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About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 3, 1902)
10 THE MORNING OBEftOSIAy, . WED.NESDAJ, . SEFTEMBER . . 3, ..1902.; . SCATHING EVISCERATION OF DR. 3n his preface, after informing: us that be has teen more than 20 years investigat ing the Whltman-Saved-Oregon subject, and that he has read "Everything I could lay my hands -upon," he says, "This booK- is a history. It s hot an embellished story like living's. 'Astoria' or Parkmaa's 'Oregon Trail.' It is written .vWlth the single purpose of stating in a clear and concise manner the important facts with .which it has to deal. From first to last t has to dp with facts." jOa page 114 he days: "It should be the aim. of th& impartial historian to exam ine all sides of' a disputed question, to lft all' statements, 'to examine all the ories, to go. as far as possible, to the original sources for his facts, and, free Urom bias or prejudice, to state only that fCfcich. appears to be thoroughly corrobo rated asj tnii?" , let tis compare bis performance with tbis statement of his duty. He says (page 1). "At one time our Government Ignored the country" (L e. Pre gon) "as worthless,- and was not un filing to rell it for a mess of pottage." (Page 2 '"Finally the savages were per mitted, to butcher in cold blood the man -who by "bravery- and patriotism utterly unprecedented, wrested that entire coun )try from the grasp .of the Hudson's Bay Company, '.andi made it possible for the United "States to hold it." (Kiges 170-m. .writing of the Spring of 1S43, and of Web ster's and- Tyler's ideas of Oregon.) "It was plainly apparent that Lord Ashbur ton, Sir George Simpson and others with British proclivities had thoroughly In doctrinated cur statesmen with the idea that the Kocky Mountains were impass ible to wagons, that Oregon could not Sbe peopled from the States, and therefore iirs value to this country was small," and that "Webster thought Oregon was use lees to our country, on account of the Im passable character of the mountains, " and that "Tyler entertained precisely the same views" (as Webster) "as to the uselessness of Oregon to the United States." (Pages 191-2, speaking of those desiring to migrate to Oregon In 1843). "It il evident from a variety of sources of .Information that the great drawback to these would-be emigrants was that they could not carry their wagons and fam ilies through the mountains. The great Bocky Mountain range and the Blue Mountains were supposed to be Impassable for wagons." Only Three Important Questions Concerning Whitman. As to Dr. Whitman, there are but three really important questions, to wit: (A.) What was the origin and the pur pose of Whitman's ride from Oregon to the States, begun October 3, 1S42? (B.) What was the condition of the Or egon question at Washington (1. e., the attitude toward It of Tyler's administra tion), in the Winter of 1842-43 and the Spring of 1S43, and what Influence, if any, did Whitman exert to change the policy of the National Government toward Ore gon? (C.) What was Whitman's Teal relation to the great overland migration .of 1843? Let us examine Dr." Mowry's treatment of the original sources concerning each of these three points. Orlglnnl Sources ns to ."A." As to (A.) the only important original sources and the. only ones that it is cer tain Dr. Mowry has examined are: Pirst The correspondence of the Ore gon Mission In the archives of the A. B. C. F. M. in Boston, prior to Whitman's return lo -Oregon In September. 1843. before which rione of his associates knew that anything had occurred to make them wish their records different frcm what they had been written. These letters, many of them long (one covering 74 and another 52 pages of very large paper), number more"than'200, and must aggregate considerably more than 400,00) words, and in them all Is riot one sentence expressing the least Interest in ct concern about the political destinies of any part of the Oregon Territory, or furnishing 'the, least support, in any other way, to ; any fprni of the Saving Oregon theory of Whitman's ride, and. the same la true of all the correspondence of all these mis sionaries with their friends (so far as it has yet been published) during the whole time the-Oregon question was unsettled, except that after Whitman had visited the Btatesand found the whole country aflame about the Oregon question he did, in some bf bis letters after his return express some Interest in the' subject, and made some. very extravagant claims of having been largely instrumental In settling the ques tion by having led out the 1843 migration. The nearest to an expression. of any bi tterest "In the .political destiny-of "Oregon prior to Wbltmart's Rld is 'the following passage in an undated letter of W. H. Gray (No. 136, Vol. 138, Am. Bd. archives). plainly written after October, 1839, and probably in November or December, 1839: "Dr. McLoughlln said to me that It was bis wish 'that our people should occupy that place, and gave as a reason that then our people would be all. together, and have nobody to meddle with us, and In, case the boundary line was to be the Columbia River, and the Fort" fl. e.. Wal la Walla) "was to be removed, he should 2Ue to bave us there, both on account of the Influence we might exert on the Indians and the men -of the fort He did not wish to answer all my questions about She country, because It would imply a claim to the country, which they ha$d none, except what their forts now occu pied; he would say that he thoughJL we bad Just as good a right to occupy any place as they had." Any proper treatment of Whitman's car reer requires an honest summary (to the extent of 20 or "25 .pages Jlke this of tsome 75,000 to 90,000 words of this correspon-5 dence, and. in addition, an accurate quota tion of some 8000 to 10,000 words more of it. Of all this correspondence Dr. Mowry quotes only 510 words, and they even as be quotes them furnish no support to his theories about the political purpose of Whitman's ride. All but 86 of these 510 words Professor Bourne had previously quoted In the "Leg end of Marcus Whitman," as being the strongest possible