mation of the arrival of an American vessel on an unknown errand. The same express carried a request from Slacum to Finlayson of the latter station, to send a pilot to bring the Loriot up the river, which was done. Slacum was also invited to visit Fort Vancouver. Further, Douglas, being on an errand to Fort George, took Slacum in his canoe and landed him at Fort Vancouver the 2d of January, 1837.
As the Loriot had no cargo, the object of her visit was politely asked. In terms equally courteous, the fur magnates were told that it was a private expedition for the purpose of gaining knowledge, and to meet an expedition overland from the United States.
But McLoughlin was not to be so easily deceived. He plainly saw the spy in the private gentleman travelling for information,[1] and further, that the visitor was a government agent of the United States. All he saw and heard would in due time be reported to his government. As a matter of course, McLoughlin need not answer impertinent inquiries, but would it not be better for the fur company to make its own statement fully and freely in regard to all matters at issue, and so have them placed upon the record? And this was done.[2]
Slacum remained several days at Fort Vancouver, departing on the 10th of January for the Willamette
- ↑ McLoughlin's Private Papers, MS., 2d ser. 5.
- ↑ Slacum's report, after relating briefly the incidents of his journey and reception at Fort Vancouver, gives an abstract of the history of the Hudson's Bay Company from the date of its charter, with the extent and rules of trade of the company in Oregon, a description of Fort Vancouver, an account of the American vessels that had visited the Columbia River since the restoration of Astoria in 1818, remarks upon Indian slavery, with other statistical information about the Indians, an elaborate account of the mission, and some brief observations upon the physical features of the country. In addition to Slacum's report, the same document contains one by Kelley, giving a brief account of his expedition to California and Oregon, with many valuable remarks upon the geography, topography, and natural history of those countries, ending with an account of the profits of the fur company, its monopoly of trade, and arbitrary rule over all persons in the country, with reminiscences of his own unpleasant experiences. The document contains other memorials, to which I shall have occasion to refer in a future chapter. The whole constitutes the Report of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, to which was referred a Message from the President of the United States, with a resolution of the House, in relation to the territory of the United States beyond the Rocky Mountains. February 16, 1839.
