, 1864-07-29

their true position. 1t may be that it would be
safer and more conducive to the interests of the
people of the Territory to place legislation un-
der the control of such person, if such, per-
chance, should occupy the gubernatoral chair;
| but 1t will be very difficult to make the people
of my Territory so understand it. They have
been accustomed to make their own laws for
| eleven years without the intervention of an ex-
ecutive veto used by the stranger your Execu-
| tive sends among them, and they have duly APP
| preciated the power conferred upon them and
| the trust reposed in them, and they will feel it
hardship that this abridgment of their liber-
ties should be made without cause.
| The people Of Washington Territory a
/ loyal people. They are loyal to the Govern
ment and to the Constitution. They deeply
| sympathize with that band of heroes who are
| brayely fighting to restore obedience to the
| Constitution and the laws. 1t is true they have
not been called upon to shoulder the musket in
defense of their country in it's present struggle
| for existence among the nations Of the world,
| yet they have given largely in proportion to
their means to the sanitary cause, and in times
past have barred their bosoms to the Indian
row and bullet They attached to the
| Union. They pay without murmuring the
taxes you impose, though they have no voice
in imposing those taxes. With them 'repre-
sentation does not go with taxation" an evil
of which forefathers bitterly complained.
| 1t is true Delegate from Territory may speak
and make motions, Though even that poor priv
| ilege questioned by gentleman on the op-
posite side Of the House yesterday,) but he has
no right to vote. am not complaining of this,
but what do complain of is your abridging our
! right to enact such little local legislation
may be found necessary from time to time to
provide for and protect our own local interests.
| repeat our population is of a permanent
character, and men are not likely to get into
! the Legislature who have not the interests Of
/ H.. l., Il Al.
! branch of Congress when this bill was under
discussion that the Delegate from the Territory
desired the passage Of this bill; that he said
! the people were of a transient character, and
many men got into the Legislature who had no
interest in the country, and burdened the people
with oppressive taxes and it was upon such
false representations as these that the bill passed
the Senate No such opinions were ever enter
tanned or expressed by me- and no person was
ever authorized to place me in that position
! Whenever the people of any Territory feel them
selves incompetent to exercise what rights they
now possess, and desire the General Govern
ment to resume a portion of them, they are
abundantly able to say so, and it will then be
competent for Congress to act upon the matter.
Or if any gentleman upon this floor will point
out wherein they have misused their nights to
the injury of the General Government, l will
then listen with some patience to O proposition
to abridge them.
As the Delegate from that Territory this
| House will bear me witness that have not been
! backward in introducing measures TO the con-
sideraton Of the House which | thought to be
conducive to the interests of the Territory
Some of those measures have been faYoraby
considered by the House and the Senate, and
have become laws others still sleeping in
committees Il wish had the power to get them
out) which have been favorably considered by
them; and other very important measures to the
! of bav cd
fear, to the 'tomb Of the Capulets."
Had desired the passage of this bill l would
have been very likely to have introduced it and
asked for it the favorable consideration of the
House. If the majority of this House desire to
pass it, they have the power and the right to do
| so; but must be allowed to enter my most SOL
emn and emphatic protest against it in the name
of the people'of my Territory Were to neg
lect doing SO | should be alike untrue to myself
and unfaithful to them. l did not know such a
bill was under consideration in the Senate until
| it had passed that body and came in here for
the concurrence of this House. | tried to send
it to the Committee on Territories, so far as to
get it out of the way for this session at least.
Failing in that, and the House, by the vote upon
the question of reference, indicating disposi-
tion to pass it, | must be allowed to say that l
think it most unwse measure, and not calcu-
lated to do any good either to my Territory or
10 the country
The question does not present itself to the
House in the light Of an original proposition in
/ the organization of a new Territory, when the
organic act is first given the people to govern
them, however questionable its propriety then.
But you propose to take away rights the people
| have been accustomed to exercise for fifteen
years: five years integral part of Oregon,
and eleven years as citizens Of Washington and
! that, too, without cause,~ without their having
! betrayed or violated the trust reposed in them.
ment of their liberties. They will feel agrieyed
at your action, and if it is done at the instance
of Federal officials you have sent among them,
it will be a cause of irritation toward them and
may lead to serious results You may think it
trifng matter, but they will think it a seriou
matter. Parties in that far-of Territory are not
| altogether divided upon questions upon which
parties are organized here. The most natural
division, and, in fact, the real division, is that
of Federal clique party and the People party.
1t true all the people do not belong to the peo
ple's party, for you can find some in every COM
munity who can be influenced by the arguments
which power and patronage can yield, men who
! "Crook the pregnant hinges of the knee,
Where thrift may follow fawning."
We are not altogether free from them in our
Territory; yet the substantial citizens are gen
orally made of different stuff
As a whole the people of my Territory are
people it were an honor to serve even in the ca
pacity Of a territorial delegate have been
identified with their interests and that of their
immediate neighbor, Oregon, for nearly fifteen
years. ! know their feelings l have witnessed
their many and untold hardships in crossing the
sandy plains and mountain sleeps, and in driv
ing back the savage foe, and hewing out homes
for themselves and their children in the forest
and prairie wilds. l know the jealousy they
feel toward the stranger clothed with "little
brief authority to rule and lord over them you
send among them upon every change in the ma
tional Administration. And now if those whom
they look upon already at least not of them
seek to increase their power, by depriving them
of a moiety of liberty they now possess, know
the chagrin and modification it will cause them.
1t is true Territory at best is but a state Of
semi-vassalage, yet my Territory has enjoyed
comparative freedom in matters of local legis-
lation within the scope Of the organic act given
them by Congress, which is quite circumscribed,
yet they have been accustomed to a certain
amount of freedom, and any abridgment Of it
without cause WILL l repeat, Mr.. Speaker, be
to them a sad grievance. We are in remote
section of the Union. 1t will be long, long
while before we will be populous enough for
State We shall have to endure our territorial
vassalage many years to comei make it, I en-