evidence against the Saving-Oregon theory of Whitman's ride, and they have been' considered as being conclusive against the theory of any Saving-Oregon -purpose of that ride, and as proving It to have been undertaken solely on the business of his mission, by such historians as Professor 'John Fiske, Dr. Edtfard-Eggleston, Professor John B. Mo naster. Professor Allen. C. Thomas, Pro fessor Harry P.JuasonProfessor Edward C. McLoughlln, Horace E. Scudder. Prln llal Wilbur F. Gordy, p. H. "Montgomery. REVIEW AND W.,A- MOWRY'S BOOK ON Professor Edward Channlng, Professor F. Newton Thorpe, etc (Cf. Am. Hist Re view, Jan., 1901, pp. 276-S00, and Tr. Am. Hist. Assn., 1900, pp. '228-230). But, whereas, Professor Bourne quoted accurately. Dr. Mown'.' quotes far other wise. . The only document Whitman took with him to the American Board from the three men who remained associated with him in the mission was the following: "Resolved, That If arrangements can be made to continue the operations of this , station, that Dr. Marcus Whitman be at liberty, and advised to visit the United States, as soon as practicable, to confer with the committee of the A. B. C. F. M., In regard to the interests of this mission. . "E. WALKER, Moderator. "CUSHING EELI-3. Scribe. "H. H. SPALDING. "Walllatpu, Sept 28. 1842." This Dr. Mowry prints (on pp. 174-5), but omits the last eight words, "In re gard to the Interests of this mission," be ing the adverbial phrase which distinctly limited to the business of the mission the purpose for which all of his associates sanctioned his Journey. That this was an intentional omission Is evident from the fact that in an article glorifying Whitman, in the "Boston Con gregatlonalist, November 18. 1897. Dr. Mowry omitted from his quotation of this document all after the word "practica ble," putting a period there, where the document had a comma; and when he was criticised for making so deceptive a quotation, he defended it as Justifiable, saying, "One sentence was all I needed, and I used that one," whereas there Is but one complex sentence In the whole docu ment, and the criticism was because he had not "used that one." but had omitted the two adverbial phrases which stated precisely why Whitman was authorized to make his ride. Further, Dr. Mowry (p. 129) prefaces the 420 words he has quoted from Rev. E. Walker's letter of October 3, 1842. with the statement that "Father Eells . . . wrote a letter from which the following Is quoted," and prints at the end of the ex tract, "(Signed.) 'CUSHING EELLS.' " Yet Dr. Mowry well knows (having mentioned this Identical letter as one or Walker's In a letter to the writer of this criticism In 18fl9) that this letter, which he thus ascribes to Cushlng Eells, Is In dexed In the archives of the American Board as a letter from Rev. Elkanah Walker, and that of the 1C pages of this letter 15, including every one of the 420 words he has quoted from it, are In the handwriting of Elkanah Walker, and that It Is rigned Elkanah Walker and not Cushlng Eclls. and that every word In It which Is In C. Eell's handwriting is the following Indorsement of Its correctness on Its 14th page, which, by mistake. Wal ker had left blank. "Through mistake this page was omit ted. I am happy to say the subjects of this letter have been frequently discussed of late by Mr. Walker and myself. I do not now recollect that there has been any Important difference In the conclusions arrived at. and I do most cheerfully add that considering the short time allowed for writing the letter I think It well done and conrider the statements very Just. "The general plan of the letter was mu tually agreed upon, and after hearing the whole of It read once and parts of It more than once, I have observed nothlv.,; of importance to which I cannot give a full assent (Signed.) "CUSHING EELLS." Rev. E. Walker's diary (in MS. In pos session of the Oregon Historical Society) reads "Monday, October 3, 1812. Com menced my letter to Mr. Greene. Suc ceeded better than I expected. Tiies. 4. Continued to write and make slow prog rcro. Wed. 5. Busy at writing, but, feel as though I could not make out a good one. . . . Thurs. 6. Still at my letter. . . . Sat. 8. Finished copying my let ter to Mr. Greene and read it to Mr. Eells who approved It" So "the short time allowed for writing the letter" was six days. Not another word besides these 510 Is there In Dr. Mowry's book, written by Rex. C.-Eells, Rev. H. H. Spalding. Rev. E. Walker or Mr. W. H. Gray to the sec retary of the American Board while the mission continued, nor subsequently down to May 2S. 1SGG (when Rev. C. Eells first Indorsed the Whltman-Saved-Oregon sto ry. In a letter which the MIslonary Her ald published In December, 1866), except that In his appendix. Dr. Mowry prints two letters from Rev. C. Eells and two from Rev. H. H. Spalding, written In De cember. 1847, and January. lSlS.'and relat ing to nothing but the dreadful massacre of November 27-December 8, 1847, In which Dr. and Mrs. W.hltman and 12 others per ished and which destroyed the mission, and to the-rescue of the survivors by the Hudson's Bay Company's efforts; and U.! though there are In the American Beard archives letters written by them to the American Board, between Whitman's re turn to Oregon, in September, 1843. and May, 18C6, amounting to about 250,000 words. Though thus charj of quoting what C Eells. H. H. Spalding and W. H. Gray wrote prior to the publication of the "Whltman-Saved-Oregon" story. In 1864-5. Dr. Mowry quotes from their letters, "statements" and other publications sub sequent to September, 1865, to the follow ing amounts: Words. From Rev. H. H. Spalding 2192 From Rev. C. Eells 1433 From Mr. W. H. Gray ....3440 Total 70S3 But neither he nor .any other advocate of the Saving-Oregon theory of Whitman's ride has ever been able to produce one word written by Rev. E. Walker In sup port of It, though he lived In Oregon till his death In 1877, and knew exactly as much about the origin and purpose of that ride as any of his associates. Great as Is this amount, it Is but a faint index f the extent to which Dr. Mowry used the statements of Spalding, Gray and C. Eells made subsequent