CARVER'S SOURCE FOR OREGON 63
did not travel unaccompanied, he did not travel into any un- known country and he did not record geographical information not already known through the French. 10 He also took the plan for his book and some of the contents thereof from the two books by Major Rogers which had been published in 1765. Of special interest is the tracing back to Major Rogers of the name OREGON. 11
But in spite of these disclosures and conclusions, and his rather low moral standards in respect to some things, let us not, at this late day, decline to give Jonathan Carver credit for producing a book which is interesting in its narrative and at- tractive in its style and which served to bring to public notice information about America at a time when such information was in popular demand but hidden in the leaves of other writers. Jonathan Carver was just then living in London in conditions of dire distress and want and it is strange if he avoided deten- tion in the debtors prison at times. There is no sugges- tion of such disgrace and he retained a degree of respect- ability sufficient to insure the publication of this book and the placing of his name in the pages of literature and history. This distinction comes, in part, from such sentences as the fol- lowing, which appears in his introduction. "But as the seat of Empire from time immemorial has been gradually progressive toward the West, there is no doubt that at some future period, mighty kingdoms will emerge from these wildernesses, and stately palaces and solemn temples, with gilded spires reach- ing to the skies, supplant the Indian huts, whose only deco- rations are the barbarous trophies of their vanquished enemies." On the cover of one of the editions of the histories of George Bancroft this sentence was paraphrased as "Westward the star of empire takes its way," and had been used in similar verbiage by Bishop George Berkeley of England in 1825.
N. B. The documents immediately following are from the Public Record Office, London, and were copied by B. F. Stevens and Brown.
T. C. ELLIOTT. (Document Number One)
P. R. O. Treasury Solicitor. General series 4957
10 The map in Capt. Carver's book could easily have been an adaptation of the following map, which the writer has examined at the Legislative Library at Victoria, B. C. ; "A Map of North America," by J. Palairet, with considerable Alterations and Improvements from D'Anville, Mitchell & Bellin by L. Delarochette, 1765.
11 For origin of this name see page 100 of Vol. 22, No. 2, of the Oregon Hist, Quarterly.
