James Rood Robertson

“ It is a test of judgment to put oneself at the different points of view, so often conflicting, to be fair to all and to be firm in drawing conclusions where the weight of evidence seems to lie; and a knowledge of the slowness of this process of growth, with the careful thought and heroic action by which it has come about, creates a respect for government and prepares for a wiser use of the privileges enjoyed under its beneficent rule. ”

“ We have seen a locality well fitted for the home of man pass out from the condition of a wilderness, through all the stages of development, to that high state of civilization where every individual enjoys the privilege of citizenship in a great nation, as well as all the liberties of local freedom. And although we have been engaged upon a theme of local history, in its unfolding we have beheld at the same time a gradual enlargement of national life, and a steady progress toward greater things. ”

“ In the history of civil government in Oregon there are two distinct movements, that of the regularly organized government, and that of the people themselves. They serve as the complement of each other, and act and react upon one another in a multitude of ways. Every time that the question was before congress it reacted upon the people, and the impetus thus set in motion again reacted upon a slower moving congress. In the westward expansion of our territory the movement of people has always preceded that of the national government. ”

“ The claim of land taken up by Doctor McLoughlin at Oregon City was the only thing that gave rise to any strong feeling, and upon this question the people were divided. In fact, things were so peaceful that Mr. Hinman, in reply to a question in regard to the civil government, said, with a twinkle of the eye, "People were so civil in those times that they did not need a government." What need for a government there was was well supplied by the one formed by the settlers. Of political differences there was little, for almost every man was a Democrat. ”

“ As might be expected in those days, every question must be tested by its effect upon the Union . The desire to perpetuate the Union, so dearly purchased, has laid at the foundation of many a policy. For its sake many things, desirable in themselves, have been given up or long delayed. That the national government could operate over a territory so vast, and regions so remote, with barriers separating them geographically from other sections, was questionable in the day before railroads and telegraphs. ”

“ Beyond all question the protection of our laws and our jurisdiction, civil and criminal, ought to be immediately extended over our citizens in Oregon. They have had just cause to complain of our long neglect in this particular, and have in consequence been compelled, for their own safety and protection, to establish a provisional government for themselves. Strong in their allegiance and ardent in their attachment to the United States, they have been thus cast upon their own resources. ”

“ I vote for her admission on general principles. Her constitution is republican in form, and slavery is excluded from her territory forever. I regret with sadness that the people have deemed it expedient to adopt the article they have relative to free negroes, but I must regard it as but temporary and inoperative. I find no state west of New York ready to grant full rights and privileges of citizenship to free blacks; therefore it would be inconsistent to reject Oregon for this clause in her constitution. Oregon, at no remote day must be admitted as a state. ”

“ They proposed in its place a council, composed of men from all parts of the country "to judge the difficulties, punish the crimes and make regulations suitable for the people." They regarded a militia as useless and "a danger of bad suspicion to the Indians." The country was considered as "free at present, to all nations, till government shall have decided; open to every individual wishing to settle, without distinction of origin, and without asking him anything, either to become an English, Spanish or American citizen." ”

“ Again it was the representative from Massachusetts who replied: "Was Great Britain more powerful, wealthy and happy before she began to colonize than now? Notwithstanding all her exhausting wars, all the drain of her colonial emigration, she was never more populous, more wealthy or more powerful than she is at this present day. Colonization does not impair the strength or diminish the wealth of nations. ”

“ Of the many interesting phases which have presented themselves, none has had so great an attraction for the writer as the development of civil institutions. It is interesting to review the gradual evolution of a locality from primitive conditions of wildness to that perfect form of social life where individuals act under the privileges and restrictions of a civil government, voluntarily imposed and perfectly integrated with the larger scheme of national government. ”

“ It is but natural, under the circumstances, that the colonists should take the matter into their own hands, and do what the exigencies of the situation demanded. The formation of the pioneer provisional government may be regarded, therefore, as an example of the true American spirit, exhibiting a resourcefulness equal to every emergency.
The origin of institutions is complex, and doubtless many motives combined to bring this one into existence. ”

“ Not only were provisions supplied, but a mill was erected about twenty miles from the mission for the purpose of giving employment to the immigrants while they tarried. Located as it was, the mission could not be anything but of great assistance to immigration, and Mr. Whitman as its directing genius could be nothing but the friend of the immigrant.
Of Mr. Whitman himself, only the pleasantest recollections remain with Mr. Hinman. He is not inclined to make a hero out of him, but speaks of him as "brave and discreet, full of energy, and living only for others." ”

“ Besides the want of legal authority for continuing their provisional government, it is wholly inadequate to protect them in their rights of person and property, or to secure to them the enjoyment of the privileges of other citizens to which they are entitled under the Constitution of the United States. They should have the right of suffrage, be represented in a territorial legislature by a delegate in congress, and possess all the rights and privileges which citizens of other portions of the United States have hitherto enjoyed, or may now enjoy. ”

“ In order that we may see the wider scope of our subject we need only to remember that during the early centuries of exploration the territory whose civil life we are to study was at stake in the great struggle between those countries which were striving for the mastery of the world, and many a stroke of policy that seemed to affect these remote regions had its only significance as it bore upon the conflict of England and Spain. ”

