Transcriber's Note:
Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the original document have
been preserved. Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
Italic text is denoted by _underscores_.
The quote starting on page 19 with "If, however," has no end quote.
On page 177, "as he plead" should possibly be "as he pled."
The quote starting on page 215 with "Marcus Whitman" has no end
quote.
On page 287, "staid back" should possibly be "stayed back."
[Illustration: WHITMAN LEAVING HOME ON HIS WINTER RIDE TO SAVE
OREGON.]
How Marcus Whitman
Saved Oregon.
A TRUE ROMANCE OF PATRIOTIC HEROISM,
CHRISTIAN DEVOTION AND
FINAL MARTYRDOM....
WITH SKETCHES OF
Life on the Plains and Mountains in Pioneer Days
BY
OLIVER W. NIXON, M.D., LL.D.,
_For Seventeen Years President and Literary Editor
of the Chicago Inter Ocean_.
INTRODUCTION BY
Rev. Frank W. Gunsaulus, D.D., LL.D.
SECOND EDITION.
ILLUSTRATED.
STAR PUBLISHING COMPANY,
CHICAGO,
1895
Copyrighted, 1895, by Oliver W. Nixon.
(All rights reserved.)
DEDICATION.
TO THE BOYS AND GIRLS OF THE
Little Log School House on the Willamette,
NOW THE GRAY HAIRED MEN AND WOMEN OF OREGON, WASHINGTON, IDAHO AND
CALIFORNIA, TO WHOM I AM INDEBTED FOR A MULTITUDE OF PLEASING MEMORIES
WHICH HAVE BEEN UNDIMMED BY YEARS AND DISTANCE, I GRATEFULLY DEDICATE
THIS VOLUME.
PREFACE.
This little volume is not intended to be a history of Oregon missions
or even a complete biography of Dr. Whitman. Its aim is simply to
bring out, prominently, in a series of sketches, the heroism and
Christian patriotism of the man who rendered great and distinguished
service to his country, which has never been fully appreciated or
recognized.
In my historical facts I have tried to be correct and to give credit
to authorities where I could. I expect some of my critics will ask, as
they have in the past: "Who is your authority for this fact and that?"
I only answer, I don't know unless I am authority. In 1850 and 1851 I
was a teacher of the young men and maidens, and bright-eyed boys and
girls of the old pioneers of Oregon.
Many years ago I told the story of that school to Hezekiah
Butterworth, who made it famous in his idyllic romance, "The Log
School House on the Columbia." It was a time when history was being
made. The great tragedy at Waiilatpui was fresh in the minds of the
people. With such surroundings one comes in touch with the spirit of
history.
Later on, I was purser upon the Lot Whitcomb, the first steamer ever
built in Oregon, and came in contact with all classes of people. If I
have failed to interpret the history correctly, it is because I failed
to understand it. The sketches have been written in hours snatched
from pressing duties, and no claim is made of high literary
excellence. But if they aid the public, even in a small degree, to
better understand and appreciate the grand man whose remains rest in
his martyr's grave at Waiilatpui, unhonored by any monument, I shall
be amply compensated.
O. W. N.
CONTENTS.
Pages.
Introduction 11-14
CHAPTER I.
The Title of the United States to Oregon--The Hudson
Bay Company--The Louisiana Purchase 15-37
CHAPTER II.
English and American Opinion of the Value of the
Northwest Territory--The Neglect of American
Statesmen 38-49
CHAPTER III.
The Romance of the Oregon Mission 50-62
CHAPTER IV.
The Wedding Journey Across the Plains 63-82
CHAPTER V.
Mission Life at Waiilatpui 83-98
CHAPTER VI.
The Ride to Save Oregon 99-123
CHAPTER VII.
Whitman in the Presence of President Tyler and
Secretary of State Daniel Webster--The Return to
Oregon 124-164
CHAPTER VIII.
A Backward Look at Results 165-185
CHAPTER IX.
Change in Public Sentiment 186-200
CHAPTER X.
The Failure of Modern History to do Justice to Dr.
Whitman 201-216
CHAPTER XI.
The Massacre at Waiilatpui 217-237
CHAPTER XII.
Biographical--Dr. Whitman--Dr. McLoughlin 238-249
CHAPTER XIII.
