USA > Oregon > History of Oregon, Vol. II, 1848-1888 > Part 44
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42 In 1856, when the subject was before congress, Lane said he believed the territory could poll 15,000 or 20,000 votes. It had been stated in the house, by the chairman of the committee on territories, on the 31st of Jan. 1857, that Oregon had a population of about 90,000. Cong. Globe, xxxiv. 520. But the Kansas affair had made members critical, and it was well known he- sides that this was double the real number of white inhabitants. Gi'frey's Or., MIS., 17-18; Deady's Ilist. Or., MS., 39. The population of Oregon in 1858 according to the territorial census was 42,677. The U. S. census in 1860 made it 52.416.
43 In the ten years since the territory had first sent a delegate to congress, and during which at every session its legislature had freely made demands which had been frequently responded to, the interest of congress in the Oregon territory bad declined. Then came the allegations made by the highest inil- itary anthority on the Pacific coast that the people of Oregon were an organ- ized army of Indian-murderers and government robbers, in support of which assertion was the enormous account against the nation, of nearly six million dollars, the payment of which was opposed by almost the entire press of the union. It is doubtful if any man could have successfully contended against
440
OREGON BECOMES A STATE.
At last, amidst the multitude of oppugnant issues and factions, of the contending claims to life and lib- erty of men-white, red, copper-colored, and black -of the schemings of parties, and the fierce quarrels of politicians, democrats, national and sectional, whig ;, know-nothings, and republicans, Oregon is enthroned a sovereign state!
While all this agitation was going on over the non- admission of Oregon, toward the close of March news came that the house had passed the senate bill without any of the amendments with which the friends of Kansas had encumbered it, few republicans voting for it, and the majority being but eleven." Thus Oregon, which had ever been the bantling of the democratic party, was seemingly brought into the union by it, as according to fitness it should have been; although without the help of certain republicans, who did not wish to punish the waiting state for the prin- ciples of a party, it would have remained out indefi- nitely.45 The admission took place on Saturday, Feb-
the suspicion thus created, that the demands of Oregon were in other in- stances unnecessary and unjust. But Lane thought that Oregon's necessity was his opportunity, and that by promising the accomplishment of a doubt- ful matter he should secure at least his personal ends. Nor was he alone in this determination. Stephens of Georgia, a personal friend of Lane, who was chairman of the committee on territories, was generally believed to be withholding the report on the bill for the admission of Oregon, in obedience to instructions from Lane. Smith and Grover also appeared to be won over, and were found defending the course of the delegate. These dissensions in the party were premonitory of the disruption which was to follow.
" Cong. Globe, 1858-9, pt i. 1011, 35th cong. 2d sess .; Id., pt ii. ap. 330; S. F. Bulletin, March 10, 1859; Deady's Laws Or., 101-4; Poore's Charters and Constitutions of U. S., pt ii., 1485-91, 1507-8; Or. Laws, 1860, 28-30; U. S. Pub. Laws, 333-4, 35th cong. 2d sess.
45 Schuyler Colfax, in a letter to W. C. Johnson of Oregon City, made this explanation: 'The president in his message demanded that the offensive re- striction against Kansas should be maintained, prohibiting her admission till she had 93,000 inhabitants, because she rejected a slave constitution, while Oregon, with her Lecompton delegation, should be admitted forthwith. And the chief of your delegation, Gen. Lane, was one of the men who had usedl all his personal influence in favor of that political iniquity, the Lecompton constitution, and its cqually worthy successor, the English bill. He, of course, refused now to say whether he would vote in the U. S. senate, if admitted there, to repeal the English prohibition which he had so earnestly labored to impose on Kansas; and its political friends in the house refused also to assent to its repeal in any manner or form whatever. This, of course, impelled many republicans to insist that Oregon, with her Lecompton delegation, should wait for admission till Kausas, with her republican delegation, was ready to
441
ADMISSION TO THE UNION.
ruary 12, 1859; the bill was approved by the pres- ident on Monday, the 14th, on which day Lane and Smith presented their credentials to the senate, and were sworn in. On drawing for their terms, Lane with his usual good luck drew the term ending in 1861, while Smith's would expire the following month. On the 15th Grover took his seat in the house, to which he would be entitled only until the 3d of March.
