Page:History of Oregon volume 1.djvu/356

Rh the cost of the experiment, by yielding the point of taxes, and promising to get along without a governor, the missionary party had won the day. It was only, however, by encouraging the settlers to believe that it was their own government that this success was secured. J. S. Griffin was suggested as a member of the legislative committee, but his nomination was opposed on the ground that clergymen should have nothing to do with making secular laws, as their calling disqualified them from fully comprehending the wants of the community. They had been tried and found wanting. They had thus far controlled the affairs of the colony, but failed of the objects of government, which were the protection of the people.

The legislative committee held their sessions on the 16th, 17th, 18th, and 19th of May, and the 27th and 28th of June, Moore acting as chairman, and Le Breton as clerk. Their deliberations were carried on with open doors, in an unoccupied granary belonging to the old Mission. Few of them had any experience in legislation, and few books on law existed in the country. Moore, the chairman, and Shortess were better informed than their colleagues, though Gray, Newell, Hill, and O'Neil were active in suggesting what ought to be done. Gray, Shortess, and Newell prepared the rules for the business of the house, which were adopted. The following committees were then appointed: judiciary, Beers, Hubbard, and Shortess; ways and means, Shortess, O'Neil, and Doty; military affairs, Hubbard, Newell, and Gray; land claims, Shortess, Doty, and Hill. A committee on the division of the country into districts, consisting of Gray, Doty, and Beers, was also formed. This completed the labors of the first day. Of the deliberations of the legislative body only the barest skeleton is in existence. Newell relates that Gray wished the speeches taken down by the clerk, and advocated