CHAPTER LXIV.

Soon after the peace arrangements, as related in the previous chapter, the colonel and major left for the lower country. They arrived at the Dalles, where the colonel was accidentally shot by attempting to remove a rifle from the hind end of one of his wagons; the cap was burst, and he received the contents of the gun, which proved fatal in a few hours. In his death the country lost a valuable citizen, the army a good soldier, and his family a kind husband and affectionate father. As a commander of the provisional troops, he succeeded probably as well as any man could under the circumstances.

The deep schemesof the British fur monopoly, the baser schemes of the Jesuits, both working together, and in connection with the Indians and all the American dupes that they with their influence and capital could command, it is not surprising that, as a military man, he should fail to bring to justice the immediate or remote perpetrators of the crime he was expected to punish. In fact, but few at the present day are able to comprehend the extent and power of opposing influences. One of the commissioners informed us that from the time the colonel opened a correspondence with the priests, he appeared to lose his influence and power and control of the troops. He lacked an essential quality as a commander—promptness in action and decision to strike at the proper time, as was manifest in his whole campaign. Yet, for this he is to a certain extent excusable, as he had with his army the Indian peace commissioners, and was acting under the orders of a governor who was greatly deceived as to the prime movers in the war.

One of the commissioners was notoriously the dupe and tool of the foreign monopoly in our midst, as his own history before and since has proved. He claimed to know exactly how to deal with the difficulty. This influence was felt by the troops, and generally acknowledged, and,as we know from the best of authority, was the cause of the colonel’s being ordered to report at head-quarters.

After lying at Fort Waters for a considerable time, his men becoming dissatisfied (as intimated in letters), he mounted his horse, and most of his men volunteered to follow him for a fight. He pursued what he supposed to be the correct trail of the murderers to a point on the Tukanon, and there fought a small party, and learned that the murderers were at the crossing of Snake River, some thirty miles distant. He continued his march all night. The next morning, the murderers having learned of his expedition in another direction, he came upon them and surprised their whole camp. An old man came out of the lodge and made signs of submission and pretended that the murderers were not in his camp, but that their cattle were upon the hills. This induced the colonel to order his men to gather the cattle and return to Fort Waters (while Tilokaikt was then crossing the river), instead of attacking them, as he should have done. The Indians soon gathered their best horses, which were kept separate from the common band, and commenced an attack upon his cumbered, retreating column, till they came near the ford on the Tuchet, when a running fight was kept up, and an effort made to get possession of the ford by the Indians, which it required all the colonel’s force to defeat; and like the crow and the fox in the fable, while the colonel was giving the Indians a specimen of American fighting, he neglected his cattle, and the Indians drove them off. But few were wounded on either side, though, in the struggle to gain the ford and bushes contiguous, there was swift running and close shooting, which continued till dark. The Indians retired with their cattle, and next day the colonel and his party, with the wounded, reached Fort Waters, and thence he obeyed the summons of the governor to return and report at head-quarters. While Major Lee is on his way with the body of Colonel Gilliam to the Wallamet, and to obtain recruits and supplies of arms and ammunition, we will see what Colonel Waters is about at Wailatpu, April 4, 1848.

In his letter of the above date, he says:—

“Since Colonel Gilliam’s departure from this place, our relations with thesupposed friendlyIndians have undergone a material change; not seeing any, either friendly or hostile, for several days, I concluded to send an express to Fort Wallawalla, and if possible to gain some information concerning their movements, as I had reason to believe from their long silence that there was something wrong; I accordingly addressed a short note to Mr. McBean on the evening of the 1st of April, and dispatched two of my men with the same, charging them strictly to remain there during the day, and return, as they went, in the night. They returned yesterday in safety, and their narrative, together with Mr. McBean’s written statements, fully confirms me in my previous views.“The Wallawalla chief, notwithstanding his professions of friendship to Colonel Gilliam and the Bostons, now looks upon us as enemies. The law prohibiting the sale of ammunition appears to be his principal hobby. By refusing it to him and his people he says we place them on an equal footing with the guilty, and if this law is not abrogated, they will become murderers. This sentiment he expressed in the presence of our express bearers. [The sentiment of Sir James Douglas, as expressed in his letter to Governor Abernethy.]“There were then at the fort some sixty lodges, and between two and three hundred warriors. Mr. McBean gave what purported to be information where the murderers had gone, stating that Ellis and sixty of his men had died in the mountains with the measles, and this had produced its effect upon our superstitious friends.“The Cayuses and Nez Percés have had a big feast, which to my mind speaks in language not to be misunderstood. Mr. McBean further states, that the Paluce Indians, Cayuses, and part of the Nez Percés, are awaiting the American forces, to fight them on the Nez Percés, or Snake River; but the signs of the times justify the conclusion that we will be attacked nearer home, and much to our disadvantage, unless soon supplied with ammunition. They know our circumstances about as well as we do ourselves, both as regards ammunition and provisions, and it need not be thought strange if they act accordingly.“Welaptulekt (an Indian chief) is at the fort, and has brought quite an amount of immigrant property with him, which he delivered to Mr. McBean; says he was afraid Colonel Gilliam would kill him, which was the reason of his not meeting him. This is the report of the men; Mr. McBean did not mention his name. My opinion is that we have nothing to hope from his friendship.“I see by General Palmer’s letter to Colonel Gilliam, that he (McBean)refused to accept the American flag, which was presented by his own Indians; he, of course, had nothing to fear from them.“I have now given you the outlines of our unpleasant situation, and doubt not that you will make every exertion to forward us ammunition, andmen too of the right stripe. I have exaggerated nothing, nor has any active cautiousness prompted me to address you upon this subject. If they do come upon us, be their numbers what they may, rest assured, while there is one bullet left, they will be taught to believe that the Bostons are not allclochemen(women).“I have succeeded in getting the mill to work, and we are grinding up the little grain we found. Mr. Taylor died on the 24th of March. The wounded are doing well. I regret to say our surgeon talks strongly of leaving us the first opportunity. My impression is that a more suitable person could not be obtained in that capacity. His commission has not been sent on, which no doubt has its weight with him.“I have the honor to remain,“Your obedient servant,“James Waters, Lieutenant-Colonel.”

“The Wallawalla chief, notwithstanding his professions of friendship to Colonel Gilliam and the Bostons, now looks upon us as enemies. The law prohibiting the sale of ammunition appears to be his principal hobby. By refusing it to him and his people he says we place them on an equal footing with the guilty, and if this law is not abrogated, they will become murderers. This sentiment he expressed in the presence of our express bearers. [The sentiment of Sir James Douglas, as expressed in his letter to Governor Abernethy.]

“There were then at the fort some sixty lodges, and between two and three hundred warriors. Mr. McBean gave what purported to be information where the murderers had gone, stating that Ellis and sixty of his men had died in the mountains with the measles, and this had produced its effect upon our superstitious friends.

“The Cayuses and Nez Percés have had a big feast, which to my mind speaks in language not to be misunderstood. Mr. McBean further states, that the Paluce Indians, Cayuses, and part of the Nez Percés, are awaiting the American forces, to fight them on the Nez Percés, or Snake River; but the signs of the times justify the conclusion that we will be attacked nearer home, and much to our disadvantage, unless soon supplied with ammunition. They know our circumstances about as well as we do ourselves, both as regards ammunition and provisions, and it need not be thought strange if they act accordingly.

“Welaptulekt (an Indian chief) is at the fort, and has brought quite an amount of immigrant property with him, which he delivered to Mr. McBean; says he was afraid Colonel Gilliam would kill him, which was the reason of his not meeting him. This is the report of the men; Mr. McBean did not mention his name. My opinion is that we have nothing to hope from his friendship.

“I see by General Palmer’s letter to Colonel Gilliam, that he (McBean)refused to accept the American flag, which was presented by his own Indians; he, of course, had nothing to fear from them.

“I have now given you the outlines of our unpleasant situation, and doubt not that you will make every exertion to forward us ammunition, andmen too of the right stripe. I have exaggerated nothing, nor has any active cautiousness prompted me to address you upon this subject. If they do come upon us, be their numbers what they may, rest assured, while there is one bullet left, they will be taught to believe that the Bostons are not allclochemen(women).

“I have succeeded in getting the mill to work, and we are grinding up the little grain we found. Mr. Taylor died on the 24th of March. The wounded are doing well. I regret to say our surgeon talks strongly of leaving us the first opportunity. My impression is that a more suitable person could not be obtained in that capacity. His commission has not been sent on, which no doubt has its weight with him.

“I have the honor to remain,

“Your obedient servant,“James Waters, Lieutenant-Colonel.”

As to the propriety of Governor Abernethy’s publishing this entire letter, there was at the time a question. With the facts since developed, it is plain that it should not have been given to the public; but, as we have before stated, the governor was one of those easy, confiding, unsuspecting men, that gave a wily and unprincipled enemy all the advantage he could ask. It was only the determined energy and courage of the settlers that enabled them to overcome their secret and open foes.

