Dr. McLoughlin's Religion.
When an infant, Dr. McLoughlin was baptized in the Roman Catholic Church. His father and mother were of that church. While living with the family of his maternal grandfather, he probably was brought up in the English Established Church, of which he became a member. Prior to 1841 or 1842, it was his custom, at Fort Vancouver, to read the service of that church on Sundays to the congregation of officers and employées who attended. Dr. McLoughlin was a broad man in every way. He recognized the good in all Christian sects and denominations. He assisted the Methodist, Presbyterian and Congregational missionaries. Had he been a member of those churches, he could hardly have done more for them than he did. While still a Protestant, he also assisted the Roman Catholic missionaries, from their first coming to Oregon, in 1838, as he had the Protestant. He never tried to change the forms of religion of his employées and servants of the Company. He encouraged them in their devotion to the religions of their choice.
Archbishop Francis Norbert Blanchet in his "Historical Sketches of the Catholic Church in Oregon," says (page 68): "It is but just to make special mention of the important services which Dr. John McLoughlin—though not a Catholic—has rendered to the French Canadians and their families, during the fourteen years he was governor of Fort Vancouver. He it was who read to them the prayers on Sunday. Besides the English school kept for the children of the Bourgeois, hehad a separate one maintained at his own expense, in which prayers and the catechism were taught in French to the Catholic women and children on Sundays and week days, by his orders. He also encouraged the chant of the canticles, in which he was assisted by his wife and daughter, who took much pleasure in this exercise. He visited and examined his school once a week.... He it was who saved the Catholics of the Fort and their children from the dangers of perversion, and who, finding the log church the Canadians had built, a few miles below Fairfield, in 1836, not properly located, ordered it to be removed, and rebuilt on a large prairie, its present beautiful site."
Dr. McLoughlin was given charge of a girl by her dying father, who was a Protestant. Dr. McLoughlin would not send her to a Roman Catholic school. He respected the religious faith of the girl's father.[30]There is some question as to whether Dr. McLoughlin became a Roman Catholic in the year 1841 or 1842. In one of those years, Dr. McLoughlin read "The End of Controversy," written by Dr. Milner, and was converted by this book to the Roman Catholic faith and joined that church. He made his abjuration and profession of faith and took his first communion at Fort Vancouver in 1841 or 1842. Joining the Roman Catholic Church by Dr. McLoughlin was most impolitic, at this time, particularly on account of his land claim. But he was not a man to consider policy when there was something to bedone, which he thought right, just, or proper. Otherwise, he would not have assisted the missionaries nor helped the immigrants. Joining the Roman Catholic Church only added to the opposition to Dr. McLoughlin. He was then a British subject. At that time there was great prejudice by many Americans against Great Britain as the supposed hereditary enemy of the United States. The long discussion of the Oregon Question; the election of Polk as President in 1844, largely on the popular cry of "54-40 or fight," greatly intensified this feeling. There was also great popular prejudice among many of the Protestants of the United States against the Roman Catholic Church, which had been handed down from the time of the settlement of New England and the Cromwellian revolution in England. Locally, in Oregon, a partial success of the Roman Catholic missionaries with the Indians, where the Protestants had failed, probably intensified this feeling.
In these early immigrations were many women, most of whom were wives and mothers. There were also numerous children of all ages. There were a few births on the way. When these mothers saw their children, along the Columbia River, in peril, many sick and almost famishing; when they heard their children cry for food and clothing, which these mothers could not supply; and when these perils were removed, and these necessaries were furnished by Dr. McLoughlin, and their sick children were restored to health under his orders and directions; do you think these Protestant American mothers considered it importantthat Dr. John McLoughlin was a Roman Catholic and a British subject? Or that they were not grateful?
Dr. McLoughlin's Land Claim.
I shall now take up the matter of Dr. McLoughlin's land claim at Oregon City. Many writers and speakers have spoken of his land claim being taken from him, in a loose way, as "unjust treatment," or as "robbery." I shall briefly state the facts, as I have found them. The early pioneers know these facts. They should be known by everyone in justice to Dr. McLoughlin and to his memory.
Prior to the Donation Land Law, there were no lawful titles to lands in Oregon, except lands given to Missions by the law establishing the Territory of Oregon. The Donation Land Law was passed by Congress, and was approved by the President September 27, 1850. Prior to the organization, in 1843, of the Oregon Provisional Government, the only law, or rule of law, in Oregon was the Golden Rule, or rather a consensus of public opinion among the few settlers in Oregon. When a person settled on a piece of land and improved it, or declared his intention to claim it, all other settlers respected his possessory rights. Each settler thought that on the settlement of the boundary line between the United States and Great Britain, his land claim would be recognized and protected, which he had thus claimed while there was joint-occupancy under the Conventions of 1818 and 1827.
It was in 1829 that Etienne Lucier, one of the Hudson's Bay Company's servants, of whom I have spoken, settled in the Willamette Valley at French Prairie, now in Marion County. Other servants of the Hudson's Bay Company, as their terms of service expired, and a few Americans, had settled at or near French Prairie prior to 1834, so that when the first missionaries came, there was a thriving, although small, settlement near where Jason and Daniel Lee established their first mission in 1834. This mission had no title to the land where the Mission was established, yet its rights were recognized and respected.
In 1829 Dr. McLoughlin for himself took possession of the land and water power at the falls of the Willamette River on the east side of the river at and near what is now Oregon City. In his land claim was the valuable, but small, island containing about four or five acres of available area in low water, and two or three acres in ordinary high water. It was separated from the east bank by a part of the river, in summer not more than forty feet wide; it was situated near the crest of the falls. Its location made it valuable for convenient use of water power. This island was afterwards known as "Governor's Island," but was called "Abernethy Island" in the Donation Land Law, and is now known by the latter name. This island is now owned by the Portland General Electric Company. It lies partly in the "Basin" at Oregon City. On it is now erected a large wooden building called, by that Company, "Station A." As I have said, in 1825 the Hudson's Bay Company knew thatEngland did not intend to claim any part of the Oregon Country south of the Columbia River, so it did not want for itself any permanent or valuable improvements in the Willamette Valley.
In 1829 Dr. McLoughlin began the erection of a sawmill at the falls. He caused three houses to be erected and some timbers to be squared for a mill. This work continued until May, 1830. In 1829 the Indians there burned these squared timbers. In 1832 he had a mill-race blasted out of the rocks from the head of the island. It has been asserted that these improvements were made for the Hudson's Bay Company, but were discontinued by it because it did not wish to erect valuable improvements there. But in the McLoughlin Document he says: "I had selected for a claim, Oregon City, in 1829, made improvements on it, and had a large quantity of timber squared." Who ever knew or heard of Dr. McLoughlin telling a lie? That he was a man of the highest honor and truthfulness is established beyond all doubt. This claim was taken by him in the same year that Lucier settled in the Willamette Valley. It is evident that Dr. McLoughlin took this claim, for his old age and for the benefit of himself and children.[31]From about 1838 until the passage of the Donation Land Law in 1850, he openly and continuously asserted his right to his land claim, including Abernethy Island. No adverse claim was made until about July, 1840, less than sixty days after the arrival of the ship Lausanne, when certain members of the Methodist Mission began to plan to take theselands and rights from Dr. McLoughlin, and in the end succeeded, but only partially for themselves. Dr. McLoughlin's right to his land claim was as good as that of any other person in Oregon to his own land claim. April 1, 1843, Dr. Elijah White, who came to Oregon in 1837, as a Methodist missionary, but was then United States Sub-Agent of Indian Affairs, in an official report to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, at Washington, D. C., said of the Shortess petition, to which I shall presently refer: "A petition started from this country today, making bitter complaints against the Hudson's Bay Company and Governor McLoughlin. On reference to it (a copy was denied) I shall only say, had any gentleman disconnected with the Hudson's Bay Company been at half the pains and expense to establish a claim on the Wallamet Falls, very few would have raised any opposition."[32]Under the joint-occupancy every British subject had the same or equal rights in the Oregon Country that a citizen of the United States had.
