OREGON PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT 119 men at once became prominent in Oregon affairs. I cannot go into details in this address. Had the meeting of May 2, 1843, been unsuccessful, it cannot be doubted that a provisional government would have been established in 1844. In the lat- ter year the immigrants of 1843 took charge of the Provisional Government and gave it form and substance. But let us also give honor and credit where honor and credit are due. Because the immigration of 1843 was so large in numbers and would have established a provisional government after its arrival, does not detract from what the settlers of Oregon did in May and July, 1843. They did not know there was to be such an immigration in 1843, which did not leave Missouri until eighteen days after the meeting of May 2. They acted upon the exigency of the times as they saw it. They made possible the true Provisional Government of 1845, and of the succeeding years, until Oregon became a territory. All honor and praise to them for their foresight and courage ; for their Americanism and their adherence to Anglo-Saxon tradi- tions and instincts; for their love, and their regard for law, the rights of life and liberty, and of the pursuit of happiness. What they did is a heritage, of which their descendants should ever be proud. It was as much from sentiment as from expediency that the original Provisional Government was established. Possibly it was more by reason of sentiment than of expediency. But that does not lessen our regard and appreciation of what was done. The sentiment came from high and patriotic motives. It was undoubtedly a moving cause to assert and to establish that Oregon belonged to the United States. This was a greater reason than the mere establishment of a provisional government for the small number of people then in the Oregon Country. The report of the Legislative Committee was for the adoption of "laws and regulations, until the United States of America extend their jurisdiction over us." FRANCOIS XAVIER MATTHIEU. It gives me great pleasure to welcome, today Francois Xavier Matthieu, the last survivor of the meeting of May 2, 1843, who
