Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 6.djvu/367

361 THE WINNING OF THE OREGON COUNTRY. 361 country ultimately to be ruled and controlled by the Union or the British crown, surrounded by hostile and numerous Indian tribes, deprived of the comforts of civilization, these early builders of a great State deservedly hold an exalted place in the history of Oregon. There was, in addition to this, active opposition to the formation of any local government by many of the subjects of Great Britain, notably the Canadians, who held a public meeting at Champoeg, March 4, 1843, and issued an address couched in friendly terms, but most unmistakably hostile to the action of the Americans who were attempting to organize a provisional government. The eleventh paragraph of this address is a succinct statement of their position, and reads : "That we consider the country free, at present, to all nations, till government shall have decided ; open to every individual wishing to settle without any distinction of origin and without asking him either to become an English, Spanish, or American citizen." The legislative committee recommended that four districts be created, and the boundaries of the Yamhill district, as defined by their report adopted by the people July 5, 1843, embraced all the country west of the Willamette or Multnomah River, and a supposed line running north and south from said river, south of the Yamhill River to the parallel of forty-two degrees north latitude, or the boundary line of the United States and California, and east of the Pacific Ocean. The Tuality district embraced all of the country north of the Yamhill River, east of the Pacific Ocean and south of the northern boundary of the United State's. In a message of the executive committee of date De- cember 16, 1844, addressed to the legislative committee and signed by Osborn Russell and P. G. Stewart, this language, which at this date sounds like romance, was used : "The lines defining the limits of the separate claims of the United States and of Great Britain to this portion