His resignation marks the beginning of his tribulations which ended only with his death. The details I shall presently set forth. In assisting the immigrants Dr. McLoughlin did not count the cost nor fear the consequences. His humanity was greater than his liking for wealth or position. He had no greed for gain, no selfishness. Had he anticipated the consequences I believe that he would not have hesitated nor acted otherwise than he did. Frances Fuller Victor wrote of Dr. McLoughlin and his tribulations: 29 "Aristocrat, as he was considered by the colonists [American settlers] and autocrat as he really was, for twenty years throughout the country west of the Rocky Mountains, he still bravely returned the assaults of his enemies in the language of a republican. He defended the American character from the slurs of government spies, saying, 'they have the same right to come that I have to be here,' touching lightly upon the ingratitude of those who forgot to pay him their just debts, and the rudeness of those, whom White mentions as making him blush for American honor. But whether he favored the Company's interests against the British, or British interests against the Company's, or maintained both against the American interests, or favored the American interests against either, or labored to preserve harmony between all, the suspicions of both conflicting parties fell upon him, and being forced to maintain silence he had the bad fortune to be pulled to pieces between them."

29 Vol. 1, pp. 504, 505, History of Oregon, Bancroft's Works.

Dr. McLoughlin's Religion.

When an infant, Dr. McLoughlin was baptized in the Roman Catholic Church. His father and mother were of that church. While living with the family of his maternal grandfather, he probably was brought up in the English Established Church, of which he became a member. Prior to 1841 or 1842, it was his custom, at Fort Vancouver, to read the service of that church on Sundays to the congregation of officers and employées who attended. Dr. McLoughlin was a broad man in every way. He recognized the good in all

Christian sects and denominations. He assisted the Methodist, Presbyterian and Congregational missionaries. Had he been a member of those churches, he could hardly have done more for them than he did. While still a Protestant, he also assisted the Roman Catholic missionaries, from their first coming to Oregon, in 1838, as he had the Protestant. He never tried to change the forms of religion of his employées and servants of the Company. He encouraged them in their devotion to the religions of their choice.

Archbishop Francis Norbert Blanchet in his "Historical Sketches of the Catholic Church in Oregon," says (page 68): "It is but just to make special mention of the important services which Dr. John McLoughlin - though not a Catholic has rendered to the French Canadians and their families, during the fourteen years he was governor of Fort Vancouver. He it was who read to them the prayers on Sunday. Besides the English school kept for the children of the Bourgeois, he

had a separate one maintained at his own expense, in which prayers and the catechism were taught in French to the Catholic women and children on Sundays and week days, by his orders. He also encouraged the chant of the canticles, in which he was assisted by his wife and daughter, who took much pleasure in this exercise. He visited and examined his school once a week. He it was who saved the Catholics of the Fort and their children from the dangers of perversion, and who, finding the log church the Canadians had built, a few miles below Fairfield, in 1836, not properly located, ordered it to be removed, and rebuilt on a large prairie, its present beautiful site."

Dr. McLoughlin was given charge of a girl by her dying father, who was a Protestant. Dr. McLoughlin would not send her to a Roman Catholic school. He respected the religious faith of the girl's father.30 There is some question as to whether Dr. McLoughlin became a Roman Catholic in the year 1841 or 1842. In one of those years, Dr. McLoughlin read "The End of Controversy," written by Dr. Milner, and was converted by this book to the Roman Catholic faith and joined that church. He made his abjuration and profession of faith and took his first communion at Fort Vancouver in 1841 or 1842. Joining the Roman Catholic Church by Dr. McLoughlin was most impolitic, at this time, particularly on account of his land claim. But he was not a man to consider policy when there was something to be

30 Vol. 1, p. 31, History of Oregon, Bancroft's Works, from manuscript of Jesse Applegate.

done, which he thought right, just, or proper. Otherwise, he would not have assisted the missionaries nor helped the immigrants. Joining the Roman Catholic Church only added to the opposition to Dr. McLoughlin. He was then a British subject. At that time there was great prejudice by many Americans against Great Britain as the supposed hereditary enemy of the United States. The long discussion of the Oregon Question; the election of Polk as President in 1844, largely on the popular cry of "54-40 or fight," greatly intensified this feeling. There was also great popular prejudice among many of the Protestants of the United States against the Roman Catholic Church, which had been handed down from the time of the settlement of New England and the Cromwellian revolution in England. Locally, in Oregon, a partial success of the Roman Catholic missionaries with the Indians, where the Protestants had failed, probably intensified this feeling.

There

In these early immigrations were many women, most of whom were wives and mothers. were also numerous children of all ages. There were a few births on the way. When these mothers saw their children, along the Columbia River, in peril, many sick and almost famishing; when they heard their children cry for food and clothing, which these mothers could not supply; and when these perils were removed, and these necessaries were furnished by Dr. McLoughlin, and their sick children were restored to health under his orders and directions; do you think these Protestant American mothers considered it important

that Dr. John McLoughlin was a Roman Catholic and a British subject? Or that they were not grateful?

Dr. McLoughlin's Land Claim.

I shall now take up the matter of Dr. McLoughlin's land claim at Oregon City. Many writers and speakers have spoken of his land claim being taken from him, in a loose way, as "unjust treatment," or as "robbery." I shall briefly state the facts, as I have found them. The early pioneers know these facts. They should be known by everyone in justice to Dr. McLoughlin and to his memory.

Prior to the Donation Land Law, there were no lawful titles to lands in Oregon, except lands given to Missions by the law establishing the Territory of Oregon. The Donation Land Law was passed by Congress, and was approved by the President September 27, 1850. Prior to the organization, in 1843, of the Oregon Provisional Government, the only law, or rule of law, in Oregon was the Golden Rule, or rather a consensus of public opinion among the few settlers in Oregon. When a person settled on a piece of land and improved it, or declared his intention to claim it, all other settlers respected his possessory rights. Each settler thought that on the settlement of the boundary line between the United States and Great Britain, his land claim would be recognized and protected, which he had thus claimed while there was jointoccupancy under the Conventions of 1818 and