USA > Oregon > History of Oregon, Vol. I, 1834-1848 > Part 30
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The next serious trouble with the natives came from an unexpected source. Early in the spring of 1845 White received a communication from Whitman at Waiilatpu, informing him of the return of a party
23 Letter of A. Beers, in Or. Archives, MS., 5-7.
24 Letters of Kaiser, Morrison, and Brainard, in Or. Archives, MS., 12, 13.
25 Oregon Spectator, Aug. 16, 1846; Minto's Early Days, MS., 38-40; Kai- ser's Nar., MS., 12-14; Kaiser's Emigrant Road, MS., 7-9.
236
WHITE'S ADMINISTRATION OF INDIAN AFFAIRS.
of Spokanes, Cayuses, and Walla Wallas from Califor- nia, under circumstances which led him to fear for the safety of the settlers in the upper country,26 as Elijah Hedding, the son of Peupeumoxmox, had been killed by an American. Before the excitement caused by this information had subsided, White was surprised by a visit from Ellis, high chief of the Nez Percés, who came to recount to him the particulars of this unfortunate affair. The story told by Ellis was that the natives had seized upon the idea of procuring cattle from California, and taking their surplus furs and horses to exchange for cows, had set out on this expedition under the leadership of Peupeumoxmox, or Yellow Serpent, who was accompanied by his converted son, Elijah Hedding. The journey was fraught with danger, as they were obliged to pass through a country inhabited by tribes with whom they were not friendly; but being well mounted and equipped, they reached California in safety, and were well received by the white population at Sutter Fort. An agreement to trade was entered into; all went well until the natives in hunting met with a band of freebooters from whom they took a prize of twenty- two stolen horses. On returning with them to the settlements, the animals were claimed by their former owners. The Oregon chiefs remonstrated, saying that in their country the horses, having been recovered from an enemy at the risk of life, would belong to those who recaptured them. But the others insisted that according to the laws of California the animals must bear a transfer mark before they ceased to be the property of their original owners. As the Indians refused to take that view of it, a ransom of first ten and then fifteen cows was offered for the captured estrays. But Peupeumoxmox was sulky, and would not reply, so the negotiations were broken off.
A day or two later, an American, seeing a mule which had been stolen from him among the animals,
26 Honolulu Friend, iv. 29.
287
ASSASSINATION OF ELIJAH.
roughly demanded his property, and declared that he would take it himself if it was not promptly surren- dered. Thereupon Elijah Hedding deliberately loaded his rifle, and turning to the American said significantly : "Go, now, and take your mule." The white man, considerably alarmed, asked Elijah if he intended to kill him. "O, no," carelessly replied the young chief, "I am only going to shoot that eagle on yonder tree." But his looks and manner belied his tongue, so the American thought it best to leave the mule.
On the following Sunday some of the natives attended religious services at Sutter Fort. After the close Elijah was invited into another apartment, to- gether with his uncle. Here they were menaced, and subjected to much wordy abuse. Finally the man who had had the dispute about the mule said to Elijah, "Yesterday you were going to kill me; now you must die," at the same time drawing a pistol. Elijah said, "Let me pray a little first;" and dropping on his knees, was shot dead in that attitude.
Such was the story as told by Ellis to White,27 and as reported by the latter to the secretary of war. As Elijah was a convert, the same version was generally accepted by the missionaries;28 but the truth of the matter is, that Elijah was a turbulent fellow, and met his death in a quarrel which he himself provoked. This side of the story I have, however, related in detail elsewhere.29
Having made the most of his story, and put forth his finest arts to impress White with a proper sense of the enormity of the crime which had been com- mitted, the wily Ellis went on to talk about the
27 White's Or. Ter., 49-50.
28 Parrish's Or. Anecdotes, MS., 90; Mission Life Sketches, 203. This latter is a work of 229 pages, 16mo, and appears to have been published as a contribution to Sunday-school literature. The author's name is not given, but from what he says of himself I infer he was H. K. W. Perkins, who came with the mission family of 1840. His account of Elijah's death is substantially the same as White's.
