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Arrival of M'Tavish at Astoria
Arrival of M'Tavish at Astoria.—Conduct of His
Followers.— Negotiations of M'Dougal and M'Tavish.—Bargain for the
Transfer of Astoria—Doubts Entertained of the Loyalty of M'Dougal.
ON the 2d of October, about five weeks after Mr.
Hunt had sailed in the Albatross from Astoria, Mr. M'Kenzie set off
with two canoes, and twelve men, for the posts of Messrs. Stuart and
Clarke, to appraise them of the new arrangements determined upon in
the recent conference of the partners at the factory.
He had not ascended the river a hundred miles, when he met a
squadron of ten canoes, sweeping merrily down under British colors,
the Canadian oarsmen, as usual, in full song.
It was an armament fitted out by M'Tavish, who had with him Mr. J.
Stuart, another partner of the Northwest Company, together with some
clerks, and sixty-eight men—seventy-five souls in all. They had
heard of the frigate Phoebe and the Isaac Todd being on the high
seas, and were on their way down to await their arrival. In one of
the canoes Mr. Clarke came as a passenger, the alarming intelligence
having brought him down from his post on the Spokan. Mr. M'Kenzie
immediately determined to return with him to Astoria, and, veering
about, the two parties encamped together for the night. The leaders,
of course, observed a due decorum, but some of the subalterns could
not restrain their chuckling exultation, boasting that they would
soon plant the British standard on the walls of Astoria, and drive
the Americans out of the country.
In the course of the evening, Mr. M'Kenzie had a secret conference
with Mr. Clarke, in which they agreed to set off privately before
daylight, and get down in time to appraise M'Dougal of the approach
of these Northwesters. The latter, however, were completely on the
alert; just as M'Kenzie's canoes were about to push off, they were
joined by a couple from the Northwest squadron, in which was
M'Tavish, with two clerks, and eleven men. With these, he intended
to push forward and make arrangements, leaving the rest of the
convoy, in which was a large quantity of furs, to await his orders.
The two parties arrived at Astoria on the 7th of October. The
Northwesters encamped under the guns of the fort, and displayed the
British colors. The young men in the fort, natives of the United
States, were on the point of hoisting the American flag, but were
forbidden by Mr. M'Dougal. They were astonished at such a
prohibition, and were exceedingly galled by the tone and manner
assumed by the clerks and retainers of the Northwest Company, who
ruffled about in that swelling and braggart style which grows up
among these heroes of the wilderness; they, in fact, considered
themselves lords of the ascendant and regarded the hampered and
harassed Astorians as a conquered people.
On the following day M'Dougal convened the clerks, and read to them
an extract from a letter from his uncle, Mr. Angus Shaw, one of the
principal partners of the Northwest Company, announcing the coming
of the Phoebe and Isaac Todd, "to take and destroy everything
American on the northwest coast."
This intelligence was received without dismay by such of the clerks
as were natives of the United States. They had felt indignant at
seeing their national flag struck by a Canadian commander, and the
British flag flowed, as it were, in their faces. They had been stung
to the quick, also, by the vaunting airs assumed by the
Northwesters. In this mood of mind, they would willingly have nailed
their colors to the staff, and defied the frigate. She could not
come within many miles of the fort, they observed, and any boats she
might send could be destroyed by their cannon.
There were cooler and more calculating spirits, however, who had the
control of affairs, and felt nothing of the patriotic pride and
indignation of these youths. The extract of the letter had,
apparently, been read by M'Dougal, merely to prepare the way for a
preconcerted stroke of management. On the same day Mr. M'Tavish
proposed to purchase the whole stock of goods and furs belonging to
the company, both at Astoria and in the interior, at cost and
charges. Mr. M'Dougal undertook to comply; assuming the whole
management of the negotiation in virtue of the power vested in him,
in case of the non-arrival of Mr. Hunt. That power, however, was
limited and specific, and did not extend to an operation of this
nature and extent; no objection, however, was made to his
assumption, and he and M'Tavish soon made a preliminary arrangement,
perfectly satisfactory to the latter.