Whitman Seminary and College 250-262
CHAPTER XIV.
Oregon Then, and Oregon, Washington and Idaho Now 263-276
CHAPTER XV.
Life on the Great Plains in Pioneer Days 277-304
Appendix 305-339
ILLUSTRATIONS.
Page.
1. Whitman Leaving Home on His Ride to Save
Oregon Frontispiece.
2. Falls of the Willamette 32
3. Map of Early Oregon and the West, Showing Whitman's
Route, etc. 41
4. Steamer Lot Whitcomb 56
5. Dr. Marcus Whitman 72
6. Mission Station at Waiilatpui 88
7. Mrs. Narcissa Prentice Whitman 104
8. Whitman Pleading for Oregon before President Tyler
and Secretary Webster 128
9. Rev. H. H. Spalding 144
10. Rev. Cushing Eells, D.D. 160
11. Whitman College 176
12. Whitman's Grave 224
13. Dr. John McLoughlin 248
14. Dr. Daniel K. Pearsons 264
15. Rev. S. B. L. Penrose, President of Whitman College 272
16. The Log School House on the Willamette 280
17. A. J. Anderson, Ph.D. 296
18. Rev. James F. Eaton, D.D. 296
19. Portraits of Flathead Indians Who Visited St. Louis 313
INTRODUCTION
BY
REV. FRANK W. GUNSAULUS, D.D.,
Pastor of Plymouth Church, and President of Armour Institute, Chicago.
Among the efforts at description which will associate themselves with
either our ignorance or our intelligence as to our own country, the
following words by our greatest orator, will always have their place:
"What do we want with the vast, worthless area, this
region of savages and wild beasts, of deserts, of shifting
sands and whirlwinds of dust, of cactus and prairie dogs?
To what use could we ever hope to put these great deserts,
or these endless mountain ranges, impenetrable, and
covered to their base with eternal snow? What can we ever
hope to do with the Western coast, a coast of three
thousand miles, rock-bound, cheerless, and uninviting, and
not a harbor on it? What use have we for such a country?
Mr. President, I will never vote one cent from the public
treasury to place the Pacific coast one inch nearer to
Boston than it is now."
Perhaps no words uttered in the United States Senate were ever more
certainly wide of their mark than these of Daniel Webster. In their
presence, the name of Marcus Whitman is a bright streak of light
penetrating a vague cloud-land. Washington, with finer prevision, had
said: "I shall not be contented until I have explored the Western
country." Even the Father of his Country did not understand the vast
realm to which he referred, nor had his mind any boundaries
sufficiently great to inclose that portion of the country which
Marcus Whitman preserved to the United States.
An interesting series of splendid happenings has united the ages of
history in heroic deeds, and this volume is a fitting testimonial of
the immense significance of one heroic deed in one heroic life. The
conservatism, which is always respectable and respected, had its
utterance in the copious eloquence of Daniel Webster; the radicalism,
which always goes to the root of every question, had its expression in
the answer which Whitman made to the great New Englander.
Even Daniel Webster, at a moment like this, seems less grand of
proportion than does the plain and poor missionary, with "a half pint
of seed wheat" in his hand, and words upon his lips which are an
enduring part of our history. Only a really illumined man, at that
hour, could fitly answer Senator McDuffie, when he said: "Do you think
your honest farmers in Pennsylvania, New York, or even Ohio and
Missouri, would abandon their farms and go upon any such enterprise as
this?" Whitman made answer by breaking the barrier of the Rockies with
his own courage and faith.
It may well be hoped that such a memorial as this may be adopted in
home and public library as a chapter in Americanism and its advance,
worthy to minister to the imagination and idealism of our whole
people. The heroism of the days to come, which we need, must grow out
of the heroism of the days that have been. The impulse to do and dare
noble things to-morrow, will grow strong from contemplating the memory
of such yesterdays.
This volume has suggested such a picture as will sometime be made as
a tribute to genius and the embodiment of highest art by some great
painter. The picture will represent the room in which the old heroic
missionary, having traveled over mountains and through deserts until
his clothing of fur was well-nigh worn from him, and his frame bowed
by anxiety and exposure, at that instant when the great Secretary and
orator said to him: "There cannot be made a wagon road over the
mountains; Sir George Simpson says so," whereat the intrepid pioneer
replied: "There is a wagon road, for I have made it."
