Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 2.djvu/415

Rh nervous disorders which compelled him to mingle with his writings complaints of the neglect of government to a wearisome degree, is true; but for this a compassionate allowance should be made. The sufferings and disappointments he endured on his journey to, and his residence in, Oregon were very great, and few men of his slight physical endowments could have withstood them. It is only justice to agree with him that he set on foot by his writings the immigration movement to the shores of the Pacific in all its forms, whether missionary, commercial, or colonizing.

That his countrymen in Oregon acted a cowardly part may be agreed to, and also that Doctor McLoughlin appeared in the character of a tyrant to his American conception of the meaning of that word. For all this I have shown that there is an explanation, albeit it did not comfort poor Kelley. Only Doctor McLoughlin was in a position to show some magnanimity, which he did by giving Kelley a passage to the Sandwich Islands in the company's vessel in the spring of 1836. This might be construed as a "good riddance," had not the doctor sent with his pass a present of £7 sterling with which to procure necessary comforts. This, it would seem, should have been done by others.

If we compare the unprotected and unpaid services of Kelley with the paid and protected services of Lewis and Clark, we have to acknowledge that a debt of appreciation and public recognition, at least, is due to the Yankee schoolmaster who spent the best years of his life in teaching the United States government and people the value of the Oregon territory.

Kelley was born in Gilmantown, New Hampshire, in 1789, was graduated at Middlebury, Connecticut, received the degree of master of arts at Harvard, taught in the public schools of Boston, and at the age of thirty-one