WASHINGTON STATE LIBRARYOL.YMPIA. WAS~NlitlOH

The Hand of God in the Historyof the Pacific Coast.

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ANNUAL ADDRESS DELIVERED BEFORE THE TRUSTEES, FACULTY,

STUDENTS AND FRIENDS OF WHITMAN COLLEGE AT THE

SIXTH COMMENCEMENT, JUNE I, 1888, BY REV.

MYRON EELLS.

MR, PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF

TRU",TEES AND FACULTY OF WHITMAN

COLLEGE. LADIES AND GENTLEMEN:

-Fifty years ago a little b/l.lld ofnine missionaries were on tLeir wayfrom t,he U oited States to Oregon.A copy of the journal of one of themwhich I have Bays that on June 1btt~e.f were at Fort William, on theLa.ramie ri ver, where they had ar­rived two d/l.Ys prev=ous, and fromwhich place they st,arted the nextday. The recorn for that day W/l.Svery common place. It reads thns :"June 1st, Friday, (for it was on thesame d/l.Y of the week as it is thisyear) _ Atterd t,o writing. Indianwomen and children continuallycalling on UR. The company givesus a horse, Mr. Gray t/l.kes one heleft hele a year ago." Other recordssbow that that pedod of two dayswas spelJt bJ tbe ladies in wa~hing,

mending, writing and the like, andby the gentlemen in making repairsand arrangements for the remainderof the journey. It was a shortperiod of ff~St, to repair up the past,and prepare f0r tile fut1ue. In thi"re8pect it was an emblem of whatwe ace hlore for to-llay to review thePllst and prepare for the future, andthi8 is true whether we refer to thGsestudents of 'the in8titution who areonly J,artially through tLeir coursean.1 are still on their journey

th rough college, as those pioneerswere on their journey flfty yellrsago'; or whetber we speakof those who are now graduatingand who are Rtoppil'g for a day ortwo at the Fort, preparatory togoing on 'I'l"ith their educationthrough life; or whether mention ismade of the college, its founder,patron8, and all of you who comehere to ~elellrate the period from1838 to 1888, it is a. short period ofrest to look back over the past andprepllr~ for the future. In doing soI wi8h to speak of the Hand ofProvidence in the history of thisPacific Coast, and to show fir8t andmention how that band haB guidedus, so that we have become what weare-that i8 to review the pabt; andlast but briefly, to point to 8 lesson,which we ought to learn, that is toprepare for t,he future.

An old proverb says:

"There is a providence that shapes ourends

Rough hew them as we will."

And (lne who has read carefullythe addresses made before the Pio­neer Society of Oregon, will oftenfind in regard to the word of thosemen who came to this coast in thethi, ties and forties the old expres­sion usetl, "They budded bettert han they knew;" when they laid thefoundation of the State of Oregon.

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Both cf these proverbs are only an­otber way of expressing the truth ofa verse in Holy Writ, "the MostHigh ruleth in the kingdom of menand giveth it to whomsoever hewill. "

The maps of the United States, asmade at the beginning of this cen­tury, and as made now, are verydifferent, as far as respects thiscoast.. All of the United Stateswe8t of the Rocky mountains wasleft off; California, Nevada, Utah,New Mexico, Arizona, and a part ofMontana, with Alaska, with its areaof one million, four hundred thou·8aud square miles (1,431,477) ortwo-seventh of the United States.

Less than fifty years ago the titleto much of this country was in dispute b",tween the United States andGreat Britain, and the rest uur government made no pretentions toclaim.

I bold in my hanJ, an old lindwOln out letter which I captured inMassachusett", which WIiS writtenby one of that band who came herefifty years a~o llOn is dated "Wilet-por, Oct.4, 1838." Of the popula­tion it says. "The country is largeand there are comparatively few inhabitants in it. The Hudson's BayCompany hlive a nuwller of tradingP08ts which are generally abontthree hundred miles a·part. Mr.Spalding ar.d Dr. Whitman eachhave) station about 125 miles apart.The M ethodi,;t mission hlivl' twostations, one 150 miles, Hnd tLeother 400 miles from here (TheDalles and Salem). Be8ides thesesettlements there are no ot.hers inthis gl"eat territory."

Again here i8 another letter, writ·ten by the same person (Mrs. M. F.Eells) to a sister in Ma8sacu USl~tt.8

which begiu!!. "Your letterilatedSept. 12th, 1841, I :-eceived J ul.v,1843," twenty two months on theway. I refer to these items as t.\H'y

are an index of the state of affliirsthen. Now how difl'erent. We havea population of abont two and aqUlirter million) e- several trans·continental railrolids. numerous in­teroallines of steamer', and foreignlines to China, Japan and Australia,and other countries. unknown mil­Hoes of dollars already taken fromau r gold and sil ver mineR; 00 rricuer wealth in farms, iron, stock,foretlts, coal, manufaoturetl and thelike, and our prospective populationof at leaRt sixt.y million, as many asthere in the whole Uuited Statesprospeetive wealth of which I amnot competent to make an estimat.e­all belonging to the United State".

It. IS acknowledged without dis­pute that Great Britain wan ted theOregon of 1838, not to devl!lop itsresource", but to keep it simplyatlit was. a fur producing country forthe benefit of the Huosou'tl BayCompany. It is just 8S pl"lDly ..c­knllwledged that nnder the UnitedSlates It has been developed farmore than it would have been hadGreat Britain obtaioed it. Ameri·caus claim thi:l, and the British ..c·knowledge it to be troe. SIlYli Dr.W. F. Tolmer, who came to thiscoast in 1833, ILnd who was fol' .1

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longtime connected witll tblit HlIrl-son'<I BtlY Company which tlleli it!!ntmollt to oltttlin this northwestCORSt, who lived for a long time atVancouver after which he was incharge of Fort Nisqually for manyyears, aud Bpent his last days atVictoria, always loyal to GreatBritain, and who before his recentdeath had been a resident of this coast

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for more than fifty yearl<;~says thisgentleman in a letter to the PioneerSociet.y of Oregon in 1884: "I havenever hellrd a Briton deny th'll. theU Dlted StateR men have better de:veloped Washington since the tredyof 1846, than, all things considered,ou r people, British aud Cauad ian,

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could possibly have done in thesame period." (Transaction Or. Pio­neer Society 1884 p. 29.)

