Under the influence of this salutary language and interview, Ellis arrived at my residence, in Wallamet, about the 1st instant, having, a short time before, got a hasty communication, written in excitement, from Dr. Whitman, who was under serious apprehensions that it might be avenged upon some of the whites of the upper country. Be assured I was happy to see this my most faithful friend and interpreter. Sir, pardon me for saying—isolated as we are here, agitated as we have a thousand times been by faithless savages and still more faithless whites, responsible, yet powerless and defenseless, in our unsettled state of things—to meet with this honest man, this real friend, though an Indian, gave me hearty pleasure.
His thorough education at Red River molded him into more of the white man than Indian. His prudence and good management with his tribe sanctioned the choice that had been made, and all the whites spoke handsomely of his kind offices and obliging deportment, while immigrating through his country. Being satisfied of the safety and policy, I feasted him, and took at once unobserved measures to have him invited to every respectable place abroad, where the ladies and gentlemen received him so cordially, and feasted him so richly and delicately, that he almost forgot the object of his embassy, and, I verily believe, thought extremely highly of the whites of Wallamet, however ill he might have thought of the conduct of the Californians.
Being anxious to make this visit useful to him and his people, as well as pleasant, after spending a few days in visiting the schools, as well as the principal inhabitants and places of interest, I showed him my little library; told him to make himself at home; put on my farmer’s garb and commenced working upon my plantation. He soon came out, accompanied by a wealthy cousin, and begged for tools to assist me. I loaned them, and found he was much at home in their use. He spent with me a sufficient length of time to convince me of the truth reported concerning his cheerfulness in labor, as well as his knowledge, application, and assiduity in business. He spoke sensibly of the advantages of industry, and the astonishing change that had been effected among his people by the cultivation of the soil; assured me that every family or lodge now raised an abundance for home consumption, besides having considerable quantities to barter with the whites. He says he raised, himself, the past season, six hundred bushels of peas, with a fine crop of wheat, potatoes, beans, etc.; spoke properly of its moral and social effects. Wars were no longer talked of, and the chase was nearly abandoned; the book and the Bible consumed their leisure moments. Polygamy, once so common, was now done away with, except in two solitary cases, and not a lodge of his people but observed the Sabbath, and regularly attended morning and evening devotion. This was only corroborative of what I had previously heard from other sources. He spent ten days with me in the most cheerful, agreeable, and profitable manner, and at the close I felt myself the happier and better for the visit; nor did I marvel that his influence was increasing and the prospects of his people brightening.
Pardon me, for, in thinking of his visit and dwelling upon his excellences, I had like to have forgotten his agency. Learning from Dr. Whitman, who resides in their midst, how much they were all excited by reason of the treacherous and violent death of this educated and accomplished young chief, and perhaps more especially by the loss they had sustained; and then, after suffering so many hardships and encountering so many dangers, losing the whole,—I apprehended there might be much difficulty in adjusting it, particularly as they lay much stress upon the restless disaffected scamps late from Wallamet to California, loading them with the vile epithets of “dogs,” “thieves,” etc., from which they believed, or affected to, that the slanderous reports of our citizens caused all their loss and disasters, and therefore held us responsible. He assured me that the Cayuses, Wallawallas, Nez Percés, Spokans, Ponderays, and Snakes were all on terms of amity, and that a portion of the aggrieved party were for raising about two thousand warriors of these formidable tribes and marching to California at once, and, nobly revenging themselves on the inhabitants by capture and plunder, enrich themselves upon the spoils; others, not indisposed to the enterprise, wished first to learn how it would be regarded here, and whether we would remain neutral in the affair. A third party were for holding us responsible, as Elijah was killed by an American, and the Americans incensed the Spaniards. Ellis reminded me at the same time of the ill-success the chiefs met with in trading off their ten-dollar drafts for herds with the immigrants; which drafts I had sent up by Mr. Lee, my interpreter, to secure peace and safety while the immigrants were passing through their country, the year before so many having been pillaged and robbed of their effects, through the inattention of the chiefs.