to 1864-5, for practically all of his book that relates to Whitman Is a mere condensa tion of, cr a paraphrase of those "state ments, or of the statements of others whose Ideas about the matter are plainly derived from Spalding, Gray and C. Eells. An example of how very peculiar are Dr. Mowry's Ideas as to the proper use of "original sources," Is found In his chapter X. "The Missionaries Discuss the Situation." of which he devotes three pages to C. Eells' "recollections" (In 1866 and subsequent years down to 18S2, which "recollections" (from 24 to 40 years after the event) Mr. Eells did not pretend to support by reference to any contempo raneous letters. Journals or ether writ ten or printed documents, as to the pa triotic origin of Whitman's ride, and of the details of the special meeting of the mission held at Whitman's Station Sep tember 26-27, 1842, which authorized his -ride. But neither In Chapter X, nor elsewhere In the book, does he even allude to the 14-page letter (received by D. Greene. Sec retary on May 3. 1843). dated October 3, 1842, In Cushlng Eells handwriting and de signed by him (and Indexed by the Amer ican Board among C. Eells' letters), which has a brief note of endorsement of its correctness in E. Walker's handwriting, arid signed by him, which letter contains the official report of that special meeting of September 26-27, 1842. signed by E. Walker, moderator, and Cushlng Eells. Scribe, which record, written but six days after the close of the meeting, gives only the business of the mission ag engaging Its attention, without the least intimation j CRITICISM THE WHITMAN MYTH I that any .political or patriotic ideas were w. wwuuucu uuiiub lis wuuie session. Tet knowing well that this Tecord still exists in the archives of the American Board. Dr. Mowry copies without com ment (on p. 129 Rev. C. Eells; statement, made In 18S2, that the record of that spe cial meeting was destroyed at the time of the Whitman massacre. Dr. Morrry's Treatment of Mrs. Whit man's Letters. The second such "original source" as to A. -is the correspondence of Mrs. Whitman with her parents, brothers and sisters, after March, 1840, when Gray began to bring the quarrels of the various members of the mission (and especially' of' the Whitmans and Spalding and himself) to the attention of the American Board, and prior to her husband's return In Septem ber. 1843. Of this there will be found about 42.000 words in the Trans-Oregon Pioneer Asso ciation, 1891 and 193. and to fairly present the relation of the Hudson's Bay Com pany to the Spalding-Whitman mission at least 20,000 more words of earlier and later dates should be carefully studied and summarized to the extent of fully 10M words, while fully 1000 words more should be quoted from these 20,000. Of the 42.000 above mentioned fully 2000 should ' be quoted. Of these 42,000 words Dr. Mowry only quotes the following 42 words (page 122) In a letter to her husband, dated October 22, 1842: "Indeed.much as I shall and do want to see you, I prefer that you stay Just as long as it is necessary to accomplish all yqur heart's desire respecting the Interest of this country, so dear to us both, our home." This brief extract, he declares, "showfd what she understood to be the object cf his Journey." But how this shows "what his heart's desire was" he falls to explain. He nn where Informs his readers where they can find this correspondence, and he carefully refrains from even alluding to her two letters to her parents, brothers and sis ters, written while he was preparing, for the Journey. (Trans-Oregon' Association, 1SS3, pages 165-167, dated September 29 and 30, J842, I. e.. the first and second days after he first proposed to go to the States), in the first of which she wrote: "The Interests of the missionary cause in this country calls him home," and In the second, "He goes upon Important business connected with the missionary cause, the cause of Christ In this land," nd with not the least Intimation that anything else Impelled him to the journey. Nor docs he allude to hers of March "Hi 1S43, to her sister (Ibid, page 155), in which, after saying that It was painful for her to part from her husband, she continued: "It was for Him, for the ad vancement of His cause, that I could say to my beloved husband: Go, take all the time necessary to accomplish :Hls work, and the Lord go with and bless you." Nor does he allude to hers of April 14, 1843, to her brother (Ibid, page 161), In which she wrote: "A great loss Is sus tained by his going to the States. I mean a present loss to the station and the In dians, but hope and expect a greater goou" will be accomplished by It. There was no other way for us to do. We felt that we could not remain as we were' without more help, and we were so far off that to send by letter was too slow a way for the present emergency." Dr. MoTrrj-'rf Treatment of the- First and Second Accounts of the Orl- . grin and Pnrpon'e of Whit man's Ride. The third such "original source." as to A, Is the first and second accounts of the origin and purpose of Whitman's ride, which were ever printed, and which were also the official accounts, and the only accounts ever printed till the Saving-Oregon story appeared In 1864-5. The first was- In the Missionary Herald, for Sep tember, 1843. and with It should be read the full statement (summarized in It) from the annual report of the American Board for 1842. It Is too long to quote here, but It ex plicitly declares that his rldfe was authorized by, the special meeting of the Oregon mission held to consider the or der of the board discontinuing the south ern branch of the mission (I. e three of Its four stations), -and recalllng'Spald Ing and Gray to the States (which agrees exactly with the.account of the origin of his ride given In the correspondence of the mission which Dr. Mowry so sedu lously suppresses), and It gives no Intima tion that there was any other than mis sionary business Impelling him to the ride. The -second account is In the Mission ary Herald for July, 1S48. in the 'brier sketch of his life prefacing the account of the- massacre, and merely says: "He made a visit to the Atlantic States in the Springof 1843. being called hither by the business of the mission." To neither of these accounts does Dr. Mown allude, and the eamc Is true of every other advocate of the Whltman-Saved-Oregon story. If based only on the correspondence of the mission, these accounts of course could not rank, as "original sources," but as they might have been based also "on Whitman's verbal communications dur ing his stay in Boston. March 30-April 8. 