Year: 1876




and proprietor. Other business en-
more suitable to our de-
years and consequent yearn-
ing for more quiet pursuits, have
occupied our time and attention
principally for the past year and a
half, during which time we have
only held the newspaper subject to
any arrangement which might offer,
that would not conflict with the OBJ
jects which we have kept steadily
in view, and to which we have bent
our best energies for the past five
years, viz: the promotion of the
growth and prosperity of Seattle
especially, and Washington Terri
tory generally. 1t is cause of spe-
cial qualification to us and congrat-
ulation to the public, that in Mr..
Thomas B. Merry we have a success
sor who has no peer in Washington
Territory, and no superior on the
Pacific Coast, as a general newspa-
per editor. In the full vigor OF ma
tured manhood. he brings to this
work all the elements which com
mand success in journalism, and es-
pecially those best adapted to the
vitalization of the energies and en-
terprises upon which the future
greatness OF this community de-
pend: large and varied experience
as a journalist upon this coast, a
vigorous constitution, untiring in
dustry. noble enthusiasm in his
profession, generous sympathles
with the people, rare social quail
ties, and an active interest in every
object and enterprise calculated to
promote the general prosperity of
the community, with graceful and





attractive style of expressing his
thoughts. which is always pleasing
and rarely offensive to the most crit
ical tastes.


Mr.. Merry proposes to identify the
DISPATCH with the Democratic par
ty. To the party character of the
paper we attach no material import
ance, as there are no vital political
questions at issue in n Territorial
election. These party conflicts oc-
cur at intervals of two years. last
only through a few weeks, and need
not at all interfere with or influence
the usefulness of newspaper de-
voted mainly to the public interests.
We most heartily and earnestly COM
mend the DISPATCH to the support
of all those who are Interested in the
public welfare, confidently believ-
ing that under the management of
Mr.. Merry it will reflect honor and
only honor upon this city and this
Territory.


After over fort. years service as a
newspaper editor, this is probably
our final editorial valedictory. In
reviewing this long career as jour
nalist, with its varied fortunes of
success and viciasitude, we find
nothing in our osn acts to regret,
nothing to take back, no position
ever taken under the promise of re-
ward, or abandoned under the infu-
ence of fear. We never espoused a
cause or abandoneda measure which
we did not believe to be right in
principle, and what were then mat
ters of opinion are now convictions,
cherithed as settled principles, con-
frmed by the experiences Of life
time. Our positions have been often
misunderstood an as often misrep-
resented, subieeting us, in times of
excitement, to popular odium and
persecution from those who did not,
or would not, comprehend the mo-
tives which prompted our course.
All that is now passed, and our
ceremony calls up no act or utter
ance of ours betraying want of fl
deity to our country, to society or
to our fellows. We have made
enemies, at times bitter and unrelen-
ting. All that is now passed, leav-
ing no bitterness or resentment to
plague us in the quiet walks of life,
while the memory of the many and
devoted friends which we have had
live in perpetual bloom shedding a
sweet fragrance around us in our
declining years. The past five years
have been the most quiet and un-
eventful of all the years of our pub
lie life, and though not entirely free
from strife and turmoil have given
us no cause to regret our choice of a
place in which to spend ourlast years
of life. As private citizen, occupy
ing only subordinate position, we
shall not cease to take an active in