December 18, 1839, Senator Linn introduced a series of resolutions in the United States Senate, which were referred to a select Committee. March 31, 1840, this Committee reported a substitute. The chief feature was a provision for grantingto each male inhabitantof Oregon, over eighteen years of age, one thousand acres of land. December 16, 1841, Senator Linn introduced his famous bill thereafter known as the "Linn Bill," which granted six hundred and forty acres of land to everywhite male inhabitantof Oregon, of eighteenyears or over, who should cultivate the same for five years. This bill was favorably reported back to the Senate and subsequently passed the Senate, but failed in the House. The Oregon Donation Land Law was largely based on this bill. In neither the Linn resolution nor in the Linn bill was any difference made between American citizens and British subjects, or other aliens as to the right to take land. The Oregon Donation Land Law of September 27, 1850, applied to every white settler (including aliens) over eighteen years of age then a resident of Oregon, or who should become such a resident prior to December 1, 1850, except Dr. McLoughlin. In case of an alien he must either have made his declaration, according to law, to become a citizen of the United States prior to the passage of the Donation Land Law or do so prior to December 1, 1851. The Linn bill was largely instrumental in causing the early immigrations to Oregon. It was felt by these immigrants that it, or a similar law, was bound to pass Congress. The Oregon Donation Land Law was such a law. Dr. McLoughlin believed that such a bill was bound to become a law.
The Methodist Mission, as a mission, did not, officially, attempt to deprive Dr. McLoughlin of any of his land. There were some of the missionaries who opposed any such action. But others of them saw that if the Mission obtained any of Dr. McLoughlin's land claim, it would belong to the Mission or to the Church, so they readily proceeded, as individuals, for their own private gain. In 1840, shortly after the arrival of the Lausanne,Rev. Jason Lee, as Superintendent of the Methodist Mission, appointed Rev. A. F. Waller to labor for the Indians at Willamette Falls and vicinity. The Mission took up a claim of six hundred and forty acres north of Dr. McLoughlin's claim. The Mission's religious work was done by Waller on this claim, where Gladstone Park is now situated, and also at a point on the west bank of the Willamette River opposite Oregon City. At both of these places there were a number of Indians.[33]In the summer of 1840 Waller was sent to establish this Mission. Dr. McLoughlin generously assisted the undertaking. He gave the Mission a piece of land in his claim on which to erect a mission-house; and, at the request of Rev. Jason Lee, the Superintendent of the Mission, Dr. McLoughlin loaned it some of the timbers, which he had caused to be squared, to build the mission-house. Timbers to take the place of those so loaned were never furnished to Dr. McLoughlin, nor were the timbers ever paid for.[34]It was soon reported to Dr. McLoughlin that the Methodist Mission would try to take or to jump his claim. He at once (July 21, 1840) notified Jason Lee, Superintendent of the Mission, of the facts: That Dr. McLoughlin had taken possession of this land claim in 1829, and also of his intention to hold this land as a private claim. He gave Lee the general description of the land so claimed by Dr. McLoughlin, viz: "From the upper end of the falls across to the Clackamas river, and down where the Clackamasfalls into the Willamette, including the whole point of land, and the small island in the falls on which the portage was made." This is the island later known as "Governor's" or "Abernethy" Island. After giving the notice mentioned, Dr. McLoughlin concluded his letter with these words: "This is not to prevent your building the store, as my object is merely to establish my claim." A satisfactory answer was returned and Waller proceeded in the erection of the mission-house, which was divided into two apartments, one of which served as a dwelling, and the other as a storeroom for the goods of the Mission.[35]
In 1841 Felix Hathaway, in the employment of the Mission, began to build a house on the island, at which Dr. McLoughlin remonstrated with Waller, but the latter assured Dr. McLoughlin that no wrong was intended and Hathaway stopped his building operations. Matters ran smoothly until the autumn of 1842. By this time Dr. McLoughlin had again made improvements on his claim, having it surveyed and part of it laid off in town lots and blocks, which he named Oregon City. Some of these lots and blocks he gave away, some he sold. I cannot go into all the evasive actions of Waller and the false statements and claims made by him, and by John Ricord, his attorney, in relation to Waller's supposed rights to Dr. McLoughlin's land claim. Waller employed Ricord as an attorney and asserted his ownership of all the McLoughlin land claim, except Abernethy Island,to which the Oregon Milling Company laid claim. A public proclamation signed by Ricord as attorney for Waller, although dated December 20, 1843, was publicly posted at Oregon City early in 1844. It set forth the alleged illegality of Dr. McLoughlin's claim and the imaginary rights of Waller.[36]Whatever possession Waller had of any part of this land was due to the kind permission of Dr. McLoughlin. Waller attempted to turn this kindness into a question of right to the whole land claim, excepting Abernethy Island. An agreement or settlement, dated April 4, 1844, was executed by Rev. A. F. Waller, Rev. David Leslie, acting Superintendent of the Methodist Mission, and by Dr. McLoughlin. Under this agreement Dr. McLoughlin was compelled to pay Waller five hundred dollars and to convey to Waller eight lots and three blocks in Oregon City, and also to convey to the Methodist Mission six lots and one block in Oregon City. What right the Mission had to insist on the conveyance to it of this land has never been explained—Waller, in said agreement or settlement, surrendering and forever abandoning to Dr. McLoughlin "all claims, rights, and pretensions whatsoever" which Waller had to the land claim of Dr. McLoughlin, which is described in said agreement as "a tract of land situated at the falls of the Wallamette River on the east side of said River, containing six hundred and forty acres, and surveyed by Jesse Applegate in the month of December, A. D. 1843." This survey included Abernethy Island. There were not thenany courts in Oregon to which Dr. McLoughlin could apply for relief, as he had not then joined the Provisional Government. It was probably better and cheaper for him to submit to this unfair agreement, otherwise he would have been compelled to allow Waller to take the land or to have ousted him by force.[37]
July 15, 1844, about three months after this settlement, Rev. George Gary, who was then closing the Methodist Mission in Oregon and disposing of its property, in a letter to Dr. McLoughlin offered to sell back these lots and block given to the Mission by Dr. McLoughlin, with the improvements thereon, excluding the two lots given by Dr. McLoughlin in 1840 on which the Methodist Church was built. Gary valued the lots to be sold at two thousand, two hundred dollars, and the improvements thereon at three thousand, eight hundred dollars. Gary made the conditions that the possession of a warehouse should be reserved until June, 1845, and the house occupied by George Abernethy until August, 1845. Gary made some other reservations and wrote that there must be an answer in a day or two. Dr. McLoughlin considered this offer extortionate. He wrote an answer to Gary calling attention to the fact that he had so recently given the lots to the Mission, that it would be the fairest way for Gary to give Dr. McLoughlin back the lots, since the Mission had no longer any use for them, and let him pay for the improvements; that one of the houses was built with lumber borrowed from him and hadnot been paid for. He suggested that the matter be referred to the Missionary Board. But Gary rejected every proposal. Dr. McLoughlin was compelled to yield and agreed to pay the six thousand dollars demanded by Gary.[38]Notwithstanding the fact that this agreement executed by Waller and Leslie, dated April 4, 1844, was made as a final settlement of the matter, the conspirators determined to deprive Dr. McLoughlin of his land claim, even if they did not profit by it. They succeeded by means of the Oregon Donation Law, as I shall presently show. These conspirators had previously arranged to take or "jump" Abernethy Island.
