the Governor General of Canada, Lord Metcalfe, and through him the Commander of the Forces there, Sir Richard Jackson, to select one or two officers for the service. They were admonished to consult with Sir George Simpson in regard to the instructions which should be furnished the officers selected. These officers were to proceed to Oregon as private gentlemen, and the objects of their mission were to be kept secret; they were to report by any safe opportunity to the Governor General of Canada, and through him to the Colonial Office and the Foreign Office.
The Commander of the Forces in Canada selected his Aide- de-camp, Lieut. Henry J. Warre and Lieut. M. Vavasour of the Royal Engineers, who were instructed to report themselves to Sir George Simpson and to be ready "to proceed with him to the west"; they were also to "regulate themselves according
to his views, and conform in practise, to the instructions he alone, from his knowledge of the intentions of His Majesty's Government, and of the country can give."[1] "It would be absurd," says the Commander, "to attempt to give detailed instructions for the survey of a country of which the instructor knows nothing." So he refers the officers to Simpson, but makes, nevertheless, a few suggestions for the special benefit of Lieut. Warre. He is advised to read a manuscript book on the spirit of military surveying, also the instructions for the commissariat lately issued; if possible, he is to study Fremont's report on the country to which he is going, and the reports of the American Secretary of War, 1844, "recommending measures which in their impatience to occupy the disputed territory the present government of the United States appear disposed to overlook, although so obviously prudent, that they may be adopted when that government finds that its plans cannot be carried into effect without opposition." This was the project of creating a new territory—ultimately a new state—on the eastern border of Oregon. The plans for the defense of the western states, and the journal of Colonel----
- ↑ Memorandum for Lieutenant Warre, Ad. Camp, Montreal, May 3, 1845. See page 20.
