The Sun.
London, England, 1845-11-21 00:00:00

TIIE SUN, LONDON, PRI DA Y EVEN! N

of the priesthood, but only the means of carrying it into
effect. Let them combine together for the purpose ; they
have every means of intelligence, and the terror of their ven-
geance would do more in one year than all the constabulary
and all the military force of England. They are bound to
make the experiment for their own sakes. From all we can
learn, a more virtuous clergy does not exist than the Catholic
clergy of Ireland, and they would be the very last per-
sons in the world to wink at assassination ; but they
ought to remember that stigmas are not easily wiped out,
and that many Protestants still believe that the policy of the
Court of Rome remains the same, and that assassination, or
any otheratrocious means of destroying an enemy, is still sanc-
tioned, provided such crimes can advance the interests of the
Catholic Church. That such a policy at one time was in full
vigour, and met the hearty support of the unprincipled men
that occasionally filled the Pontifical chair, there can
be no manner of doubt. Proofs are so numerous
and palpable, that it is needless to cite one in-
stance. But let the Catholic priests remember, that though
the policy is changed, prejudices have not changed with it.
and that it becomes them in a crisis like this to show to the
world that they make use of their vast influence in the cause of
morality, and, above all, in saving their native land from utter
ruin. If a speedy end is not put to this system of assassina-
tion Ireland must decline every day in power and influence,
and reviving prosperity be banished from the country. No
capitalist will lend his money to such a people; no artisans
will teach them ; fur Englishmen, brave and daring as they
are, will flee before assassins, and Ireland must be left to the
iron rule of the military power. As for repeal, if it were
accomplished to-morrow, it would only add to the evil. It
would drive capital entirely from the country ; it would not
restore order; England would be constantly harassed by
her nearest neighbour, and nothing but a second conquest
could make her secure.

The following letter was addressed by the Secretary of
the Bombay Chamber of Commerce to Lieut. WAGIIORN,
R.N., on consigning to him the dispatches from India, which
he brought overland, via Trieste :

" No. 88, of 1845.
" TO LIEUT. WAGHORN, R.N., ALEXANDRIA.
• " Sir,—l am directed by the Committee of the Chamber
of Commerce to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of
the Ist August, proposing an experimental dispatch of letters
from India, with the view of enabling you to test, practi-
cally, the supposed superiority of the Trieste over the Mar-
seilles overland route. They desire me to intimate that they
have availed themselves of your obliging offer, and have dis-
patched, by the mail steamer of to-day, through your local
agents, Messrs. Spong and Turner, a tin box of letters,
weighing about 51bs., which will be delivered to you here-
with at Alexandria. In returning you their thanks for the
valuable opportunity thus afforded them, I am directed by
the Committee also thus to express their very high sense of
the zeal and energy displayed by you, on all occasions, in
facilitating and improving overland communication. You
have their most cordial wishes for the success of your pre-
sent undertaking. I have the honour to be, Sir, your most
obedient servant,

" T. G. H. SCOTT, Secretary C. C.
" Bombay Chamber of Commerce, Oct. 1, 1845."
It is satisfactory to know that the wishes of the Commit-
ee have not been disappointed. Lieut. WAGIIORN, notwith-
standing the obstacles which have necessarily opposed his
progress over a new line of country, unused to the
push along, keep moving " practice, managed to
beat the express by the old route, and the thanks
of the country are due to him therefore. Not only
has he rendered us independent of the French Post-office,
which has played tricks heretofore, which neither
gods nor men could tolerate, but he has opened to
us a new and nearer route, which would, in the event
of a war with France (the greatest curse that could
happen to the cause of progress and civilization, and
which may Gon in his mercy forefend), or in the event
of any unforseen occurrences in that country, preserve to us
a speedy and safe communication with India. We hope that
the route via Marseilles will be maintained, and that the route
via Trieste will be permanently opened, as it is better to have
two strings to our bow. But for both these communications
we are to be indebted to Lieutenant WAGIIORN, and, there-
fore, let all those who are interested in India or its inhabitants
show their gratitude by subscribing liberally to the testimo-
nial to be presented to the man who has brought the re-
motest parts of India within two months of England.

