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Mr. Eells is mistaken on that point, for Gray had removed to Wallamet as early in 1842 as he could find conveyance to the Wallamet."
Mr. Gray had not removed with his family to the Wallamet early in 1843. A few years ago Mrs. Victor maee the same state-that Mr. Gray was in the Wallamet in September, 1842, and so could not have been at that meeting. Mr. Gray replied in the Astorian by saying that when he first went down, he did not take his wife, eldest son and two little daughters with him, and that he returned to his family at Waiilatpu September 21, 1842. If there are any who doubt Mr. Gray's statement and think they know more than he does about it, I will add that I have the copy of the first letter written by Mrs. Whitman to her husband after he left for the East in 1842. I copied it from the original, which was loaned me a year or two ago. It was begun October 4, 1842. On that day she wrote: "Mr. G. and family did not leave till this morning." On the 7th she wrote that Mungo returned this eve (from Fort Walla Walla), bringing letters from Mr. McKinlay and Brother Gray," who, it seems, was not off yet.
Second—He says: "Rev. Henry H. Spalding, under date of January 9, 1843, uses language which leaves no doubt whatever that no meeting had been held since June touching or concerning Dr. Whitman's journey to the East."
This is a mistake, although Governor Evans devotes considerable space to prove his point. From circumstantial evidence in the annual report of the American Board for 1843 (page 169) it is stated that "early in the autumn of last year, and immediately after receiving the instructions of the Prudential Committee to discontinue the southern branch of the Oregon mission, a meeting of the missionaries from all the stations was held to consider the course to be adopted." It also says he started October 3d. Forty-one years after this was| published |Governor Evans says it was in the early summer. In the Missionary Herald for September, 1843, I read: "At a special meeting of the mission, held in October last, to consider this decision [i. e., the one by the Board to discontinue the southern branch] it was thought advisable that Dr. Whitman should personally communicate the condition and prospects of these stations to the Prudential Committee." Here is a point which I wish to make. Governor Evans says—"The official organ of the American Board of Foreign Missions should be accepted as conclusive authority." He then makes a lengthy quotation from the Mission-
