animation prevaded the entire community,[1] inspired by the thought of a glorious future as a part of a federal union extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific. In this hopeful humor, and occupied by the changes occurring on the influx of a large immigration, two months passed rapidly by, and then came the grand announcement of the settlement of the Oregon boundary. The gratifying intelligence was found in Honolulu papers brought from the Islands by the bark Toulon.[2] The British consul at the Islands sent other papers to McLoughlin, in one of which, containing the announcement that the Oregon Question was settled, was an extract from a letter by A. Forbes, consul at Tepic, to Sir George Seymour, commanding the English squadron in the Pacific.
The Oregon government received no official notification; this chance information was all; but eroded with care which threatened to wear away its foundation the colony now threw off anxiety, assured that congress would establish the Territory of Oregon with a proper government at once; that without war and with no further trouble, this great boon was theirs; and such a country, broad, beautiful, majestic! Again the cliffs round Oregon City fling back the jubilant boom of cannon, and from a tall flag-staff on the banks of the Willamette, over the newly captured wilderness, proudly wave the stars and stripes, promise of happy homes and lofty endeavor. Men grasp each other by the hand, and the organ of a free people spreads in broad capitals across its front the stirring words 'Hail Columbia, happy land!'[3]
Such was the state of feeling when it was only known in general terms that the boundary was fixed at the 49th parallel, that Vancouver Island was excluded from the possession of the United States, and