1843. they are entitled to' rank as "original sources." 3 Dr. Movrrj-'n Treatment of Whlt ntan'H Correspondence After' His Return to Oregon. Whitman's letters after his return to Oregon cannot .be considered as ''original sources" ns to the origin andpurpos of that ride, since his frigid reception by the secretary of the American Board who told him he was sorry that he-had come), and the fact that the next month after he started on that journey the Indians burned his rude grist mill and" a largo quantity of grain. Involving him In so much expense to rebuild that, with the expenses of his Journey, he was troubled for two years after his return in hlsii tlements with tho American Board. a3 he states In his letter of April 13, 1846 (which Dr. Mowry refrains from even al luding to), furnished him a stronJTtemp tatlon for magnifying the importance of that ride and Its results. Sixteen of these letters between. No vember 1, 1843. and October, 1847, aggre gating about 26.000 to 28,000 words, are in the archives of the American Board. Although In several of these .letters Whitman made very extravagant and wholly unwarranted claims of great serv ices rendered to the National Govern ment, It Is a very significant fact that In none of them, nor In any of his letters to his friends, nor .in any of Mrs. Whit man's to her friends, is there any claim that he ever had had any Interview with President Tyler, or Secretary Webster, or that he had ever received any promise of any assistance from them, or from any officer of the National Government or that he had had anything "to do with originating or organizing the migration of 1843. and though he claims what is manifestly Incorrect that the migration of 1843 was a decisive factor in bringing about the treaty of 1846, he nowhere, save In his letter of April 1, 1847 four and one half years after he started on his ride claims that his ride had 'any other pur pose than missionary business. ' ' Dr. Mowry's treatment of this letter il lustrates his Ideas of going to "original sources wherever practicable." On pages 19S-9 he says: "In another let ter" (whose date he does not give)' "to Mr. Greene Is the following: 'It was "to open a practical (practicable) route and safe passage, arid secure a favorable re port of the Journey from emigrants. which, in connection with other objects caused me to leave my family and brave the tolls and dangers of the journey, not withstanding the unusual severity , of jthe Winter, and the great depth of snow " Then he mentions the "saving the mis- slon from being broken up as 'another object of "his Journey." But instead of going to the "original source" for this extract,' Dr. Mowry has copied It verbatim (and without credit) from an article defending- the Whltman-Saved-Oregon story (by Rev. Dr. Laurie, the official historian of the American Board), In the Missionary Herald for September, 1885, page 350. Going to the "original source' to wit. Whitman's own letter in the archives of the American Board, we find the follow ing, viz.: "It was to. open a practical route and safe passage, and to secure a favorable report of the journey from Immigrants, which. In connection with other objects, caused me to leave my family and brave tho tolls and dangers of the Journey, which carried me on, notwithstanding I was forced out of my direct track, and notwithstanding the unusual severity of the Winter ,and the great depth of snow. "In connection with this let me say, tho other great object for which I went was to save the Mi&Ion from being broken up Just then, which It must have been, as you will see by a reference to the doings of the committee." (I. e., the prudential committee of the American ' Board), "which confirmed the recall of Mr. Spald ing only two weeks before my arrival In Boston. I often reflect upon the fact th'at you told me you were sorry I came. . . . It may not be Inappropriate to observe that at that moment the Methodist mis sion, ns well as our own, was on the point of dissolution." As to "B." Three indispensable postulates of Dr. Mowry's claim that Whitman "wrested that entire country" (I. e.. the old Oregon Territory) "from the Hudson's Bay Com pany." are First That as late as March, 1S43. that "entire country." I. e.. the present states of Oregon. Washington and Idaho, to gether with about 2S.OO0 square miles of Northwestern Montana and about 13,000 square miles of Northwestern Wyoming, in all about iO'OCO square miles, was in controversy between the United States and Great Britain.. Yet. knowing perfectly weJl that In 1821. and again in 1827, England offered us the line of 49 degrees to the most northeastern branch of the Columbia, and .thence along the river to the Paclflc. which left really In dispute not "that entire countrv." but only about 55.000 to 5S.000 square miles, or less than one-fifth of "that entire coun try." being only that part of Washington north and west of the Columbia, and that we both times Immediately refused this offer and Insisted on 49 degrees to t.'ie coast, Dr. Mowry deems It consistent with his duty as an "Impartial Historian" to sunnress all -England, and of the fact that in 1825 the nuasons way Company "officially noti fied ' Dr. McLoughlln. their superlntend ?7 chareo of the Oregon region from 1SZ4 to 1S43, that "in no event could the British claim extend south of the Colum bla, "and ab to iinnrp.. oil mentis the fact that Lord Ashburton came over u ajjih, im "specifically authorized." as we shall ec later, to renew to us the offer made us In the negotiations of 1821 and 1827, and also to suppress all men tion of the fact that In 182C. when not only all the region north of Missouri and west of the Mississippi River, but also everything else north and west of