The second editor, Henry A. G. Lee, a Virginian who had prepared for the ministry, took over on April 16, 1846. He announced that columns of the Spectator would be open for "prudent discussion" of politics, except for "purely sectarian and uncalled-for and unprofitable partyism."[1] He stated:
We are aware that many will look with surprise, and perhaps suspicion, too, at the word "politics" . . . [in] the subjects to be discussed in the Spectator, from the fact, that heretofore, the privileges of the paper have been closed against politics entirely. We understand the 8th article of the constitution of the Oregon Printing Association . . . to exclude ex parte politics only. . . . Politics, as we understand the term, means the science of government, and not the effervescence of fermenting partyism, or the noisy froth of spouting demogogues.[2]
In following weeks, Lee engaged in his "prudent discussion," apparently to the dismay of the association which dismissed him on August 6, 1846.[3] In the next issue, an announcement by the association said: "Our paper will yet be edited to the satisfaction of at least a majority of the subscribers."[4]
Until another editor could be hired, John Fleming, the printer, conducted the Spectator. Then on October 1, 1846, George L. Curry, later governor of Oregon Territory, became the third editor in eight months. He commented:
Our columns will be closed to none, all being equally welcome to use them for the dissemination of opinion upon all subjects excepting sectism and exclusive party politics, the editor, of course, exercising his right of supervision.[5]
Curry was fired on January 20, 1848. He had defied the association by publishing certain secret resolutions, introduced in the legislature, denouncing an appointment by Governor Abernethy.[6]
- ↑ Oregon Spectator, April 16, 1846, 2:2.
- ↑ Ibid.
- ↑ Ibid., Aug. 6, 1846, 2:3.
- ↑ Ibid., Aug. 20, 1846, 2:1. Lee later participated in the Indian Wars, rising to the rank of colonel. He died in about 1850 of Panama fever, having served as superintendent of Indian affairs for the region. Himes, op. cit., 344. On Aug. 15, 1846, the Monterey Californian was founded as the first newspaper in California, ending the Oregon Spectator's news monopoly in the Far West.
- ↑ Oregon Spectator, Oct. 1, 1846, 2:2.
- ↑ Oregon City Oregon Free Press, July 8, 1848, 2:1; Walter Woodward, The Rise and Early History of Political Parties in Oregon, 1843-1868 (Portland, 1913), 34.
1869. George W. Himes, "History of the Press of Oregon, 1839-1850," Oregon Historical Quarterly, III (1902), 341.
