Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 22.djvu/211



LAST PHASE OF OREGON BOUNDARY 201

dignity in jeopardy by making the visit. Captain Hornby thought joint military occupation would equalize the positions of the re.spective powers, and offered this plan. General Harney subsequently_refused it, and on the same day, August 6, sent a reply to Douglas' proclamation in which a somewhat garbled account of the alleged attempted arrest of an American citizen is made the reason for the occupation. Nothing about Indians this time. The letter makes one thing clear ^tlje.jjen- p ral k not agriiy gp special orders from his government.

"As military commander of the departmenTof Oregon, assigned to that command by the orders of the President of the United States, I have the honor to state, for your information, that by such authority invested in me I placed a military command upon the island of San Juan to protect the American citizens residing on that island from the insults and indignities which the British au- thorities of Vancouver's Island and the establishment of the Hudson's Bay Company recently offered them." Leaving nothing to chance, the next day the General sent a request for a ship to the Senior Naval Officer on the Pacific, at San Francisco. On the day following that, Colonel Casey was authorized to reinforce with four companies of soldiers.

THE ADVENT OF ADMIRAL BAYNES.

About this time there arrived on the scene a bluff and hearty old salt in the person of Rea r- Adm iral JR^ L._Baynes, Commander in Chief of the British naval forces in the Pacific. who supplied the necessary common sense. He refused to go

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to war over the shooting of a [n^. When told <>f Douglas orders he exploded with "Tut, tut ! no, no ! the damned fools !" 31 I do not know how the authority was distributed between Douglas and Baynes ; the Admiral avoids the tone of positive authority in addressing Douglas. He was for avoiding a clash, feeling that the ultimate question of 8ftYt"**8Tl1iYi a ****** 8 11 ' could^be settled only by the two governments. He told the Governor Tfiat he did not think that the United States officers