related the controversy in full. I remonstrated against the liberty he took in changing the form of my communication, at which he said, "I am not a high learned man and I want you to answer in my language, and I know you will tell the truth. Did you sell out to the Bushites?"
"Surely we did not."
"Well, what did you do?"
"We bought in."
Uncle Dickey turned away in utter disgust, and I never heard any more of the buying or selling. It is almost needless to say that the Beetle-head ticket did not appear with many figures on election day.
This combination, begun in the spring, was no doubt carried forward during the summer, though I was not a factor in it. Presumably, Colonel Baker was, and not strange either, for there was little difference between him and the Douglas men, in principle. Baker was not a stickler for theoretical consistency; not a faultless doctrinaire. What he admired most was the result, and believing that the Little Giant's Squatter Sovereignty in practice would prove to be a boomerang to its original promoters, he adopted it from the beginning. Some people, not understanding this phase of Baker's intellectual character, have accused him of being a vacillator for the sake of political advancement. The difference between him and Douglas was in this: Douglas said he did not care whether slavery was voted up or voted down in the territories, but Baker did care and gave his voice and influence in favor of freedom everywhere. So, anti-slavery, squatter-sovereignty Democrats in the Oregon Legislature could very consistently vote for the Colonel.[1] At that Septem-
- ↑ The following letter by Colonel Baker to William Taylor, State Senator from Polk County at the time, and Ira F. Butler and C. C. Cram, Representatives from the same county, all Democrats, gives Baker's views on the main political issue: "Salem. September 21st, 1860.
"To Messrs. Taylor, Butler and Cram.
"Gentlemen: As you desire to know my opinions as to the doctrine of intervention, I give them with pleasure. During the congressional canvass in California in 1850, I said in substance in a speech made at Forest Hill,