Preyious to the time when GreatBritain was trying to obtain posses'sion of a part of this coast. and dur­ing a part of the time, Spain. Franceand Russia all made some attemptsto get bold of it. And it i'l just asplain, when we look at the coloniesof these other countries ill otherpart.s of the world, that if either ofthese nations hlld obtained it,it would not bave been developedas much all it would have beeneven under Great Britain, and hencevery much less than it has beenunner the Uuited States. But thesenation3 which have been mentiCtneJare among tue foremost nations ofthe globe, hence it io; plain that tldsCOltst bill! l.een more highly develop,ed by I1S under tue Providence ofGod, than it would have been underany otber natiun, and this prosperit.yill likely te contInue in tue future.

The question flOW arises, how has•

tbis been Lrought ahout?was it avianof man'll,levising or Dot? I answer:it was \lut the VlllD of any man, forin geneCllI the people, and especitlUythe guvernment of the United Statesvlltnned tUf' other way. Nor was it

. chance. There wall a great intelligeutArchitect who laid UIA plan; an_Imen did the work-cllrriel1 out theplan, but in dOIDg 80 they "builde<1better than they knew."

As many a sol<1ier, has fou~htandbel ped to win 110 grand victory. wbohad nothiug to tl0 in. planning thE!

•. battle, who was not capable of mak·ing a sllccessful plan, and who if hehad 'tried would have malie so manyblunders that the enemy would havegained tbe victory, so there waBmany a battle fought before theU niled States gained this coast,diplomatic, intellectual and moral,in which men, as it were, fought, butwhich neither men or our govern·

ment planned. A greater Captaindid this, that Providence "whichshapes our ends, roogh hew themas we will."

Much has been said and writtenof late yellrs in regard to what mis­sions have done to save this coast totue Nlltion, that is bow God bonoredthe missions in making them thosinstrumental in this great work-­but not only has God done this, hehas done more, he has also over­ruled many other events in whichmissions had nothing to do, in orderto accomplish this.

How this all occurred however isnot attributed to ODe great event ofProvidence like a single great bat·tle, 80 much as to a s"ries of Prov­idences: intertwined, as the links ofa chain; it is due to a chain of Prov­idences, of which God is the author.Turee items now are to be consider­ed, first how little our governmentdid to obtain this coaBt, second, howmuch Great Britain did to obtain it,and thirJ what God did for us sothat the action of men was overruledto accomplish either far more thanthey intended, or else directly con­trary to what tuey intended. True,if the United States ,had bent everyenergy to acquire this northwestCOll.8t, and had been successfulGod's hand would stil1 have been init. Bilt it is very interesting to note,how, when tbe United states di,l notdo so tLe Most High still ruled inthe kingdoms of men, and ga vp themto whomsoever he would.

WHAT THE UNITED STATES AS AGOVERNMENT DID.

First,-In 1803 Bue made a treatywith France, hy which Ilhe obtainedLousiana, and with it all of theFrench title, by contiguity to land,west to the Paciiic ocean, that is be.cause the French had discovered theMississippi river, and travelled 110

little to the west, Frllnce claimedthe country drained by it on the

lwest, where the French had neverbeen, or any other civilized nation,up its tributaries to the Rockymountains, and even west of themto the Pacific; a very slight founda­tion. Still that little title whichthe United States obtained hy thispurchase of fifteen millions of dol·lars led

Second, Thomas Jefferson, ourPresident, in connection with otherideas of his to tlend Lewis and Clarkeon an exploring expt dition to thiscoast in 1804-5 and 6. Previous tothis, while minister to France, Jef-,ferson had thought considerablyabout tlllR coast, and had induced afamous trllvelll'r Ledyar(j to beginan explorinl;.· expedition throughAsia in RU!lsia, to America, anddown the coast to this part andthence across the Rocky monntaioR,to the head waters of the Mississ­ippi. But this was not an officialact of our government, nnd it failedbecause that after Ledyard started,the Russian government turned himbaokasaspy. (Bento'l, Vol. 1:14)But after Jefferson becamH Presi·dent, and the Louisana purchasehad been made, Jefferson's i,leaswere renewed, anil he sent on t Lewisand Clarke. This was the only ex­pedition of IHscovery which ourgovernment sent ont, whieh waR ofany value in giving us 11 title toOregon. True in 1841 CommodoreWilkes' expe,iition ,xplored thecoast, and iu 1843 Gen. FremontWIlS sent across the cOlltinent, bn tthat was too Jate t.o acquire nnytitle by discovery. They simply gavevRlullble information to ~overn­

numt ahont theconntry. Wilkes' ex·J.>edition Wl\8 even 110 afraid of milk­ing trouble with England that itwoul.l not enconra~e the Americansettlers in the Willllmette valle)' toform a provisional government, 91­thongh th..y were making an effortto do so-a government which

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should be actually auxiliary andloyal to the United States, thonghnot legally - so, becan se the treatyhaa not been made, by which theUnited States l\c-qoireli a title toOregon-that is a government whicbshould be provisional, or proviilefor the tia:.e being until the UnitedStates should acquire the country_and give her a territorial form ofgovernment.

Thiril,-In 1818 she made a treatywith Great Britain, by which wejointly with that nation were allow­ed to occopy this countr.v, a trelltywhich was renewed in 1828.

