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Tous les autres exemplairas originaux sont filmis en commenpant par la premiire paga qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration at en terminant par la derniire page qui comporte une telle empreinte. Un des symboies suivants apparaitra sur la derniAre image de cheque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbols — *• signifie "A SUIVRE", le symbols V signifie "FIN". Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent Atre filmAs A des taux de rAduction diffdrents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour Atre reproduit en un seul clichA, il est filmA A partir de Tangle supArieur gauche, de gauche A drolte, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images nAcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mAthode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 THE PAST, THE PRESENT AND THE FUTURE OP THE PACIFIC. BY JAMES M. CRANE. SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. : PRINTED BY STEBBTT & CO., NO. Ill WASHINGTON STREET. iss'e. Entered according to an Act of Congress, In the year 1856, bt jambs u. crane, IB the Clerk'. Office of the United State. District Court, for Northern QOifornla. m H i'. M A i PREFACE. In presenting this small work to the public, I am but complying with the wishes of those friends, for whose opinions I entertain, and have always entertained, a very high respect. Some of them are friends whose acquaintance I formed in 1849, and our relations to each other, have been most amicable ever since. The most of them have, like myself, made the North Pacific their permanent homes. We have all experienced many reverses and vicissitudes, since we took up our residence in this country, but we have lived however, long enough, to see a powerful State of the American Union formed on this side Of the continent, and we hope to live long enough to see many more added to it. Although many of us have lost every thing we possessed in the world, in attempting to build up this country, yet we feel gratified to know that we have, by our labors, enriched millions in our former homes, as well as en- larged the resources, revenues, area, and power of our common country. The Parent Government has been, unfortunately, too oppressive towards us in its laws and policy, to enable many of us to boast of possessing much of this world's wealth. "Wo have been made, ever since we resided on these Pacific shores, mere " hewers of wood and drawers of water " to the Government at Washington and our brethren on the Atlantic side of the continent. They have been our oppressive taskmasters ever since we resided here, and we have served them most faithfully, and we shall never get free from their tyranny and oppression, until we take measures to de- fine our position and defend ourselves. This is strong talk, but we mean all we say. Let not the United States Government forget the lesson our ancestors taught Great Britain, when she, in the pride of her power, forced them to define thyir position and to defend themselves. The result of that contest is now a matter of history, and we are all familiar with it. In this small work we can only give in fact, but a synopsis of a IHOSiU) part of our intended publication on the " Past, tlie Present, and the Future of the Pacific." Our t;omplete work will probably be ready for the press in the course of three months. In tliat work, we shall present some facts which we hope will not only arrest the especial attention of our countrymen, in every part of this Union, and the General Government, but the entire civilized world. We hope to develop new fields for commercial enterprise, and new objects for the contemplation and serious action of the Parent Government. Our present condition is one of great anxiety, and we are exceedingly concerned to know, whether we shall be com- pelled to look to the National Government for safety and protec- tion, or whether we shall have to depend upon ourselves. This qoestion will have shortly to be met and settled. For the facts contained in our present work, we must refer the reader to the statements made in the publication. We hope they will be care- fully read and well digested, by all those who love our coimtry, our whole country, however bounded, as still our country; and who are ready to defend her with all their hearts and hands. The present publication contains the substance of the two lec- tures, which I recently delivered in San Francisco and Sacra- mento. CHAPTER I. In presenting this small work to the public, I trust I am influ- enced by no sordid or unworthy considerations. My hope is to benefit the people of the North Pacific, and promote the prosperity of the whole country. I trust it will be found to contain subjects not uninteresting, perhaps, to the humblest citizen of the United States. We are all inhabitants of a common country, and the majority of us " native and to the manor born," or adopted citizens of the most enlightened and powerful Republic the world has ever known. It is but natural, therefore, that we should feel a profound interest, in all that concerns her honor and the welfare and prosperity of her people. As we here on the Pacific coast, occupy a portion of the Union, remote from the seat of the Parent Government, we are more likely to stand in need of the fostering care and attention of the chief " Powers That Be," than perhaps any other part of this Union. Owing to this very remoteness from Washington, the General Government must often feel much embarrassed, when it is called upon to act and legislate for this country. The Federal Government, however, has evidently often been at fault in not seeking proper information. Its course to- wards us in numerous instances has been marked by acts of injus- tice, for which there can be no excuse. It is my purpose, in this book, to point out these acts of injustice, and to unite with all good men in having them brought to the notice and attention of the Federal Government, as well as to the serious consideration of the people of the Atlatic States. I also propose to present some interesting facts, connectd with the condition and progress of this portion of the North American Union. It is not often we refer to the humiliating relations, in which we, on the Pacific, have been placed, by the action of Congress • and the Federal Executive, in reference to our judicial, commercial, and political a£fairs. It is not often we refer to their discriminations 6 against us; of their not placing m on an equality with our sister States and Teritorics on the other side of the Continent ; of their gross neglect of us and of the repeated iryuries they have done to the rights and property of the inhabitants of this country. All of these grievances we have patiently borne. It is now our purpose, however, to speak out and demand redress of grievances, as well as to inform them that their conduct towards us is not to our liking, and that we are unwilling longer to submit quietly to these flagrant wrongs. Since California was purchased from Mexico — while she was a conquered province, (for she never was a Territory) under a milita- ry government, and since she has become an integral member of the Union, it has been the uniform practice and policy of the " Powers That Be," at Washington, to treat this part of our common country as if our State and the Territories adjacent, had no claims upon the Federal Government to be regarded as standing on an equality with the States and Territories on the Atlantic side. This was the practice and the policy of the Government under Presidents Polk and Fillmor'i, and the same course has been invariably pur- sued towards us, by the Government under President Pierce. Indeed it appears to have been from the beginning, and is still now, a settled conviction with all parties and all public men in Washington, that the people of the Pacific Coast are personally and politically, every way inferior to their brethren in the Atlantic States, and that the State of California itself, although a member of the federal compact, is not equal in all things with the rest of her sister States. To prove that we are not slandering the " Powers That Be," in Washington, let us appeal to the truth of history, in support of the declarations we have made. During the short session of Congress of 1848-1849. President Polk recommended to that body the propriety of organizing a territorial government in California. Right on the heel of this proposition there came another one, from several members of both Houses, recommending the passage of an act authorizing the sale of all the mineral lands of this State. The proposition of Presi- dent Polk was of course rejected, although it elicited a long and warm discussion in both houses. The second proposition, how- ever, was considered a capital one — just the thing to put money into the General Treasury. A law to this effect would certainly have passed had the session not been so near its close. The only idea which then occupied the minds of all the public men in Washington, was the fact, that California was rich in mineral rosouroes, and that all of their legislation ought therefore, to be so directed, as to make these resources available to the General Qov- ernment, and not to those who had at great risk and peril immi- grated to this remote portion of the Union. No l&w could be passed to protect us in our persons and property. They would permit us to have no government, whatever, and yet they imposed on us heavy taxes, to support that very Government to which alone we could look for safety and protection. Indeed the Government acted OS if it intended to cast us adrift upon the world, to shift for ourselves, while at the same time, it demanded of us acquies- cence in, and obedience io, the laws of the United States. The only acts that Congress would consent to pass having reference to this country, was one extending over California the Revenue Laws of the United States, and one providing for the collection of postage on letters and papers in Oregon and California. And as if it was the purpose of the General Government not to allow the Collector of the District of California, any latitude or independence whatever, the Collecting District of San Francisco, which then included the whole State, was attached to the Collect- ing District of New Orleans. Instead of the Collector of this Port acting as an independent officer of the Customs, under the orders of the Secretary of the Treasury he was made a sub-collector of the Collector of New Orleans. Of course this ridiculous ar- rangement led to endless confusion and embarrasment to the people of California, to the Collector of San Francisco, and to the General Government itself. Besides all this, Col. Collier the first Civil Collector, was by the difficulties which surrounded his position, kept inconstant hot water. This act was, however, in the course of one year repealed by Congress and in lieu of it, there were erected three independent collecting districts in California, viz : San Francisco, Monterey, and San Diego. The law providing for the collection of ijostage on letters and papers, was a gross outrage on the people of this country. The tariff of postage T aised so high under this act of Congress, that the receipts of the Post Office of San Francisco, alone, per annum were, for the space of three years, larger than that of any one Post Office in the United States, with the exception of New York city, and yet New York boasted of a population of over 8 600,000, whilo San Francifico could not at any time durini^ these three years have had much over 85 or 40,000. What is still more 8tran(^c, Now York had numerous daily mails from almost every part of the Atlantic States, and one mail per week from Europe, South and Central America, the Islands of the Atlantic, and about every other day from all the British Provinces; while Cali- fornia for the most of this time, was bleit with only one mail each moath or twelve mails per annum. Bven with the present reduced rates of posta^j, the amount of revenue derived from California by the Post Ofiice Department, is immense when compared with other States. There are only four S atcs of this Union that pay more postage revenne into the Department than CuUfo.'i.r, and yet she has a population not over perhaps 400 000, while the other States that exceed her in revenue can count their population by millions. The followirg are the States that exceed her in postage revenue, viz: New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and Ohio. There are only three states that pay a larger net revenue than California, viz: New York, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania. The states ul' North Carolina, Texas, Iowa, Arkansas, Florida, and Delaware, having an aggregate population of two millions and a quarter, in 1854 combined paid the Department $248,581, while California, with a population not over four hundred thousand, alone, during the same year, paid the Post Office Department $256,188, being $8,607 more than those six States mentioned above paid altogether. For each Representative in Congress dur- ing the year 1854, the Post Master General's report exliibited the following extraordinary state of things. The average amount of postage paid for each Representative in Congress, by California, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York is thus stated: California paid 8128,094. Mussachnsitts paid 46,660. Connecticut " 42,300. New York " 40,C"1. It will be thus seen by official documents that California alone, pays three times as much postage revenue per annum, for each Representative, into the Post Office Department as New York. The average amount of postage to each inhabitant of New York city, under the present •!■ '^ge rates, is 98 cents to each in- habitant, and in San Francisi.:), 1 1 P6. The amount collected from box rents in New York chy, is ?:J6,000 per annum, and in San Francifico, $30,000 por annum. And yet tho Post Manter Qoneral writes to California, that " no nrrangement can be consented to which will diminish tho revenue of the Post Office of San Prau- oIbco." Wo will probably lot Mr. Campbell see, before long, whether such an arrangonrcnt cannot bo made. Ho had better use a little milder and more respectful language to tho people of Californip., h'^'*"after, when ho undertakes to write any more letters out to liifl country. The postage rates fixed by law charges only thrr<" o^nts for each letter, in all the Atlantic States and Territorieri, while H compols the people of California, Oregon, and Washington, to pty ten cents on every letter. Tho laws above roterred to were, as we have said before, the only acts Congress would consent to pass, having reference to California, and they were solely designed to enure to tho benefit of the General Government. This was the way Congress com- menced legislating for the Pacilic. The officers appointed to execute those laws, enforced them to the letter, and they exacted every dollar they could from our people. Such was the course of the General Government towards California, under the adminis- tration of President Polk. Now let us see what it was under President Taylor. CHAPTER II. President Taylor, or Old Zac, as he was familiarly called, strong- ly sympathized with the hardy pioneers of California, in their anomolous and unprotected condition. He had been the most of his life, living among the pioneers of tho West and South-west, and he could appreciate their wants and the many disadvantages under which they always had to labor. After he was inaugurated President, he took the earliest opportunity to communicate the deep sympathy and interest he felt for us. He sent an agent here to say, that if the people of California should feel disposed to take the responsibility upon themselves to form a State Gov- ernment, he would use all of his official and personal influence to have our new State admitted into the Union. The people, how- ever, had determined to do this very thing,, before they had heard 1* 10 111 from the President, yet tbey felt gratified to know that President Taylor was not only with them, but that he approved of their action. A State Convention was called by proclamation from Gen. Riley, the Military Governor of the Province. That Con- vention adopted a State Constitution and it was submitted to the people, and by them approved. At the same time, two Representa- tives to Congress were elected, also a Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Members of both Houses of the State Legislature. The Legislature met in San Jose, in the latter part of December, in 1849, and organized the State Government and elected two United States Senators. Our Senators and Representatives left us for Washington on the first of January, 1850, with our State Constitution, to apply for the admission of California mto the Union. They submitted the Constitution to the President and he com- municated it to Congress, and pressed upon both Houses the pro- priety and justice of our admission into the Union. He told them that the preceding Congress had left us without any pro- tection whatever, to our- persons and property; that it had neglect- ed to provide a Territorial Government for California, and that the people of California, in taking the responsibility upon them- selves to establish a State Government, had done no more than was to have been expected from them. Now what was the action of Congress on receiving this Constitution, and the President's Message which accompanied it ? How did it treat our application for admission as a State into the Union ? The facts show that the proposition was by a large body of the members of both houses of Congress, hissed and scouted at. They charged that our prayer for admission, contained an unheard of request; that it was inso- lent and impudent. Some went so far as to charge us wi.h being a gang of outlaws, from all countries; that