Page:Centennial History of Oregon 1811-1912, Volume 1.djvu/581



THE CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF OREGON ;!h9

si'ssiou after session oi' Congress pass away without a single thing being (lun<' for the government of a country to obtain possession of whieh we were willing to go to war with England!

"Year after year, and session after session have gone by, and to this <lay the laws of the United States have not been extended over that territory. In the meantime, a gi-eat community is gi-owing up there, composed at this time of twelve thousand souls — persons from all parts of the world, from Asia, as well as from Europe and America — and which, till this time, have been preserved in order by compact among themselves. Great efforts have been made to preserve order — most meritorious efforts, which have evinced their anxiety to maintain their own reputation and that of the country to which they belong. Their ef- forts have been eminently meritorious; but we all know that voluntary govern- ments cannot last — that they are temporary in their very nature, and must en- counter rude shocks and resistance, under which they must fall. Besides the in- convenience resulting from the absence of an organized government, we are to recollect that there never yet has been a civilized settlement in territory occu- pied by the aboriginal inhabitants, in which a war between the races has not occurred. Down to the present moment the settlers in Oregon had escaped a conflict with the Indians. Now the Avar between them is breaking out ; and I cannot resist the conviction that if there had been a regularly organized govern- ment in that counti-y, immediately after the treaty with Great Britain, with a military force to sustain it — for a government in such a region so remote would be nothing without military force — the calamities now impending over that country might have been averted.

But no government was established, and now all these evils are coming upon these people, as everybody must have foreseen they would come ; and in the depth of winter, they send to us a special messenger, who makes his wa,y across the Rocky mountains at a time when almost every living thing perished in the snow — when the snow was at such a depth that nothing could penetrate to the bottom of it. He made his way across, however, and brings these complaints which we now hear. They are in a suffering condition. Not a moment of time is to be lost. If the bill were pa.ssed this instant — this morning, as I hoped it would be — it would require the utmost degree of vigor in the execution' of it to be able to send troops across the Rocky mountains before the season of deep snow. They should cross the mountains befoi-e the month of September. I was in hopes, then, that on this occasion there would be nothing to delay action — that we should all have united in deploring that for years the proposition to give these people government and laws has been defeated by the introduction of questions of no practical conseciuence, but which have had the effect of depriving these peo- ple of all government and bringing about the massacres which have taken place, and in which the benevolent missionary has fallen in the midst of his labors. All the calamities which have taken place in that country have resulted from mixing up this question, which has not a particle of practical value, with all the measures which have been introduced for the organization of a government in Oregon. All the laws passed by the Congress of the United States can have no effect on the question of slavery there. In that country there is a law superior to any which Congress can pass on the subject of slavery. There is a law of climate, of position, and of Nature herself, against it. Besides, the people of the