THE ROARING FORTIES 129 



portion of our territory which lies beyond the 

 Rocky Mountains.&quot; This declaration attracted 

 much attention in Great Britain, where it was 

 regarded as a bellicose claim to the whole 

 of Oregon. Sir Robert Peel, the prime min 

 ister, as well as the leader of the opposition and 

 other political chieftains, felt called upon to 

 make public counter-declarations that British 

 claims to the region would be sustained at all 

 hazards. 



While this little flurry of long-range defiance 

 was in progress, with the embellishments that 

 the newspapers were able to add, a more sig 

 nificant element in the general situation showed 

 itself in the unusually large numbers that as 

 sembled in western Missouri to join the annual 

 trek over the Oregon Trail. The character of 

 these emigrants was as a whole excellent, and 

 their purpose of making homes for themselves 

 in the distant territory was guaranteed by the 

 large numbers of women and children in every 

 party. To look after the interests of these peo 

 ple, both on their long progress across the 

 plains and mountains and in their new homes, 

 was a most obvious duty of a government that 

 made any pretensions to efficiency. 



Folk s secretary of state, Buchanan, took up 