What could be a more fitting memorial for such a man as this than a
Christian college called Whitman College? He was more to the ulterior
Northwest than John Harvard has ever been to the Northeast of our
common country. Nothing but such an institution may represent all the
ideas and inspirations which were the wealth of such a man's brain and
heart and his gift to the Republic. He was an _avant courier_ of the
truths on which alone republics and democracies may endure.
Whitman not only conducted the expedition of men and wagons to Oregon,
after President Tyler had made his promise that the bargain, which
Daniel Webster proposed, should not be made, but he led an expedition
of ideas and sentiments which have made the names Oregon, Washington
and Idaho synonymous with human progress, good government and
civilization. When the soldier-statesman of the Civil War, Col. Baker,
mentioned the name and memory of Marcus Whitman to Abraham Lincoln, he
did it with the utmost reverence for one of the founders of that
civilization which, in the far Northwest, has spread its influence
over so vast a territory to make the mines of California the resources
of freedom, and to bind the forests and plains with the destiny of the
Union.
When Thomas Starr King was most eloquent in his efforts to keep
California true to liberty and union, in that struggle of debate
before the Civil War opened, he worked upon the basis, made larger and
sounder by the fearless ambassador of Christian civilization. In an
hour when the mind of progress grows tired of the perpetual presence
of Napoleon, again clad in all his theatrical glamour before the eyes
of youth, we may well be grateful for this sketch of a sober
far-seeing man of loyal devotion to the great public ends; whose
unselfishness made him seem, even then, a startling figure at the
nation's capital; whose noble bearing, great faith, supreme courage,
and vision of the future, mark him as a genuine and typical American.
These hopes and inspirations are all enshrined in the educational
enterprise known as Whitman College. Every student of history must be
glad to recognize the fact that the history of which this book is the
chronicle, is also a prophecy, and that whatever may be the fate of
men's names or men's schemes in the flight of time, this college will
be a beacon, shining with the light of Marcus Whitman's heroism and
devotion.
[Illustration]
CHAPTER I.
THE TITLE OF THE UNITED STATES TO OREGON--THE HUDSON BAY COMPANY--THE
LOUISIANA PURCHASE
The home of civilization was originally in the far East, but its
journeys have forever been westward. The history of the world is a
great panorama, with its pictures constantly shifting and changing.
The desire for change and new fields early asserted itself. The human
family divided up under the law of selection and affinities, shaped
themselves into bands and nationalities, and started upon their
journey to people the world.
Two branches of the original stock remained as fixtures in Asia, while
half a dozen branches deployed and reached out for the then distant
and unexplored lands of the West. They reached Europe. The Gaul and
the Celt, the Teuton and Slav, ever onward in their march, reached and
were checked by the Atlantic that washed the present English, German
and Spanish coasts. The Latin, Greek and Illyrian were alike checked
by the Mediterranean. For a long period it seemed as if their journey
westward was ended; that they had reached their Ultima Thule; that the
western limit had been found.
For many centuries the millions rested in that belief, until the great
discoveries of 1492 awakened them to new dreams of western
possibilities. At once and under new incentives the westward march
began again. The States of the Atlantic were settled and the
wilderness subdued. No sooner was this but partially accomplished than
the same spirit, "the western fever," seized upon the people.
It seems to have been engrafted in the nature of man, as it is in the
nature of birds, to migrate. In caravan after caravan they pushed
their way over the Allegheny Mountains, invaded the rich valleys,
floated down the great rivers, gave battle to the savage inhabitants
and in perils many, and with discouragements sufficient to defeat less
heroic characters, they took possession of the now great States of the
Middle West. The country to be settled was so vast as to seem to our
fathers limitless. They had but little desire as a nation for further
expansion.
Up to the date of 1792, the Far West was an unexplored region. The
United States made no claim to any lands bordering upon the Pacific,
and the discovery made in the year 1792 was more accidental than
intentional, as far as the nation was concerned.
Captain Robert Gray, who made the discovery, was born in Tiverton, R.
