Britain over the walls of the factory. This he did with the accompanying ceremony of breaking a bottle of port on the flag-staff, and changing the name from Astoria, to that of Fort George.

On arriving at Astoria, in the "Pedlar," Hunt found that he could do nothing farther in that part of the world, but to close up the concerns of the company to the best advantage, and return to the United States. Accordingly he re-embarked in the Pedlar, with three of his companions in trade, and returned home by the way of Canton. Of the other persons who had been his associates in this astonishing enterprise, some entered the service of the North West Company; some exposed themselves to the perils of re-crossing the Rocky Mountains, and others, of whom there are a few living to this day, took to themselves Indian wives, and fixed their habitations among the savages of Oregon.

Thus the magnificent enterprise, conceived and prosecuted by John-Jacob Astor, against so many opposing circumstances, was brought to an unfortunate termina

tion.

Doubtless, but for the unhappy war of that period, it would have succeeded to admiration. That it did not succeed, is to be sincerely regretted by every American; for, in that case, the country would never have been divided; long before this time, the whole of Oregon would have been in the peaceable possession of the citizens of the United States. But the circumstances which militated against the success of this mighty project, were purely providential, and such as no prudence or foresight in its originator could have possibly guarded against. Though defeated in its ulterior objects, it opened the way to Oregon to American citizens, and supplied the means, in the interesting journals of those who were connected with the enterprise, for Washington Irving to awaken an interest in the American public, in relation to Oregon, that has gone on increasing until the present

time.

CHAPTER XIX.

Oregon territory - History continued Astoria restored to the Americans-Description of the Fort North West Company remain in the country Rival

companies -Hudson's Bay Company

War between the two companies Hudson's Bay Company Policy of the trading forts Immense power of the

How formed - Extent of its operations Both merged in one The Honorable

Sir George Simpson's Colony - Settlements - Fort Vancouver- Gentlemen of the Fort Perils of the fur-trade -A thrilling tragedy.

ACCORDING to the first article of the treaty of Ghent, which provided "that all territory, places and possessions whatsoever, taken by either party from the other, during, or after the war, should be restored without delay, measures were taken by the United States Government to re-occupy the post at the mouth of the Columbia river. In 1817, Captain J. Biddle and J. B. Prevost were commissioned to proceed to the Columbia, and there to assert the claim of the United States to the sovereignty of the country. These gentlemen sailed from New York in the sloop-of-war Ontario, on the 4th of October, 1817. The British Government, hearing of the departure of the Ontario for the Columbia, dispatched an order to the agents of the North West Company, directing them to give every facility in their power to the agents of the United States Government, for the re-occupation of Fort George, as a place that had been captured during the war, and to be restored according to the above article in the treaty of Ghent. Captain Biddle entered the mouth of the Columbia in August, 1818, and on the 19th of the same month, the flag of the United States was again floating over the stockades. of old Astoria. But a more formal surrendering of the place by Great Britain and occupation of it by the United

States, took place the following October. On the first day of this month, the British frigate Blossom, Captain Hikey, arrived in the Columbia, bringing Mr. Prevost, who had left the Ontario in Chili, to attend to some business there, and who was empowered to receive the surrender of the place from the constituted British authorities. Captain Hikey and James Keith, the latter of whom was the superintendent of the North West Company at that time, were the persons appointed to deliver up the settlement in due form. The following is the instrument by which the country captured by the British, at the mouth of the Columbia, reverted to the United States:

"In obedience to the commands of his Royal Highness the Prince Regent, signified in a dispatch from the right honorable the Earl Bathurst, addressed to the partners or agents of the North West Company, bearing date the 27th of January, 1818, and in obedience to a subsequent order, dated the 26th of July, from W. H. Shireff, Esq., captain of his majesty's ship Andromache, we, the undersigned, do, in conformity to the first article of the treaty of Ghent, restore to the government of the United States, through its agent, J. B. Prevost, Esq., the settlement of Fort George, on the Columbia river. Given under our hands in triplicate, at Fort George, (Columbia River), this 6th day of October, 1818.

