Manifest Destiny in the West [pp. 148-159]

MANIFEST DESTINY IN THE WEST.
Oregon colony was not. Their six or
eight thousand souls were cut off from
the aid and succor of the parent country
by thousands of miles and months of
time. They were surrounded by savages, and only too suspicious of the
feelings and intentions of their British
allies. Year after year they had memorialized Congress, asking the Government to take pity on them, and give the
necessary notice to Great Britain that
the convention of mutual occupancy was
at an end. After repeated disappointments from promises long deferred in
fulfillment, in I846 the desired notice
was given, and a few months after the
boundary question was settled: the United States retaining the whole of the
territory south of the forty-ninth parallel, and giving up their claim to the coast
lying north of that and south of the fiftyfourth parallel-thus, no doubt, averting bloodshed.
England, however, never forgave the
loss of the Columbia; but seeing it inevitable, bided her time to make up that
loss whenever there should occur a favorable opportunity to ignore that proudest Americanism, the "Monroe Doctrine." Nor was it long before such an
opportunity seemed to present itself. We
were involved in a war with Mexico, at
the same time that Oregon was clamoring for a territorial government, and
arms and soldiers to protect herself from
Indians. The moment seemed propitious. An entering wedge had been
prepared by an Irish subject of Great
Britain, who was negotiating for immense
grants of land in California, and bending the Mexican Government to his design by alarming their Catholic prejudices against Protestantism, and declaring to them that the Americans were on
the point of forcing upon them the hated
religion. Incited by such arguments,
possibly the California Governor might
have been induced to give away several
of the most valuable districts under his
authority, had not events hastened which
put an end to the negotiation.
However it was that our Government
had become informed of the intentions
of its rival, it was informed, and just in
time. Several authors have criticised
very severely the course of the United
States in seizing upon California as they
did. It is said that early in I845 secret
instructions were sent to the commander
of our naval force in the Pacific, and that
the same year Captain Fremont was dispatched overland to California, ostensibly
on a scientific expedition-really on a
warlike one. It is recounted how Lieutenant Gillespie traveled incog. to carry
other secret instructions to Fr6mont,
who immediately turned back from his
scientific pursuits, and joined his land
forces with Commodore Sloat's naval
forces to subjugate California.
Does any body believe that all this secrecy and "treachery" were necessary
to take possession of that country, when
its Governor, with his few hundred men,
ran away at the first sound of war? The
real explanation of the haste and the secrecy was the presence in the Pacific of
a British man-of-war, the Coilingwood,
under the command of Sir George Seymour, with instructions, probably, to
seize California the moment that war
with Mexico was declared. The commander of the United States forces had
exactly the same orders - to wait for the
proclamation of war, that there might
appear to be a sufficient excuse for the
seizure. That he did not wait, but took
possession of Monterey just one day in
advance of the arrival in Monterey Bay
of the Collingwood, shows conclusively
that there was a proviso contained in his
secret instructions verbally delivered by
Lieutenant Gillespie, which meant that
he was to wait for a declaration of war,
unless he had reason to fear the British
Admiral might forestall him. Landing
himself a day too late, Admiral Seymour
took on board his Irish confederate and
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