Page:The History of Oregon Bancroft 1888.djvu/343

Rh in April 1854, J. W. Nesmith, brigadier-general; E. M. Barnum, adjutant-general; M. M. McCarver, commissary-general; and S. C. Drew, quartermaster-general. An act was also passed providing for taking the will of the people at the June election, concerning a constitutional convention, and the delegate was instructed to secure from congress an act enabling them to form a state government. But the people very sensibly concluded that they did not want to be a state at present, a majority of 869 being against the measure; nor did congress think well of it, the slavery question as usual exercising its influence, and although Lane said that Oregon had 60,000 population, which was an exaggeration.

The doings of the alcaldes of Jackson county as justices of the peace were legalized; for up to the time of the appearance of a United States judge in that county the administration of justice had been irregular, and often extraordinary, making the persons engaged in it liable to prosecution for illegal proceedings, and the judgments of the miners' courts void. The business of the session, taken all in all, was unimportant. Worthy of remark was the