Page:Letter from the Secretary of the Interior, re Whitman Massacre, 1871.pdf/44

Rh women lost their lives in consequence of their services aforesaid, which they so heroically and lavishly gave to their country and a pure Christianity.

And that a document has been published by order of Congress, entitled Executive Document No. 38, of the Thirty-fifth Congress, (doubtless through one of those inadvertencies which sometimes occur in the proceedings of deliberative bodies,) which document casts severe reflections upon the memory of said Dr. Whitman and his com patriots, as also upon the early Protestant missions in Oregon, attempting to show that they rendered no benefit to the country, but "set a bad example to the races among whom they chose to dwell," and were the real causes of the massacre and of the war. In connection with this memorial, the undersigned respectfully invites attention to the following documents bearing on the case, viz:

Document A. Memorial to Governor Ballard, signed by E. R. Geary, and some 700 citizens of Oregon, and Elwood Evans and others, of Washington Territory.

Document B. Resolutions of the Presbyterian Church, (Old School,) signed by A. L. Lindsley, moderator, and E. R. Geary, stated clerk.

Document C. Resolutions of the Oregon Presbytery of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, W. R. Bishop, moderator; C. Wooley, stated clerk.

Document D. Resolutions of Oregon United Presbyterian Church, Jeremiah Dick, moderator; T. S. Kendal, stated clerk.

Document E. Resolutions of the Oregon Association of the Congregational Church, G. H. Atkinson, moderator; C. N. Terry, clerk.

Document F. Resolutions of the Oregon Conference, Methodist Episcopal Church, Bishop Kingsley, moderator; C. C. Stratton, clerk.

Document G. Resolutions of the Pleasant Bute Baptist Church, State of Oregon, J. W. Warmouth, moderator; H. J. C. Averill, clerk.

Document H. Resolutions of the Oregon Brotherhood of the Christian Church, J. M. Harris, moderator; W. H. Rowland, clerk.

Document I. Resolutions of the Steuben Presbytery, Presbyterian Church, New York, D. Henry Palmer, J. H. Hotchkiss, O. F. Marshall, committee.

Document J. Memorial of the citizens of Steuben County, Alleghany County, and Chemung County, New York. Signed by O. F. Marshall, George Edwards, J. W. Hoff man, and others.

Document K. Memorial of the citizens of Oberlin, Ohio, signed by President Fair child, and others.

Now, therefore, in view of the great wrong and injustice done to the cause of Protestant missions, on the ground, to the memory of martyrs whose services there were of so signal advantage to the country as such, as well as to the cause of religion, and the undersigned personally, the present Congress is respectfully and earnestly petitioned so far to review the action of the Thirty-fifth Congress, as to issue, in documentary form, a suitable vindication of the parties mentioned. Your honorable body is respectfully but earnestly requested to publish, in a like congressional document, the reply or manifesto here with transmitted.

And your memorialist feels the utmost assurance that the sacred regard for the truth of history ever entertained, and the high value ever placed upon unselfish patriotism by your honorable body, will lead you at once to see both the justice and the patriotism of his humble prayer.

HENRY H. SPALDING, Of Oregon.

We hope Congress will appoint a committee of investigation, and if faithful and patriotic men and women have been publicly wronged, let them be righted as publicly before the nation.—New York Observer, October, 1867.

Official slander of martyred missionaries attempted.—Dayton (Ohio) Telescope, January, 1870.

PHELPs, DoDGE & Co.,

(Cliff street, between John and Fulton,)

New York, December 29, 1870.

MY DEAR SIR: This will introduce the Rev. H. H. Spalding, long a missionary of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions in Oregon, who visits Washington by the advice of many friends to see if the great wrong done to the memory of his companion in the mission, Rev. Dr. Whitman, cannot be rectified by Congress.

I have known of the facts for many years, and the inclosed, if you can take time to look them over, will deeply interest you, and show you how our Government has, no doubt ignorantly, done great injustice to one who deserved the highest commendation for what he had done for the nation.

I beg you to take a little time in looking into this matter, and consulting with other friends of Protestant religion, to see if we cannot wipe out this stain.

Very respectfully, yours,

W. E. DODGE

Hon. JAMES G. BLAINE,

Speaker United States House of Representatives, Washington, D.C.