Illinois and Michigan was not even organized as a territory, but was an unbroken wilder ness, we notified England that "49 degrees was our ultimatum for the north bound ary of Oregon." Second That England could by making settlements, and establishing trading posts subsequent to October 20, 1818 (the date of the first of our treaties of "Joint policy" relating to Oregon) strengthen her claim to It while the treaty or. 1818 and Its re newal In 1827 remained In force. But the very terms of those treaties made such strengthening of her claims Impossible, a position not only always held by our diplomatists and Presidents who negotiated on the Oregon question, John Q. Adams. Albert Gallatin. Andrew Jackson, Edward Livingston, Martin Van Buren, John Tyler, Daniel Webster. .John C. Calhoun, James Buchanan, James K. Polk and George Bancroft, and also many others of our most eminent statesmen, but also tacitly admitted by all the British diplomatists who negotiated on ifxno one of whom ever ventured to assert tnat such settlements and trading posts had made the British claim one whit stronger than it was October 20, 1818, and also explicitly assented to by Lord Aberdeen (head of the British, Foreign Office from 1841 to 1846), in two interviews with Ed ward Everett In November and Decem ber. 1843 (Cf. on th!s, authorities cited In Trans. Am. Hist. Assn. for lfOO. p. 223. and Berlin Arbitration, p. 12C). Third That as late as March,, 1813, the Government and the people of the country thought Oregon worthless because the Rocky and Blue Mountains were supposed to be Impassable for wagons. To sup port this Dr. Mowry offers not a sentence frctn any Congressional debate on Oregon, nor from any report of a Congressional committee on Oregon, nor from any report of any Government explorer of Oregon,, nor from any book of travels or magazine article about Oregon printed prior to the Invention of the Whitmah-Saved-Orcgon story in 1864-5, but quotes his favorite "original ;source.-j" for Oregon history, to wit. Rev. H. H. Spalding's. Rev. C. Eells and W. H. Gray's alleged recollections frcm 1864 to 1882. and the recollections of others whose Ideas are plainly mere echoes of Spalding, C. Eells and Gray. Prior to March, 1843. the Oregon Terri tory had been far more extensively and .thoroughly explored and reported on (In Government reports, books of travel and magazine articles) by .our citizens, both Government expeditions and private citi zens; more often and more thoroughly de bated In Congress; the subject of more numerous and elaborate reports of Con gressional committees; the object of more and more Important diplomatic negotia tions, than any other territorial acquisi tion we have made on this continent had been. up to the date of Its full accomplish ment; and fs Oregon acquisition there was far less opposition in Congress and out of It than to that of any other of these acquisitions except Florida. Oregon had been discussed at 14 sessions of Congress, between 1821 and March 1, 1843. In these debates It was repeatedly declared, beginning as early as 1824, that Oregon was easily accessible by wagons over the low. passes of the ocky Moun tains even without any expenditure for roadmaklng. The official record of these debates cov ers 300 columns, or about 250.000 words In "Annals of Congress," "Debates In Con gress" and "Congressional Globe." Yet Dr. Mowry deems It consistent with his dtity as an "impartial historian'' not only not to quote one word of all these debate., but not even to mention the above official reports which, are .the only "original sources" for- these debates. To these 14 sessions there were made 11 reports of committees of the Senate and House Representatives, and besides there were read In the Senate or House the re ports of Special Agents J. B. Prevost (1822). Lieutenant W. A. Slocum. of the Navy (sent to Oregon by the State De partment by order of President Jackson In 1835 with special Instructions to examine and report on everything Important for our Government to know about Oregon), whose report was read In the Senate In 1837. and was often referred to and quoted In later Congressional discussions and in Congressional committee reports, and of Secretary of War Poinsett, In 1840, recom mending the establishment of a line of military posts from the Missouri River to the mouth of the Columbia. T,here was also the report of Captain Bonneville to the Secretary of War' In" ,1835. reporting his success In driving 20 loaded wagons through the South Pass over the Rockies and into the Oregon Territory to Green River in 1832. All these committee reports were unani mous, all enthusiastic as to the great value .of Oregon .to us, and the validity or our' title at .least as far north' as 49 decrees. ' As early us 1831 the report of the mili tary committed of the Senate contained the letter of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, tc the Secretary of War, dated October 29. 1830. stating that In the preced ing five years with from 80 to 100 men, divided Into small parties, they had ex plored the whole region beyond the Rock ies from the Gulf of California to Ihe mouth of the Columbia, and had made dis coveries and acquired Information they deemed it Important to communicate to the Government. Then, after describing their driving 10 wagons Iqaded with from 1S00 to ,2000" .pounds each from St. Louis to the east- end of the South Pass. and back to St. Louis between April 10 and October 10. 