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Was it not this same Mr. Webster who once said that California would never raise a bushel of wheat or a pound of wool? In matters of constitutional law, or international politics, he had no superior; but after a residence of six years in this country, Dr. Whitman's knowledge, gained by actual experience, was vastly better than any that Mr. Webster could possibly have had, touching the actual value of this country. At that time Mr. Webster probably held the popular belief that our "inland empire" was a barren desert. For many years before, and up to 1842, all the grain, and most of the vegetables, used at Fort Walla Walla, had been carried twenty-five miles; as it was not thought possible to raise anything on the sage brush and bunchgrass lands in that vicinity. Now, however, you may stand at the old fort, and behold thousands of acres of land that produce such crops as would make even Daniel Webster, were he still alive, admit that he had, a long time ago, underrated this country, and its importance as related to the United States.
I will not undertake to say just how much weight Dr. Whitman's representations had with either Mr. Webster or President Tyler, but there can be no doubt in which direction it fell. In the spring of 1842 negotiations were pending between our government and that of Great Britain, looking to an adjustment of boundary between this country and the British Possessions. Parties who started across the plains at that time arrived at Whitman's mission in the autumn, and told the Doctor of these negotiations. It is but fair and natural to suppose that the Doctor, as well as his informant, thought that these negotiations would, or at least might, settle the line clear through—from ocean to ocean. He knew the Hudson's Bay Company could be relied on to give information to the English concerning the value of this country, but who could be expected to give much information to our government? He determined to impose the task on himself. The hardships, dangers and suffering that he underwent on that journey are certainly greater than are usually borne by the ordinary man of to-day, who makes the pilgrimage to see the president and ask for some of the "loaves and fishes."
But before Dr. Whitman arrived in Washington the pending negotiations had been cut short, by cutting the boundary line in two. The eastern portion had been settled by the Ashburton treaty—the western portion, and the portion that related to Oregon, remained to be settled. It was settled by the treaty of 1846, and it was upon
