Page:Centennial History of Oregon 1811-1912, Volume 1.djvu/426



zens. It was from Kelley's labors that the Missionary Boards got their facts which justified them in sending Lee and Whitman to Oregon.

Besides his work for Oregon, Kelley surveyed and planned a canal from the Charles river to the Connecticut, and for a ship canal from Barnstable to Buz- zard's Bay, Massachusetts, and located and engineered the construction of sev- eral railroads in the state of Maine. He never made any money for himself, but he did much to make fortunes for other people. He was not a cracked-brained theorist, pursuing unsubstantial chimeras, as some writers have sought to make out, but a clear-headed, far-seeing enthusiast, patriotically seeking the honor and prosperity of his country. And, if like Jefferson and Benton, he could see in the future the great importance of this great country of the Pacific slope, when the timid great men and cowardly little men of the United States Senate could not, or would not see it, it is to his honor and not his discredit. And for these reasons, Hall J. Kelley is justly entitled to have his name enrolled among those who saved Oregon to the people of the United States.

And now, in the order of their acts in point of time, following down the line is found another man of entirely different character from any that has preceded him, that at the "psychological moment" (to use a modern expression) rendered a service which seemed to be an inspiration, and that turned apparent defeat into glorious victory.

When all the circumstances of the settlement and occupation of Oregon are considered in the light of the strength and facilities of the contending and com- peting powers, the success of the handful of scattered Americans seems little short of a miracle. On one side was the perfectly organized, and for the purpose of settlement and holding the country, the most powerful commercial organiza- tion then in North America. Possessed of all the money necessary for any ven- ture or enterprise, equipped with ships for immigration as well as commerce, semi-military jn its organization with trained and perfectly obedient servants, ready to obey any order, with forts and military supplies defended by light cannon located at every strategic point, and able to call to its assistance ten thou- sand Indian warriors, and backed by the whole power of the British government if necessary, the Hudson's Bay Company was able to crush at any moment the feeble efforts of the Americans to protect themselves by any kind of an organi- zation. Was it divine prophecy, or common-sense reliance on the courage and happy luck of the men who had sent him to Congress, that inspired Senator Benton to say in the United States Senate : ' ' Mere adventurers may enter upon it (Oregon) as Aeneas entered upon the Tiber, and as our forefathers entered upon the Potomac, the Delaware and the Hudson, and renew the phenomenon of individuals laying the foundation of a future empire." And on the other side, pitted against this powerful company and the imperial power of Great Britain, were wliat Benton has intimated, "mere adventurers," recklessly proclaiming their intention to found a new state. Two opposed ideas — monarchy and special privileges on one side, and republicanism and equal rights to all, meet and clash once more. Neither Bunker Hill nor New Orleans is forgotten, but here at a lonely cabin on the banks of a peaceful river, two thousand miles from the out- post of all civil government, 102 men meet to decide whether the Union Jack of old England or the Stars and Stripes of young America shall float over the four great states to be.