this fine personal appearance he added courtly manners, and great affability in conversation. With the air of one monarch-born, he was fitted to govern men both by awe and love. Such was the autocrat of the Columbia when he first became known to American traders, missionaries, and settlers. White men and red alike revered him.[1]
He prevented wars, upheld right and justice, and ruled with a strong, firm hand. Perhaps there is no more difficult office to fill than that of sole arbiter, not only by reason of the numerous cares attending it, but because the struggle of a single will to maintain the mastery of the many requires a great expenditure of mental force. Absolute monarchs must be strict disciplinarians; to relax in the least is to encourage a freedom fatal to their influence. McLoughlin possessed and acted on this knowledge; and like other potentates, acquired a certain quickness of temper that made him the terror of evil-doers, from the trader to the ploughboy.[2]
This unlimited power carried with it unlimited responsibility, and placed McLoughlin in very delicate positions, not alone with regard to his business with the company,[3] but also in dealings with and treatment of those who had no connection with the company, and especially Americans, with whom, on account of the political situation of the Oregon Territory, he
- ↑ He is thus spoken of many years later by an American settler in Oregon: 'McLoughlin was one of nature's noblemen. He was six feet six or seven inches in height, and his locks were long and white. He used to wear a large blue cloak thrown around him. You can imagine a man of that sort—a most beautiful picture. See him walking down to his church Sunday morning—it was really a sight.' Chadwick's Public Records, MS., 4, 5; Harvey's Life of McLoughlin, MS., 5, 6. See also Hist. Brit. Col., chap, xvii., this series.
- ↑ Harvey's Life of McLoughlin, MS., 16–18. 'I may mention that a young American gentleman, Mr Dwight, of Salem, Mass., having come across the plains, had been rather imposed upon by the company's agent then at Fort Hall, having had to leave his rifle for provisions supplied him there, and complained, or rather spoke of the matter to me, then at the Sandwich Islands. I wrote and explained the case to McLoughlin, who immediately sent orders to Fort Hall and had the rifle forwarded to Mr Dwight free of all charge. I had the pleasure of returning it to him.' Allan's Reminiscences, MS., 10 11.
- ↑ 'McLoughlin was a stout, hearty man, and very determined in character. Even the directory in London could not well control him: he would have his own way.' Finlayson's V. I., MS., 70.
