334 W. C. Woodward tions. As the Hudson's Bay officials had been trained in an atmosphere of absolutism at one extreme, the Western Ameri- can was thoroughly imbued with the spirit of independence and self sufficiency on the other. The two radically differing polit- ical ideals had largely moulded the temperament and person- ality of those holding them, rendering misunderstanding and friction almost inevitable. "The direction of the affairs of the Hudson's Bay Company was confined to a comparatively few men, and these were strongly influenced by aristocratic tenden- cies. Being themselves subject to rules adopted by the directors of the Company in London, they subjected all their servants down to the Canadian and Indian messenger to 'authority.' This tendency led the officers of the Company into many mis- takes in their dealings with the Western men." 1 That the Hudson's Bay officials clearly recognized from the first this irreconcilable difference in political attitude, and its import, is clear. When in 1844 an American attempted to establish a claim on the north side of the Columbia within the shadow of the Company's factory at Fort Vancouver, Governor John McLoughlin and Chief Factor James Douglas made strenuous protestation, candidly admitting that they feared that such proximity of American ideas and ways would tend to render their servants insubordinate. 2 It has been shown that through the Hudson's Bay Company the British Government followed its subjects with law into the debatable Oregon country. As far back as 1821 the English Parliament had passed a bill by the terms of which the laws of Canada were extended over English subjects operating in the territory to the South, those laws to be exercised or enforced at the hands of the Company officials as justices of the peace. 3 On the other hand what was the legal status of the immigrating Americans to be? It was unthinkable that they should subject themselves to the existing government, for reasons already 1 John Minto, "Early Days in Oregon," Ms., pp. 26, 27. 2lbid, pp. 28, 29. 3Text of Act found in J. H. Brown's "Political History of Oregon," pp. 24-29.
