for governor. This executive head is to act in the place of senate, council, and governor. This provision is before you for your approval or rejection. With this Executive Committe our organization is complete; without it we have no head; no one to see that our laws are executed, and no one to grant a reprieve or pardon in case a law should be enforced against the life or property of any one, for the violation of any law, no matter what the circumstances connected with that real or supposed violation might be. The pardon and mercy part of our law is in that 'horrible hydra-headed monster' that the gentleman spoke about, and warned us against; and instead of its being as black as his 'bear,' it becomes light and mercy to the erring and the ignorant. As to the example set by your committee for future despots to rob us of our liberty, and place over us a king or an emperor, you and I have no fears so long as we elect our own legislative bodies.

"Now, fellow-citizens, let us look calmly at our true situation. We are two thousand five hundred miles from any point from which we can receive the least assistance by land; and seventeen thousand miles by water. A portion of our community are organized and ready to protect themselves, and to defend all their rights and interests. Another organization of a religious character is in our midst, I should say, two. They each have a head-an executive. How is it with us? Who is our head in all that pertains to our civil liberty, rights, and property? It is possible the gentleman may wish us to remain as unprotected, as helpless and exposed to all the dangers that surround us on every hand, as we have heretofore been. If he does, you, fellowcitizens, I am sure, do not wish to add to his feebleness by destroying the organization you have commenced, because he is afraid of what some Cæsar did in Rome some centuries past. We are acting for ourselves and those immediately dependent upon us for protection. In union there is strength. I believe you are fully satisfied that your committee have acted honestly, and, as they thought, for the good of all they represented. If such is the case, you will approve of their acts, and our organization will be complete as they have prepared it for this meeting."

On the question being taken, there were but two or three votes against the executive, or fifth section. Mr. Lee informed the writer that he saw plainly enough that the meeting was determined to have a government of some kind, and that probably the Executive Committee was the best at first. This point gained, the remainder was soon disposed of.

The marriage fee was changed, in the seventeenth article, from three dollars to one dollar.

ADMINISTRATION OF OATH.

351

The resolution referred to as the nineteenth was: Resolved, That a committee of three be appointed to draw up a digest of all the laws and proceedings of the people of this Territory, in relation to the present provisional government, and the reasons for forming the same; and forward said digest and report to the Congress of the United States for their information." Rev. Jason Lee, Rev. Gustavus Hines, and Mr. C. M. Walker were chosen that committee, and instructed to have access to all public documents, and to call upon any individual for any information they might deem necessary in carrying out their instructions.

That committee, so far as performing their duty and carrying out the wishes of the people were concerned, did the same as the reverend Legislative Committee did in 1841; they neglected the thing altogether, and paid no attention to the object of the resolution. Still, at the present day, when the same reverend gentlemen are charged with having done all they could against the early settlers' government, they attempt to repel the charge, and take great credit to themselves for the perseverance of others in securing permanent laws and protection for themselves and the settlements.

Messrs. Beers, Hill, and Gale, were chosen by ballot as the first Executive Committee.

Hugh Burns, who had been chosen at the May meeting as justice of the peace, had resigned, and Robert Moore was chosen to fill his place.

The committee bad prepared a full list of the laws of Iowa, to recommend for the adoption of the people, which was presented and read, some slight amendments made, and the list adopted.

The report of the Legislative Committee was adopted as a whole; and on motion it was 66 Resolved, That the president of the convention assisted by the Rev. Messrs. Lee, Clark, and Leslie, be a committee to draft and administer an oath of office to the civil officers elected on the 2d of May, 1843, and that said officers be required to subscribe to the same; and administer the oath to the supreme judge, who shall hereafter qualify all civil and military officers to be elected by the people." At this point, a question arose in the mind of the last-named committee, whether they would proceed that night to administer the proposed oath, or defer it till some other time. There were some earnest and determined men in that convention, who were not to be defeated at the last moment by the disposition of these reverend gentlemen to delay the concluding ceremony of drafting and administering the oath of office to the persons the people had chosen. To relieve them of all doubt as to the wish of the convention (although it was

then nearly dark), it was moved and carried, "that the committee to qualify officers proceed to the performance of their duty, as far as practicable, this evening." Judge. Wilson was not present.