1830, they continue, "This Is the first time wagons ever went to the Rocky Mountains, and the ease with' which It was done proves the facility of communicating, overland with the Pacific,, the route beyond the mountains to the Great Falls of the Columbia being easier than on this side." The Great Falls of the Columbia are not only west of the Blue Mountains, but more than 100 miles west 'of where Whitman six years later cstabtlshed his mission; and this report of the military committee of the Senate was often referred to and quoted In later committee reports and in books, newspapers and magazine -articles before 1843. These 15 reports covered about 600 pages or "itAf.ooO to 3,o,wX) worci. btit of tnem an Dr. Mowry as an ."Impartial historian' only names three, and'unly quotes from one Gushing' in 1839 to the ex tent of 2J7 words, " and that only on the wholly unijnportant point of whether or not Oregon was Included in the Louisiana purchase,, while. he omits to even allude anywhere in his book to Lleuteant S'acum, or to,. -Poinsett's re port, or to the Rocky Mountain Fur Com pany's wagons In 1S30, and. their exten sive explorations In Oregon before 1S30, or to Lonevllle's proving Oregon easlly acccsslblc by wagons In 1832, or to the tact that Whitman in 1SJ5 wrote of Bon uevllle's wagons, and tha't tne. route pre sented little difficulty for wagons; and though quoting freely from Gray's and Spalding's declarations In 1S64-5 to 1&S2 that the route to Oregon was deemed Im practicable for wagons as late as 1S43. he omits to quote trom Spalding's, letter of September 20, 1S3-.; (published In the Mis sionary Herald, October. 1837. and giving an account of the overland Journey of the Spaldlng-Whltman party in 1S36) the following: "Ve drove a wagon to Snake Fort" (1. e.. Fort Boise) "and. could have driven It through but for the fatigue of our animals. We expect to get it at some future time." Before March 1, 1843, In Presidential messages, or In Instructions to diplomats, negotiating with England or Russia about Oregon, or In other executive papers, or in correspondence which has been in print for 15 to 50 years past, or in reports of negotiations on Oregon, or In debates In Congress, or In reports, of Congressional committees, the following statesmen are on record as holding that Oregon was of great value to the United States, and could be easily occupied by us, while.lt was practically Impossible (as the world then was) for any European power to people It. and that our title was unques tionable at least as far north as 49 de grees, and that we should. Insist on not accptlng any. line south of 49 degrees as the north boundary of Oregon, viz.: Ten men who have -beea Presidents Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, J. Q. Adams, Jackson. Van Buren, Tyler, Polk. Pierce and Buchanan; also Calhoun and King, Vice-Presidents (as had been also Jef ferson and Van Buren); also .Webster, Clay, Everett, Forsyth, Secretaries of State (as had been also Jefferson. Madi son, Monroe, J- Q. Adams, Van Buren,, Calhoun. Livingston and Buchanan); Gal latin, R. Rush,- Livingston and Everett, Ministers to .England (as were also J. Q. Adams, Van Buren and Buchanan); also Middleton, Cambrellng and Iriger soll. Ministers to -Russia; and Archer, Baylies, Benton, Berrien. Lewis Cass, Choate. Caleb Cushlng, John J. Critten den, Drayton, Floyd. John Reld. of Mas sachusetts ("the life member"); Reynolds. Rives, Sevier. Tappan, J. W. Taylor, of New York. R. J. Walker, Woodbury and many others of lesser note", while not a single authentic sentence has ever been produced from any man of importance enough ever tb have been President or Vice-President, or Minister to England or Russia, or Secretary of State, or even a Senator for as much as one full term, which expressed any doubt of our title to all of Oregon south of 49 degrees, or which intimated that we would surren der anything to Great Britain south of 49 degrees. It Is true that Tyler had "a dream of policy never embodied" about selling to England that part of the pres ent State of Washington lying north and west of the Columbia, but that wholly Impracticable scheme necessarily ' Im plied not surrendering It, but Insisting on 49 degrees to the coast as our boundary to the coast, since England certainly would not buy what we did not own. (Cf. 'pp. 35-6 Infra.) But no reader of Dr. Mowry's book will find In If any Intimation of these In disputable facts about the position. of our leading statesmen on the Oregon question. A detailed criticism of Dr. Mowry's treatment of all the "original sources" as to "B" would require very much more space than Is available, and. as no.-one has ever" pretended that Whitman could by any possibility have Influenced the Oregon policy of any other administration than that of Tyler, we will conclude this part of the criticism with a brief examination of his treatment of "original sources" as to the attitude towards and actions upon the Oregon question of President Tyler and Secretary of State D. Web'ster prior to March 1, 1S43. On pages 170 and 171 Dr. Mowry posi tively asserts that Webster, and Tyler both thought in the Spring of 1843 that Oregon was useless to the United States, because "Lord Ashburton,. Sir George Simpson and others with British proclivi ties had thoroughly Indoctrinated our statesmen with the Idea that the Rocky Mountains were Impassable to wagons, that Oregon could not Joe peopled from the states', and therefore Its value to this country Was very small.'" The reader looks through his book froni title page to finis In valrifor a single sen tence In supportvof this shocking Impeach ment of the patriotism and the knowledge' of our statesmen, except what Rev. H, H. Spalding. Rev. C. Eel's arid W. H: Gray though .they remembered (from 23 "to "40 years after the event) that Whitman, told them after his return from the states. Not a word is there in Dr. Mowry's book which Intimates that either Webster or Tyler had ever taken the slightest In terest In the Oregon question or had done or said a thing towards securing Oregon to the United States, or had any special Information about It till Whitman reached Washington In March (or, more likely, ln April. 1843. Let us examine the official records and learn the facts. First In both his first and second an nual messages, In December. 1841, and December, 1842, President Tyler had strong paragraphs on Oregon, In the first rec ommending the .establishment of a llnq of military posts from the Missouri to; the Columbia. To neither of these messages does Dr. Mowry even allude. Second Elijah White, M, D., had been a Methpdljst missionary to the Oregon In dians, and stationed nearly 300 miles west of Whitman's mission from 1S3S to. 1840, when he' was discharged. In January. 