The evidence is conclusive, that Colonel Gilliam, through the influence and duplicity of Newell, McBean, and the Jesuits, was induced to withhold his men from punishing the Indians, and received and treated with bands as guilty as the murderers themselves, thus giving an impression to the Indians of weakness and cowardice on the part of the troops, as well as a want of the requisite qualities for a successful commander.

Major Lee returned to the settlement, obtained more troops and ammunition, and was appointed colonel of the regiment in place of Colonel Gilliam, deceased. This place he was justly entitled to fill by seniority in the service. He then returned to Fort Waters, and, finding the troops in the field satisfied with Colonel Waters, resigned at once, and filled a subordinate place in the army. The troops were soon put in motion. Captain McKay and his company ofBritish subjectswere disbanded, after being stationed a short time at Wascopum.

The troops soon drove the murderers offto buffalo, “with the propriety, decorum, and energy which the case required,” as per “Veritas.” They gathered up such of the murderers’ cattle and horses as were not claimed by professed friendly Indians, and retired to the Wallamet, leaving a small garrison at Fort Waters and at Wascopum.

The war, though attended with little or no loss of life to the settlement or the Indians, was of incalculable value to the American cause. It taught the Indians, the British monopoly, and their allies, the Jesuits, that, not withstanding they could drive from the upper country, or middleOregon, the missionaries of the American Board, they could not conquer and drive the settlements from the country.

While the main effort of the Hudson’s Bay Company was to rid the country of American settlements, the Jesuits were working against American Protestantism, and endeavoring to secure the whole country, middle Oregon in particular, for their exclusive Indian mission. One of them, A. Hoikin, S. J., in a letter to the editor of thePrécis Historiques, Brussels, dated “Mission of Flatheads, April 15, 1857” (this mission was established by Father De Smet as early as 1841 in opposition to that of the American Board at Spokan), says:—

“If the less well-intentioned Indians from the lower lands would keep within their own territory, and if the whites, the number of whom is daily augmenting in St. Mary’s Valley, could act with moderation and conduct themselves prudently, I am convinced that soon the whole country would be at peace, and that not a single Indian would henceforward imbrue his hands in the blood of a white stranger.“Were I authorized to suggest a plan, I would have all the upper landsevacuated by the whites and form of it a territory exclusively of Indians; afterward, I would lead there all the Indians of the inferior portion, such as the Nez Percés, the Cayuses, the Yankamas, the Cœur d’Alênes, and the Spokans. Well-known facts lead me to believe that this plan, with such superior advantages, might be effected by means of a mission in the space of two or three years.“For the love of God and of souls, I conjure you, reverend fathers, not to defer any longer. All the good thatFather De Smet and others have produced by their labors and visits will be lostand forgotten if these Indians are disappointed in their expectation. They weigh men’s characters in the balance of honesty; in their eyes, whosoever does not fulfill his promises is culpable; they do not regard or consider whether it be done for good reason, or that there is an impossibility in the execution.“Some of them have sent their children toProtestant schools, and they will continue to do so as long as we form no establishments among them. From all this you may easily conclude that there isapostasy and all its attendant evils.”

“Were I authorized to suggest a plan, I would have all the upper landsevacuated by the whites and form of it a territory exclusively of Indians; afterward, I would lead there all the Indians of the inferior portion, such as the Nez Percés, the Cayuses, the Yankamas, the Cœur d’Alênes, and the Spokans. Well-known facts lead me to believe that this plan, with such superior advantages, might be effected by means of a mission in the space of two or three years.

“For the love of God and of souls, I conjure you, reverend fathers, not to defer any longer. All the good thatFather De Smet and others have produced by their labors and visits will be lostand forgotten if these Indians are disappointed in their expectation. They weigh men’s characters in the balance of honesty; in their eyes, whosoever does not fulfill his promises is culpable; they do not regard or consider whether it be done for good reason, or that there is an impossibility in the execution.

“Some of them have sent their children toProtestant schools, and they will continue to do so as long as we form no establishments among them. From all this you may easily conclude that there isapostasy and all its attendant evils.”

In connection with the above, Father De Smet says:—

“These four letters of Rev. Father Hoikin show sufficiently, my dear and reverend father, the spiritual wants of these nations and their desire of being assisted.Apostasyis more frequent than is generally believed in Europe. Oh, if the zealous priests of the continentknow what we know,—had they seen what we have witnessed, their generoushearts would transport them beyond the seas, and they would hasten to consecrate their lives to a ministry fruitful in salutary results.“Time passes; already thesectariesof various shades are preparing to penetrate more deeply into the desert, and will wrest from those degraded and unhappy tribes their last hope,—that of knowing and practising thesoleandtrue faith. Shall they, in fine, obtain theblack-gowns, whom they have expected and called for during so many years.“Accept, reverend father, the assurance of my sincere friendship.“P. J. De Smet.”

“Time passes; already thesectariesof various shades are preparing to penetrate more deeply into the desert, and will wrest from those degraded and unhappy tribes their last hope,—that of knowing and practising thesoleandtrue faith. Shall they, in fine, obtain theblack-gowns, whom they have expected and called for during so many years.

“Accept, reverend father, the assurance of my sincere friendship.

“P. J. De Smet.”

Would men entertaining the sentiments above expressed—sent among our American Indians, carried about, supplied and fed, by a fur monopoly, who were seeking in every way possible, to hold the country themselves—be likely to teach the Indians to respect American institutions, American missionaries, or American citizens?

Let us look at another sentiment of this Father Hoikin; he says: “When, oh, when! shall the oppressed Indian find a poor corner of the earth on which he may lead a peaceful life, serving and loving his God in tranquillity, and preserving the ashes of his ancestors, without fear of beholding them profaned and trampled beneath the feet of anunjust usurper.” We can not discover in this sentiment any respect or love for the American people, or for their government, which is looked upon by this reverend priest, as an “unjust usurper” of Indian privileges;—something their own church and people have done the world over; but being done by a free American people, it becomes “unjust,” profane, and horrible. We will make a few other quotations, which we find in the very extensive correspondence of these Jesuitical fathers, with their society in Brussels. The writer, Father P. J. De Smet, after enumerating the usual complaints against our government and its agents, makes his Indian complainingly to say, “The very contact of the whites has poisoned us.” He then puts into the mouth of a Choctaw chief, a proposition from a Senator Johnson to establish three Indian territorial governments, “with the provision of being admitted later as distinct members of theConfederate United States.”

“On the 25th of last November, 1862,” he says, “Harkins, chief among the Choctaws, addressed a speech on this subject to his nation assembled in council. Among other things he said: ‘I appeal to you, what will become us, if we reject the proposition of Senator Johnson? Can we hope to remain a people, always separate and distinct? This is not possible. The time must come; yes the time is approaching in which we shall be swallowed up; and that, notwithstanding our just claims! I speak boldly. It is a fact; our days of peace and happinessare gone, and forever.——If we will preserve among us the rights of a people, one sole measure remains to us; it is toinstructandcivilizethe youthpromptly and efficiently. The day of fraternity has arrived. We must act together, and, by common consent, let us attentively consider our critical situation, and the course now left us. One false step may prove fatal to our existence as a nation. I therefore propose that the council take this subject into consideration, and that a committee be named by it, to discuss and deliberate on the advantages and disadvantages of the proposition made to the Choctaws. Is it just and sage for the Choctaws to refuse a liberal and favorable offer, and expose themselves to the destiny of the Indians of Nebraska?’

“According to news received recently, through a journal published in the Indian country, the speech of the chief has produced a profound impression, and was loudly applauded by all the counselors. All the intelligent Choctaws approve the measure.

“The Protestant missionaries oppose the bill, and employ all their artifices and influence to prevent its success. Harkins proposes their expulsion.‘It is our money,’ said he, ‘that these missionaries come here to get. Surely, our money can get us better teachers. Let us therefore try to procure good missionaries, with whom we can live in harmony and good understanding; who will give us the assurance that their doctrine is based on that of the apostles and of Jesus Christ.’

“The Chickasaws are represented as opposed to Senator Johnson’s measure. We trust, however, that the vote of the majority will prove favorably and that the three territorial States will be established.

“It is, in my opinion, a last attempt, and a last chance of existence for the sad remnants of the poor Indians of America. It is, I will say, if I may here repeat what I wrote in my second letter in 1853, their only remaining source of happiness;humanity and justiceseem to demand it. If they are again repulsed, and driven inland, they will infallibly perish. Such as refuse to submit, and accept the definite arrangement,—the only favorable one left,—must resume the nomad life of the prairies, and close their career with the vanishing buffaloes and other animals.”

