Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 2.djvu/117

Rh missionaries, subjects of Great Britain and citizens of the United States, were associated on the committee, which was advised by the assembly to report a set of officials on a system suited to the wants of the community. Following these proceedings Dr. Ira L. Babcock was appointed supreme judge with probate powers; George Le Breton was named as clerk of courts and public recorder; William Johnson was appointed high sheriff, and William McCarty, Xavier Ladevant, and Pierre Bilique were chosen constables. It was resolved that "until a code of laws be adopted by this community, Doctor Babcock be instructed to act according to the laws of the State of New York/' On the eighteenth day of February the meeting was adjourned "to meet on the first Tuesday of June at the new building near the Catholic Church.' At this second meeting it was reported that no proceedings had been taken meantime by the committee appointed to draft a constitution and code of laws, and adjournment was taken "to the American Mission House, on the first Tuesday in October, 1841."

This was the end of the first effort. Neither committee nor assembly met again. As might have been expected, political and ecclesiastical jealousies began to arise. Was the American or British element to have ascendency? Was the Protestant missionary or the Catholic missionary to have the larger influence in the government? And, finally, there was the nonchurch element strongly individualized, which wanted to limit the ecclesiastics of all names to their own proper functions. So there could be no organization till more Americans should arrive.

During the next two years the project of local government remained quiet; but the number of Americans was increasing. To the one hundred and thirty-seven Americans in the country at the beginning of 1842, there were