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Rh it asked, "or believe that the United States government could have made its appearance in such a shape?" At a time, too, when the Indians were becoming alarmingly insolent, requiring the utmost wisdom to deal with or restrain them. In what way had the people of Oregon displeased the president that he should afflict them thus?

The people of Oregon found it indeed difficult to perceive any benefit that they had received from congress, or the presidential appointments. They were still without a proper government; they had no troops, no shipping, no light-houses, no pilot-boats, no appropriations—nothing, if they excepted two post-routes to places where there were no settlers, and two post-offices—the distributing office being at the mouth of the Columbia, a hundred and twenty miles from Oregon City, with no other conveyance for the mails between the two places than Indian canoes. To add to their indignation, a leading eastern paper congratulated its readers that nothing had been done for Oregon, because it was a saving of expense at a time when the government was overburdened by the Mexican war, and regretted that congress had not establised a port of entry at the mouth of the Columbia, and appointed a collector to increase the revenue from the imports of the British fur company, adding insult to injury by complimenting the inhabitants of the territory on their good sense, good order, and good laws.