The governor gave a house-warming, to which he invited the members of the legislature, a number of naval officers, who happened to be in the harbor, and about all the townspeople, including Elwood Evans and others who had been unmeasured in their denunciation of his course.
The site of the residence had been covered with immense fir-trees, and all within reach of the dwelling had to be felled to avoid danger of their falling and crushing the house during some storm, which involved the felling of the trees over an area of ten acres. But notwithstanding all this care, one of these forest monarchs was left standing some distance in front of the office, and the following winter fell directly across it, cutting the building clear to the ground. The labor of digging out the immense stumps was very great and expensive, and when the governor, late in the winter, assured Colonel Cock and Mr. George A. Barnes that he meant to have the finest garden in town the next spring, and would send them the earliest vegetables, these old settlers laughed in confident incredulity.
The governor was unable to follow up the improvement of the Taylor claim this year, but John Dunn, the hired man, and Hazard, now an active lad of fourteen, rode out there from time to time and planted and raised quite a crop of potatoes, celery, cabbages, etc., on the beaver meadow, which also afforded several tons of hay.
The legislature met in December, and Governor Stevens, in a strong message, accompanied by the correspondence with the War Department and military officers, rendered a clear and graphic account of his successful prosecution of the war. In view of his herculean labors and entire self-devotion, and the outrageous abuse heaped upon him, the concluding paragraph is touching in its manly simplicity and confidence:—
“I have endeavored faithfully to do my whole duty, and have nothing to reproach myself with as regards intention. I could have wished some things had been done more wisely, and that my whole course had been guided by my present experience. I claim at your hands simply the merit of patient and long labor, and of having been animated with the fixed determination of suffering and enduring all things in your behalf. Whether in the wilderness contending with the hostile elements, managing and controlling the more hostile aborigines, or exploring the country, or at the Capitol struggling with disaffection, the subject of obloquy and abuse, I have had no end but my duty, no reward in view but my country’s good. It is for you to judge how I have done my part, and for the Almighty Ruler to allot each man his desert.”
It was generally believed that the legislature, like the people, would gladly recognize the great services of the governor, and do all in their power to sustain him. But his political and personal enemies had been very active, and had covertly secured a number of members, some of them elected in the guise of pretended friends. From Whitby Island was chosen an able but corrupt man, J.S. Smith, commonly known as “Carving Fork Smith,” from the current report that his too pressing advances towards a married woman in Oregon had been repulsed with such an implement by the insulted matron. This worthy called upon Governor Stevens at the beginning of the session and proposed some deal, with the result that the governor indignantly ordered him out of the office. Angered at this repulse, he made common cause with the governor’s enemies, and eagerly sought means to attack and injure him. His general course in the prosecution of the war, and even in the martial-law difficulty, was so universally approved that it would be useless to assail him on that score, but finally they concluded to make a handle of the dismissal of Company A. Their object was to obtain some sort of legislative censure of the governor in aid of the untiring and unscrupulous efforts they were making for his removal. A resolution pronouncing the charge of insubordination against Company A to be without sufficient foundation and also a resolution condemning martial law were introduced, and by the combination of the supporters of the two, and the strenuous efforts of the governor’s enemies, were passed by a bare majority.
A committee was appointed to present them to him in person, in order to make the censure more emphatic and offensive. The governor received the committee with his wonted dignity and equanimity. One of the members was Colonel William Cock, whom the governor had always treated with consideration, whose son he had befriended and employed in the Indian service, and who had always professed a warm friendship for the governor, and approval of his course. But Colonel Cock had been won over by the conspirators by appeals to his vanity, and had allowed himself to be placed on the committee. When it had delivered its message, the governor, genuinely grieved at the defection of a friend, addressed Colonel Cock in a quiet and friendly manner, pointing out how he had stultified himself, repudiating his own sentiments and declarations, endeavored to strike down the man who had done so much to defend the country, and his own professed friend, and finally, against his better feelings and judgment, had allowed himself to be made a tool of as a member of the committee. Colonel Cock, realizing at last the ignoble part he was playing, was thoroughly ashamed and took his leave, expressing his regret and sorrow at his course. The remainder of the committee sneaked out, feeling small and crestfallen. But the conspirators were jubilant, making sure that this legislative censure, coming on top of General Wool’s attacks, the martial-law resolutions, and the numerous secret affidavits sent on, would certainly cause the governor’s removal, and went about exclaiming, “Governor Stevens is a dead lion at last.”
After this deliverance, the legislature passed all the measures and memorials that the governor recommended. Some of the members who voted for the resolutions of censure regretted their action like Colonel Cock, and all were soon compelled to cower and apologize before the indignation which their action excited all over the Territory. Everywhere the real people, the stalwart settlers, the men of worth and character, were denouncing this underhanded and cowardly attempt to misrepresent their sentiments, and strike down the man who had saved the Territory in her peril and defended her fair fame against the slanders of high officials, whose patriotic self-devotion and herculean labors they had witnessed, whose courage, force of character, and ability they admired, and whose leadership they were proud to follow. The people were eager to manifest their approval and support of Governor Stevens, and in response to this sentiment the Democratic convention, meeting at Cowlitz Landing, unanimously nominated him for delegate in Congress.
Meantime the governor, least disturbed of all at the unjust but impotent censure, enjoyed a little respite after four years of incessant and overwhelming responsibilities and labors. He was comfortably established in his new home, and hugely enjoyed his garden and farming. He employed two excellent men about the place, Joel Risden and William Van Ogle, and fully redeemed his promise of the finest garden and earliest vegetables in Olympia. He purchased a yoke of oxen, had a cart built, and commenced clearing the Walker claim, situated half way to Tumwater. The malignant charges and attacks upon him failed to cause his removal.
The governor, however, felt that he had not been properly supported at Washington. His Indian treaties were left unconfirmed, and Wool’s course in excluding settlers from the upper country and vilifying the people was not rebuked. He declared with great feeling that he would never accept another appointive civil office.