USA > Oregon > History of Oregon, Vol. I, 1834-1848 > Part 32
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'Art. 5. The executive power shall be vested in a committee of 3 per- sons, elected by the qualified voters at the annual election, who shall have
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ORGANIZATION OF PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT.
C. McRoy, of Article III., and Joseph Holman, of Article IV., showing that the adoption of a govern -. ment did not depend entirely on the Americans.
The subject of an executive had troubled the legis- lative committee not a little. It was necessary to
power to grant pardons and reprieves for offences against the laws of the ter- ritory, to call out the military force of the territory to repel invasion, or suppress insurrection, to take care that the laws are faithfully executed, and to recommend such laws as they may consider necessary, to the representa- tives of the people, for their action. Two mnenibers of the committee shall constitue a quorum to transact business.
'Art. 6. The legislative power shall be vested in a committee of 9 per- sons, who shall be elected by the qualified electors at the annual election, giving to each district a representation in ratio of its population, excluding Indians; and the said members of the committee shall reside in the district for which they shall be chosen.
'Art. 7. The judicial power shall be vested in a supreme court, consist- ing of a supreme judge and 2 justices of the peace. The jurisdiction of the supreme court shall be both appellate and original. That of the probate court and justices of the peace as limited by law-provided that individual justices of the peace shall not have jurisdiction of any matter of controversy when the title or boundary of land may be in dispute, or where the sum claimed exceeds $50.
'Art. 8. There shall be a recorder elected by the qualified electors, at the annual election, who shall keep a faithful record of the proceedings in the legislative committee, supreme and probate courts; also, record all boundaries of lands presented for that purpose; and all marks and brands used for mark- ing live-stock; procure and keep the standard weights and measures required by law; seal weights and measures, and keep a record of the same; and also record wills and deeds, and other instruments of writing required by law to be recorded. The recorder shall receive the following fees, viz .: for recording wills, deeds, and other instruments of writing, 12 cents for every 100 words, and the same price for copies of the same; for every weight or measure sealed, 25 cents; for granting other official papers and the seal, 25 cents; for serving as clerk of the legislative committee, the same daily pay as the members of the legislature; and for all other services required of him by this act, the same fees as allowed for similar services by the laws of Iowa.
'Art. 9. There shall be a treasurer elected by the qualified electors of the territory, who shall, before entering upon the duties of his office, give bond to the executive committee, in the sum of $1,500, with 2 or more sufficient securities, to be approved by the executive committee, conditioned for the faithful discharge of the duties of his office. The treasurer shall receive all moneys belonging to the territory, that may be raised by contribution or otherwise, and shall procure suitable books in which he shall enter an ac- count of his receipts and disbursements.
'Art. 10. The treasurer shall in no case pay money out of the treasury but according to law, and shall annually report to the legislative committee a true account of his receipts and disbursements, with necessary vouchers for the same, and shall deliver to his successor in office all books, money, ac- counts, qr other property belonging to the territory, so soon as his successor shall become qualified.
'Art. 11. The treasurer shall receive for his services the sum of 5 per cent of all moneys received and paid out, according to law, and.3 per cent of all moneys in the treasury when he goes out of office, and 2 per cent upon the disbursement of money in the treasury when he comes into office.
'Art. 12. The laws of Iowa shall be the laws of this territory, in civil, military, and criminal cases, where not otherwise provided for, and where no
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IOWA STATUTES THE MODEL.
have such a head, yet they were instructed by the people against it, and against taxation for the support of a government. They had evaded the issue by recommending to the public the appointment of an executive committee of three, which plan was finally adopted, but not without considerable discussion and amendment.
statute of Iowa Territory applies, the principles of common law and equity shall govern.
'Art. 13. That the law of Iowa Territory regulating weights and meas- ures shall be the law of this territory-provided, that the supreme court shall perform the duties of the county commissioners, and the recorder shall per- form the duties of the clerk of the county commissioners, as prescribed in said laws of Iowa-and provided, that 60 pounds avoirdupois weight shall be the standard weight of a bushel of wheat, whether the same be more or less than 2,150 2-5 cubic inches.
'Art. 14. The laws of Iowa Territory respecting wills and administrations shall be the law of this territory, in all cases not otherwise provided for.
'Art. 15. The law of Iowa respecting vagrants is hereby adopted, as far as adapted to the circumstances of the citizens of Oregon.
