, 1882-04-21

When the proposition to include
North Idaho within our boundaries was
mOOted, | saw in it the defeat of the
whole scheme of the Walla Walla con-
veutiOn, and saw that it would be inn
possible for Washington to get in un-
der our constitution unless North Ida
no was admitted also, and that seemed
to me under the scheme of ignoring the
boundaries established by Congress and
attempting to set up a government in
contempt of existing law, was delu-
sive hope. L urged upon the floor of
the convention that we must stay out
unless Idaho was admitted with us, and
the answer given by you was that
you did not want us to get in unless
you could come also The answer of
the delegates from Eastern Washing
ton was that they did not want a
state government unless North Idaho
was a part;' and George and Gilmore
who were representing the whole terri
tory and elected by the votes of West
ern Washington, were of the same opin'
ion. If that had been known before
their election they could not have re-
ceived a tithe of the votes cast for them.
1t was in vain thatI appealed to you to
permit us to obtain admission and ac-
quire political power, when we would
help you to join us: but your vanity,
your desire to return to North Idaho
and show to your people that you had
placed Washington where she would
appeal to Congress in vain unless she
shouldered the burden of disrupting
Idaho, Overcame every argument, and
the last reasonable prospect of getting
admitted under proceedings of the con-
vention was at an end, and the many
thousands of dollars wrung from the
tax payers of Washington were thrown
away. Your plan was that of the rob-
ber who takes and then asks that the
act be legalized and ratified; ours, that
of the respectful petitioner who asks
from superior power before he appro-
PIRATES. The only precedent you could
show in the past history of the country
was the act of Oregon in including that
portion of Washington now organized
in the counties of Walla Walla, Colum-
bia and Garfield and that attempted
encroachment was Indignantly rejected
by Congress-; your precedent, then, was
based on a failure and not on a success.
And how could you reasonably have ex-
pected Congress to ratify and accept
our constitution when by so doing they
would say to each frontier community
to "cut, cdrUe and organize gOUe1n-
ments ignoring the political diUisions tCe
haze established and aCe ,UiH set these
governments in motion for you" Thus
Idaho would take part of Nevada, Ne
vada retaliating upon Utah, Utah upon
Wyoming, and so on dd infnitum.
Your plan, begged by you through the
convention, was so absurd that the Leg
islature of this territory abandoned it,;
our delegate refused to urge it, and has
now before Congress an enabling act
which includes North Idaho. This ac-
ton of Mr.. Brents is regular, and free
from the mistake made at Walla Walla.
He has prepared no government for
North Idaho, or Washington, but only
asks consent to do so, which If granted
by Congress will relieve the scheme
from the objection that it is revolution
ary and in contempt of law-and no
man will be better pleased than myself
that they are included. We of Wash
! ington need North Idaho to assist us in
carrying on a state government We
want them because they are a people
homogeneous W tn ourselves and will
in time be closely connected with us in
business relations, and because from the
physical formation of the country they
can be united with no other state where
the union will be to them anything but
curse The objection that their popu-
| lation may enable eastern Washington
to out-vote the west has seemed to us so
silly that no newspaper or public man
! has ever brOached such an argument,
and / believe never felt such an inn
pulse. Are the east and west to be in
volyed in a continuous conflict until
one section is overpowered by the other
and held in vassalage watching for an
opportunity to turn the tables and the
yassel become the master? / know that
Western Washington does not feel so,
and / cannot believe that Eastern
Washington does. If that is to be the
result, better far that the summit of the
Cascades should be the dividing line of
states, but in the absence of all reason
for such conflict it cannot exist. The
plan insisted upon by most OF the men,
bers from Western Washington would
have been respectful, while at the same
time it would have been equally as eff
fective, as at best we must go before
Congress as petitioners to be admitted
at all.
Your statement that the Legislature
Of this territory invited North Idaho to
take part in the convention with view
to including it in the boundaries of the
new state cannot be true, because If
they had you would have been invited
to send delegates according to your pop
ulation, with the right to vote, and per-
haps you might also have been invited
to share with us the expense. You
say that the people adopted the consti-
tution by large majority and there
fore approved the action of the conven-
ton. The vote that adopted the Walla
Walla constitution was cast in Western
Washington, and was cast as an express