Madrid journals of the 13th inst. have been received. It
appears from some of them that General MAZZAREDO, Cap-
tain-General of Madrid, had resigned, and that both he and
General CORDOVA had given up their important offices on
account of the offensive conduct of NARVAEZ. The Eco del
Cmzercio says, that at Saragossa not less than forty officers
had been dismissed in one day. We infer from these move-
ments, as well as from symptoms of mutiny in some of the
regiments, that NARVAEZ is beginning to lose his hold of
the army, and that he is making every effort to recruit it
with men suited to his views. The accounts from Catalonia,
and especially the city of Barcelona, are rather alarming.
What with the conscription, the new income-tax, and tha
wavering dispositions of the soldiers, and the reported at-
tempts of General PRIM, affairs in that quarter begin to
wear a serious aspect.

On the 13th the Three per Cents. closed at 37*, at 60 days;
the Five per Cents., 24, at 60 days; and the Coupons, at
26*, at 60 days.

Several of the Paris journals contain comments on the cir-
cular issued by the Minister of Commerce and Agriculture,
to the prefects of departments relative to the quantity of
corn in the country. All the important parts of that docu-
ment appeared in The Sun of yesterday, and the remarks in
the journals furnish no additional facts. The National, how-
ever, will not believe what the Minister asserts, that alarm
prevails, and calls upon the Government to adopt measures
for preventing the exportation of provisions. With the ex-
ception of this discontented organ of the Republican party, we
find no other journal containing any article of the slightest
interest to Englishmen. In that paper, however,
there is one relating to the entente cordiale, which we give as
a curiosity. We believe most of onr readers will perceive
that it contains twite as many falsehoods as truths, and it is
therefore needless to point them out. The writer takes for
his text the late dispatch of Lord ABERDEEN to Sir Enstmen
LYONS, ironically points to that as a proof of the entente cor-
dials, and then strings together numerous illustrations of his
doctrine. " The whole system," says he, "of our foreign
policy, as is well known, is involved in a single principle, the
entente cordiale with England. This is the pivot of affairs,
the axis on which rolls all our diplomacy. It must be clung
to as to a buckler, with which we are defended against abso-
lutist Europe. This has been repeated a hundred times.
What, therefore, is the meaning of the ill-humour of the
DCbats? Why has it been so imprudent as to
scold the conduct of Lord ABERDEEN in his rela-
tions with Greece? The British Cabinet throws every
kind of obstacle in the way of the CoLwrri Ministry, and de-
mands in sharp terms that the Greek Budget shall apply its
surplus to the payment of its debt. England is not a cre-
ditor little suceptible about events. It would be better if she
left the Greek Government time to liquidate its arrears, and to
extricate itself, by means of a good administration, from the
embarrassments which the past has created. It is thus that
France wishes to act, but it is precisely for that reason that
England pursues other designs. It is, therefore, the first time
that the entente cordiale has been manifested under these ap-
pearances? Since the last revolution in Greece, have the
struggles between the diplomacy of the two nations been a
secret for any one? Is there anything in the world so cor-
dial as the antipathy of MM. LYONS and PISCATORY ? Is there
any one ignorant of the manner in which our Ambassador has
been treated in the House of Commons, without Sir R. PEEL
making any remark to the contrary? But Greece is only one
point, and opposition has shown itself there alone ; it might
be said that the entente cordials does not suffer from it, and
that the most attached lovers are sometimes liable to little
disputes. Look through the whole East, and show a single
point where the two Powers are found to agree. Is it in the
Libanus? We protect the Maronites, of whom this Druses
are the mortal enemies, and the Druses are under the pa-
tronage of England. Is it at Constantinople ? The
struggle between M. DE BOURQUENEY and Sir S. CANNING
has been more than once as notorious as it is between
Mr. LYONS and M. PISCATORY. Is it in Egypt ? We
have done everything to thwart the projects of the
English in that country, and their rancour does not take
the trouble of concealing itself. Where then is that
cordiality of the two Governments ? The East is for them
a theatre of discord. It is perhaps the West which beholds
them embracing each other. Do we not, in fact, agree on
the principal questions of western policy ? It is evident that
in Spain, for instance, France and England act together. A
great subject of discussion exists in that country—the
QUEEN'S marriage ; the entente cordiale presents a single
competitor for her hand. The same union is evidenced in
our material interests. We only aim in the Peninsula at
carrying into effect the commercial treaty so long solicited by
England. We have both the same means of influencing
NARVAEZ and CIIIIISTTNA, and the same sentiments 1 As to
Belgium, which at present is endeavouring to extend her
exchanges of goods, it is very evident that if France
desires a customs' union with that country, England shares
that ivish, and endeavours to effect it ! And lastly, this
mutual tenderness appears in particular in what relates
to Algeria ; it is to serve our interests that Gibraltar
furnishes ABD-EL-KADER with all possible assistance ; it
is to prove her kind intentions that England has twice
caused the failure of the treaties with Morocco. Our excel-
lent friend sees that our African possessions cost us much
gold and many men. She regrets the blood that has been
spilt, and the money fruitlessly expended, and she does all
she can to induce us to abandon this territory! Sincere
friendship ought to be marked with this severity ! It is,
however, unfortunate that this severity manifests itself
wherever we have interests to defend, and we defy any one
to show us a point of Europe where the British Cabinet does
not oppose our most legitimate desires for increasing our in-
fluence and commercial development. Need we call to mind
the unworthy disputes about POMARE, the Marquesas, and
New Zealand? If, in fine La Plata be excepted, where
common interests have called forth a community of action,
antagonism is perceptible everywhere, and everywhere at our
a expense."

