"To me it seems evident that Dr. McLoughlin clearly saw the inevitable outcome of the struggle between dilatory and procrastinating diplomacy and the steady tramp of the growing army of ox teams that slowly swung down the slopes of the mountains, and, in his humanity, which was wider than his national prejudices, and stronger to control him than his love of gain, gave the final cast of his own act to humanity and peace, rather than to gain and war. I cannot here trace the individual acts that demonstrate this general conclusion, as my aim has been rather to indicate the results and show the conclusions of history than to relate its incidents and chronicle its dates. "A few years pass on. The great Company, erst and long the rulers of Oregon, disown the acts and reprove the conduct of this man of men. Rising to an even higher altitude of resplendent manhood, with a magnificent scorn he casts down his lofty office, with its salary of $12,000 a year, at the feet of these knights of the counting-house and ledger, cuts all the bonds that bind him to their service, comes back from the palaces of London to the green woods and soft plains of Oregon, takes his place as an American citizen under the stars and stripes, and thus wins the place of imperishable honor and fame as the true 'Father of Oregon.' There his ablest contemporaries place him. There the great State within whose bounds he died and whose foundations he laid, by the voice of her legislature and her chief executive has crowned him. There history, whose verdict I record to-night, and with which my own heart agrees, enshrines him as the greatest of our really great pioneer era." I have given these opinions because they are those of men who personally knew Dr. McLoughlin. And years after his death, after careful consideration and reflection, they have properly estimated him and, thus remembering, have spoken truly and justly.[59] _Eulogy upon Dr. McLoughlin._ Like many others of the world's great men, Dr. John McLoughlin had many characteristics, apparently conflicting, but making in the aggregate a wonderful and harmonious whole. He was the autocrat of the early Oregon Country, yet all his feelings and political sympathies were for a republican form of government, and for rule by the people, and for personal liberty; he was a trader, with the training of a trader and of a business man, yet he gave credit, without security, to the early pioneers, because he was a humanitarian; he was quick tempered and impulsive, yet he was courteous and kind, for he was a gentleman; he was stern and severe and a strict disciplinarian, yet he had a sympathy like that of a woman, and a heart as tender and susceptible as that of a little child.