Mr. Stuart, and the reserve party of Northwesters, arrived shortly
afterwards, and encamped with M'Tavish. The former exclaimed loudly
against the terms of the arrangement, and insisted upon a reduction
of the prices. New negotiations had now to be entered into. The
demands of the Northwesters were made in a peremptory tone, and they
seemed disposed to dictate like conquerors. The Americans looked on
with indignation and impatience. They considered M'Dougal as acting,
if not a perfidious, certainly a craven part. He was continually
repairing to the camp to negotiate, instead of keeping within his
walls and receiving overtures in his fortress. His case, they
observed, was not so desperate as to excuse such crouching. He
might, in fact, hold out for his own terms. The Northwest party had
lost their ammunition; they had no goods to trade with the natives
for provisions; and they were so destitute that M'Dougal had
absolutely to feed them, while he negotiated with them. He, on the
contrary, was well lodged and victualled; had sixty men, with arms,
ammunition, boats, and everything requisite either for defense or
retreat. The party, beneath the guns of his fort, were at his mercy;
should an enemy appear in the offing, he could pack up the most
valuable part of the property and retire to some place of
concealment, or make off for the interior.
These considerations, however, had no weight with Mr. M'Dougal, or
were overruled by other motives. The terms of sale were lowered by
him to the standard fixed by Mr. Stuart, and an agreement executed
on the 16th of October, by which the furs and merchandise of all
kinds in the country, belonging to Mr. Astor, passed into the
possession of the Northwest Company at about a third of their value1.
A safe passage through the Northwest posts was guaranteed to such as
did not choose to enter into the service of that Company, and the
amount of wages due to them was to be deducted from the price paid
for Astoria.
The conduct and motives of Mr. M'Dougal, throughout the whole of
this proceeding, have been strongly questioned by the other
partners. He has been accused of availing himself of a wrong
construction of powers vested in him at his own request, and of
sacrificing the interests of Mr. Astor to the Northwest Company,
under the promise or hope of advantage to himself.
He always insisted, however, that he made the best bargain for Mr.
Astor that circumstances would permit; the frigate being hourly
expected, in which case the whole property of that gentleman would
be liable to capture. That the return of Mr. Hunt was problematical;
the frigate intending to cruise along the coast for two years, and
clear it of all American vessels. He moreover averred, and M'Tavish
corroborated his averment by certificate, that he proposed an
arrangement to that gentleman, by which the furs were to be sent to
Canton, and sold there at Mr. Astor's risk, and for his account; but
the proposition was not acceded to.
Notwithstanding all his representations, several of the persons
present at the transaction, and acquainted with the whole course of
the affair, and among the number Mr. M'Kenzie himself, his
occasional coadjutor, remained firm in the belief that he had acted
a hollow part. Neither did he succeed in exculpating himself to Mr.
Astor; that gentleman declaring, in a letter written some time
afterwards, to Mr. Hunt, that he considered the property virtually
given away. "Had our place and our property," he adds, "been fairly
captured, I should have preferred it; I should not feel as if I were
disgraced."
All these may be unmerited suspicions; but it certainly is a
circumstance strongly corroborative of them, that Mr. M'Dougal,
shortly after concluding this agreement, became a member of the
Northwest Company, and received a share productive of a handsome
income.
The following estimate has been made of the articles
on hand, and the prices:
17,705 lbs. beaver parchment, valued
at $2.00 worth $5.00
465 old coat beaver, valued at 1.66
worth 3.50
907 land otter, valued at.50 worth
5.00
68 sea-otter, valued at 12.00 worth
45 to 60.00
30 sea-otter, valued at 5.00 worth
25.00
Nothing was allowed for
179 mink skins, worth each .40
22 raccoon, worth each .40
28 lynx, worth each 2.00
18 fox, worth each 1.00
106 fox, worth each 1.50
71 black bear, worth each 4.00
16 grizzly bear, worth each 10.00
1 Not quite $40,000 were allowed for
furs worth upwards of $100,000. Beaver was valued at two dollars per
skin, though worth five dollars. Land otter at fifty cents, though
worth five dollars. Sea-otter at twelve dollars, worth from
forty-five to sixty dollars; and for several kinds of furs nothing
was allowed. Moreover, the goods and merchandise for the Indian
trade ought to have brought three times the amount for which they
were sold.
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Astoria; Or Anecdotes Of An Enterprise Beyond The
Rocky Mountains
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