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before who would misconstrue the meaning of language, but, in justice to the profession, will say that the instances are rare in which they will misstate the contents of a plainly printed page. Nor are these the only instances in which I am misrepresented, but as it is not myself whom I write to defend, these will suffice, and ought to make Mr. Evans a little more careful in charging "patriotic fables" and "immense afterthoughts "to men whose whole lives have been one long self-denial.
No person well acquainted with Rev. Cushing Eells has failed to notice that he has one of the most tenacious memories for minute details, and that he is always punctiliously exact in all his statements. In my boyhood, while attending his school, this characteristic of the man impressed itself on me, and with a more or less intimate acquaintance with him ever since, I have never heard a charge like the one made against him by Mr. Evans. Had he known the gentleman better he would have never made the charge.
The matter in controversy is—Did Dr. Whitman go to Washington City in the winter of 1842-43, from his mission station in Walla Walla Valley, for the purpose of aiding in saving the then Oregon to the United States?
Mr. Evans denies that Dr. Whitman went from here for that purpose, and further denies that he went to Washington City at all; denies that the doctor ever said he was going there; denies that he ever said he had been there. Mr. Evans says Dr. Whitman's errand East that winter was missionary business and not political business; that the doctor's objective point was Boston, not Washington.
To disprove the assumption that Dr. Whitman was in Washington City in March, 1843, Mr. Evans prints two letters from Hon. Alexander Ramsey, written to Mr. Evans. As these letters have lately been published in The Oregonian, I will simply make extracts. Mr. Ramsey says: "It is difficult to say just when it was that I saw Dr. Whitman in Washington," and "I have a recollection of how I lamented his untimely death, when I subsequently heard of the massacre of the missionary party. I have an impression that this was Dr. Whitman. I have long been under that impression." This answer evidently did not suit Mr. Evans, so, contrary to correct practice, he proceeds to cross-examine his own witness by writing him another letter. Just what he wrote is impossible for me to tell, but his evident design was to get Mr. Ram-
