Page:The History of Oregon Bancroft 1888.djvu/149

Rh When the legislative assembly met in the autumn of 1850 it complied with the suggestion of Thurston, so far as to confirm the lots purchased since March 1849 to their owners, by passing an act for that purpose, certain members of the council protesting. This act was of some slight benefit to McLoughlin, as it stopped the demand upon him, by people who had purchased property, to have their money returned. Further than this they refused to go, not having a clear idea of their duty in the matter. They neither accepted the gift nor returned it to its proper owner, and it was not until 1852, after McLoughlin had completed his naturalization, that the legislature passed an act accepting the donation of his property for the purposes of a university. Before it was given back to the heirs of McLoughlin, that political party to which Thurston belonged, and which felt bound to justify his acts, had gone out of power in Oregon. Since that time many persons have, like an army in a wilderness building a monument over a dead comrade by casting each a stone upon his grave, placed their tribute of praise in my hands to be built into