' Art. 16. The supreme court shall hold two sessions annually, upon the third Tuesdays in April and September; the first session to be held at Cham- poeg, on the third Tuesday of September 1843, and the second session at Tualatin plains, on the third Tuesday of April 1844. At the sessions of the supreme court, the supreme judge shall preside, assisted by 2 justices- provided, that no justice shall assist in trying any case that has been brought before the court by appeal from his judgment. The supreme court shall have original jurisdiction in cases of treason, felony, or breaches of the peace, where the sum claimed exceeds $50.
' Art. 17. All male persons, of the age of 16 years and upwards, and all females of the age of 14 and upwards, shall have right in engaging in mar- riage, provided that where either of the parties shall be under the age of 21, the consent of the parents or guardians of such minors shall be necessary to the validity of such matrimonial engagement. Every ordained minister of the gospel, of any religious denomination, the supreme judge, and all justices of the peace, are hereby authorized to solemnize marriages according to law, to have the same recorded, and pay the recorder's fee. All marriages shall be recorded by the territorial recorder, within one inonthi from the time of such marriage taking place and being made known to him officially. The legal fee for marriage shall be $1, and for recording the same 50 cents.
'Art. 18. All offices subsequently made shall be filled by election and ballot in the several districts, in the most central and convenient place in each district, upon the day appointed by law, and under such regulations as the laws of Iowa provide.
'Art. 19. Resolved, that a committee of 3 be appointed to draw up a digest of the doings of the people of this territory, with regard to an organiza- tion, and transmit the same to the United States government, for their infor- mation. Resolved, that the following portions of the laws of Iowa, as laid down in the statute laws of the territory of Iowa, enacted at the first session of the legislative assembly of said territory, held at Burlington, A. D. 1838-9; published by authority, Du Buque, Bussel, and Reeves, printers, 1839; cer- tified to be a correct copy by William B. Conway, secretary of Iowa Territory --- be adopted as the laws of this territory;' then follow the titles of the laws alphabetically arranged, with the pages where they are to be found in the above-described edition of the Laws of Iowa. Grover's Oregon Archives. 28-32. Hines' Oregon Hist. 426-31; Gray's Hist. Or., 353-7
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ORGANIZATION OF PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT.
The question of government expenses was met by a subscription, pledging the signers to pay annually certain sums affixed to their names, provided the sub- scriber might withdraw his name on paying arrearages and notifying the treasurer. The country was divided into four districts, the first to be called Twality dis- trict, comprising all the country south of the northern boundary line of the United States west of the Willamette or Multnomah River, north of the Yam- hill River, and east of the Pacific Ocean. The second was Yamhill district, and embraced all the country west of the Willamette or Multnomah River, and a line running north and south from said river south of the Yamhill River to 42° north latitude, or the boundary line of the United States and California, and east of the Pacific Ocean. The third, Clackamas district, comprehended all the territory not included in the other three districts. The fourth, or Cham - pooick 20 district, was bounded on the north by a line supposed to be drawn from the mouth of the Anchi- yoke River running due east to the Rocky Mountains, west by the Willamette or Multnomah River, and a supposed line running due south from said river to the 42d parallel, south by the northern boundary line of California, and east by the summit of the Rocky Mountains. Collectively, these districts were to be designated Oregon Territory.
The military law provided that there should be one battalion of militia in the territory, divided into three or more companies of mounted riflemen. This law contained nothing deserving of comment, except in its tenth and last article, which made the militia, "with the advice and consent of the executive com- mittee, subject to the call of the authorized agents of the United States government, until troops should be sent to support the same;" which meant that with the consent of the executive committee, White might
20 This spelling of Champoeg was quite common in the early occupation of the Willamette Valley, as Twality was of Tualatin.
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THE LAND LAW.
call on the military companies to put down uprisings among the natives. The manner in which White and the soldiers used their authority has been given in a previous chapter.
The law of land claims, the most important of all to the original agitators of a provisional government, required that the claimant should designate the boundaries of his land, and have the same recorded in the office of the territorial recorder, in a book kept for that purpose, within twenty days from the time of making his claim; unless he should be already in possession of a claim, when he should be allowed a year for recording a description of his land. It was also required that improvements should be made, by building or enclosing, within six months, and that the claimant should reside on the land within a year after recording. No individual was allowed to hold a claim of more than one square mile, or six hundred and forty acres in a square or oblong form, according to natural surroundings, or to hold more than one claim at one time; but having complied with these ordi- nances, he was entitled to the same recourse against trespass as in other cases provided by law.