We have known this Father De Smet for many years, and have known of his connection as chaplain in the United States army, and of his extensive travels among the various Indian tribes of our country. We were well aware of his zeal and bigotry as a Jesuit; but we did not suppose he would take the first opportunity to combine all his associates, and the Indians under his influence, against the government that had favored him and his Indian missionary operations so readily. Yet perhaps we ought not to be surprised at this even, as the Roman hierarchy expressed more open sympathy and favor to the Southern rebellion than any other European power, by acknowledging the Southern Confederacy, and furnishing a man to assassinate President Lincoln.

We have introduced these quotations in our sketches of early history, in order to show to the reader the far-reaching policy, as also the determination of foreign powers, through the Jesuit missionaries, to accomplish the overthrow of our American institutions, and prevent the spread of them upon this coast. The following is copied from theChristian Intelligencer:—

“Rome in the Field.

“There are those who believe that Rome has an evil eye on this country, and that our next great battle will be with her hosts, rapidly mustering on these shores. We would not be alarmists, but we would not have our countrymen ignorant of matters which most nearly and vitally concern our country’s welfare. If the policy of Rome is to rule or ruin, let us know it. If it be first to ruin, and then to rule, let us know that.“We purpose to go no further back than the beginning of the war, and to let the facts which we shall name speak for themselves. If they have no other lesson, they will, at least, show that Rome, during our terrible struggle for national existence, was true to her ancient history and traditions, as the enemy of civil liberty and the friend of the oppressor the world over.“It will not be forgotten how generally and enthusiastically our adopted citizens, the Irish, enlisted in the army when the call first came for men to put down rebellion. In the early part of the war, there were Irish battalions, and regiments, and brigades, but there were few, if any, at its close. The truth is, after the second year of the war, the Irish changed front, and suddenly became sympathizers with treason and rebellion. It was noticed that the girls in the kitchen began to roll their fierce gutturals against Mr. Lincoln; their brothers in the army began to curse the cause for which they fought; desertions were frequent; enlistments stopped; and the attitude of the Irish mind before Mr. Lincoln’s second election was one of disloyalty and hostility to the government of the United States.“And these facts can not be changed by the habit which these people have of boasting about fighting our battles, and saving our country. By actual examination of our muster-rolls, the simple truth appears to be, that only eight per cent. of our grand army were of foreign birth; the balance—ninety-two per cent.—were native Americans, who returned at length, worn and battle-scarred, to find their places on thefarms, in the factories, and elsewhere, filled by Irish who had sought safety and profit at home, while our boys were courting danger and death in battle.“It may be interesting to know when this change came over the Irish mind. What dampened their ardor, what quenched the glow of their patriotic impulse? The coincidence is so complete, that the cause is doubtless the same.“It will be remembered that Bishop Hughes went abroad during the second year of the war, as was supposed, by authority of our government to interest the Catholic sovereigns of Europe in our favor. Instead of this, however, the archbishop went direct to Rome, and straightway the pope acknowledged the independence of the Confederate States. His insignificance gave him impunity, and purchased our silence. But the act had its influence; Biddy in the kitchen, Mike in the army, Patrick on the farm, and Mac in the factory, fell to cursing Mr. Lincoln as a tyrant and butcher. Enlistments among the Irish stopped from that time, unless it was bounty-jumpers and deserters. They banded together to resist the draft, as in New York, where they rioted in blood for three long days, and only yielded to the overwhelming power of United States troops. The spirit that actuated these human fiends came from Rome, and to Rome must be awarded the sole honor of welcoming to the family of nations a Confederacy whose first act was treason, and whose last was assassination. Indeed, it was Rome that furnished the assassin and his conspirators against the greatest life of modern times. And that assassin struck not against the life of a man, but against the life of the Republic; and if guilt lies in the intent, then is Rome guilty of the nation’s life.“With such a record, Rome vainly puts herself among the friends of our free institutions. She misjudged, we think, but she no doubt thought the time had arrived to destroy what had come of Puritanism. And for this, she was willing to be the ally of a government whose corner-stone was negro slavery. Are we still dreaming that Rome is changed, or that she has surrendered the hope of supplanting Protestant freedom on these shores? Would not every Fenian lodge in the country rally to the help of the South, if there was a chance to restore the old negro-hating oligarchy to power.“It can hardly have escaped every observing man that the Irish mind is expectant and exultant in regard to this country. They do not conceal their belief that the Catholic Church is to rise to the ascendant here, and that Protestantism is to do it reverence.“But a few weeks since, Father Hecker, one of the lights of the Catholic Church in this country, said in a public lecture, in NewYork, that his church had numbered eleven millions of our people, or one-third of our population; and that if the members of his church increased for the next thirty years as it had for the thirty years past, in 1900 Rome would have the majority, and would be bound to take the country and rule it in the interest of the church. ‘And,’ continued the reverend father, ‘I consider it my highest mission to educate our people up to this idea, that America is ours, and belongs to the church.’“It is all of a pattern. Rome during the war sought to ruin us in order to rule us. She failed in the first, but is no less tenaciously striving to accomplish the last. In a future number we will hope to show how she means to do this through the freedmen.”

“We purpose to go no further back than the beginning of the war, and to let the facts which we shall name speak for themselves. If they have no other lesson, they will, at least, show that Rome, during our terrible struggle for national existence, was true to her ancient history and traditions, as the enemy of civil liberty and the friend of the oppressor the world over.

“It will not be forgotten how generally and enthusiastically our adopted citizens, the Irish, enlisted in the army when the call first came for men to put down rebellion. In the early part of the war, there were Irish battalions, and regiments, and brigades, but there were few, if any, at its close. The truth is, after the second year of the war, the Irish changed front, and suddenly became sympathizers with treason and rebellion. It was noticed that the girls in the kitchen began to roll their fierce gutturals against Mr. Lincoln; their brothers in the army began to curse the cause for which they fought; desertions were frequent; enlistments stopped; and the attitude of the Irish mind before Mr. Lincoln’s second election was one of disloyalty and hostility to the government of the United States.

“And these facts can not be changed by the habit which these people have of boasting about fighting our battles, and saving our country. By actual examination of our muster-rolls, the simple truth appears to be, that only eight per cent. of our grand army were of foreign birth; the balance—ninety-two per cent.—were native Americans, who returned at length, worn and battle-scarred, to find their places on thefarms, in the factories, and elsewhere, filled by Irish who had sought safety and profit at home, while our boys were courting danger and death in battle.

“It may be interesting to know when this change came over the Irish mind. What dampened their ardor, what quenched the glow of their patriotic impulse? The coincidence is so complete, that the cause is doubtless the same.

“It will be remembered that Bishop Hughes went abroad during the second year of the war, as was supposed, by authority of our government to interest the Catholic sovereigns of Europe in our favor. Instead of this, however, the archbishop went direct to Rome, and straightway the pope acknowledged the independence of the Confederate States. His insignificance gave him impunity, and purchased our silence. But the act had its influence; Biddy in the kitchen, Mike in the army, Patrick on the farm, and Mac in the factory, fell to cursing Mr. Lincoln as a tyrant and butcher. Enlistments among the Irish stopped from that time, unless it was bounty-jumpers and deserters. They banded together to resist the draft, as in New York, where they rioted in blood for three long days, and only yielded to the overwhelming power of United States troops. The spirit that actuated these human fiends came from Rome, and to Rome must be awarded the sole honor of welcoming to the family of nations a Confederacy whose first act was treason, and whose last was assassination. Indeed, it was Rome that furnished the assassin and his conspirators against the greatest life of modern times. And that assassin struck not against the life of a man, but against the life of the Republic; and if guilt lies in the intent, then is Rome guilty of the nation’s life.

“With such a record, Rome vainly puts herself among the friends of our free institutions. She misjudged, we think, but she no doubt thought the time had arrived to destroy what had come of Puritanism. And for this, she was willing to be the ally of a government whose corner-stone was negro slavery. Are we still dreaming that Rome is changed, or that she has surrendered the hope of supplanting Protestant freedom on these shores? Would not every Fenian lodge in the country rally to the help of the South, if there was a chance to restore the old negro-hating oligarchy to power.

“It can hardly have escaped every observing man that the Irish mind is expectant and exultant in regard to this country. They do not conceal their belief that the Catholic Church is to rise to the ascendant here, and that Protestantism is to do it reverence.

“But a few weeks since, Father Hecker, one of the lights of the Catholic Church in this country, said in a public lecture, in NewYork, that his church had numbered eleven millions of our people, or one-third of our population; and that if the members of his church increased for the next thirty years as it had for the thirty years past, in 1900 Rome would have the majority, and would be bound to take the country and rule it in the interest of the church. ‘And,’ continued the reverend father, ‘I consider it my highest mission to educate our people up to this idea, that America is ours, and belongs to the church.’

“It is all of a pattern. Rome during the war sought to ruin us in order to rule us. She failed in the first, but is no less tenaciously striving to accomplish the last. In a future number we will hope to show how she means to do this through the freedmen.”

