Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 6.djvu/389

383 NOTES ON THE COLONIZATION OF OREGON. 383 the new thought, though it was not yet asserted with much confidence, that the American people would at no distant time actually overspread the Rocky Mountains, as they had overspread the Alleghanies, and make the Pacific the western boundary of the United States. This idea was forced upon the sensitive mind of Mr. Floyd when he con- templated the startling growth of the United States since the achievement of their independence. It was fully shared by Francis Baylies of Massachusetts, whose remark- able words, uttered more than eighty years ago, have often been quoted as an example of a prophecy fulfilled. He is speaking to Floyd's bill for planting a colony at the mouth of the Columbia, and has alluded to the marvelous progress of the United States within the memories of living men. " Some now within these walls," he continues, "may, be- fore they die, witness scenes more wonderful than these; and in after times may cherish delightful recollections of this day, when America, almost shrinking from the 'shadows of coming events' first set her feet upon un- trodden ground, scarcely daring to anticipate the greatness which awaited her." The object that these men sought was not to be attained by congressional action. Floyd's successive bills were met with indifference or derision on the part of a majority of the house; and, indeed, it was not till twenty years later, February, 1843, that an Oregon bill finally passed one branch of Congress. But the question of colonizing Ore- gon was not permitted to wait for its solution upon the slow and uncertain course of government action. It was to be settled in the natural American way, through an almost spontaneous movement on the part of the pioneer- ing class. By 1840 there were in Oregon a few score Americans, most of whom had entered the country since 1834 as mis- sionaries. These had succeeded in effecting a lodgment