Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 12.djvu/362

 354 L. B. SHIPPEE vention composed of little over one half of the counties and many delegates sanctioned by less than one half the demo- cratic voters in the counties, of a candidate for Congress with neither intellectual endowments nor ordinary attainments to fit the position. Moreover, this man was "known to be odious on account of past political tergiversations to the de- mocracy of the county where he resides, and almost unknown to any one outside of that county ;" he was the tool of a cor- rupt and dishonest personal faction. Nevertheless this gentle- man, after a heated campaign, and by close vote, managed to secure a majority of 76,7 in a total poll of 12,909 over the Re- publican candidate, David Logan, altho the latter was supported not only by his own party, but by Know-nothings, Old Line Whigs, and many Democrats who were of the Douglas variety. It was charged, 8 before the election, that there was a well or- ganized coalition of the republicans and the Bush (Douglas) democrats ; in some counties an "Independent" ticket was put in the field, in others the republicans were so well satisfied with that of the Douglas democrats that they formed no slate of their own. These "strenuous, not to say unscrupulous efforts to ... elect a speckled"? delegation to the State Legislature hinged more particularly about the impending choice of two United States Senators, for Joseph Lane, not yet the partner of Breckinridge on the Southern ticket, was using all his influence to secure the return both of himself and Delazon Smith. Apparently the Bush and "Salem Clique" democracy could look with equanimity on the choice of a Re- publican Representative in the lower House of Congress, if only the scalps of Joseph "Humbug" Lane and "Delusion" Smith might grace the walls of the sanctum of the Statesman. Whether a reversal of a few votes on that June day would have changed the legal aspect of the matter can only be left to surmise. Standing as it did, however, Asahel Bush had a mission to teach, through the columns of his paper, some fun- 7 Statesman, 10 July, 1860. 8 Union, 22 May, 1860. 9 Ibid., 12 June, 1860.