Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 9.djvu/83

 I Political Beginnings in Oregon. 71 The only amendments agreed to were, a proviso in the first section confirming to each Mission in Oregon 640 acres of land; second, amendments on commerce concerning the estab- lishment of a collection district, ports of entry and delivery, and extending the revenue laws of the United States over Oregon, also allowing appropriations for the erection of light- houses at the mouth of the Columbia River and at Admiralty Inlet; the third, a section preventing the obstruction of the rivers by dams, which would prevent the free passage of salmon. The bill was attacked in the Senate by Davis and Foote of Mississippi, Butler and Calhoun of South Carolina, Mason of Virginia and others of equal note, and was warmly supported by Houston of Texas, Benton of Missouri, as well as Douglas, Webster, Corwin, Dix, and Collmer. It was a bone of conten- tion for several weeks. Calhoun employed a morning session until adjournment with one of his most commanding efforts. The Senate and the large audience were held by the force of his reasoning, and when he closed, silence reigned for some time and was broken only by a motion to adjourn. The bill passed the Senate by a close vote, and went to the House, where the storm of opposition broke out afresh. But it passed there also, in course of time, and came back to the Senate with some unimportant amendments, towards the close of the session. Then its opponents rallied again, and under- took to kill it by delay, using every possible expedient known to parliamentary warfare to insure its defeat, and on this ground the battle was fought over again. * ' Tom Corwin sup-^ ported the bill in one of his most telling efforts, and Tom was not particularly tender towards the slavery interests even in his best moods. It was after hearing this speech that Father Ritchie, as they passed out of the Senate chamber, said to Thornton, ''A few more speeches like that would dissolve the Union. 13 From an account of the session by J. Q. Thornton, printed in Brown's Political History of Oregon, Vol. I, p. 306. 14 Brown, Political History of Oregon, Vol. I, p. 306. J. Q. Thornton was the representative appointed by Governor Abernethy to represent the Territory in Washington. Meek was elected by a vote of the legislature.