The following are the only other extracts from the papers
of the least interest:—

" The King came to Paris on Tuesday, and held a Cabinet Coun
oil, at which Marshal Soult was present.

M. Mandeville, the Charge d'Affaires of England at the
Argentine Republic, is in Paris, says one of the journals, and has
had a private audience of M. Guizot.
"The Railroad Commission, of which the Minister of Public
Works is president, has commenced its sittings, for the purpose of
examining the documents which have been sent in by companies
offering themselves for the execution of the retie and Strasbourg
and Duro and Nola linel., The re$014111" Mail, kraal&

Monday next, being the eve of the day fixed for thti adjudication
of these two lines.

" Colonel Voisin, implicated in the landing of Prince Louis Na.
poleon at Boulogne, iod who received permission to pass in a
maison de sante the iniprisonment to which he.;was condemned,
has just had remitteftAeitmainder of his punkliinent, and been
set at liberty.
" The Journal du400,7t states that the weatso at sea has been
for two days so bad, titsieveral vessels have been obliged to put
into that port from tAarnages they have su.tained. The Newcastle
collier Alexandrina, iD coming in on Monday, gp on the low piles
to the south-east of tkcjetty. Every endeavour ryas made to wharp
her off, but the cables-broke, and she was of ntcessity left to her
fate after saving thetrew. She sank in the night.

The Prague Gazette, in announcing the death of a M. 'ADE-
ICAURR, an Israelitish merchant, at the age of Feventy-one,
states that about fifty years ago he arrived in that city on
foot without money, but by force of industry and economy
had since acquired a fortune of nearly 6,000,000 f., the greater
part of which he has bequeathed for the encouragement of
the arts and sciences, and commerce and manufactures, and
for the relief of the unfortunate of all nations. About
2,500,000 f. have fallen to the benevolent institutions of the
principal towns cf BoheMia.
Another panic in a small way took place on the
Paris Bourse on Wednesday, attributed by some to the
failure of two brokers who carried on much
business, and by others to unfavourable news from America,
and by a third party to the belief that several important
lines would be announced for adjudication, and thereby throw
more shares into the market. The fall was chiefly in the
Share Market. After some fluctuation, Northern Shares fell
18%f. ; Orleans fell IGIAf.; Rouen fell 20f. ; Bordeaux fell

