Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 14.djvu/269



LOWNSDALE LETTER TO THURSTON 229

was invariably kept, to answer the purposes of negotiations hereafter to* be made by the British government, and, accord- ingly, copied and forwarded to the Minister of Foreign Af- fairs. These written answers to questions and descriptions of places so well agree with what has been published and referred to in common conversation, shows how well these answers and descriptions suited their purposes. After examination of these subjects so ably described by the Doctor, this was the course pursued : to save time for recreation and give a proper bearing to all the interests concerned, the famed explorer thought it the shortest and easiest mode to make these written

reports (as the clerk and Mr. can testify) by the famed

doctor and Governor was signed and countersigned as the true reports. You can see how effectual they have answered the purpose as you can see from the orders given to the Com- mander of the Squadron in the bay of San Francisco in dis- patches sent by the Collector destined for the mouth of Colum- bia river, requiring him to convey the collector to be landed in Latitude 42, the mouth of the Clamett, and furnish an escort to convey him to Oregon City. Just see the order to the Com. as aforesaid, and which would have been much easier to have been accomplished from Slitter's fort on the Sacramento.

But to my history again, and beginning where I left the company having, after they could not prevent the emigration of 1843 from coming into the territory, they fell into this managing course of turning circumstances to good account by the influence of the writings and action of the lawyer, the judge and the general with their helpers, the former legislators. Several letters were accordingly written home and not a few with the Governor-Doctor's name couched in them ; as a speci- men of aristocratic Republican and Scotch Democracy; in such a jumble that I for one came to the conclusion that our people had been humbugged, or I had formed but a slight idea of how these Hudson's Bay managers were, but finally thought I was perhaps prejudiced against them and had taken a former view through colored glasses. But the result of all told a dif- ferent tale, for these men, first employed by the company, had each also a private interest to serve and accordingly when they came in contact with each other one by one fell off, and, like the noted Catholic priest, Humbolt, told on the rest, and as soon as one was found to think more of the American interest than the company's, they were not only denounced by the fra- ternity, but the account from the Hudson's Bay Company was presented showing their indebtedness, with a polite note ap-