29 Hist. California, this series. See also Revere's Tour of Duty, 154; Lar- kin's Doc. Hist. Cal., MS., iii. 227.
288
WHITE'S ADMINISTRATION OF INDIAN AFFAIRS.
retaliation which might be expected. Yellow Ser- pent, he said, had returned to Oregon burning with rage and grief, and swearing to avenge the murder of his son in the near future.30 Not only the bereaved chief's own tribe, but others that were allied, related, or friendly to it, were furiously excited against the white men, both on account of the murder of Elijah and because certain persons from the Willamette Val- ley, now settled in California, had called the Oregon Indians 'dogs' and 'thieves.' So furious was the indignation of the tribes, continued the envoy ex- traordinary, that a scheme was on foot to raise two thousand warriors among the Cayuses, Walla Wallas, Nez Percés, Spokanes, Pend d'Oreilles, and Shoshones, and march at once into California to exact retribution by pillage and slaughter. There was an influential party among the natives, Ellis added, who were for holding the Americans in Oregon responsible for Elijah's death, since it was one of their countrymen who had killed him. Should this be avoided, however, he was specially charged to learn whether the Oregon settlers would remain neutral while the people of Cali- fornia were being swept from the face of the earth.
Such a relation was enough to make one shudder; and it was all the more alarming when the hearer was officially responsible for any trouble that might occur with the natives. Perhaps White showed agitation ; at all events, the envoy pushed his advantage by refer- ring to another source of discontent which had nothing to do with the matter immediately in hand. It seems that when the immigration of 1844 was expected, White had sent to the natives a number of ten-dollar drafts, presumably made payable by the government, with which he said cattle might be bought from the immigrants. This he claims to have done in order to deter the natives from plundering the new-comers. But the immigrants had declined to accept the drafts,
30 This threat was never fulfilled, though the Californians subsequently had cause to remember that it had been made. See Hist. Cal., this series.
289
BROKEN PROMISES.
and now chief Ellis was anxious to know how White was going to compensate his people for their disap- pointment.
At his wit's end how to conciliate and prevent the threatened destruction, the unhappy agent resorted to flattery and fair promises. He feasted his savage guest to his soul's content, showed his library, person- ally conducted him over his plantation, and in every way treated him with great consideration. Besides this, he promised to write to the governor of California and Captain Sutter concerning the recent disturbance, and also to address the United States government on the subject. Furthermore, he gave Ellis letters for the chiefs, sympathizing with them for the wrongs they had suffered, and inviting them all to visit him in the autumn of 1845 and exchange their worthless drafts for a cow and a calf each out of his own i.erds. Finally he promised them that if they would defer their invasion of California for two years, and assist him to the amount of two beaver-skins each, he would establish a good school for the children, adjust favor- ably all their grievances, and at the end of that time would give them five hundred dollars out of his own purse with which to buy cattle in California.
Flattered by the attentions he had received, and elated by the success which he imagined had attended his mission, Ellis returned home to use his influence for peace with the chiefs of the Walla Wallas and Cayuses. But his triumph was not of long duration, for before the autumn of 1845 White was on his way to the States, caring little for his engagements, and leaving no one behind to redeem his promises to pay.31
The sub-Indian agent, from the moment he entered upon his duties in Oregon, encountered serious diffi- culties. So awkwardly did he find himself situated,
31 In his report to the secretary of war White bestows praise upon the good conduct, progress, industry, and prosperity of Ellis and his people with an enthusiasm which his own experien e certainly did not call for. Such a re- port, however, reflected credit on his own efforts.
HIST. OR., VOL. I. 19
290
WHITE'S ADMINISTRATION OF INDIAN AFFAIRS.
that in 1844 he wrote that he was strongly inclined to leave the country, but was deterred by the thought that his presence was beneficial, and the hope of being relieved from his embarrassments. Whatever were his schemes, it is due to him to say that in opposing the introduction of intoxicating liquors, and in set- tling difficulties between the white inhabitants and the natives, his services to the colony were of im- portance. 32
Not the least of White's embarrassments arose from the fact that the men in Washington who had become, verbally at least, responsible for the payment of his salary and expenses, were no longer in a position to befriend him. Before his accounts were settled there was a change in the administration, and persons who did not know White were in the places of Webster, Tyler, Spencer, and Linn. Being solicited by the legislative assembly of the provisional government in 1845 to go to Washington as the bearer of a memorial to the United States government, he presented him- self at the capital, and was requested to continue in his office of Indian agent. He was obliged, however, to remain at the east until a bill should be passed by congress for the payment of debts due the Hudson's Bay Company, and granting him additional compensa- tion for services. A year was consumed in waiting, during which time certain representations were made by his political enemies in Oregon which lost him the position, and closed his connection with Oregon affairs.33 He returned in 1850 and engaged with James D. Hol- man to build a town on the claim of the latter, which he called Pacific City, which was afterward trans-
Applegate's Marginal Notes, in Gray's Hist., 259.