Rev. Dr. H. K. Hines was too honorable a man to justify these proceedings. As he came to Oregon in 1853, it appears that he did not know all the facts, but such as he knew, even from Methodist missionary sources, did not commend Waller's actions to Hines in regard to Dr. McLoughlin and his land claim. In hisMissionary History, pages 353-355, Dr. Hines says: "At Oregon City the Mission as such deemed it wisest not to file any claim as against that of Dr. McLoughlin, Chief Factor of the Hudson's Bay Company at Vancouver, who had made some movements toward the occupation of that valuable property before the Mission was established. Perhaps all in the country at that time, Mr. Lee included, did not consider the claim of Dr. McLoughlin as a Britishsubject and the head of a great British corporation, such a claim as would be recognized in law when the government of the United States should extend its jurisdiction over the country, which they believed it was sure to do in a short time.... The mission work at this general point was mostly done on thewest sideof the river at The Falls, and at the villages on the Clackamas where 'Gladstone Park' is now situated, and where the Mission had a farm, and a claim of a square mile of land. This stood in exactly the same relation to the Board as did the claim at The Dalles and at Salem.
"It is proper that we say here that much controversy arose at Oregon City through the fact that Rev. A. F. Waller filed a claim in his own behalf on the land to which Dr. McLoughlin was also laying claim, on the ground that the latter, being a British subject, could not obtain title under the land laws of the United States. With this the Mission, as such, had no connection whatever, and hence this history does not deal with the question." Nevertheless, joint-occupancy, Senator Linn's resolution and bill, the Donation Land Law, subsequently passed, natural justice and right, and common decency should have been recognized as giving Dr. McLoughlin full right to his land claim from the beginning.
At least three of the Methodist missionaries and those connected with the Methodist Mission were not citizens of the United States at any time prior to the passage of the Donation Land Law in 1850. Rev. Jason Lee was a native of Canada and died in Canada. He did not become a citizen of theUnited States. His allegiance was always that of a British subject. Jason Lee was of English descent. His parents were born in the United States but settled at Stanstead, Canada, and made it their home several years prior to his birth. He was born at Stanstead in 1803 and that was his home until 1834, when he came to Oregon. For a number of years he worked in the pineries in the north of Canada. In 1826 he was "converted" and joined the Wesleyan Church of Canada. In 1827 he entered the Wesleyan Academy at Wilbraham, Massachusetts. After attending that Academy for a time, he returned to his home at Stanstead, where he stayed for several years, first teaching school and afterwards becoming a preacher of the Wesleyan Church of Canada. For several years he had desired to be a missionary among the Indians and in 1832 or 1833 offered his services as a missionary to the Indians of Canada to the Wesleyan Missionary Society of London. In 1833, while waiting a reply to his application, he was offered the appointment by the New England Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church of "Missionary to the Flathead Indians," and was admitted as a member of the latter Conference. In the spring of 1834 he started for Oregon, which, during the rest of his life, was jointly occupied by citizens of the United States and subjects of Great Britain under the Conventions between these countries. The political status of a resident of Oregon then remained as it was when he arrived in Oregon. It could not be changed there during joint-occupancy. He died at Lake Memphremagogin Canada, March 2, 1845. His body was buried at Stanstead. These facts I have obtained mostly from Dr. Hines'Missionary History of the Pacific Northwest, and I have verified them from other reliable sources.
Rev. Daniel Lee was also born in Canada. Up to the time of his return to the Eastern States in 1843, he had not become a citizen of the United States. As the rest of his life was spent as a Methodist minister in the United States, he probably became a citizen of the latter country. Rev. Daniel Lee, I believe, took no part in, nor did he encourage, or sympathize with any action against Dr. McLoughlin.
Joseph Holman (not a relative of mine) was born in England, August 20, 1815. In 1833 he went to Canada where he lived for several years. About 1836 or 1837 he went to Ohio and later went to Illinois. In 1839 he started for Oregon. He arrived at Fort Vancouver June 1, 1840, the same day the Lausanne arrived there. In 1840 or 1841 he became connected with the Methodist Mission. Shortly after his arrival he took up a land claim a mile square near the present city of Salem. A person could not become a citizen of the United States until he had resided therein for at least five years. So he could not become such a citizen in the East for he had not resided in the United States more than three years when he started for Oregon in 1839. It was in Oregon, after the United States Courts were established in 1849, that Joseph Holman first made application to become a citizen of the United States and became one. As Jason Leeand Daniel Lee took up the land on which the Methodist Mission was situated and they were British subjects, their rights as land claimants were the same as those of Dr. McLoughlin. The Mission, as such, had no legal status to acquire land prior to the Act of 1848 organizing Oregon Territory. The land claim of Joseph Holman had the same status as that of Dr. McLoughlin—just as good, but no better.
Abernethy Island.
I have spoken of this settlement with Waller, in 1844, in order to treat separately of the taking of Abernethy Island from Dr. McLoughlin. The land controlling the water-power on the west side of the falls of the Willamette River was not taken nor claimed by any one until after the year 1841. It is on the west side where the water-power of the falls is now mostly used. It could have been had for the taking at the time Abernethy Island was "jumped." Dr. McLoughlin's land claim was on the east side of the river. As I have said, Felix Hathaway, in the employment of the Mission, in 1841 began to build a house on Abernethy Island, but after Dr. McLoughlin's remonstrance to Waller, the building operations on the island ceased at that time. Dr. McLoughlin erected a small house on the island. In 1841 the Oregon Milling Company was formed. Almost all of its members belonged to the Methodist Mission. Hathaway conveyed all his right and title to the island to the Oregon Milling Company, a part of the consideration to be paid by a Committee of the OregonMilling Company in behalf of that Company. Rev. A. F. Waller is the one first named, of the Committee, in the deed. This deed is recorded at page 52 of Book 2, Record of Deeds of Clackamas County. This record shows the date of the deed as November 23, 1852. This is evidently an error of the copyist, as to the year. It doubtless was 1842, for Hathaway, by the deed, conveyed all his "right and title to the island on which said Companyare now constructing mills," etc. This is a very religious deed. Hathaway in this conveyance covenanted to warrant and defend the island against all persons "(the Lord excepted)."
