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with violence by persons who had been instigated, as I had reason to believe, by the company. Had I been willing to place myself under the direction and control of the company, all would have been peace ; but so long as I was resolved to act independently, as an American on American soil, seeking authentic information for general diffusion, and pursuing the avowed purpose of opening the trade ^of the territory to gen- eral competition, and the wealth of the country to general participation and enjoyment, so long was I an object of dread and dislike to the grasping monopolists of the Hudson's Bay Company,
My abode in Oregon was thus rendered very disagreeable. The loss of my property on the route had obliged me to vary my original plans, and limit my enterprise to such an examina- tion of the country as would enable me to enlighten the Ameri- can public on my return to the United States. I remained, therefore, in Or^;on no longer than was needful to satisfy myself on the desired points of inquiry ; and so long as I did remain, I was treated very much like a prisoner of war, although not subjected to actual confinement.
When I left the Oregon country, I took passage in the brig Dryad, Captain Keplin, for the Sandwich Islands.
The petition recently presented to the Senate of the United States, signed by residents of Oregon, will fortify my views in regard to the necessity for some degree of protection on the part of the Government over the people of that territory.
I come now, in conclusion, to say something of the Indians of Oregon,
This unfortunate race of men, as on the eastern so on the western coast of America, perish and pass away at the ap- proach of white men, like those who are swept off by pesti- lence. By the accounts of voyagers and travellers who visited Oregon 30 or 40 years ago, it is made evident that the Indian population was very numeroiis. But of their hundred tribes, sovereign or subordinate, including probably one hundred and fifty thousand souls, but a small fraction now remains. [60]
