LAST PHASE OF OREGON BOUNDARY 183
the servants of the Company, and it must have been exasperat- ing to a foreigner not too welcome to begin with, and with a chronic grievance against the well-nigh almighty monopoly, to find himself assailed by someone who was not only an official of the Company but a magistrate into the bargain. What hope of justice was there? Furthermore, at Victoria, whose popu- lation at this time was overwhelmingly American, only those of British nationality could plead in the courts. Now there was a sad dearth of English lawyers, but a good supply of American. They might do all for a client short of conduct- ing the case in court, but into the sacred precincts they might not come at least to function professionally.
There were more serious charges than those concerning heavy taxes, corruption of officers, and denial of civil rights charges involving relations with the Indians. The Indians of the territory were generally warlike. The nature of the Com- pany's business led the officers of the Company to make friends of the natives, for there could be no trade without confidence. The traders were successful in establishing that confidence, and, without doubt, became very skilful in managing their savage neighbors. There is much to admire in the way these British pioneers treated the Indians. The methods were the result of a shrewd blend of sternness and kindness. Good feeling must be preserved, or there would be an end to the supply of furs, and, a still more serious matter, life would be in jeopardy every hour. The "big stick" was always within reach, how- ever, in the form of strict punishment, according to the law. for all infringements, with a strict search for offenders no matter what trouble it involved. Or it might be in the form of a demonstration of the power of the white man's weapons, as in the case in which a few shots from the cannon on the fort at Victoria destroyed a number of Indian huts from which the women and children (the men being at the fort) had been carefully removed. This demonstration was immensely im- pressive. By such methods "Company" servants had real
