reason to expect objections even had there been no positive order from the directors to guide them in their decision. It could hardly be doubted, either, that they deprecated the prospect of an Indian war which would be the ruin of their trade, and perhaps the destruction of their several interior posts. The policy of the company had always been one of peace; on peace depended their success. To be known to have assisted the Americans in making war would destroy their long-sustained good standing with the natives. From whatever point of view they regarded it, there was every reason to avoid being involved in the impending war. On the first intimation of what had happened, without a day's delay, they had despatched their ablest and most popular Indian trader to the country of the Cayuses, attended by a party of sufficient strength to defend Fort Walla Walla if necessary, but at the same time to secure, if possible, the safety of the prisoners in the hands of the Indians; in short, to do what, in Mr Ogden's judgment, appeared to be best for all. Douglas probably thought that the matter might be safely left in Ogden's hands; and that the appearance of an American army in the country might defeat his measures. Should he, then, wish to aid in doing what would be opposed to the best interests of both British and American citizens? The question could have but one solution in his mind, and he may have thanked fortune for the order which enabled him to refuse to put an army in the Indian country.
But there was another side of the subject to be considered. The case was such that according to the usages of the company itself, the individual murderers must be punished. And by the same rule, the Americans must punish them. To refuse to assist them to do this was against their own sense of right. Besides, a refusal, under the provocation from which they were suffering, would be likely to exasperate the Americans against the company in which case there
