Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 2.djvu/400

384 final success was not lessened by the objections of others, however reasonable; and they were reasonable. The government was not prepared to go to war when, by simply renewing the convention of joint occupancy of 1818, it could enjoy peace and take time to gather means for the tug of war, should it ever come to that. Congress argued that there was not sufficient information of a favorable nature about the country to justify the outlay required to establish and maintain military posts across the continent. There were other matters more pressing than the Oregon question. The most farsighted statesmen joined the most shortsighted in opposing Kelley's scheme, though with a different motive. They were carefully but cautiously gathering up data from the annual reports of fur traders, the log books of mariners, and the statements of occasional visitors to the Northwest coast. The most that was promised by those in authority was that protection would be afforded any American settlement in Oregon. With this assurance Kelley was forced to content himself while continuing to set forth the excellencies of a region he had never seen, to argue the justice of the American claim, and to denounce the injustice to the people of the United States of surrendering its riches to a foreign power. Not only was this aspect of the argument impressed upon his readers, but also their duty as Christians, to look after the spiritual and temporal welfare of the native inhabitants of Oregon. Thus for two years more he labored with his pen before incorporating, in 1831, the American society for encouraging a settlement of the Oregon territory. It does not appear that any encouraging number of names was inscribed on its roll. His winters were spent in Washington, interviewing legislators and furnishing information to whoever would receive it.

Whatever interest was exhibited by congress at this