Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 17.djvu/211



OREGON'S NOMINATION OF LINCOLN 203

At that time, in 1859, Seward was the leading candidate of the Republican party. But in the ensuing year another figure loomed big on the political horizon, Lincoln, of Illinois. More- over, Missouri had a favorite son, Edward Bates, who had a large following in Oregon, because of the many pioneers here from Missouri. So that, as the date of the National conven- tion drew near, sentiment of Oregon Republicans had largely changed from its earlier favor of Seward.

That date, it was supposed, would be June 13, but the notice of apportionment, received in Oregon late in March, named May 16. In the Oregon City Argus of March 31, 1860, we find :

"By the latest news from the Atlantic we learn that the time for holding the Republican Convention at Chicago has been changed to the sixteenth day of May nearly a month earlier than was at first decided upon. This will cause inconvenience to some of the delegates appointed to represent this State, and we learn that Leander Holmes, Esq., in consequence of his in- ability to attend, has empowered Horace Greeley to act in his stead and cast his vote for Edward Bates."

In the apportionment, Oregon was allotted six delegates, or three more than chosen by the State convention of the year before. As the next Republican State convention would not meet until April 19, 1860, and that would not give three addi- tional delegates, if chosen at that late day, time to reach Chi- cago by May 16, the Republican State Central Committee Henry W. Corbett, of Multnomah, W. Carey Johnson, of Clackamas, and E. D. Shattuck, of Multnomah named, as the extra delegates, Henry W. Corbett, Joel Burlingame and Franklin Johnson, and authorized them to appoint their sub- stitutes as proxies.

Of the six delegates named, only two attended the con- vention Mr. Burlingame, who went East for interment of the body of his wife, and Mr. Johnson, who was a divinity student at Hamilton, New York. Mr. Holmes sent his proxy to Horace Greeley, and Mr. Corbett to Eli Thayer. Either Mr. Hovey or Dr. Warren gave a proxy to Henry Bucking- ham, of Oregon. The sixth delegate was not represented in the National convention. These details are corroborated by