AN AMERICAN EXPLORING SQUADRON 183
"Sir George prays only to mammon," was a wellknown saying in the upper country.
The doctor kept his temper. Better than any one else west of the mountains he understood the policy of his company, and never had that company a more brilliantly cold and calculating manager than Sir George Simpson.
"By your management already you have lost us all that country south of the Columbia," continued Sir George.
"/lost that country?" cried Dr. McLoughlin, bristling at this unexpected charge. "England never claimed it. The company never expected to hold it. The Joint Occupancy Treaty was in itself official notice to that effect. As for these missionaries when they come bringing passports signed by the Secretary of War, dare I treat them like Yankee skippers or overland traders?"
Sir George by his John Bull obstinacy was fast driving the doctor into an American advocate.
He saw his error, and with the quick diplomacy for which he was noted Sir George grasped the angry doctor's hand.
"I beg your pardon, Chief Factor McLoughlin I beg your pardon. Your situation is indeed a complicated one. I shall take immediate measures to press this Oregon question to an issue. England cannot afford to lose this territory."
How he pressed this question is hidden in the English archives. A few days later Sir George left with Douglas to inspect the northwest coast and visit Sitka.
When Ogden went back up the Columbia he took with him Cornelius Rogers to the Whitman mission,