our poeplc were princi- pally composed of Indians, Negroes, Hottentots, and Kanakas. This description of our countrymen reminds us of Tom Moore's account of Norfolk, Va. He said the inhabitants of that city were made up of" dogs, niggers and democrats." The excitement produced by our application, it was soon found could bo turned to account; could be made the m^ans of giving notoriety and prominence to certain aspirants for the Presidency. All their satelites and understrappers were required to set up a great commotion against oui* prayer for admission and to proclaim 11 that the Union was in danger. Suddenly and unexpectedly the proposition for the admission of California, became unnecessarily mixed up with the Slavery agitation. Northern men and South- ern men determined to fill, if possible, the measure of their fame over the excitement. The whole country became profoundly and sensibly agitated and alarmed. For a while the stability of the Union really did appear to be in peril, as for months in Wash- ington, the political storm continued to shake and disturb the repose of the country. There " System with system waged horrible discord, And the maddening wheels of brazen fury raged." Indeed many supposed that the Union was about at an end; that anarchy was already beginning to wave its horrid scepter over the broken altars of the Republic. But fortunately for these agitators, they discovered in time the fact that they would be the first to suffer for their rashness. Their persecution of Gen. Taylor, because he refused to become a party to their schemes, led to his death. The people knew that these agitators and conspiri- tors, were the cause of the death of this noble old soldier and patriot, and they resented the outrage. Immediately on the heel of his death, came the declaration from all parts of California, announcing to the Government, the important fact, that unless our State was very soon admitted into the Union, we would organize an Independent Republic on this side of the Continent. These things had the desired effect. The North, and the South then made a compromise of their differences, and California Avas admit- ted into the confederacy, and our Senators and Representatives were allowed to take their seats. CHAPTER III. The death of Q^n. Taylor left us, with the exception of our Senators and Representatives, without any very especial friend or friends in Washington. Mr. Fillmore, who by the death of Gen. Taylor became President of the United States, always acted, we regret to say, as if he regarded California as a. place foi official plunder, to which he could send his understrappers, and favorites 12 to be fed and clothed by the people of California. In this way Californians have been compelled to feed and clothe many a worth- less loafer from the Atlantic States. And we are doing that very thing now, under the administration of President Pierce. Not a steamer arrives here from Panama, that does not bring out some favorite of the General Government, from the Atlantic States, with letters from the President, or some of his Secretaries to the Federal Officers in California, requesting that a place be provided for such and such a one. The request is always understood as an order. Of course these Atlantic officers cannot be provided for here, unless a Californian is dismissed from the service, to make room for them. Such conduct on the part of the " Powers That Be," in Washington, is a flagrant outrage on our people, and an insult to this State. This practice of shipping officers out here from Washington, to displace Californians, had better be stopped, or the General Government may find, that we will take means to put a stop to it ourselves. On becoming Pesident, Mr. Fillmore acted as if he intended to take the earliest pportunity to show his cont^npt for us. He could find no mani» California to fill the placeof Collector of the Port of San Francisc except one who had voluntarily expatria- ted himself from the b te;,and one too whom the people here had distinctly and repeatedly refused to confer hanors upon. The Hon. Thomas Butler King, was appointed to that office and he and a whole ship-load of subordinate officials, were transported out here from the Atlantic States, at public expense, to displace men who had been the pioneers of the State. Some of the men displaced were the chief means of conquering and acquiring the Teritority from Mexico. A few evenings after their arrival in California, many of them had a grand drunk, in the Custom House together. Some twenty-five or thirty baskets of Champagne, and a large quantity of oth n* kinds of liquors, very sudenly •' dried up " that night. Tliey all had a high old time, well and they might, for they were the favorites of Uncle Sam, and of course they and the Federal authorities at Washington, couM well cele- brate their triumph over the pioneers of the State. But where now are these pets of the Government. They are gone, all gone " back to the vile dust from whence they sprung." They are now living in the Atlantic States. There they will ever remain, " unwept and unhonored " by the pioneers of Californ'". The 13 old Californians, however, will never forgot that insult to them, and to their State. As was to be expected, Mr. King became a defaulter, or was charged with being a defaulter. After holding the office about two years he resigned the Collectorship, and once more left the country. There are some events connected with the brilliant career of Mr. King, in California, that we aannot omit preserving, for the especial benefit of tlie Federal Government and an inquiring posterity. The great firo of the 4th of May 1861, swept away full two thirds of the buildings of San Francisco, and among the number was the Custom House on the corner of Montgomery and California streets. The fourth of May, was a sad and melan- choly day, to the people of San Francisco. Millions of dollars had been lost by the people, and n any felt that they were a doomed community. On the fifth of May, Mr. King succeded in renting the house, on the corner of Kearny and Washington streets, belonging to Messrs. Palmer, Cook & Co., for the Custom House. On the morning of the sixth of May, he assembled his force to remove the treasure from the vault of the ruins of the old Custom House building. They met about 11 o'clock in the morning, armed with cutlasses, and pistols, surrounded by a few carts. Mr. King mounted the walls of the vault, surrounded by tvo sentinels, and ordered his men, to prize open the door. They of course obeyed. One cart was filled. Then Mr. King gave orders to form line. Messrs. Hopkins and Green, Deputy Collec- tors, occupied the front of tiie army, Mr. King leading off, with a sword in one hand, and a pistol in the other. In this way they proceeded to remove the funds. It required several cart loads, to carry it away. By this time, the whole city was in a comomtion, and many became very indignant, as Mr. King's manner of removing the treasure, implied thai he apprehended th6 people of San Francisco would undertake to rob the General Government, in broad daylight. Many an old rusty gun, and broken sword — many an old hoe-handle, spade and shovel tvas raised on that remarkable day, to c^lute the army, as .1 passed in triumph through Montgomery street 1 When the last load was on its way through Washington street, some wags started ahead of it, and induced the waiters in the Washington Street Restaurant, to make a charge on it \^ ith carving knives. As soon as they at> 14 tacked the train, some of the valiant army fled. The Collector, however, flourised his sword and pistol and again rallied his army, and finally reached his quarters in safety. This was a great victory of the General Government over the people of California, and a great triumph to Mr. Collector King. It was also an eventful and remarkable day in California. Indeed no age and no country, has ever witnessed such an extraordinary eveiit I As yet, we regret to say. Congress has never ordered a gold medal to be struck, in commemoration of that brilliant achievement I Some of the wags about town at that time had, I believe, some tin and pewter ones struck, at their own expense, in honor of that great event. Now it is said the French King had the assistance of ten thous- and men, to march up hill and then march down again ; but our brave United States Collector, in an enemy's city, with but a few troops and a partial supply of arms and ammunition, conducted several victorious marches from street to street, with his baggage wagons, without losing a dollar, and succeeded in safely deposit- ing his treasure, in the new Custom House vault. Caesar, Pom- pey, Xenophon, Alexander, Tamerlane, Ghengis-Khan Charle- magne, Washington, Napoleon, Wellington, Jadkson, Scott, and Taylor, never accomplished such a magnificent military exploit ! We think this achievement ought to make his military abilities, ample for any emergency. The Custom Ho'ise pcet of that day, thus celebrated the event, in song and story : " The money had to be moved away ; So he summond his fighting men one day, And fixed them all in marcning array, Like a lot of mules hitched on to a aray, Ri Turin Rn! ' Then he drew his revolver and told 'em to start, But be sure to keep their eyes on the cart, And not be at all faint of heart, But to tread right up, and try to look smart ! ' < Ri Turin Ru ! Then each man grasped his sword and gun, The babies squalled, and the women rui>, And all agreed, that the King was one Of the greatest warriors under the sun 1 Bi Turin Ru "! The author of this celebrated song, is a Mr. Frank Ball, of Bos- ton. When it made its appearance, almost every one in town, that could sing, was singing it. Even" the ladies played it on IB the piano. At Clayton's Saloon, in Commercial St., where Mr. Ball resided, hundreds, night after night, collected to hear him sing and play it on the piano. Three months after this brilliant military achievement was accomplished, there appeared a correspondence from Washington in Mr. King's organ, the Morning Post, published in San Francis- co, from which we make the following extract. After alluding to the revolutionary, and nullification feeling in South Carolina, which appeared to trouble the General Government very much, the correspondent says: — " I know of one man who, if he were in the cabinet, as he ought to be — and it was at one time, the general expectation and hope, that he would be called to preside over the Navy Depart- ment — would do much, very much, towards nerving up the arm of the General Government, to take such prompt and energetic steps, as would prevent South Carolina from marching out of the Union, or if she got out, would make a deplorable case of her, for the wicked act. That man is Thomas Butler King, the present collector of the port of San Francisco. A leading and distin- guished Whig, who is the friend of President Fillmore, assured me recently, that he believed, that the only thing that the Admin- istration could do, to save itself, would be to send Mr. Secretary Graham abroad, and supply his place in the Cabinet, by the ap- pointment of Thomas Butler King." When this singular news reached us, all who read it were amazed, and felt not a little gratified to learn, such highly im- portant intelligence. They felt that Providence had paid a sig- nal favor to onr State. To have among us the only man who could save the country, was an honor that we could not have ex- pected. When I read it I was very forcibly reminded of a similar case, that took place in one of the mountain counties in Old Vir- ginia. It was the county of Page, well known as one of the three counties that make up what is called the Tenth Legion, where it is said, the people are still voting for Gen. Jackson, for Presi- dent. > ' A man by the name of McPhearson had represented that coun- ty for several years in the State Legislature. During his last term he became very dissipated. On his return he kept up this debauch for about three weeks. The effect of this long dissipation resulted in his being taken sick. His physician however succeeded in re- storing him from his sick bed a few days before the mohthly conirt was to be held. This occurrence took place some weeks after the 16 cholera had reached Quebec in Canada. While Mac. waa in this nervous condition, he had a dream' one night, in which he imagined the Lord had appeared to him and informed him that if ho did not reform, he would send the cholera from Quebec immediately to old Fage county, for his benefit alone. Early in the morning of the fourth Monday of the month, the regular day for the meet- ing of the County Court, Col. McPhearson made his appearance in the streets. He assembled the Dutch, for the people there are naostly all Dutch, and informed them that he was determined to reform — that the Lord had appeared to him in a dream during the past night and after painting cholera in letters of fire on the clouds, the Lord informed him that if he did not reform and become a true friend and savior to the Dutch, Be would send the cholera from Quebec to old Page county, and he would be the only person who should be attacked with it. Of course tliis statement greatly surprised the Dutch. Doctor Thompson, a man of great influence, and withal a wag, listened to McPhearson with apparent astonishment. After he bad finished his statement to the Dutch, the Doctor said that it was the strangest thing in the world, that the Lord should select amanin old I'age county who should be the only person who could save the Dutch. Then said he, "Mac, I have always believed that we do not spell the English language correctly, and as the Lord does all things right, and has painted cholera in letters of fire on the clouds to you, how did He spell it ?" This was a poser to Mac. " Why," says Mac, " spell it — spell it— why he spelt it as it is in the papers." Thompson then appealed to the Dutch not to believe a word Mao. said, unless he told them how the Lord spelt cholera. The Dutch all re^>onded that they would not believe, a word he said lu^lesft he told them how the Lord spelt cholera. McPhear- son found that all his political prospects would be blasted with the Dutch, unles he satisfied them on this poibt. He therefore commenced to spell it, and started with a K and spelt it Kolry ! As McPhearson could not tell h0*w the Lord spelt cholera, thus en4ed all his hop^ of saving the Ddatch, aad as Mr. King could not get into the Navy Depavtmeat, thus ended all his hopes of saving the country. ^ Perhafte, Mr. FiUmore and his Cabinet after l^ey had heard of Mr, King's great military achievement in San Francisco, and after the^ had read his celebrated Report on California, and It thought of the many political dangers which surrounded them, they felt the necessity of calling him to their aid. And as he was at that time holding but a subordinate post under the General Gov- ernment, they were no doubt forcibly reminded of the words of the groat dramatic poet : "Sure He that made him (King) With such large discourse, Looking before and after, Gave him not such God-like reason To rest in him Unused." In Mr. King's Report on California, he informs the Federal Gov- crment that steam propellers, such propellers, for instance, as those gay old ocean loafers, the Chesapeake, (of blessed memory,) the Eu- dora, Washington, Edith, Warren, Preble, &c., &c., were the most suitable steamers to navfgate the waters of the Pacific. What an idea 1 It is a well known fact, that out of something like twenty steam propellers sent round to this country from the Atlantic States, more than two thirds of them either foundered at sea soon after they came here, or were cast away upon the shores of the Pacific. Their voyages have all ended. No more will they tra- verse the ocean and contend with the "bounding billows." They have gone down to a watery grave, never more to be resurrected. Farewell, old tubs, the days of your glory are over. May you slumber on the shores where you " caved in," surrounded by the roar of that ocean, w^hose waves now dash and die around you. The sea-gulls will sing your perpetual requiem, and make your broken fragments their dwelling-place and home. Again we sa:y, farewell, old tubs. With all these evidences of Mr. King's foresight and abilities. President Fillmore might well suppose, that he could make a forced march into South Carolina, with only ten men, and con- quer that obstinate little State in one day. And with his ideas and opinions of Ocean Steam Navigation, he might make his pro- pellers sweep the seas, while the terrific roar of their cannon, would "cleave the broad main, and shake the astonished poles." But as the country was fortunately saved from dissolution and overthrow, without Mr. King's aid,- that was the last of our val- iant Collector. ..i. , _ It is evident, however, that Mr. King never would ilttrfc crft such a ridiculous figure, in the removal of the treasure from the old Custom House vault to the new one, had he not considered 2 18 that he would have been reprimanded by the Secretary of the Treasury, had he neglected to use the means he did to guard the public funds. Mr. Corwin always said the people of Califor- nia were thieves, and that he could not trust any of us. For this reason, he sent out here a spy to watch U3 ; for this reason he re- fused to allow any of our people to hold office ; for this reason he shipped out here, men to fill all the places under the Federal Gov- ernment Although I have commented rather severely upon Mr. King's conduct while Collector here, it is but just that I should vindicate his reputation in many respects. He was, with all his faults, deeply wronged by the Federal Administration, as well as by many of those who lived upon his bounty. He could have had reason at most any time in saying, " save me from the friends that surround me, and I will take pare of my ^enemies." His appoint- ment was made under very peculiar