Among the cargo of the Lausanne, which all belonged to the Methodist Mission, was machinery for flour-mills and for saw-mills. The Methodist Mission established both a saw-mill and a grist-mill, run by water-power, near Chemekete (now Salem). These were in operation in 1841. These mills were much nearer the Willamette settlements than Oregon City was. In the Fall of 1842 the Oregon Milling Company had erected a saw-mill on the island, intending to follow it with the erection of a flour-mill. It will be noted that there were then no courts in Oregon, for the Provisional Government was not organized until 1843. Dr. McLoughlin and the Hudson's Bay Company were not under the jurisdiction of the Provisional Government until 1845. In the fall of 1842 Dr. McLoughlin became satisfied that it was the intention of some of the Methodist missionaries to take his land and to deprive him of his water rights. To save his interests he forthwith built asaw-mill on the river bank near the island, and gave notice that he would erect a flour-mill in a short time.
The Shortess Petition.
The enemies of Dr. McLoughlin then determined to send a petition to Congress. It is said that this petition was drawn by George Abernethy, who then, as steward of the Mission, kept its store at Oregon City, and had charge of all its secular affairs, but that Abernethy was unwilling to have it known that he was connected with the petition, so it was copied by a clerk, named Albert E. Wilson. Abernethy wished to appear friendly to Dr. McLoughlin; to act otherwise might hurt the Mission and Abernethy in his business.[39]The first signature to this petition was that of Robert Shortess, who arrived in the Willamette Valley in April, 1840. He joined the Methodist Church about 1841. He was then intense in his dislike of the Hudson's Bay Company and its officers. From the fact that he was the first signer, this petition is known as the "Shortess petition." It was signed by sixty-five persons. Of these about one-third were immigrants of 1842, who had been in the country less than six months. This petition is addressed to Congress. It is dated March 25, 1843. It begins with a short statement that the petitioners have no laws to govern them. That "where the highest court of appeal is the rifle, safety in life and property cannot be depended on." Until thesepeople attempted unfairly to take Dr. McLoughlin's land, the Golden Rule had prevailed and the appeal to the rifle was always "conspicuous by its absence." This petition then calls attention to the domination of the Hudson's Bay Company, and its successful opposition to Bonneville and Wyeth, and that that Company formerly would not sell cattle, and its opposition to the loan of cows and the return of the increase, which is true; and that in case of the death of a cow, the settler had to pay—which is false.
This petition further sets forth that in 1842 the settlers formed a company for supplying lumber and flour. That they selected an island at the falls of the Willamette. That after commencing they were informed by Dr. McLoughlin that the land was his. This is true, as to the company and the information by Dr. McLoughlin, but false, by indirection, in this, that they knew the island for years had been claimed by him as his property. The petition proceeds, "However, he erected a shed on the island, after the stuff was on the island to build a house, and then gave them permission to build under certain restrictions. They took the paper he wrote them containing his conditions, but did not obligate themselves to comply with the conditions, as they did not think his claim just or reasonable." In the latter statement the members of the Oregon Milling Company, who signed the petition, stated an estoppel to themselves. They could not enter into possession under conditions and then refuse to abide by them. This was pleading themselves out of Court, not to mention their admitted breach of faith.
This petition then mentions the erection of the saw-mill by the Oregon Milling Company and complains of the erection of a mill by Dr. McLoughlin, and says that he can manufacture lumber cheaper than the Milling Company can. Nevertheless, the Oregon Milling Company succeeded. This petition then goes into puerility about the measurement of wheat by the Hudson's Bay Company, which Dr. White in his report, dated April 1, 1843, to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and hereinbefore referred to, says is untrue, for he knows the measure to be exact. This petition does not state (which is true) that when Dr. McLoughlin found that wheat weighed more than sixty pounds to the bushel, he raised the price paid to settlers, correspondingly. This petition sets forth, however, that Dr. McLoughlin had surveyed his claim, platted it, and called it Oregon City; and that he had given a notice dated January 18, 1843, requiring all persons claiming lots on his land, before February 1, 1843, to apply for a deed, or a bond for a deed, as the case might be, which he would give. Dr. McLoughlin required a payment of five dollars to his attorney for making the deed or bond. As these people were all trespassers, it would seem that this action of Dr. McLoughlin was a very generous one.
There is a very significant phrase in the Shortess petition, which indicates that the conspiracy to deprive Dr. McLoughlin of his land claim had its inception before that time. In this petition, after saying that Dr. McLoughlin did not own his Oregon City land claim, it is said "and which we hopehe never will own." This phrase is omitted in the copy of the Shortess petition in Gray'sHistory of Oregonand in Brown'sPolitical History of Oregon.[40]This phrase is referred to in Thurston's speech of December 26, 1850, as justifying his actions in giving Dr. McLoughlin's land claim to Oregon for an university.[41]I shall not discuss some of the allegations of this petition, as they are trivial and unimportant. This petition was given to W. C. Sutton to be taken to Washington. Dr. McLoughlin applied to Shortess for a copy of this petition, but the request was refused.
Land Laws of the Provisional Government.
As I have stated, in July, 1843, the Provisional Government went into effect. Its land laws were purposely framed against Dr. McLoughlin's claim, and in favor of the Methodist Mission. These land laws allowed any person, without regard to citizenship, who was then holding or wished to establish a land claim in Oregon, not exceeding 640 acres, "in a square or oblong form, according to the natural situation of the premises," to have such land claim. Those in possession were allowed one year in which to file a description of the claim in the Recorder's office. Dr. McLoughlin filed his description in 1843. The survey was made by Jesse Applegate in 1843. The record is now in the office of the Secretary of State at Salem, Oregon. In having this survey made Dr. McLoughlinhad it extend only about half way from the falls to the Clackamas River and so as to include not more than six hundred and forty acres. He abandoned that part of his original claim extending between his new north line and the Clackamas River.
Article 4 of these land laws of 1843 was the one intended to deprive Dr. McLoughlin of his claim. It was as follows: "Art. 4. No person shall be entitled to hold such a claim upon city or town sites, extensive water privileges, or other situations necessary for the transaction of mercantile or manufacturing operations, to the detriment of the community:Provided, that nothing in these laws shall be so construed as to effectany claim of any missionof a religious character, made previous to this time, of an extent of not more thansix miles square." This land law was amended in July, 1845. The only material change, so far as is necessary for the purposes of this monograph, was that said Section 4 of the land laws of 1843 was repealed. It was after the repeal of the objectionable and unfair Section 4 of the land laws of 1843 that Dr. McLoughlin for himself and the Hudson's Bay Company joined the Provisional Government.
Dr. McLoughlin's Naturalization.