It appears that, when our government became apprised of the value of Oregon as a part of its domain, and was informed officially by the provisional government of the situation of affairs generally at the time of the Whitman massacre, at the same time the information was so arranged, and the circumstances so stated, that the government and people were generally deceived as to the cause and ultimate object of that transaction. It is clear that the Hudson’s Bay Company designed to hold the country. It is also evident that the British government expected that the arrangements of the company were such that their title to the Oregon Territory was secured beyond a question.

The far-seeing shrewdness of P. J. De Smet, S. J., in relation to his efforts and church influence, was in a measure superior to both; for he made use of both to secure his object and add to the numerical strength of his church, and by that means gain political consideration in the United States and in other countries. For instance, all the Indian children and adults they have ever baptized (as may be seen by their letters to their society in Brussels) are counted, numbering two hundred and ninety-four thousand,—nearly one-half of their American converts. This, with all their foreign population, as claimed by them, and improperly allowed in the United States census, gives to that sect a political influence they are not entitled to; and were the question agitated openly, as it was undertaken once secretly, the result would show their weakness. While that church professes the open Catholic faith, it still holds to its secret Society of Jesus, and through it has carried its missions and influence into every department of our American government, more especially into that of the Indians. General Grant seems to understand our Indian relations, and has advised the best plan for disposing of the Indian question,i. e., place it under the exclusive control of the military department; and if an Indian becomes a settler, let him be protected as such.

After the greater portion of our provisional troops had been disbanded, Revs. Eells and Walker and their families were ordered out of the upper country, it not being deemed safe for them to remain, on account of hostile Indians who were notoriously friendly with every one claiming to belong to the Hudson’s Bay Company or to the priests’ party; as asserted by Father Hoikin, who says: “The country is as safe for us as ever; we can go freely wherever we desire. No one is ignorant that the black-gowns are not enemies; those at least who are among the Indians.”

Notwithstanding the order had been given, by Indian Agent Major Lee, that all the missionaries among those Indians should leave the country till troops could be stationed to protect all alike, still not one of the Jesuit missionaries obeyed it. On the 21st of August, Lieutenant A. T. Rogers writes to Governor Abernethy, as follows:—

“Fort Lee, Wascopum, Aug. 21, 1848.“Believing it to be my duty to let you know any thing of moment that transpires at this station, for this purpose I now address you.“At about 2 o’clock,P. M., at this place, a boat arrived, consigned to the French priests who have taken up their residence here, loaded with eight casks of powder; six of them 150 pounds each, and two of them 90 pounds each, making 1,080 pounds. I also took fifteen sacks of balls, 100 pounds in each cask; three sacks of buck or goose shot, 100 pounds each, making 1,800 pounds of ball and buck-shot; counted one sack of the balls and found about 3,000 balls. I also took three boxes of guns; opened one box, and found twelve guns.“The general conviction at the fort was, that not more than 500 pounds of powder in all had been forwarded for the army by the government, probably not even that amount. I was told by the priest from an interior station, as also by one at the Dalles, that the powder was for four stations, viz.: Cœur d’Alênes, Flatheads, Ponderays, and Okanagons; and this had been purchased at Vancouver the year before. I judged that at least one-third of their outfit was ammunition.“Three days previous to the arrival of the ammunition, four Indians, embracing their chief from the Waiama village, near the mouth of Des Chutes, came into the fort, much alarmed, saying there had been Cayuses to them, declaring that the priests were going to furnish them plenty of ammunition, and that they were going to kill off all the Americans and all the Indians about that place, and the Cayuses wanted them to join them; said also that out of fear of the Cayuses they had sent away all their women and children. We had the best of evidence that they were frightened. Out of some four or five hundredsouls along the river, between the fort and the Chutes of the Columbia, not a soul was to be seen on either side,—all, they said, were hid in the mountains. It was some ten days before the Indians came from their hiding-places.“When the munitions came, Quartermaster Johnson swore he believed the priests designed them for the Cayuses; said also, a man in this country did not know when he was in a tight place.“I must say I also believed it.“A. T. Rogers, Lieutenant Commanding Post.”[20]

“Fort Lee, Wascopum, Aug. 21, 1848.

“Believing it to be my duty to let you know any thing of moment that transpires at this station, for this purpose I now address you.

“At about 2 o’clock,P. M., at this place, a boat arrived, consigned to the French priests who have taken up their residence here, loaded with eight casks of powder; six of them 150 pounds each, and two of them 90 pounds each, making 1,080 pounds. I also took fifteen sacks of balls, 100 pounds in each cask; three sacks of buck or goose shot, 100 pounds each, making 1,800 pounds of ball and buck-shot; counted one sack of the balls and found about 3,000 balls. I also took three boxes of guns; opened one box, and found twelve guns.

“The general conviction at the fort was, that not more than 500 pounds of powder in all had been forwarded for the army by the government, probably not even that amount. I was told by the priest from an interior station, as also by one at the Dalles, that the powder was for four stations, viz.: Cœur d’Alênes, Flatheads, Ponderays, and Okanagons; and this had been purchased at Vancouver the year before. I judged that at least one-third of their outfit was ammunition.

“Three days previous to the arrival of the ammunition, four Indians, embracing their chief from the Waiama village, near the mouth of Des Chutes, came into the fort, much alarmed, saying there had been Cayuses to them, declaring that the priests were going to furnish them plenty of ammunition, and that they were going to kill off all the Americans and all the Indians about that place, and the Cayuses wanted them to join them; said also that out of fear of the Cayuses they had sent away all their women and children. We had the best of evidence that they were frightened. Out of some four or five hundredsouls along the river, between the fort and the Chutes of the Columbia, not a soul was to be seen on either side,—all, they said, were hid in the mountains. It was some ten days before the Indians came from their hiding-places.

“When the munitions came, Quartermaster Johnson swore he believed the priests designed them for the Cayuses; said also, a man in this country did not know when he was in a tight place.

“I must say I also believed it.

“A. T. Rogers, Lieutenant Commanding Post.”[20]

[20]From original letter.

The following editorial notice of the above letter is copied from the OregonSpectatorof September 7, 1848:—

“By reference to the above letter by Lieutenant Rogers to Governor Abernethy, it will be seen that the arms and ammunition attempted to be taken into the upper Indian country by Catholic priests, have been seized by Lieutenant Rogers, and deposited in Fort Lee. Orders had been dispatched to Lieutenant Rogers to seize and detain those munitions. [A mistake of the editor. Lieutenant Rogers seized the ammunition, and wrote for orders.] Much credit is due to Lieutenant Rogers and the little garrison at Fort Lee for the promptness and efficiency with which they acted in the matter.“We understand that there was no disposition on the part of the officers of the government to destroy or confiscate those munitions, but that they were detained to prevent their transportation into the Indian country under the present juncture of affairs.“We had intended to have spoken upon the attempt by Catholic priests to transport such a quantity of arms and ammunition into the Indian country at this time, but as those munitions have been seized and are now safe, we abstain from present comment upon the transaction!”

“We understand that there was no disposition on the part of the officers of the government to destroy or confiscate those munitions, but that they were detained to prevent their transportation into the Indian country under the present juncture of affairs.

“We had intended to have spoken upon the attempt by Catholic priests to transport such a quantity of arms and ammunition into the Indian country at this time, but as those munitions have been seized and are now safe, we abstain from present comment upon the transaction!”

The above notice of the transaction, as given by Lieutenant Rogers, is a fair specimen of the man who occupied the place of an editor at the time this infamous course was being carried on in Oregon by the two parties engaged in supplying the Indians with war materials. No one will suppose for a moment that these priests ever bought or owned the powder and arms; their own private supplies may have been in the cargo, but the ammunition and arms were on the way into the Indian country, under their priestly protection, for the benefit of their masters,the Hudson’s Bay Company, who, as we have repeatedly proved, were acting in concert upon the prejudices and superstitions of the Indians.

Was it a great undertaking for that company to drive a thousand or twelve hundred American settlers from Oregon at that time?

Robert Newell, already known to our readers, says, in speaking of missionaries and settlers, “They could not have remained in the country a week without the consent and aid of that company, nor could the settlers have remained as they did up to 1848.” We are willing to admit Mr. Newell’s position only in part. We know that company’s power and influence in Washington and London; we also know fully what they attempted to do from 1812 to 1821, and only succeeded by a compromise with their opponent. We also know all about their operations and influences in Oregon, and are ready to admit that they had the disposition to destroy the American settlements. We also know the extent of the effort made to establish a claim to the Oregon country by means of their French and Hudson’s Bay half-breeds, and we are fully aware of their effort to procure witnesses to substantiate their monstrous claims for old rotten forts and imaginary improvements. Knowing all this, we deny that that company had the courage, or would have dared to molest a single American citizen or missionary, only as they could influence the Indians by just such means as they used to destroySmith’s party on the Umpqua, drive Captain Wyeth and the American Fur Company from the country, and destroy Dr. Whitman’s settlement. Any other course would have involved the two countries in a war, and led to an investigation of their proceedings and of their charter.

