New-York tribune., 1901-03-24

yoyagcurs and the white employees Of the com
pany alike with a paternal yet firm rule, and
dispensed hospitality with a feudal munitcence.
In this book Mrs. Dye has put into the form of
a vivacious narrative account Of his intlu-
ence and OF the developments by which the
English rule ousted from that part of the
country. which afterward was incorporated into
the United States Like Thucydides and Livy.
Mrs. Dye does not hesitate TO fill the mouths
of her personages with the speeches and con
versations they might and could have deliv-
cred and their doings are given with such detail
as might have been noted by experiencing
them with the persons concerned The result
makes for a picturesque narrative though how
far for the exact truth Of history may be
question. 1t is a stirring series Of events she
relates, full Of adventure and Of a keen p.ct-
uresqueness.
The portrait Of Dr. Mclaughlin shown in the
frontispiece gives reason for the the Ind
ians gave him-the White Headed Eagle: a
tall. straight figure with piercing eyes and long
flowing white hair II makes expect
count of no ordinary man, and the expectation
is not disappointed. When. in $50 as factor
Of the Northwest Fur Company. he disturbed
the quiet of the London directors by utterng
a passionate plea for better terms in the his
torc union with the old Hudson's Bay Com
pany he made himself both feared and ad-
mired. He must be quieted; he must have
room for executive sway, and he sent with
absolute powers to rule in that Columbia De
partment, Of which Congress and Parliament
had agreed upon joint occupancy. There he
became the Emperor Of the West" with the
sceptre OF Gar. There was, as Mrs Dye ex-
presses il. mo law, court, government
nothing from the Spanish land 10 Sitka. but the
arbitrary viii Of Or. John Mclaughlin" Born
in Canada, educated physician in England
he had refused to serve with his brother in the
army against Napoleon, whom he admired as
a hero and returned TO his native wilderness
There he won the place he kept so long in the
Hudson's Bay Company. In 1892 he saw the
first American come to trap and trade-Na-
thaniel J. Wyeth, of Boston-was neghbory
and kindly to him, but drove him to the wall
and compelled him to sell for what he was
willing to give. Then he saw the American
missionaries come, the Whitmans and Jason
Lee, who stirred the people Of the Eastern
States TO send emigrants and settle in the Far
Western country, but he did not appreciate the
meaning of it. Mrs. Dye represents him say
ing to one of his subordinates who had insisted
that before die shall see the Yankees
coming across the mountains with their teams
and families: "As well might they undertake
to go to the moon" laughing in his genial way
feeIlnS that ne had the pest OF inc di5uiileIi'
Then came Commodore Wilkes. in 1871, at the
head Of an exploring squadron, bearing the ban
ners Of Uncle Sam:
The Hudsons Bay Company on the Columbia
had paid little attention the young republic
at the East; they sometimes forgot there
a United States but this sudden apparition
startled them with it's possibilities. Conciliatory
/ urbane troubled, the doctor and Douglas Wis
tied the American commodore on shipboard.
He entertained the Americans and enchanted
them with his feudal hospitality; and only
by the missionaries were the commodore's eyes
opened TO the fact that the Hudsons Bay Com