Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 20.pdf/259



The object of history, as the writer understands it, is to teach wisdom for the future from the successes and mistakes of the past. It is to tell the facts of the past so honestly as to do justice to both sides, and in order to do so, it is obvious that the mistakes of one's own country must sometimes be brought to light. Otherwise, one takes the German point of view that whatever one's own country does is morally right.

The restoration of Astoria is a case in point. With an element of the ludicrous in it, in the visit of the Ontario, there is also an exhibition of devious, winding, political manoeuvers by John Quincy Adams which one would rather hide. Writers have heretofore taken the point of view that the restoration was gained by American cleverness as against British intrigue, and therefore Adams is praised.

There is no truth in that point of view. Not one statement could the writer find, even in the private notes of the British Foreign Office officials to each other, that would indicate the slightest intention of outwitting America in the claim for the Northwest Coast and the Columbia River.

From July, 1913, to August, 1914, (being caught in England by the war,) the writer went through some seven hundred volumes in the British Public Record Office, including diplomatic correspondence, Colonial and Foreign Office reports, Admiralty reports, ships logs, and consular reports, from 1790 until 1867, which would have a bearing on Oregon history.

This last date, be it noted, is extraordinary. The usual permission granted to qualified scholars closes with 1837. When the writer made the remark, in a seminar in the University of London, that she intended asking for extended permission for the records until 1846, she was quickly assured by two English college professors of history that such permission was