secure the company's property in case of an outbreak. But these explanations did not deceive the more intelligent of the Americans, and while some smiled at the admission that the Americans were feared,[1] others chose to take alarm, and to accuse the company of intending to make war on them.
Early in July 1844 a British sloop of war, the Modeste, Captain Thomas Baillie, carrying twenty guns, entered the Columbia, and anchored opposite Vancouver; but it does not appear from McLoughlin's papers that any proffer of protection was made, or that the sloop remained long. It is certain, however, that the board of management had been officially notified that England would not yield any of Oregon north of the Columbia, and that they were to govern themselves accordingly.
The position which the officers of the Hudson's Bay Company filled at this time was one of great delicacy and not a little dread, which every fresh intelligence from the United States or England increased. On the 24th of January Wentworth of Illinois had said in congress: "I think it our duty to speak freely and candidly, and let England know that she never can have an inch of Oregon, nor another inch of what is now claimed as the United States" territory." A determination to maintain this position was the issue upon which a president of the United States was to be elected.[2] On the other hand, it had been said in the English parliament, by Sir Robert Peel, "England knows her rights and dares maintain them;"[3] and by Lord Palmerston, that if Linn's bill
- ↑ Gray, who seems not to understand the influence of congress on these acts of the company, attributes its defensive attitude at this time to the formation of the military force called the Oregon Rangers; and says sneeringly: 'The company had found that since the Americans began to settle in the country these Indians had become more dangerous.' Hist. Or., 374-5. Blanchet takes Gray tip sharply on this statement, which he seems to think is seriously meant. He says: 'It is false that the company had anything to fear from the Indians. If the fort was repaired, bastions built, and all other protective and defensive measures were completed, it was to defend itself against another kind of savageness.' Hist. Cath. Church in Or., 145.
- ↑ Greenhow's Or. and Cal., 394.
- ↑ Roberts' Recollections, MS., 6.
