Page:History of Oregon volume 1.djvu/227

176 and to establish and maintain American interests generally, with the least expense to the nation and the best prospect of bloodless success."

If Jason Lee had anything to do with the formation of this society, it does not appear; and yet its objects and those of Kelley were identical with his own; it is possible that Lee's action with the government in his colonization scheme led the society to consider itself forestalled, or possibly it depended upon the success of certain measures in congress which Lee put in motion; at any rate, the society never sent out any persons as emigrants.

On the 28th of January, 1839, the memorial drawn up before Lee left Oregon was presented to the senate by Linn of Missouri, and ordered to be printed. On the 11th of December, 1838, Linn introduced a bill in the senate authorizing the occupation of the Columbia or Oregon river; organizing a territory north of latitude 42° and west of the Rocky Mountains, to be called Oregon Territory; providing for the establishment of a fort on the Columbia, and the occupation of the country by a military force of the United States; establishing a port of entry, and requiring that the country should be held subject to the revenue laws of the United States. On the 22d of February he made a speech in the senate supporting a bill to provide protection for the citizens of the United States in the Oregon Territory, or trading on the Columbia River. It is not necessary to follow the action of congress further, in this place. The reference is here made to point out the agency of Jason Lee in directing that action, and the strong influence he seems to have wielded in Washington as well as with the missionary board. How much his suggestions, especially concerning land matters, moulded subsequent legislation will be made evident in considering the action of the government at a later period. A proof of the favor with which his designs were regarded by the