The satisfaction which the friends of state govern- ment expected to derive from admission to the union was much dulled by delay and the circumstances at- tending it. Party leaders had taught the people to believe that when Oregon became a state the war debt would be paid.46 The same leaders now declared that after all they had gained little or nothing by it, and were forced to solace themselves with pleasant messages from the western states, from which had gone forth the annual trains of men and means by which Oregon had been erected into an independent commonwealth.47 She had at all events come into the union respectably, and had no enemies either north or south.
come in with her. With a less obnoxious delegation from Oregon, the votes of many republicans would have been different. As it turned out, however, the very men for whose interests Gen. Lane had labored so earnestly-I mean the ultra-southern leaders-refused to vote for the admission bill, although they had the whole delegation elect of their own kidney. And it would have been defeated but for the votes of fifteen of us republicans who thought it better to disinthrall Oregon from presidential sovereignty, and from the sphere of Dred Seott decisions; and even in spite of your obnoxious delegation, to admit the new state into the union, rather than remand it to the condition of a slave-holding territory, as our supreme court deelares all our territories to be. Hence, if there is any question raised about which party admitted Oregon, you can truthfully say that she would not have been admitted but for republican aid and support; republicans, too, who voted for it not through the influence of Gen. Lane and Co., but in spite of the disfavor with which they regarded them.' Or. Argus, May 28, 1859; See U. S. H. Rept, 123, vol. i., 35th cong. 2d sess.
$6 See comments of Boston Journal, in Or. Argus, Sept. 24, 1859.
47 Kansas City, Missouri, on the 4th of July, 1859, attached the new star representing Oregon to its flag amidst a display of enthusiasm and self-aggran- dizement.
CHAPTER XVIII.
POLITICS AND PATRIOTISM.
1859-1861.
APPOINTMENT OF OFFICERS OF THE UNITED STATES COURT-EXTRA SES- SION OF THE LEGISLATURE-ACTS AND REPORTS-STATE SEAL-DELA- ZON SMITH-REPUBLICAN CONVENTION-NOMINATIONS AND ELECTIONS -RUPTURE IN THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY-SHEIL ELECTED TO CONGRESS -SCHEME OF A PACIFIC REPUBLIC-LEOISLATIVE SESSION OF 1860- NESMITH AND BAKER ELECTED U. S. SENATORS-INFLUENCE OF SOUTH- ERN SECESSION-THAYER ELECTED TO CONGRESS-LANE'S DISLOYALTY -GOVERNOR WHITEAKER-STARK, U. S. SENATOR-OREGON IN THE WAR-NEW OFFICIALS.
THE act of congress extending the laws and judicial system of the United States over Oregon, which passed March 3, 1859,1 provided for one United States judge, at a salary of twenty-five hundred dollars per annum, Matthew P. Deady being chosen to fill this office.2 Late in 1858 Williams had been appointed chief justice of the territory, with Boisé associate justice, and Walter Forward3 of Marion county United States mar- shal, McCracken having resigned. On the 20th of May the judges elect of the supreme and circuit courts
1 U. S. Pub. Laws, 437, 35th cong. 2d sess.
2Grover says that Hendricks of Indiana, who was then commissioner of the general land office, and was afterward U. S. senator for 6 years, and a candidate for the vice-presidency, was among the applicants for the place, and personally his preference, but that the Oregon people were opposed to imported officers, and hence he recommended Deady. Pub. Life in Or., MS., 57. It was said at the time that Lane made the recommendation to keep Deady out of his way in future elections. However that might be, the ap- pointment was satisfactory, and Judge Deady has done much to support the dignity of the state, and to promote the growth of moral and social institu- tions.
3 He was a nephew of Walter Forward of Penn. and of Jeremiah Black U. S. atty-gen. Amer. Almanac, 1857-9; Or. Statesman, Dec. 21, 1858.
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443
ORGANIZATION OF THE COURTS.
met at Salem to draw lots for their terms of office, Boisé and Stratton getting the six years and Wait the four years term, which made him, as holder of the shorter term, by the provisions of the constitu- tion, chief justice. The vacaney created by Deady's appointment was filled by P. P. Prim of Jackson county.4 Andrew J. Thayer was appointed United States district attorney in place of W. H. Farrar, and Forward continued in the office of marshal until Sep- tember, when Dolph B. Hannah was appointed in his place. Joseph G. Wilson received the position of clerk of the supreme court,5 and J. K. Kelly was made attorney for the United States.