The fourth and last article of the land law forbade all persons to hold claims upon city or town sites, extensive water privileges, or other situations neces- sary for the transaction of mercantile or manufactur- ing operations. Like all the important acts of the legislative committee, the land law was the work of Shortess, who was, at this period of his history, in close sympathy with the Methodist Mission. The fourth article was directly designed to take from John McLoughlin his claim at Oregon City, but when the motion was put to adopt the law as a whole, there arose considerable argument, the Mission having also laid claim to a portion of the land at Oregon City, and having erected mills on the island at the falls. In order to quiet this discussion and satisfy the Mis- sion, a proviso was proposed "that nothing in these
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ORGANIZATION OF PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT.
laws shall be so construed as to affect any claim of any mission of a religious character, made previous to this time, of an extent not more than six miles square."2
The reports of the various committees having been adopted, Jason Lee, Harvey Clark, and David Leslie were chosen a committee to draught and administer an oath of office to the persons elected on the 2d of May, and to the supreme judge, who should thereafter qualify all civil and military officers elected by the people. Burns having resigned his office as justice of the peace, Moore was chosen in his place. James O'Neil was also chosen justice of the peace for Yam- hill district, and Amos Cook constable. Joel Turn- ham was elected constable for Champooick district, in place of Bridges, who had gone to California.
The choice of an executive committee was a matter of more moment, and the subject of active canvassing ; it finally fell on David Hill, Alanson Beers, and Joseph Gale. None of these men had influence enough to be dangerous to the peace of the community ; two be- longed to the settler class, and the third was but a lay member of the Mission. The oath of office was ad- ministered the same day, by motion of the meeting, and thus the whole business of starting the machinery of the first government of Oregon was concluded.
With regard to the influence of the Methodist Mis-
21 In a letter to the Oregon Spectator of Aug. 5, 1848, Gray affirms that this proviso was suggested by Jason Lee himself, and offered by Le Breton, and that none of the legislative committee were responsible for it; and to this he says he has made oath. In his History, 338, he informs us that Le Breton had been chosen secretly to the legislative committee, the members agreeing to pay his per diem if necessary. Newell, in his Strictures on Gray, says that the word 'Protestant ' was inserted in the proviso before 'missions,' but that he argued for the American right to worship God according to his conscience, and succeeded in having the obnoxious word stricken out. Gray admits that Newell was opposed to the fourth article of the land law, but only because he favored McLoughlin's claim. Gray also affirms that the legislative com- mittee were opposed to the large claims of the Mission, but feared to oppose them lest they should combine against the organization. They were, besides, satisfied that the Protestant missions would finally give up a portion of their claims in order to force the Catholics to do the same, and this, he says, is what actually took place. Hist. Or., 347. As if the United States had nothing to do with the matter
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SIGNIFICANCE OF THE MEASURES.
sion on the organization of a temporary government, the student of history can arrive at but one conclusion. The first object of the Missions was to secure large tracts of land. Having made their choice, finding the United States government slow to act in the matter of boundary and title, and fearing the encroachment of immigrants who might dispute with them their right to a land monopoly in certain localities, it was their only recourse to secure the establishment of a tempo- rary government, or even an independent one, which should confirm by law the claims already taken or that might be taken under the law. It was not their policy to seem to be more anxious than other men, but rather to strive to make the settlers anxious about their welfare, and to use them to promote their own ends.
The scheme of government framed by the legisla- tive committee of 1843 had a political significance imparted to it by Robert Shortess, which was not comprehended by the majority of American settlers who voted for it. By making its basis the ordinance of 1787, passed by congress for the government of the territories north of the Ohio River, besides its other excellent provisions, it was intended to settle the ques- tion of slavery west of the Rocky Mountains, as had been done in the north-western states. Also by ex- tending jurisdiction over the whole of Oregon up to the time the United States should take possession of the country, the right of Great Britain to any part of it was ignored-a step in advance of the position publicly taken at this time by the government itself.
