Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 24.djvu/72

 64 Southern Historirtif Nor/V/// 1 'timers.

tile tribe, led by the chief Owhi, we made a detour to the east in returning, crossed the Spokan about forty miles above its mouth, passed by the old Whitnan mission, crossed Snake river about ten or twenty miles above its mouth, took down the Pelouse to Walla- Walla, thence across the Umatilla near the mission and " Billy Mc- Key's," crossing the Deo Shuttes at its mouth, then down to the Dalles, the Cascades, Fort Van Couver, and up the Cowlitz back to Olympia, which we reached in safety about the ist of October.

During that month my wife and self took steamer for San Fran- cisco, thence to Panama, Aspinwall and New York. We reached Washington city a few days before the meeting of Congress. This (34th) Congress will be long remembered as the one which gave rise to such a protracted and heated contest for speaker, to which position Mr. N. P. Banks, of Massachusetts, was finally elected. This was tha first triumph of importance of that fanatical party (now called Republican) which led to the disruption of the Union four years later. Before this struggle for speaker had been decided, and during the Christmas holidays, my wife and I repaired to Casa Bianca, Fla., by invitation of our aunt, Mrs. E. A. Beatty. While there I en- tered into an agreement with her for the conduct of her plantation under my supervision, &c. My wife remained at Casa Bianca and I returned to my duties in Washington city, only coming to Florida during the vacation.

My term of service in Congress expired the 4th of March, 1857. The same day Mr. Buchanan was inaugurated President for four years. He appointed me Governor and Superintendent of Indian Affairs of Washington Territory [the same positions had been ten- dered him by Mr. Pierce, which he had declined. E. A. A.], but I did not accept, wishing to take my wife's advice on the subject. On consultation with her I determined not to return to Washington Ter- ritory, believing firmly that the days of the Union were already numbered, and not wishing to be absent from the land of my birth when her hour of trial came. I resigned the position tendered me by Mr. Buchanan and devoted myself exclusively to planting at Casa Bianca.

In 1860, when it became certain that Mr. Lincoln was elected President of the United States, the people of Florida, feeling alarmed for the safety of their rights and institutions, began to hold primary meetings preparatory to a general convention of the State. In De- cember, 1860, I was elected a delegate from Jefferson county to a general convention of the State, which assembled at Tallahassee the