Fourt.h,-In 1819 onr governmentmade a treaty with Spain, by whichwe acqnired Florida, and also allthe rights which Spain had acquiredbecause of her dit'lcoveries on thiscoat'lt, between Californid and theRt1ssian Jlo~seSBlOns.

Fifth,-These were, T believe theooly tbing!; which the governmentas a government did to Be'quire the('ountry until the Oregon treaty wasmade in 1846.

True Senators Bellton and Linnof Mitlsouri, and FloJG of VirgilJia.and a few others, worked nohly todo !IornetLing, but \hey were in theminorit.y, mnde mot.ions, wh ieh,-J iclnot accomplish anytldng', andblamed the majority, whORe ... ppeehefolin tbe light of the present day aretlomp.whnt amusing, aud yet at. th .. ttiule were convincing. Said Mr.DicKer"on of New Jersey in the U.S. Senute in 1855, atter speaking ofthe Impostlibility, almost, of a Sen·aLor from Oregon, ever going toWashington overlallll, and return­ing in a year. "It would he moreexp"ditious howevpr to come bywater round Cape Horn, or throngbBehring'!! straHM, round the northcoast of the continent to Bllffins Baythrong-h Davis' foItraits to the At,lan­tic Ocean, and so on to Wa"h ington.It ill troe, this pa.s~8ge is not dis-

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covered yet, except u !Jon the maps,but it will he as soon as Oregon willbe a Stllte." (Trans. Oregon PioneerSociety 1872-5 p. 65 )

Said Mr. Baruour of Virginia ill1825, "Oregon can never be one ofthe United States. Would to heaventhere was Ii perpetual decree, thatshould forever secure the aboril'tinesof that soil, the quiet possession ofthe country tbey now enjoy."(Trans. Pioneer Society of Oregon,1878 p. 3 )

In 18i3 Mr. McDuffie of SouthCarolina said. "I would not (forcultivation) give a pincll of sDufffur the whole territory of Oregon.If, to enable our people to go tbere,an em bankment of only five feet

•had tu be removed, I would not con-sent to spend five dollars to removeit. I thank God for his mercy inplacing the Rocky mountainsthere. "

In the United Slates Senate in1844 a resolution was offered to givethe necessary twelve months' noticeto Great Britain for the terminationof the treaty whicb granted jointoccupancy to both nations to whatwas tben Oregon.

All the Senators claimed our rightto be good as far north as 40 degrees,and yet for various reason a major­ity of them opposed the motion,some for fear it would involve us inWllr, some becaus6 they were afraidit would have a bad f'ffect on thenegotiations which, it was said,would soon be made, and for whichpreliminary arrangements were inprogress, some because of theworthle8snestl of the country, andsome because they wanted no moreterritory.

In regard to these latter points,Mr. Dayton of New Jel'sey, quotedthe following description of tbecountry from the Christian Advocate,of February 7, 1844: "Wito theexception of lands along the Wil·

lamette and strips along a few of thewater courfles the whole country isamong the most irreclaimable bar­ren wa8111S of which we have read,except tbe Desert of Sahara. Nor istbis the worst of it. The climate isso unfriendly to human life that thenative population has dwindledaway ullder the ravages of itsmalaria to a degree which defies allhistory to furnish a parallel in sowide a range of country."

He also read from the LouisvilleJounwl, as repu blished in the Na­tional Intelligence!' of Washington,as follows: "Of all the countrieson the face of thisearth,it (Oregon)is one of the least favored by heaven.It is the mere riddlings of creation.It is almost as barren as the Desertof Africa, and quite as unhealthy asthe Campania of Italy. Now thata territory should excite the hopesand cupidity of citizens of tbeUnited States, indorsing them toleave comfortable humes for iti! heapof sands is indeed passing strange.Russia has her Siberia, and Eng.land ber Botany Bay, !lond if theUnited States should ever need acoun try to which to banish itsrogues and scoundrels the utility ofBuch a region a6 Oregon would bedemonstrated. Until then we areperfectly willing to leave this mag­nificent conntry to .the Indians,trappers and buffaloes that roamover its sand banks, and by the sideof its rushing and unnavigablerivers."

After quoting more of a similarcharacter, Mr. Dayton said, "I con­fess these descriptions are somewhatbelow my estimate. I had thoughtit a poor country as a wbole, but notq 11 ite so poor as these au thentic ac­counts would make it. Yet theseaccounts are substantially correct asapplied to the country as a whole,though I have no doubt there aresome green spots, Borne strips along

[ 6 Jthe streams, which may be good andeven perhaps rich for agriculturalpurposes, and it is to these spotsthat the glowing descriptions havebeen apr>lied. * * Junging fromall sources of authentic informationto which I ha\'e had access I shouldthink the territory taken together avery poor region for agricultu ral pur­poses and in that respect unworthyof cOllsideration or conteat at thebanos of this goverlim~nt.

"How will the "peedy settlemant ofOregon affect us? In my juogmentit 00 ust be injuriously. The ad mis­sion of Oregon as " State to tueUnion seems to me as undehirableon the one hand as it is improbable00 the other; unoesirable becaulleby tbfl aid of representative princi­ple, we have already spread our­selves to a vast and '1lmost un\\ ieldlyextent. I have no faith in the unlimited extension of this governmentby that principle.

"But it ill not only in my jnogmeotundesirable, but improbable. Dis­tance and the character of the inter­"ening country are naturlll ohstacles

•forhirlding t.he idea, B l' water thedistance around Gape Horn is Saidto be about eighteen thousandmiles. By land the distance by theonly line of travel is about five thou­sllnel miles from this Elpot to Van'couver. in th€ valley of the Willllm­ette. And when considered withrderence t,o the facilities of com­munication,Europe is iu compaJisononr llt'xt ooor neighbor.

