| Show memento of old tom denton the salem oregon correspondent of tho the sacramento union bays says I 1 think you yon will agree with me that the fol lowing document which has never been made public is worthy of the honor though twenty years have almost elapsed since it was written is a great deal of tho the tom benton bento li about it and there was a great deal of the stubborn idea of right anil and strength to battlo battle for it in ainold 1 old tom Be beaton liton the original is entirely in his own handwriting anc and I 1 deserves to be among tho the archives of diegor Die I 1 egon gou LA PROM U BETO TO TIM THE PEOPLE beor or OP OREGON washington city march sly my friends for puch euch I 1 may call many of you from personal acquaintance ana and ail allot of you yon from my thirty years dootson to tho the interests of your country I 1 think it right to mak ethis this communication to you fit at the present moment when the tha adjournment of congress without passing tho the bill for your government and protection seems to have left you in ia a state of abandonment by your mother country but such is not the case you are not abandoned nor will 1 you vou be denied iii protection 0 lection unless you admit slav slavery cry 1 I a man of the south smith and a slaveholder tell you this thie the house of representatives as early carly rul na the middle of Ja january nunry had passed the bill to give you a territorial government and in that bill had sanctioned and legalized your provisional organic act one of the clauses of which forever prohibited the existence of sla blaere ery in oregon an amendment from the senate committee to which this bill was vas referred proposed to abrogate that tha pio hibi tiou ancl in tho and exactions vexations to which that amendment gage gave rise the whole biawas bill was laid upon the table aud and lost for tho the ossion session this will be a great disappointment to you and a real calamity already five years without law or legal institutions for the preservation er of life liberty and property and now doomed to wait a year longer this is a strange and anam alons condition almost incredible to contemplate and most critical to endure 0 A colony of freemen 1000 miles from the metropolitan Govern government men and without law to preserve them buado not be alar alarmed rued or desperate you yon will not bo be outlawed for not admitting slavery your fundamental act against that institution copied from the ordinance of 1787 the work of the great men of the south in in the great day of tho the south prohibiting slavery in a territory far less northern than yours will not be abrogated nor is ia that tho the intention of the f prime rim e mover of tho the amendment upon tho the record tho the judiciary committee of the senate is ia the author of that amendment but not so the fact S itis it is only midwife to it the author is the same mind that generated tho the I 1 firebrand resolutions of which I 1 send you a copy and of which the amendment ig ia tho the legitimate egit imato derivation oregon is ia not we tho object the most rabid propagandist of slavery carnot expect to plant it on the shores of the pacific in tho the latitude of wisconsin and tho the lake of tho the woods A home a agitation for election and disunion purposes is all that is intended by thrusting this fir nrc brand ebranI question into your bill and at the next session when it is thrust in again wo iro will scourge itou it out and tand pass your bill us as it ought to be I 1 promise you this in the name of the south as edh beti as the north and the event will not deceive me I 1 tn ll 11 the meantime the president will give you all the protection which existing laws and anade de of tho the army an antl d aitay itay navy will enable him to extend to houi you and until congress has timeto act your friends frienda must rely upon you to continue nue to govern yourselves as aa you have heretofore done under the provisions of your you r own voluntary compact and justice justic of harmony nud and moderation which is duo due to your awn own character and to the honor of the american name I 1 send you by shively a copy of the bill of the late session both or as it passed tho the house of representatives and as proposed to be amended in the senate with the senates Senate 8 vote upon laying it ou on the table and a copy of mr calhound Cal houns resolutions posterior in late date to the amendment but nevertheless its father also a coy copy of your own provisional organic act as printed by order of the senate all of which will you completely in in pos pop ambion of tho the of proceedings edings congress on oli your our petition for a territorial government gover ame nt an and for the protection and security of your rights in ill conclusion I 1 have to assure you vou that the samo same spirit which has made me the friend of oregon for thirty years which lid me to denounce the joint occupation treaty the day it was made and to oppose its renewal in 1828 and to labor for its abrogation until it was terminated the ige same ip spirit iiii which hi ch led lea mo me to reveal the grand de destiny stilly of 01 biegon egon in articles written in 1818 and to support every measure for her benefit since this flu s samo spirit still animate me and will continue to do so white whilo I 1 live which I 1 hope will ivill bo be long enough to see nn an emporium of asiatic commerce com merco nt fit t the he mouth of your river and a stream of asiatic tracia trade trough pouring into the valley of the mississippi through the channel of oregon your frind friend find fellow citizen I 1 THOMAS H |
