Tensions Rise in the San Juan Islands
A dangerous standoff between American officials and Hudson's Bay Company agents threatens to ignite an international incident.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
We took occasion a few weeks ago to refer to the disgraceful and insulting conduct of some of the suppliant tools of the Hudson Bay Company towards Col. Ebey, Collector of Customs for the District of Puget Sound, whilst on a visit to the island of San Juan, south of the Straits of Harro, in pursuance of the duties of his official station. It will be recollected that Col. Ebey left an inspector on the island previous to his departure therefrom—that threats were made by the Hudson Bay authorities that he should be taken prisoner to Victoria, and that strong fears were entertained that they had carried their designs into execution. We take pleasure in being able to inform our readers that at the last accounts the American inspector was still at his post in the discharge of his duties. An attempt was made, shortly after the departure of Col. Ebey and crew from the island, by a posse of white-livered tools of Gov. Douglass, and by his written authority, to arrest the aforesaid Inspector (Capt. Webber) and take him before his august majesty. But it was soon ascertained that it might cause them a little disaster to make a successful arrest, and they consequently returned to Victoria (no doubt to report and receive further orders from their master), promising to call again.
“An attempt was made... by a posse of white-livered tools of Gov. Douglass... to arrest the aforesaid Inspector, but it was soon ascertained that it might cause them a little disaster to make a successful arrest.”
This territorial friction over the San Juan Islands highlights the tense, contested nature of the Pacific Northwest border before the eventual resolution of the 'Pig War.' It captures the period when Olympia was the capital of a raw, expansive territory still asserting its sovereignty against entrenched colonial interests.
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