Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 13.djvu/185

 SLACUM'S REPORT ON OREGON, 1836-7 177 iff-free goods into distinctively American territory ; their coun- tenancing of Indian slavery ; their exploitation of the fur-bear- ing resources of the region south of the Columbia, and the condition of commercial tutelage in which the tribes were held all these things were pointed out as they were matters of vital concern to the authorities at Washington responsible for the welfare of the American citizen. We all regret that he omitted a graceful and generous rec- ognition of the aid given the Cattle Company by Dr. Mc- Loughlin something in the same vein as was his assurance that Captain Domines with the Owyhee was saved from an attack through the intervention of McLoughlin. Sen. Ex. Doc. 24, 25th Congress, 2d Session, Vol. I. MEMORIAL OF WILLIAM A. SLACUM Praying Compensation For His Services in Obtaining Information in Relation to the Settlements on the Oregon River. DECEMBER 18, 1837. Referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations, and Ordered to Be Printed. To the Senate and House of Representatives- of the United States of America in Congress Assembled: The memorial of William A. Slacum. RESPECTFULLY REPRESENTS : That he is a purser in the navy of the United States; that on the 12th of November, 1835, he received the communication (marked A) which accompanies this memorial, from the Sec- retary of State, by the direction of the President of the United States, charging him with the performance of a certain "com- mission" therein specified, to-wit. : "To obtain some specific and authentic information in regard to the inhabitants of the country in the neighborhood of the Oregon, or Columbia river ;