33 Wlute's Ten Years in Or., 322-5; White's Or. Ter., 64-6; Niles' Register, lxix. 407. The occasion of White's loss of place was the belief in Oregon that he would make an effort to get a seat in congress as delegate from the territory, whenever the expected settlement of boundary was consummated, and a territorial government established. That he so intended in 1845 seems probable, from the fact that on passing through Missouri, the St Louis Era spoke of him as a delegate from the self-constituted government of Oregon, going to ask for a seat in congress.
291
SKETCH OF WHITE.
ferred to other hands. He then went to reside at San Francisco, where he died in March 1879.34
34 While on a tour through Oregon in 1878 I was informed that Elijah White, a most important witness in the early annals of the state, was living in San Francisco, and there on my return I found him practising medicine, his office being within a stone's throw of my Library. He was exceedingly affable, with an intelligent though not very intellectual face, with bright, penetrating eyes, and for one so well advanced in years, active on his feet and well preserved, though how much of him was padding, and what was the true color of his well-dyed hair and whiskers, I cannot say. Thereafter until his death he was a frequent visitor at my Library, and there gave me an exceedingly valuable dictation, which I called Emigration to Oregon, filling many gaps left open by the printed material especially concerning the immi- gration of 1842. His Ten Years in Oregon, Ithaca, N. Y., 1850, contains the incidents of his journey to and residence in Oregon, as physician to the Mis- sion, his return to the States, subsequent emigration, his labors as Indian agent, explorations, etc., with an account of the formation of the provisional government, and some extracts from Frémont's journal of explorations in Oregon. Previous to the publication of this book he issued a pamphlet in Washington City, containing his correspondence with the Indian commis- sioner and other documents, the object of which was to assist the passage of a bill reimbursing him for expenses incurred in the administration of authority as Indian agent. This book is called a Concise View of Oregon Territory, Its Colonial and Indian Relations, etc., 72 pages. Another pamphlet called White's Testimonials contains some of the same matter, with other letters, and was apparently intended to assist him in a reappointment to Oregon.
CHAPTER XII.
ORGANIZATION OF THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT.
1843.
METHODIST OFFICIALS-A PROBATE COURT NEEDED-MEETING OF THE SET- TLERS-OFFICIALS CHOSEN-WITHDRAWAL OF THE FRENCH CATHOLIC ELEMENT-FURTHER POLITICAL ELEMENTS-THE OREGON LYCEUM- FRESH OVERTURES TO THE CANADIANS-THE LAND LAW-ANOTHER METHODIST MOVEMENT-THE 'WOLF' ORGANIZATION-THE CANADIANS BROUGHT IN-NEW SELECTION OF OFFICIALS-REPORT OF THE LEGISLA- TIVE COMMITTEE-GOVERNMENT EXPENSES-THE FOUR GREAT DISTRICTS. -MEASURES AGAINST McLOUGHLIN-INFLUENCE OF SHORTESS ON POLIT- ICAL AFFAIRS.
I HAVE already mentioned that as early as 1838 the Methodist Missions furnished the colonists with a magistrate and constable, not so much because the services of those officers were needed as because the Americans were determined not to be behind the British fur company in the exercise of civil juris- diction. The arrival of the great missionary reën- forcement of 1840, by increasing the colony, made it apparent that some form of government would sooner or later be necessary. Still such quiet and good order had hitherto prevailed,1 that it is difficult to say how long the attempt to institute even a primitive form of government would have been postponed had not an unexpected event furnished particular occasion for it. This was the death of Ewing Young in the winter of
1 Up to this time the only serious crime that had been committed was the murder of Mckay by some Indians at the Hudson's Bay Company's fishery at Pillar Rock, on the lower Columbia, Ang. 16, 1840. A party from Fort Nis- qually shot one of the murderers and captured another. The latter was tried, convicted, and hanged at Astoria on the 29th, and in the presence and with the aid of a great number of settlers. Lee and Frost's Or., 274; Tolmie's Puget Sound, MS., 8, 9; Fitzgerald's H. B. Co. and Vanc. Isl., 174.
