Hall Jackson Kelley 207
What of the attitude of historians? Naturally the estimates differ widely. The least sympathetic is that of Bancroft :
"The Boston school-master is a character the historian is not particularly proud of. He is neither a great hero nor a great rascal. He is great at nothing, and is remarkable rather for his lack of strength, and in staggering for fifty years under an idea too big for his brain. He was a bom enthusiast and partisan, one of a class of projectors more capable of forming grand schemes than of carrying them to a successful issue. . .
"Had the school-master possessed an evenly balanced, prac- tical mind, or had his early training been more of the counting- room, and less of the school-room, he might have made his mark, high and ineffaceable. To one who had the means, and knew how to employ them, it was then no difficult task to colonize Oregon, lay the foundations of a prosperous com- monwealth, amass wealth, and convert the savages swiftly to heaven all at once. But there must be means and skill to handle them."*
Despite their objectionable tone these statements are worthy of attention, though one may well question whether the coloni- zation of Oregon could have been accomplished so easily. The words of Clarke, Lyman, and Temple, as quoted below, give a much truer picture of the man :
"Let us concede in advance that the man had radical faults of character, that he was conceited as to the value of his labors and to some extent imreasonable in his pretentions, but, when this is all said, he must have been a man of force and definite purpose to expend twenty years of the prime of life in the attempt to preserve the American title to the territory of Ore- gon at that early day, and to entertain schemes for the settle- ment and development of that vast region .... He was both an enthusiast and a zealot, and — ^to his misfortune — was not a clear-sighted business man."**
"Kelley was undoubtedly one of those minds ideal rather than practical, who give suggestions wljich more executive per-
4 Bancroft, Hist, of thg Northwest Coast, II, S44-5t SSSn.
5 Clarke, Pioneer Days of Oregon History, I, 368-9.