"Ar.d t;1 is stlite oHb ings mUllt con,tinue uules!! some new agent ofcummunication shall cast up. Thepower of eteam has been su~gested.

Talk of steam communication-auiIroud to the mouth of the Col 000­

hia--why look at the cost an,l hank­rupt conditinu of railroads proceeo­ing almost from your capit,,,I,traversing your great. thorough fares.t.. raill'Oad Ilcross 2500 luiles of

prairie, of desert, and of mOllDtttin !The smoke of an engiue Ilcross thoseterrible fissures of that, rocky ledgewhere the smoke of a volcano onlyhaR rolled before! Who is to makethis vast internal,or rather external ,improvement-the State of Oregonor the United States? -.vhence isto come the pow...r? WLJo supplythe means? The mines of Mexicoand Peru disemboweled wouldscarcely pay a peuny in the poundlJf th~ cost. Nothing short of tIlelamp of Aladdiu will suffice for suchan expenditure, The extravaganceof the suggestion seems to me toontrun eVHything which "e kuowof modern visioosl'Y scheming. TheSouth Sea hubble, the DutchmaDs·ElpeculatioDs, the tulip rootEl, ouruwn in tuwu lots and multicauhsare all commonplaoe ploddings incomparitloD.Butall the suggestionsseem to me properly part and par­cel of the grt'at inflated whole."

This cQunecllon being out of tbequestion, M r, 'Day ton then proceed­ed to diseulltl the idea "f itll heing acolony, similar to the Britil'h col­onies of whit-h he made iiI' muchElport as he diu of the ra11road.

Other Senstors said that if we ob­tained Oregon we coul.1 not holJ it,aEllt would Bet itself til! au i/ldepeod­ent nation after a time. (Culigretll!­ional Glolla, 1844 p. 275, etc.)

Morec; "er, two y~!lrtl later, Apri16tb and 7til, 1846. when the value ofOn'gon Willi far (,.,Iter known, Mr.W ..bster !!tiid iu the Senate, whiledefenuing his part in the Ashbllrtontreaty of 1842, which t<ettlert thenortheastern houndary:

"Now,wh'it ill this liver St. John?We Ilave heard a vallt. deal lately ofthe vah13 I\n.1 importance of theriver Columbia und its navigation;hut I will undertlike to say that fora\l pnrpose!! of humllll uBe tIle At..John il\ worth a hunrlred times allmuch as. the Columbia is or ever

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had come, and had introduoed somany of her subjents that it is said M,} .J

she could have raised an army of ,. /r!Leu!-­abont BOO men west of the Rooky,~ ......... ~ .mountain!l.

ADd yet all this great empire isou r", with a much greater one inProspect. In answer to the questionhow it has occurred I wish to beginat the present time, Ilnil run rapidlyback, simply noting the variouslinks in the Proviilence which gaveit to us, and then d well more fullyon each link.

Alaska is our latest acquisition,hut Secretary Seward woold prob·ably never have thought of obtain·ing it, if we had not had other pos­sessions on the coast. The same maywithont doubt be said of Arizona,obtained in 1854. Had we not own­ed California, we woold evidentlynot have sought for that territory.Cahfornia and New Mexico were ob­tained in 1848, and eminent men onthis coast have ssid that this wasreally done because we had by treatyin 1846 obtained Oregon.

It was thus settled in that treatybecause of the rights we acquirethrough the treaties with Franceand Spain, the expedition of Lewisand Clarke, the discovery of themouth of the Colnmhia by CaptainGray, aDd last but not least thepopulation of over six thousandAmerican citIzens which the fiveemigrations from 1842 to 1846brought to this coast.

Why did they come? 'l'he lateremigrat.ions C9me because the firstones, especially those of 1842 onhorseback, and 1843 with wagonshlld opened the way. Some of thesecame because of the offer made by abill whicil was introduced into Con·gres€ by Senator Liun granting 640acres to each settler, which howeverdid not pass, but very many becauseof information which had been sentback by the millsionaries who came

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Vol.will be." (Webster's Speecbes,5, p. 102.)

And these thin~s were said anddODe Dotwilhstandi1Jg tbe fact thatin 1838, 1840 anll 1842 the settlersof Oregon petitioned Con 'tress mostearnestly to g'ive them 11 hee gov­ernment. ('frans Oregon Pioneertl,1877, p. 24-26)

WHAT GREAT BRITAIN DID.

She had sent out som(; discover·ers, Meares in 1';88 anil especiallyVancouver iu 1792 who explored thewhole of Puget Sound and sailed upthe Columbia river about four timesas fal' as any previous explorer baddone and took pOllllession of thecountry in behalf of Great JSrilain;l?ir Alexaniler McKenzie had sub­8t'quently crossed the continent onpnrpoEe 1o disco'l'er a way througb,anll find a good place for a Britillhsettlement., tuough he had unfor·tunately come to thill coast 500 milt'sto the north of the mouth of theColumbia; the English governmenthad allowed first the NorthwesternFor COUI pany, and after her theHudson's Bay Company by theircharters to enter the regiou as farsouth as California for trade; sbehad made !luch !ltrong cluims -thatwhen the treaty of 1818 was madebetween Great Britain and theUnited St'ltes, our government 'hadnot dared to iD!list on her claims,but had agreed on joint occupancyof tLe country by both nations, anagreement which lastt'd for twenty­eight years, and then doring thi"period had crowded out every Amer·ican trading Ilnd fnr companywhich had come to the coast, el.evenin number; had choked the fewat·tempts which had been made byAmt>ricans to establish coloniesLere; had brought in 1841, the firstemigration of regular settlers to thecoast from Red river, a year beforeany American emigration of l3ettlers

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previously and also because of r~p­

reseutations which had beeu madeby the miEsionaries wbo bao beenbere and returned ea8t, €speciallyRev. J. Lee, Rev. S. Parker, Dr.M. Whitman, and Dr. E White.But Dr. White came, first becauseof tbe wllnts of the Methodist mis·Ilion, under Rev. J. Lee, and Dr.Whitman because he was induced todo so by Rev. S. Parker. MessrsParker and Lee came because of thecall made by fonr Nez Peres Indiansfor the Gospel, who went. to St.Louis in 1832. Why did they makethis call? Because of the informa·tion they had obtained of the whiteman's God and Bible from fu rtraders and trappers. What broughtthem here? Beaver. Because theywanted the money which could beobtained from ..eIling the bellverskins and other furs, which God hadplaced in these wilds.

