Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 8.djvu/376

 > 368 T. W. DAVENPORT. ^ querors as a hero worthy of a better cause. Very likely he knew that he would be beaten, but the habit and inspiration of freedom defies consequences and puts the human soul at one with the universe. A great council was held in the Walla Walla Valley in May, 1855, at which were gathered all the principal tribes of Eastern Oregon and Washington, the federal government be- ing represented by two very able men, Governor Isaac I. Stevens and Joel Palmer, Commissioner from Oregon. As usual there was ' ' a feast of fat things full of marrow, ' ' which no doubt helped to smoothe the way to an amicable under- standing which came late and after many hindrances and was made possible by the steadfast purpose of Young Lawyer, chief of the Nez Perces, the mild and conciliatory spirit of old Stickas of the Cayuses, and the wisdom of the aforenamed agents of the government. Old Kamiakin of the Yakimas, Peu-peu-mox-mox of the Umatillas and Walla Wallas, and Ow-hi, a young chief of the Cayuses, correctly apprehending the seductive effects of a feast, refused to eat or smoke at the white man's expense. But they were in the minority and tacitly but grudg'ingly assented to what was done by the others, A reservation was set off for the Nez Perces in their own country; the Yakimas in their; the Spokane and Pend d'Oreilles on part of the vast region they were in the habit of roaming over; and the Umatillas, Walla Wallas, and Cayuses were permitted to remain in their own country subject to largely reduced boundaries. Governor Stevens at first pro- posed a reservation of three million acres on the Clear Water and Salmon rivers, for the three latter tribes, but they ob- jected .so unanimously and strenuously that the Governor by the advice of Palmer withdrew the proposition and the Upper Umatilla country continued to be their home. At that council Governor Stevens came nearer stating the question at issue between the races, in a form comprehensible to untaught natures, than any I have seen recorded. Probably his lan- guage is not preserved but the ideas he sought to impress upon those people are fundamental and essential to a voluntary