It is doubtful if, when all was done, the British residents of the territory, even McLoughlin himself, fully recognized the importance of what had taken place.22 This was the mistake which he often made in regard to American enterprises. He was slow
22 Says Roberts, 'I was present in the fall of 1842 at a political meeting at Champoeg; but like Toots, I thought at the time it was of no consequence ' Recollections, I.IS., 64
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ORGANIZATION OF PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT.
to learn the difference between men trained to sub- serviency, and the quick reasoning and alert inde- pendence of the Americans, who though sometimes dressed in skins possessed the faculty of making themselves masters of whatsoever destiny fortune laid upon them.23
23 The authorites from which this chapter has been drawn, besides those already quoted, are Or. Pioneer Assoc., Trans., 1875, 61; Evans' Address, in Or. Pioneer Assoc., Trans., 1877, 32; Brown's Willamette Valley, MS., 31; Atkin- son's Or. Colonists, 3, 4; Or. Spectator, May 12, 1847; Grover's Or. Archives, 5-7; Deady's Hist. Or., MS., 14, 74; Thornton's Oregon Hist., MS., 6; Evans' Hist. Or., MS., 265-71; Matthieu's Refugee, MS., 19; Marysville Appeal, Nov. 4, 1865; Burnett's Recollections, MS., i. 184; Strong's Hist. Or., MS., 61; Grover's Pub. Life, MS., 23-5; J. Q. Thornton, in Or. Pioneer Assoc., Trans .. 1874, 70; Burnett, in Niles' Register, Ixviii. 393.
1
CHAPTER XIII.
THE CATHOLIC MISSIONS-MORE OF THE PRESBYTERIANS. 1838-1847.
CALL OF THE FRENCH CANADIANS-COMING OF BLANCHET AND DEMERS -- THE VICAR-GENERAL AMONG THE CAYUSES-ST FRANCIS XAVIER ON THE COWLITZ-PROTESTANT AND CATHOLIC RIVALRY-LANGLOIS AND BOL- DUC-THE JESUITS IN THE NORTH-WEST-LABORS OF FATHER DE SMET- POINT AND MANGARINI-ST MARYS ON THE BITTER ROOT-MISSION OF THE SACRED HEART-DE VOS AND HOEKEN-JESUIT REENFORCE- MENTS-BLANCHET MADE ARCHBISHOP-ST PAULS-AFFAIRS AT WAII- LATPU AND LAPWAI-INSOLENCE OF THE SAVAGES-WHITMAN'S WINTER JOURNEY TO THE EAST-HIS TREATMENT BY THE BOARD-RETURN AND DISAPPOINTMENT.
AFTER the free French Canadians of the Valley Willamette had become fairly settled in their new home, they found time to turn their attention to the moral and educational advancement of their little community. Their first effort in this direction was made July 3, 1834, when they wrote to J. N. Prov- encher, bishop of Juliopolis in the Red River settle- ment, asking that religious teachers might be sent to Oregon. The arrival of the Methodist missionaries early in 1835 made the Catholics more anxious than ever to have among them instructors of their own faith, and on the 23d of February they addressed a second appeal to the bishop. To these petitions Proven- cher replied by enclosing to McLoughlin a letter of advice and consolation, in which he regretted that no priests could be spared from the Red River settle- ment, but promised to obtain help from Europe or Canada as soon as possible.
The following year the governor and a committee
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THE CATHOLIC MISSIONS-THE PRESBYTERIANS.
of the Hudson's Bay Company in London were asked passage for two priests to Oregon by the company's annual express from Montreal, the object being to establish a Catholic mission in the Willamette Val- ley. The company would grant the request on one condition, namely, that the proposed mission should be established in the Cowlitz Valley, the reason given being that the sovereignty of the British north of the Columbia was unquestioned, while the right to the country south of the Columbia was still undecided.1
No objection being made to this requirement, the archbishop of Quebec appointed the Rev. Francis Norbert Blanchet, then curé des Cédres, Montreal dis- trict, to the charge of the Oregon Mission, with the title of vicar-general, and for his assistant gave him the Rev. Modeste Demers of the district of Juliopolis. They left Montreal in May 1838, with the company's express, which also had a number of other travellers under its protection. All went well till the Little Dalles, on the Columbia, was reached. While the party were descending these dangerous rapids one of the boats was wrecked and nearly half the company were drowned.2
At Fort Colville the priests were received with the same demonstrations of pleasure that had given encouragement to the Protestant missionaries in east- ern Oregon on their first appearance. During a stay of four days nineteen persons were baptized, mass was said, and the natives appeared to take great interest in the sacred rites.3 At Fort Okanagan they met
1 Simpson's Letter, in Blanchet's Hist. Cath. Ch. in Or., 24-5. Simpson of course knew that the country north of the Columbia was still in dispute, but he probably believed that the British had a better chance of eventually getting it than the southern territory. Hence his desire to strengthen the claim by inducing the Canadians to settle north of the river.
