, 1862-09-20

plOIelS5 anu Jndt sulpS, nOOreu III Ine ldnu-
locked hayens of the Pacific, should tomorrow
receive by the iron rail the cargo which to-day
leaves the Atlantic for his well ll-freighted bark
one that said to the geographef and explorer of
unknown lands and SEAS that the loss of Frank
lin, the wandering of Mckenzie and Ross, the
suferngs of a Kane, and the bold navigation of a
Hartstein should, ofnecessity, be no longer chron
icled to the world as the events of our every day
life but should hereafter be regarded as the vis
ionary wanderings of men in search of a Philoso-
piers Stone.
1t was one that informed the political economist
and fnancier that here was a route which trade
and travel must in time build up; that here his
money and means would grow and multiply. One
admonishing the decaying and ating aynas-
ties of an old worldwide, marshalling themselves
under every chance adventure, are content to-day
with Pope, tomorrow Kossuth, and the next
with Garbaldi or Lamorcer, that the western
world was opening wide the gates, and portals
free, to the lovers and seekers of political liberty
and an asylum from the whitening IRON heel of
Monarchs, Kings and Despots. Telling the in
dustrious artisan to leave the crowded and over
grown city, where poverty and penury was the
price of his toll for years, and seek western
home, and by his head and by his hand, add
new revolution to the wheel of progress.
1t was one that told the sturdy yeoman of our
lay as yet untouched; and which would appre-
ciate and hail the coming of his plough by the to-
ken of smile in a harvest of wealth and plenty
1t told the aboriginees of half continent that
the rude sites of their homes that had listened
age after age to nought but the jargon of trade
for furs and peltries, should soon catch new
sound in the tramp of the march of civilization as
it invaded the silence of their solitude.
1t was one which said to the lover of wild ro-
nance, " See cities and towns reared by the maj
c of labor, upon sites and lands once claimed and
ownod by race fast passing away, and who die
by the white mans breath"
1t was one that told the Christian Patriot to be
content to live in a country which should be ruled
by freemen; and when surrounded by the Bar of
God, his memory should be cherished by CRATE
full people and that, bidding adieu to the land
he had helped to maintain, would 60, "not like
the quarry slave, scourged to his dungeon but
sustained and soothed by an unfalterng trust,
would approach his grave, like one who wraps
the drapery of his couch about him aud lies down
to pleasant dreams"
Though this expedition was fraught with results
as gratifying to its projectors as the most san
gune could well have anticipated, still no prac-
teal steps were taken by our Government till
many years later to maintain the claim thus so
well established by the exploration of the country.
The trading post of Astoria it is true, reared its
head only to fall again amid the contentious of
rival and unscrupulouS foreign trading companies,
and the war with the mother country of 1912 was
a sufficiently great reason why nothing was done
by our Government to hold out inducements to
our citizens to seek new homes upon the western
ocean, to be obtained then only by thousands of
miles of travel of prairie waste and rugged noun
tain barrier; and through large and savage tribes
who had not felt the strong arm of the Govern
ment; and the consequence was that quarter of
a century was allowed to pass without a single
step being taken by our Government by which it
should be held, or even a discussion of the sub
ject of American occupancy in our own Legisla-
tive halls. l have always considered the inaction
of our Government on this subject censurable in
itself, and at that time, especially unjust to
the friends of the acquisition of Louisiana, was
that the report of the explorations of Lewis and
Clark was not published until 1914, and even then
by the aid of private parties. Shame upon the
government that to-day is sending forth the por
traits of every hideous reptile, plant and fossil
between here and the Atlantic coast, when it hes
itated at that day to publish to the world the re-
suits of the important geographical discoveries of
the first of American explorations.
About the year 1928, however, when we found
that our neighbors across our northern border
were about divesting us of the right and title to
our Pacific possessions. the question for the first
time came up in practical shape and assumed
proportions well calculated to threaten the friend
ly relations of England and America In both
halls of Congress the discussion of the subject
waxed warm, and the leading Statesmen of the
nation, Saver, Linn, Benton, Morehead Young,
MacRoberts, Rves and Calhoun, each and all
placed upon the country's record their views as to
the course to be pursued in case so critical. The
opinions Of some of our ablest military men were
called for to aid the decision and among the rest
that of our lata Ouarfermasfer General Thomas
S. Jessup to whom was addressed letter by the
House of Representatives, asking his views as to
what military movements and course should be
had in the maintenance of our right to the pos
session of Oregon-as the whole North Pacific
was then called; and the noble hero-peace to
his ashes replied in communication so charac-
teristic Of his boldness and clear foresight into
projects of great national import, recommending
the establishment of line of Military Posts from
Council Bluff to the mouth of the Columbia, and
that two ships of war should be Immediately sent,
via Cape Horn, to the mouth oil the Columbia
freighted with arms and munitions, to assert and
maintain by force our right to the country. AS
history records, this gave great umbrage and
alarm to the British Government, and warm and
frequent was the correspondence between Mr..
Rush, who was then Minister to England, and
Messrs Haskinson and Sir Stratford Canning,
English Commissioners relative to the contents
of General Jessup's letter, and the consequence
was that milder and probably less wise counsels
were allowed to prevail.
Bllt the Statesmen of that dav were not willing