Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 13.djvu/126

 118 FREDERICK V. HOLMAN in a somewhat crude way, it stood for law and order and the protection of life, liberty, and property. The legislative pow- ers were exercised by a committee of nine persons. There is a glamour of romance about its formation and par- ticularly by reason of the closeness of the vote at the meeting of May 2. Had more of the American settlers been present, the result would have been considered as a matter of course, as were the previous meetings and the meeting of July 5, when the original Provisional Government went into force. Had the report of the Committee of Nine been rejected July 5, that would have ended the matter, for the time being, as was the case with the proceedings of 1841. Had the ten or more French-Canadians who did not attend the meeting of May 2, been present, and by their votes defeated the report of the Committee of Nine to establish a provisional government at that time, that also would have ended the matter, probably un- til the arrival of the immigration of 1843. IMMIGRATION OF 1843. The immigration of 1843, the most important in the results of its coming of all the Oregon immigrations, was making preparations to leave for Oregon May 2, 1843. It left Inde- pendence, Missouri, May 20, 1843. It reached Oregon in the fall of that year. It was composed of about 875 persons. Of these, 295 were men over the age of 16 years. It was the first important immigration to Oregon of homebuilders. They came together in Missouri by a common impulse and without preconcert. They started without organization or leaders. They refused to accept the advice to leave their wagons at Fort Hall, and determined to take them as far as they could and brought them overland to The Dalles. They were mostly strong, forcible, and determined men and women. They did not think of failure. Their main thought was that they would go to Oregon and make it their home and assist in making it an American community. There were in this immigration men of ability and leadership, such as Jesse Applegate and Peter H. Burnett, who were learned in the law and in history. Such