, 1854-02-18

| OregORian, Of Jan. l4th:
&" BY reference to the communication signed sT,mi
Water, it will be scen that the people Of Washington
Territory complain Of Governor Stevens, for the man.
ner in which he arranged the election precincts in the
river counties well the AppOrtionment Of Tepre.
sentatyes and the short time allowed to make the 70.
turns Of the election to Olympia,
The Washington PoiiterH attempts to exoncnte
the Governor from blame in this matter by saying in
substance, that the Governor entirely Hnacquaiut.
ed with the situation Of the election Precincts and that
If any wrong has been done, it was not intentional
However this may be- we do not know, bnt thing
/ Is certain, Gov Stevens furnished, when at Van.
eouvcr with diagram Of CLARK county. together with
the localities of the Election precincts. lie also
knew, ought 10 have known, that Clark eounty had
much larger population than any other county In tho
Territory. No man can deny bat tia she ought n
have had her Just and equitable proportion af Tcpre
sentatives in each branch OF the Legislature according
TO her popuation-yet this has not been accorded %
her for unknown TO us-thcrefore we think tia
people Of Clark and Pacific counties have good reasons
for complaining Of the tirs official acts Of Gov Ste
Yens
As to the short time allowed to make returns to the
Secretary Of the Territory at Olympia, the Pi9ncer
constues the law to mean that the returns shall be
made within five days after the election to the county
clerks Of the several counties, In place Of 10 the Sec
rotary Of the Territory the proclamation plainly
says. Whether the law will bear that construction o.
not we will not undertake to say that will depend
upon future Developments
The insinuatons and charges against
Gov. Stevens contained in the above, arc
grossly and palpably false, and the commu-
nication of the OrsgoaiaaS correspondent i.
''Tum Water"-is but tissue of falsehood
and Misrepresentation from beginning To
end; the publication of which in this paper,
would but lead to an exposure Of ignor-
ance, or wilful and malicious ealumny
against the purest of federal officials, m-
worthy citizen of this territory. H iv4ot
true that "Gov Stevens was furnished.
when at Vancouver, with a diagram Of
Clark county, together with the location Of
the old election precincts" and "ene thing
is certain" he knew nothing about them at
the time, or the population Of Clark, as
compared with any other county in the ter
ritOry. No man CAN deny but that Clark
HAS her just and equitable number of rep
resentatives in each branch Of the legisla-
ture according to her VOTING population,
which We can prove, if necessary, has been
accorded to her. and which we have no (
doubt, nine tcnths of her citizens will now
readily acknowledge. I.s '.ad 'r7o
We have already stated that the procla-
nation calling the election, was issued the
next day after the arrival of Gov. Stevens
that it was made from such facts and in
formation as so short space of time would
allow, and that it was an oversight or cr-
ror in requiring the pOll-books to be re-
turned to the Secretary, instead Of tho
county clerks, within FIVE. days after the
election. And when it is remembered that
representation in the legislature is based
upon the VOTING population of the terrific
ry-that the committee appointed at the re-
cent territorial convention to ascertain
whether Clark county really was entitled to
more than two councilmen and Eve rep
resentatives, after mature deliberation, de-
Cided that she was not-that there was q
fractional difference between Clark, and 3
Lewis and Pacific, but equitable in the ag-
gregate-that the u S. Marshal took the.
census of the northern counties FIRST, giving. +
the southern all the advantages of the i'm
migration when these things are duly
considered by "Tum Water" We think he
will stop his 'rumblingn' and roaring for !
a time - examine the foam beneath his
''skookum" dashings, and see whether he d
cannot detect single trace Of even han
ded justice upon its surface. M.
As we do DOT wish to refer to this sub
jeet ngain, we will take this opportunity of
rcpeIling few false charges and misrepre- Z
sentations of the Oregoaida's 'Tum Wa
ter" and leave him to enjoy the Obscurity
that has so recently been vouchsafed to him.
IL Is not true, that "a small county at
the Sound is represented as largely as a
much more pOpulOus one on the Columbia
river" ...t.-.
IL is not true that "at the Sound not
one precinct has been closed and new ones
are very abundant" The precincts were
all established without reference to the old
ones, as it would have been impossible,
without delay of weeks, to ascertain all 3
the former places of voting and to show
the disinterestedness Of the Governor and
Marshal, there were, but three precincts
originally established by the proclamation,
in Thurston county; but the omission was
discovered in time to create new ones with
in the "sirty days notice. whilst DOVE the
Sound, many Of the counties were scantly
provided for, much to the modification Of
the Governor. vet without authority to.