tion, which eventuated in Mr. Smith's voluntarily withdrawing himself from the editorial control of the Empire. Soon afterwards, however, he established another paper, called the Miamian, in the same city.

Prior to the Baltimore Convention of 1844, Mr. Smith declared his preference for and hoisted the name of Gen. Lewis Cass for the Presidency, in the meantime insisting that President Tyler's overtures to be readmitted into the Democratic party should be generously and cordially met, and the leading measures of his administration, being substantially Democratic, sustained and defended, his honest friends fellowshipped, and his Democratic appointees protected and preserved in position.

When Mr. Polk was chosen as the compromise. standard-bearer of the Democratic party, Mr. Smith placed his name at the head of his paper, and was everywhere found energetically, eloquently, and gallantly battling, under the motto of "Oregon and Texas," for Polk and Dallas.

At the close of the campaign of 1844, President Tyler appointed Mr. Smith as Special Commissioner of the United States to the Republic of Ecuador, in South America. In the execution of this mission, Mr. Smith was clothed by his government with full powers to treat with the government of Ecuador. He was especially instructed to remain at Quito from nine to twelve months, and if at the expiration of that period the objects of his mission had not been accomplished, or if in his judgment there was no immediate prospect of a satisfactory issue, he should return to the United States. Upon his arrival at Quito, Mr. Smith found the government to which he had been accredited embroiled in intestine wars. After having remained at the capital of the Republic for one month, and exchanged a few letters with the self-constituted officers of the provisional government, and ascertaining the utter impossibility of accomplishing the objects of his mission, he returned home.

On his return from South America, in the spring of 1846, Mr. Smith located himself in what was then the territory of Iowa, where he purchased and settled upon

a farm, and engaged in the labors of agriculture, associating therewith, to a limited extent, the practice of the law. In the formation of the State government, he took a prominent and active part. During his residence in Iowa, he appears to have been the especial favorite of the Democracy of his (Van Buren) county, for on three several occasions they presented his name as their first choice for Congress, and once to a Democratic State convention as their choice for Governor.

In the year 1850, Congress, at the close of the long session, declared the seat of Hon. Wm. Thompson, from Iowa, vacant, it having been contested by the Hon. Daniel F. Millar. Understanding that no convention would be held, and that Mr. Thompson would not contest the matter before the people, and did not desire to run for an election to fill the residue of the term, the Democratic friends of Mr. Smith held a mass meeting and placed him in nomination for that position. Subsequently, however, Mr. Thompson resolved upon making the canvass, and the result was the election of Mr. Millar, the opposition candidate.

During his residence in Iowa, Mr. Smith was constantly on hand engaged in fighting the battles of the Democracy, and with the same zeal, intrepidity, and eloquence which had characterized all his previous efforts in the advocacy and defence of his favorite principles.

During the Presidential campaign of 1848, he edited with decided ability the Iowa Democrat, in support of Cass and Butler, the Democratic nominees; and in the meanwhile canvassed upon the stump a large portion of the State, in company with Gen. A. C. Dodge, our late Minister to Spain, and the late Chief Justice Joseph Williams. Very much of the credit for having in that day placed the Territory of Iowa upon her feet as a Democratic State is eminently due to Mr. Smith.

Having lost several members of his family by death, and having suffered deeply from sickness and other misfortunes during his residence in Iowa, Mr. Smith resolved upon seeking health and home and fortune by removing still farther Westward. Accordingly, in the spring of

1852, he set out with his family in an ox-wagon for the Territory of Oregon, crossing the Plains and the Rocky Mountains. He was five months making the journey from the Missouri River to the Dalles of the Columbia. Himself and family suffered severely for a protracted period with sickness whilst on the Plains, but at last arrived in safety and health in the Valley of Willamette, though not until they had lost every head of cattle, and in fact every thing in the shape of property which they possessed.

Undaunted, and neither dismayed nor disheartened, Mr. Smith selected for himself a land-claim (under the act of Congress of 1850, granting lands to all citizens who should reside upon and cultivate the same for a period of four consecutive years) in the county of Linn, in the heart of the Valley, and soon thereafter established his family there. Having thus provided a home, he applied himself vigorously and unremittingly to the practice of the law, devoting the proceeds to the cultivation and improvement of his farm, and to securing the comforts and surrounding himself with the elegancies of life.

In the spring of 1854, the Democracy of Linn county nominated Mr. Smith as a candidate for the Legislature, and he was elected by a majority of upwards of two hundred. In the following year, he was again nominated for the same position, and returned by a majority of four hundred.

Upon the convening of the Legislature, he was chosen Speaker of the House of Representatives, receiving ninetenths of the votes cast. In 1856, he was again renominated and reëlected to the Legislature by an increased majority, and in the year following, he was chosen one of the delegates to the convention to frame a constitution for the State government; and finally, in July, 1858, he was chosen one of the first United States Senators from the State of Oregon, by a four-fifths vote of the members of the Legislature assembled in joint convention.

Did the space allotted to this hurried sketch allow, we should take pleasure in quoting briefly from some of the numerous speeches, addresses, and orations delivered by Mr. Smith on various occasions, and which have been

published from time to time, as specimens of his style of oratory: but a want of space must deprive us of this pleasure.

The most prominent characteristics of Mr. Smith were energy, perseverance, and warmth of feeling and attachment. Whatever he resolved upon doing, he did with remarkable energy and singleness of purpose: no impediment deterred, no adversity appalled him: he never flagged or faltered, nor would he readily bow or bend to the storm; if he did, he rose again, and not less determined than ever. No man was more devoted to country, home, and friends. Unreserved, frank, and candid, no one would go further, or sacrifice or suffer more, to serve his friends. As a debater, he reasoned inductively and analogically: was always ready, forcible, and elegant; and none who heard him were permitted to doubt either his patriotism or his sincerity.

Mr. Smith, in casting lots, drew the short term, expiring on the fourth of March, 1859. Upon the expiration of his brief term of office, he returned to Oregon, and took a prominent part in political movements in that State. He was in good health and spirits, and his friends confidently predicted for him many years of brilliant usefulness. But Providence dashed the hopes of the statesman and the expectations of his friends, and put a period to his career. Within a week after the result was known of the Presidential election of 1860, Mr. Smith was taken suddenly ill, and died in a few days thereafter. His widow still lives on the family homestead, a large and valuable farm in Linn county. Mr. Smith was a true friend and faithful servant of the people of Oregon, by whom his memory is gratefully cherished.

STEPHEN JOHNSON FIELD.

BY THE EDITOR.

JUD

UDGE FIELD is the son of the late Rev. David D. Field, an eminent New England divine. David Dudley Field, who has been, for a quarter of a century, one of the foremost members of the American bar; Cyrus W. Field, the projector of the Atlantic submarine telegraph; Jonathan Field, formerly President of the Massachusetts Senate; and Rev. Henry M. Field, editor of the New York Evangelist, are all brothers of the subject of this

sketch.

Stephen Johnson Field was born in Haddam, Connecticut, November 4th, 1816. In 1818, his father moved to Stockbridge, Massachusetts, where he resided until 1837, and from 1851 until his death in 1866. When thirteen years of age, young Field accompanied a relative to Greece and Asia Minor, where he remained for nearly three years, studying the modern languages. Returning he entered Williams College in the fall of 1833, had the Greek Oration in the Junior year, and graduated in 1837 with the Valedictory Oration, the highest honor in his class. In 1838, he went to New York city, and entered upon the study of the law in the office of his brother, David Dudley Field. During this year, he met with an accident which resulted in serious and permanent injury to one of his knee-joints, and has ever since caused a slight lameness.