whose position was sufficiently odious, to remind the reader that the author of the resolutions was a son-in-law of David Goff, whom Thornton had mercilessly abused in the Spectator for his share in inducing the immigration to take the southern route. For the same reason, however, the selection of Thornton for the position of delegate was an unfortunate one. For allowing the resolutions to be printed in the Spectator the directors of the printing association dismissed Curry from the editorship.[1]
Trusting to time's obliteration of the evidences of intrigue, Thornton says in his manuscript History of Oregon, that he was "sent by the provisional government of Oregon" to Washington; in which case the governor, and not the legislature, was the government. He also says in an address before the pioneer association of 1874, that he obeyed the desire of Whitman, who in the spring of 1847 urged him to yield to the solicitations he had received to go to Washington on behalf of the people and the provisional government. There were some persons besides the governor who were willing Thornton should go to Washington; and there were strong reasons why Whitman should be one of them, in the yearly increasing danger of his situation among the Cayuses, which nothing could avert but the sword or the purse of the United States.
Of this fact the authors of the memorial were well advised when they said that they did not know how soon they might be involved in an Indian war. For reasons connected with the speedy settlement of Oregon by a population which would entitle them to elect a delegate, and to enjoy other privileges dependent on numbers, they had touched but lightly upon those facts which if known in the States might retard immi-
- ↑ In his remarks on his dismissal, Curry referred bitterly to the attempt to muzzle the press, on the part of George Abernethy, Rev. W. Roberts, J. R. Robb, and Robert Newell, 'who constitute a bare majority of the board of directors.' Or. Spectator, Jan. 6 and 20, 1848; Honolulu Polynesian, iv. 206; Friend, vi. 47–68; Pickett's Paris Exposition, 10.
