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 220 T. W. Davenport. But the result at the polls was a sore disappointment. Lane received almost twice as many votes, 3986 to 2149, a result, at this: distance of time, which I must think quite fortunate, as a different outcome would have been a temporary revival of the Whig party spirit and a postponement here of the real issue on which the Whigs refused to take sides as a party. Gaines was a Kentucky Whig Avhose opinions con- cerning slavery I never knew. As he was popular in his native State, likely he was of that indeterminate quality called conservative and discreetly silent upon the subject. As late as the spring of 1857 he was present at a meeting in Salem, publicly advertised to organize under the name Re- publican by the adoption of the Philadelphia platform, but at that time he was still desirous of pouring oil upon the troubled waters and had some resolutions prepared for that purpose. Being informed that the time for compromises had passed, the resolutions were not presented, and rather than precipitate a squabble which would have no better effect than to divide those who in the end would act together, the meeting was adjourned, without action, until the next Saturday, when the organization was effected, the ex-Governor being dis- creetly absent. So far as I have been able to learn, slavery was prohibited in Oregon without his help or hindrance, other lhan his vote. The year 1856 is an epochal date in American political history. Several things happened to make it memorable, and chief among them, perhaps, was the uprising of a majority of the Northern people against the further extension of slavery and a deliberate determination to resist it at all hazards. It was a righteous resolution long delayed and long after forbearance had ceased to be a virtue. The repeal of the Missouri restriction in the spring of 1854 stung thenx into resistance, and as anti-Nebraska Whigs, Democrats and Know-nothings, they elected enough members to control the next Lower House of Congress. Likely at that time they had no well-defined and continuous plan of action, save an im- pulsive purpose to resist a great wrong and if possible undo