ing, and whatever thing could be converted to use in the
commissary and quartermaster s department. A system
of small loans, obtained by solicitors who gave government
bonds for what they received at prices fixed by govern
ment appraisers, was the means next resorted to by the
legislature for providing the sinews of war. It was an ex
pensive method, but unavoidable, nor did the people
shrink from contributing in this manner of their substance
to support the army of defense which was to save the re.
mainder of their property and their lives from destruction.
Appraisers were appointed in every county and settlement
who valued every article obtained, from a horse to a pound
of lead, a bridle or a trail-rope, of which some examples
will be given hereafter.
On the tenth of December, before visiting Vancouver, Mr. Applegate addressed a communication to the legisla ture, urging the necessity of immediately dispatching a messenger to Washington to acquaint the government of the United States with the condition of the Oregon colony, and to ask assistance. His argument was that such a measure would inspire the capitalists of Oregon to make advances, and encourage enlistment.
This letter of Mr. Applegate s has reference to the dis turbed political condition of the colony, owing to a strife between the missionary element, which had hitherto con trolled affairs, and the then more numerous settler popu lation, each being desirious of securing certain objects, and certain offices, whenever the federal government should see fit to establish a territory on the Pacific coast. Governor Abernethy, the head of the mission party, had in October, privately dispatched J. Quinn Thornton to Washington to look after the interests of his party, which action, when it became known, had inspired the mass of the people, not adherents of the missionary faction with a rancor not before felt, and which influenced the tone of the legislature. Aware of all this, Mr. Applegate, in rec-
