They proposed, however, that a council or senate be chosen for the judgment of offenses, except capital ones, and to make suitable regulations for the people; that the council be elected and composed of members from all parts of the country to constitute a parliament, the president of the council and another member being empowered to act as justices of the peace in each county, with the privilege on the part of the people to appeal causes to the whole council. The members, they said, should be influenced by a desire for the public good, and not for their own gain. Taxation they pronounced inexpedient, and especially onerous to new arrivals in the colony; and they would not consent to be taxed. As to militia, they declared it needless, and the occasion of suspicion to the natives, as well as a hinderance to necessary labor and an expense to the people. The country, they contended, was open to all nations, until its sovereignty should be determined, and people might settle in it without being called upon to declare to what government they would give allegiance in the future. They desired to be in unison with all respectable citizens, or else to be left free to make such regulations as appeared most necessary to themselves, until the coming of some lawful authority, to which they would cheerfully submit. While they did not forget that some laws might be profitably adopted even then, they held that the more laws there were the greater the opportunity for roguery and for subsequent changes which might not be profitable. Besides, in a new country the more men employed and paid by the public the fewer remained for industry. The address concluded with the assurance that none could be more desirous of the peace, prosperity, and liberties of the colony than themselves, and with good wishes for "all those who are or may become our fellow-countrymen."[1]
- ↑ Grover's Or. Archives, 14–15. Unfortunately for the perfect continuity of history, the Oregon Archives do not contain either the invitation which called out this answer, or the proceedings of the meeting at Champoeg of the 4th
