Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 19.djvu/311

 FEDERAL RELATIONS OF OREGON 293 When the Twenty-seventh Congress was convened in special session in the summer of 1841 by President Tyler, he referred to the millions of acres of public lands still waiting to be brought into market, including "the immense region from the base of those (Rocky) mountains to the mouth of the Colum- bia River. Petitions for congressional action on Oregon ap- peared in both houses, and in the Senate some indications of a desire for definitive steps were in evidence. Fulton of Arkan- sas, in speaking to an amendment of the military appropria- tion bill, 20 urged that a special appropriation be devoted to Fort Leavenworth in order to guard against an outbreak of the Indians; the tension between the United States and Great Britain might result in war, and in that case it was his belief that the British would incite the Indians to attack the frontier. "And what, sir," he asked, "is our present condition with refer- ence to that nation (Great Britain) ? Are they not in posses- sion of our territory on the Pacific ? They have such an inter- course with all the wild tribes, and throughout the whole country, from the Pacific to the Rocky Mountains, that the most ample measures of communication with all the Indian tribes of the West is now offered them." It is to be noted that during the period beginning with the critical stage of the Maine boundary controversy and down to the ratification of the Webster-Ashburton treaty it was the firm conviction of many people of the United States, and of most of them in the frontier regions, that war was unavoid- able ; that it was the set purpose of the British government to make use of the Indians to harass the United States from the rear. The more one looks into this period the stronger becomes the feeling that this was a genuine fear on the part of the westerners, and was not brought forward merely to aid their plans for expansion to the Pacific. To those having such a notion the most innocent activities of the Hudson's Bay Company appeared fraught with the most sinister meaning. Only the day before Fulton expressed his views on the danger, Linn, in the Senate, introduced another resolution to 20 Globe, X, 287.