circumstances. Mr. Fillmore first nominated Ccl. James Collier for re-appointment as Collec- tor of San Francisco, but he was rejected by the Senate. He then nominated a gentleman in Philadelphia, who refused to ac- cept. John A. Collier, and the friends of Col. James Collier, then urged Mr. Fillmore to appoint Mr. King. The President finally acceded to their request, and Mr. King was nominated to, and confirmed by the Senate. He came here, as I have be- fore said, to vake possession of his office, with a whole ship load of subordinates, and immediately became a candidate for the Uni- ted States Senate. It is evident that he solicited this office as the candidate of the Federal Administration. What an outrage was this upon the State of California. Here was a man hold- ing the highest civil office in California, under the General Government, bringing to bear all the power and patronage of the Administralion to have .himself elected to the United States Senate, and he not a citizen of the State 1 All who opposed such an. act of usurpation on the part of the Federal Government to- wards this State, were denounced by the authorities at Washing- ton. We were all proscribed, calumniated and maligned without measure, by oamerbus gangs of new-comers in the employ of the General Government. We were told by them that the President would allow no man to hold office under him, who did not endorse Mr. King's :preten8ions to a seat in the United States Senate, and who would not humbly bow the knee, and acknowledge the Pres- ident's right to dictate to the people of California, whom the;y 19 should elect to represeat them in the Senate of the United States. There was one man, then the editor of the California Courier, the accredited organ of the Administration, (the writer of this work,) who treated such language with the contempt it deserved, and who defied the power of the Administration, and hissed and scorned, all threats and overtures. He told these Government Officials, that he asked them no favors ; that if he could not get the printing of the General Government, without yielding up his rights as a citizen, and his sense of duty and justice to the Statt of his adoption, he would suffer his arm to wither to its shoulder, and his tongue to blister in his throat, before he would comply with their demands. I never did yield an inch to the Authorities at Washington, or to the emmissaries they had sent out here. After they had failed in forcing Mr. King upon the people of Cali- fornia — after the LegislatTre of California had refused, on one hundred and forty-two ballots, to elect Mr. King to the United States Senate, his friends met at midnight in the C apiol, at San Jose, and there passed resolutions, reading me out of the Whig party. Strange to say, a majority of these very members owed their election to the Legislature to my labors, and to my pecuniary sacrifices in that campaign. In the resolutions they passed, they charged me with Mr. King's defeat, and sundry other very grave offences. A committee was appointed to have these resolutions endorsed by the Whig General Committee, of the city and county of San Francisco. This Legislative Committee, came quiety to San Francisco and deliberated for two or three nights in secret conclave with the General Committee, over these res- olutions. Mr. King, it was said, was present each night, but I was not permitted to know of this conspiracy against me, or to be there to defend myself against my accusers. Although a ma jority of the members of the Committee were composed of Mr King's friends,yet the resolutions were, by a majority of one, final ly laid upon the table, from which they were never resurrected The Legislative Committee soon after, left the city. Their reso lutions however, were sent on to Washington, to be a standing condemnation against me. All those who participated in that infernal attempt, to break me down with my party, and the Fed- eral Administration and the people of California, have my per- mission to glory over that act of petty tyranny. Where are all 20 these men now, and where am I ? The majority of them, have cither left the State, or have sunk to a profound obscurity. I would not exchange conditions with them, for all the gold in Cal- ifornia. Never was such a compliment paid to so humble a citi- zen before, as was paid me by Mr. King, and his friends, on that occasion. I had the credit of defeating the Federal Administra- tion in this State, with all its vast patronage and power. A small young David, slaying another great Goliah. Well, if I did do it, thank Heaven, I am proud of it, and I would like to have it inscribed upon my tombstone, that I did, single handed, resist and defeat the attempt of the Authorities at Washington, to trample on the rights of the people of California, and the Sover- ignty of this State. I hope no ono will ever be permitted to make way with these resolutions, filed away among the archives at Washington. The best of all these strange proceedings, is the fact that the parties engaged in that aflfair, cannot deny the charge I make against them, for their signatures are all signed to that celebrated document. But with all Mr. King's faults, ho should not be hold responsi- ble for all the offences with which he is charged. The adminis- tration under which he served, drove him to extremes. It not only sustained him in his attempt to force himself upon the peo- ple of this State, but it gave him all the encouragement it pos- sibly could, without coming to an open rupture with the State of California. As we have said before, all those Whigs who were opposed to Mr. King's pretentions to a seat in the United States Senate, from California, were proscribed by the Administration. Piles on piles of documents were sent on to Washington, by Federal a])pointees, shipped herefrom the Atlantic States, against some of the best citizens of California, who unfortunately declared that Mr. King, while holding the most lucrative ofiice under the Federal Government, ought not to attempt to claim also the highest office within the gift of this State. It is well known that he left the Custom House, for weeks at a time, to canvass, and electioneer with the members of the Legislature, to be elected to the United States Senate. Mr. Fillmore's conduct in the whole of this contest was "both ridiculous and contemptible." These are the very words of Daniel Webster, as he applied them to Mr. Fillmore, when speaking .>f his conduct towards the people of California. He told Mr. Fillmore, that the men he had picked up from Washingtion, and shipped out to the Pacific, at public expense, were interested in misrepresenting the independent citizens of this country — that California was peopled by a bold and enterprising population — that ho himself knew of some of the most enlightened merchants, and best citizens in California, who would take no public office whatever, and who reprobated the domineering, and insulting conduct of Federal Officials towards all those who would not bow the knee to Federal usurpation in California. During the whole time that Mr. King was Collector of this Port, he was annoyed, and harrassed almost to death by Dorwin, and others, sending out here men from the Atlantic States, to be appointed by him to office. Not a steamer arrived from Panama that did not bring some one to California with a request to Mr. King to appoint a beneficiary of the General Government, to office from the Atlantic States. He could hardly keep a Califor- nian in office much over one month before he had to turn him out to make room for some Government Official, shipped out here at Government expense. Mr. Corwin, always had a deep seated dislike to the people of this country, and especially the pioneers. He has told me and others, that ho looked upon the majority of our people as dishonest. Ho was the man who desired that our army in Mexico might be welcomed there with " bloody hands, and inhospitable graves." No wonder then that he took every means to insult those who had conquered California from Mexico. What is most strange, is the singular fact that some of these very men from Washington, who Mr. King had thus fed and clothed by his bounty, deserted and turned upon him. But the worst of all, was the fact that the ingrate Corwin deserted him also, when he found- Mr. King could not be elected United States Senator. Not only this, but hcmade him out a defaulter, and left him to his enemies to settle his accounts. Had he succeeded in being elected to the United States Senate, he never would have been charged with defalcation. That Mr. King used the public mjiiey I as verily believe as I exist, but I do not be- lieve that ho ever used one dollar that the Administration did not either wink at or permit. He never should have been charged with being a defaulter, and the Secretary should have given him a clear reciept. Mr. King left here poor, and if he spent the Government's money, he did so to enable the Administration to um?>m) 22 rule tho people, and the State of California. Porhapfl no public officer was tvcr moro sliaQicfuUy treated, than was Mr. King hy Mr. Corwin* There was one fault which Mr. King had, which no man ought to excuse him for, — he was eternally recommending California to the Federal Government and the people of tho Atlantic States, in a false light. In his Report on California, he recommended the Federal Government to use no other steamers in the Pacific Ocean but propellers. Ho also, in that Report, urged Congress to tax the miners so much per head^for tho construction of roads in California. Now every person on this coast knows that most all steam propellers employed out here have been long since lost or abandoned with the exception of one. As to taxing the miners ex- clusively for the purpose of raising a fund for the construction of roads, the proposition is simply ridiculous. Had the Federal Gov- ernment attempted to carry into effect this recommendation, it would have failed, for the people of all classes would have resisted it by force of arms. It is strange that Mr. King should have made himself so ridiculous. The miners of California have already voluntarily built a large number of roads in the state at their own expense, at a cost perhaps of two millions of dollars, and the Federal Government are now enjoying the profit of their im- provements free of charee. But had it undertaken to tax the miners as a class, it would never have raised one dollar from them. The arrogance shown by Mr. King in speaking of California is surprising. He must be inexcusably ignorant of this country or he is seeking to injure us with the people on the other side of the continent. He has net long since made them a speech in which ho undertakes to speak ex cdthedra of this country. In that speech he states that California can never be an agricultural country. What nonsense is this ? Why does he make himself such a fool ? Why, we not only produce from tho soil moro than we can consume, but we are now shipping flour and wheat to the Atlantic States, Chili, Australia, China and Spanish America, and potatoes and other vegetables to all parts of the Pacific. The farmers of California can produce more serial grain and vegeta- bles of all kinds to the acre, than any other people on the globe. Let Mr. King and all other croakers " dry up" about California. The people of this State, by their own unaid 3d efforts, without 18 any State Legislation, have by their own voluntary labor con- structed roads, tunnels, canals, bridges, ditches and other im- provcmeuts within the last five years, at an aggregate cost '^f something like $30,000,000. What other people in any state of the Union could or would have made such outlays without legis- lative log-rolling and enactments — without the aid of foreign cnpital, accomplished so much? We are, on this coast, progres- sive, and are not the men to wait for the slow motions of legisla- tors or old fogies. Indeed we are at least one hundred years in advance of those who live in the Atlantic States. CHAPTER IV. In his first annual message to Congress, Mr. Fillmore, follow- ing in the footsteps of Senators Gwin and Fremont, from this State, urged upon both houses the necessity of having all the min- eralla nds of California leased out ; to take them out of the hands of the miners and turn them over to those who could afford to lease them from the General Government. Messrs. Gwin and Fremont soon discovered their error and abandoned the attempt to lease out these "mineral lands. When the news of this project- ed measure of Mr. Fillmore's came to California, it raised a storm of indignation all over the State. The intelligence of our peo- ples' deep resentment at this attrocious proposition, fortunately, it is said, reached Washington just in time to prevent Congress from consummating this oppressive and tyranical act upon the State. Had that body authorized the President to lease out these mineral lands, the people here would have, after the m9,nner of Judge Lynch, hung every officer who would have attempted to carry out the law. The Federal Government soon found it both necessary and convenient to retreat from its position. That session of Congress, however, succeeded in establishing in our State a new kind of Court, unknown to our country and its institutions, which was denominated a Board of Land Commis- sioners .or the settlement of private land claims in California. In former years, it is well known Land Commissions were established in Louisiana, Florida and Missouri, but they bore 24 no resemblance to the one established in California ; — yet, even they were considered, and proved to be, instruments of fraud and oppression, and they were broken up. Manufacturers of, and speculators in fraudulent Mexican land grants, it is well known, with such a Court as the one established here, could soon acquire vast fortunes — could rob under the color of law, the hon- est holders and occupants of the lands of the State. After fail- ing to deprive the minws of tlieir raining claims, the General Government appears to have determined, if possible, to deprive our people of all their agricultural lands. Soon after the estab- lishment of this Board of Land Commissioners, it is a well knov.'^a fact, that Land Grants were manufactured by wholesale, and sold in the streets of San Francisco, and men were employed to swear them through the Courts, as having been lawfully issued by the Government of Mexico. How was it possible for the Judges or Commissioners of this Court, however learned, discerning and upright, to discover these frauds or disprove the validity of these grants. It would have been far better had Congress confirmed to all the occupants of the lands, their titles at once, whether all of their claims to them were valid or not, than to have done v. hat it has done. Even with the present Board of Commissioners, had the General Government made their decisions, in all cases, fn-al against the United States, we might by this time have had nearly all of our titles to the lands of the State permanently settled. But this it refused to do. The decisions of the Boa. d of Com- missioners now avail us nothing. After they have passed upon a, claim, the General Government has the right to carry it up to the United States District Courts of California, and from the District Courts to the Supreme Court of the United States. In this way, it is well known, that final decisions upon all of these grants can- not be had under a century. In the mean time, the holders of them will be broken up by expenses, and unprincipled lawyers and speculators will be very certain in a few years to seize and pos- sess themselves of the whole of their lands. Many of the native Californians and old Pioneers have already lost every league of land they possessed. There is no instance in the history of the United States where the Federal Government has acquired territory from a foreign State against the inhabitants of whom Congress has passed such 25 inquisitorial and oppressive laws, having reference to land hold- ers, as it has against those of our State. The holders and occu- piers of lands in the Louisiana and Florida purchase, vere never required to come into Court and prove their titles. The titles tr their lands were never disturbed or outlawed by the General Government. Here, they have been both disturbed and outlawed by act of Congress, and this was done too, in direct violation of the Treaty of Hidalgo Guadaloupe. Indeed the General Gov- ernment has pursued the early settlers and native Californians as if it desired to strip them of every thing they possessed, and turn them and their families out upon the world without a penny in their pockets. It has virtually, by act of Congress, confiscated the entire landed property of the natives and old pioneers of the State. The passage of this law was an act of barbarity, and it is a disgrace to our statute books. The President and Congress could not have been ignorant of the fact that this law most shame- fully violated the plighted faith of this nation in its treaty with Mexico. By the eighth and ninth articles of the Treaty of Hidalgo Guadaloupe, the Government of the United S'.ates was most sol- emnly pledged inviolably to respect and protect the pro }>ertv. rights, libertiy, and the religious worship of the native Californians fi'om moleslation, wnether they were, at the time of the ratification of the Treaty, or not, residing within the State of California, as fully as those of any citizen of the United States. Almost the same words are used in our Treaties with France and Spain for the purchase of Louisiana and Florida. But Congress, in these last two mentioned 'treaties, respected the plighted faith of the General Government. In our Treaty with Spain for the purchase of Florida, it was expressly provided that all grants of land made subsequent to the 24th of January, 1818, were declared null and void ; but all grants made