1842 (as we know froni con temporaneous written and printed sources. Dr. White appeared In Wasblng ton with letters of Introduction from Dan lei Webster's oldest son to President Ty ler, Secretary Webster and "Secretary of the Navy A. P. Upshur, and, after in terviews with them, and with Secretary of War John C. Spencer, and Senator Linn and other friends of Oregon, by or der of the President he was commissioned Indian sub-agent for the' region west of the Rockies, and directed tA raise as large a company as possible, and proceed with them to Oregon, whlcb he did, starting from near Westport, Ho., May 16, 1842, as the leader of the first large overland mi gration, consisting of 112 persons. He remained In' Oregon some three years, and was the onljr official ever com missioned by our Government to reside In Oregon, till after the territory was organ ized In 1848. Being a very "shifty" and selfish politician. White became exceed ingly unpopular and consequently his work for Oregon has received very scant mention. There Is no doubt but what a very large part if not all of the honest ad vocacy of the Whltman-saved-Oregon story has resulted from transferring to Dr. Whitman the claims which Dr. White made, of the influence on Tyler's Oregon policy of his interviews with President Tyler and Secretary Webster, Just be fore Ashburton's arrival In Washington. How does Dr. Mowry treat this matter? i Though he mentions "White's Travels In Oregon" (published in 1S48) in his list of authorities, "he does not quote one word from It, and nowhere ;glves his readers any Intimation that Dr. White had ever been a missionary to the Oregon Indians, or was ever in Oregon before the Autumn ;of 1S42, or that he ever was in Washing ton, or ever saw President Tyler and Secretary Webster; or that he held any official position In Oregon, but only says of him (page 188): aDr. White, with a considerable party of settlers, arrived near Whitman's station early In Septem ber" U842)'. Third When, in August, 1833. Lleuten- ant Charles Wilkes set sail with six ships j and, nearly 600 men, in command of the greafest exploring expedition our Govern ment has ever sent out. Van Buren's Ad ministration gave him positive Instruc- tlons to spend six months in exploring "our territory on the . northwest coast there was much disappointment that Ore of ' America," and the Columbia son was not Included in the treaty, but River, and the coast of Callfor- I though Benton on this account assailed nla os far south as San Francis- i it most bitterly in the Senate, he could co Bay. April 28. 1841, 24 days after Har rison's death brought Tyler to the Pres idency. Wilkes, with part of his squad ron, sighted "the mouth of the Columbia, and with "a sloop of war, a brig of war. two launches, 10 boats, and upwards of 300 men," he was busily engaged till Oc tober 10. 1841, In' a far more extensive and thorough exploration of Oregon by land and water than any other single expedition han ever made, even to this day. He sur veyed and charted Puget's Sount. and the navigable waters of the Columbia, visited all the mission stations of tha Methodists and of the American Board, and all of the posts of the Hudson's Bay Company south of 49 degrees, except Hall and Boise (which hundreds of Americans had visited) and all the settlements In Ore gon. He sent a party from Puget Sound eastward to the Columbia, and back to the Sound by a dlffcrept route, through the center of .the region north and west of the Columbia (being all that was really In dispute), of the real value of which (ac cording to Spalding's letter of April 7, JS46. edited by Whitman and published In Palmer's Journal In 1847). the missionaries of the American Board knew absolutely nothlng until a party sent from the set tlements In the Willamette Valley ex plored It In the Autumn of 1845. I. e.. three years after Whitman started to the states. He also sent a' party overland from the Columbia up the Willamette and down the Sacramento to San Francisco. He dropped anchor at New York June 10. 1S42. and three days later filed in the Navy Department a most enthusiastic "special report" covering 44 pages fools cap urging the Immense value of the Pu get Sound region, and declaring that In Oregon a man could make a living and acquire wealth with only one-third the labor required In the states, and that "no portion of the world beyond the tropics can be found that will yield so readily wltu moderate labor, to the wants of man." These statements, with enough more to make 14 pages, the House of Representa tives took, and on January 4, 1843. when Whitman was near Bent's Fort, added it to the "64 pages of the report of the mili tary committee of the House on Oregon, (of which 5000 copies' had been printed In May, 1S42). and ordered another edition of 5000 -copies printed. In a part of thhr;speclal report Vhich was not printed. In discussing passes over the Rocky Mountains. Wilkes wrote: "Finally the two southern routes, which are preferable, susceptible of being used at almost all seasons, and .a good wagon road may be constructed with little ex- pense. ... It Is readily to be perceived that the difficulty of communication with the territory is far less for us than for the British." How does Dr. Mowry treat this matter? On pages 190-91 he has appropriated (with- out credit) a page from a copy- MISS BLANCH ST. ELMORE, DETROIT. MICH. Supreme Organize Ladies of Honor. 