Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 13.djvu/43

 POLITICAL PARTIES IN OREGON 35 eloquent and sometimes rises into the region of imagination and adorns his speech with pure poetic gems.45. . . Judge Williams is a man of today and draws his inspiration from the associations and wants of the present." At this session of the legislature the notorious Viva Voce ballot law, by which the Democrats had made "daylight shine through the Know Nothing Wigwams" in 1855, again put in its periodical appearance. A bill of repeal was introduced in the house and was supported by the five Democratic members and opposed by all the Union members, in the realization that circumstances alter cases or, as an onlooker put it, that "What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander."4 6 Meanwhile, the Presidential campaign was in progress, and was rapidly becoming very active in Oregon. "Old Abe" and "Little Mac" were the watchwords of the contending parties. Clubs were formed in every direction. The Loyal Leagues were being disbanded by the Union men and Lincoln and Johnson clubs substituted for them. Many prominent Democrats who had been identified with the Union organization were now sup- porting McClellan, among them, Bush, Nesmith, Harding, Thayer, Hayden, Grover, Elkins and Humason. The attitude of Senator Nesmith was well expressed in what was known in Oregon as the "Milwaukie letter," dated at Milwaukie, Wis- consin, September 2, 1864, and written to Harding, who had returned from Washington to Oregon. Nesmith had just at- tended the National Democratic Convention at Chicago. His letter is important as showing the position of a certain class of loyal war Democrats who had been faithfully supporting the Lincoln Administration in prosecuting the war. He confessed that he took no particular interest in the canvass, yet, regarding McClellan as an honest man and a patriot, he should prefer to see him elected for the reason that it would remove the ob- stacles to terms of peace. In case the war continued, he thought 45 As an example of his apt, poetic expression he addressed informally a company of friends who called to congratulate him in the evening of the day of his election. In thanking them for efforts in his behalf, he said: "I will write these obligations upon the tablets of my memory and recite them daily as the rosary of my friendship." 46 Deady, correspondence, Oct. 22, to Bulletin.