After Dr. McLoughlin sent his resignation to the Hudson's Bay Company, in 1845, he determined to become a citizen of the United States. In 1845 he consulted with Peter H. Burnett, then Chief-Justice of the Provisional Government, and with Jesse Applegate, about taking the oath of allegianceto the United States, and taking out his first naturalization papers, but Burnett had no authority from the United States, or other jurisdiction, to administer such an oath (or to issue such papers) and so advised Dr. McLoughlin. Although this matter was well known in Oregon, it gave Dr. McLoughlin's enemies a chance to say that he was a British subject, and had not taken the oath of allegiance to the United States, nor applied to become a citizen of the United States. August 14, 1848, the bill establishing the Territory of Oregon became a law. March 2, 1849, General Joseph Lane, the first Territorial Governor of Oregon, arrived at Oregon City. March 3, 1849, he issued his proclamation assuming charge as governor. Soon after the Territory of Oregon was organized and courts of the United States established. The assignment of Judges to their respective districts was made May 13, 1849. May 30, 1849, Dr. McLoughlin took the oath and made his declaration to become a citizen of the United States, as required by the naturalization law. So he acted with promptness. This was well known in Oregon at the time. Dr. McLoughlin voted at Oregon City at the first general election held in June, 1849, but he did not vote for Thurston as delegate to Congress, which Thurston knew. Under the act of Congress, organizing Oregon as a territory, all aliens who had declared, on oath, their intentions to become citizens of the United States, and taken an oath to support the Constitution of the United States and the provisions of the act establishing the Territorial Government of Oregon, were entitled to vote at the first election.Dr. McLoughlin became a citizen of the United States, at Oregon City, September 5, 1851. The naturalization law then allowed an alien to become a citizen of the United States two years after taking the oath and making his declaration, if he had lived in the United States for five years. His witnesses were A. L. Lovejoy, A. A. Skinner, and Theodore Magruder. His admission to citizenship was based on his said oath and declaration of May 30, 1849.
Conspiracy against Dr. McLoughlin.
It was in 1849 that the conspiracy against Dr. McLoughlin and his land claim began to become effective. In 1846 Governor Abernethy became the sole owner of the Oregon Milling Company and its property on Abernethy Island, Abernethy and his son claiming to own the island, which was then known as "Governor's Island," in supposed compliment to Governor Abernethy. W. P. Bryant, the first Territorial Chief-Justice of Oregon, arrived in Oregon April 9, 1849. May 29, 1849, fifty days after his arrival he purchased all said interests of Gov. Abernethy and son. Bryant gave his promissory notes to Gov. Abernethy, aggregating $30,000 in principal, as part consideration for the purchase. Bryant also bought from Gov. Abernethy, on time, wheat, flour, and staves for about $2500 and a quantity of lumber and logs, the value of which I am unable to give. Bryant's judicial district included Oregon City.[42]
In June, 1849, Samuel R. Thurston was electedTerritorial Delegate to Congress from Oregon. He arrived in Oregon in the fall of 1847. He was shrewd enough to obtain the support of the Mission Party. He skillfully made his canvass largely against the Hudson's Bay Company. Having the support of the Mission Party, and many of the voters being then in the California mines, Thurston was elected. The vote was as follows: Thurston, 470; Columbus Lancaster, 321; J. W. Nesmith, 106; Joseph L. Meek, 40; and J. S. Griffin, 8. The most important measure for Oregon was the passage of a land law, for no person had or could then obtain a legal title to land. It was all owned by the United States except the small portions granted to the Missions. Thurston used his best endeavors to obtain the passage of such a bill. But he was anxious for re-election and to ingratiate himself with the Mission Party and the conspirators against Dr. McLoughlin.
Thurston's Letter to Congress.
Thurston prepared the way, by a letter addressed to the members of the House of Representatives, for introducing into the land bill a section depriving Dr. McLoughlin of his Oregon City claim. This letter contains many false statements. This section is section eleven of the Donation Land Law, which was passed without opposition. To this section I shall presently refer.
This letter to the members of the House of Representatives was issued by Thurston at Washington, D. C., in the month of May or the early part of June, 1850. Said letter was published in fullin theOregon Spectatorof September 12, 1850. Nothing was known in Oregon or California of this letter until late in August or early in September, 1850. As this letter is quite long and relates mostly to the general features of the Oregon Donation Land Bill and the necessity of its passage, I have omitted all that part of the letter excepting Thurston's discussion of the eleventh section of that bill, which contains all that part of the letter referring to Dr. McLoughlin and his land claim. In that part of his letter Thurston said:
"I will next call your attention to the eleventh section of the bill, reserving the town site of Oregon City, known as the 'Oregon City Claim.' The capital of our Territory is located here (Oregon City) and here is the county seat of Clackamas County. It is unquestionably the finest water power in the known world; and as it is now, so will remain, the great inland business point for the Territory. This claim has been wrongfully wrested by Dr. McLoughlin from American citizens. The Methodist Mission first took the claim, with the view of establishing here their mills and Mission. They were forced to leave it under the fear of having the savages of Oregon let loose upon them; and, successively, a number of citizens of our Country have been driven from it, while Dr. McLoughlin was yet at the head of the Hudson's Bay Company, west of the Rocky Mountains. Having at his command the Indians of the country, he has held it by violence and dint of threats up to this time. He had sold lots up to the 4th of March, 1849, worth $200,000. He also has upon it a flouring mill,graineries, two double sawmills, a large number of houses, stores, and other buildings, to which he may be entitled by virtue of his possessory rights, under the treaty of 1846. For only a part of these improvements which he may thus hold, he has been urged during the past year to take $250,000. He will already have made a half million out of that claim. He is still an Englishman, still connected in interest with the Hudson's Bay Company, and still refuses to file his intentions to become an American citizen, and assigns as a reason to the Supreme Judge of the Territory, that he cannot do it without prejudicing his standing in England. Last summer, he informed the writer of this, that whatever was made out of this claim was to go into the common fund of the Hudson's Bay Company, of which he and other stockholders would share in proportion to their stock; in other words, that he was holding the claim for the benefit of the Company. Now, the bill proposes to reserve this claim; subject to whatever right he may have to it, or any part of it, by virtue of the treaty; and confirms the title of all lots sold or donated by him previous to March 4th, 1849. This is designed to prevent litigation. That day is fixed on, because, on that day, in Oregon City, Governor Lane took possession of the Territory, declaring the laws of the United States in force, and apprising Dr. McLoughlin and all others, that no one had a right to sell or meddle with the Government lands. Dr. McLoughlin ought to have been made to pay back the $200,000, but not wishing to create any litigation, the committee concluded to quiet the wholematter by confirming the lots. Having in this way made $200,000, and his possessory rights, if it shall turn out that he lawfully acquired any, being worth $200,000 more, the people of Oregon think our bounty is sufficient to this man, who has worked diligently to break down the settlements ever since they commenced; and they ask you to save their capital, their county seat, and the balance of that noble water power from the grasp of this British propagandist, and bestow it on the young American generation in Oregon, in the shape of education, upon which you and the whole Country are to rely and to defend and protect the western outposts of this glorious Union. The children of my Country are looking up to you with countenances flashing eloquence, clamoring to be educated, and asking you, in simple but feeling language, where your charity begins. They call you 'fathers,' and ask you whether you will put the moral weapons of defence in your children's hands in the shape of education, or whether you will deny it to them, and put means into the hands of him who will turn and rend both you and them. They do not doubt your decision, nor do I.