The Louisiana Treaty and Lpwisand Clarke's expedition too werelikewise made largely because ofthe discovery of the Columbia riVAlby Capt. Gray in 1792, and themaking of II treaty by the Governorof Loci~iana; while the Floridatreaty was made because the Span­ish there sheltered the Indians whocommitted hostilities ou our side ofthe line.

Starting now at the otht;r end of. the chain, let us follow it ou t morefully and develop these variouslinks.

First in oruer comes the discover­ies of t,he Spanish. Do you supposewhen Fernando Cortez ordered thosemen, whose very n~me8 to us are al­most unknown, Hnrbl!.do, Mendoza,Grigalva and Becerra on a voyage ofdiscovery into the North PacificOoean, or when in 1542, Cabrillocame as far north as Oregon, orwhen in 1512 Ponce de Leon discov·eredFlorida, or when in 1775 Becetaevidently first 8aw the mou th of the

Columbia they intended, or expect­ed to help in building np a greatProtestant Empire here? No indeed.Some of those voyages were morethan two hundred years before any­one of t·he most far seeIDg statesmenin the world ever dreame'.l of theUnited States. What if Great Brit­ain, Protestant, enlightened andpowerful, hlld made those voyages?TlIe casp. wonld have been different.

Second, Or do you suppose thatwhen La Salle went from LakeOntario through unknown fo'reststo the Mis'3issippi, and from thenceto ils mouth, and the French settledLO'lisiana, they had aLy idea ofhelping to build up an AmericanNation on t·his coast? No, bu t Goddid. They intended to ri \'ai GreatBritain and Spain with a NewFrance. But He Wh0 seeth the endfrom ille beginning, fore~aw thatFrance would sell Louisiana, andall of her contiguous territory tothe Unitp.d States, and that thiswould help us in our claim to thecountry. If Protestant Great Brit-

•ain had made tllese discoveries, ourhistory would again have been dif·ferent..3Why did six merchantll in 1787 inBoston fit out the ship Columbiaunder Capt. J. Kendrick, lind thesloop Washington under ClI.rt. R­Grav to make the first American

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voyage for trade and discovery ontht' North Paicific COllSt? Was it toadd territory to the United States?Was it to dil!cover the Columbiariver? PlalDly uot. It was a priv­ate enterprise. chidly to makemoney. And when Capt. Gray dis­covered tl1e Columbia and enteredit, he did not even take pOflsessionof it in behalf of our Nation, andonly went up it twenty five miles;and according to Greenhow, anardent American was not the first tomake his discovery widely known,but it remained aimost entirely lIe·

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known UEW the puhli"ation ofVancouver's voyages in 1798, sixyears after the discovery.

J..I In 1788 the English I.ieutenantMeares having heard a report thatthere was a great river on this coasthad tried to .lind it, but God hadblinded his eyes so that after look­ing oarefully past the plaoe where itis, he had declared that no such riverexisted; Vanoouver was sent outabout the same time as Gray to theregion on a voyage of d isoovery.bu tGod alllo blinded !.Jis eyes, so that,he after a careful searoh, likewillesaid that there was no s\1<'h river,and th<n the same 'Goo openeo theeyes of Capt. Gray and sent himinto the river only fourteen daysafter Vancou vel' had passed it Hon.El wooo Evans m a Fourth of Julyaddress at Tuooma in 1887 ill com­memoration of the completion of theN. P. R. R. aeross the CascadeMountains, says that the discoveryof the Columbia. rendered mOAt de­sirable, if not necessarJ, the Louis­iana purehase, an,i that these evel'tsleo to the Lewis and Clarke expelH·tion. and those subsequent acts bywhich Oregon became a part of theUnited States.

Five, Another eVEnt also helpedto cau~e the LouiSIana treaty. In1795 a treaty had been made hy theUnited States by which our vesselswere to be allowed to come up theMississippi river, as our oountrylay on the east of that river. In1812 in violation of that treaty. thegovernor of Louisiana closed theport of New Orleans. Great excite·ment. prevailed in the United Statesand a proposition was made t.o takeforcible possession of that territory.But more peaceable measures pre·v..iled, and when it was found thatLoui8iana and the other Frenohrights here oould be bought, it wasdone. and the treaty was made. Isit to be supposed, e,

tbat when that governor was violat­ing that treaty, he was planning tohelp onr rights on the Pacific Coallt.Indeed not, but the Most High did.(Am. Statesman p 206:) (LossingsHist. U. S. p. 390.)6What cauRed the Florida treaty?Because the Seminole Indiana andCreeks who were dissatisfied withthe treaty of 1814 and runawaynegroes aided by British su bjeots,and protooteo by the Spanish author­ities in Florida, committed suohhostilitIeS on our oitizens that Gen­eml Jackson pursued the hostilesinto Florida, captured their capital,Pensacola, and drove the Spanishgovernor to Havana. General Jaok­son waS censured for invading theterritory of II. friendly power, butthese events showed theUnited Statesthe necesRit,y of our owning Florida,and led to the treaty of 1819 bymeans of which Spain oeded to us,not only that State, but all of theSpanish rights on this ooast northof California; an event whiuh provedto be a very im portaut item finally.As her discoveries on the Oregoncoast preoeeded thoRe both of GreatBritain and the United States. Doyou Ruppose that when those mur­derous Inditins, runaway Negroes,renegade British and treaoherousSpanish were acting so, they had thelellost idea that they were putting an­other important link into the chainwhich Rhould give to us the PacificEmpire? No indeed. But theGraat Author of the ohain did.(Lossings Hist. of the U. S. p. 451.Also American Statesman p. 203.)?But these events did not give tothe United States a olear title toOregon. They only gave her theright of joint ocoupancy. More WILS

•needed to gIve her a olear title andProvidence was plannillg for otherlinks in the chain.

