254 T. C. Elliott. nected with the Stikine Expedition, you might probably then have considered the application as premature - The circum- stances in which that affair was enacted have now, however, been thoroughly investigated and in justice to myself in com- mon with the Gentlemen attached to the Expedition under my command, I can no longer defer doing so. Reports, I am in- formed are current throughout the Country insinuating that I acted with "too much caution" or in other words with coward- ice, whence it would appear that an impression is entertained by many that the failure of the expedition in question is attributable to unworthy conduct on my part. Under the unfavorable aspect which opinion has apparently assigned with regard to the share I bore in the transactions alluded to, I deem, it proper, nay indispensible [sic] — to call upon you for an official answer to the following queries which, in justice to all concerned, I doubt not will unhesitatingly be acorded answer viz: Whether the part I adopted under the peculiar circumstances wherein I found myself placed, of with- drawing without having carried into effect the instructions I had received, be attributable to cowardice or not? Again: What in the opinion of Gov. Pelly and yourself, is the line of action I ought to have pursued in order to avoid the foul stigma which has been so' charitably affixed to my name ? And finally : Whether, even admitting the question of my physical desparity to have been less obviously unfavorable to me, I could, without infringing on the provisions of the Convention, or consistently with the duty which I owe to myself as well as the Gentlemen who accompanied me, have acted in a manner more conducive to the ultimate interest of the Concern of which I am a member? I remain, etc. P. S. Ogden. Of his arrival in the Columbia again in 1834 we have this item from J. K. Townsend's Narrative. Mr. Townsend was, in December of that year, on board a H. B. Co. vessel en route for the Sandwich Islands and had been bar bound in Baker's Bay several days: "On the morning of the nth, Mr. Hanson, the mate, returned from the shore, and reported that the channel was smooth; it was therefore deemed safe to attempt the passage immediately. While we were weighing anchor, we descried a brig steering toward us, which soon
