Page:Portland, Oregon, its History and Builders volume 1.djvu/154

106 "There is a very great misapprehension of the real merits of this case, founded on the misnomer which declared that treaty to be a treaty of joint occupation. It is not a convention of joint occupation. It is a convention of nonoccupation—a promise on the part of both parties that either of the parties will occupy the territory, for an indefinite period; first, for ten years; then until the notice should be given by the one party or the other that the convention shall be terminated, that is to say, that the restriction, the fetters upon our hands, shall be thrown off which prevents occupation."

Here then is a treaty that deliberately renounced the right of the American emigrants to come here and establish homes. They might come and catch fish, trap wild animals for furs and trade with the Indians, but they must not hoist the American flag, they must not open farms, they must not build homes or school houses, or do anything to establish a settlement. Oregon was a country for free trade, but not for free settlement. England, Spain, France, Russia, and everybody else had the same rights in Oregon as the Americans. Oregon is thus distinguished as the first and only free trade country that now belongs to the union of states.

And while this treaty of 1818 tied the hands of the respective governments, it did not provide for the arrest of independent movements of traders or settlers. It left the question of occupancy and final disposition of the country right where Daniel Webster, secretary of state under President Tyler, predicted it would be when he wrote to the American minister at London (Edward Everett) in 1840, saying: "The ozvnership of Oregon is likely to follow the greater settlement and the larger population."

We are thus particular to point out the facts_showing the exact legal and political status of the country, so that the reader may get a clear idea of the magnitude of the work achieved by the early Oregon pioneers. Oregon was from 1818 down to 1846 practically and substantially in the position of being.

and open to the application of

And now we reach the point when the pioneers coming in from Iowa and Missouri commence to drive stakes, and settle down to hold fast to something. A little band coming in the autumn of 1842 found here Robert Newell, Joseph L. Meek and a few other Americans scattered around, less than a hundred all told, and twenty-five or thirty Missouri people. This was the nucleus of the American state to be. There was no law except what the Hudson Bay Company chose to enforce through their justices of the peace appointed by the British government in Canada, and their jurisdiction extended no further than enforcing penalties for violation of criminal laws.

These lonely settlers in the far distant wilderness of Oregon were loth to assume the great responsibility of establishing a government to govern themselves; especially when they were opposed by an equal number of Canadians opposed to government, which opposition was backed up by the all-powerful Hudson Bay Company with unlimited resources for effective opposition.

They therefore earnestly sought from the American congress, some recognition, some aid, some encouragement, and the following petition by Lot Whitcomb and thirty-five other American settlers was sent to congress in 1839; says the petition:

"We flatter ourselves that we are the germ of a great state, and are anxious to give an early tone to the moral and intellectual character of our citizens — the destiny of our posterity will be intimately affected by the character of those who emigrate. But a good community will hardly emigrate to a country which