Page:Centennial History of Oregon 1811-1912, Volume 1.djvu/351



TlIK CKXTKNXIAL IITSTORV OF OKMOGON 219

"We iUT thus parliriihir h. |Hiiiil nut the fac-ts showing' the r\:\r\ \r'^:i\ :t\\i] po- litical status oT the (•(iiiiili'\. so tli;it tli.e reader may get ,-i i'li';ii' iilc:i of lln' niaji-- nitude of the work achieved by the early Oregon Pio7ieers. Oregon was from 1818 down to 1S4G practically and substantially in tiu- jwsition of Itcing the

first and only instance in tlic I'nited Stales of an alisohildy IVec Irad intry:

no custniii houses, no lax eollcrldrs. no offii-ials. no hiws ami a

NO MAN S LAND

and open to the application of

"The good old rule, the simple plan.

That they should take who have the power, And they should keep who can."

And now we reach the point when the pioneers coming in from Iowa and Mis- souri commenced to drive stakes, and settle down to hold fast to something. A little band coming in the Autumn of 1842 found here Robert Newell, Joseph L. Meek and a few other Americans scattered around, less than a hundred all told, and twenty-five or thirty Missouri people. This was the nucleus of the Ameri- can state to be. There was no law except what the Hudson 's Bay Company chose to enforce through the justices of the peace, appointed by the British govern- ment in Canada, and their jurisdiction extended no further than enforcing pen- alties for violation of criminal laws.

These lonely settlers in the far distant wilderness of Oregon were loth to as- sume the great responsibility of establishing a goverinnent to govern themselves ; especially when they were opposed by_ an equal number of Canadians opposed to government, which opposition was backed up b.y the all-powerful Hudson "s Bay Company with unlimited resources for effective opposition.

The Americans in Oregon had now reached a point where they were com- pelled to act. To retreat they could not. To go forward and establish a govern- ment of their own for mutual protection was the only alternative of common sense and brave men. They had sent their petitions to the American Congress as the colonists of the Atlantic coast had sent theirs in 1775 to "The King's most Excellent Majesty." And like the King, the Congress had "been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity." And here we see the self-reliant, inde- pendent dignity of character, and the heroic courage of the pioneer of 1843. They woidd organize a government of their own, "appealing to the supreme judge of the world for the rectitude of their intentions." They did organize it. and carried it on for five years and ten months, protecting the lives and prop- erty of all the people without distinction of nationality, administering justice, preserving order, promoting education and morality, and attracting and receiv- ing the good name it deserved both in the United States and in foreign lands. And by this act of organizing and maintaining a government by American citi- zens, the pioneer Oregonians did more to settle the title to the country, and save Oregon to the United States than all other acts in the history of his region.

The title to Oregon was carried into the political arena of 1844. The national Democratic convention meeting at Baltimore on the 27th of May, 1844. adopted the followino- resolution :