"Sir Edward Belcher also alludes to this policy. He says,--'Some few years since, the Company determined on forming settlements on the rich lands situated on the Wallamatte and other rivers, and for providing for their retired servants by allotting them farms, and further aiding them by supplies of cattle &c. That on the Wallamatte was a field too inviting for missionary enthusiasm to overlook; but instead of selecting a British subject to afford them spiritual assistance, recourse was had to Americans--a course pregnant with evil consequences, and particularly in the political squabble pending, as will be seen by the result. No sooner had the American and his allies fairly squatted,--(which they deem taking possession of the country) than they invited their brethren to join them, and called on the American Government for laws and protection.' "A great deal of importance is attached to the account given by Commodore Wilkes, U. S. N., of the operations of the Hudson's Bay Company on the north-west coast; and it is inferred that testimony, coming from such a quarter, is doubly in favour of the Company. "Nothing, indeed, can be higher than the terms in which Captain Wilkes speaks of the Hudson's Bay Company's chief factor, Dr. M'Loughlin, and of the welcome he met, and the hospitality he experienced during his stay upon the coast. "Captain Wilkes was far too sensible and discriminating a man, not to see, plainly enough, whose game Dr. M'Loughlin was playing. But there is something strange, if we turn from the perusal of Captain Wilkes' narrative, and the description of the facilities which were ever afforded him, to the following passage from Sir Edward Belcher's voyage: "The difference of the reception which a frigate of the United States Navy met with, from that which one of Her Majesty's ships experienced, is a most suspicious fact, as suggesting the animus of the Company's agents upon the north-west coast. Sir Edward Belcher says: 'The attention of the Chief to myself, and those immediately about me, particularly in sending down fresh supplies, previous to my arrival, I feel fully grateful for; but I cannot conceal my disappointment at the want of accommodation exhibited towards the crews of the vessels under my command, in a British possession.' "We certainly were not distressed, nor was it imperatively necessary that fresh beef and vegetables should be supplied, or I should have made a formal demand. But as regarded those who might come after, and not improbably myself among the number, I inquired in direct terms what facilities Her Majesty's ships of war might expect, in the event of touching at this port for bullocks, flour, vegetables, &c. I certainly was extremely surprised at the reply, that 'they were not in a condition to supply.'... The American policy of the Hudson's Bay Company would seem from the above facts, to be more than a matter of suspicion.