prior to that date, the Gov- ernment of the United States was required, under the Treaty, to co'ifirm to the holders of them. It is to be regretted that a sim. ilar provision was rot inserted in the Treaty of Hidalgo Gua- loupe. Those who had possession of lands in the Territories of the Louisiana and Florida purchase for the period of ten years prior to their acquisition by tlie United States, whether they held grants for lands or not, were allowed by Congress, GiO acres of laud. 26 Indeed if they were in possession of lands at any period of time previous to the purchase of these Territories from France and Spain, they were allowed by Congress a certain quantity of land. No resident of these countries at the time of their acquisition by the United States was denied lands by Congress. How different from this has been the course of the General Government toward the natives and pioneers of California. In this State, the author- ities at Washington are unwilling to let a single individual have even a foot of land. They will neither respect possession of land for any number of years, long residence in the country, or even un- questionable titles to lands for sixty or seventy years standing. All persons must be excluded from owning and holding one foot of land to support themselves and families. Not even the very grave yards " where sleep the sleep that knows no waking" of all that was mortal of their ancestors, their friends and kindred dear, must be allowed them. Indeed the General Government has acted towards us Tike a desperate bully. It appears unwilling to let us have the v* ry means by which we are to support life. Such conduct has no parallel for cruelty in any civilized State of this age. Un- fortunately, Californ'a has always been regarded by the " Powers That Be," as a country for Federal plunder. Let the authorities at Washington be careful how they push measures to extremes. They may go too far. The member of Congress who drew up the Act providing for the establishment of a " Board of Land Commissioners, to ascer- tain and settle private land claims in California," must have been a Jesuit. It is the most cunningly devised ac't I ever read. The General Government professes all the way lAirough this act, to be very scrupulous about adhering to the provisions of the Treaty of Hidalgo Guadaloupe ; and yet it compels the Law Agent to adopt the very means necessary to defeat these provisions. It makes this officer look upon every property holder who presents his grant for confirmation, as a rascal, and his grant of land, as a fraudulent one. The property holder is *o be pursued as if he were a forger or a robber, whom the GenersU Government is pro- secuting for committing a felony. This is the plain English of it. Not content with harrassing him in one Court, it fights him through three successive ones. It would be more honorable for the Federal Government to tako from him by force, his lands at once, than to break him up with expenses. It is impossible for 2T him in the end, to survive this long and wearisome prosecu- tion. It strikes me that an appeal ought to be made at once to the present Congress to confirm absolutely, without any farther de- lay, litigation and expense, all the land grants decided by the late Board of Land Commissioners, with the exception of the Limantour and some other bogus grants within the limits of the city of San Francisco. In other words, Cdgress should give to the grant-holders a quit-claim of the United States to all their lauds. The same course was adopted, and even provided for, in the Board of Land Commissioners established in the Florida and Louisiana purchases. Those Boards were only instituted to col- lect information for Congress, and that body always confirmed their decision. This Board, however, bore no resemblance to our late Board of Land Commissioners. At the same time, should Congress confirm all the decisions made by the Board of Land Commissioners in this State, it should likewise provide that the settlers now on these grants shall be indemnified by the owners of tlic property for the improvements they have made. This compromise will be better for all parties. Neither the settlers or the property-holders will now make any permanent improvements until the titles to these lands have been legally and satisfactoi ily determined. Under the present state of things, the settlers, as well as the grant-holders in this State, are now virtually without homes and without lands of their own. The Federal Government is con- testing, inch by inch, through three successive Courts, every man's claim to a foot of land in California. It is the interest, there- fore, of every citizen in this State to arrest this unnatural condi- tion of affairs. If we adhere to the present system of adjusting land titles, all the inhabitants now residing within the State must die off without lieing able to leave one acre of land to their chil- dren. What country can enjoy prosperity where the people are without homes and without lands. No one now can say that he owns, in fee simple, a particle of land, for it is all claimed, and all in dispute. The lawyers and speculators are now reaping large revenues from this state of things ; and if we continue this conflict about land titles five years longer, every farmer in the State will be broken up, and the State itself prostrated. Let those who are interested in lauds, carefully consider this subject. 28 It is idle, however, to attempt any remedy of existing evils, in this particular, by State Legislative enactments. Such legislation can only complicate the difficulties which now surround both the settlers and the grant-holders. State legislation will only impose additional burthens on the settlers and grant-owners, and compel tLera to pay more money into the hands of the lawyers, without accomplishing any good. Every sensible and honest man knows wel. that the. State of California has no jurisdiction and no con- trol of these land grants. Why then should the Legislature thus trifle with a people who are now almost prostrated by existing difficulties? We have it from the mouths of several old Pio- neers, that had they have known how brutal and ferocious the Government would have prosecuted them in this country, they would have left here long since. Major Eeading and Capt. Sut- ter have no hesitancy in saying that they would have left here, and all the old Californians with them, had they known they were to be treated as they have been by the Government of the United States. CHAPTER Y. During this same session of Congress of '50-'51, that body passed a law authorizing the establishment of an Assay Office in this State. The tlien Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Corwin, who had the sole right under tlie law to see its provisions carried into effect, made a private contract with Curtis, Perry and Ward to commence the assaying of gold in California. No attempt was made to establish an Assay Office as provided for by law, but the Secretary erected here a private Government shaving shop in the place of it. Altliough tins monstrous outrage and fraud was repeatedly exposed to the public, and the guilty parties held up to the popular scorn of the country, yet the wily Secretary and his tools, Curtis and Mudd, succeeded in fastening on our people this odious and iniquitous establishment for nearly three years ; and yet strange to say, the very coin manufactured by this United States Assay Office was repudiated by the General Government. 2d The Post Office and Custom House of San Francisco absolutely refused to receive it in payment for dues to the Government, and it was not until a meeting of the merchants and citizens of San Francisco had been held, and had openly resolved and pro- claimed not to pay the Federal Government one dollar of rev- enue unless it honored its own coin, that it consented to receive it. What a spectacle was this! Here was the Federal Govern- ment, through the Secretary of the Treasury, debasing and de- preciating its own currency. It soon found, however, that Cali- fornians, when aroused, know their rights and are prepared to maintaitf them. Uncle Sam had to " knuckle under," because he knew that Californians do not say they will do a thing without doing it. Under the operations of this private Assay Office of Corwin, Mudd, Curtis, Perry, Ward & Co., the hardy and indus- trious miners of California were shaved and swindled out of nearly two millions of dollars. Of course all the parties to this mammoth fraud became rich, and none more so than Mr. Corwin, for they had the exclusive right to assay gold and place the Gov- ernment stamp upon it. All other persona were prohibited from exercising this privilege, undct many pains and penalties. Well might Tom Corwin, although as Secretary of the Treasury he was entitled by law to only $6,000 per annum, retire from office in two years with a fortune of half a million of dollars, so long as he had such a field for plunder as California afforded him. Mr. Fillmore, after Congress had failed to pass a law authoriz- ing the lease of the mineral lands of California, determined to try another mode to get possession of the mineral lands of this State, for the exclusive use and benefit of the General Govern- ment. In his next message to Congress he recommended to that body the propriety of passing a law authorizing the President to sell these mineral lands to the highest bidder, and he was ably seconded by prominent persons belonging to all parties in both houses of Congress. Mr. Fillmore, as the head of the Govern- ment, was perhaps, after all, but the organ of public opinion on the other side of the continent. Indeed, all parties were to blame in this shameful attempt to dispossess the people of Cali- fornia of their mineral lands. No member, therefore, of any one party, can with justice say to another, "You did it." For nearly three years the capitalists of Europe and the Atlantic States maintained a most desperate struggle to induce the Federal Gov- 30 eminent, to either lease or sell the mineral lands of this State; and we regret to say that Mr. Fillmore and other prominent poli- ticians in Washington gave them all the " aid and comfort " they could. When the people of California, however, heard of this second attempt to dispossess them of their mineral lands, they gave the General Government to understand that to accomplish its purpose its minions would have to wade through seas of blood — that the mines were the common property of the people of the United States, and that they should be held by the Gen- eral Government as a trust for that purpose. This was the last attempt on the part of the General Government to deprive us of our mineral lands, and it will never have the audacity to attempt it again. It is impossible to estimate the injury that the General Gov- ernment wculd have inflicted upon this country, had it succeeded in placing the whole mineral wealth and treasure of this young State in the hands of a few monopolists, either by the sale or the lease of the mineral lands. Now these mines are a princely rev- enue, not only to our people, but to the people and the Govern- ment of the United States. They have been supporting the trembling credit of the whole Union for the last five years. Had it not been for the vast annual product of our mines, the banks of the Atlantic States would have all had to suspend three years ago, and the most of the merchants in that quarter would have been bankrupted. We have not only upheld and protected the financial credit and honor of the country, at home and abroad, but we have increased its commerce and enlarged its products, resources, revenues and area, and for doing all this, how have we been recompensed? — how treated by those whom we have so benefitted ? We admit that Congress has appropriated some few millions of dollars to erect fortifications, dock-yards, public buildings and light-houses on the Pacific coast, yet all this money has been spent for the especial benefit of the General Government, and not for our people. But even grant that it was spent for the benefit of the people of California and the adjacent Territories, is it not a well known and admitted fact, in the financial and commercial world, that the semi-monthly shipments of gold from California prevented the suspension of all the banks, and the prostration of nearly all the importing merchants of the Atlantic States ? Had 81 they gone by the board, what would have been the financial con- dition of the treasury of the United States ? President Pierce would have had to call an extra sessioi of Congress, as Mr. Van Buren did in 1837, and Congress would no doubt have had to authorize the issue of another batch of Treasury Notes, to enable him to carry on the Government. '^ California, Oregon and Wash- ington, therefore owe Uncle Sam nothing for what he has done for them. The session of Congress in 1852 passed a law providing for the establishment of certain Districts, in which should reside Local Inspectors and Supervising Inspectors of all steamboats navigating the waters of the United States. California was en- tirely left out as a District in this bill. So were the adjacent Territories of Oregon and Washington. San Francisco was al- lowed, however, a Local Inspector of steamboats, but it was ex- pressly provided in the act that none of his decisions should be valid or binding until they were ratified by the Supervising In- spector of the District of New Orleans. Here we go again back to the Crescent City, — back to the alligator holes of Louisiana. The General Government appears, by many of its acts, to have regarded San Francisco as but a mere District of New Orleans, and California herself a mere Territory belonging to the State of Louisiana. If our Inspector here condemned a steamer as unseaworthy, and refused to give a certificate to the owner or '(?wners of said steamer, to the effect that her boiler or boilers were substantial, well made, and in good condition, the owner could snap his finger at the Inspector and say, " I am perfectly indifi"erent, sir, whether you give me a certificate or not, I shall run my boat, and you cannot prevent me." The Local Inspector here could not expect the Supervising Inspector of New Orleans to certify to his acts, without knowing something of the steamers in our waters. There is no means now of compelling steamboat owners here to provide their boats with such boilers as will bear inspection. During the last session of Congress a bill was introduced into the Senate, and there passed, to erect California, Oregon and Washington into an independent steamboat District, but the House of Repre- sentatives laid it on the table, from which it will be hard to re- surrect. Just now, and indeed it has always been the case, the whole Pacific coast is excluded from the benefits of this steam- 82 boat inspection law of the United States. It is a great mercy that we have not suflFered more than we have from steamboat explosions in our waters. In the session of 1851-1852, Congress passed an act providing for the establishment of a Branch Mint in California ; and in the General Appropriation Bill of the session of 1852-'53, Congress appropriated the sum of $300,000 for the erection of a building and for putting in operation a Mint in California. In section Gth, the Act says, This sum " shall he appropriated only to the erection and putting in operation a Mint in California, and not for the pur- chase of any building for that purpose." Now, while it was a well known fact, the Act provided that this appropropriation should not be used for the purchase of a building, but exclusively for the erection of one for the purpose of establishing a Branch Mint in California, yet the Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Corwin, and his successor, Mr. Guthrie, openly set this law at defiance. Mr. Corwin first opened negotiations with Curtis, Ward & Perry for the purchase of their Assay Office building, in Commercial street, San Francisco. The terms were agreed upon, and when Mr. Guthrie superseded Mr. Corwin, he concluded the contract as agreed upon and signed the papers. Why did Mr. Guthrie per- petrate this act of fraud upon the Government ? He certainly must have known that the purchase of this building was a direct violation of the Act of Congress making the appropriation for the establishment of the Branch Mint in California. It is evi- dent, therefore, that Mr. Corwin and Mr. Guthrie violated their official oaths, when they took the responsibility of setting at naught this law of the United States and the object of our Sena- tors and Representatives in having it passed. They must have perpetrated this fraud to enable their friends, Curtis and Mudd, to profit by it. Their conduct, in this particular, shows that they cared nothing about the Avants and wishes of the people of this country, and we regret to say that they were sustained in this gross fraud upon the Federal Government and the State of Cali- fornia by President Pierce himself. The present building, every one here knows, is altogether too contracted and unsuited for the purposes for which it is used ; besides, its location is a very im- proper one. It is evident, therefore, that the General Govern- ment, in a few years, will have to remove the Mint to some more spacious building to enable it to meet the growing wants of the Pacific. 