“That company,” says Mr. Fitzgerald, “have submitted to all manner of insult and indignity, and committed all manner of crime, and they dare not go before any competent tribunal for the redress of any real or supposed injury, or right they claim.”

This brings us to the reason that Mr. Douglas gave in answer to Mr. Ogden, in the presence of Mr. Hinman, “There might be other than sectarian causes”for the Whitman massacre, and here we have the united effort of priests and Hudson’s Bay Company to attribute the massacre tomeaslesandsuperstition, while we have the positive testimony of Mr. Kimzey and others to show that the whole was determined upon before any sickness was among the Indians. From the testimony of General Palmer, the Donner party, Mr. Hines, and Mr. Ogden, we find but the one effort; which was, to prevent, or diminish as much as was possible, the settlement of the country. And why? To answer this question clearly, we have traced the early history of thatmonster monopolyin previous chapters, and given their proceedings in countries under their exclusive control. To illustrate more clearly the subjectof the previous and present chapters, we will give an article we find in the OregonArgusof February 9, 1856, eight years after the war. The article is headed:—

“The Catholic Priests and the War—‘A Catholic Citizen’ attended to.

“To the Editor of the Oregon Argus:“Sir,—For the past month I have noticed several virulent articles in each issue of your paper, all tending to impress upon the minds of your readers the idea that the Catholic priests were the head and front of the present Indian difficulties; and being fearful that your constant harping upon that one subject might render you a monomaniac, I am induced to submit to yourArguseyes a few facts in relation to the conduct of the Catholic priests prior to and during the present war. In your issue of the 8th inst., I find an article based upon the following extract from the official report of Colonel Nesmith:—“‘With sundry papers discovered in the mission building, was a letter written by the priest, Pandozy, for Kamaiyahkan, head chief of the Yankama tribe, addressed to the officer in command of the troops, a copy of which is communicated with this report. There was also found an account-book kept by this priest Pandozy, which is now in the custody of Major Raines. This book contains daily entries of Pandozy’s transactions with the Indians, and clearly demonstrates the indisputable fact that he has furnished the Indians with large quantities of ammunition, and leaving it a matter of doubt whethergospelorgunpowderwas his principal stock in trade. The priest had abandoned the mission, but it gave unmistakable evidence of being cared for, and attended to, during his absence, by some Yankama Indian parishioners.’“You then proceed with greatsang froidto pride yourself upon the correct ‘position’ which you took about a month previous, relative to the above subject, and presuming upon the safe ‘position’ which you thus assumed, you say the priests have in a measure prompted the Indians to the late outbreak! A bold presumption, truly, when we find the puny evidence which you have to back your ‘position.’ You further assert as a fact, ‘that in this, as in the Cayuse war, these priests have been detected in the very act of conveying large quantities of powder in the direction of the camp of the enemy.’ This, sir, is afactwhich emanated from your own disordered imagination, as during the Cayuse war no priest was ever detected in any such a position, and youknowit; but then, it must be recollected that a little buncombe capital does not come amiss at this time, and if you can make it off of a poor priest by publishing a tissue of groundless falsehoods against him, why even that is ‘grist to your mill.’”“The foregoing is a portion of a communication which appeared in theStandardof December 13, over the signature of ‘A Catholic Citizen.’ The writer of that article, in endeavoring to blind the eyes of his readers, and his pretending to correct us in reference to certain statements we had made concerning a few things connected with the present Indian war, as also the Cayuse war of 1848, in which the Catholic priests had by their intercourse with the savages created more than a suspicion in the minds of the community that they were culpably implicated in the crimson character of these tragedies, wisely intrenched himself behind a fictitious signature. He has thereby thrown the responsibility of some three columns of pointless verbiage, flimsy sophistry, and Jesuitical falsehoods, upon the shoulders of an irresponsible, intangible, ghostly apparition, probably very recently dismissed from some sepulcher at Rome, or from the carcass of an Irishman just swamped in the bogs of Ireland.“Seven or eight weeks have now elapsed since we called upon this Roman Catholic citizen to emerge from his hiding-place among the tombstones, and if he was really incarnate, with a body of flesh and bones, such as the rest of us have, to throw off the mask, and not only give us a full view of his corporeal developments, but also to send us a copy of the book by which he cleared Pandozy, and justified himself in issuing, from his sweat-house Vatican, his bull of excommunication against us.“We have thus far ‘harked’ in vain for a sound ‘from the tombs.’ Like a true Jesuit, that loves darkness rather than light, he not only still persists in keeping his name in the dark, and keeping the ‘book’ we rightfully called for in the dark, but attempts to enshroud the whole subject in total darkness, by making up his own case from such parts of Pandozy’s book as he chooses to have exposed, and then thrusting the whole manuscript into a dark corner of his dark-colored coat, and in order to darken what light we had already shed in upon the dark nest of Jesuits, among the dark-skinned and dark-hearted savages, he most solemnly denies as false the most important of the dark charges we made against them, and then, after ‘darkening counsel’ by a whole column of ‘words without knowledge,’ by which, like the cuttle-fish, he darkens the waters to elude the hand of his pursuer, and then, under cover of all this darkness, he dodges into his dark little sweat-house, and issues his terrible bull consigning us to averydark place, where the multitudes of dark Jesuits that have gone before us have doubtless made it ‘as dark as a stack of black cats.’ But what makes the case still darker is, that while ‘Catholic Citizen’ refuses to expose his personal outlines to our ‘Argus eyes,’ but intimates that as he is a memberof the Catholic Church, and of the Democratic party, if we let off a broadside upon either of these societies, and wound either of their carcasses, the one bloated on the blood of saints, and the other on the juice of corn, we shall of course inflict a material injury upon him, upon the principle that ‘when one of the members suffers, all the members suffer with it;’ we say, that in view of the fact that after ‘Catholic Citizen’ has claimed to be a member of both these organizations, the Corvallis organ of the Sag Nichts and Jesuits has whet the razor of authority, and lopped him off, as a heterodox member, and consigned him to the fires of damnation, because ‘Catholic Citizen’ has intimated that the two bodies were not identical, thus wisely enveloping him in a dark cloud, and translating him far beyond the reach of our guns, makes the case terribly dark indeed.“‘He (Catholic Citizen) displays the cloven foot of either direct opposition to the Democratic organization, or sore-head-ism and disaffection with that organization.——We can hardly conceive that the author of that communication is a Catholic, or a friend of the Catholic Church.’—Statesmanof Dec. 25.“Thus it will be seen that the editor of the ‘organ’ takes him by the top tuft, and applies the ‘rapin hook’ to his neck as a heretic, and not a genuine Catholic, because of his ‘sore-head-ism and disaffection with the Democratic organization,’ thus unequivocally asserting that the church and the clique are identical, or so closely identified that in placing himself in opposition to the one, he proves that he is not a friend of the other. Now whether the action of the organ has been from a malicious desire to ‘bury him out of our sight’ as an ‘unfruitful branch’ of the Catholic and Democratic trunk, or whether he intended inmercyto wrap him up in his Nessean shirt, and hide him from our view by denying to him the only earthly position he assumed, it matters not particularly to us. We shall probably teach him, or his ghost, in due time, a lesson which we long since whipped into the tough and slimy hide of the biped who controls theStatesman, and which he and his ilk would do well to read in the welts that checker his back, before they make their onslaughts upon us, viz., whenever we state a thing to be true, you may rest assured that itisso, and by calling it in question, you may be sure you will provoke theproof. We are not of that class of lying editors who make false charges which they are not able to sustain, and we have never yet vouched for the truth of a statement, and been afterward compelled to back out of it. Whenever we make a mistake, on account of bad information, we are sure to make the correction as soon as we are apprised of it, whether the statement affects the character or interest of friend or foe, or neither.“Your vile innuendo, that we wished to make a little buncombe capital off a poor sniveling priest, is readily excused, knowing as we do your impressions from associating with political comrades who neither yield to nor expect justice or decency from their political opponents; and presuming also that the moment you stepped your foot upon American soil, with your little budget of Irish rags, some demagogue put a loco-foco hook into your nose, and led you off to the political pound to learn your catechism, so fast that the remaining half of the nether extremity of your old swallow-fork made a right angle with your stalwart frame. We know very well what sort of lessons you have learned out of that catechism; how you have been duped to believe that the principles of Jefferson and other old sainted Democrats were still cherished by the designing demagogues who have taken you in tow; how we who oppose this office-hunting party are ‘down upon Catholics and foreigners’ simply because they are such; and how you had only to put in the ‘clane dimocratthic ticket’ to insure yourself great and glorious privileges. Under this sort of training, it is not surprising to us that you not only expect us to persecute you to the full extent that a priest is sworn to ‘persecute’ heretics, but that you are constantly in fear that the ‘Noo Nothins’ will soon be ladling soup from a huge kettle that contains your quarters boiled up with Irish potatoes.“We were not led to make the remarks we did in reference to the priests because they werePapists, but because we had reason to believe they were traitors to our government, and were identified with the savages in the present war. If Methodist, Presbyterian, orany other Protestant clergymenhad rendered themselves equally obnoxious, we should probably have given our opinion at the time, that they deserved to be brought out of the Indian country, with all their ‘traps,’ to undergo a trial before a jury for their lives.“But, sir, to one of your falsehoods:—“‘You further assert as a fact, “that in this, as in the Cayuse war, these priests have been detected in the very act of conveying large quantities of powder in the direction of the camp of the enemy.” This, sir, is afactwhich emanated from your own distorted imagination, as during the Cayuse war no priest was ever detected in any such a position, and youknowit.’“Now, sir, we did not suppose that there was a man green enough in all Oregon (excepting, perhaps, theStatesman) to call our statement in question. We happen to be an old Oregonian ourself, and profess to be pretty well posted in reference to many occurrences which will make up the future history of this lovely yet blood-stained land. The proof of our assertion wesupposedcould be come at by our file oftheSpectator. The fact was still vivid in our memory. At the date of this transaction (August 21, 1848), there were three papers printed in the Territory: TheFree Press, an 8 by 12 sheet, edited by G. L. Curry, present governor of Oregon, and the OregonSpectator, a 22 by 32 sheet, edited by A. E. Wait, Esq., both published at Oregon City; besides a semi-monthly pamphlet, printed in the Tualatin Plains, and edited by Rev. J. S. Griffin. Although all of these papers at the time spoke of the transaction referred to, we believe none of them, excepting theSpectator, contained the official correspondence necessary to make out our case. We supposed, and so did many others, that all the old files of theSpectatorwere long since destroyed, excepting the imperfect one in our office. When ‘A Catholic Citizen’ called our statement in question, we, of course, referred to our ‘file’ for proof, but to our astonishment this particular paper was missing, although the immediate preceding and succeeding numbers were all there, embracing the whole summer of 1848. The missing number wasaccidentally(?) misplaced, of course, and theproofof that transaction supposed to be beyond our reach. By the kindness of a gentleman we have been furnished with the desired copy from his own file.” (See official note and letter as previously quoted.)“Now, will ‘A Catholic Citizen’ contend that our statement, in reference to the ‘large quantities of powder,’ is not fully covered by ‘seven or eight hundred pounds of powder, fifteen hundred pounds of lead, and three boxes of guns.’“A man who can unblushingly utter such a falsehood as he has been guilty of, to create a public sentiment in favor of these priests, is below contempt, and we feel our task of exposing him to be truly humiliating. We have branded this goat with an L——, which will stick to his hide as long as Cain carriedhismark; and we now turn him out to browse for a while with B., who wears about a dozen of the same brands, under the pain of which we have sent him off howling. ‘A Catholic Citizen’ may feed on ‘ferrin’ till we get time to clap the same brand to him again, when we shall tie him up to the post and again scorch his wool.”

