On application to the chief factor at Vancouver for assistance of a monetary nature, and of such amount, the commissioners met with a difficulty which no doubt the better informed citizens of the country were prepared to anticipate, but which many were unable to understand, and which related to the order of the London directors to the company in Oregon, not to deal in government securities, after the experience they had had in the case of White, acting as Indian agent. In his reply to the loan commissioners, without an explanation of the origin of the order, which would have been quite as offensive as his refusal, Douglas declared his inability to make the required advance for the company.[1]
This answer, though not unexpected by the commissioners, was a disappointment. To no other source could they look for such supplies as the army needed. At the same time, with the indebtedness of the settlers to the company, and their experience in collecting debts from the general government, there was
- ↑ Fort Vancouver, Dec. 11, 1847. To Jesse Applegate, A. L. Lovejoy, George L. Curry, Esquires. Gentlemen: I have had the honor of your communication of this date, and have given an attentive perusal to the documents accompanying it. With a deep feeling of the importance of the object which has procured me the honor of your present visit, and the necessity of the measures contemplated for the punishment of the Cayuse Indians and for the future protection of the country, I can on the present occasion only repeat the assurance verbally given in our conversation of yesterday, that I have no authority to grant loans or make any advances whatsoever on account of the Hudson's Bay Company, my orders on that point being so positive that I cannot deviate from them without assuming a degree of responsibility which no circumstances could justify to my own mind. It is, however, in accordance with the spirit and letter of my instructions from the Hudson's Bay Company, to exert their whole power and influence in maintaining the peace of the country, and in protecting the white population from Indian outrage. The force equipped and despatched, at their sole expense, to Walla Walla, under the command of Mr Ogden, immediately on receiving the intelligence of the disastrous event at Waiilatpu, is an earnest of our attention to the calls of humanity. The object of that expedition is, with the blessing of God, to prevent further aggression, to rescue the women and children who survived the massacre from the hands of the Indians, and to restore them to their afflicted friends. Trusting that these objects may be successfully accomplished, I have the honor, etc., James Douglas, C. F. H. B. Co. Oregon Archives, MS., 66–7.
the authorities of Oregon deem it their duty to send into the field. With sentiments of the highest respect, allow us to subscribe ourselves, Your most obedient servants, Jesse Applegate, A. L. Lovejoy, Geo. L. Curry, Commissioners.' Or. Archives, 322–3; Gray's Hist. Or., 538.