"When the Methodist Missionaries were driven from this claim, they went on the island in the middle of the river, and constructed mills and made other improvements. This island is known as the Abernethy Island, and is of no value, except for the improvements upon it. It consists of about two acres of barren rock. This island was subsequently sold to George Abernethy, and the bill ought to confirm the same to Abernethy or his assigns.—Thisis a simple act of justice to American citizens, who now have their mills and property staked on those rocks, and which, for a long time, stood the only mills in the valley, where an American could get any grain ground for toll. They are now, with the exception of Dr. McLoughlin's mills, nearly the only mills in the whole country left standing by the late freshet, and they have been very materially injured. They must be repaired at vast expense, and if they are not, Dr. McLoughlin will hold, as he has heretofore held, the bread of the people of the Territory in his own fist. Your brethren ask you to confirm their title to those rocks, that their property may stand there in safety. They doubt not your decision. Hence there should be an amendment in the bill to this effect."
It is not true, as asserted by Thurston, that the Methodist Mission first took the "Oregon City claim." It was first taken by Dr. McLoughlin, as I have shown. If the Methodist Mission ever took, or had any interest in this land claim, it was through a secret agreement or understanding with Waller, or with the Oregon Milling Company, excepting only the lots given to the Mission by Dr. McLoughlin in 1840 and those secured by the Mission under the Articles of Agreement, dated April 4, 1844.[43]Most of the statements, in the parts of this letter just quoted, Thurston knew were false.
Thurston also succeeded in having a proviso added to the fourth section of the bill, skillfullyworded, which forbade anyone claiming under the Donation Land Law to claim both under that law and under the treaty of 1846, that treaty providing that possessory rights of British subjects should be respected. As Dr. McLoughlin had declared, in 1849, his intentions to become a citizen and renounced his allegiance to Great Britain, he probably was no longer qualified to claim under the treaty. But even if he could have claimed under the treaty of 1846, as a British subject, that would not have given him a right to obtain title to his land claim under that treaty. It was afterwards held by the Supreme Court of Oregon, in the case of Cowenia v. Hannah, 3 Oregon, 465, and by Judge M. P. Deady, sitting as United States Circuit Judge, in the case of Town v. De Haven, 5 Sawyer, 146, that the stipulation in the treaty of 1846 that the United States would respect the possessory rights of British subjects, was merely a recognition of such possessory rights and conferred no right to, or in the land, and that no means were provided by the Donation Land Law, or otherwise, to obtain title or a patent, but a British subject might have a claim against the United States for compensation; that a claim to land, under the treaty, was to be excluded from any rights under the Donation Land Law, and a claim to land, under that law, was a surrender of possessory rights under the treaty. Unquestionably the Supreme Court of Oregon and Judge Deady were right in their construction of the law, as they found it, as applicable to the points involved in those cases.
Article III of the Boundary Treaty of 1846 is as follows: "In the future appropriation of the territory south of the forty-ninth parallel of north latitude, as provided in the first article of this treaty, the possessory rights of the Hudson's Bay Company, and of all British subjects who may be already in the occupation of land or other property lawfully acquired within the said territory, shall be respected." Good faith, and to carry out the letter and the spirit of this Article III, should have caused Congress to respect these possessory rights of British subjects, so as to make them effective, and especially as they had acquired these rights under the Conventions for joint-occupancy of the Oregon Country. Means should have been provided in the Donation Land Law by which such British subjects "already in the occupation of land" in Oregon could have acquired the title thereto.
In the debate in the House of Representatives, May 28, 1850, on the bill which became the Oregon Donation Land Law, Thurston said:[44]"This company [Hudson's Bay Company] has been warring against our government for these forty years. Dr. McLoughlin has been their chief fugleman, first to cheat our government out of the whole country, and next to prevent its settlement. He has driven men from claims and from the country, to stifle the efforts at settlement. In 1845, he sent an express to Fort Hall, 800 miles, to warn the American emigrants that if they attempted to cometo Willamette they would all be cut off; they went, and none were cut off. How, sir, would you reward Benedict Arnold, were he living? He fought the battles of the country, yet by one act of treason forfeited the respect of that country. A bill for his relief would fail, I am sure; yet this bill proposes to reward those who are now, have been, and ever will be, more hostile to our country—more dangerous, because more hidden, more jesuitical. I can refer you to the Supreme Judge of our territory, for proof that this Dr. McLoughlin refuses to file his intention to become an American citizen." Judge Bryant was then in Washington, lobbying for the passage of the eleventh section of the Donation Land Law, particularly the part giving Abernethy's Island to the assigns of the Milling Company. I have already shown the falsity of these statements of Thurston in his letter and in this speech, by setting forth the truth in this monograph. The mention by Thurston, in his speech, of Benedict Arnold in comparison with Dr. McLoughlin, was contemptible. It was an insinuation which Thurston should have been ashamed to make.
On September 12, 1850, Dr. McLoughlin published in theOregon Spectatorhis answer to some of the statements, or rather misstatements, in Thurston's speech in Congress, May 28, 1850, and in his letter to the House of Representatives. Dr. McLoughlin there said: "What Mr. Thurston means by 'warring against our government for these forty years,' I know not. I am certain, however, that the H. B. Co. had a right to carry ontrade under the treaty of joint-occupation of the country—even were we to look no farther for another foundation of the right. I am sure, moreover, that the business of the Company was so managed as to bear the strictest scrutiny, and to be in all respects subservient to the best interests of the country, and the duties of religion and humanity.... But I am described as a 'fugleman' of the Hudson's Bay Company; first to cheat our Government out of the whole country, and next to prevent its settlement. I am an old man, and my head is very white with the frost of many winters, but I have never before been accused as a cheat. I was born a British subject—I have had for twenty years the superintendence of the Hudson's Bay Company's trade, in Oregon, and on the North West Coast; and may be said to have been the representative of British interests in this country; but I have never descended to court popularity, by pandering to prejudice, and doing wrong to any one. I have on the other hand, afforded every assistance to all who required it, and which religion and humanity dictated; and this community can say if I did so or not.... But, moreover, it is well known that the fact of my having aided in the settlement of this country has been a subject of serious complaints, and grave charges made against me, by subjects of Her Britannic Majesty, during the pending of the boundary question—who seem to have been imbued with the same kind disposition toward their fellow men as Mr. Thurston.
"Mr. Thurston says, 'In 1845 he [Dr. McLoughlin] sent an express to Fort Hall, eight hundredmiles, to warn the immigration that if they attempted to come to the Willamette, they would be all cut off.' This is a calumny as gratuitous as it is unprovoked; but it is with mingled emotions of astonishment and indignation that I have accidentally become acquainted with the contents of another document, entitled a 'Letter of the Delegate from Oregon to the members of the House of Representatives, in behalf of his constituents, touching the Oregon Land Bill.' On the back of the only copy sent, is written in the handwriting of Mr. Thurston—'Keep this still till next mail, when I shall send them generally. The debate on the California Bill closes next Tuesday, when I hope to get it and passed—my land bill; keep dark till next mail."
"June 9, 1850.Thurston.'"
