A History of Oregon, 1792-1849 Part 39

This opened the eyes of Sir James Douglas to the natural weakness of Fort Vancouver. The _Modeste_ was ordered to the river, and other preparations were made to defend that establishment from an attack of the American settlers. They found from the results of what occurred on the 4th of March, that there _was a real substantial power in the country_, and an influence of combination that they did not dream of; hence they found themselves, with all their Indian combinations, the weaker power.

We will now leave the Honorable Hudson's Bay Company under the protection of the guns of her Majesty's s.h.i.+p _Modeste_, the fort being repaired, bastions built, and all other protective and defensive measures completed, while we look after the election and proceedings of the Legislative a.s.sembly of 1844.

The members elected from Tualatin District (since divided into Was.h.i.+ngton, Multnomah, Columbia, Clatsop, and Tilamook counties) were Peter H. Burnett, David Hill, M. M. McCarver, and Mr. Gilmore.

Clackamas District, including all of Was.h.i.+ngton Territory, Idaho, Montana, and half of the eastern part of the State of Oregon, was represented by A. L. Lovejoy. Champoeg District, including Marion, Linn, Baker, Douglas, and Jackson counties, was represented by Daniel Waldo, from Missouri, Thomas D. Keizer, from Arkansas, and Robert Newell, from the Rocky Mountains.

Peter H. Burnett was a lawyer from Missouri, who came to Oregon to seek his fortune, as well as a religion that would pay the best, and give him the most influence; which in the Legislative Committee was sufficient to induce that body to pay no attention to any organic law or principle laid down for the government of the settlements. In fact, he a.s.serted that there were no const.i.tutional provisions laid down or adopted by the people in general convention at Champoeg the year previous. Mr. Burnett was unquestionably the most intelligent lawyer then in the country. He was a very ambitious man--smooth, deceitful, and insinuating in his manners.

On motion of Mr. Lovejoy (another lawyer), the several members were excused from producing their credentials, and on motion of the same gentleman, the house proceeded to elect a Speaker. M. M. McCarver was duly elected.

The journal of the proceedings of this Legislative Committee shows that no regard was paid to any previous laws, or const.i.tutional provisions.

David Hill, of Tualatin District, was from Ohio. He was a tall, slim man, of sallow complexion, black hair, with strong prejudices, having no regard for religion or morality. He left an interesting wife and family in Ohio, and pa.s.sed himself off in Oregon for a widower or bachelor. He was favorable to all applications for divorces, and married a second wife, as near as we could learn, before he obtained a divorce (if he ever did) from his first wife. He early took an active part in the provisional government, and was a decided opponent of the Hudson's Bay Company, as also of all missionary efforts in the country. This rendered him popular among the settlers, and secured his election as a representative for that district for several years, although his education was quite limited. As a citizen he was generally respected.

Though intimately acquainted with two of his sons, we could never learn that he was any thing but kind and affectionate as a husband and father.

The fact of his leaving a wife and young family in Ohio, coming to Oregon, and remaining for years without making any provision for them, is evidence of guilt in some one. The friends of his wife and family spoke of them as being highly esteemed by all who knew them. But it is of his public acts, as connected with the history of Oregon, that we wish particularly to speak.

The social standard adopted by the people of Oregon was peculiarly adapted to favor men of Mr. Hill's morality, and aid them in rising from the effect of any former misconduct they may have been guilty of in any other country. This standard was, to receive as fellow-citizens all who came among us; to ignore their former actions, and give them a chance to start anew, and make a name and character in the country.

There must be something n.o.ble and generous in a people occupying a new and wild country, as Oregon was in those days, that would lead them to adopt a standard for common action and citizens.h.i.+p, so peculiarly republican and in accordance with the most liberal and enlightened Christianity. To this spirit of toleration and benevolence must be attributed, under an all-wise Providence, the complete success and stability of the first civil government formed on this coast. Hence, as we have before said, we shall deal with men, morals, and politics as they belonged to Oregon at the time of which we are writing.