83 t mercy earaboat 'oviding id in the ;!ongres3 building tion Gth, erection • the pur- ls a well n should Y for the Mint in win, and ce. Mr. i'erry for al street, hen Mr. itract as hrie per- certainly a direct ition for [t is evi- d their jtting at >ur Sena- tist have I Mudd, lilt they e of this I in this of Cali- ig, every d for the very im- Govern- ne more ts of the The present establishment never could have cost anything like $300,000. Tlie whole building and machinery, as well as the property on which they are located, would not sell for $100,000. Indeed, I am informed by Judge Lett, the present gentlemanly and intelligent Superintendent of the Mint, that the whole pro- perty, if sold to-morrow, would not bring over 076,000 ; and yet, strange as this fact will appear, the expense of putting in opera- tion this Mint, with all the property belonging to it, cost the Government $50,000, over and above the appropriation just re- ferred to, making the cost of the whole property $350,000, and yet, if it was sold to-morrow it would not bring $75,000. Now, is California to be charged on the Treasury books of the United States, with the loss of all this large appropriation ? I am in- formed also by Judge Lott that the deed of purchase cannot be found, — that, it is not on record, and never has been on record, although he is certain one was made to the General Government. Where is this deed ? Who has possession of it, and why is it not recorded ? Now we are not disposed to charge corruption on the part of the parties, who had the management of this whole affair, but we submit to every candid and intelligent man whether tlie facts above stated, do not carry conviction to all impartial men that the grossest frauds were perpetrated by some person or persons, having authority to purchase this building and put in operation a Branch Mint in this State. The $300,000 appropriated by Congress would have purchased a suitable piece of property, in some eligible part of the city of San Francisco, on which could have been erected a building as large again as the present one, — one, too, that would have been an ornament to the State, and a credit to the General Govern^- mcnt, — besides purchasing all the necessary machinery for assay- ing and coining gold and silver. But Secretaries Corwin and Guthrie knew that the seat of the Parent Government was some 6,000 miles distant from California, and that as they had the sole authority to disburse this money, they could make the contract and spend the appropriation before we in California could take measures to prevent them misapplying it. In concluding this review of President Fillmore's administra- tion, we desire to ask. Where now are those Atlantic officials who were shipped out here at public expense, by Mr. Fillmore's administration, to displace the. old Californians ? Where are 3 tl those unscrupulous Atlantic tools who figured so largely under Mr. Corwin as his financial agents in this country ? Yea, wo say, where are the men who did his bidding hero? — who sung hosan- nas in his praise, and who sent on to Washington so many de- famatory and insulting letters against the Pioneers of California ? They formerly lived with us, and were loud in their devotion to this young State. They must have accumulated large pickings in this country. It appears now that they can and do reside abroad. Here they professed that they had pitched their tent forever ; but no sooner had Corwin to leave his post in the Cabi- net, than they all again took up their residence in the Atlantic States. Heaven knows that our people are certainly not in favor of their return to California, and we do most solemnly protest against the President and his Cabinet, as well as the Members of Congress, consulting these men about the affairs of California, the wants of our people, or the passage of such measures by Con- gress as may be both necessary and proper to promote the ^velfare and prosperity of the Pacific coast. CHAPTER TI. We now come to the consideration of President Pierce's ad- ministration, so far as it refers to the Pacific coast. By an Act of Congress of the 3d of March, 1854, $120,000 was appropriated for the establishment of a line of Mail Steamers between San Francisco and Puget Sound, in Washington Terri- tory, by the way of Humboldt, Orescent City, Port Orford, and other intermediate ports. This contract was given by the pres- ent Post Master General to J. H. Clay Mudd, the very same in- dividual who figured so extensively in California under the Ad- ministration of President Fillmore. As Mudd had neither the money or the steamers to carry into effect this contract, he com- menced speculating upon it. He tried to get Ex-Mayor Garrison to put on a line of steamers between San Francisco and Puge Sound, and offered to allow him $60,000 per annum for carrying the mail to and from these points. Of course Capt. Garrison con- sidered the proposition an insult, and treated it with contempt. .' Mr. Mudd was to havo $00,000 for doing nothing, while Capt. Garrison was to put on tlio steamers and carry the mail, and then got no more than this pet of the General Government. We havo heard of his offering it to Capt. Wright, and others. Little over six montlis ago, he had this contract hawking about in the streets of New York city. He made his boasts then that ho had been offered sixty thousand dollars for it in San Francisco. What impudence is this I And yet, while he was in New York, or about that time, boasting that he had been offered $60,000 on this mail contract, he writes a letter to the Editor of one of the papers published at Puget Sound that he was unable to comply with this contract, as he had neither the steamers or the money to carry it into effect. He therefore informed the people of that Territory that they need never expect to derive any benefits from this contract. Of course they need never expect to see him carry out the contract, for it was given to him by the Post Master Gen- eral expressly to prevent the line from ever being established. It was well known from the first, by both contracting parties, that it was to be of no effect whatever. Here is another Act of Congress, passed for the benefit of this country, deliberately annulled, defied and made of no effect by the General Government, through the Post Master General. What does this administration mean by setting at defiance laws passed for the use and benefit of our portion of the Union ? Of course this appropriation by Congress, so long as the contract remains in the hands of Mr. Mudd, is of no avail to the peopl.e of California, Oregon and Washington. There is now but one Post Office in the whole region of Puget Sound — a region embracing nearly three hundred miles in extent — and there is no regular mail carried to and from there. Although there is a large trade and commerce carried on in that part of the Territory, still the people there can get neither letters or papers, but such as they may receive through transient steamers and vessels. It is thus that the people on the Pacific coast are treated by the General Government and runaways from this country. If the General Government is determined to give to Mr. Mudd the entire con- trol and management of our interests, let it establish forthwith another Bureau Department especiallv for the Pacific Coast, and place him at the head of it. He is -.x fast man and a big opera- 8G tor, and he can then go it for Uncle Sam and for us, with a per- fect looseness. . One of the most recent and glaring acts of injustice inflicted on this young Commonwealth, was an Act passed at the last ses- sion of Congress, providing for the establishment of a United States Circuit Court in California. This Court, instead of being placed on an equality with all the other Circuit Courts of the United States, was made, by the Act which created it, a mere local Court. The Judge of the California Circuit Court is not made an Associate Justice of the United States, like all other United States Circuit Judges, but a mere local Judge. By this act of discrimination against us on the part of the Federal Gov- ernment, our State is denied a representative on the Bench of the Supremo Court at Washington. California, therefore, is the only State in this Union that has not a Judicial representative in that Court. Why should she be thus cut off from all the direct benefits of the highest Judicial tribunal in the United Stiites ? The novelty of principles, the number of cases, and tlie amount of property involved in Judge McAlistcr's Circuit Court, exceeds that of any Judicial Circuit in the United States, and yet his Circuit Court has been made a mere local one. Why should not the United States Circuit Court of California be placed on the broad basis of National equality with all the other Circuit Courts of the United States ? Now we have no one on the Supreme Court Bench who can and will give his immediate attention to the California cases before that Court. Our land cases alone in- volve a greater amount of property, perhaps, at this time, than all the other cases on trial before that Court, and yet our United States Circuit Judge, Mr. McAlister, is denied a seat upon that Bench. While on this subject, we desire to say a few words more in relation to the effect and Judicial operations of the Act of Con- gress of the 3rd of March, 1852, entitled, " An Act to ascertain and settle private land claims in California." By the provisions of that bill' it will be recollected, that after the termination of the Board of Commissioners, an appeal at the instance of the de- feated party, lies to the United States District Courts of Califor- nia, and from these latter Courts an appeal is provided for to the Supreme Court of the United States. The Board of Land Com- missioners have decided all the claims before them, and a j vanned 87 sine die. Wo may all thank hoavcii for that. IJut out of all the cascH appealed to the United States District Courts, there have been decided only about one hundred and fifty, leaving still un- decided at least six hundred and fifty. Out of these one hundred and fifty cases decided by the United States District Courts, there have only been confirmed by the Sujiremo Court of the United States between five and six. Tiiis leaves still nearly eight hun- di'cd California cases yet to be adjudicated by that high tribunal. Now, wc should like to know when these remaining eight hun- dred cases will be decided by the Supreme Court of the United States ? Even of the very few cases which have been confirmed by the Sui)reme Court, only two of them arc of any avail to the parti ■'^, holding the property. The General Government, in the other titles confirmed by the Supreme Court, has refused to de- liver to the parties patents for their lands. For this reason, the titles to their property are now just as much clouded as they were when they wore tirat brought before the Board oi Land Commis- sioners. Owing to the mistaken economy of the General Government, in not providing its officers in California with money to pay for carrying up the land cases already decided by the United States District Courts of this State, to the Supreme Court at Washing- ton, all the California land cases, with the exception of five or six, are suspended, awaiting the tardy action of the Federal Gov- ernment. A general order has been issued by the Attorney General of the United States, to the United States District Attorneys in Cali- fornia, to appeal all land cases decided against the Government, to the Supreme Court. Yet, in the face of this state of things, the Government at Washington has neglected to provide its local officers here with money to carry into eflfect this order. These delays of the Government must of necessity operate oppressively to the landholders and settlers, and likewise injuriously to the welfare and prosperity of the State. As matters now stand, the prospects of a final settlement of our land titles appears to be very remote indeed. Several generations will have passed away before they can be finally adjudicated under the present system. Wo might have these evils abated to some extent, if our United States Circuit Judge, Mr. McAlister, was permitted, like all other United States Circuit Judges, to take his seat on the Bench of the Supreme Court. He could then and there bring to the atten- 38 tion of that tribunal the necessity of early action on all the land titles of California. It is to be hoped that the present session of Congress will not adjourn before placing the United States Cir- cuit Court of this State on the same National equality with all the other Circuit Courts of the United States. When Congress undertakes to legislate for the whole Union, it very frequently leaves California, Oregon and Washington out of the Act ; but when it undertakes to provide for the raising of revenue, California and the adjacent Territories are ro« ar for- gotten, and it invariably makes us pay twice as much as those who live on the Atlantic side, and often three timet? as much. Why will the General Government continue to omit providing for us on the Pacific coast, when legislating for the whole coun- try ? Our people are as true to the American Republic as those of any part of it. If the United States sh luld become involved in war, we woald deferid her. If the foe shoiilc? attempt to in- vade us, we would meet them on the beaoh with a sword in one hand and a torch in the other. We would dispute every inch of ground, burn every blade of grass, and the last entrenchment of liberty should be our graves, rather than permit a foreign enemy to contaminate the soil of our country. Then why should we be excepted to and discriminated against ? All we ask, and all we have ever claimed, is to be placed on an equality with all the States and Territories in this Union. As we are now situated, the Federal Government is our most bitter enemy. It has wronged us long enough, and it is now about time that it should both understand and respect our appeals to justice and the princi- ples of the Federal Constitution. When the General Government is, however, disposed to do anything magnificent for the Pacific Coast, it scndsa Consul to Acapulco or the Navigator Islands. The one now at the Navi- gator Islands, Yi.'. Van Camp, has fleeced the merchants of San Francisco ovt of some sixty-three thousand dolkrs, and before Judge Jenkins gets there to supersede liim, he will have fleeced them out of twice that amount. He is a bold operator and a regular fast Californian, and as soon as he finds that he is super- seded, he will then go in for declaring the Islands an Independ- ent 'Republic, and of course decline to receive Judge Jenkins until the United Stated have consented to acknowledge the inde- pendence of his copper-colored Republic. This was his inten- 69 ; tion, before he sailed from here. He left California a regular filibuster, and he has now perhaps got money enough to carry out his purpose. Our present Consul in Acapulco, in Mexico, is on the poor list. He was a great friend of Gen. Alvarez, and was promised many leagues of land for his assistance to that revolutionary leader. But his leagues of land have all been located among a band of warlike Indians, and they promise to hang him if he ever under- takes to conr^e and get possession of them. President Pierce has evidently immortalized himself in these Consular appointments from California. All the other Diplomatic and Consular Agents in every port on the Pacific, have been taken from the back-woods of the Western and Sonth-Western States, on the other side of the continent, with the exception of the Rev. Dr. Parker, our Commissioner to the Celestials, and he will not do anything for us on the Pacific coast, unless His Majesty, the Emperor of China, will acknowledge himself sound on the Westminster Confession of Faith. These Western and Soulh-Western Consular Agents and Commissioners know no+hing about commercial law or com- mercial affairs. The only way we could expect them to serve us, if it was admissible, would be at a game of poker. If they could accomplish anything for as in that way, they would soon have in our possession nearly all the ports of the Pacific Ocean, for they would go, every time, fifty on the king, and a hundred on the ace. ] CHAPTER VII. The great continental Rail Road :j yet to be provided for. I have no hopes that the Federal Government will ever build this road, nor dc 1 wish it to do so. If it should undertake to con- struct such largfi works of internal improvement, it would soon become too powerful for the States. Lut it is amply provided with the means to secure its construction. It can appropriate public lauds to Missouri and California, and such States as may be organized along the route, so as to enulie ihese States to con- struct the road through their own limits. It can also grant the right of way through the interiaediate Territories, and donate 40 land to any company that may undertake the work, and as a pro- tection to itself, it can provide that it shall have the right to transport the mails, troops, ordnance, &c., free of charge for a cer- tain number of years. This it can do, and this it should do with- out delay. The Federal Government has already extended such facilities to the Western and South Western States ; and it can, therefore, without any excuse, extend the same facilities to the States more immediately interested in the early construction of this continental highway. But Preis'dent Pierce appears to be perfectly bewildered about whj h. nnld do in regard to this road. His first annual message to Congress on this subject wad as clear as mud. He told Congress thdt the policy of the Federal Qoveynment was against internal imnrovsments in the States — that Jefferson, Madison, Monroe and all the old apostles and founders of the Democratic party, had all declared that the Fed- eral Government had no power to enter upon a general system of internal improvements, but as they were old fogies, and all dead, he suggested that it might be well for Congress to reconsider the whole subject. As for himself, he did not wish to be committed on this question. The fact is. Pierce is not souud, and never has been sound on this Pacific Railroad. When 'jlc ';ame, however* to the Territories, there he supposed the cutri V Government had unquestionable power to construct a S: •> \.i ; but before he got lialf way through this part of his mesfcat,.-, 'ic ^ .ingested that it might bo well not tr he in a huriy, as there m.