"... In the letter referred to, speaking of Oregon City, he says, 'The Methodist Mission first took the claim with the view of establishing here their Mills and Mission—they were forced to leave it under the fear of having the savages of Oregon let loose upon them.' This charge is likewise without a fraction of truth, as a few facts will demonstrate.... Mr. Thurston is not ashamed to more than intimate a disposition to 'let loose upon them savages of Oregon.' Mr. Thurston says, 'He has held it by violence and dint of threats up to this time.'—That I have held my claim or any part of it [Dr. McLoughlin's land claim] by violence or threats, no man will assert, and far less will one be found to swear so, who will be believed on his oath, in a court of justice. I have probably no otherenemy than Mr. Thurston, so lost to thesuggestionsof conscience as to make a statement so much at variance with my whole character. He says that I have realized, up to the 4th of March, 1849, $200,000 from the sale of lots; this is also wholly untrue. I have given away lots to the Methodists, Catholics, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, and Baptists. I have given 8 lots to a Roman Catholic Nunnery, 8 lots to the Clackamas Female Protestant Seminary, incorporated by the Oregon Legislature. The Trustees are all Protestants, although it is well known I am a Roman Catholic. In short, in one way and another I have donated to the county, to schools, to churches, and private individuals, more than three hundred town lots, and I never realized in cash $20,000 from all the original sales I have made. He continues, 'He is still an Englishman, still connected with the Hudson's Bay Company, and refuses to file his intentions to become an American citizen.' If I was an Englishman, I know no reason why I should not acknowledge it; but I am a Canadian by birth, and an Irishman by descent. I am neither ashamed of my birth-place or lineage.... I declared my intention to become an American citizen on the 30th May, 1849, as any one may see who will examine the records of the court, in this place. Mr. Thurston knew this fact—he asked me for my vote and influence. Why did he ask me for my vote if I had not one to give? I voted and voted against him, as he well knew, and as he seems well to remember. But he proceeds to refer to Judge Bryant for the truth of his statement, in which he affirmsthat I assigned to Judge Bryant, as a reason why I still refuse to declare my intention to become an American citizen, that I cannot do it without prejudicing my standing in England. I am astonished how the Supreme Judge could have made such a statement! as he had a letter from me pointing out my intention of becoming an American citizen. The cause, which led to my writing this letter, is that the island, called Abernethy's Island by Mr. Thurston, and which he proposes to donate to Mr. Abernethy, his heirs and assigns, is the same island which Mr. Hathaway and others jumped in 1841, and formed themselves into a joint stock company, and erected a saw and grist mill on it, as already stated. From a desire to preserve peace in the country, I deferred bringing the case to trial, till the government extended its jurisdiction over the country; but when it had done so, a few days after the arrival of Judge Bryant and before the courts were organized, Judge Bryant bought the island of George Abernethy, Esq., who had bought the stock of the other associates, and as the Island was in Judge Bryant's district, and as there was only two judges in the Territory, I thought I could not at the time bring the case to a satisfactory decision. I therefore deferred bringing the case forward to a time when the bench would be full.... But Mr. Thurston makes another statement in which there is not more truth. He says, 'Last summer he,' meaning myself, 'informed the writer of this that whatever was made out of the claim was to go to the common fund of the Hudson's Bay Company, of which he and other stock-holderswould share in proportion to their stock; in other words, that he was holding this claim in trust for the Hudson's Bay Company.'... I assert I never made such a statement to Mr. Thurston, and I assert that I hold my claim for myself alone, and that the Hudson's Bay Company, nor no other person or persons, hold or have any interest in it with me.... Can the people of Oregon City and its vicinity believe Mr. Thurston did not know, some months before he left this [territory], that Mr. Abernethy had sold his rights, whatever they were, to Judge Bryant, and therefore proposing to Congress to donate this Island to Mr. Abernethy, his heirs and assigns, was, in fact, proposing to donate it to Judge Bryant, his heirs and assigns."[45]
Thurston attempted to reply to this letter of Dr. McLoughlin, published in theOregon Spectator, in a speech made in Congress December 26, 1850.[46]With all its false statements this speech utterly failed to justify the actions of Thurston against Dr. McLoughlin.
Lieutenant Neil M. Howison, of the United States Navy, came to Oregon in 1846, in charge of the United States schooner "Shark." He made a report on Oregon to the Commander of the Pacific squadron. The report is dated at San Francisco, February 1, 1847. It was printed by order of the House of Representatives, at Washington, in 1848, more than two years prior to Thurston's speech. It is Miscellaneous Document No. 29 ofthe first session of the 30th Congress. In this report, after speaking in praise of Dr. McLoughlin, Howison said of him: "He resides now altogether at Oregon City ... and has, by his advice and assistance, done more than any other man towards the rapid development of the resources of this country." Lieutenant Howison also said, in this report, that Dr. McLoughlin "has settled himself on the south side of the river [Columbia] with full expectation of becoming a citizen of the United States, and I hope the government at home will duly appreciate him."
In the report of Dr. Elijah White, dated Willamette Valley, Oregon, November 15, 1843, to J. M. Porter, Secretary of War, Dr. White said: "And here allow me to say, the seasonable service, in which hundreds of dollars were gratuitously expended in assisting such numbers of our poor emigrant citizens down the Columbia to the Willamette, entitles Gov. McLoughlin, saying nothing of his previous fatherly and fostering care of this colony, to the honorable consideration of the members of this government. And I hope, as he is desirous to settle with his family in this country, and has made a claim at the falls of the Willamette, his claim will be honored in such a manner as to make him conscious that we, as a nation, are not insensible to his numerous acts of benevolence and hospitality towards our countrymen. Sir, in the midst of slander, envy, jealousy, and, in too many instances, of the blackest ingratitude, his unceasing, never tiring hospitality affects me, and makes him appear in a widely different light than toomany would have him and his worthy associates appear before the world."[47]
Protests against Thurston's Actions.
As shown in Dr. McLoughlin's printed letter of September 12, 1850, Thurston had sent to a confidant in Oregon, with instructions for secrecy, a printed copy of his letter to the House of Representatives. He also sent a printed copy of the bill for the Donation Land Law. These arrived in Oregon late in August or early in September, 1850. The eleventh section of the latter began to be noised about, and Thurston's friends, who were not in the conspiracy, met the charge with scornful denials. They said such a thing was not possible. But it was.[48]There were Oregon pioneers who protested. Before the law passed, when the intended action of Thurston became known, in relation to said section eleven, on September 19, 1850, a public meeting was held in Oregon City. Resolutions were passed declaring that the selection of the Oregon City claim for an university reservation was uncalled for by any considerable portion of the citizens of the Territory, and was invidious and unjust to Dr. McLoughlin; and that he "merits the gratitude of multitudes of persons in Oregon for the timely and long-continued assistance rendered by him in the settlement of this Territory." At the same time a memorial to Congress was signed by fifty-six persons, which set forth that Dr. McLoughlin had taken up the OregonCity claim like other claims in the Territory, and it had been held by him in accordance with the Provisional and Territorial governments of Oregon; that the memorialists have ever regarded it as entitled to protection as fully as other claims, without an intimation to the contrary from any official source until that time; that under this impression, both before and especially since March 4, 1849, large portions of it in blocks and lots had been purchased in good faith by many citizens of Oregon, who had erected valuable buildings thereon, in many instances, in the expectation of having a complete and sufficient title when Congress should grant a title to Dr. McLoughlin, as was confidently expected; that since March 4, 1849, he had donated for county, educational, charitable, and religious purposes more than two hundred lots. They, therefore, remonstrated against the passage of the bill in its present form, believing that it would work a "severe, inequitable, unnecessary, and irremediable injustice."[49]There were no telegraph lines in Oregon or California in those days. And the bill was a law eight days thereafter.