10f, ; Havre fell 15f. ; Fampoux fell 15f. under par.
The Three per Cents. closed at 82E 45e. • the Five per
Cents., 117 f. 75c. the Orleans Railroad glares, 1,140 f.;
Rouen, 960 f. ; Northern, 707 f. 50c. ; Havre, 760 f. ;
Avignon, 910 f. ; Vierzon, 760 f. •, Bordeaux, 612 f. 50c.
Boulogne, 525 f. ; Troyes and Monterean, 460 f. ; Basle,
246 f. 25c.; Northern, 707 f. 50c.; Spanish Three per Cents.,
39; Ditto, Passives, 61.
The following are the quotations for other lines :-
Paris and Lyons Railroad (Laffitte), 12f. 50e. premium ;
ditto (Calon), 2f. 50c. ; ditto (Ganneron), 3f. ; ditto (Lapin
sonniere), If.; Paris and Strasburg (Ganneron), sf. ;
ditto (Hinguerlot), 2f. 50c. • ditto, Avmard, 4f. 50c.; Tours
and Nantes (Mackenzie), sf. ; ditto (Drouillard), 3f.; ditto
(O'Neill), 4f. ; ditto (Lefevre), 3f. ' • Lyons and Avignon (Ta-
labot), 17f. 50c.; ditto (Lecointe), 2f. 50c.; ditto (Compagnie
Meridionale), par; Bordeaux and Cette (Mackenzie), par;
ditto (Espeleta), 10E ; Creil and St. Quentin (Carette)
3f. 50c.; Dieppe (Sellieres) 490 f.
LYONS, Nov. 17.-Marseilles and A.vignen, 940 f. ; Paris
and Orleans, 1,140 f.; Paris and Rouen, 965 f.; Orleans and
Vierzon, 680 f.; Northern, 721 f. 25c.
BUSINESS DONE IN FOREIGN RAILWAYS AT THE
LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE, NOT. 20.
Anglo-Belgian - Mauritius
Boulogne and Amiens.. 91A Namur and Liege 3;A
Bordeaux &Mediterran - North Jamaica -
Bordeaux and Toulouse - Orleans and Vierzon 16%
Do. & Cette (Espeleta) - Orleans and Bordeaux -
Do. (Mackenzie's) - Over Yssel ......... -
Central of Spain .. - Paris& L(ons (Lents) VA
'l4

Ceylon .
Demerara
Dendie Valley ... %
Dutch Rhenish ...... 7%
Dieppe & Paris Janet.
Dijon and Mulhouse ...
East Indian

Ditto (Ganneron's).- 3
Ditto (Caloa'a).... 2
Ditto (Sud Est)
Paris and Orleans
Paris and Rouen . 3B
Paris and Strasburg
Vanneron's) _ 214

Fampoux & Ha zebrouk
Grt Norther' of France
Constituted la
Do. Pepin la Halleur —
Great Paris and Lyons —
Great Western Bengal
Great Western Canada

Jo. (Aymard's)......
Do. (Cempts de L'Est)
Paris and St. Quentin.
Rouen and Havre......
Royal North of Spain.
Sambre and Meuse .... 574
Strasburg and

Jamaica S. Mid. Junction
Do. North Midland
Do. Extension
Jersey —
Louvain and Jemeppe —
Lyons and Avignon —
Luxembourg
Madrid and Valentia —

Tournay:Jurbise, Lan-
dent, and Hasselt...
Tours and Nantes
(Mackenzie's) 4%
De. ( Lefebvre's) 2
Do. (O'Neill's)
Verona and Ancona —
West Flanders

THE MINISTERS.--Lord Wharneliffe and other Cabinet
Ministers have left town. Sir Robert Peel remains at
Windsor Castle, on a visit to her Majesty. Lord Stanley has
not arrived in town from the north,

The Earl of Radnor has given a donation of ten pounds for
the forthcoming dinner in aid of the Metropolitan Benefit
Societies' Asylum, with permission to add his Lordship's
name for a Vice-Patron. Dr. Bowring, M.P., has also sent a
donation, and promised to attend the dinner; as well as
Thos. Wakley, Esq., M.P.