I., 1755, and died at Charleston, S. C., in 1806. He was a famous
sailor, and was the first citizen who ever carried the American flag
around the globe. His vessel, The Columbia, was fitted out by a
syndicate of Boston merchants, with articles for barter for the
natives in Pacific ports. In his second great voyage in 1792 he
discovered the mouth of the Columbia river. There had been rumors of
such a great river through Spanish sources, and the old American
captain probably, mainly for the sake of barter and to get fresh
supplies, had his nautical eyes open.
Men see through a glass darkly and a wiser, higher power than man may
have guided the old explorer in safety over the dangerous bar, into
the great river he discovered and named. He was struck by the grandeur
and magnificence of the river as well as by the beauty of the country.
He at once christened it "The Columbia," the name of his good ship
which had already carried the American flag around the globe. He
sailed several miles up the river, landed and took possession in the
name of the United States.
It is a singular coincidence that both Spain and England had vessels
just at this time on this coast, hunting for the same river, and so
near together as to be in hailing distance of each other. Captain Gray
only a few days before had met Captain Vancouver, the Englishman, and
had spoken to him. Captain Vancouver had sailed over the very ground
passed over soon after by Gray, but failed to find the river. He had
noted, too, a change in the color of the waters, but it did not
sufficiently impress him to cause an investigation.
After Captain Gray had finished his exploration and gone to sea, he
again fell in with Vancouver and reported the result of his
discoveries. Vancouver immediately turned about, found the mouth of
the river, sailed up the Columbia to the rapids and up the Willamette
to near the falls.
In the conference between the English and Americans in 1827, which
resulted in the renewal of the treaty of 1818, while the British
commissioners acknowledged that Gray was first to discover and enter
the Columbia river, yet they demanded that "he should equally share
the honor with Captain Vancouver." They claimed that while Gray
discovered the mouth of the river, he only sailed up it a few miles,
while "Captain Vancouver made a full and complete discovery." One of
the authorities stated concisely that, "Captain Gray's claim is
limited to the mouth of the river."
This limit was in plain violation of the rules regulating all such
events, and no country knew it better than England. Besides, it was
Captain Gray's discovery, told to the English commander Vancouver,
which made him turn back on his course to rediscover the same river.
The claim that the English made, that "Captain Gray made but a single
step in the progress of discovery," in the light of these facts, marks
their claims as remarkably weak. The right of discovery was then the
first claim made by the United States upon Oregon.
The second was by the Louisiana purchase from France in 1803. This was
the same territory ceded from France to Spain in 1762 and returned to
France in 1800, and sold to the United States for $15,000,000 in 1803,
"with all its rights and appurtenances, as fully and in the same
manner as they were acquired by the French Republic."
There has always been a dispute as to how far into the region of the
northwest this claim of the French extended. In the sale no parallels
were given; but it was claimed that their rights reached to the
Pacific Ocean. Dr. Barrows says, "If, however, the claims of France
failed to reach the Pacific on the parallel of 49 degrees, it must
have been because they encountered the old claims of Spain, that
preceded the Nootka treaty and were tacitly conceded by England.
Between the French claims and the Spanish claims there was left no
territory for England to base a claim on. If the United States did
not acquire through to the Pacific in the Louisiana purchase, it was
because Spain was owner of the territory prior to the first, second
and third transfers. It is difficult to perceive standing ground for
the English in either of the claims mentioned.
The claim of England that the Nootka treaty of 1790 abrogated the
rights of Spain to the territory of Oregon, which she then held, is
untenable, from the fact that no right of sovereignty or jurisdiction
was conveyed by that treaty. Whatever right Spain had prior to that
treaty was not disturbed, and all legal rights vested in Spain were
still in force when she ceded the territory to France in 1800, and
also when France ceded the same to the United States in 1803.
The third claim of the United States was by the commission sent out by
Jefferson in 1803, when Lewis and Clarke and their fellow voyagers
struck the headwaters of the Columbia and followed it to its mouth and
up its tributary rivers.
The fourth was the actual settlement of the Astor Fur Company at
Astoria in 1811. True it was a private enterprise, but was given the
sanction of the United States and a U. S. naval officer was allowed to
command the leading vessel in Astor's enterprise, thus placing the
seal of nationality upon it. True the town was captured and the
effects confiscated in 1812 by the British squadron of the Pacific,
commanded by Captain Hillyar, but the fact of actual settlement by
Americans at Astoria, even for a short time, had its value in the
later argument. In the treaty of Ghent with England in 1814, Astoria,
with all its rights, was ordered to be restored to its original
owners, but even this was not consummated until 1846.
