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134 ^ History of the Pacific Northwest

and other tropical products required by the Oregon settlers. "We flatter ourselves," say the thirty-six signers of the memorial, "that we are the germ of a great state. . . . The country must populate. The Congress of the United States must say by whom. The natural resources of the country, with a welljudged civil code, will invite a good community. But a good community will hardly emigrate to a country which promises no protection to life or property. . . ." Lee personally wrote a letter to Congressman Caleb Cushing of Massachusetts, in which he reinforced the statements made in the petition.^ "It may be thought," he says, "that Oregon is of little importance; but depend upon It, sir, there is the germ of a great state." The Oregon people desired from Congress two things: first, the protection of the laws of the United States; second, a guarantee that they might keep the lands already taken up by them. Linn, Cushing, and other men made a faithful effort to obtain such laws; but the prevailing sentiment was against them, and no bill passed either house of Congress till 1843.^ The Oregon Provisional Emigration Society; its

1 Cushing made a report to the House of Representatives in 1839 which in some respects supplemented the report made by Linn to the Senate the year before.

2 It was indeed, a very difficult matter to draw up a bill for the extension of our national authority over Oregon without violating either the letter or the spirit of the treaty of joint occupation. Many members of Congress refused to support the bills presented by Linn and others because it was feared their passage might embroil us with Great Britain.