Although the United States Government would give no guarantee of protection, yet the new arrivals met in those regions a condition of safety rarely found in so wild and remote a locality, and, for the time being, at least, were glad to avail themselves of the security offered by the Hudson’s Bay Company. Nor is it to be supposed that the colonists were entirely neglected by the Government of the United States. Though unable to grant fully the wishes for a civil government, or even for military posts, yet every executive took measures to gain such information as would keep the government well advised, and enable it to see that the brave forerunners of settlement suffered no personal injury. The interval of rest fell within the administrations of President Jackson, and his policy seems to have been one simply of watchfulness and the gaining of knowledge. To this end William A. Slacum, of the United States Navy, was appointed as a special agent, to visit Oregon and examine the conditions. This is important, as marking the policy the government intended to pursue while things were in process of transition. If the protection given was not adequate, it at least dispels the suspicion of utter heartlessness which would attach to a government which would let its citizens go, in support of its own interests, into this wilderness, without a single thought for their safety.
When the question, therefore, next came up for discussion, conditions had considerably changed. Traders had ventured into the country, missionary stations had been established, more knowledge of the country had been gained, a more careful examination of the title had been made by the conference which met in 1827, and the cause had enlisted the interest of some of the strongest men in political life.
In the second campaign the initiative was transferred from the house to the senate, and an able leader was found in the senator from Missouri, Dr. Lewis F. Linn. He was the colleague of Benton, and a man commanding the highest esteem of his associates. The attack began by a bill of February, 1838, for the occupation of the Columbia and the establishment of a civil government similar to previous bills. Meeting with failure, it was followed, as in the previous campaign, by several others, and, in spite of the assembling of the conference for the settlement of the northeastern boundary, in 1842, the discussions were carried on with a nearness to that event which seemed dangerous to Mr. Linn’s associates. Shortly after the adjournment of the conference the discussions were renewed. As in the case of Floyd’s bills, there was a gradual toning down of the provisions, in the successive sessions of congress, so that the movement which started by advocating the establishment of a territory to be called the Oregon Territory, erection of a fort on the Columbia, occupation of the country by a military force, the establishment of a port of entry subject to the revenue laws of the United States, ended by advocating a line of forts along the route to Oregon, a post near its mouth, a grant of six hundred and forty acres of land to every male settler cultivating the land for five years, appointment of Indian agents to regulate affairs with the native races, and extension of the jurisdiction of the courts of Iowa over the territory west of the Rockies. The bill provided an increase of judges, justices, and constables, to meet the increase of business, and English subjects charged with criminal offenses were to be given up to the English courts. This bill passed the senate by a vote of twenty-four to twenty-two, in February of 1843, but failed of passage in the house. Thus Linn, like Floyd, was rewarded for his service by seeing his measure pass the house of which he was a member, but any further hopes were cut off by his death before the next session of congress.