From the adjournment of the legislative assembly great anxiety was felt as to the action of congress in the matter of the memorial. Meanwhile the newspaper war was waged with bitterness and no great attention to decency. Seldom was journalism more completely prostituted to party and personal issues than in Oregon at this time and for several years thereafter. Private character and personal idiosyncrasies were subjected to the most scathing ridicule.
With regard to the truth of the allegations brought against the unpopular officials, from the evidence before me, there is no doubt that the governor was vain and narrow-minded; though of course his enemies exaggerated his weak points, while covering his creditable ones,[1] and that to a degree his official errors could not justify, heaping ridicule upon his past military career, as well as blame upon his present gubernatorial acts,[2] and accusing him of everything dishonest,
- ↑ Applegate's Views of Hist., MS., 48. Gaines assaulted Bush in the street on two occasions; once for accidentally jostling him, and again for something said in the Statesman. See issues of Jan. 27th and June 29, 1852. A writer calling himself 'A Kentuckian' had attacked the governor's exercise of the pardoning power in the case of Enoch Smith, reminding his excellency that Kentucky, which produced the governor, produced also nearly all the murderers in Oregon, namely, Keen, Kendall, Turner, the two Evermans, and Smith. 'Common sense, sir,' said this correspondent, 'should teach you that the prestige of Kentucky origin will not sustain you in your mental imbecility; and that Kentucky aristocracy, devoid of sense and virtue, will not pass current in this intelligent market.' Or. Statesman, June 15, 1852.
- ↑ John P. Gaines was born in Augusta, Va, in September 1795, removing to Boone county, Ky, in early youth. He volunteered in the war of 1812, being in the battle of the Thames and several other engagements. He represented Boone county for several years in the legislature of Ky, and was subsequently sent to congress from 1847 to 1849. He was elected major of the Ky cavalry, and served in the Mexican war until taken prisoner at Encarnacion. After some months of captivity he escaped, and joining the army served to the end of the war. On his return from Mexico, Taylor appointed him governor of Oregon. When his term expired he retired upon a farm in Marion county, where he resided till his death in December 1857. S. F. Alta, Jan. 4, 1858.
was born in Tenn. in 1813; a farmer in Polk. David S. Risdon was born in Vt in 1823, came to Oregon in 1850; lawyer by profession. John A. Anderson was born in Ky in 1824, reared in north Miss., and came to Oregon in 1850; lawyer and clerk in the custom-house at Astoria. James Davidson, born in Ky in 1792; emigrated thence in 1847; housejoiner by occupation. George E. Cole, politician, born in New York in 1820; emigrated thence in 1850 by the way of California. He removed to Washington in 1858, and was sent as a delegate to congress; but afterward returned to Oregon, and held the office of postmaster at Portland from 1873 to 1881.