^ji*' after all, be some mistake about it. Ho considered that Congress had the clear constitutional right to claim all *'e atmosphere, and all the space o,bove the soil, but if theri m* •'hould touch the lumi at any point, he did not know but on tha. jcount, the whole improve- ment might be regarded by nim as unconstitutional. Frunk Pierce is, indeed, ^ strict constructionist. Now, it may be possible, that under .': sident Pierce's views of tie constitutional power of Congrcfc^ t; norstr'ict this Rail- road, it might be built on stilts. But even with this view of the case, there might arise another grave and serious diflficulty ; 88 the stilt-^ would Invt to be dr^ren into the soil, ho might con- sider that the tl living oi r u into the earth would also render the construction of such a road unconstitutional. The best inter- pretation that I can give to this message on the Pacific Railroad, 5] 5 41 is this : It is probable that what the President is really di/ving at, is the construction of a balloon line from ocean to ocei n. If so, then let us have it as soon as possible, so that we can all go a-kiting across the continent, to " see the old folks at home." But after all, I do not see how these balloons are to be kept on a bee line between San Francisco and St. Louis, unless they are navigated by carrier pigeons — the most sensible winged naviga- tors I know of. Now, suppose these pigeons are required by an act of Congress to fly by night, and that they should, on some dark evening, be in the regions of the Rocky Mountains, or the Sierra Nevadas, and that they should, by accident, while ascend- ing either side of these lofty ranges of mountains, suffer their balloons to touch the earth, then it might so 1' xppen that President Pierce would declare even this line, for that reason, unconstitu- tional. The fact is, we have a high old President. On this Pa- cific Railroad, he has been playing on a harp of a thousand strings, tc spirits, of r.ankind, perfect and imperfect. An old farmer in his State, when he heard of his nomination for the office he now holds, said of him — that he would do very well for New Hampshire, but when they undertook to spread him all over the Union, he thought Frank Pierce would be found too small a man for that purpose. This message reminds us of William S. Archer's Report, made some years since to the United States Senate, on Foreign Rela- tions. When that Report reached Europe, they could not tell there, what we wore all driving at in America. No one ever un- derstood it there, and no one ever understood it in this country. Th". New Orleans Picayune made several experiments upon it. The editor cut out one extract and read it from top to bottom, and then he turned it upside down and read it just the othei way, and ue came to the conclusion that it read as well and as sensible one way as the other. I have made the same experiment on Pierce's Railroad message, and I have come to the same conclusion in my investigation of this message, that the Editor of the New Orleans Picayune came to about Archer's Report. President Pierce's message on this Railroad, like Archer's Report on Foreign Re- lations, fell stillborn, as soon as it was made public. Now we propose to treat very respectfully, the Chief Magistrate of this Republic, but we tell him, and tell Cor gross, as well as our At- lantic brethren, that we do not wish any more nonsense and de- 3* m 42 lay over this road. They must let us have it, or we will make them hear from us. And they may find that when they do hear from us, they will feel as though they had heard the voice of Hermes and the thunder of Jupiter. Daring the last session of Congress, an act was passed, grant- ing the right of way to any company that would construct a magnetic telegraph line across the continent from St. Louis to San Francisco. But would any one believe it when I tell them, this act granted nothing more than the mere permission to build a telegraph line. Now I have read and heard of tomfoolery, and have even seen it, but I must confess that I have never found, on record, such a broad farce as this act presents, on any statute book. Why, in this act Congress only consents to let a company have the right to insert posts in the earth, on which the wires are to be suspended. Not a foot of land is granted, no, not even enough on which to erect a cabin. No provision is made to protect the line from destruction. This is a magnanimous act of Uncle Sam's towards the people of the Pacific coast. Who, in the name of common sense, would ask the General Government for the right of way, if they should choose to invest their money in such a work as this. Does any one suppose that the General Government would undertake to pull up the posts and otherwise destroy such a line, if a number of American citis5ens should voluntarily construct this improvement at their own ex- pense, and provide the means for protecting it ? No. The Govornmant does not provide that any man shall have land enougli for a garden and a log house. Now, it is well known, that if such a line was constructed, the company would have to select some bordw-men who understand the various languages spoken by the numerous Indian tribes on this route, to protect and defend the line ; and the most of these hardy mountaineers have Indian squaws for their wives. In this way they generally become leading Chiefs of tribes, and control them, and yet the General Government makes no provision for these men and their families. It is strange 'hat Congress should have been guilty of perpetrating such a gross deception on the people of this country, as it did perpetrate by the passage of this bill. That body cer- tainly must have known that they had granted nothing, by this act, in aid of the construction of this line. It must have been fully aware, also, that no company would have regarded this act 48 as being of any advantage to them. The fact is, the Government has justly rendered itself contemptible in passing such a ridic- ulous act as this. CHAPTER YIII. It is a matter of national humiliation that we can neither get a Military, Post, Wagon, Stage or Railroad across the continent, or even a telegraph line. Why is this ? We will tell the public. The capitalists and stockholders of New York city, who are in- terested in the Panama Line of Steamers, and who have the Gov- erment contract for carrying the mail between California and New York, can bring, and have always brought, influence enough to bear upon a suflBcient number of members of Congress to in- duce them to vote against any commnnication whatever, between the Atlantic and Pacific States across the continent. As soon as a proposition is made to Congress to establish any '^ le of the be- fore mentioned kind of roads, these men are found swarming and buzzing around Washington to oppose it. Year after year we have been trying to make some impression on the " Powers That Be" in the Federal city, in favor of some kind of a highway across the continent, wi thout accomplishing any good. These New York capitalists and stockholders, whose wealth and power we have been every year so greatly augmenting, resist every attempt to form such a connection between the Pacific and Atlantic. Their capital and interest are in South America, and hence their opposition to us. Away around through Central and South America, we are now forced to go when we wish to travel t: the Atlantic States, and Congress has shown itself mercenary enough to knuckle under to this moneyed power. In doing this, however, it thay find, when it is too late to remedy the evil, that while the Government is thus pandering to a few New York capitalists, it may force us to take leave of the Atlantic States forever. When that day comes (if it ever comes, and may it never come), we will make New York sweat for her ingratitude to California. The authorities at Washington know well, that bo long as Mr. 44 Aspinwall has the contract for carrying the mail between Cal- ifornia and New York, by Panama, and for which the United States pay him the sum of $800,000, he will always oppose any road across the continent. This mail contract is forever thrown into our teeth, whenever we ask for any kind of a continental road. Californians do not get the money for carrying the mail, but New Yorkers, yet they have to pay a large proportion of the expense for can-ying it. No one but Mr. Aspinwall has ever asked the General Government to pay this enormous amount of money for transporting the mail between New York and San Francisco. There are a plenty of persons in New York and Cal- ifornia who would agree to carry the mail for one fourth of the present sum. But the mercenary " publicans and sinners" who hold ofiBce in Washington, and who live upon the hard toil and earnings of the producing classes, are willing to pay Mr. Aspin- wall this large appropriation. So long as he can afford to give them big dinners and free passages on his ships, at our expense, he will ever remain a trump card with them. Yet if we ask for any favors, this great sum of money the General Government has to pay for carrying the mail, is insultingly cast up at us. We are not going to let "a torrent of impetuous zeal transport us be- yond the bounds of reason," but we tell the " Powers that Be," in Washington, that we do not wish to have this contract thrown into our face any longer. Let the Secretary of the Navy and the Post Master General, abolish this contract, as they have, by law, the power to do, and it will not be long before other contractors will agree to carry the mail for one fourth of the present charge to the Government. Even the Express Companies would agree to transport the mail between New York and San Francisco, free of charge to the General Government, for the privilege of charg- ing the present postage rates fixed by law on all mailable matter. Have we not lost enough of our people, traveling around one- fourth of the entire globe on the bosom of two oceans, to reach New York or California, through sickly and foreign countries, to satisfy the cupidity of both Mr. Aspinwall and the authorities in Washington ? Are there not dead men and women sufficient in the ocean's depths, and along the miasmatic regions of Central and South America, to gratify the appetites of these gentlemen ? Are they still panting for more dead men and women ? Is it their purpose to keep us always isolated, as we now are, from the rest of the Union ? "We ask them to forbear — to reverse their policy towards us. Let them not be reckless of the power they enjoy. We mtist have a continental highway of some kind very soon, or the Federal Government may find that it will raise a storm on tliis coast that will shake the Union to its foundation. If it re- fuses to allow us a road of some kind, we tell the people on the other side, as well as the Administration in Washington, in no spirit of malevolence or bravado, that they will raise a flame here that all the waters of the great ocean that washes our shores can never quench. We have no fault to find with the Pacific Mail Steamship Line. It is connected with the infancy and early settlement of this ]->art of our country. It has " grown with' our growth, and stren«,'i,h- ened with our strength." We would regret to see it impaired in any manner, or its usefulness abridged. We have no complaint to make against any of its owners, or the commanders of its ships, or the agents who manage the business of the company. Messrs. Forbes & Babcock, the agents of the company here, have proved themselves friends to this country, and they have exhibited great liberality towards our people. They have lost money out of their own pockets by extending favors to Californians in distress. No class of steamship commanders in any part of the world stand higher than those employed in the Pacific Mail Company's ser- vice. Nor have we ought to complain of Mr. Aspinwall's course in the management of this company's affairs ; but Ave do complain of the General Government's casting this mail contract in our face whenever we ask for some aid in the construction of a con- tinental highway. What wouM be the condition of the Pacific coast, should the United States become involved in war, with such large military and maritime powers as France and England ? Wo would then be almost entirely in their power. Our Atlantic brethren could, under such an emergency, live happy and contented at their own homes and firesides, free from danger, while we would have our commerce on the ocean all cut oft", as well as encounter all the terrible carnage and ravages of war. We would have to main- tain the fight almost single-handed, as we could, in such an event, get comparatively no help from the Parent Government. If the " Powers That Be " in Washington, care nothing about us, but to use US for their own convenience and benefit, let us know it, and 48 ■wc may then take measures to avoid being mixed up with the quarrels of Uncle Sam. But there are other agencies operating against us — resisting the construction of a highway across the continent. The ship- pers and manufacturers of the Atlantic States are also actively employed in opposing this continental connection. They are now having a large trade with us, and are enjoying a high state of prosperity, while our people are almost all prostrated under the effects of injuries inflicted upon us, these men openly acknowl- edge that they want no continental railroad, for if that is con- structed, their laboring population will leave them for the Far West. Now they are making money out of our country, and as long as they can keep us isolated from them, they can afford to pay good wages to their workmen. They say our country is only a place for persons to go to, to make a few thousand dollars, and then return home again, — that no one ever expects to live perma- nently here, — that thic country is only intended as a means of benefiting the old States ; but that if a Railroad should be con- structed across the continent, then the Pacific coast would fill up with an immense population from the Atlantic States. When these men lose money from the sale of their goods in California, they hesitate not to denounce our people as thieves and robbers — as those who live upon the people of the Atlantic States. If our semi-monthly steamers ever arrive in New York, bringing an aggregate shipment of gold less than two millions of dollars, these people invariably commence abusing us, and they are very frequently backed by the newspaper press of the coun- try. They commence exclaiming, that the bottom of California has dropped out, — that the mines have all been exhausted, and that our people have all bursted, — that they knew how it would be with those persons who were fools enough to come out to this country, — that they expect nothing else than that the people of California will become a charge upon those of the Atlantic States ; and they never fail to circulate the most offensive and degrading statements about the moral character of our country. Oh I these hypocrites and whited sepulchres ! how dare they thus insult us ? After many years long absence from our kith and kin, — after many years hard toil and labor to enrich them, and to give pros- perity to our whole country, — it is thus that they show their grati- tude towards us 1 th 4T They have been warned again and again, not to send out here their old wares and merchandise, — that our country was already glutted with them, — yet, in the face of these warnings, they con- tinued to send them. If they have lost by such shipments, then we are gratified to hear of it. Would that they had broken them all up! Many of them will recollect telling me and others, that they generally sent to California their unsaleable goods. If they suppose we want any of their old worn out clothing and damaged meats and provisions, they are very much mistaken. When our merchants want goods of any kind, they will send for them, and pay for them too. But if these Atlantic shippers and manufac- turers send us for sale, merchandise we have not ordered, and they lose money by the operation, let them lay the blame to them- selves. If the same amount of goods which have been shipped here per annum, had been shipped to Connecticut or South Caro- lina for sale, they never would have brought enough to pay the freight on them. No merchants in the world have exerted them- selves to save the property of shippers from loss, like the mer- chants of California. In fact, many of them have broken them- selves up by it. No country on the globe, with the same popula- tion, has consumed or made use of so much merchandise as Cali- fornia, Oregon and Washington, considering the limited time the people here have occupied this country. But it is not a highway across the continent only, that these people oppose ; but they will not let us have even a Telegraph lino. They well know that if a Telegraph line, or a road of any kind, should be constructed, it would cause settlements to be es- tablished along the route, and open the way for a stage line or Railroad from ocean to ocean. This, of course, would lessen the travel between the Pacific and Atlantic States, by the way of Panama and San Juan. It would also unite the great West and Southwest with us. When this should take place, they are well aware the farthest way home route would be abandoned. It re- mains to be seen whether the now powerful States, West and Southwest of the Alleghanies, will permit Eastern capitalists, shippers and manufacturers, to oppress and overburden both them and us, — to discriminate against those who inhabit the most ex- tensive, productive and powerful portion of the Republic. What has California, Oregon and Washington not done for the Federal Government, and the people of the Atlantic States, since 48 they have been occupied by our people. Wo have, by the mag- nificence of onr mineral wealth, increased the real and personal property of New York city and