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Show 64 GOVJHlN.JYIENT--SPEC ULA. TIONS of expenses unavoidable, in the tri?.Dsaction of the Gove·rnment.They have endea vOt·ed to protect the rights of the Indians, t\\nr1 promote peace and harmony bet~een them and the settlers; and no disturbance of ft. gen1·e..l nature ha~ .e\1e ~ .occurred. bet\'v~en them; and an Indian ':V?.r, Ill nll prob!lbthty, 1nll never rtltenupt the tranquiiit)' of the Willnmmette Valley. 'fhe temporary gov .. ernment is acknowledged and supported by the grent majority oi of the people, and is constantly gaining strtngth and character.-None of the members of the fludson's Bay C01upany took an active part in the organiz:1tion of this Government; yet we believe that Ih·. McLaughlin was present at the Convention.-Since, howevel', many of those persons whom the Gudson9s Bay Company have settled in the country, have been induced, by the influence of members of the Company, to vote at elections.Many of the individuals connected with the Company, among whom is Dr. McLaughlin himself, have preferr~d to avail themselves of the benefit of the Laws, to become subject to them, and to pay the taxes levied by the Legislative Committee. One of the ofii.cers of the Hudson's Bay Company was appointed by the Executive, to the offi~e of Treasure1· of the temporary Government, and he accepted and served in ihat capacity. Dut litt e dirliculty has yet occurred in its administration, and only two instances of resis~ tance against the Laws; in both of which, the authorities were successful, and order. was maintained. Priy:::.~e difrlculties have but seldom occurred, and there is more h'armony in society than we have ever known or heard of, in any other part of the 'World~This happy circumstance is attributed principally, to the general absence of intoxicating liquors; which is astute of thin gs unprecedented in the settlement of a new country, and speaks loudly in favor of the moral character of the people of Oregon. Many speculations have been indulged in, since the first discovery of America, much research made, and many opinions offe red as to th,e manner in which it became peopled. W.e have, in the course of our ravels, become acquainted with some facts which may pos-sibly throw light upcn this suLject. It may be, that the facts which l~ave induced us to form our opinion, have :been given to the pubhe by others, and long since; but if they have, as we have never seen them, we beg leave to throw our opinion into the scale. The most commonly received opinion, is, we believe, that the first inhabitant's came across from the Northern part of Asia, at Berring's Stra1ts, where the tlistuncc between the sho1·es of the two Conti· CONCERNING THE 0RIGI:'-l' OF THE ABOR TGINES. 6b :hents is but short. This· opillion, thou gh it is very plausiLle , and in fact, probable, as i·egards America , cnnn ot account for the peopling of many of the Islands in the Pac ific Ocean, far removed from the shores of eith e r Conti ne ut. It is our opinion, that the Westem shores, if not the Co'ntinent of America, and all tho inhabited Islands of the Paci fic, have been peopled from China and Japan . It is now lmown, with as much ce rta inty, as ure any existences or transactions, of which we have been informed, by an .. cient history, that the Chi nese E mpire has been in ex istence, that its people have heen in rmmy respec ts enl ig htened , and th at r ecords have been made and kept by them, fo l' several thousand years past. They had vessels in whi ch th ey wcu t to sea, but not having an extensive knowledge of navi gation, they neve i· ventured far from land; it howeve r, sometimes happened , that th ey were bl own off to a great distance, at sou, becume ... los t and bewilde red, and we ~·e left to the mercy of tho wintl and wu ves ; in this condition, we believe that these lost vessels huvo been driven and cast upon the shores of our Continent, and upon the inhabited I slands of the Pacific, w be re tho prople who thus sn. ved the msel vos, ha vc increased, aud made tho t'<bo ri g in es of this Contine nt, a nd t hose Islands; and that being tli scourugod by the improbabili ty of th eir ever regaining th eir nat ive c o u n try~ and des titute of all the it· a cc ustomed means of im proveme nt, they have descentlcd , in the course of ages, into their presen t st te of ba r ba rism. None ca n object to this theory, on account of tl1e di 't'ers ity of features, complexion, and lungun.gcs, who hold that tho hurnan race have descend ed from one common pat'cntuge ; sin ce , time and c ircumstances may have wrought a chan age in this case , ns well as in that. The circumstances which load us to this opinion arc these : about fifty years ago, as we we re informed, by di ffe rent ge ntl emen, conn ected with tha Hudson's Bay Fur Company, a nd previous to their establ:shment in that country, a J apanese Junk was cast upon tlJe North ' iVest coast of Oregon; the people who sav ed themsc l vcs from the wreck were taken, and enslav ed by the Indians, and were found among them, by the Company's Traders, in that condition. They endeavored to purchase th em from th eir masters, but were unable to ob. tain them ut any reasonable price. Tile rompany, after thP expiI'ation of several years, found it necessary to employ a steamer, to col lect their furs, on this coast; and instructed the master, upon its arrival, to obtain, if possible, the Japanese slaves. The Indian!, whose villages were neo..r the Sea shore, were at the time of the' 9 |