decline of life, and in the decrepitude of old age, to the companionship of adders, who--when they were benumbed with frost, I gathered from the hedges and warmed into life, to feel, when alas! too late, the stings of their ingratitude. "For additional proof, in repelling these calumnies, I could refer to many sources: Wilkes' Journal, Fremont's Narrative, to American travelers and writers, and to letters from many and many an immigrant to this country, and now residents in this valley, stating to their friends in the States the kindness I had shewn them, and who, I am sure, would acknowledge it, and are as much surprised at the charge brought against me as I am myself. But, moreover, it is well known that the fact of my having aided in the settlement of this country has been a subject of serious complaints, and grave charges made against me, by subjects of Her Britannic Majesty, during the pending of the boundary question--who seem to have been imbued with the same kind disposition toward their fellow men as Mr. Thurston. "Mr. Thurston says, 'In 1845 he [Dr. McLoughlin] sent an express to Fort Hall, eight hundred miles, to warn the immigration that if they attempted to come to the Willamette, they would be all cut off.' This is a calumny as gratuitous as it is unprovoked; but it is with mingled emotions of astonishment and indignation that I have accidentally become acquainted with the contents of another document, entitled a 'Letter of the Delegate from Oregon to the members of the House of Representatives, in behalf of his constituents touching the Oregon Land Bill.' On the back of the only copy sent, is written in the handwriting of Mr. Thurston--'Keep this still till next mail, when I shall send them generally. The debate on the California Bill closes next Tuesday, when I hope to get it and passed--my land bill; keep dark till next mail. "'THURSTON.'" "'June 9, 1850.'"