America's fifth claim was in her treaty with Spain in 1818, when Spain
relinquished any and all claims to the territory in dispute to the
United States.
The sixth and last claim was from Mexico, by a treaty in 1828, by
which the United States acquired all interest Mexico claimed, formerly
in common with Spain, but now under her own government.
Such is a brief statement, but I trust a sufficient one, for an
intelligent understanding of the questions of ownership.
It will be seen that the United States was vested in all the rights
held over Oregon by every other power except one, that of Great
Britain. Her claim rested, as we have seen, in the fact that "Captain
Gray only discovered the mouth of the river," but did not survey it to
the extent that the English Captain Vancouver did, after being told by
Gray of his discovery. They also made claims of settlement by their
Fur Company, just as the United States did by the settlement made by
Astor and others. As the Hudson Bay Company and the Northwest Fur
Company of Montreal figure so extensively in the contest for English
ownership of Oregon, it is well to have a clear idea of their origin
and power.
The Hudson Bay Company was organized in 1670 by Charles II., with
Prince Rupert, the King's cousin, at its head, with other favorites of
his Court. They were invested with remarkable powers, such as had
never before, nor have since, been granted to a corporation. They were
granted absolute proprietorship, with subordinate sovereignty, over
all that country known by name of "Rupert's Land" including all
regions "discovered or undiscovered within the entrance to Hudson
Strait." It was by far the largest of all English dependencies at that
time.
For more than a century the company confined its active operations to
a coast traffic.
The original stock of this company was $50,820. During the first fifty
years the capital stock was increased to $457,000 wholly out of the
profits, besides paying dividends.
During the last half of the 17th century the Northwest Fur Company
became a formidable opponent to the Hudson Bay Company, and the
rivalry and great wealth of both companies served to stimulate them
to reach out toward the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Ocean.
After Canada had become an English dependency and the competition had
grown into such proportions as to interfere with the great monopoly,
in the year 1821, there was a coalition between the Northwest and the
Hudson Bay Companies on a basis of equal value, and the consolidated
stock was marked at $1,916,000, every dollar of which was profits, as
was shown at the time, except the original stock of both companies,
which amounted to about $135,000. And yet during all this period there
had been made an unusual dividend to stockholders of 10 per cent.
Single vessels from headquarters carried furs to London valued at from
three to four hundred thousand dollars. It is not at all strange that
a company which was so rolling in wealth and which was in supreme
control of a territory reaching through seventy-five degrees of
longitude, from Davis Strait to Mt. Saint Elias, and through
twenty-eight degrees of latitude, from the mouth of the Mackenzie to
the California border, should hold tenaciously to its privileges.
It was a grand monopoly, but it must be said of it that no kingly
power ever ruled over savage subjects with such wisdom and discretion.
Of necessity, they treated their savage workmen kindly, but they
managed to make them fill the coffers of the Hudson Bay Company with
a wealth of riches, as the years came and went. Their lives and safety
and profits all depended upon keeping their dependents in a good humor
and binding them to themselves. The leading men of the company were
men of great business tact and shrewdness, and one of their chief
requisites was to thoroughly understand Indian character.
They managed year by year so to gain control of the savage tribes that
the factor of a trading post had more power over a fractious band,
than could have been exerted by an army of men with guns and bayonets.
If, now and then, a chief grew sullen and belligerent, he was at once
quietly bought up by a judicious present, and the company got it all
back many times over from the tribe, when their furs were marketed.
It was the refusal of the missionaries of Oregon to condone crime and
wink at savage methods, as the Hudson Bay Company did, which first
brought about misunderstanding and unpleasantness, as we shall see in
another place.
It was this power and controlling influence which met the pioneer fur
traders and missionaries, upon entering Oregon. They controlled the
savage life and the white men there were wholly dependent upon them.
In 1811 an American fur company at Astoria undertook to open business
upon what they regarded as American soil. They had scarcely settled
down to work when the war of 1812 began and they were speedily routed.