Sir, how this affair will end is difficult to conjecture; the general impression is, that it will lend to the most disastrous consequences to the Californians themselves, or to the colony of the Wallamet Valley. My principal fear is, that it will result in so much jealousy, prejudice, and disaffection, as to divert their minds from the pursuit of knowledge, agriculture, and the means of civilization, which they have been for such a length of time so laudably engaged in obtaining.
Should this be the case with these numerous, brave, and formidable tribes, the results to them, and to us, would be indeed most calamitous. To prevent such a result, I wrote, through Ellis, a long, cordial, and rather sympathizing letter to the chiefs of these tribes, assuring them that I should at once write to the governor of California, to Captain Sutter, and to our great chiefs respecting this matter. With a view to divert attention, and promote good feeling, I invited all the chiefs to come down in the fall, before the arrival of the immigrants, in company with Dr. Whitman and Mr. Spalding, and confer with me upon this subject; at the same time, as they had been so unfortunate, to bring along their ten-dollar drafts, and exchange them with me for a cow and calf each, out of my own herds. I likewise wrote them, that on condition they would defer going to California till the spring of 1847, and each chief assist me to the amount of two beaver skins, to get a good manual labor literary institution established for the English education of their sons and daughters (a subject they feel the deepest interest in), I would use every measure to get the unhappy affair adjusted; and, as a token of my regard for them, would, from my private funds, give the chiefs five hundred dollars, to assist them in purchasing young cows in California. I likewise proffered, as they are so eager for it, to start the English school next fall, by giving them the services of Mr. Lee, my interpreter, for four months, commencing in November next.
Ellis more than properly appreciated my motives and proffers, and said he was of the full belief the chiefs would accede to my proposition; spoke of the importance of the English school, and of the strong and general desire to obtain it. He left in high hopes of a continuance of peace and onward prosperity to his people.
A few days later brought me into another excitement and difficulty at Vancouver. Two young men, named in McLaughlin’s communication to this government (a copy of which, marked A, together with a reply, accompanies these dispatches), crossed the Columbia River, and, unobserved, in the midst of a little thicket something over half a mile from Fort Vancouver, felled some timber, threw up a few logs in the shape of a hut, intending soon to finish it, put up a paper upon a contiguous tree, stating that they had commenced and intended to establish a claim agreeably with ——; here the note ended. Some one about the establishment, observing the paper and commencement of the hut, reported it to the governor, who sent down at once and had all the timber removed from the vicinity, the tree felled, and that, with the paper likewise, removed. They had hardly cleared the ground when the claimants arrived with a surveyor, and commenced surveying off a section of land, embracing the post first commenced upon. They were inquired of, at the instance of Governor McLaughlin, as to their object and intentions. They at once laid down the chain, dropped all business, and walked up to the fort. Several respectable and influential American citizens happened to be present on business, who, with myself, were respectfully invited to hear the discussion.
Williamson, a modest and respectable young man, demeaned himself with propriety; but Alderman, his associate, a boisterous, hare-brained young fellow, caused me (as occasionally others do) to blush for American honor. His language was most severe, and, but for the sake of the country’s quiet, could not have been endured; the governor and Mr. Douglas displaying their usual calmness and forbearance. I heard the discussion for two hours; and, becoming satisfied that no possible good could grow out of it, remarked that with the cheerful consent of both parties I would give my sense of the matter.
Each readily consenting, I thought best to come up on the blind side of Alderman; treated his measures with less severity, and himself with more consideration and respect, than he anticipated; then spoke of Greenough’s construction of the treaty between the two governments (which I happened to have with me); of the immense district of country dependent upon this establishment for supplies in beef, pork, etc., and as evidence that they had no more land contiguous than was necessary for their purposes, spoke of the number of cattle and other stock that had died of starvation during the last winter; dwelt upon the importance of union and good feeling among all the whites, surrounded as we were by savages, in our weak and defenseless condition, and especially of the propriety of establishing correct precedents in our unsettled state, regarding land claims; and, without advising particularly either party, took my seat.