M. M. McCarver, from having acted as commissary in the Black Hawk war, in Iowa, was called General. This t.i.tle secured to him considerable influence, and many favors from the Hudson's Bay Company. General McCarver was a man of common education, making large pretension to political knowledge, without much judgment or understanding of political economy. He was an intolerable debater, and acquired, among the lobby members of the Legislature, the name of "_Old Bra.s.s Gun_." In his political course, he strove hard for popularity, and attempted to secure places of honor for personal promotion. He was what would be considered a _Simon Pure_ pro-slavery Democrat. Like the silly moth in the fable, he fluttered around the shadow of Dr. White, the sub-Indian agent, and a.s.sisted him in insulting the Legislative Committee of 1845, and attempted to get his name before the Congress of the United States as an important and influential man, which was divulged and defeated by another member of the same committee, though in a cowardly and dishonorable manner. We are not aware that General McCarver ever originated any important measure, or performed any extensive or important service in the country. His political schemes were generally so supremely selfish that they died still-born.

Mr. Gilmore, from the same district, was a substantial farmer. He neither said or did much, and but little is known of him.

A. Lawrence Lovejoy, formerly from Ma.s.sachusetts, was a man of medium size, light complexion, light hair, rather impetuous and dogmatical in his conversation. He crossed the mountains with the immigration of 1842 to Dr. Whitman's station; from that place he attempted to return to the United States with Dr. Whitman. As near as we can learn, he became utterly exhausted by the time they reached Bent's Fort on the Arkansas River, and was left there by the Doctor. In the summer of 1843 he returned to Oregon and pursued his profession of law. In Oregon he has always acted with the radical Democratic party, rather doubtfully on the pro-slavery platform. He was the first regular nominee for governor of Oregon. George Abernethy, the secular agent of the Methodist Mission, was run as an independent candidate, and, with the a.s.sistance of Peter H. Burnett, Mr. Russell, and his friends, who bolted the general convention, was elected governor, though at the time he was on a visit to the Sandwich Islands. A large number of political friends still adhered to Mr. Lovejoy, and made a second attempt to elect him governor.

Mr. Abernethy was again the opposing candidate. It appeared in the canva.s.s of that year, that the Hudson's Bay Company generally voted for Mr. Lovejoy; but the personal kindness of Mr. Abernethy to a priest traveling up the Wallamet, induced him to tell his people to vote for Mr. Abernethy, and by this vote he was elected, although a fair majority of the votes of the American settlers was given for Mr. Lovejoy. Mr.

Lovejoy, like many of us, leaves but little usefulness or philanthropy to record, that his talents and position should have led him to aspire to. As a citizen and neighbor, he is kind and obliging, as a lawyer not above mediocrity, and it is generally understood that he makes no pretensions to religion.

Daniel Waldo, formerly of Missouri, was a plain, substantial farmer, and the first man who ventured to experiment upon the hills, or upland portions of Oregon. He had owned extensive tracts of land on the banks of the Missouri, a large portion of which had been washed away by the floods, which cause continual changes along the banks of that river. In coming to Oregon, he had made up his mind to take the hills, if there were any in the country. He did so, and has proved by his experiment the value of a large portion of country that was before considered worthless for cultivation. From the time Mr. Waldo arrived in the country he became an enthusiastic admirer of Oregon. Soon after he had located in the hills bearing his name, an old acquaintance of his, and also of his brother in Missouri, came to Oregon on a visit, and was about to return to the States. He paid Mr. Waldo a visit, and after chatting awhile and looking over his farm, on which we could not see a single rail, except a few he had in a corral, his friend (Colonel Gilpin) said to him: "What shall I say for you, to your brother in Missouri?" "Tell him," said Waldo, "that I would not give the bare idea of owning a section of land in Oregon for all I own in Missouri [which was then two sections, 1,280 acres], and that I would not give a section of land here for the whole State of Missouri." Such men gave a good report of Oregon, and it is to such that the country is indebted for her stability and prosperity. Mr.

Waldo's experiment has shown the capacity of the country for settlement to be more than double what it was previously considered, and while some of those who laughed at him and called him an enthusiast here had their farms, cattle, and houses swept away by floods, he has remained in the hills uninjured and secure.