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293
EWING YOUNG'S PROPERTY
1840-1. This audacious pioneer left a large property, to which there were no legal claimants or known heirs ; and as there was no probate court, the administration of his estate became a perplexing question. Murder, theft, and whiskey-making might be managed without law, but property for which there was no owner-alas for the luck of it! The thrifty settlers could not see it go to waste. And so the needed excuse to those who were anxious for legislation was at hand, and without delay a committee of arrangements called a mass-meeting of the settlers to be held at the Metho- dist Mission the 17th and 18th of February, 1841.2
The meeting on the 17th was composed chiefly of the members of the Mission, Jason Lee being chosen chairman, and Gustavus Hines secretary. The only business transacted was the passing of resolutions to elect a committee of seven to draught a code of laws for the government of the settlements south of the Columbia; to admit to the protection of those laws all settlers north of the Columbia not connected with the fur company; and the nomination of candidates for the several offices of governor, supreme judge with probate powers, three justices of the peace, three constables, three road commissioners, an attorney- general, a clerk of the courts and public recorder, a treasurer, and two overseers of the poor.3
The second day's meeting being attended by the French and American settlers, the proceedings took a less sectional tone. To propitiate and to secure the cooperation of the Canadians were the aims of the leading Americans; as without them, or opposed by them, there would be difficulty in organizing a gov- ernment. David Leslie being in the chair, with Sid- ney Smith and Hines as secretaries, the minutes of
2 According to Hines, the committee of arrangements was chosen at Young's funeral. Oregon Hist., 418.
3 In the proceedings of the first day's meeting, found in Oregon Archives, no mention is made of the mnen nominated; but from their number, seventeen, there must have been an officer to about every other American in the Mission colony. Two overseers of the poor sounds like irony.
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ORGANIZATION OF PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT.
the previous meeting were presented, and accepted so far as choosing a committee to frame a constitution and code of laws was concerned. The committee named consisted of F. N. Blanchet, Jason Lee, David Donpierre, Gustavus Hines, Charlevon, Robert Moore, J. L. Parrish, Etienne Lucier, and William Johnson. The only one of the number who had any practical knowledge of legislation was Moore, and most of the others were probably ignorant of even the theory of law. By making Blanchet chairman of the con- mittee, the Mission party hoped to secure the French Catholic influence, and harmonize sectarian difficulties, while the settlers were to be cajoled by the liberal bestowment of small offices.
It was found expedient to defer the election of a governor to a more convenient season, owing to the jealously of several missionary aspirants, and the opposition of the settlers to a governor from that party. This matter being settled, I. L. Babcock was chosen supreme judge with probate powers, George W. Le Breton clerk of the courts and public recorder, William Johnson high sheriff, and Zavier Ladaroot, Pierre Billique, and William McCarty constables. A resolution was then passed that until the code of laws should be draughted, Judge Babcock should be "in- 'structed to act according to the laws of the state of New York."4 The convention then adjourned to meet again on the 7th of June at St Pauls.
But when that day arrived, and the people were gathered to hear the report of the committee on con- stitution and laws, it was found that no report had been prepared, as Blanchet had not called that body together, and that he now desired to be excused from serving as chairman. This request being granted, W. J. Bailey was chosen in his place, and the committee were instructed to meet on the first Monday of Au- gust for the transaction of business, and to report to
4 Hines' Oregon Hist., 419. At this time there was but one copy of the laws of the state of New York in the colony.
295
MULTIPLICATION OF FACTIONS.
an adjourned session of the convention on the first Thursday in October. In the mean time they were advised to confer with the commander of the United States exploring expedition, then in the Columbia River, and with John McLoughlin of Fort Vancouver. Resolutions were then passed rescinding the nomina- tions made at the previous meeting, and instructing the committee on constitution and laws to " take into consideration the number and kind of offices it will be necessary to create in accordance with their con- stitution and code." The report of the nominating committee was to be referred to the legislative com- mittee. An adjournment was then taken to the Octo- ber meeting at the Methodist Mission.
The withdrawal of Blanchet from the chairman- ship of the legislative committee was taken, as was probably intended, to signify that the Canadians would take no part in the organization of a govern- ment; hence the rescinding of the nominations em- bracing a number of their names This revived the discussion as to the necessity of a governor, and in fact threw many difficulties in the way of the scheme for an organization. Moreover, some of the most influ- ential persons in the country and some of the mem- bers of the legislative committee were opposed to the idea of a government so long as peace and harmony existed without it.5
Besides this formidable opposition, Wilkes, on being consulted, condemned the scheme, on the grounds that only a small minority of the inhabitants desired to establish a government, that laws were not necessary, that they would be a poor substitute for the moral code they all followed, that there would be great diffi- culty in enforcing them within any definite limits,
5 William Johnson, who was the only one of the settler class not French on the committee, said that there was as yet ' no necessity for laws, lawyers, or magistrates.' Blanchet 'was of opinion that the number of settlers in the Willamette Valley would not warrant the establishment of a constitution, and as far as his people were concerned, there was no necessity for one, nor had he any knowledge of crime having been yet committed.' Wilkes' Nar., iv. 373-4.
