Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 16.djvu/351



LAST STEP IN PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT 323

to both the dangers in the situation and made request for an armed vessel to be stationed in the Columbia. Until such protection could be afforded it seemed the better part of valor to enter into a union "for the purpose of mutual pro- tection, with the white population of the Willamette." "We decided on joining the Association both for the security of the Company's property and the protection of its rights."

To McLoughlin and his associates such a union seemed further desirable as means of safeguarding against evils for which no protection was offered if they remained isolated from the rest of the community. If the "Companys servants" de- serted and took refuge in the Willamette settlements they could not be arrested unless the Company thru its officials had some part in the association. There had been cases of such desertion. "Another powerful inducement arose from the considerable amount of outstanding debts we have in the Wallamette Settlement." These debts had risen during the previous year to the formidable total of $30,000. 7

The advantages of the union as a means of collecting debts are obvious. "Under the newly assumed political position we would have been cast entirely on the honour and good faith of our customers, as the law could of course only give protection to those who gave it support; but by joining the Association we can sue and attach the property of any man in this country who is indebted to the Company."

The Company's officials at Vancouver had been compelled to face the problem of keeping the bolder Americans from en- croaching upon its lands. A certain Henry Williamson had in 1844 gone so far as to build a cabin on an island in the river near Vancouver claimed and occupied by the Company. His cabin had been torn down and Williamson induced to with- draw. He and others like him McLoughlin thought so base as to stop at no crime. "They were determined at all risks to intrude upon the Company's land claim, and they made no secret of their plans if ejected by force. If not supported by

7 Last Letter, 123.