2 Those drowned were: Wallace and wife, English tourists; Banks, a botanist, and his wife, a daughter of Sir George Simpson; Mrs Williams; two little girls named Tremblay, and five others. T'od's New Caledonia, MS., 45-6; Lee and Frost's Or., 215; Cariboo Sentinel, ii. no. 12, 3; Portland Oregonian, April 19, 1879; Blanchet's Cath. Ch. in Or., 32-3.
3 Blanchet's Cath. Ch. in Or., 35. Afterward Demers wrote: 'Experience has taught us not to rely too much on the first demonstrations of the Indians, and not to rely much on the first dispositions they manifest.' Id., 102.
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ARRIVAL OF PRIESTS.
with similar success, and baptized a number of persons. At Fort Walla Walla a few natives were baptized, but having been recently taught by Whitman, they were less demonstrative, though, at the same time, more observant and critical. On witnessing mass, with all those accessories which appeal most power- fully to the imagination of the savage, they were, according to the vicar-general, "struck with amaze- ment." Had Blanchet been more fully informed con- cerning the religious antecedents of the Cayuses, he would have been able to account for the interest exhibited by them in this mysterious ceremony, which brought to their recollection all they had ever heard from their Iroquois teachers, or learned from their intercourse with the French trappers and voyageurs, and which they were now wonderingly contrasting with the less decorative and more coldly ideal worship of the Presbyterian missionaries.
The appearance of the priests in their dark robes, their frequent mystical signs of reverence, their chastity, their apparent indifference to secular affairs, all impressed the natives with the sublimity and gravity of the faith. The Umatilla branch of the Cayuses especially showed a strong leaning toward this religion, so that already the 'blackgowns,' as the priests were called, began to divide the natives against themselves in things spiritual. On arriving at Fort Vancouver the Catholic missionaries were waited upon by a delegation from the Canadian settlement, consist- ing of Joseph Gervais, Étienne Lucier, and Pierre Belleque; but no promise of an establishment on the Willamette was given them at this time. Mass was first celebrated at the fort on the 25th of November; and it is related that many of the Canadians were affected to tears, not having enjoyed this religious privilege for many years. After remaining some time at Vancouver, Blanchet visited the Canadian settle- ment on the Cowlitz. On returning he spent a month in the Willamette Valley.
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THE CATHOLIC MISSIONS-THE PRESBYTERIANS.
One of the first steps taken by the Catholic fathers was to separate for a short time the Canadians from their Indian wives, after which they were married according to the rites of the church. The vicar-gen- eral sums up his labors for the winter under the head of baptisms one hundred and thirty-four, sepultures nine, and marriages forty-nine. Not only did he marry the unmarried, but remarried those before united by the Protestant ministers, to the unutterable disgust of the latter. He also withdrew a number of persons from the temperance society formed by the Meth- odists, and from their prayer-meetings.
In the summer of 1839 Demers paid a visit to the interior. For thirty days he taught the natives in the vicinity of Fort Colville, after which he spent two weeks at Fort Walla Walla in the same manner. In the mean time the vicar-general had established himself among the Cowlitz in a log house twenty by thirty feet in size erected for his use, and had received the first-fruits of the mission farm, which amounted to six bushels of wheat and nine bushels of pease. His farmer had fenced twenty-four acres, and ploughed fifteen besides for the autumn sowing. His house was used both as a residence and a chapel, and the estab- lishment received the name of St Francis Xavier. A visit was made to the natives at Nisqually during the summer, and in the autumn both Blanchet and Demers repaired to Fort Vancouver, where they re- ceived permission from Douglas, McLoughlin not yet having arrived from England, to form an establish- ment in the Willamette Valley, the governor and committee having withdrawn their objections. On what grounds the prohibition was removed does not appear; but it is probable that McLoughlin repre- sented to the directors in London that the Canadian families in the Willamette were permanently settled, and being free, had a right to live where they liked, and choose their own teachers.
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