Thomas D. Keizer, from Arkansas. Of this man's early history we have learned but little. It seems that, for some cause, he and his family were compelled to leave the State. Their story is that a gang of counterfeiters was exposed by them, and in consequence of their becoming informers they were surrounded by a mob and compelled to leave. On first arriving in the country they were not scrupulous as to the rights of their neighbors, or those of the Oregon Inst.i.tute, or mission claims.

They found themselves comfortably housed in the first buildings of the Oregon Inst.i.tute, and occupied them till it suited their pleasure to leave, and to find other quarters upon land claimed by the mission. As was to be expected, Mr. Keizer was inclined to do all he could to curtail the mission and Inst.i.tute claims, he being the gainer by curtailing the claims of others. As a politician, he considered all little dirty tricks and slanders against an opponent justifiable. In religion he professed to be a Methodist.

Robert Newell has been previously described.

Such being the composition of the Legislative Committee of Oregon in 1844, it is not surprising that interests of cla.s.ses and cliques should find advocates, and that the absolute wants of the country should be neglected. The whole time of the session seems to have been taken up in the discussions of personal bills. The question of convention of the people was before this session and was lost.

There was one inhuman act pa.s.sed by this Legislative Committee, which should stamp the names of its supporters with disgrace and infamy. We find its inception recorded on the 25th of July, the sixth day of the session.

On motion, the rules were suspended for the special purpose of allowing Hon. P. H. Burnett to introduce a bill for the prevention of _slavery in Oregon_, without giving previous notice; which was received and read first time. It was read a second time next day in the forenoon, and in the afternoon of the same day the bill to prevent slavery in Oregon, _and for other purposes_, was read a third time, and on the question, "Shall the bill pa.s.s?" the yeas and nays were demanded, when the vote stood: yeas, Burnett, Gilmore, Keizer, Waldo, Newell, and Mr. Speaker McCarver--6; nays, Lovejoy and Hill--2.

The princ.i.p.al provisions of this bill were, that in case a colored man was brought to the country by any master of a vessel, he must give bonds to take him away again or be fined, and in case the negro was found, or came here from any quarter, the sheriff was to catch him and flog him forty lashes at a time, till he left the country.

These six Solons, who got up and carried through this measure, did it for the good of the black man of course, as one of the first principles laid down by the people the year previous in the organic law, and unanimously carried, was: "That slavery, except for the punishment of crime, whereof the parties shall have been previously convicted, shall never be tolerated."

The principles of Burnett's bill made it a crime for a white man to bring a negro to the country, and a crime for a negro to come voluntarily; so that, in any case, if he were found in the country, he was guilty of a crime, and punishment or slavery was his doom.

Mr. Burnett claimed great credit for getting up a prohibitory liquor law, and made several speeches in favor of sustaining it, that being a popular measure among a majority of the citizens.

At the adjourned session in December, we find the executive urging the Legislative Committee to adopt measures to secure the permanent interests and prosperity of the country, also to amend their act relative to the corporal punishment of the blacks, and again urging the calling of a convention of the people.

CHAPTER XLIX.

Message of the Executive Committee.--Observations on the message.--Generosity of the Hudson's Bay Company.--The Methodist Mission.--The Oregon Printing-press a.s.sociation.--George Abernethy, Esq.

_To the Honorable the Legislative Committee of Oregon:_

GENTLEMEN,--As the expectation of receiving some information from the United States relative to the adjustment of the claims of that government and of Great Britain upon this country, was the princ.i.p.al cause of the adjournment of this a.s.sembly from June last to this day, we feel it our duty to communicate such information as we have been able to collect on the subject, and likewise to recommend the adoption of further measures for the promotion and security of the interests of Oregon.

The lines defining the limits of the separate claims of the United States and Great Britain to this portion of the country had not been agreed upon when our latest advices left the United States, and as far as we can learn, the question now stands in the same position as before the convention in London, in 1818. At that time, the United States government proposed to draw the division line on the forty-ninth parallel of north lat.i.tude from the Lake of the Woods to the Pacific Ocean. To this Great Britain would only consent in part, that the line should run on the forty-ninth parallel from the Lake of the Woods to the dividing ridge of the Rocky Mountains; and it was finally agreed upon, between the parties, that all the country lying west of the Rocky Mountains, and on the Pacific Ocean, should, with its harbors, bays, and rivers, remain open for ten years to the vessels, subjects, or citizens of both countries. But it was at the same time expressly understood, that the said agreement was not to be construed to affect or prejudice the claims of either party, or any other power, to any portion of said country. Before this agreement expired, another convention was held in London, in 1827, by the two contracting powers, by which the former treaty was extended, with the provision, that when either of the parties thought fit, after the 20th of October, 1828, to abrogate the convention, they were at liberty to do so, by giving twelve months'

