughlin to be canonized, if it is possible
to do so. But the people of Oregon, as a people, are not bound by this
canon. Already the memory of this grand old man is enshrined in their
hearts. To them he is now the patron saint of Oregon, without regard to
canon or rules, religion or sect.
Of all the names and titles given to, or bestowed upon Dr. John
McLoughlin, the one I like best is "Father of Oregon;" for he was, and
is truly, the Father of Oregon. And it enables every old, true Oregon
pioneer, and every son and daughter of every Oregon pioneer, and his and
her descendants, to the remotest generations, to speak of Dr. John
McLoughlin with affection and love, with respect and veneration as "Our
Father." In the past the fervent prayers of these grateful pioneers
were made in his praise and that his tribulations might end and
persecutions of him might cease. Their tears consecrated his martyrdom
and his memory. Today the hearts of the survivors and of the descendants
of these pioneers quicken at thoughts of what he was and what he did;
and their eyes moisten in recalling what he suffered and what he endured
in the making of Oregon.