Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 18.djvu/225



Hall Jackson Kelley 197

"I desire my countrymen should know how much I have expended in time and property; and what I have suffered to settle Oregon, and to make it an integral part of my country's domain. I have truly paid from my substance, and from the comforts and endearments of life, a great price for that land, though a goodly one it is, and have freely possessed the nation of it Were my country duely apprised of the facts in the case, they would no bnger turn a deaf ear to the wrongs I have suffered, and the rights of which I have been defrauded, as they have done for the last thirty years; but, would at once return to me all, and even more than I claim ; both as a recompense for my services, and as a testimonial of their gratitude for the countless blessings those services have ren- dered and are rendering to the coimtry ....

"With the explanations I will be able to make, the reader can more understandingly form opinions of my capabilities and usefulness, and of the contempt so imivcrsally cast upon me ; and can better judge of the suffering condition to which persecutions and afflictions, endured for nearly half a century have reduced me — such as are, probably, without parallel in the present age of the world."^

Naturally self-centered, his style was egotistical to the ex- treme. "I am Hall J. Kelley; that is my name; am what edu- catiixi, habits, and the grace of God have made me.*'*^ Did Walt Whitman ever sound his "barbaric )rawp" louder than this? "I am not 'distressed' — h(K/e never been * distressed ;' "^ he protested after telling of "persecutions and afflictions" of nearly half a century, thereby unconsciously giving testimony to die fact. He wrote much of himself because he was the only human being he ever really knew. "I have said much concerning self, and now find it indispensable to say more With as little self-esteem as self-respect, I shall be able, to describe the powers and qualities of my mind ; and to satisfy, that it is not strictly true that I am 'without mind to do any-

i8 Ppw I-3-

19 lud, 7.

ao Ibid., 3.