Jewitt etc

[R K Henderson]

>Again, with the critical exception of the period from 1796 to 1820.

Ah. I get it. At some point I got the impression you were insinuating
that the Oregon Country fell to the US by default, because "no-one else
was using it." This is the party line in the States, but far from the
truth. As you know, Canadian/British authorities saw to it that the Yukon
was very visibly "occupied" by the Crown during the Klondike gold rush,
to avoid having the same thing happen again.

To avoid long explanations, I often refer to historical British/Canadian
interests as "Canadian." Partly this is because it is very hard to tell
where British interests become purely Canadian ones, given our hazy
political history, particularly in military matters. Partly it's to avoid
refering to individual colonies, which confuses Americans, and even some
Canadians. And partly it's to assert Canada's national interest, since we
are ultimately talking about Canada and not England. To an instance where
this point is frequently lost, every American account of the 1812 War
I've seen refers to the competitors as "American" and "British." Yet much
of the war was fought by Canadians in Canada, for Canadian reasons.
Somehow, foreign accounts neglect to mention that the Americans tried to
overthrow Canada, not England, during that period. It's just too handy to
obscure the facts in colonial techicalities.

So yes, during the Napleonic Wars, British military presence in unsettled
corners of the world, including here, was much reduced.

On a related point, it's interesting to note that Jargon not only
distinguishes between British subjects and Americans, but also between
English and French Canadians. It also identifies Sandwich Islanders and
black people, yet it doesn't seem to have a word meaning "other whites,"
though there were many on the coast at various times. Nor is there a word
for "Eastern Native," or "Metis," though both were well-represented among
the traders.

RK Henderson
Writer and Photographer

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