Can anyone believe that theHudson's Bay Company when they

[ 10 ]

coast in 1842; induced others tocome afterwards, among wbom wereSenator J. W. Nesmith, Gen. A. L.Lovejoy and others, ~o did a goodwork for the country; to be ready tojoin with others to form the provisoional government, in 1843 whe.. thevote stood fifly· two for it and fiftyagllinst it so strong was the influence

6of the Hndson's Bay Company; toform the nucleus of an Americansettlement which, because of itsmissionary character, the Hudson'sBay Company could not drive out,as they had driven out every pre­vious attempt o~ the Ampricans tosettle here. God wanted the m hereto be 8S Mr/!. Victor in her River of

the West ha!! pictnred it, in an en­graving whi:Jh ( . . ,Piotteet'lld(hesrri8'T5, p. 26. euw-f , . ,i-'1-:TTs perhaps more forcible thanpolite and yet which ha~ truth in it,to be an entering wedge. (Her pic­tnre is that 8f a Methodist clergy·man, large at the sholllilel"J and nar·rowing down gradu!\lIy in the shapeof a we,]ge to very "mall ankles.River of the West p. 274 )/ORev. S Parker started for Oregonin 1834 from New York State, hutreached St. Louis too late to comewith th~ American Fur Companythat year, without whose IJrotectionit was almost Bure death to him tocome because of the Indians. So heturned back. This too was no faultof his, but becanse he did not re­ceive permission soon enough fromthe missionary society to which behad offered bimself nearly a yearbefore. It was sad JisappointmAntto him but Providence wanted himto go back, and while spending thefollowing winter in interesting peo­p'e in the mission .... ork, to find Dr.Whitman. Had he done as he wish­ed Olegon's history would probablybave been written with a differentchapter.

came here, intended to help theUnited Stat.es to acquire Oregon?No. They intended preciE.ely the op­posite--to help Great Britain to ob­bin the country so that it might bemade over to them, as a huntingground for beaver. But God intend­ed that they should take some noteof the Sabbath, though they did notobserve it, as the Bible requires,and talk some about God, andarouse a deRire in the hearts of afew Indians to know more abouthim.

GaLl also .... anted the Hudson's•

Bay Company here. to take care ofthe missionaries, without whoseprotection and support, it wouldhave been im practicable for them tohave been sustained here.

<6 Or did the Indians who went toSt. Louis in 1832 for the mission·aries wish to make a link in thechain, which would give Oregon tothe U nitell States? That wa\ farthestfrom their thoughts. Goel did how­ever, and the rEsult was that thepioneers of pioneer settlers came.

'I The Methodist missionaries eamefirst in response to this call in 1834,and began work near Salem Oregon.Were they in a partnersbip gamewith the United States to take pos­session of Oregon? No, but Godwanted them here for three purpos­es at least, 10 bring out certainpersons as missionaries, who shouldplay an important part in breakingthe rule of tbe Hudson's Bay Com­pany, as George Abernethy, the firstGovernor @f Oregon, untler theprovisional gGvernment; Rev. JasonLee, who broke the embargo of theHudson's Bay Company on cattle bybeginning the measures which in1837, brought a band of six hundredcattle from California; and Dr. E.White who left that mission and re­turned east, because of certain dif.ficulties in the mission, and led thefirst emigration of settlers to this

[ 11 ]

II But another thing was neededhere. It was Christian homes, andproof th'lt t.he trip across the conti­nent could be made by woman. Thiswas the work for MrR. Whitman andSpalding to do, in 1836, and othersin 1838, of whom one, Mrs. Walker,is present, the first to do so. It wasnot their intention thus to open aroad for families and homes. No,for when thljY were across. Mr.Spaulding wrote to his home Boardof MisRion. "Never send anotherwhite woman over these mountains,if you have any regard for humanlife." But the deed WliS done. Itwa"l too late to stop the stonerolling down bill, for God \\as he·hind it and pushin~ it. As Hon.Elwood Evans wrote to Rev. H. H.Spalding: "The American mission­aries were the apostles lJliving theway for American occupancy; norneed you fear that the missionar.vheroin es, who proved that womencould go to Oregon, and live anddie there, will ever be forgotten."

/1.- When Dr. Whitman came, was itwith the IDtention of peopling Ore­gon with settlers or conveying mostimportant information to our gov­ernment at Washington? No; hecarne us a missionary. Says Han.S. A. Clarke "How a man of suchstrength of character and nobility ofpurpose, could devete his life to ~he

cause of civilizing, and christianiz­ing savages, is, indeed, strange." Toman it seems so, but it was j Dst likeGo,l, for he had a clear idea of whathe was doing. Indeed Mr. Clarkehas answpred his question in hisnext paragraph. •'His presence inOregon at that time was a provi­dence that we may well ll.ppreciate,who reside in the land he did somuch for; a land that possesses everygift that uature can bestow, andwhose people should remember tosuitably honor the memory of MarcllsWhitman. When the hour came

that Oregon needed a champion, hewas raised up to enact the part."The hour and the man." (Ore·gonian Jan. 24. 1886,)