vicinity, full seventy-live millions of dollars, while the real and personal pro|)orty of San Francisco is only estimated, at the present time, at thirty-nine millions of dollars. During the same i)eriod of time, we have also increased the value of the real and personal property of Boston, Philadel- phia, Baltimore, and other Atlantic cities, from ten to twenty millions each, and the aggregate value of the real and personal property of all the Atlantic States, over two hundred millions of dollars, and yet the people on the other side denounce us as rob- bers, and as stipendiaries upon their bounty. We hiss and scorn such insults. What have we not done for the wheat-growers and millers of Western New York and Eastern Virginia? Have wo not paid them millions of dollars for their flour ? Have we not paid the ii-on manufacturers and nail cutters of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia, millions of dollars for their nails and iron ? Have we not paid Maryland, Pennsylva- nia and Virginia, millions of dollars for their coal ? Have we not paid millions of dollars to the tobacco growers and manufac- turers of Virginia, North Carolina, Kentucky* Ohio, and other States, for their tobacco ? Virginia farmers f lone have enjoyed an immense trade with us in flour and tobacco. Have we not paid Georgia, South Carolina, Florida and North Carolina, vast sums of money for their rice, pitch, tar, turpentine, and lumber? Have we not paid millions of dollars to the Eastern and Western States, for cured meats and other provisions, and the people of the Eaotcrn and other manufacturing States, millions on millions for their manufactured goods ? What was the condition of the Western and South Western States in 1849 ? Then, vast numbers left that part of the Union for Calforuia and Oregon. While this emigration was going on, some of the papers in that region spoke as if they supposed the great West and South West, would soon be depopulated. How false have boon their predictions ? Why, the people of the Pa- cific coast have purchased in the North Western, Western, and South Western States, over four hundred thousand head of cattle; horses and mules, and they have paid for them. In 1849, cows were selling in that part of the Atlantic States, at from seven to twelve dollars per head ; now, none can be purchased for less 49 than from twenty to twenty-five dollars per head. In addition to all this, millions of dollars have been expended in saddles, har- ness, wagons, earriages and provisions. We have increased the value of the real and personal property of these States since 1849, at least eighty millions of dollars, and yet, for all this wo get nothing but abuse and denunciation. Even the ship tonnage of the United States has been increased, since 1849, through our countr ', over one million two hundred thousand tons. And, for all the?e groat benefits, the whole country is indebted to the la- bors of the hardy pioneers and permanent inhabitants of the Pacific coost. CHAPTER IX. It has become a very common remark, on the part of the Fed- eral Authorities, in Washington, that the people of this country are reckless and indifferent about their official obligations ; and the people on the other side of the continent never fail to re- proach us with being delinquent in all our commercial transac- tions and business affairs, and that we live upon the bounty and labor of those in the Atlantic States. Let us see how this first charge will bear examination. Now, it is a well known fact, that there was comparatively no thieving, no malfeasance in office, and no lawless acts committed iv any of our people, until the Gov- ernment in Washington set us an example. When it attempted, in the most unblushing manner, to seize ail of our mineral lands, for the i)urpose of leasing or selling them to Atlantic and Euro- pean capitalists ; when it succeeded in outlawing all of our land titles, and declared it to be its unalterable determination not to let a single pioneer or native have one foot of land in this country, then the thieves, who had before tliat been kept under restraint, commenced their operations, and the Federal Government has the credit of being the first to set them upon us. No robbing, com- paratively, took place in California, until it was found out that the authorities in Washington were determined, if they could, to rob us of all our mineral and agricultural lands. Tlicy were, therefore, the first to show themselves reckless and indifferent 4 60 about tlicir odicial and legal obligations. However much wo may have suirerod IVoui the acts of couvicts and crimiiuiirt, none of them have injured us half so much as tiiat very Government which had pledged itself to {)rotoct us. After it had commenced a crusado against all of our property, and set loose u[)on us any quantity of robbers, it then denounced the whole of us as un- trustworthy. The pioneers of California know that what we have stated is the " truth of history." Every one hero looked upon the agri- cultural lands of our country as having been virtually outlawed by the Government at Washington, and that it was determined to make a desperate struggle to take from our people all of their mineral lands. Before this, it well known fact, that but few ever closed their doors after n that one-half their goods re- mained outside of their buildings, — and that gold dust could re- main on the counter all day, and all night, and no one would dare to molest it. But, as soon as it became known that the Federal Authorities, in Washington, were aiming to got possession of all the mineral and agricultural lands of the State, then a part of the State and Municipal officers, and the rouges of all countries, commenced their thieving warfare upon us, and we regret very much to say, that we have never yet got fairly rid of them. The Vigilance Counnittee, composed of some of the best men in the State, in 1851, hung a portion of these thieves, and trans- ported others, and thus saved us from being robbed of all oui* personal property. These very men who were hung, as well as those that were transported, admitted that they never would have acted as they did, had they not seen a disposition, on the part of the Federal, State and Municipal authorities, to plunder the country. They then acted as if the whole State was going to reck, and they determined to resume their old profession of thieving. They admitted that they justly deserved the punish- ment which the Vigilance Committee had inflicted upon them, but they all said that they thought those who set them the exam- ple ought likewise to be punished. They spoke the truth, and all were compelled to acknowledge the justice of it. No country, and no people have been so deeply wronged as the people of the State of California, by those entrusted with power. The history of the whole civilized world may be searched in vain, to find a case equal, for oppression and injustice, to that inflicted on this 51 young Commonwealth, by the Federal, Ptato and Municipal au- thoi'itlcH. IJad tlie Federal Ciovernmcnt not been apprehensive that we would have hunj? all the Federal oflficera and agents sent out here to dispose of our mineral lands, it is very evident that it would have sold them long before this. Of course, we attribute much of their conduct towards this State, to their ignorance of the condition of our country. It was our firmness, and its fears, liowever, that saved our State from being utterly prostrated. The Federal Oflicers, in this country, have always been consid- ered a8 mere stool-pigeons of the General Government. They have always bc'(>n so tied up by the authorities in Washington, as to render the ii jiositions anything but pleasant. None of them are trusted, and all of them are surrounded by spies, sent out here from the Atlantic States. These California Federal Officers are always required to spend their time and money for the " Pow- ers That Be ;" and as soon as they fail to obey, in all things, they are most generally dismissed from the service, and pronounced defaulters. All the Collectors of the Port of San Francisco, Avith the exception of Mr. Latham, the present incumbent, and all the Indian Superintendents and Agents of the State, have been declared defaulters, and it will ever remain the case, so long as a Federal Officer is true to this country, and refuses to be made a menial I'lave to the authorities in Washington. It appears to have been, and still is, the settled policy of each Federal Admin- istration, to make out a bad case against all the United States Officers in this country, they cannot use. It is not our intention to shield any of the Federal Officers in California, who may vio- late their official oaths, or unlawfully make use of the powers confided to them, or the public funds entrusted to their keeping. One thing is evident, to every intelligent citizen in this oun- try, — every public man who has attempted to uphold and defend the conduct and policy of the General Govcrnnaent towards Cali- fornia, has always been deserted by the people, and politically prostrated in the State. If any one desires to blast his political prospects forever, let him vindicate the " old fogies " and " dug- outs " in Washington, and he will soon go by the board. No act would create a bigger disgust, in the minds of the people of this State, than a defence of these old Washington rats. They are considered as being at least sixty years behind the age, and as knowing comparatively nothing about the country, but what trans- 52 pires within the " City of Magnificent Distances." The people on this coast are too independent and intelligent, to be " booted and spu'i'red," and dragged about and used by fhose who are puffed up with a " little brief authority," in the Federal City. Not long since, the Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Guthrie, was guilty of an act of unpardonable injustice to Judge Hoff- man, Judge of the United States District Court, for Northern California, which produced universal contempt for that high Fed- eral Official, in all parts of this country. It appears that Levy, one of the firm of St. Losky, Levy & Co., who was arrested in San Francisco, for smuggling, and for which crime he was tried and convicted, and afterwards pardoned by the President, has a brother living in Havana. When he discovered that his brother in California had bton arrested, and was about to be tried for the crime be had committed, this brother in Havana attempted to br^c certain Custom Hous) Officers in Cuba, wuh the view of suppressing all information which might be used to the prejudice of Levy, in Californir.. After he had arranged, for this purpose, to his satisfaction, with the Custom House Officers of Havana, he then approached Mr. Savage, the Secretary of the American Consul. He said to Mr. Savage, that his brother in California would not be convicted — that the Judge that was to try him "was all right," (meaning Judge Hoffman,) — and that he was willing to pay to the Secretary one hundred and fifty doubloons, if he would withhold certain official information against liis brother. Mr. Savage communicated these facts to the Consul, Mr. W. H. Robertson, and he communicated tliciii, in a private and unofficial note, to the Secretary of the Treasury. Mr. Guth- rie, instead of sending this charge against Judge Hoffman to him in person, to enable him to defend himself against it, sends it to Col. Inge, the United States District Attorney. While lliesc docmnents were on file, in Mr. Inge'i3 office, it appears the city reporters obtained possession of them, and published their con- tents to the world, before Judge Hoffman Avas aware of the ex- istence cf this foul aspersion on his Judicial integrity and repu- tation. The first information he had of this unfounded and un- sustained charge, was in reading the morning papers of San Fran- cisco, which contained it. What could have been the motive of Mr. Guthrie, in sending this grave charge against Judge Hoff- man, " the truth of which he himself did not believe," to the Dis- 68 3 people ' booted vho are :itY. Grutbrie, ro Hoff- [orthern igh Fed- at Levy, cstcd in as tried it, has a 1 brother d for the [iptcd to view of prejudice purpose, Havana, hnerican alifornia try him he was )ubloons, linst his Consul, I private Ir. Guth- m to him 'nds it to ilo ilicsc < the city icir con- f the cx- uid repu- 1 and un- an Fran- iiotive of Igo Hoff- » the Dis- trict Attorney, instead of to Judge Hoffman. The charge con- tained in Mr. Consul Robertson's letter, concerned Judge Hoffman and no one else. Certainly the Secretary's conduct, in this case, appears as if he intended to blast the standing and reputation of the Judge of the United States District of Northern California. If he did not intend to do so, he would have sent the correspon- dence to Judge Hoffman. The authorities in Wasliington have always " aided and abet- ted," in circulating slanders about the people of this country, although it is a well known fact, that they draw the principal part of their revenues from the mines of California. The most of them are a set of " old rats " and " spavin legged nags," who have been living on the public (to the exclusion of their betters) nearly all the days of their lives. They have none of the states- manship, patriotism, energy of character, comprehensiveness and ability of those mighty men who have preceded them in the pub- lic service. Their living superiors in this country have never held any office. The times for the employment of great men in the service of the country, appears to have passed away, and mere pigmies now fill the places where intellectual giants formerly pre- sided and controlled the destinies of this great Republic. They act as if there was no such an ocean as the Pacific. That little " fish pond," called the Atlantic, they consider as the only ocean on which floats the great commercial and naval power of the world. Nearly all of tlieir legislation is confined to that old " duck pond." Although the evidence is within their reach, yet they appear ne jr to have known the fact, that the annual float- ing marine trinage employed in the Pacific is, at this time, larger than that employed in the Atlantic, and for the future it will al- ways bo increasing over that of the Atlantic. They have never considered the fact, that two-thirds of the human race reside within the Islands of, or around the shores of the Pacific ocean. This great ocean, on a part of whose shores we reside, is already the chief highway of nations ; and yet, it is strange that the authori- ties at Washington know nothing, comparatively, of what is tak- ing place in this vast trading and commercial region of the world. 0, foolish and perverse statesmen ! " who has bewitched you ? " "What can the " gr^at men in buckram," in the Federal City, be thinking of? Do they not know that the great contest between the maritime States of the world is soon to come off, for the commer- 64 cial supremacy of the Pacific ? Why is Russia now willing to make peace with the Allies on such liberal terms ? It is this. Russia has determined, for the present, to abandon the contest for the possession and control of the Dardanelles, to enable her to have a free outlet into the Mediterranean and the Atlantic for her naval and commercial marine. We have it on good authori- ty, that as soon as peace has been concluded, she will then trans- fer all her energies and power for the purpose of strengthening her dominion on this Ocean. She can afford to submit to certain temporary restrictions on the Atlantic, for the sake of getting the better of the European Powers on the Pacific. No country possesses superior advantages to lier, for the accomplishment of this great object. The Amour River, whose waters form a part of this great ocean, is navigable two thousand two hundred miles from its mouth, back into the interior of the Empire, and this whole distance is now navigated by small steamers, built on the Western Rivers of the United States. The larger part of the country through which it runs, contains a rich alluvial soil, and is said to be very productive. At the mouth of the Amour she can, and no doubt will, establish a large commercial city and a vast naval depot. When this is done, she has all China and Japan at her immediate command, and if she is but true to her- self, she can there lay the foundations of one of the mightiest con mercial cities in the world. Ei.gland has all of Australia and the principal part of Eastern Asia, and the Indian Archipelago, as well as namerous islands in the South Pacific. France, Spain, Portugal and Holland, have also planted themselves in different parts of this great ocean, and these Governments are true to their people. But our Govern, ment, like a miserable old miser and dotard, is hampering and tying us up here as if it intended to drive us from the country altogether. It takes no interest in our prosperty and success. It appreciates none of the pride and energy we exhibit for the spread of our commerce and manufactures, institutions, dominion, and power in this vast region of the globe. Even the washwo- men in Ihis country take more interest in its welfare, than a ma- jority of those in Washington, who are entrusted with official responsibility and the control of the destinies of this Great Re- public. If somo of them would come to this part of the Union and see what we have been doing for [our whole country, they 66 might go back homo again wiser and better men. They would then see how ridiculoua they had been acting towards that part of _ the Union to which we belong. CHAPTER X. The pioneers of every country have always had to prepare the way for others ; to settle new regions of the world, at their own expense ; to lay the foundation of new States and Empires, as well as new commercial cities ; to be the first to diffuse the principles of civil liberty, education, and christian civilization, and otherwise " redeem, regenerate and disentral" mankind. The people and cnimtry for whom they thus spend their time and labor, most generally oppress them as well as underrate their services. 