In 1818 a treaty was made, which said, "It is agreed that any country
that may be claimed by either party on the Northwest coast of America
westward of the Stony Mountains shall, together with its harbors,
bays, creeks and the navigation of all rivers within the same, be free
and open for ten years from the date of the signature of the present
convention, to the vessels, citizens, and subjects of the two powers;
it being well understood that the agreement is not to be construed to
the prejudice of any claim which either of the two high contracting
parties may have to any part of said country; nor shall it be taken to
affect the claims of any other power or state to any of said country;
the only object of the high contracting parties in that respect being
to prevent disputes and differences among themselves."
That looked fair and friendly enough. But how did the Hudson Bay
Company carry it out? They went on just as they had done before,
governing to suit their own selfish interests. They froze out and
starved out every American fur company that dared to settle in any
portion of their territory. They fixed the price of every commodity,
and had such a hold on the various tribes that a foreign company had
no chance to live and prosper.
It so continued until the ten-year limit was nearly up, when in 1827
the commission representing the two powers met and re-enacted the
treaty of 1818, which went into effect in 1828. It was a giant
monopoly, but dealing as it did with savage life, and gathering its
wealth from sources which had never before contributed to the world's
commerce, it was allowed to run its course until it came in contact
with the advancing civilization of the United States, and was worsted
in the conflict.
With the adoption of the Ashburton treaty the Hudson Bay Company was
shorn of much of its kingly power and old time grandeur. But it
remained a money-making organization. Under the terms of the treaty
the great corporation was fully protected. This Ashburton treaty was
written in England and from English standpoints, and every property
and possessory right of this powerful company was strictly guarded.
The interests of the company were made English interests.
Under this treaty the United States agreed to pay all valuations upon
Hudson Bay Company property south of forty-nine degrees; while England
was to make a settlement for all above that line. The company promptly
sent in a bill to the United States for $3,882,036.27, while their
dependent company, the Puget Sound Agricultural Company, sent in a
more modest demand for $1,168,000. These bills were in a state of
liquidation until 1864, when the United States made a final
settlement, and paid the Hudson Bay Company $450,000 and the Puget
Sound Company $200,000.
They also, at the time of presenting bills to the United States,
presented one to England for $4,990,036.07. In 1869 the English
government settled the claim by paying $1,500,000. This amount was
paid from the treasury of the Dominion of Canada, and all the vast
territory north of 49 degrees came under the government of the
Dominion. It was, however, stipulated and agreed that the company
should retain all its forts, with ten acres of ground surrounding
each, together with one-twentieth of all the land from the Red river
to the Rocky Mountains, besides valuable blocks of land to which it
laid special claim.
The company goes on trading as of old; its organization is still
complete; it still makes large dividends of about $400,000 per year,
and has untold prospective wealth in its lands, which are the best in
the Dominion.
Among the most interesting facts connected with our title to Oregon
are those in connection with the Louisiana purchase by the United
States from France in 1803. Many readers of current history have
overlooked the fact, that it was wholly due to England, and her
overweening ambition, that the United States was enabled to buy this
great domain. Letters, which have recently been published, written by
those closest to the high contracting parties, have revealed the
romance, and the inside facts of this great deal, perhaps the most
important the United States ever made, and made so speedily as to
dazzle the Nation.
Few take in the fact that the "Louisiana Purchase" meant not only the
rich state at the mouth of our great river, but also, Arkansas,
Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Oregon,
with probably the two Dakotas. Roughly estimated it was a claim by a
foreign power upon our continent to territory of over 900,000 square
miles.
At the time, but little was thought of its value save and except the
getting possession of the rich soil of Louisiana for the purposes of
the Southern planter, and being able to own and control the mouth of
our great river upon which, at that time, all the states of the North
and West were wholly dependent for their commerce.
While Napoleon and the French Government were upon the most friendly
terms with the United States, and conceded to our commerce the widest
facilities, yet there was a lurking fear that such conditions might at
any time change. The desirability of obtaining such possession had
often been canvassed, with scarcely a ray of hope for its
consummation. The United States was poor, and while the South and the
West were deeply interested, the East, which held the balance of
power, was determinedly set against it. The same narrow statesmanship
existed then, which later on undervalued all our possessions beyond
the Stony Mountains, and was willing and even anxious that they should
pass into the possession of a foreign power.
