Page:History of Oregon volume 1.djvu/545

494 view with McLoughlin before making a formal proposition. To most of the people of Oregon the bringing the officers of the British fur company into the organization was a surprise, and the manner of it a secret. Gray, who as a member of the legislature must have known much of the inside history, dismisses the subject by attributing the concession to what he calls McLoughlin's amphibiousness. But this curt ignoring of a matter of the highest importance to the colony does not answer the purpose of history. McLoughlin has himself left on record a narrative of the circumstances, in which he says that Applegate approached him, privately, with the proposition to unite with the Americans in the government compact, and that at first he objected; but that Applegate pointed out to him the security it would offer the property of the company, and how much it would conduce to the maintenance of peace and order to have it known to the American people that the two nationalities were united in Oregon. "There will be a large immigration this year," said Applegate; "you may depend there will be many who will follow Williamson's example."

Remembering the feelings which the person urging him to the measure had once entertained, and reflecting that he had a thorough knowledge of the sentiments of his countrymen, McLoughlin deemed it prudent to yield; especially as in June he had received in answer to his call on the directors of the company in London a communication informing him that in the present state of affairs the company could not obtain protection from the government, but it must protect itself the best way it could. In the judgment of McLoughlin, the best way to protect the company's property was to accept the invitation tendered by the Americans to join in their government organization,