Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 17.djvu/224



216 DR. MCLOUGHLIN TO SIMPSON

One important thing to be noted in this letter, however, especially in connection with the very long letter which was published in the American Historical Review, October, 1915, also found at Hudson's Bay House, are the personal relations between Dr. McLoughlin and Sir George Simpson. Hostility to Americans was never demanded of McLoughlin he was instructed to keep on good terms with them and his friend- ship to Americans had nothing to do with his resignation. McLoughlin, indeed, abhorred ill-will and rough dealings. He had had enough experience with fur-trade rivalry and rough methods, even aside from his very humane nature, to always wish for pleasant methods and good will. And his friendship for the "better class of Americans," as he calls them, was sincere. He also repeatedly wrote the Governor and Committee at London that even accidental bloodshed in rivalry would only bring disrepute to the Company and cause complications with the American government.

As I noted in the brief introduction to the letter in the American Historical Review, there were endless differences of business judgment between McLoughlin and Simpson. Mc- Loughlin, for instance, wanted many posts along the coast and only vessels enough to carry supplies to them, and bring back the furs from them, trading with the Sandwich Island at other times. Simpson's policy was to use vessels almost altogether and to have no land posts, if possible to avoid them, or as few as possible and as small as possible. McLoughlin fought the coming of the little steamer Beaver, and I doubt if ever he was reconciled to it. It was frequently out of repair, had to have an expert crew who could be used for nothing else, was too small for the Sandwich Island trade and too large, he thought, for a mere coaster. But the Beaver was one of Simpson's pet schemes, and even McLoughlin's showing that the vessel was actually a loss, financially, did not quell his interest in that plan.