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310 W. C. WOODWARD delegates disapproved. 1 He said in effect that it gave their candidate, Logan, more trouble than anything else in the can- vass and resulted in his defeat. "There are always some peo- ple," he added, "who can never 'let well enough alone/ and our party in Oregon has a few of that stamp." Adams main- tained that no man in Oregon exceeded him in admiration of Seward as a statesman and patriot, but that he saw how dif- ficult it would be, to bring to the support of such a man, the masses with their varied and sectional ideas and interests. Dryer of the Oregonian expressed no choice of a presidential nominee. The first expression for Lincoln was made in February, 1860. It was in a contributed article of some length, in the Argus, by Simeon Francis, a recent arrival from Illinois. He was the founder of the Springfield "Illinois State Journal" and had for twenty-five years been its editor. His approach to the subject was diplomatic "Your views in regard to Ed- ward Bates and your high appreciation of the man are my own. . . . The same facts I may say in regard to Abra- ham Lincoln." 2 There followed a sketch of Lincoln's life and career of his long and consistent maintenance of Republican principles, the article closing with this tribute: "All these circumstances have placed Mr. Lincoln before his country and will place him before the convention as one of the men worthy of their high behest as a candidate for the first position in the world. He may attain that position. He may not. In either case, Abraham Lincoln will remain one of God's noblemen noble in his nature, noble in his aims a pure and great man." Shortly after this Francis succeeded Dryer as editor of the Oregonian and had the satisfaction of engaging actively in the campaign for the election of his candidate. 3 1 Ibid., Oct. 29. "If Mr. Pengra had confined the expression of his preference to the sheet he edits it would have been all right; but when, after a convention had made arrangements to adjourn and half its members had left, supposing that nothing more would be done till the next session, he undertook to saddle his views upon the whole party, he did in our judgment a foolish, and as it proved, an in- judicious thing." 2 Ibid., Feb. n, 1860. 3 H. L. Pittock became owner of the Oregonian in December, 1860, and in an editorial note announcing his departure for San Francisco to buy new materials, he said: "Mr. Francis will remain in charge of the paper as he has been for the last eight months."