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 themselves with the Radical element of the party. A Conservative Union party in Oregon, under the leadership of the President, as desired by Senator Nesmith, was made impossible. Whatever danger there was of a division of the Unionists was averted, and the way was paved for the future rehabilitation of the Republican party. The situation was forcefully expressed in a private letter from Judge Deady to Senator Nesmith, dated August 9, 1866: "You ask me to recommend a man for the place (U. S. Marshal) who is a Johnson man—who is neither a Radical nor an opposer of the war. This is a narrow field in this state. Most decent people here are either with Congress or opposed to it. The latter class are generally Democrats and were opposed to the prosecution of the war."

As early as March 6, 1866, a club had been formed at Washington, D. C., by leading senators and others who supported Johnson. In June the executive committee of the club called a "National Union Convention" to meet at Philadelphia, August 14, for the purpose of effecting a national organization of the conservative Union forces. Senator Nesmith was prominently connected with the movement, and was a member of the executive committee. Other Oregon representatives at Philadelphia as given by the Oregonian, September 22, were: W. H. Farrar, or "Slippery Bill Farrar," McClellan Democrat, a member of the committee on organization; Ex-Governor Geo. L. Curry, Copperhead editor of Portland Advertiser, which had been suppressed, vice-president for Oregon; E. M. Barnum, secession Democrat, member of committee on resolutions. Senator Nesmith was the only man representing Oregon at this National Union Convention, who was a consistent Union man, and the Oregon representation was probably fairly suggestive of the political complexion of the convention at large.

The calling of the Philadelphia convention and the enthusiastic notice given it by the Democrats all over the country was an added and decisive influence in uniting the Union elements in Oregon on the side of the Radicals. The Oregon Sentinel,