notice to the other contracting party; but nothing in the treaty of 1827 was to be construed so as to affect, in any manner, the claims which either of the contracting parties, or any other power, might have to any of the country lying west of the Rocky Mountains.

The subject has again been called up for investigation by the two powers, and a negotiation was begun at Was.h.i.+ngton in the early part of the present year, but was for the time being suspended on account of a disagreement between the parties; and notice of the abrogation of the convention of 1827 had not been given by either party when our latest information left the United States. And we find that after all the negotiations that have been carried on between the United States and Great Britain relative to settling their claims to this country, from October, 1818, up to May, 1844, a period of nearly twenty-six years, the question remains in the following unsettled position, viz.:--

Neither of the parties in question claim exclusive right to the country lying west of the Rocky Mountains, between the parallels of forty-two degrees and fifty-four degrees forty minutes north lat.i.tude, and bordering on the Pacific Ocean; but one claims as much right as the other, and both claim the right of joint occupancy of the whole without prejudice to the claims of any other state or power to any part of said country.

We have submitted to you this information, gentlemen of the a.s.sembly, for two reasons:--

1st. To correct an error that occurred in our last communication to this body relative to the claims of the United States and Great Britain to this country.

2d. That you may bear in mind, while legislating for the people of Oregon, the position in which this country stands with regard to those claims.

We would advise that provision be made by this body for the framing and adoption of a const.i.tution for Oregon, previous to the next annual election, which may serve as a more thorough guide to her officers, and a more firm basis of her laws. It should be constructed in such a manner as would best suit the local situation of the country, and promote the general interests of the citizens, without interfering with the real or pretended rights of the United States or Great Britain, except when the protection of life and property actually require it.

We would suggest for your information that this government has now in its possession notes given by different individuals residing in the country, amounting to $3,734.26, most of which are already due. These notes are a balance in favor of Ewing Young, of Oregon, deceased, intestate, A.D. 1840, after all legal dues, debts, and damages are paid, that have come to the knowledge of the administrator or Probate Courts of Oregon up to this date. We would, therefore, advise that these claims should be collected and appropriated to the benefit of the country, the government being at all times responsible for the payment of them to those who may hereafter appear to have a legal right to the same.

We would again call your attention to a measure recommended in our last communication, to wit, the expediency of making provision for the erection of a public jail in this country. Although the community has suffered very little as yet for the want of such a building, and perhaps another year might pa.s.s without its being occupied, which it is hoped may be the case, yet we are a.s.sured that it is better policy to have the building standing without a tenant than a tenant without the building.

And in order to promote industry and the peace and welfare of the citizens of Oregon, this government must be prepared to discountenance indolence, and check vice in the bud.

We would now recommend to your consideration the propriety of making provision for filling public offices which now are or may become vacant by resignation or otherwise, previous to the next annual election.

We would recommend that the act pa.s.sed by this a.s.sembly in June last, relative to blacks and mulattoes, be so amended as to exclude corporal punishment, and require bonds for good behavior in its stead.

We consider it a highly important subject that the executive of this government should have laws which may direct them in settling matters relative to lands reserved by Indians, which have been, or may hereafter be, settled upon by whites.

We would also recommend that provisions be made for the support of lunatics and insane persons in Oregon.

With regard to the state of the treasury, we would refer you to the treasurer's report to this a.s.sembly.

We are informed that the number of immigrants who have come to this country from the United States during the present year amounts to upward of seven hundred and fifty persons.

We would recommend that the act pa.s.sed last June, defining the northern boundaries of Tualatin and Clatsop counties, be so explained as not to conflict with the act pa.s.sed in this a.s.sembly in June, 1843, extending the limits of Oregon to fifty-four degrees forty minutes north lat.i.tude.