described, appeared and seemed to supply a varied mass of first-hand confirmatory evidence. Critical study of it, however, soon reveals that nearly every statement in it bearing on Whitman's journey originated with Spalding himself. The peculiar style, the recurrence of identical phrases and of the same historical errors, and other internal evidence make it clear that this document has no value as testimony beyond that of Spalding's own word.
A decade now passes without any noteworthy addition to the literature of the Whitman legend,[1] but its next appearance gave it a decided lift in the world, for it was deemed worthy of mention, although with some critical reservation by an eminent historian. Von Hoist, in his chapter on the Oregon Question, wrote of Webster: "and it is said that he was actually ready to give up Oregon, if England would, in consideration therefor, show an inclination to make concessions in the settling of the boundary of Maine, and the question of the cod-fisheries; but that Whitman, the missionary, succeeded in preventing Tyler's concurrence in this plan by promising to lead a caravan overland to Oregon. How much truth there is in this story can probably never be authentically determined."[2]
- ↑ Doctor Atkinson gave the story prominence in his Centennial address, The American Colonist, before the Pioneer Historical Society at Astoria, Feb. 22, 1876. See his Biography, 260-272. It was in preparation for this that he wrote to A. L. Lovejoy for an account of his recollections of Whitman's journey. Lovejoy's reply is printed on pp. 272-275 and in Nixon's How Marcus Whitman Saved Oregon, 305-312. J. Quinn Thornton, in his History of the Provisional Government of Oregon, accepts the legend of Whitman's having effected a change in the Oregon policy by his journey to Washington. Constitution, etc., of the Oregon Pioneer Assoc, Salem, Or. 1875, 68. Thornton was a pioneer of 1846, and a friend of the Whitmans.
- ↑ Von Hoist, Constitutional History of the U. S., Chicago, 1881, III,. 51-52. Von Hoist cites as his source Gray's Oregon, 290. He accepted the assertion of
think that Vicar General Brouillet was the author. The present editor of The Catholic World was unable to give any information on the subject.
More than half of J. G. Craighead's The Story of Marcus Whitman (Philadelphia, 1895), i. e. 86-182, is devoted to a defence of Spalding's document and a criticism of this article in The Catholic World. Doctor Craighead's defence of Spalding is futile. It rests on the assumption that Spalding was a trustworthy witness, which, as I shall show, was far from the case.