And when he was hringing his oldwagon, turned into a cart from FortHall to Fort Boise in 1846 the firlltwagon ever made the trip, againstthe advi~e of all the whites; his ownwife feeling sad to see him thuswearing himself out, was he intend­ing to break a wagon road for emi­grants to follow? We have no evi­dence of this, but God overruled it~hus; so tuat when he went east in1842-3, he not only conveyed import­ant imformation to our President atWashington, but was also able to sayto the emigrants as he came back,when Captain Grant ~t Fort Halltried to induce them to leave theirwagons, as he had done to the pre·vious emigration and missionuriesbefore that or go to California, andalmost succeeded,that he-Dr. Whit­man-would see their wagons safeon the Columbia. And he did so.Sliid Judge William Strong, in linaddress before the Oregon PioneerSociety in 1878. "The arrival of theemigration of 1843 may .be consider­ed the turning point in the historyof Oregon. It gave the Americanpopulation in Oregon the control ofcivil affairs. It maue Oragon cf toogreat importance to prevent diplo­macy to trifle it away."

Our previous rights by treatiesand discoveries had secured for usthe privilege of joint occupancY,andthat was all; it was clearly to be set­tied by settlers, and this emigrationsettled it.

Dr. Whitman took the same viewbefore his death, for in April, 1847,he went to his Home Board. "I oftenrefl.e~t on the fact that you told meyou were sorry that I came east. Itdid not then, nOf has it sinoe alteredmy opinion in the matter. Americaninterest acquired in the country,

l 12 Jwhich the success of the immigra- get away from the restraints of cil"­tion of 1843 alone did, and could ilization;- rough men,whofeared nothave secured, have become the God, or regarded man. Yet Godfoundation of the late treaty between wanted them there so that he mightEngland a,ndf. the United States, in send them down to the Willametteregard to Oregon, for it may easily in time to co·operate with the Meth·be seen what would have become of oelist missionaries in forming theAmetican interests had the emigra- provisional go\"~rnment., witbouttion of 1843 bt>en <jj~t~rous as were whom it prohably could not havethe emigrations of~1846;" both of been formed, because. a8 alreadythose years his route having been saill, the vote stood fifty two to fifty.abandoned for another. "It O<;lmon- And this is said to have been aboutstrates what I did in making my way the only thing about which they andto the States in the winter of 1842-3, th08e missionaries did agree.after the 3d of October. It was to I~-The emigrant~ came. Why didopen a practical route and safe pas- they do 1I0? To save Oregon to thesage and secure a favorahle report United States? A very few haveof the journey from the immigrants said that was in their mi!lll, butwhich in connection with other ob- the great majority say no.jectscaused Jlle to leave my family, Judge Thorntun suys yes, thllt byand brave the toils and dangers of coming they would not only im­the journey, notwithfitanding the prove their own condition, but thatunusual sevtlrity of the weather, they would thereby build up for theand the depth of the snow." United States a solid foundation, on

I J When Dr. Whitman reached Fort w.hich to establish the AmericanHall on his trip east in 1842,Cilptain claim to the country. (Trans. Pio­Grant of the Hunson's Bay Com' neer Association 1874, p. 46.) Hon.pany, wished to stop him, and so W. C. JohmlOn agrees with himtold him a downright lie; that the (Ibid 1881, p. 23.)Pawnees and Sioux were at war, and Dr Atkinson gives no such reason,it was Dot safe ior him to proceed. (Ibid 1880, p. 33.) While Hon. W.Does any one suppose Captaiu Grant Lair Hill, H. Y. Tbompson, andwished to aid Dr. Whitman in his Col. Geo. 13. Curry all SIlY no. (Ibidgreat work for the Nation? PrecisA- 1883, p. 14; 1884, 14; ann 1886.)ly the reverse. But God overruled What was it then that brought. themit so that because of this informa- here, and the same pp.rRon~ give thetion Dr. Whitman went the southern following an~wers; unknown anven­route through New Mexioo, which ture, to better theil' fortunes, to es­says one of hid misssionary associ- cape the fever and ague, to secureates (Dr. C. Eells) was undoubtedly six hundred and forty acrea of land,hi8 salvativn, as the winter was much or even three hundred and twenty,more severe thlln usual, and he to escape from a land of slavery, towould without doubt have perished finn new fields for politics, to helphad he gone the more northern establish churches, 8chools, temper­route as he intended. ance, virtue and morals. beoallf;e

/1.{ Before the missionaries came," westward the star of tbe empirefree trappers, as Joseph Meek, takes itt; way," a dispoRition to move,Robert Newell and others, bad en· asJl tbe bird, goose, or salmon emi­tered the Rocky Mountains. What grat.e; ask them why they go, audfor? To trude, trap, hunt, live a tben you can ask some of the emi­ft:ee and jolly life; some of them to grants why they came; because i*

l 13 Jhas been tramp, tramp, tramp fromthe Garden of Eden until now. Col.Curry says he has asked many whythey came, lind he has received thefollowing answers: From the slavestates they came because they wereafraid of a negro insurrection, whileone man from the north came to getrid of saucy free negroes. Somewere tired of the catfish of Missouri,or the suckers of Illinois, and wan t­ed to change to ~almon. One hadheard there were no cockle burrs inOregon, and thought wool pickingwould be ellsy, but was disappointedbecause there was no "warmuckbark" here. Col. Curry says thebest reason was given by one West­erner, "because the thing was notfenced in, and nobody dared keephim off."

But God overruled all these mo·tives to bring them here, and whenhere he very naturally used them topossess the country.

/6 After the treaty was made, no Ter­ritorial govern ment was formed forOregon, for about two years. Be­cause of the troubles connected withslavery, all such legislation draggedalong slowly. The massacre of Dr.Whitman and the thirteen others bythe cayuses in November 1857, bow­ever, caused Col. J. L. Meek to besent to Washington, and hastenedthe legislation, which gave toOregon, a government connectedwith the United States. But themurderous Cayuses had no idea ofaccomplishing such a result. Theyintendp,d to drive out the whites,not strengthen them. But God over­ruled their wickedness to cause thelast step to be taken in makingOregon an active part of the UnitedStates.