DEEP SEA FISIIING.—A letter addressed by Mr. Demp
ster, to the editor of the Ediniiurgh Advertiser, on this subject,
appears in another column. It appears to us that Mr.
Dempster has well met the objections which have been made
to the project for organising companies for the prosecution of
deep sea fishing. It is of the utmost importance that means
should be adopted without delay, to provide for the defi-
ciency of the potato crop. A cheap and good supply of fish
would go far to make that provision. We trust, therefore,
that these companies will be organised forthwith.

AMERICAN NEWS.

(EXPRESS FROM LIVERPOOL.)
ARRIVAL OF THE GREAT WESTERN
LIVERPOOL, THURSDAY Monrov.

The steamer Great Western, Captain B. M. Matthews, ar-
rived at this port this morning, at two o'clock, after a voyage
of fourteen days and six hours ; she having left New York
on the 6th instant, at half-past two o'clock. She brings the
following passengers :—Miss M. 0. Beardmore, Miss and
Master Paget, Mr. J. C. Conway, Mr. Marsh and servant,
Mr. Palliser, Rev. E. Huntingford, Mr. John Anderson, Miss
E. Right, Rev. Mr. Loughman, Mr. G. Read, Mr. J. H.
Platt, Miss Hart, Mr. Peabody, Mr. Adlard, Miss Adlard
and sister, Mr. W. H. Morse, Mr. J. H. Cooper, Mr. Victor
Germain, Mr. J. Swift, Mr. P. Harris and lady, Mr. E. Ged-
ney, Mr. Sharpless, lady, and family ; Mr. P. Nichol, Mr-
N. Sarienome, Mr. E. Way, Mr. Hallen, Mr. T. Crugar,
Mr. J. W. Kenworthy, Mr. J. R. Moorwood and lady, Miss
Hale, Mr. Parkhurst and lady, Mr. L. C. Bliss, Mr. W. A-
Wilkes and lady, Mr. Terrance, Mr. Gerdes, Don de Ormai-
shoe, Mr. G. E. Castellon, Mr. H: Harrison, Mr. J. E. Mivarb
Mr. A. Connison, and Mr. Thomas and nephew.
OREGON.

From the New York Herald of the Gth November, we ex-
tract the following on the subject of the Oregon question :
The Washington Union is the official organ of Mr. Polk
and therstore the article from that paper, quoted by the Yew'
York Herald, may be considered as the manifesto of the
American Government in relation to this subject :
SEMI-OFFICIAL DECLARATION OF THE AMERI-
CAN GOVERNMENT ON THE OREGON QUESTION.

ENGLAND AND THE UNITED STATES..--THE PRESIDENT'S

FORTHCOMING MESSAGE.

The relations between the United States and Europe form
the great topic of conversation in all circlv, and between all
parties, at the present time, in this metropolis and all other
parts of the country. The prospect of the serious differences
between the two nations, leading to a collision, has been in-

creasing since the inaugural message of the President was
commented upon in the British Parliament. Since that pe-
riod, public opinion in both countries has been giving new
developments of the views and sentiments entertained, rela-
tive to their relations with each other, as expressed by the
respective Governments. _