The supreme judges not being able to determine whether their decisions would be valid under the act passed by the state legislature before the admission of Oregon, Governor Whiteaker convened the legisla- ture on the 16th of May, which proceeded to complete the state organization and regulate its judiciary. Among the acts passed was one accepting certain propositions made by congress in the bill of admission. By this bill, in addition to the munificent dowry of lands for school and university purposes, the state received ten entire sections of land to aid in complet- ing the public buildings, all the salt springs in the state, not exceeding twelve in number, with six sec- tions of land adjoining each, with five per cent of the net proceeds of the sales of all public lands lying within the state to be applied to internal improve- ments; in return for which the state agreed that non- residents should not be taxed higher than residents, and the property of the United States not at all; nor should the state in any way interfere with the primary disposal of the soil by the United States, or with any regulations which congress might find necessary for
+ Prim's Judicial Affairs, MS., 11; Ashland Tidings, June 7, 1878. The district court held its sessions in the methodist church in Jacksonville. Or. Argus, Nov. 22, 1856; Overland Monthly, xiv. 377-81.
5 Or. Reports, ii. 8-9. Deady made him special U. S. attorney in the spring of 1860.
444
POLITICS AND PATRIOTISM.
securing title in the soil to bona fide purchasers.6 A few acts, general and special, were passed,7 among others, one providing for the seal of the state of Ore- gon,® and one for a special election to be held on the 27th of June for the choice of a representative to congress, after which the legislature adjourned.
One thing they had failed to do, its omission being significant-they had not elected Delazon Smith to return to the United States senate. Rather than do that, they preferred to leave his place vacant, which they did, Smith having shown himself while in Wash- ington not only an adherent of Lane, dethroned, but a man altogether of whom even his party was ashamed.'
Of their representative Grover, there was much to be said in his praise. His speeches were impressive, full of condensed facts, and he conducted himself in such a way generally as to command respect. It was said that there was more culture and ability in the one representative than in the two senators. But it was not upon fitness, but party requirements, that he had been elected ; and before he had returned to offer him- self for reelection, new issues had arisen, and another man had been nominated in his place. Thus both of the men, prime favorites of the democratic party in Oregon, returned to the new state after less than one month of congressional honors, to find that their gains were only pecuniary. 10
6 Gen. Laws Or., 1859, 29-30.
7 An act providing for the election of presidential electors, and to pre- scribe their duties. An act providing for the registration of the property of married women, according to the constitution. An act providing for the leasing of the penitentiary. An act raising the state tax to two mills on a dollar, etc.
8 ' The description of the seal of the state of Oregon shall be an escutcheon supported by thirty-three stars divided by an ordinary, with the inscription "The Union."' In chief-mountains, an elk with branching antlers, a wagon, the Pacific ocean, on which is a British man-of-war departing and an American steamer arriving. The second quartering with a sheaf, plough and pick-axe. Crest, the American eagle. Legend, State of Oregon. Deady's Laws Or., 496-7.
" They used to call him Delusion Smith.
10 The men put in nomination at the democratic convention in April were W. W. Chapman, George L. Curry, George H. Williams, L. F. Grover, and Lansing Stout. The contest was between Stout and Grover, and Stout received 7 more votes in convention than Grover. Lansing Stout, lawyer,
44
REPUBLICAN PLATFORM.
On the 21st of April the republicans met in con- vention and brought out their platform; which was, in brief, devotion to the union, and the right of inde- pendent action in the states, subject only to the con- stitution of the United States; declaring the wisdom of the constitution in relation to slavery, yet opposed to its extension; recognizing the fact that the consti- tution vested the sovereignty of the territories in congress, yet not forgetting that congress might dele- gate the exercise of that sovereignty partly or wholly to the people of the territories, and favoring such delegation so far as consistent with free labor and good government. It declared the intervention of congress for the protection of slavery in the territo- ries, demanded by leading democrats, a gross infrac- tion of popular and national rights, which should be resisted by free men. It was opposed to placing large sums of money in the hands of the executive with authority to purchase territory as he chose without the consideration of congress; and while welcoming those of the white race who came to the United States to enjoy the blessings of free institutions, held that the safety of those institutions depended upon the enforcement of the naturalization laws of the country. These were the real points at issue. But in order to add strength to the platform, it was resolved by the convention that the interests of Ore- gon, as well as the whole union, demanded the passage of the homestead bill,11 and the speedy construction of the Pacific railroad. Internal improvements of a national character, a tariff sufficient to meet the cur- rent expenses of the government which should dis- criminate in favor of home industry, a free gift of a
was a native of N. Y., came to Cal. in 1852, and was elected to the legislature in 1855. He afterward removed to Portland and was elected county judge. He had ability, particularly in the direction of politics. He died in 1871 at the age of 43 years. Walla Walla Statesman, March 11, 1871; Olympia Wash. Standard, March 11, 1871.
11 This had been before congress at the last session, Lane voting against it. This fact was used by the republicans against him; and it is difficult to understand his motive, unless it was simply to oppose northern senators.
