376 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

 1842 to 1845. 



Excitement id the United States respecting Oregon — Bill in the Senate for the im- 

 mediate Occupation of Oregon — That Bill inconsistent with the Convention of 

 1827, between the United States and Great Britain — Renewal of Negotiations be- 

 tween the United States and Great Britain — Emigration from the United States 

 to Oregon — State of the Hudson's Bay Company's Possessions — Conclusion. 



During the latter years of the period to which the preceding 

 chapter relates, the government and people of the United States 

 were becoming seriously interested in the subject of the claims of 

 the republic to countries west of the Rocky Mountains, which had 

 so long remained undetermined. The population of the Union 

 had, in fact, been so much increased, that large numbers of per- 

 sons were to be found in every part, whose spirit of enterprise and 

 adventure could not be restrained within the limits of the states 

 and organized territories ; and, as the adjoining central division 

 of the continent offered no inducements to settlers, those who 

 did not choose to fix their habitations in Texas, began to direct 

 their views towards the valleys of the Columbia, where they ex- 

 pected to obtain rich lands without cost, and security under the 

 flag of the stars and stripes. 



The period had, in fact, arrived, when the countries west of the 

 Rocky Mountains were to receive a civilized population from the 

 United States. 



This feeling began to manifest itself, about the year 1837, by 

 the formation of societies for emigration to Oregon, in various 

 parts of the Union, and especially in those which had themselves 

 been most recently settled, and were most thinly peopled. From 

 these associations, and from American citizens already established 

 in Oregon, petitions were presented to Congress, as well as resolu- 

 tions from the legislatures of states,* urging the general government 

 either to settle the questions of right as to the country west of the 

 Rocky Mountains, by definitive arrangement with the other claimant, 



* Nearly all these petitions and resolutions came from Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, 

 and Michigan. 