On this side of the water, on all hands the question is
asked, what will be the temper of the President's message,
and of the debates in the ensuing Congress? This important
question has received, so far at least as regards the character
of the message, and the policy deteimined upon by the Ad-
ministration, a full and explicit reply in a very important
and extraordinary article, which has recently appeared in the
columns of the President's organ at Washington. The Union
—a newspaper published under the auspices of the President
and his Cabinet—published last Friday a leading article, de-
claring in the most unequivocal terms the absolute right of
the United States to the whole of the Oregon territory down
to the Russian line; and the manner in which this declara-
tion is made reveals, beyond the possibility of a doubt, that
it is a positive but informal annunciation of the President
and the Cabinet previous to the opening of Congress. On
this point there can be no question. We always believed
Mr. Polk's opinion, on this important question, to be as
broad and as long as it is now represented is be. This
opinion received strength and concurrence by developments
made during the recent election in this great metropolis, and
by the unanimity of all parties in the United States.
The present Government of the United States, then, has
fairly taken up its position on the Oregon question, declaring
it to have the best title to that territory from the Mexican
boundary on the south, to the Russian line on the north,
thds excluding the British claim to any portion of that
region. Such a declaration brings our Government, it will
be at once perceived, into immediate collision with England,
and the result no one can feretel. _ •

The interest and importance, therefore, of the coming
session of Congress and of the Parliament of England are in-
creased to an extent not easily to be exaggerated. Indeed,
never within the last quarter of a century have we had
a crisis at which more interest has attached to the proceed-
-4 ings of the legislative bodies of both countries. We are in
Ihe • commencement of a nqw era. Daily the nations of
.oArope are undergoing change, and forming new relations.
France and England, former rivals on land and water, are
now united in the closest brotherhood, and appear to be
alarmed at the progress of the United States, and the in-
fluence which this country is destined to exert upon the des-
tinies of the world hereafter. Everything is in the womb of
the future. We must wait with patience and fear on both
sides of the water.

VIEW OF THE AMERICAN ADMINISTRATION ON
THE OREGON QUESTION.