“To the Editor of the Oregon Argus:

“Sir,—For the past month I have noticed several virulent articles in each issue of your paper, all tending to impress upon the minds of your readers the idea that the Catholic priests were the head and front of the present Indian difficulties; and being fearful that your constant harping upon that one subject might render you a monomaniac, I am induced to submit to yourArguseyes a few facts in relation to the conduct of the Catholic priests prior to and during the present war. In your issue of the 8th inst., I find an article based upon the following extract from the official report of Colonel Nesmith:—

“‘With sundry papers discovered in the mission building, was a letter written by the priest, Pandozy, for Kamaiyahkan, head chief of the Yankama tribe, addressed to the officer in command of the troops, a copy of which is communicated with this report. There was also found an account-book kept by this priest Pandozy, which is now in the custody of Major Raines. This book contains daily entries of Pandozy’s transactions with the Indians, and clearly demonstrates the indisputable fact that he has furnished the Indians with large quantities of ammunition, and leaving it a matter of doubt whethergospelorgunpowderwas his principal stock in trade. The priest had abandoned the mission, but it gave unmistakable evidence of being cared for, and attended to, during his absence, by some Yankama Indian parishioners.’

“You then proceed with greatsang froidto pride yourself upon the correct ‘position’ which you took about a month previous, relative to the above subject, and presuming upon the safe ‘position’ which you thus assumed, you say the priests have in a measure prompted the Indians to the late outbreak! A bold presumption, truly, when we find the puny evidence which you have to back your ‘position.’ You further assert as a fact, ‘that in this, as in the Cayuse war, these priests have been detected in the very act of conveying large quantities of powder in the direction of the camp of the enemy.’ This, sir, is afactwhich emanated from your own disordered imagination, as during the Cayuse war no priest was ever detected in any such a position, and youknowit; but then, it must be recollected that a little buncombe capital does not come amiss at this time, and if you can make it off of a poor priest by publishing a tissue of groundless falsehoods against him, why even that is ‘grist to your mill.’”

“The foregoing is a portion of a communication which appeared in theStandardof December 13, over the signature of ‘A Catholic Citizen.’ The writer of that article, in endeavoring to blind the eyes of his readers, and his pretending to correct us in reference to certain statements we had made concerning a few things connected with the present Indian war, as also the Cayuse war of 1848, in which the Catholic priests had by their intercourse with the savages created more than a suspicion in the minds of the community that they were culpably implicated in the crimson character of these tragedies, wisely intrenched himself behind a fictitious signature. He has thereby thrown the responsibility of some three columns of pointless verbiage, flimsy sophistry, and Jesuitical falsehoods, upon the shoulders of an irresponsible, intangible, ghostly apparition, probably very recently dismissed from some sepulcher at Rome, or from the carcass of an Irishman just swamped in the bogs of Ireland.

“Seven or eight weeks have now elapsed since we called upon this Roman Catholic citizen to emerge from his hiding-place among the tombstones, and if he was really incarnate, with a body of flesh and bones, such as the rest of us have, to throw off the mask, and not only give us a full view of his corporeal developments, but also to send us a copy of the book by which he cleared Pandozy, and justified himself in issuing, from his sweat-house Vatican, his bull of excommunication against us.

“We have thus far ‘harked’ in vain for a sound ‘from the tombs.’ Like a true Jesuit, that loves darkness rather than light, he not only still persists in keeping his name in the dark, and keeping the ‘book’ we rightfully called for in the dark, but attempts to enshroud the whole subject in total darkness, by making up his own case from such parts of Pandozy’s book as he chooses to have exposed, and then thrusting the whole manuscript into a dark corner of his dark-colored coat, and in order to darken what light we had already shed in upon the dark nest of Jesuits, among the dark-skinned and dark-hearted savages, he most solemnly denies as false the most important of the dark charges we made against them, and then, after ‘darkening counsel’ by a whole column of ‘words without knowledge,’ by which, like the cuttle-fish, he darkens the waters to elude the hand of his pursuer, and then, under cover of all this darkness, he dodges into his dark little sweat-house, and issues his terrible bull consigning us to averydark place, where the multitudes of dark Jesuits that have gone before us have doubtless made it ‘as dark as a stack of black cats.’ But what makes the case still darker is, that while ‘Catholic Citizen’ refuses to expose his personal outlines to our ‘Argus eyes,’ but intimates that as he is a memberof the Catholic Church, and of the Democratic party, if we let off a broadside upon either of these societies, and wound either of their carcasses, the one bloated on the blood of saints, and the other on the juice of corn, we shall of course inflict a material injury upon him, upon the principle that ‘when one of the members suffers, all the members suffer with it;’ we say, that in view of the fact that after ‘Catholic Citizen’ has claimed to be a member of both these organizations, the Corvallis organ of the Sag Nichts and Jesuits has whet the razor of authority, and lopped him off, as a heterodox member, and consigned him to the fires of damnation, because ‘Catholic Citizen’ has intimated that the two bodies were not identical, thus wisely enveloping him in a dark cloud, and translating him far beyond the reach of our guns, makes the case terribly dark indeed.

“‘He (Catholic Citizen) displays the cloven foot of either direct opposition to the Democratic organization, or sore-head-ism and disaffection with that organization.——We can hardly conceive that the author of that communication is a Catholic, or a friend of the Catholic Church.’—Statesmanof Dec. 25.

