Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 13.djvu/154

 146 ROBERT CARLTON CLARK as a reason for the speedy extension to them of the jurisdiction of the United States the need of "laws that will be respected and obeyed" in order to put an end to the monopolistic control exercised over the colony by the Hudson's Bay Company. This petition bore the signatures of a large, number of the Ameri- cans in the colony, 65 names in all. 18 Now while there might be some hope of protection from Congress and perhaps the McLoughlin claim might ultimately be disallowed by that body, a more speedy way of securing "law that will be respected and obeyed" was at hand. The same men who had put their names to the petition to Congress now revived the project for organizing a government for the settlement. (Twenty of the signers of the Petition of 1843 voted for organization of a government in May of that year.) They saw a means of checkmating the Hudson's Bay Company in the formulation of a skillfully devised land law that would deprive McLoughlin of his land claim. To advance this object meetings of the settlers were called early in 1843. To disguise their true purpose and to persuade the Canadians to join them these meetings were called to con- sider measures for protection against wild animals. Out of them came the appointment of a committee to issue a call for a public assembly to "consider the propriety of taking measures for the civil and military protection of the colony." 1 9 Some of the French-Canadians had attended these so-called "Wolf Meetings," but were not yet ready to join the movement to establish a government. 20 McLoughlin was kept well in- formed of what was going on in the Willamette country and the Canadians were still well under his control. He, as well as the higher officials of the Hudson's Bay Company, were by this time beginning to realize that though the movement might be postponed so long as their retired servants were able to out- vote the Americans, the latter were now "numerous enough to carry their point." 21 The Canadians seem to have begun to 1 8 Holman, McLoughlin, p, 198, for Petition of Citizens of Oregon, 1843. 19 Graver, Oregon Archives. 20. The second meeting was at the home of J. Gervais, Grover, Oregon Archives, p. 9. Letter of McLoughlin, March 20, 1843, F. O. Amer. 401. 21 Letter of Sir George Simpson, June 21, 1843, * 0, Amer. 401.