“ In the case of Oregon, through remoteness of the territory, and the difficulties arising from the joint claim and occupancy, the quicker movement of the people was more marked and the corresponding slowness of the government more irritating. This feeling of restriction is expressed by Floyd in the words: "All governments, republican as well as royal, take upon themselves the exclusive privilege of thinking for the people, of checking the progress of population in one direction or fixing the boundaries to it in another, beyond which they are not permitted to pass." ”

“ There is every reason to appreciate the good judgment of those who framed it and did much to mold the character of the commonwealth, as conservative, as sound in its social and industrial policy, and to be depended on for sober and considerate action. Located, as the State of Oregon is, upon the Pacific Coast, where much of the history of the next century must be made, itself the product of an enlarged national life, it must, of necessity, exercise a greater influence in the national policies of the future than it has in those" of the past. ”

“ The territory of the United States, commonly called the Oregon Territory, lying on the Pacific Ocean, north of the forty-second degree of latitude, to a portion of which Great Britain lays claim, begins to attract the attention of our fellow citizens, and the tide of population, which has reclaimed what was so lately an unbroken wilderness, in more contiguous regions, is preparing to flow over those vast districts which stretch from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean. ”

“ These narratives are a heritage of which we should take advantage. The preservation of them is the best service which the present generation can render to the future. Nothing can be of such value, as times goes on, as the record of those who have been actors in the development of our commonwealth.
In a series of conversations with Alanson Hinman, it has been a privilege to the writer to go over the early history of Oregon with one who was a part of it and to gain a more realizing sense of the life and romantic situations of early days. ”

“ The cable was heavy with the water and was so much submerged that to hold on would have meant death. He had, therefore, let go, trusting to the sea to carry him to land in time. As every wave took him a little nearer to land, he realized that his chances for life were good and courage rose. ”

“ Circulars containing all the information available, were prepared and sent to the constituents of congressmen, and the nation began to be committed to a policy which it would take time fully to realize. The people had gained the impression that the United States' title was perfectly clear to the whole valley of the Columbia; that the English were there only by sufferance until the formal settlement of a boundary at a more convenient time; and that the government was willing that American immigrants should occupy it, and would protect them as well as it could. ”

“ Although the official agent of the English company, a Scotchman by nationality, a Catholic in religion, and loyal to all the interests he represented, he was a man of too large a mold to be anything other than the instrument of justice and good order for all classes of people who might come within the bounds where his jurisdiction was exercised. "From 1823 to 1845 he was the controlling power in the country, and did more than any one else to preserve order, peace and good will among the conflicting and sometimes lawless elements of the population." ”

“ It was not long before forces began to bring about the last step in the development of civil government. There were many things which led to a desire for statehood. The people, in their provisional government, had become accustomed to the complete management of their local affairs, without the supervision of any power above them. While they valued the strength that was derived from connection with the United States, there were many restrictions which troubled them. ”

“ It was the policy of the opposition to delay action until the expiration of congress. Mr. Benton called attention to the urgent need for immediate action in somewhat exaggerated language: "A few years ago we were ready to fight all the world to get possession; and now we are just as willing to throw her away as we were then to risk everything for her possession. She is left without a government, without laws, while at this moment she is engaged in a war with the Indians. There are twelve or fifteen thousand persons settled there who have claims on our protection. ”

“ In common with them there has been a gradual growth from those fragmentary germs of civic life out of which civil government grows, which fragmentary forms begin to operate as soon as individuals come together in social relation, often long before localities are entitled to take their places as parts of a nation. ”

“ Under the influence of our free system of government new republics are destined to spring up, at no distant day, on the shores of the Pacific, similar to those existing on this side of the Rocky Mountains, and giving a wider and more extensive spread to the principles of civil and religious liberty. ”

“ The period of territorial government was one of growth along all lines. Trouble with the Indians, increase of population, development of industrial life, and the various needs of a growing community, made many drafts upon the new government. It was not long before the largeness of the territory made a division desirable. The peeple north of the Columbia, separated from those to the south by geographical boundaries, and possessing interests of their own, voted to request the formation of the Washington Territory. ”

“ Commerce is never so profitable as when it is carried on between a newly settled country, in which land is fresh and easily obtained, and one in which a dense population has made manufactures cheap and abundant." Considerable importance was attached to the establishment of a waterway connection by the river systems of the Missouri and Columbia, between the east and the west, "when distance and time will be conquered, and the ends of the earth be brought together. ”

“ The inability of the independent fur trader to compete with the English company, and the comparative advantage that the English subject had in the protection by his country's laws, naturally led to a feeling of dissatisfaction on the part of the American trader, and a belief that under the cover of a business enterprise the English civil government was gradually settling itself over the country to the exclusion of the American, whose interests and rights were equal according to the treaty of joint occupancy. ”

“ The country will be settled, and that speedily from some quarter, and it depends very much upon the action of congress what that population shall be, and what shall be the fate of the Indian tribes in that territory. It may be thought that Oregon is of little importance, but rely upon it, there is the germ of a great state. We are resolved to do what we can to benefit the country, but we are constrained to throw ourselves upon you for protection. ”