France acquired this vast property from Spain in 1800. In March, 1802,
there was a great treaty entered into between France on one side and
Great Britain, Spain and the Batavian Republic on the other. It was
known as "The Amiens Treaty." It was a short-lived treaty which was
hopelessly ruptured in 1803.
England, foreseeing the rupture, had not delayed to get ready for the
event. Then as now, she was, "Mistress upon the high seas," and set
about arranging to seize everything afloat that carried the French
flag. Her policy was soon made plain, and that was to first make war
upon all French dependencies.
No man knew better than Napoleon how powerless he would be to make any
successful defense. His treasury was well-nigh bankrupt and he must
have money for home defense as soon as the victorious army of the
enemy should return from the Mississippi campaign, which he foresaw.
While the treaty of Amiens was not really abrogated until May, 1803,
yet upon January 1, 1803, the whole matter was well understood by
Napoleon and his advisers.
Early in that month the government received disquieting news from
Admiral Villeneuve who was in command of the French fleet in West
India waters. It plainly stated that it was undoubtedly the fact that
the first blow of the English would be made at New Orleans.
This knowledge was promptly conveyed to the American Minister Monroe,
well knowing that the United States was almost as much interested in
the matter as France was, as it would stop all traffic from all the
States along the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, and be a death blow to
American prosperity for an indefinite period. The recently published
letters, already referred to, say of the conference between Minister
Monroe and Bonaparte:
"Unfortunately Mr. Monroe at this time did not understand the French
language well enough to follow a speaker who talked as rapidly as did
Bonaparte, and the intervention of an interpreter was necessary. 'We
are not able alone to defend the colony of Louisiana,' the First
Consul began. 'Your new regions of the southwest are nearly as deeply
interested in its remaining in friendly hands as we are in holding
it. Our fleet is not equal to the needs of the French Nation. Can you
not help us to defend the mouth of the Mississippi river?'
"'We could not take such a step without a treaty, offensive and
defensive,' the American answered. 'Our Senate really is the
treaty-making power. It is against us. The President, Mr. Jefferson,
is my friend, as well as my superior officer. Tell me, General, what
you have in your mind.'
"Bonaparte walked the room, a small private consulting cabinet
adjoining the Salles des Ambassadeurs. He had his hands clasped behind
him, his head bent forward--his usual position when in deep thought.
'I acquired the great territory to which the Mississippi mouth is the
entrance,' he finally began, 'and I have the right to dispose of my
own. France is not able now to hold it. Rather than see it in
England's hands, I donate it to America. Why will your country not buy
it from France?' There Bonaparte stopped. Mr. Monroe's face was like a
flame. What a diplomatic feat it would be for him! What a triumph for
the administration of Jefferson to add such a territory to the
national domain!
"No man living was a better judge of his fellows than Bonaparte. He
read the thoughts of the man before him as though they were on a
written scroll. He saw the emotions of his soul. 'Well, what do you
think of it?' said General Bonaparte.
"'The matter is so vast in its direct relations to my country and what
may result from it, that it dazes me,' the American answered. 'But the
idea is magnificent. It deserves to emanate from a mind like yours.'
The First Consul bowed low. Monroe never flattered, and the look of
truth was in his eyes, its ring in his voice. 'I must send a special
communication at once touching this matter to President Jefferson. My
messenger must take the first safe passage to America.'
"'The Blonde, the fastest ship in our navy, leaves Brest at once with
orders for the West Indian fleet, I will detain her thirty-six hours,
till your dispatches are ready,' the First Consul said. 'Your
messenger shall go on our ship.'
"'How much shall I say the territory will cost us?' The great
Corsican--who was just ending the audience, which had been full two
hours long--came up to the American Minister. After a moment he spoke
again. 'Between nations who are really friends there need be no
chaffering. Could I defend this territory, not all the gold in the
world would buy it. But I am giving to a friend what I am unable to
keep. I need 100,000,000 francs in coin or its equivalent. Whatever
action we take must be speedy. Above all, let there be absolute
silence and secrecy,' and Bonaparte bowed our minister out. The
audience was ended. The protracted audience between Napoleon and the
American Minister was such as to arouse gossip, but the secret was
safe in the hands of the two men, both of whom were statesmen and
diplomats who knew the value of secrecy in such an emergency.