446
POLITICS AND PATRIOTISM.
home to him who would cultivate and defend it, were announced as the measures which the republican party pledged itself to support. Lastly, congress was ear- nestly invoked to pay the war debt of Oregon, not holding responsible the people for any errors or mis- conduct of officers or individuals, whether truly or falsely alleged.
On proceeding to ballot for congressmen, the names of David Logan, B. J. Pengra, and W. L. Adams were presented, Logan receiving a majority of thir- teen over Pengra. Delegates were chosen to attend the national republican convention of 1860, who were instructed to vote for W. H. Seward for presidential candidate; but in case this were not expedient, to use their discretion in selecting another.12
The republican party of Oregon was now fairly launched on the unknown sea of coming events. Logan was admitted by his opponents to be the strongest man of his party, one possessed of positive qualities, and an eloquent and satirical orator. He had, however, certain moral defects which dimmed the lustre of his mental gifts, and always stood in the way of his highest success. How near he came to a victory, which would have been unprecedented, Stout's majority of only sixteen votes pointedly illus- trates.13
Anything so near a republican triumph had not been anticipated, and both parties were equally aston- ished.14
12 The delegates were W. Warren, Leander Holmes, and A. G. Hovey.
13 Stout's election was questioned on account of some irregularity, but Logan failed to unseat him.
14 The county of Marion, hitherto solidly democratic, gave Logan nearly 800 majority. Linn, the home of Delazon Smith, gave Stout but 100 ma- jority; Polk, the home of Nesmith, gave 30 majority for Stout; Lane gave a majority of 20 for Logan. Multnomah, Clatsop, Washington, Yamhill, and Tillamook, all went for Logan. The southern counties generally went for Stout, and saved the democratic party in the Willamette Valley from defeat; for al- though they contained some of the strongest opponents of the democracy, the majority were intensely devoted to Lane, and they had not had the light on his recent course in congress which had been given by the Statesman to the north- ern counties.
447
LANE FOR PRESIDENT.
And now Joseph Lane aspired to the presidency of the United States. Pending the meeting of a demo- cratic convention in November, which was to elect delegates to the national convention at Charleston, Grover and Curry made speeches throughout the state, the object of which was to obtain the nomina- tion to the vacant senatorship; but dissensions in the party had gone too far to afford a hope of either being chosen by the next legislature. The mutual abuse heaped upon each other by the partisans of the two factions only contributed to widen the breach and complete the disruption of the party. The tyran- nical and proscriptive course of the old Lane-Bush democracy was now practised by the Lane-Stout de- mocracy. In 1858 the Statesman had upheld the measure of making Lane's majority the basis of ap- portionment in the several counties. In 1859 the central committee, following this example, declared that Stout's majority should be the basis of appor- tionment for delegates to the November convention. A general protest followed, the counties sending as many delegates as they thought fit. Only four were admitted from Marion, which sent ten, and eight counties withdrew,15 resolving not to elect delegates to the Charleston convention, but simply to pledge themselves to support the national nominee.
Upon the withdrawal of this body of delegates, the delegates of the eleven remaining counties made known their instructions concerning the presidental candidate, when it was found that Josephine county had named Stephen A. Douglas, and Yamhill Daniel S. Dickin- son. Other counties refused to nominate Lane. In this embarrassing position those who had so deter- mined, guided by L. F. Mosher, Lane's son-in-law, cut the gordian knot by moving to appoint a com- mittee to report delegates to the national convention with instructions, which was done. The report of the committee named Joseph Lane, Lansing Stout, 16 Marion, Polk, Wasco, Clatsop, Washington, Umpqua, Coos, and Curry.
448
POLITICS AND PATRIOTISM.
and Matthew P. Deady delegates, with John K. Lam erick, John F. Miller, and John Adair as alternates; with instructions to use all their influence to procure the nomination in the Charleston convention of Jo- seph Lane for the presidency. Blinded by partisan zeal and the dangerous flattery of southern men and women, Lane had staked all on this desperate hazard; while the unwise action of his friends in allowing eight counties to be driven out of the Eugene convention apparently deprived him of any reasonable expecta- tion of carrying his own state should he receive such nomination.10
Under the state constitution the legislature and state officers were to be elected biennially on the first Monday in June. The first election having been held in 1858, there could be no other before June 1860; therefore, after the democratic convention of November, the people might have enjoyed exemption from the noise of politics had it not been that a cloud of party journals had fallen upon the land.17 The only