I am happy to say that among those who took part in these proceedings and signed this memorial were my father, James D. Holman, a pioneer of 1846, and my uncle, Woodford C. Holman, a pioneer of 1845. October 26, 1850, a public meeting was held at Salem, the stronghold of the Mission Party. At this meeting a committee on resolutions was appointed. The resolutions reportedby the committee were adopted. They "highly approved all the actions of Samuel R. Thurston in Congress," and said "that facts well known in Oregon will sustain him in all he has said about Dr. McLoughlin and the H. B. Company." Another of these resolutions heartily approved the course taken by Thurston, in Congress upon the Donation Land Bill "especially that part which relates to the Oregon City claim," and "that if that claim should be secured to Dr. McLoughlin it would, in effect, be donating land to the H. B. Company." Another of these resolutions was, "That in the opinion of this meeting, the children of Oregon have a better right to the balance of that claim [Oregon City claim] than Dr. McLoughlin." Another of these resolutions was, "That the H. B. Company, with Dr. McLoughlin as their fugleman, have used every means that could be invented by avarice, duplicity, cunning, and deception to retard American settlement, and cripple the growth of American interests in Oregon."[50]
There are certain qualities in some men which move them never to forgive a favor bestowed on them; to ruin those they have wronged or cheated; to endeavor to cover with obloquy those they have lied about; and to seek to hurt any one of better quality than they are. As a native son of Oregon I am ashamed of some of its pioneers and their actions. But in such a movement as the early settling of Oregon, there were, of necessity, some men of coarse fiber, and of doubtful integrity and honor. But such men were rare exceptions. Tothe honor of the overwhelming majority of the Oregon pioneers, be it said that they took no part in these actions against Dr. McLoughlin, nor did they endorse or sympathize with Thurston's actions and those of his co-conspirators against Dr. McLoughlin.
It must be borne in mind that many thousands of people, men, women, and children, came to Oregon in the immigrations after 1846. There were probably in the immigrations of 1847 to 1850, inclusive, an aggregate of more than ten thousand people, the number of men being in the ratio of about one to four. The immigration of 1847 was composed of over four thousand persons. These later immigrants did not experience the difficulties which beset the earlier immigrants along the Columbia River and from there to the Willamette Valley. They did not need the assistance of Dr. McLoughlin which the immigrants of 1843, 1844, and 1845 did. They found Oregon City a small but thriving settlement. Some of them were easily led to believe that Dr. McLoughlin was not entitled to his land claim, which they thought was a valuable one, especially as he was technically a British subject. But most of them were friendly to him for his kindness to them, and for what he had done for the earlier immigrants. They appreciated that he was justly entitled to his land claim. The love of justice and fair play were predominant traits of most Oregon pioneers.
The Oregon Donation Land Law.
The Donation Land Law passed and was approvedby the President September 27, 1850. Section 4 "granted to every white settler or occupant of the public lands, American half-breed Indians included, above the age of eighteen years, being a citizen of the United States, or having made a declaration, according to law, of his intention to become a citizen, or who shall make such declaration on or before the first day of December, eighteen hundred and fifty-one, now residing in such territory, or who shall become a resident thereof on or before the first day of December, 1850, and who shall have resided upon and cultivated the same for four consecutive years, and shall otherwise conform to the provisions of this act," 320 acres of land, if a single man, or if a married man, 640 acres, 320 acres being for his wife. The last sentence of Section 4 is as follows: "Provided further, however, that this section shall not be so construed as to allow those claiming rights under the treaty with Great Britain, relative to the Oregon territory, to claim both under this grant and the treaty, but merely to secure them the election and confine them to a single grant of land."
Section eleven of said Donation Law is as follows: "Sec. 11. And be it further enacted, That what is known as the 'Oregon City Claim,' excepting the Abernethy Island, which is hereby confirmed to the legal assigns of the Willamette Milling and Trading Companies, shall be set apart and be at the disposal, of the Legislative Assembly, the proceeds thereof to be applied, by said Legislative Assembly, to the establishment and endowment of a university, to be located at such place in the territoryas the Legislative Assembly may designate; Provided, however, That all lots and parts of lots in said claim, sold or granted by Doctor John McLoughlin, previous to the fourth of March, eighteen hundred and forty-nine, shall be confirmed to the purchaser or donee, or their assigns, to be certified to the commissioner of the general land office by the surveyor-general, and patents to issue on said certificates, as in other cases: Provided, further, That nothing in this act contained shall be so construed and executed as in any way to destroy or affect any rights to land in said territory, holden or claimed under the provisions of the treaty or treaties existing between this country and Great Britain." By the "Oregon City claim" is meant Dr. McLoughlin's land claim.
This section eleven is unjust in its treatment of Dr. McLoughlin. Not that Congress was to blame. It did not know the facts. Did not the first Delegate from Oregon advocate it? Did not the first Territorial Chief Justice of Oregon then in Washington, advise it? And did not the Delegate and the Chief Justice say that Dr. McLoughlin was so dangerous and unprincipled a man as not be entitled to his land claim? And that he refused to become an American citizen? There was not even a recognition of Dr. McLoughlin's right to the improvements which he had placed on his land claim. And there, in all its infamy, said section eleven stands on the statute books today. If the assigns of the Milling Company were entitled to Abernethy Island, why should not the courts have settled thematter according to law and justice, as other contested land claims were settled?
The Conspiracy Effective.
The motives and scheme of the conspirators to deprive Dr. McLoughlin of his land claim were very simple but effective. They desired to obtain Abernethy Island, which was a part of Dr. McLoughlin's land claim, for the assigns of the Oregon Milling Company. They desired to deprive Dr. McLoughlin of the rest of his land claim to wreak their malice against him, and at the same time, by statute passed by Congress, to have their actions against him apparently justified. Theirs was an uneasy conscience. It was, therefore, necessary to make it appear to Congress that Dr. McLoughlin was not only not entitled to his land claim nor any part of it, but that he should not have it under any circumstances; that Dr. McLoughlin was a man dangerous to Oregon, its people, and their interests, and had unfairly tried to prevent its settlement by citizens of the United States; that he refused to become an American citizen; and that he was not really trying to get the land claim for himself, but for the Hudson's Bay Company, although they knew his resignation had become effective in 1846. Having so wronged Dr. McLoughlin, they still did not dare to try to get the whole claim. To keep Dr. McLoughlin, or his heirs, from ever getting it, they tried to bribe the people of Oregon by providing that his land claim, less Abernethy Island, should be used for the establishment of an university, which wouldbe for the benefit of all the people of Oregon. It was a cunning scheme. Thurston's reward was to be a re-election as Delegate to Congress. He died before he could be re-elected.