British traders, and they were not altogether discreet in setting forth their schemes of empire on the Pacific slope. It aroused Father De Smet's indignation that such things should be going on and his country not bestir itself. He did not like the comparison of our lethargy with the activity of Great Britain, and a little incident serves to show us that he did not conceal his opinion.
In 1845 he met on the upper Columbia two engineer officers of the British army on their way to the mouth of that stream. After a brief interchange of courtesies and news each party went on its way; but Father De Smet had observed enough to set him thinking, and he placed his reflections upon record:
" I received with gladness the recent news from Europe, but the Oregon Question seemed to me somewhat alarming; for it was not curiosity or pleasure that had led these two officers to cross the ocean and so many desert wastes and that was hastening their course toward the mouth of the Columbia. They were under orders from their Government to take possession of Cape Disappointment, to unfurl the flag of England and to build a fort there in order to control the entrance to the river. In the Oregon Question John Bull, without talking too much, goes straight to the point and seizes the most important strategical sites in the country. Uncle Sam, on the other hand, wastes his time in words, fumes and threatens. Years have passed in this way in debates and fruitless controversies, without a practical effort to secure his real or pretended rights in Oregon.
“Father De Smet, on another occasion, furnished Senator Thomas H. Benton with a report of a conversation which he heard among British naval officers, disclosing an official intention to take possession of Oregon. (2)
But while Father De Smet was an enthusiastic believer in the future material greatness of his country, he had
(2) See page 436 of the Letters.