(From the Washington (official organ) Union, Oct. M.)
During the late presidential canvass, it was said, in allusion
to the Texan issue, "we are about voting on a question of
national identity—on the question as to what and where our
country shall henceforth be ?" So far as the Texan discus.
sion is concerned, that question is now substantially settled—
the recent unsuccessful attempt at protest by the Whigs of
New York city, to the contrary notwithstanding. But the
same great question as to what and where our country shall
be may come up in another and a still more imposing shape in
the approaching Congress, and if so, it will form the great
land question of this generation.
We allude, of course, to what we call, with the fullest
confidence, the American territory of Oregon. On this
great subject, within the last three or four years, public
sentiment has ripened fast. In the judgment of a vast
majority of this nation, the time is rapidly approaching—
or say, rather, has now some—when clear right in rela-
tion to this territory should embody itself in positive
law. For more than twenty years, the people of the
United States have seen what they regard as their indis-
putable title to this immense territory swamped in nego-
tiation. It was to be expected from the wisdom and true
policy of the British Government that this negotiation, so
barren heretofore of good result, when entered upon with a
new Administration, which, in its identity of opinion on this
subject, is as one man, and which is sustained in that opinion
byan overwhelming mass and mastery of public sentiment—
it was justly to be hoped aif the wisdom of England, that
the new negotiation, under such auspices, and in such hands,
would, ere long, begin at least to secure, instead of defeating,
as in past years it has defeated, the great ends of interna-
tional justice.
But, however this may be, whether the negotiations suc-
ceed or fail, there can be no doubt that the democratic Con-
gress now about to assemble will have a great duty to do in
relation to Oregon ; and we believe that, coming to Washing-
ton fresh from conference with their constituents, they
' will come:together resolved. to do it. With the strong resolu-
tions of the Baltimore convention, and the manly and pa-
triotic inaugural words of the President yet vivid in our me-
mory, we cannot doubt that the Administration is fully pre-
pared to perform with firmness its constitutional duty of re-
commending to Congress all such measures asmay be deemed
essential to the full and efficient protection of all our rights
over every rod of that great domain on the shore of the Pa-
cific, which is, by an accumulated mass of title, the rightful
property of the United States.
Of these measures, and indeed of this whole topic of the
American territory of Oregon, we shall have frequent occa-
sion to speak ; and it may be well enough to consider
for a moment, in the outset, the nature and the value
of this our great territorial possession. This territory,
lying between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific
Ocean, drained mainly by the Columbia river, bounded
on the north, the east, and the south by mountain
chains, and on the west by the ocean, extends from lati-
tude 42 deg. to latitude 54 deg. 40 min. North. It con-
tains more than 400,000 rquare miles, that is, it is more
than twice as large as France, and about half as large as
all the States now subject to the Federal constitution. The
American people claim, against all other nations, this whole
domain as a part of their own soil. The climate, through-
out nearly its whole extent, is mild and temperate. Accounts
vary somewhat as to its fertility and natural advantages;
but no man doubts that it is capable of sustaining an im-
mense population, nor that, when so peopled, it will control
the co nmerce of the Pacific, and the oriental trade of the
world.
The present legal condition—the policy—of this important
region, is quite extraordinary as it exists in theory; but it
is far more extraordinary as it stands in fact. In theory,
and by treaty stipulation, this land, with all its navigable
waters, has been, since 1828, open to the free and undis-
turbed use and enjoyment of the subjects of England and
the citizens of the United States. To terminate this state of
things, at the will of either of the parties, only one year's
notice is necessary.
This common enjoyment by the two nations of all the ad-
vantages of a territory more than twice as large as France,
being the somewhat singular theory and stipulated law of its
condition, stands in yet more singular contrast to the state
of things which has, in fact, grown up there within the last
twenty years. Leaving out of view the Indian tribes which
make this territory a part of their range, we find its present
civilised population to consist of about eight or nine hundred
British subjects, and about half as many thousand citizens of
the United States. The bulk of this population, both British and
American, is concentrated around the lower waters of the Co-
lumbia river, occupying, in its mass, a region not much more
than 100 miles in length, from east to west, and probably not
much more than 50 miles in breadth, from north to south.
The eight or nine hundred men, who compose the British
potion of this people, are all of them understood to be in the
service of the Hudson Bay Company, and are engaged as
hunters, trappers, or factors, in the fur trade. These men
have their principal station—at once a trading post and a
fort, called Fort Vancouver—on the river Columbia, about
eighty miles in a straight line from its mouth. Theme may
be two or three farms in the possession of these British sub-
jects; but, as a general rule, they live by the fur trade, and
do not till the soil at all. Besides Fort Vancouver, the Bay
Company has some twenty other stations in various parts of
the territory. But these are merely fortified stopping places
' for hunters and traders, and have each around them a little
nucleus of a community of from three to four to about fifty
souls.
The American population of Oregon, on the other hand,
numbering probably some four thousand, is collected in the
valley of the Wallamette river, which flows from the south
into the Columbia, near Fort Vancouver. These Americans
are farmers, graziers, and mechanics. They are a fixed po-
pulation. They live by tilling the soiL These men, having
waited for years in vain for some action by Congress which
should give them a government as American citizens, were,
at the date of the last advices from them, setting up a pro-
visional government for themselves, after the American
fashion, and dividing out their new homestead into towns
and counties, such as they had left in the United States.
Such being practically the present political condition of the
American farmers in Oregon, under the treaty stipulation of
1818, how is it with the British hunters and trappers of the
same region? The answer may be given in a few words.
These few hundred British subjects in the service of the Hud-
son Bay Company, govern by their laws, enforced either In
the courts of Clanada, or by judicial officers of the Com-
pany on the spot, every inch of the whole territory
of Oregon, save the few square miles actually under
tillage by the Americans. Nor is this all. These
servants of the Company have entirely monopolised,
for some twenty years past, the whole of the most lucra-
tive occupations in Oregon—fur-hunting and far-trading.
They have driven every American citizen oat of the business.
Let an American trapper or hunter appear anywhere in the
territory, and instantly two or three agents of the company
establish themselves by his side furnished amply with special
and merchandise, to outbid him for furs, to call in Indian or
white competition, and so break up his business. The indivi-
dual cannot stand against the organised and powerful com-
pany. His business is broken up, and 10 apes to farming in
the valley of WollameKe. This Is iicriv the replar ctiu% Qf