position of affairs, that an agent was sent in March, by the fur company, to San Francisco and the Sandwich Islands, to make arrangements for obtaining supplies for the Hudson's Bay Company's posts, in case their farming lands should be seized.[1] The Russians also, who depended on Oregon for the larger part of their supplies, anticipating trouble, forestalled the action of the British company, and purchased, early in the spring, the whole tara crop of the Islands, and large quantities of sugar and rum, for Sitka.
Everything in the Pacific seemed to point to an early collision. The Modeste, as a British man-of-war stationed in the Columbia, was regarded ominously, and to soften the resentment thus created, the officers and men, following the advice of the fur company, gave a series of entertainments, to which all were invited, which served the purpose of diverting the minds of many from that strained feeling which McKay says obtained between the rival nations, perceptible even in the Sandwich Islands. A better acquaintance enabled men of either nation to express political bias freely, and wordy encounters were harmless, as there were no offensive exhibitions of patriotism.[2]
- ↑ This was J. W. McKay, who says that he found the whole population much excited over the prospect of annexation to the United States; and various rumors were afloat concerning Fremont's intentions. 'Such of my countrymen,' he says, 'as I had an opportunity to converse with during my stay in San Francisco seemed to take sides with the Americans; though they blamed the English government for not taking prompt action with a view of securing to the British crown a colony which would certainly prove valuable in the future.' Recollections, MS., 4, 5; Marsh's Letter, MS., 14, 15.
- ↑ As the first theatrical representations ever produced on the Pacific coast, the performances on the Modeste are worthy of mention. I find by the Spectator of Feb. 19, 1846, that on the 3d of the month, under the patronage of Captain Baillie and the officers of the Modeste, and before a full and respectable audience, was performed the comedy of Three Weeks after Marriage, followed by The Deuce is in Him, and The Mayor of Garratt. The scenery was painted by the crew. The prologue was composed and spoken by Pettman, and ended with the mot referred to in the note, 'Modeste is our ship,' etc. The young ladies who took part in the play were the daughters of Oregon settlers: Miss Allen, Miss Hedgecock, Miss Lloyd, and Miss Rossi. These were the earliest pupils of the mimic art on the Northwest Coast. At
says the officers of the British war ship America expressed to him the opinion that the country between the Columbia River and Puget Sound must be held at all hazards—'an opinion which apparently carried no weight with the home government.'