Thus I have noted sixteen linksin this chain of Providence whichgave Oregon to the United States, allof which were essential, and manyof them absolutely necessary to our

possession of the country, as neces­sary as links are to a chain, so thatif they had failed, the chain wouldhave broken, and the great object,would not have been accomplished,humanly speaking. Yet in everyoneof these links man planned one thingand God another. Truly "man pro­peses, but God disposes."

The acquisition of California fol­lowed. Says Gov. Grover of Oregonwho has given much study to thesubject, "It is fair to claim that ourgovern meLt would never have ven­turf'd, with the small force it hadat command, to push its arms to thePacific, through Mexican Territory,during the war with Mexico, if wehad not already possessed a domainin that quarter, and a reliable Amer­ican population in Oregon." Ar­rangements were being made totransfer California to Great Britain.American settlements had been de­stroyed in the Silcramen to valley,the public domain was being trans­ferred to British subjects, a Britishfleet WllS expected on this coast, andCalifornia would probably been lostto us had we not had a strong andreliable population in Oregon, andbecause of the strong feeling whichhad been aroused in the UnitedStates on account of the Oregonquestion. (Trans. Oregon PioneerSociety 1884, p. 13; 1874, p. 39; 1875,p.41.) Judge M. P. Deady agreeson this point, and Dr. G. H. Atkin·son adds that after this "the goldengrains there concealed were uncov­ered, so that fifty millions a yearwere added to the world's currency,and means provided to carryon theNational contest for life from 1861to 1865." (Missionary Herald, March1869. )

Arizona and Alaska have natural­ly followed, and so God has giventhe great empire to the UnitedStates.

And now in closing I will spend a

r 14 ]

bhort time in looking forward as weBtand at our fort and prepare forthe fllture.

What has God meant by doing nIlthis,-by thus ruling in the king­uoms of men and giving them towhomsoever he would-to theUnited States for he does meansomething, and something great.Do~s he mean to make of us a greatnation, 80 that we can say, See ho w

greAt we are! No, indeed. Or hilShe done it so that we may have alarge population, a great empire,with itll transcontinental lines ofrailroads, its £'xtensive ll1ines ofgold, silver, coal and the like, withits vast agricultural resources, andits commerce across the Pacific?Yes; this and something more:That we may use it for Christ andour country. This is the work forus, the successors of those old pio­neers. Yes, I am thankful that to­day I stand here, not before a Stateor Territorial Institution although Iintend no disparagement to suchwhich are working for the country,but before one which has for itsmotto that ot,her word in connecticn-with it, an addition to it, so essential

"for Christ and the country."It is for both of these that God

hilS ruled and overruled the actionsof men during the past century, SEIthat w!!ile building up our countryhere, we might work for Chirst hereand everywhere, we might also be alight to other nations of the world,and so help to build up that otherempire, the only one which we ac­knowledge to be superior to ourown, the kingdom of Christ; that wemIght have the honor of being whatthat most educated of the Apostles,Paul, sa~~we ought to be and areintendiBg- to be: "Laborers to­gether with God."

Hence it is with gratitude that welook on the work of such institutionsas th£se, that by edncating aright

for Christ those who are to be theteachers and leaders of onr country,to put the right kino of heart intothe great material pro!\pe.ity of the

-empIre.

Fifty years ago a little missionaryband crossed the plainR.Among them was Rev. ElkanahWalker one of the first Trustees of,thIS Institntion. Four years afterhis urrival an order came to discon­tinue the two southern stations ofthe mission, at Lapwai, and in thisvalley, leaving the northern one oc·cupied by Messrs. Walker and Eel!.luntouched. When Dr. Whitmanwent, east on his now famous jour­ney in that year,to do what he couldto aave Oregon to the United States,he also intended to do what he couldto save the southern stations of themission. In oruer to assist Dr.Whitman in this latter object FatherWalker wrote a letter to the Boardat Boston, which I now hold in myhand, pleading for the continuanceof the two sou thern stations. It isalso endorsed and signed by his co­worker, Dr. Eells. Among otherreasons given r-t that "time for thiswere the prospective white popula­tion, which was then beginning tocome into the country and likely tocome in much gr~ater numbers. Healso adds "It is also reasonable tosuppose that there will be consider­able commercial relations from tbiscountry with the Islands of the Pa­cific and China. This will open theway for a moral influence to goabroad, whetber good or bad."Hence,he asked that the Protestantwork here might not be curtailed,but enlarged. Father Walker thenlittle thought that he would be aTrustee of two Institutions, Whit­man Seminary and the PacificU niver­sity, whose object would be to givea higher Christian education to thatincoming population. He littlethought that his own son would go

[ 15 ]

forth to carry a moral and Christianinfluence to China, where he hasbeen at, work for the past sixteenyears. He little thought that ourcommercial relations with t.he Is­lands would bring three young menfrom 'apan to Pacific U ni versity,whom he should see grdfluate there,who should ret.urn to exert a Chris­tian .iufluence in their uative coun­try, all a judge of the Buperior Court,another in the line of education,and the other as an honored authorand the fourth in rank of the imperial

officers; although none of these arefort.y years of age.

That is but a sample of the workto be dODe by this institution andthose like it: To remember thatwhen God has dODe so much to giveus this countrY,men having so manyother plans, we are to pl1t Christ'"into this country,and then from th;as a Christian country to serChrist's influence througbout tworld for only in so doing can ev·"bravely and rightfu%,' ful~ll~motto ;,;~ ~. L;,£ft; ....

"~o CHRISTO ET PATRIA"