"F. HIKEY, Capt. of his Majesty's ship Blossom. "J. KEITH, of the North West Company." Mr. Prevost accepted this delivery in the following language:

"I do hereby acknowledge to have this day received, in behalf of the government of the United States, the possession of the settlement designated above, in conformity to the first article of the treaty of Ghent. Given under my hand in triplicate, at Fort George, (Columbia River), this 6th of October, 1818.

"J. B. PREVOST, agent for the United States." This transaction took place in 1818, and as Fort George had then been in the possession of the North West Company for more than four years, the trade of

that company on the Columbia had become firmly established. The fort at that time consisted of a stockade, inclosing a parallelogram of one hundred and fifty feet by two hundred and fifty feet, extending in its greatest length from north-west to south-east. Within this inclosure were all the buildings attached to the establishment, such as dwelling-houses, stores, mechanic' shops, &c. On the fort were mounted two eighteen-pounders, four four-pounders, two six-pound cohorns, and seven swivels. The number of persons belonging to the factory, besides a few women and children, were sixty-five, of whom twenty-three were whites, twenty-six Sandwich Island ers, and the remainder persons of mixed blood from Canada. In the restitution of Fort George by Mr. Keith, to the Americans, it was understood that the North West Company would continue their occupancy of the country, and traffick therein according to the provisions of the article of agreement entered into between the United States and Great Britain, in October, 1818; which was, "That any country that may be claimed by either party on the north-west coast of America, westward of the Stony Mountains, shall, together with its harbors, bays, and creeks, and the navigation of all rivers within the same, be free and open for the term of ten years, to the vessels, citizens, and subjects of the two powers.'

The history of Oregon from 1814 to 1834, is embraced in the history of those rival companies of fur-traders, which have extended their operations, from time to time, from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to Vancouver's Island, and from New Spain to the country of the Esquimaux. To give a particular account of these companies would require volumes; a brief survey, therefore, must suffice.

While the French merchants of Quebec and Montreal were, by their agents, exploring the immense forests on both sides of the great lakes, and ransacking the extended prairies of the West and the valley of the Mississippi, in quest of the rich and valuable furs with which the wilds of North America abounded, and were furnishing France and other European countries with the precious luxury,

the avails of which constituted their immense wealth, a rival power ushered into being a corporation which is now grasping the supreme dominion of the forest north of the United States, from the coast of Labrador to the Pacific Ocean, and exercising an iron despotism, not only over the numerous persons who are in its employ, but also over many of the Indian tribes residing within the limits of its jurisdiction. For a number of centuries the government of Great Britain made the most extraordinary efforts to discover a north-west passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific, during which Baffin and Hudson explored the two bays, which now bear their names. From the accounts given, the opinion was entertained that the communication could be effected by Hudson's Bay, and, as an encouragement to private enterprise, and to increase the facilities to explore the regions of the north, for the purpose of accomplishing this long desired object, Charles II, in 1669, granted a charter to a society of London merchants, under the designation of "The Hudson's Bay Company." Then commenced the operations of a monopoly, second only in power to the far famed East India Company, which has opened the way for the extension of British rule over a vast portion of the continent of Asia. For many years the Hudson's Bay Company confined its operations within the Hyperborean regions, where it had enthroned itself in solitary despotism, and where it opposed itself in successful rivalry against a French company of a similar character; but, finally, has extended itself throughout the entire western territories claimed by Great Britain and the United States, and has even laid under contribution a portion of the Russian American possessions. During its onward career it has experienced few reverses, though it has frequently been called upon to contend with powerful opposition.

During the year 1787, an association was organized among the principal fur-merchants of Montreal, for the purpose of carrying the trade between the posts of that country and such of the British territories of the interior as were not supposed to be included in the grant to the