“Thus it will be seen that the editor of the ‘organ’ takes him by the top tuft, and applies the ‘rapin hook’ to his neck as a heretic, and not a genuine Catholic, because of his ‘sore-head-ism and disaffection with the Democratic organization,’ thus unequivocally asserting that the church and the clique are identical, or so closely identified that in placing himself in opposition to the one, he proves that he is not a friend of the other. Now whether the action of the organ has been from a malicious desire to ‘bury him out of our sight’ as an ‘unfruitful branch’ of the Catholic and Democratic trunk, or whether he intended inmercyto wrap him up in his Nessean shirt, and hide him from our view by denying to him the only earthly position he assumed, it matters not particularly to us. We shall probably teach him, or his ghost, in due time, a lesson which we long since whipped into the tough and slimy hide of the biped who controls theStatesman, and which he and his ilk would do well to read in the welts that checker his back, before they make their onslaughts upon us, viz., whenever we state a thing to be true, you may rest assured that itisso, and by calling it in question, you may be sure you will provoke theproof. We are not of that class of lying editors who make false charges which they are not able to sustain, and we have never yet vouched for the truth of a statement, and been afterward compelled to back out of it. Whenever we make a mistake, on account of bad information, we are sure to make the correction as soon as we are apprised of it, whether the statement affects the character or interest of friend or foe, or neither.

“Your vile innuendo, that we wished to make a little buncombe capital off a poor sniveling priest, is readily excused, knowing as we do your impressions from associating with political comrades who neither yield to nor expect justice or decency from their political opponents; and presuming also that the moment you stepped your foot upon American soil, with your little budget of Irish rags, some demagogue put a loco-foco hook into your nose, and led you off to the political pound to learn your catechism, so fast that the remaining half of the nether extremity of your old swallow-fork made a right angle with your stalwart frame. We know very well what sort of lessons you have learned out of that catechism; how you have been duped to believe that the principles of Jefferson and other old sainted Democrats were still cherished by the designing demagogues who have taken you in tow; how we who oppose this office-hunting party are ‘down upon Catholics and foreigners’ simply because they are such; and how you had only to put in the ‘clane dimocratthic ticket’ to insure yourself great and glorious privileges. Under this sort of training, it is not surprising to us that you not only expect us to persecute you to the full extent that a priest is sworn to ‘persecute’ heretics, but that you are constantly in fear that the ‘Noo Nothins’ will soon be ladling soup from a huge kettle that contains your quarters boiled up with Irish potatoes.

“We were not led to make the remarks we did in reference to the priests because they werePapists, but because we had reason to believe they were traitors to our government, and were identified with the savages in the present war. If Methodist, Presbyterian, orany other Protestant clergymenhad rendered themselves equally obnoxious, we should probably have given our opinion at the time, that they deserved to be brought out of the Indian country, with all their ‘traps,’ to undergo a trial before a jury for their lives.

“But, sir, to one of your falsehoods:—

“‘You further assert as a fact, “that in this, as in the Cayuse war, these priests have been detected in the very act of conveying large quantities of powder in the direction of the camp of the enemy.” This, sir, is afactwhich emanated from your own distorted imagination, as during the Cayuse war no priest was ever detected in any such a position, and youknowit.’

“Now, sir, we did not suppose that there was a man green enough in all Oregon (excepting, perhaps, theStatesman) to call our statement in question. We happen to be an old Oregonian ourself, and profess to be pretty well posted in reference to many occurrences which will make up the future history of this lovely yet blood-stained land. The proof of our assertion wesupposedcould be come at by our file oftheSpectator. The fact was still vivid in our memory. At the date of this transaction (August 21, 1848), there were three papers printed in the Territory: TheFree Press, an 8 by 12 sheet, edited by G. L. Curry, present governor of Oregon, and the OregonSpectator, a 22 by 32 sheet, edited by A. E. Wait, Esq., both published at Oregon City; besides a semi-monthly pamphlet, printed in the Tualatin Plains, and edited by Rev. J. S. Griffin. Although all of these papers at the time spoke of the transaction referred to, we believe none of them, excepting theSpectator, contained the official correspondence necessary to make out our case. We supposed, and so did many others, that all the old files of theSpectatorwere long since destroyed, excepting the imperfect one in our office. When ‘A Catholic Citizen’ called our statement in question, we, of course, referred to our ‘file’ for proof, but to our astonishment this particular paper was missing, although the immediate preceding and succeeding numbers were all there, embracing the whole summer of 1848. The missing number wasaccidentally(?) misplaced, of course, and theproofof that transaction supposed to be beyond our reach. By the kindness of a gentleman we have been furnished with the desired copy from his own file.” (See official note and letter as previously quoted.)

“Now, will ‘A Catholic Citizen’ contend that our statement, in reference to the ‘large quantities of powder,’ is not fully covered by ‘seven or eight hundred pounds of powder, fifteen hundred pounds of lead, and three boxes of guns.’

“A man who can unblushingly utter such a falsehood as he has been guilty of, to create a public sentiment in favor of these priests, is below contempt, and we feel our task of exposing him to be truly humiliating. We have branded this goat with an L——, which will stick to his hide as long as Cain carriedhismark; and we now turn him out to browse for a while with B., who wears about a dozen of the same brands, under the pain of which we have sent him off howling. ‘A Catholic Citizen’ may feed on ‘ferrin’ till we get time to clap the same brand to him again, when we shall tie him up to the post and again scorch his wool.”

In reference to the article, as quoted from the OregonArgus, it is not certainly known who “Catholic Citizen” is, but the impression is that the production is from the pen of Hon. P. H. Burnett or Sir James Douglas, and not impossible from Robert Newell, with such assistance as he could obtain.

If from either of those gentlemen, he may have been correctly informed as to the real owners of the munitions, but we can hardly believeMr. Douglas or Newell would lay themselves liable to the falsehood charged upon them, as they were in the country, and must have known of the facts in the case. Mr. Burnett was in California, and may have been misled by his informant. Be that as it may, the munitions were found on their way into the Indian country in charge of the priests, and the remarks of the editor of theArgus, W. L. Adams, Esq., shows the true history of the times, and the continued effort of the Jesuits and their neophytes to continue the Indian wars, to prevent the Protestant missionary stations from being reoccupied and the settlement of the country by the Americans, as intimated by Father Hoikin, in his letter to his society in Brussels.

Our provisional army did not capture a single murderer or prominent Indian engaged in the massacre, though many of them were known to have been frequently with the priests and at Fort Wallawalla. Neither the priests, McBean, nor the indescribably sympathizing Sir James Douglas made the least effort to bring the murderers to justice. A part of them were given up by the tribe,—tried and hung at Oregon City under the Territorial government of the United states, Judge Pratt presiding. In the trial, the same influence was used to get the murderers acquitted that had instigated and protected them in the commission of the crime.

The discovery of gold in California took place before our troops had all returned; the universal excitement in relation to it caused the desertion of a large portion of the Hudson’s Bay Company’s men, and almost an abandonment of the fur trade in the country for the time. They, however, still kept up the semblance of fur trade; and, at the expiration of their parliamentary license in 1858, withdrew to British Columbia and Vancouver Island to repeat upon their own people what they have practiced so successfully and so long upon the Americans.

There is, connected with this foreign company, a sort of Jesuitical suavity of manner and boasting propensity that naturally deceives all who come within its influence.

All its titles and little performances of charity are sounded forth with imperial pomposity. The man that does not acknowledge his obligations to it for being permitted to remain in the country previous to the expiration of its parliamentary license, is considered ungrateful by it, and by such as are blind to its infamous practices.

Missions among the Western Indians.—The Cœur d’Alêne Mission.—Protestant and Catholic missions compared.—What the American Protestant missionaries have done for the country and the Indians.—Extent of their influence, progress, and improvements.—Patriotism of Dr. Whitman.

Any person who has read the previous pages of this volume will not charge us with being ignorant of missionary operations on our western coast. Though we were but eight years connected in mechanical and business relations with them, still we have never lost sight of their labors, or their intellectual, moral, religious, political, or physical operations, nor of their personal conduct, or their adaptation to the work assigned them. We have spoken plainly our views, and impressions of the character, conduct, and influence of all prominent men in the country. Our main object has been to introduce the reader to the people of Oregon at the time in which they were acting in a public capacity. The private morals of the country have only been incidentally drawn out by reference to a petition sent to Congress, signed by the Rev. David Leslie, in 1840. In that document Mr. Leslie does himself and the country an injustice, by asserting that “theft, murder, infanticide, etc., are increasing among them to an alarming extent” (Senate Doc., 26th Congress, 1st Session, No. 514). Those charges Mr. Leslie no doubt sincerely thought to be true at that time, from the occurrence of the two most serious crimes about the time he wrote. But such crimes were by no means common.

It is often asked,What good have the missionaries done to the Indians?If this question applied alone to the Jesuit missionaries, brought to the country by the Hudson’s Bay Company, we would say unhesitatingly,None at all. What few Indians there are now in the country that have been baptized by them, and have learned their religious catechisms, are to-day more hopelessly depraved, and are really poorer and more degraded than they were at the time we visited them twenty-two years since, looking carefully at their moral and pecuniary condition then and now. In proof of which we give the following article:—

“Cœur d’Alêne Mission.

