The history of the United States exploring expedition under Lieutenant Wilkes is given in another volume. It is only necessary to say here that the colonists were not well pleased with its result. They complained that Wilkes was entertained with marks of distinguished consideration by the officers of the fur company, and that he did not see affairs as the colonists saw them; and when the navigator declared openly that there was no urgent necessity for the interference of the United States government so long as they enjoyed their present peace, prosperity, and comfort, the settlers were disgusted. He visited, the settlers averred, the American settlements west of the Cascade Mountains, and other of his officers the inferior missions, without discovering the evils which formed the subject of so many petitions and reports.
It seems strange that since Jason Lee was at the head of affairs in the Willamette Valley, he should only have met Wilkes by accident, when the latter stumbled upon his camp at the head of Sauvé Island.[1] After so many appeals to the United States government for the protection of its arms and the benefits of its jurisdiction, surely common courtesy would have dictated something like a formal reception. But in this instance, as was his custom, Lee left the execution of his designs and the appearance of responsibility to others, and set forth on an excursion to the mouth of the Columbia. If the colonists were in the situation represented to congress, he should have been making strenuous efforts to place the facts before Wilkes. The commander of the United States squadron was left, however, like any ordinary traveller, to go whither he pleased, and to form his own conclusions, which were, in the main, contrary to the tenor of the memorials which occasioned his inquiries.[2]
