Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 5.djvu/173

 RECOLLECTIONS OF AN OLD PIONEER. 163 eminent. At first I gave my opinion against it, thinking we had no such right : but a few weeks' reflection satisfied me that we had such a right, and that necessity required us to exercise it. Communities, as well as individuals, have the nat- ural right of self-defense; and it is upon this ground that the right to institute governments among men must ultimately rest. This right of self-preservat ion is bestowed upon man by his Creator. Ve found ourselves placed in a new and very embarrassing position. The right of sovereignty over the country was in dispute between the Tinted States and Great Britain, and neither country could establish any government over us. Our community was composed of American citizens and British subjects, occupying the same country as neighbors, with all their respective natural prejudices and attachments, and so distant from the mother countries as to be to a great extent beyond the reach of home influences. We had, therefore, a difficult population to govern; but this fact only rendered government the more necessary. We also found, by actual experiment, that some political government was a necessity. Though political government be imperfect, it is still a blessing, and necessary for the pre- -ervation of the race. Without it, the strongest and most reckless characters in the community would be tyrants over the others. The theory of the wandering savage, to leave the kindred of the murdered victim to revenge his death, would not answer for a civil i/ed race of men. The weak and timid, the peaceful and conscientious, and those who had no kin- dred, could not be protected under such a theory. Without any law but that of individual self-defense, we found it im- possible to _Tt nlong in peace. When a person died, the worst characters could sci/c upon his estate under some pretense or other, and defeat the just rights of defenseless heirs. So long as these violent, bad men hat! only to overcome and de- feat single individuals, they had no fears. It is only when the combined force of a whole community is brought to bear