296
ORGANIZATION OF PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT.
that the majority of the population being Catholics, they would elect their officers, which would be dis- pleasing to the Protestants, and that an unfavorable impression would be produced in the United States concerning the influence of missions which were obliged to resort to a criminal code.
Finding themselves baffled at every turn, but en- couraged to believe that the United States govern- ment would soon extend its jurisdiction over them, the missionary party now reluctantly consented to let drop their political scheme for the present, and for a year there was no more agitation of the subject of an established form of government in Oregon.
The arrival of White in 1842, with the commission of sub-Indian agent and a provisional claim on the governorship of the colony, stirred afresh the advo- cates of legislation. The idea of White becoming the civil head of the community was intolerable, but on the other hand, the fact that he was indirectly recommended for that position by the United States government was a great point in his favor; so, with characteristic discretion, the missionary party quietly used their influence to snub his pretensions without openly working against him, and by this course suc- ceeded, as we have seen, in confining his authority to the management of Indian affairs.
But though the mass of the colonists appeared to be satisfied with the existing state of things, the advocates of a temporary government continued to agitate the question during the winter of 1842-3, discussing it in a debating society said to have been established in Oregon City for no other purpose.6
6 Gray, Hist. Or., 260, has confounded the 'Falls Association' with the Oregon Lyceum, and calls it the 'Multnomah Circulating Library,' a name not in use till long after. The library was not formed until January 1844. W. H. Rees, an immigrant of that year, relates that when the immigration of 1843 arrived, finding the people deprived of reading matter, having no newspapers and few books, there was formed at Oregon City the 'Pioneer Lyceum and Literary Club,' which met 'to discuss the whole round of liter- ary and scientific pursuits.' The names on the roll of this club were John
297
THE OREGON LYCEUM.
The question of establishing an independent govern- ment for Oregon was also discussed by this body. The scheme is said to have been favored by McLoughlin, and openly advocated by several influential American colonists. Hastings went so far as to offer a resolu- tion in favor of the plan, but George Abernethy, then residing in Oregon City, met this with another, to the effect that: "If the United States extends its · jurisdiction over this country, within four years it will not be expedient to form an independent govern- ment." This resolution was warmly discussed and finally carried.7
In the autumn of 1842 overtures were again made to the Canadians to assist in forming a temporary gov- ernment, and meetings to consider the matter were held at French Prairie. But the Canadians declined, presumably by the advice of McLoughlin and their spiritual adviser, Blanchet. The position of the former at this juncture was embarrassing. It was evident that some form of political legislation must before long grow out of the persistent consideration of the subject. To aid or countenance the establish- ment of a government owing exclusive allegiance to the United States would be disloyal to his country and to the interests of the company. An independent government would be preferable to this, though there
H. Couch, F. W. Pettygrove, J. M. Wair, A. L. Lovejoy, Jesse Applegate, S. W. Moss, Robert Newell, J. W. Nesmith, Ed. Otie, H. A. G. Lee, Fred. Prigg, C. E. Pickett, Wm C. Dement, Medorum Crawford, Hiram Straight, J. Wambaugh, Win Cushing, Philip Foster, Ransom Clark, H. H. Hide, John G. Campbell, Theophilus Magruder, W. H. Rees, Mark Ford, Henry Saffron, Noyes Smith, Daniel Waldo, P. G. Stewart, Isaac W. Smith, Joseph Watt, Frank Ermatinger, A. E. Wilson, Jacob Hoover, S. M. Holderness, John Minto, Barton Lee, Gen. Husted, and John P. Brooks. C. E. Pickett was secretary of the club. Annual Address before the Oregon Pioneer Asso- ciation, in Or. Pioneer Assoc., Trans., 1879, p. 27. See also S. W. Moss, in Pio- neer Times, MS., 17, 18, where the 'Falls Debating Society ' is spoken of. Applegate says the library was got together in the winter of 1843-4, and that he contributed The Federalist, and several scientific works. Marginal notes in Gray's Hist. Or., 260. No two authorities call the institution by the same name. The Oregon Spectator of April 16, 1846, calls it the Falls Association, but it was the fashion of the Methodists to speak of Oregon City as 'The Falls,' merely to discountenance McLoughlin's right to name the place. The proper name of the debating society of 1842 was the Oregon Lyceum.
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