Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 19.djvu/126

114 LESTER BURRELL SHIPPEE of the flouters."4 And then, "the Presidents told me he had been informed that the Columbia River settlement project was for the benefit of a brother-in-law of Dr. Floyd's, who as Treas- urer of the State of Virginia, and about a year since was de- tected in the embezzlement of the funds of the State to the amount of many thousands of dollars. This had so disgraced him in reputation that a retreat to the Columbia River was thought expedient for him by his friends, and, as his near rela- tions shared something of the ignominy which had attached to him, Dr. Floyd probably intended to be of the Columbia River party too." With Adams as well as with Benton some allowance must be made for the personal factor, and it will appear later that one phase of the Oregon agitation was the occasion of an interchange between Adams and Floyd. Apparently there were mingled motives arising from a desire to see that the United States was not checkmated by Great Britain combined with those of personal ambition stimulated by a great amount of the pioneer spirit. When Congress assembled in December of 1819, President Monroe, in his Annual Message, expressed his regret that no commercial agreement had been reached with Great Britain as a result of the negotiations of 1818, but he made no direct reference to the joint occupancy of the Columbia region which had resulted from the same discussions. During the session a resolution was adopted by the Senate 6 calling upon the Secretary of War to present to present to Congress a project of the system considered by him best calculated to protect the frontier of the United States, especially that portion watered by the tributaries of the Missouri River. The result was a Report on Trade with the Indians laid before Congress at its next session.7 In this Calhoun recommends the formation, by authority of a Federal charter, of a stock company with 4 Memoirs, V, 237-8. 5 Monroe was a Virginian and in, close touch with Virginia politics. 6 Introduced by Johnson of Kentucky, Annals, I, 1819-20. 7 Ibid., II, 2462-6.