32
ESSAYS IN HISTORICAL CRITICISM
intercession in Washington in behalf of Oregon, as he declared he had heard it from Whitman himself, but substantially as Spalding had narrated it the year before with one important exception.[1] Following these articles in chronological order comes Dr. Treat's address before the American Board at Pittsfield in September, and the publication of the story in The Congregationalist, October 5th, from which it was copied by the New York Evening Post, and in turn from the Post by the Portland Oregonian of November 16,[2] 1866.
- ↑ The nature of this exception and the character of Gray as a witness will appear from the following extract from his deposition under oath, Aug. 11, 1866, during the taking of testimony in the Hudson's Bay and Puget Sound Agricultural Companies' case.
"Int.[errogatory] 29. 'Are the statements made by you in that article [in the Marine Gazette, Aug. 6] true?'
"Ans. 'I think they are, to the best of my knowledge and belief.'
"Int. 30. 'Did Dr. Whitman tell you that he went to see Mr. Webster and Mr. Fillmore for the purpose stated in that article?'
"Ans. 'Dr. Whitman, when he left his station to go to the States, gave me the facts as stated in that or previous articles. On his return he visited me at Oregon City; he gave me the substance, almost verbatim, as near as I can recollect, of that article.'
"Int. 31. 'Did he say that he saw Mr. Webster as Secretary of State, and Mr. Fillmore as President on the subject?'
"Ans. 'He said he called upon them both, and had conversations with them.'
"On being cross-questioned closely as to Fillmore, Gray said, * I had a doubt in my own mind when I penned the article whether it was him or Tyler.'
"Int. 38. 'Did Dr. Whitman inform you that Mr. Webster stated that he (Mr. Webster) was ready to part with what was to him an unknown and unimportant portion of our national domain, for the privileges of a small settlement in Maine, and the fisheries on the banks of Newfoundland?'
"Ans. 'The substance of that idea was communicated to me by Dr. Whitman.'
"It is subsequently recorded: 'The witness desires to state that since testifying on cross-examination he has ascertained that Mr. Tyler was President, instead of Mr. Fillmore, at the time of Dr. Whitman's visit to Washington.'"
Hudson's Bay and Puget Sound Agricultural Co.'s Claims, IV. Evidence for the United States. Washington. 1867. 172-4 and 191.
I am indebted to Mr. W. I. Marshall of Chicago for the information that Gray was cross-examined on this Whitman matter and that a complete set of the documents relating to the claims of these companies is in the State Library at Albany where I consulted them. Again, in 1883, Gray solemnly affirmed that his statements about Whitman's interviews in Washington, in his History, 315-8, were derived from Whitman himself. Eells, Marcus Whitman, 9. - ↑ Gray's Oregon, 480. "We ask in astonishment: Has the American Board at
