298 f DOCUMENTS. gratified; but, with due respect, I would suggest that more than that was demanded at their hands. As the grand inquest for the Territory, and speaking for its people, did not the voic'e of public justice on behalf of the injured, demand that they should call Ifhe attention of Congress to the unequal operation of the donation law in its discrimi- nation against the children of m'en who would, if they could, have been born under the American flag, but were prevented by an inexorable destiny? And ought they not to have called the attention of Congress to the facts of my situation, and thus have sought to relieve me from a misfortune which I did not dream was pending over my head until when, uns'een and unheard, thousands of miles away from Washington, it was precipitated upon me and mine just as I was stepping into the grave and least prepared to meet and avert the consequences of such a stunning calamity? But I did not complain, and was thankful 'even for the little that the people of Oregon were willing to do for me through their chosen representatives. After this, and while my heart was full of gratitude for the past, the Legislative Assembly of 1851-52, in session at Salem, came, and that body, to my disappointment and mortification, passed an act accepting of the congressional donation of my claim and took steps towards driving me from its possession! Was this deserved, and did I merit it? And over and above all, was this called for by the honest, just and candid public opinion of Oregon's inhabitants? These are the questions I ask of the people; and as I do so, I commune with my own heart, and review my past career and history in the Territory, until, getting no other satisfactory answer than from my sense of rectitude, I find myself fast passing away to a seat of final judgment which can never fail to punish iniquity and reward well-doing. But I do not, nor will I despair. God is just; and I have ever cherished from my youth up, undoubted and undoubting confidence in the sober reflections and ultimate sense of justice of all His creatures. I trust to yet live and see in my case, as often during my day in that of others, ample justice achieved, and that cheers and consoles me in the midst of present affliction. At one time, bowed down with care, I had almost come to the con- clusion to take no further interest in the public affairs of the Terri- tory, but, as in every act of my life, the best interest of the country, founded on justice, has been the rule of my conduct, I feel, on further thought, to recall that determination. The Territory is deeply agitated with questions involving important governmental principles. The Democratic party is seeking through the zeal and activity of its most prominent members to attain an organization so as to act efficiently hereafter in the Territory in the maintenance and support of its principles. In such a struggle I cannot be an idle spectator. My sentiments, in politics, are, and have been for many years, democratic;
