Page:The History of Oregon Bancroft 1888.djvu/90

72 usual congratulations Lane, in his message to the legislature, alluded briefly to the Cayuses, who, he promised, should be brought to justice as soon as the rifle regiment then on its way should arrive. Congress would probably appropriate money to pay the debt, amounting to about one hundred and ninety thousand dollars. He also spoke of the Wallace affair, and said the murderers should be punished.

His suggestions as to the wants of the territory were practical, and related to the advantages of good roads; to a judicious system of revenues; to the revision of the loose and defective condition of the statute laws, declared by the organic act to be operative in the territory; to education and common schools; to the organization of the militia; to election matters and providing for apportioning the representation of counties and districts to the council and house of representatives, and defining the qualification of voters, with other matters appertaining to government. He left the question of the seat of government to their choice, to decide whether it should be fixed by them or at some future session. He referred with pleasure to the return of many absentees from the mines, and hoped they would resume the cultivation of their farms, which from lying idle would give the country only a short crop, though there was still enough for home consumption. He