“The old Mullan road from the Bitter Root or Missoula River to the Cœur d’Alêne Mission, shows to the traveler little evidence thatit was once explored, laid out, and built by a scientific engineer. Decayed remnants of bridges are scattered all along the Cœur d’Alêne and St. Regis Borgia rivers; excavations have been filled up by thedébrisof fallen timber; huge bowlders that have rolled down the mountain side, constantly crumbling masses of slate, and huge chasms, worn or torn by the furious progress of the streams swollen by the melting snows and spring rains, obstruct entirely the passage of vehicles of all kinds, and render the passage of pack and saddle horses almost impossible. In the distance of eighty miles, you cross these two rivers one hundred and forty-six times, climb the precipitous sides of numerous mountains, continually jumping your horses over fallen timber, and filing to the right and left to avoid the impassable barriers which the mountain tornadoes have strewn in your way. The gorges, through which the road sometimes winds to avoid the mountains of rocks that close in even to the edge of the main stream, are narrow, and so completely shaded, that the rays of the sun have never penetrated, and one everlasting cold chill dampness prevails. Our party were halted for an hour in one of those passes to allow the passage of a herd of two hundred Spanish cattle, and, although when we emerged from the cañon we found the sun oppressively hot, I do not remember ever to have suffered more from cold in any climate or in any altitude. The oppressiveness seemed to spring from something besides the mere temperature. We found but one living thing in those narrow cañons, and that was the most diminutive of the squirrel species. There was no song of birds or whir-r-r of partridge or grouse. It had the silence of the cold, damp grave.“After arriving within six miles of the mission, the cañon of the Cœur d’Alêne opens out to about four miles in width, and you come suddenly to Mud Prairie,—a broad, open park, with here and there a solitary pine, and the ground covered with a heavy growth of swamp grass, which stock will only eat when nothing better can be obtained. Two hours more, and the mission, with its stately church (so it appears in the mountains), suddenly presents itself to view.“Dilapidated fences are passed, rude Indian houses made of ‘shakes,’ fields of wheat and vegetables overrun with weeds, and at last, making the one hundred and forty-sixth crossing of the river, you halt your hungry and jaded horses in front of the rudest piece of architecture that ever supported a cross or echoed to theAve Mariaof the Catholic faith. Rude though it is, when we consider the workmen by whom it was constructed and the tools employed, the feeling of ridicule and smile of contempt will give way to admiration of the energy and (though I think mistaken) zeal which sustained the Jesuit fathersduring what was to them, at that time, a most herculean labor. The building is 46 by 60 feet, and 30 feet posted, and was two years in process of construction. The workmen were two or three Jesuit priests, assisted by a few Indians, and the reverend fathers showed me a saw, an auger, an ax, and an old jack-plane, their only tools. It is situated on a little elevation from the main valley. On the left is the dwelling of the fathers, and still to the left is the storehouse, hospital, workshop, and building for the sick and crippled recipients of their benefactions. Around the slope of the elevation are scattered Indian huts and tepees, and at its base lies the resting-place of departed Indians who had died in the faith and gone to the hunting-grounds of the Great Spirit. In front of all, the Cœur d’Alêne, seemingly satisfied with the havoc which its furious progress had made, runs slowly and sluggishly along. The interior of the church is a curiosity. Here you see the marks of an unfortunate stroke from a clumsy ax-man; there a big Indian had sawed a stick of timber half off in the wrong place; in another spot, a little Indian had amused himself boring holes with the auger, while the joints ‘broke’ like a log-house before chinking. I was told that in its original construction there was not a nail used; but lately some efforts have been made to smooth down the rough exterior by the addition of cornice and corner-boards.“The priests are very jealous of their claims to the territory around the mission, and regard the unlimited control of the Indians as a right which they have acquired by their self sacrificing labors, and as a duty on the part of the Indians in return for the salvation of their souls and absolution from their sins. For my part, from an acquaintance with twelve tribes of Indians, among whom the gospel has been preached, and the forms, mysteries, and ceremonies of the Catholic Church introduced, I have failed to see a soul saved, or one single spark of Indian treachery, cruelty, or barbarism extinguished. The lamented General Wright thrashed the murdering propensities of the Cœur d’Alêne Indians out of them. The balance of their virtues—stealing, drinking, and supreme laziness—they possess in as large a share as they did before the heart of Saint Alêne was sent among them. I would like to give a favorable portrait of this mission and its occupants, if I could. I would like to say that the reverend fathers were neat, cleanly, intelligent, hospitable individuals, but there are too many who travel that road, and it would be pronounced false. I would like to say they were sowing the seed of civilization and cultivating it successfully in the untutored mind of the poor red man, but truth forbids. I would at least be glad that they urged upon the Indians to obey the laws of this government and respect the property of itscitizens, but must leave that task to some one who has never bought of them horse meat for beef, and traveled for days on foot, because they would not, from pure deviltry, sell him one horse out of a band of two or three hundred. I say not these things with any reference to the Catholic Church or its belief, nor am I forgetful of what I have read of the Jesuits of St. Bernard and their acts of humanity; but for the filthy, worthless, superannuated relics of Italian ignorance, who have posted themselves midway between the extremes of Pacific and Atlantic civilization, acknowledging no law save that of their church, I have not the slightest particle of respect, and believe with an old packer, ‘that it was a great pity General Wright had not carried his threat into execution, and blown the den over the range.’”[21]

“After arriving within six miles of the mission, the cañon of the Cœur d’Alêne opens out to about four miles in width, and you come suddenly to Mud Prairie,—a broad, open park, with here and there a solitary pine, and the ground covered with a heavy growth of swamp grass, which stock will only eat when nothing better can be obtained. Two hours more, and the mission, with its stately church (so it appears in the mountains), suddenly presents itself to view.

“Dilapidated fences are passed, rude Indian houses made of ‘shakes,’ fields of wheat and vegetables overrun with weeds, and at last, making the one hundred and forty-sixth crossing of the river, you halt your hungry and jaded horses in front of the rudest piece of architecture that ever supported a cross or echoed to theAve Mariaof the Catholic faith. Rude though it is, when we consider the workmen by whom it was constructed and the tools employed, the feeling of ridicule and smile of contempt will give way to admiration of the energy and (though I think mistaken) zeal which sustained the Jesuit fathersduring what was to them, at that time, a most herculean labor. The building is 46 by 60 feet, and 30 feet posted, and was two years in process of construction. The workmen were two or three Jesuit priests, assisted by a few Indians, and the reverend fathers showed me a saw, an auger, an ax, and an old jack-plane, their only tools. It is situated on a little elevation from the main valley. On the left is the dwelling of the fathers, and still to the left is the storehouse, hospital, workshop, and building for the sick and crippled recipients of their benefactions. Around the slope of the elevation are scattered Indian huts and tepees, and at its base lies the resting-place of departed Indians who had died in the faith and gone to the hunting-grounds of the Great Spirit. In front of all, the Cœur d’Alêne, seemingly satisfied with the havoc which its furious progress had made, runs slowly and sluggishly along. The interior of the church is a curiosity. Here you see the marks of an unfortunate stroke from a clumsy ax-man; there a big Indian had sawed a stick of timber half off in the wrong place; in another spot, a little Indian had amused himself boring holes with the auger, while the joints ‘broke’ like a log-house before chinking. I was told that in its original construction there was not a nail used; but lately some efforts have been made to smooth down the rough exterior by the addition of cornice and corner-boards.

“The priests are very jealous of their claims to the territory around the mission, and regard the unlimited control of the Indians as a right which they have acquired by their self sacrificing labors, and as a duty on the part of the Indians in return for the salvation of their souls and absolution from their sins. For my part, from an acquaintance with twelve tribes of Indians, among whom the gospel has been preached, and the forms, mysteries, and ceremonies of the Catholic Church introduced, I have failed to see a soul saved, or one single spark of Indian treachery, cruelty, or barbarism extinguished. The lamented General Wright thrashed the murdering propensities of the Cœur d’Alêne Indians out of them. The balance of their virtues—stealing, drinking, and supreme laziness—they possess in as large a share as they did before the heart of Saint Alêne was sent among them. I would like to give a favorable portrait of this mission and its occupants, if I could. I would like to say that the reverend fathers were neat, cleanly, intelligent, hospitable individuals, but there are too many who travel that road, and it would be pronounced false. I would like to say they were sowing the seed of civilization and cultivating it successfully in the untutored mind of the poor red man, but truth forbids. I would at least be glad that they urged upon the Indians to obey the laws of this government and respect the property of itscitizens, but must leave that task to some one who has never bought of them horse meat for beef, and traveled for days on foot, because they would not, from pure deviltry, sell him one horse out of a band of two or three hundred. I say not these things with any reference to the Catholic Church or its belief, nor am I forgetful of what I have read of the Jesuits of St. Bernard and their acts of humanity; but for the filthy, worthless, superannuated relics of Italian ignorance, who have posted themselves midway between the extremes of Pacific and Atlantic civilization, acknowledging no law save that of their church, I have not the slightest particle of respect, and believe with an old packer, ‘that it was a great pity General Wright had not carried his threat into execution, and blown the den over the range.’”[21]

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