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POLITICAL PARTIES IN OREGON 329 commending secession had appeared in the Southern press and had found their way into Oregon papers. 1 His reception was sullen and ominous. On his arrival at Dallas on his way home to the southern part of the state, the people raised the Stars and Stripes, fired a salute of thirty-four guns for the Union and hung Lane in effigy. 2 It was pretty generally ad- mitted by this time that a movement, more or less tangible, was on foot for establishing a Pacific Coast Republic and it was believed by very many, as had been charged, that Lane had come home for the purpose of aiding in the conspiracy to that end.3 There was nothing new in the idea suggested of an inde- pendent government on the Pacific Coast. In 1855, the Stand- ard had seriously questioned whether Oregon would not be better off under such a government than under that of the United States. It held that the Rocky Mountains presented an unmistakable boundary, and that such boundaries, laid by an over-ruling Providence, ought to be more strictly regarded.^ Positive assertions concerning schemes of disunion and the set- ting up of a new Western republic, appeared in the press the same year.s l n July, 1860, Bush declared it to be stated on authority, considered reliable that the Pacific Delegation in Congress had held a caucus and resolved to favor disunion and the formation of three separate republics the North, South and Pacific. That this insane project was entertained by some ambitious and designing politicians, he declared there could be no doubt, and indicated that Lane was implicated. 6 The Ore- gonian, January 26, 1861, had published a letter written by 1 "I am glad a majority of the people of Oregon have determined to leave a Union that refuses you equality and protection. You are right: and I am sure that you will take no step backwards". Lane, Jan. 6, 1861, to a Southern friend, printed in Georgia Constitutionalist and reprinted in Statesman, Feb. 25. "You are right and I am with you heart and soul. . . I, with thousands of good Northern men, will be by their [the Southern States] side". Lane, Dec. 14, 1860, to a Georgia relative, printed in Columbus, Ga., Times, and reprinted in Oregonian, March 2, 1861. 2 Argus, May u. 3 "It is said here that 'J ose Pli' goes to Oregon early in next month for the purpose of inaugurating the Pacific Republic and I am inclined to think that that is his object." Senator Nesmith, Washington, D. C., Feb. 26, 1861, to Harvey Gordon, Salem. 4 Standard editorial "Our Future", quoted in Oregonian, July 28, 1855. 5 Statesman, Sep. 8, 1855. 6 Ibid., July 24, 1860.