Page:History of Oregon volume 1.djvu/81

30 this fine personal appearance he added courtly manners, and great affability in conversation. With the air of one monarch-born, he was fitted to govern men both by awe and love. Such was the autocrat of the Columbia when he first became known to American traders, missionaries, and settlers. White men and red alike revered him.

He prevented wars, upheld right and justice, and ruled with a strong, firm hand. Perhaps there is no more difficult office to fill than that of sole arbiter, not only by reason of the numerous cares attending it, but because the struggle of a single will to maintain the mastery of the many requires a great expenditure of mental force. Absolute monarchs must be strict disciplinarians; to relax in the least is to encourage a freedom fatal to their influence. McLoughlin possessed and acted on this knowledge; and like other potentates, acquired a certain quickness of temper that made him the terror of evil-doers, from the trader to the ploughboy.

This unlimited power carried with it unlimited responsibility, and placed McLoughlin in very delicate positions, not alone with regard to his business with the company, but also in dealings with and treatment of those who had no connection with the company, and especially Americans, with whom, on account of the political situation of the Oregon Territory, he