Thurston set forth the letter of Dr. McLoughlin to Robert Shortess, dated at Vancouver, April 13, 1843, in which Dr. McLoughlin wrote: "I am informed that you have circulated a petition for signatures, complaining of me, and of the Hudson's Bay Company. I hope you will, in common fairness, give me a copy of the petition, with the names of those who signed it, that I may know what is said against us, and who those _are_ who think they have cause of complaint against us." Thurston said: "The _names_ must be given, and for what? I will not say whether as a sure guide to the tomahawk of the Indian, or as a precursor to death by combined and grinding oppression--I leave this to the witnesses who have already spoken. But could you read in the records of heaven the deeds of this power in Oregon, while you would admire the consummate skill with which they were conducted, your whole moral nature would be shocked by the baseness of the design, and the means for their accomplishment." Thurston in this speech, without giving names, gave excerpts from a number of letters he had received, sustaining his actions against Dr. McLoughlin in the Donation Land Bill. Shameful as Thurston's actions were against Dr. McLoughlin, Thurston had reason to believe that his actions were sustained and approved by leaders and members of the party which had elected him. Those who thus abetted Thurston in his misstatements and actions against Dr. McLoughlin were as culpable as Thurston was--they became his accessories. Some of these afterwards were ashamed of their actions against Dr. McLoughlin. Their repentances, although late, are commendable. DOCUMENT O _Correspondence of S. R. Thurston, Nathaniel J. Wyeth, Robert C. Winthrop and Dr. John McLoughlin, published in the "Oregon Spectator," April 3, 1851._ "Chicopee, Mass., Nov. 16, 1850." "Capt. Nath. J. Wyeth: "My Dear Sir--You will excuse me, I am sure, when I assure you I am from Oregon, and her delegate to the Congress of the United States, for addressing you for a purpose of interest to the country to which I belong. "I desire you to give me as correct a description as you can at this late period, of the manner in which you and your party, and your enterprise in Oregon, were treated by the Hudson's Bay Company, and particularly by Doc. John McLoughlin, then its Chief Factor. This Dr. McLoughlin has, since you left the country, rendered his name odious among the people of Oregon, by his endeavors to prevent the settlement of the country, and to cripple its growth. "Now that he wants a few favors of our Government, he pretends that he has been the long tried friend of Americans and American enterprise west of the mountains. Your early reply will be highly appreciated, both for its information, and your relation to my country.