16 Sacramento Union, in Or. Statesman, Jan. 17, 1860.
17 Concerning the newspapers which sprung into existence about the time of the admission of Oregon, I have gathered the following chiefly from the Statesman, Argus, and Oregonian. Many of them had a brief existence, or so frequently changed their titles that it is difficult to follow them. Early in 1858 the Democratic Standard, which was established by Alonzo Leland in 1854, changed hands, and was edited by James O'Meara, as we have seen. It suspended in January 1859, but resumed publication in February. Not long after, the press was removed to Eugene City, where a paper called the Democratic Herald was started by Alex. Blakely, to be devoted to the inter- ests of the Lane democracy. It survived but one year. Previously to this removal to Eugene, there had been a neutral paper published at that place called the Pacific Journal. This paper was purchased in 1858 by B. J. Pengra, and published as a republican journal under the name of The People's Press. A semi-weekly, called the Franklin Advertiser, was for a short time published in Portland by S. J. McCormick. Subsequently, in 1859, Leland of the Standard stated a paper at Portland, called the Daily Advertiser, 'got up as the Standard was, to crush out the Salem clique.' It was pro-slavery and anti-Bush. After running a few months it passed into the hands of S. J. McCormick as publisher, Leland withdraw- ing from the editorial chair. Geo. L. Curry became connected with it, when it was enlarged and published weekly as well as daily, McCormick in- troducing a steam press into his printing establishment. Previous to starting the Advertiser Leland had established the Daily News, the first daily paper in Oregon, in connection with S. A. English & Co., publishers. Hardly had it begun before it passed into the editorial charge of E. D. Shattuck, and a little later into the hands of W. D. Carter. The News then published a weekly, independent in politics, which had a brief existence. In December
419
NOMINATING CONVENTIONS.
good thing that could be said of them was that they provoked free eritieism of themselves, and were thus instrumental in emancipating the thought of the people.
A democratic convention for the nomination of a representative was called, to meet at Eugene in April, the call being declined by Marion, Clatsop, Curry, Washington, Polk, and Tillamook. George K. Sheil was nominated,18 and the convention adjourned with- out choosing candidates for presidential electors, which was a part of the business. Two days later the re- publicans held a convention, at which delegates from seventeen counties were present. At this meeting
1860 the Portland Daily Times issued one or two numbers, and suspended. It was revived in 1861, and supported the government. In the latter part of 1860 Ilenry L. Pittock, the present publisher of the Oregonian, purchased that paper, and started a daily, which appeared for the first time Feb. 4, 1861. In 1859 a journal called the Roseburg Express was published in Roseburg, on the press of the Chronicle of Yreka, L. E. V. Coon & Co. publishers, which ran for a year and failed. Corvallis had had, after the removal of the States- man, the Occidental Messenger and Democratic Crisis, both of which were dead in 1859. T. H. B. Odeneal was publisher of the latter. In place of this a secession paper called The Union was being issued in 1860 by J. H. Slater. In 1859 W. G. T'Vault withdrew from the Jacksonville Sentinel, selling to W. B. Treanor & Co., who employed the ubiquitous O'Meara as ed- itor until ISCI, when he was succeeded by Dellinger and Hand. About the beginning of 1839 The Dalles Journal was established by A. J. Price, after- ward controlled by Thomas Jordan, an army officer, whose interference with state politics was not regarded with favor. It passed into the hands of W. H. Newel: in 1861, who started The Mountaineer. About the close of 1859, Delazon Mith caused the Oregon Democrat to be established at Albany for his own purposes. It was published by Shepard, made war on the Salem clique, and sustained Lane. Early in IS61 it was taken in charge by P. J. Malone, an able writer, and iu 1865 became the State Rights Democrat, with O'Meara for editor. The Pacific Christian Advocate was removed from Salem to Portland about this time, its editor, Thomas H. Pearne taking great inter- est in politics. In fact, no paper could gain a footing without politics; and with the exception of the Oregonian, Argus, and People's Press, every paper in the state was democratic. At Roseburg the Oregon State Journal was started in June 1861 on the materials of the Roseburg Express, which had not been long in existence. In August 1861 O'Meara and Pomeroy began the publication of the Southern Oregon Gazette, a secession journal, which lived but a brief period. As an evidence of the increased facilities for print- ing, it might be here mentioned that T. J. McCormick, who was the pub- lisher of the first literary magazine in Oregon, styled the Oregon Monthly Magazine, in 1852, and the Oregon Almanac, in the spring of 1859, published in good style a novel of 350 pages by Mrs Abigail Scott Duniway, called Captain Gray's Company. The Statesman was first published on a power press, May 17, 1859. After this printing improved rapidly, and newspapers multiplied. The first daily Statesman was published July 20, 1864.
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