"The profoundly astonishing dispatches reached President Jefferson
promptly. He kept it a secret until he could sound a majority of the
Senators and be assured of the standing of such a proposition.
"The main difficulty that was found would be in raising the 75,000,000
francs it was proposed to give. In those days, with a depleted
treasury, it was a large sum of money. The United States had millions
of unoccupied acres, but had few millions in cash in its treasury. But
our statesmen, to their great honor, proved equal to the emergency.
Through the agency of Stephen Girard as financier in chief, the loan
necessary was negotiated through the Dutch House of Hapes in
Amsterdam, and the money paid to France, and the United States entered
into possession of the vast estate."
[Illustration: FALLS OF THE WILLAMETTE.]
This much of the well-nigh forgotten history we have thought
appropriate to note in this connection; first, because of the new
light given to it from the recent disclosures made; and, second, to
call attention to the fact that a second time, forty-three years
later, it served a valiant purpose in thwarting English ambition and
serving America's highest interests.
Estimated from the standpoint of money and material values, it was a
great transaction, especially notable in view of existing conditions,
but from the standpoint of State and National grandeur, carrying with
it peace and hope and happiness to millions, and continuous rule of
the Republic from ocean to ocean, it assumes a greatness never
surpassed in a single transaction, and not easily over-estimated, and
never in the history of the English people did a single transaction,
with dates so widely separated, arise, and so effectually check their
imperious demands.
The American Republic may well remember with deep gratitude President
Jefferson, and the far-seeing statesmen who rallied to his call and
consummated the grand work. They can at the same time see the
foresight and wisdom of Jefferson in, at once, the very next year,
sending the expedition of Lewis and Clarke to the headwaters of the
Columbia River, and causing a complete survey to be made to its mouth.
It was a complete refutation of the claim of the English
Commissioners, in 1837, that while "Captain Gray only discovered the
mouth of the river, Captain Vancouver made a complete survey." The
American mistake was, not in the purchase and active work then done,
but the lassitude and inexcusable neglect in the forty subsequent
years which imperiled every interest the Republic held in the
territory beyond the Rocky Mountains.
When the treaty of 1846 was signed, it was hoped that the questions at
issue were settled forever; but the Hudson Bay Company was slow to
surrender its grasp on any of the territory it could hold, and
especially one so rich in all materials that constituted its wealth
and power.
The treaty of 1846 between the United States and Great Britain read:
"From the point on the 49th parallel to the middle of the channel
which separates the continent from Vancouver's Island and thence
southerly through the middle of said channel and of the Fuca Straits,
to the Pacific Ocean, provided, however, that the navigation of such
channel and straits south of the latitude 49 degrees remain free and
open to both parties."
This led to after trouble and much ill feeling. The passage referred
to in the treaty is about seven miles wide, between the archipelago
and Vancouver Island. The archipelago is made up of half a dozen
principal islands, and many smaller ones. The largest island, San
Juan, contained about 50,000 acres, and the Hudson Bay Company,
knowing something of its value, had taken possession, and proposed to
hold it. The legislature of Oregon, however, included it in Island
County by an act of 1852, which passed to the Territory of Washington
in 1853 by the division of Oregon. In 1854 the Collector of Customs
for the Puget Sound came in conflict with the Hudson Bay authorities
and a lively row was raised.
The Hudson Bay Company raised the English flag and the collector as
promptly landed and raised the Stars and Stripes. There was a constant
contention between the United States and State authorities, and the
Hudson Bay people, in which the latter were worsted, until in 1856-7,
after much correspondence, both governments appointed a commission to
settle the difficulty. Then followed years of discussion which grew
from time to time warlike, but there was no settlement of the points
in dispute.
In December, 1860, the British Government tired of the contest,
proposed arbitration by one of the European powers and named either
the Swiss Republic, Denmark or Belgium. Then followed the war of the
Rebellion and America had no time to reach the case until 1868-9, when
the whole matter was referred to two commissioners from each
government and the boundary to be determined by the President of the
General Council of the Swiss Republic.
This proposition was defeated and afterward in 1871 the whole matter
was left to the decision of the Emperor of Germany. He made the award
to the United States on all points of dispute in October, 1872, and
thus ended the long contest over the boundary line between the two
countries, after more than half a century's bickering.