Angus Shaw, one of the
principal partners of the Northwest Company, announcing the coming of
the Phoebe and Isaac Todd, "to take and destroy everything American on
the northwest coast."
This intelligence was received without dismay by such of the clerks as
were natives of the United States. They had felt indignant at seeing
their national flag struck by a Canadian commander, and the British flag
flowed, as it were, in their faces. They had been stung to the quick,
also, by the vaunting airs assumed by the Northwesters. In this mood of
mind, they would willingly have nailed their colors to the staff, and
defied the frigate. She could not come within many miles of the fort,
they observed, and any boats she might send could be destroyed by their
cannon.
There were cooler and more calculating spirits, however, who had
the control of affairs, and felt nothing of the patriotic pride and
indignation of these youths. The extract of the letter had, apparently,
been read by M'Dougal, merely to prepare the way for a preconcerted
stroke of management. On the same day Mr. M'Tavish proposed to purchase
the whole stock of goods and furs belonging to the company, both at
Astoria and in the interior, at cost and charges. Mr. M'Dougal undertook
to comply; assuming the whole management of the negotiation in virtue
of the power vested in him, in case of the non-arrival of Mr.
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