The question of establishing an independent government for Oregon was also discussed by this body. The scheme is said to have been favored by McLoughlin, and openly advocated by several influential American colonists. Hastings went so far as to offer a resolution in favor of the plan, but George Abernethy, then residing in Oregon City, met this with another, to the effect that: "If the United States extends its jurisdiction over this country, within four years it will not be expedient to form an independent government." This resolution was warmly discussed and finally carried.[1]
In the autumn of 1842 overtures were again made to the Canadians to assist in forming a temporary government, and meetings to consider the matter were held at French Prairie. But the Canadians declined, presumably by the advice of McLoughlin and their spiritual adviser, Blanchet. The position of the former at this juncture was embarrassing. It was evident that some form of political legislation must before long grow out of the persistent consideration of the subject. To aid or countenance the establishment of a government owing exclusive allegiance to the United States would be disloyal to his country and to the interests of the company. An independent government would be preferable to this, though there
- ↑ Abernethy's Letter, in Gray's Hist. Or., 269.
H. Couch, F. W. Pettygrove, J. M. Wair, A. L. Lovejoy, Jesse Applegate, S. W. Moss, Robert Newell, J. W. Nesmith, Ed. Otie, H. A. G. Lee, Fred. Prigg, C. E. Pickett, Wm C. Dement, Medorum Crawford, Hiram Straight, J. Wambaugh, Wm Gushing, Philip Foster, Ransom Clark, H. H. Hide, John G. Campbell, Theophilus Magruder, W. H. Rees, Mark Ford, Henry Saffron, Noyes Smith, Daniel Waldo, P. G. Stewart, Isaac W. Smith, Joseph Watt, Frank Ermatinger, A. E. Wilson, Jacob Hoover, S. M. Holderness, John Minto, Barton Lee, Gen. Husted, and John P. Brooks. C. E. Pickett was secretary of the club. Annual Address before the Oregon Pioneer Association, in Or. Pioneer Assoc., Trans., 1879, p. 27. See also S. W. Moss, in Pioneer Times, MS., 17, 18, where the 'Falls Debating Society' is spoken of. Applegate says the library was got together in the winter of 1843–4, and that he contributed The Federalist, and several scientific works. Marginal notes in Gray's Hist. Or., 269. No two authorities call the institution by the same name. The Oregon Spectator of April 16, 1846, calls it the Falls Association, but it was the fashion of the Methodists to speak of Oregon City as 'The Falls,' merely to discountenance McLoughlin's right to name the place. The proper name of the debating society of 1842 was the Oregon Lyceum.
