LESTER BURRELL SHIPPEE
278 subject for he
had just received from a resident of Oregon
a letter depicting the distressing situation of the colony where the inhabitants were being harassed by the Indians.
McClernand's appeal for immediate action was supported by a message from the President transmitting a memorial from the legislative assembly of the Provisional Government. 25 The sorry condition of the people was described and Congress was urged to provide both an organized government and to send men to protect the whites in Oregon from the natives. "If it be at all the intention of our honored parent," concluded the memorial, "to spread her guardian wing over her sons and daughters in Oregon, she surely will not refuse to do so now, when they are struggling with all the ills of a weak and temporary government, and when the perils are daily thickening around them and preparing to When the ensuing summer's sun burst upon their heads. shall have dispelled the snow from the mountains, we shall look with glowing hope and restless anxiety for the coming
of your laws and your arms." President Polk recommended the appeal to the earnest atand advised provision for a regiment of
tention of Congress
mounted men and authority
for the
Oregon government
to
a volunteer force; these together, he thought, would be sufficient to deal with the Indian troubles. He pointed out the necessity of prompt action if the territory was to benefit raise
that year for if the laws were enacted too late in the the mountain passes would be closed and it would be late in the spring of 1849 before assistance could reach
by
it
summer
the Columbia valley.
Howell Cobb of Georgia agreed that immediate action was necessary, but Collamer (Maine) raised the question as to why the mounted riflemen provided for by the last Congress had not been used for the protection of Oregon. He was not satisfied with Cobb's explanation that these men had been used in the Mexican War, since the bill had made no especial The memorial Polk, Diary, II, 463-4. 25 Richardson, Messages, IV, 584-6. and papers were brought by Joseph Meek, who had been sent on this mission at about the same time Thornton had left with the Governor's letter for Douglas. rival factions in Oregon were represented by the two messengers.
Two
