The quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society, Vol. 1, No. 3, September, 1900Oregon Historical Society
History
The quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society, Vol. 1, No. 3, September, 1900
Oregon Historical Society
Oregon -- History -- Periodicals
The universal opinion here on the subject of the conduct and
results of the exploring expedition is highly favorable to the
officers who had charge of it. It has certainly given to
Lieutenant Wilkes a reputation as an accomplished seaman and an
energetic and scientific officer.
He delivered before the national institute a course of lectures,
at the request of that body, on the subject of the expedition,
which gave satisfaction and instruction to a numerous and
enlightened auditory—among whom were Mr. J. Q. Adams, Mr.
Poinsett, Mr. Woodbury, the members of the cabinet, and many
scientific gentlemen from every portion of the union.
At the close of his last lecture the honorable Secretary of the
Navy (Mr. Upshur) rose and addressed the assembly in the warmest
terms of commendation of the successful labors and efforts of
Captain Wilkes, and the officers and scientific corps under his
command. He adverted to one fact which of itself spoke strongly
of the skill with which the expedition had been conducted—that
it had visited the remotest quarters of the globe, traversed the
most dangerous seas, surveyed the most impenetrable coasts, and
encountered the vicissitudes of every climate with so little
difficulty or loss.
The secretary also remarked on the immense treasures in natural
science which the officers of the expedition had collected and
transmitted to the government in such admirable order, and which
now formed the basis of the museum of the national institute.
He commented, also, on Captain Wilkes’ report upon the Oregon
Territory, and declared that this report was alone an ample
compensation to the country for the whole cost of the
expedition. He expressed the opinion, in fine, that the results
of the expedition were highly valuable and honorable, not to
this country alone, but to the cause of civilization in the
world.
[From the _Tribune_ (New York), August 10, 1842.]
_Correspondence from Washington._
Points of the treaty. * * * The boundary line agreed upon runs
to the Rocky Mountains, and leaves unsettled the question of the
Oregon Territory. There is nothing lost by this, for our
emigrants are daily settling this question. We grow stronger
there by time, and become _nearer_, too.
In the same paper of the same date as the above:
THE OREGON FUR TRADE.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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