1825 Vinewood Avenue, , Dktkoit, Mich., Feb. 13, 1902. For seven years I did not know what it was to be well. At that timo I slipped and fell, straining myself inwardly. I paid little attention to it at first, but soon I found that I had habitual backache and a peculiar sick feeling at mj stomach. The right side of my bowels aclird and if I was on my feet a couple of hours at a timo T would giro out completely. I began coughing and thought I Was getting consumption but the doctor told me this was on ac count of my weak condition, that I was in reality troubled with falling of the womb. My menstruation was very irregular. S:me t'mes it would stop for two or three months" nntl again I flowed so much there was danger I would flow to death. I now became con vinced that the doctors could not help me and as I saw an adver tisement of your Wine of Cardui I decided to try it. It brought me quick relief, the nausea stopped, ' my appetite improved, gradually my pains stopped and I felt how my entire system was being renewed. I have now been a well and happy woman for over a year, thanks to Wino of Cardui. TT is little wonder Miss St. Elmore I was discouraged in the search for health. There is hardly a physi cian who would hesitate to call such a case chronic and incurable. But "Wine of Cardui has cured thousands of such cases. To cure sickness of seven years' standing the treatment must be thorough. Wine of Cardui, to regulate the menstrual flow, be- S'ns at the fundamental principle at of allowing the poisonous waste to be discharged naturally and health fully. This removes all irritation and inflammation. Wine of Cardui brings relief as a mild aid to Nature in removing the causes of sicknesa. The proper flow of the menses re lieves the blood of impurities and allows pure blood to build up and strengthen the afflicted organs and WINE of righted manuscript sent him In 1899 by the writer of this criticism, -which page does not quote one word from Wilkes' re port,, but merely states my Inferences (written on first reading the manuscript of this special report In 1887. at the Navy Department), as to why the Administra tion would not allow the whole report to be printed in 1S43; but though the imme diate context of this page of my infer ences in the manuscript sent him con tained copious quotations from this special 'report of Wilkes, and from his other un published dispatches. Dr. Mowry not only nowhere copies one word of that context, but he nowhere quotes one word from any of Wilkes' reports, nor prints one word which will give his readers any in formation as to the cause of. the time of, or the extent and value of Wilkes ex- ploratlons of Oregon, or of the time when he filed this special report, nor of the fact that for nine months before Whit man could by any possibility have reached Washington, Tyler's Administration could on any day have had interviews with Wilkes and, the other officers of his ex pedition, who knew a vast deal more about all of Oregon that was really In dispute than all the missionaries Metho dist and American Board put together aid then or for many years after. 4. In April. 1842. Lord Ashburton ar rived In Washington, and (after various informal conferences) on June 13, 1842 (the very day Wilkes filed his special report on In Jne 7yf,DeparJ.mtnt)' gan the formal negotiations which ended. Augu-t 9, with the signing of the ebster Ashburton treaty. As it was generally understood that he was to treat on all points in dispute. only rally nine votes against it to 39 for It. In December, 1842, Benton returned to the subject and asserted that Webster had proposed to accept of the line of the Columbia instead of standing firmly for '4? degrees to the Pacific. To this partisan accusation Webster could not In person reply in the Senate chamber, but, for tunately for the vindication of the truth of history, bis lifelong friend, Rufus Choate, had succeeded him in the Senate, and twice, on January 18 and February 3, 1843, while Whitman (of whose existence even there Is no evidence that either Ty ler or Webster was then aware) was riding east across what is now Kansas, Choate, replying to Benton's accusations, said (on January 18), as summarized by the official reporter In the Congressional Globe, 27th Congress, third session, pp. 171-2: "In commenting upon the speech, of the Senator from Missouri (Mr. Ben ton), who had preceded him, he took oc casion to remove an erroneous impres sion, which, he conceived, was calculated to do great Injustice to a distinguished man, Mr. Webster, who could not there defend himself. He alluded to the fears expressed by the Senator from Missouri, that . . . the rumor must be correct which had got abroad, that a proposition had been made or entertained by the Sec retary of State, to settle down upon the Columbia River as the boundary line. Now he was glad to have It In his power to undeceive the Senator, and to assure him. which he did from authority, for he had been requested by the Secretary him self to do It for him. that he never either made or entertained a proposition to ad mit of any line south of the 49th parallel of latitude as a negotiable boundary line for the territory of the United States." 4 On February 3 Mr. Choate made an "bther speech (which was printed verbatim In ibid, App. pp. 222-229), and returning to the subject of Benton's accusations he said: "I desired chiefly to assure the Senator and the Senate, that the appre hension intimated by him that a dis closure of these Informal communications would disgrace the American Secretary, by showing that he had offered a boun dary line south of the parallel 49 de grees is totally unfounded. He would be glad to hear me say, that I am author ized and desired to declare, that In no communication formal or informal was such an offer made, and that rione such was ever meditated." Precisely why Oregon was not Included In the Ashburton treaty could not be stated with due regard to the diplomatic proprieties, either by Choate, In 1843. or j Webster In his great speech In defense of the Ashburton treaty In 1S46. nor by Everett, his life-long friend. In his brief biography of Webster, In" which all he j 6ays Is, "Had he (I. e., Webster) sup- posed an arrangement could have been effected on this basis (i. e.. 49 degrees to the Coast) with Lord Ashburton. hr ligaments. Her physician's treat ment failed to accomplish anything but temporary relief, while after tak ing Wine of Cardui Miss St. Elmore has had a year of health and happi ness the cure was quick and per manent. This great remedy, Wine of Cardui, is for you as well as for her. It is for you to decide whether you will take it. Could you follow better advice than this clear, simple letter, written by this lady of promi nence this leader among women interested in the welfare or her sex? Many women envy her position in the fraternal world. No woman can fail to want her health. You may have it by taking Wine of Cardui as she did. Ask your druggist for a dollar bottle of Wine of Cardui and accept nothing else. CARDUI p