FEDERAL RELATIONS OF OREGON

133 toward the end of 1825, expresses the opinion of the bulk of men who were at all acquainted with the whole question. Said he,* "The project of establishing a chain of military posts to the Pacific, and of building a colony at some point near the mouth of the Columbia river, is again spoken of in the newspapers. We hope that it will be postponed yet a little while it is not the interest of either the old Atlantic or the new states of the west, that a current of population should now be forced be- yond the settled boundaries of the republic." Although here and there were groups of men willing to be the recipients of land-grants located thousands of miles away and in an unknown region, most people were of the view of Niles, that the project should be "postponed yet a lit- tle while." 40 Register, 35 Nor. 1825.