Rev. Jason Lee noticed that Mr. Beers received the smallest number of votes given for any member of the Executive Committee. This to him, and probably to Messrs. Leslie and Hines, was unaccountable; but not so to us, who understood the general feeling of opposition against the rule of the missionaries and their large claims to land; as also the secret prejudices excited against them by the Hudson's Bay Company and the Jesuits, who attributed the entire government movement to them, while the organization was that of the settlers unaided by any mission, except individual members of the Protestant missions. This was probably the reason for the proposition to delay qualifying the officers elected, and carrying out the decided wish of the convention. This fact simply shows a reluctant assent to the organization by the principal members of the missions. The French address showed the feelings of the French and Catholics, while the Hudson's Bay Company stood entirely aloof from it, and expected to defeat the whole movement by the influence of such men as the Rev. G. Hines, Dr. White, Robert Newell, and the Indians.

We have two copies of the organic laws adopted by the people at Champoeg; one published by Charles Saxton in 1846, and the other by the compiler of the Oregon archives in 1853. That published by Mr. Saxton corresponds nearer with our own recollections of the facts of the case; hence we will copy them as given by him.

CHAPTER XLV.

Organic laws.-Resolutions.-Districts.-Militia law.-Land claims.-Certificate.

THE Legislative Committee recommend that the following organic lars be adopted :—

WE, the people of Oregon Territory, for purposes of mutual protection, and to secure peace and prosperity among ourselves, agree to adopt the following laws and regulations, until such time as the United States of America extend their jurisdiction over us:

SECTION I

Be it enacted by the free citizens of Oregon Territory, That the said Territory, for the purposes of temporary government, be divided into not less than three, nor more than five, districts; subject to be extended to a greater number when an increase of population shall require.

For the purpose of fixing the principles of civil and religious liberty as the basis of all laws and constitutions of government that may hereafter be adopted, Be it enacted, That the following articles be considered articles of compact among the free citizens of this Territory.

ARTICLE 1. No person demeaning himself in a peaceable or orderly manner shall ever be molested on account of his mode of worship or religious sentiments.

ART. 2. The inhabitants of said Territory shall always be entitled to the benefit of the writ of habeas corpus and trial by jury, of a proportionate representation in the Legislature, and of judicial proceeding according to the course of common law. All persons shall be bailable, unless for capital offenses, where the proof shall be evident, or the presumption great. All fines shall be moderate, and no cruel or unnatural punishments inflicted. No man shall be deprived of his liberty but by the judgment of his peers, or the law of the land; and should the public exigences make it necessary, for the common preservation, to take any person's property, or to demand his particular services, full compensation shall be made for the same. And in the just preservation of rights and property, it is understood and declared that no law ought ever to be made, or have force in said Territory, that shall in any manner whatever interfere with, or affect, private contracts, or engagements bona fide made and without fraud previously formed.

ART. 3. Religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.

ART. 4. The utmost good faith shall always be observed toward the Indians, their lands and property shall never be taken from them without their consent, and in their property, rights, and liberty, they shall never be invaded or disturbed, unless in just and lawful wars, authorized by the representatives of the people. But laws, founded in jus tice and humanity, shall, from time to time, be made, for preventing injustice being done to them, and for preserving peace and friendship.

ART. 5. There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in said Territory, otherwise than for the punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.

SECTION II.

ARTICLE 1. Be it enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the officers elected on the 2d of May instant shall continue in office until the second Tuesday of May, 1844, and until others are elected and qualified.

ART. 2. An election for civil and military officers shall be held annually upon the second Tuesday in May in the several districts, at such places as shall be designated by law.

ART. 3. Each officer heretofore elected, or that shall hereafter be elected, shall, before entering upon the duties of his office, take an oath or affirmation to support the laws of the Territory, and faithfully discharge the duties of his office.

ART. 4. Every free male descendant of a white man, inhabitant of this Territory, of the age of twenty-one years and upward, who shall have been an inhabitant of this Territory at the time of its organization, shall be entitled to vote at the election of officers, civil and military, and be eligible to any office in the Territory; Provided, That all persons of the description entitled to vote by the provision of this section, who shall emigrate to this Territory after the organization, shall be entitled to the rights of citizens after having resided six months in the Territory.

ART. 5. The executive power shall be vested in a committee of three persons, elected by the qualified voters at the annual election, who shall have power to grant pardons and reprieves for offenses against the laws of the Territory, to call out the military force of the Territory, to repel invasions or suppress insurrections, to take care that the laws are faithfully executed, and to recommend such laws as they may consider neessary to the representatives of the people for their action. Two member the committee shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business.