'lose who remain at home and have the control of the Governmciii. ^cnorally regard such men :i- a' venturers, who P'-e never to bo consulted i'l tho administraii n of political affairs. Those who never tra\ ol, nt least ovc ♦^heir own country, art. rare- ly ever practical men. Especially i.^ this the case with all those who are employed in the public service. While the Government is able to pay them their salario-. they are contented to remain at home and live in luxury and ^ lioness. They consider them- selves a privileged class, as men much " wiser than their genera- tion." This is the case with the majority of those who are now connected with public affairs in Was' agton, and are directing the destinies of the country. Tli' are unfit for the places they now fill. Their minds are too contracted, and tlieir knowloge of the people, the condition and progress of this extended and ex- tending Republic, is too limited to make them safe statesmen and law nuikers. They invariably look upon those who are pioneers and forerunners, those who are settling the public domain and building up new States and new cities, as having, comp' ratively, but few political rights, and of no consideration in the adminis- tration of public affairs. The British Cabinet in tho reign of George the Third, ever regarded the pioneers of America as " hewers of wood and draw- ers of water" to t'le Home Government in England. Our fathers 66 were never allowed to have any voice in the administration of the Government. Offices were all given to the favorites of the Gov- ernment at home, and they were shipped to America at public ex- pense, to rule over the country and to cat out its substance. If our ancestors complained of such injustice, they were reproached and frequently punished for their complaints. Great Britain con- tinued to pursue this tyrannical policy, and although our ancestors remonstrated against it, and said that they would resist if these grievances were not abated, yet the British Cabinet heeded not these warnings. Finally, to show their contempt for our fathers, they attempted to exact an unconstitutional tax from them, even by force of arms. This, of course, led to an open rupture be- tween England and her colonics, and both parties made an appeal to arms for the settlement of their difficulties. . The ignorance manifested by the Home Government of the character of our fathers and the condition of their country, as well as its head- strong obstinacy towards the people of America, lost the king an Empire, and compelled that haughty Government to knuckle un- der to those very men whom the British King and his Cabinet had always held in such utter contempt and derision. Let the Government at Washington take warning from those facts, and avoid treating the people on the Paciiic coast for the future, as the British Government treated our ancestors, for its course to- wards us inay be attended with the same results that attended the contest between the colonies and England. The United States came very near committing some very egre- geous blunders growing out of this very indifference to the rights and interests of the pioneers even as early as 1783. It will be recollected by those who have studied the legislative and diplo- matic history of this country, that after our revolutionary army under Washington had achieved the important victory over the disciplined Iroops of Great Britain, at the battle of Yorktowu, the general impression prevailed, and very justly prevailed, in the United States, that England would not maintain the contest against llie colonies any longer. The result proved that this opinion w ;is correct. The Continental Congress, therefore, pre- pai'cd to treut with the King of Great Britain for a general peace and the acknowlcgement of our independence. Here, a diffi- culty arose with our fathers, whether they should insist upon Great Britain's acknowledging our claim to all of her possessions 67 in the United States of America. Some considered that they should ask for no more than what is now known as the thirteen orijjinal States, and thus restrict the limits of the United States to that part of the country lying east of the Allegany Mountains. Others contended that we nmst have all the country held by Eng- land previous to the commencement of the Revolutionary War. This division of opinion among the statesmen of that day, came near loosing us the whole Western, North Western, and South Western States. When our Commissioners, viz : Benjamin Franklin, Henry Laurens and John Adams, appointed by the Continental Con- gress to treat with Great Britain and France, for a general peace and the acknowledgment of our independence, made their appear- ance on the pari of the colonies, they found themselves surround- ed and annoyed by conflicting interests. England was willing to acknowledge the indedepeudence of the thirteen Colonies, but she insisted upon holding on to all the Territories West, North West, and South West of the Allegany Mountains, which she had taken from France in a previous wav. On the other hand, France desired the United States to transfer to her all the Territories in that part of America which England had con- quered from her, in consideration of the naval ard military ser- vices she had rendered to our country in the Revolutionary War. France, like England, was also in favor of restricting the United States to the Territories of the Union lying East of the Allegany Mountains. Spain held oflF, and rcifuscd to treat, as she was not inclined to take sides until she found out how matters would ter- minate. It was a fortunate thing for tiiC country that it had such able, farseeing, and patriotic negotiators as Franklin, Adams and Laurens, on that occasion. Our Commissioners refused to yield an inch to either England or France. They preferred rather to re-open the war than to sur- render one jot or tittle of their country. They were resolved to have all the Territory claimed by England previous to the war, or go back and fight the Revolution over again. Their firmness, and the rivalry and jealousy existing between England and France, enabled them, finally to triumph. Great Britain could never con- sent that France should ever get possession of the great Western, South Western, and North Western portions of America. She therefore yielded to the claims of our Commissioners, and acknow- 58 ledged, not only our independence, but our claim to the whole of her dominions within the limits of the United States. France, of course, had to consent to this arrangement, and then Spain, like a whipped hound, came in, and was exceedingly anxious to show her I'cadiness to treat with our Commissioners, and to acknowl- edge our independence. The United States were then right on the borders of some of hjr colonies in America, and she might well afford, after England and France had acknowledged our in- dependence, to affect some magnanimity towards us, but before that, she stood aloof from our Commissioners. King George the Third, however, never forgave the people of America for separating from Great Britain, or our Commissioners for out-witting and over-reaching him in the Treaty of 1783. Great Britain utterly refused, in compliance with this Treaty, to give up her posts in the Northwest and West, and she never did give them up until she was forced to do it. She protected the Indians and induced them to combine against oxir country, and to make war on the pioneers who then inhabited that now magnificent portion of this Union. This she did, as we have before said, in direct violation of a solemn Treaty, and her refusal to do so, be- came one of the chief grounds of our second war with her for independence. Spain, for the most of this time, held all that part of the West and Southwest, known as the Louisiana purchase. She also played the same deceitful and treacherous course towards us that England did. Agents were employed by both of these European Powers, to corrupt ou." civil and military officers, em- ployed in the public service in that part of the country, and it is evident that many of them were corrupted. It is noAv a gener- ally conceded fact, that Judge Sebastian, a United States Judge in Kentucky, under the Administrations of Mr. Adams and Mr. Jefferson, was in the pay of Spain, to decide against our people in his Courts, and to throw every obstacle in their way possible to prevent the free navigation of the Mississippi River to its mouth. He had a salary of ^2,000 per annum from th^. United States, and the same amount from Spain, and he rarely ever failed to give Spain, in his decisions, a preference over the United States. This defection among a prominent class of men in the West, led Aaron Burr, after he had been disgraced, to enter upon his treasonable scheme for separating all the Western and South- western States and Territories from those of the East, with the 69 view of organizinpf a new Republic in that part of America. His arrest and trial, however, broke up this conspiracy, and overthrew all the plans of the traitors associated with him. But a more important struggle took place in reference to the pioneers of these Western States, iu the Philadelphia Conven- tion, which framed and adopted the Federal Constitution. Here there were men who not only proposed, but earnestly supported the project of cutting off the whole West, and to restrict the limits of the United States to the country East of the Allegany Mountains. After this scheme failed, another one was proposed, with the view of excluding that whole vast region of the Union. That project was, to make no provision in the Federal Constitu- tion for the admission of new States. This scheme, like the for- mer one, also failed. They were defeated by James Madison and those Avho co-operated with him. But few men have performed such signal services to the whole country as James Madison. He was a wise and able statesman, and a pure patriot, and his memo- ry will ever be cherished by all those who can appreciate a free Constitutional Government, the liberty of conscience, and the freedom of speech. But the pioneers of these now flourishing States had still other diificulties to encounter and overcome, to save themselves and their part of the country from additional restrictions. The first law which was passed by Congress, providing for the sale of the public domain, divided up the lands into parcels of six thousand acres each. No one could purchase a less amount of land than six thousand acres. This law, of course, placed all the lands of these Western Territories into the hands of Eastern capitalists. Against this oppressive law, the Western pioneers made a long and obstinate resistance. They finally succeeded, through Gen- eral Harrison, in having the lands divided up into quarter sec- tions of one hundred and sixty acres. This law gave a new im- petus to emigration to the West. But, this was not a sufficient concession to the people of that part of the Union. The next great relief measure was procured for them through the exertions of Mr. Clay, and others. That great man succeeded in inducing Congress to reduce the price of the public lands to $i 25 per acre to all ..ctual seLtlers. After this, the pioneers succeeded in obtaining the right to pre-empt public lands, and to restrict every purchaser to one quarter section. These great measures of " de- 60 livcrencc and liberty " saved the vast West, and filled its immense public domain with a thrifty, intelligent and industrious popula- tion. They also released the people of this now powerful portion of the Union from the tyranny of the old States. It is now our painful and unfortunate lot to encounter the same diflBculties which the pioneers of the West had to encounter, in days that are past. But if anything, our difficulties are more in- tolerable than those of all the pioneers who have preceded us. The illiberality and tyranny exhibited towards us by the General Government, and a majority of the people of the Atlantic States, is not only inexcusable and indefensible, but it is most shameful and treasonable. It is not our purpose, however, any longer to submit to the insolence of the authorities in Washington, and those who sustain them in the Atlantic States. They have rob- bed us of our lands, and they have attempted to rob us of our mineral lands ; they have refused to execute the laws passed by Congress for the benefit of California and the Pacific coast ; they have unjustly taxed us more than any other people in the United States ; they have kept us isolated from the rest of the Union ; they have refused to give us any connection across the continent to the States on the other side ; they have filled our country with spies, to malign and slander our people ; they have picked up men from the debaucheries of the East, and shipped them out here at public expense, to displace Californians holding office under the Federal Government ; they have withheld from us nearly two million of dollars, acknowledged to belong to us ; they have ne- glected to pay the pioneer army of California, for services rendered in the late war with Mexico, while they have paid their regular land and naval forces employed in the same service ; they have neglected to pay for provisions, horses, saddles and money fur- nished by the pioneers to the California troops, and the troops of the United States ; they have refused to pay many of their own civil officers in this country, money which they have acknowl- edged to belong to them ; they have, for the sake of embarrass- ing those pioneers who held lands which have been confirmed by the Board of Land Commissioners, ordered the United States District Attorney to carry these suits against the lands of the pioneers, to the United States District Courts of California, and to the Supreme Court at Washington, while at the same time they have refused to give the Clerks of these District Courts money 01 to carry their orders into effect ; they have refused to defend and protect property on whicli their own public works are con- structed, thus compelling Californians to defend, at their own expense, property belonging to the United States ; they have, while legislating for the whole Union, frequently left California, Oregon and Washington out of the Act ; they have given all con- tracts, for the construction of Government works on the Pacific, to persona living on the other side of the continent, (with the ex- ception of the San Francisco Custom House,) in preference to Californians ; they have filled all their diplomatic and consular appointments in the Pacific Ocean, with men selected from the Atlantic States — men, too, who have no acquaintance with our part of the country, and its commerce or commercial aflairs what- ever ; they have kept an overflowing Treasury, by drawing every dollar they could from California ; they have refused, in every instance, to respect our petitions and appeals to them for redress of these grievances. It is now, therefore, time that we should know and understand one another. If the Government is deter- mined to adhere to its past policy, we are then prepared to take our position, and all the conscijuences which may attend it. There is one course pursued by the General Government towards California, that has never been pursued towards any other State or Territory in this Union. It is too despotic and insulting to be tolerated any longer. The Federal Government has a regular established spy in this country, and always has had one, whose province it is to watch our people, and especially the merchants and the Federal Officers, and to report everything con- nected with his office to the President and the Cabinet at Wash- ington. All of his reports are kept a profound secret from the public and the parties concerned. Ho .v do we know but what our people are grossly libelled and maligned by these secret agents ? The character of some of them was most grossly tra- duced, under Mr. Fillmore's Administration, by the secret agent then in California. This system of appointing spies has never been known in our country, until California became a State. If we lived under the Governments of Austria, Russia, or those of other despotic countries, we might expect to be surrounded by Government spies ; but in a free country like this, such a state of things is insufferable, and a disgrace to the Federal Government. It is said that Mr. J. H. Clay Mudd held this office in Califor- 02 nia, under Mr. Fillmore. It is now held by, I understand, J. Ross Brown, under Mr. Pierce. His ooramission allows, and even requires of him to examine the accounts of all the Federal Officers, and to call them to account for all their official acts, and to regulate all the contracts made by the General Government, in California. Indeed, he has about all the powers that belong to the President, and virtually supplies his place on the Pacific. The Federal Government could not offer to our State and its people a greater insult than this. Does it suppose that all of its officers, and all of the inhabitants of California are thieves? Must they be watched over by men picked up in Washington, and sent out here at public expense ? Who is to vouch for tliis se- cret agent's honesty and fidelity ? Are his statements to be pre- ferred to the statements of such men as Milton S. Latham, Col. Jack Hays, Major Snyder, Judge Lott, Mr. Weller, and other Federal Officers? Did the Federal Government believe, when it appointed these gentlemen to office, that they would steal, and that it was necessary to place over them a spy to watch them ? lias ever yet any one called in question their official integrity ? The office held by Mr. Brown is an ignoble one, and he should give it up. It is offensive to the people of California, and to the Officers of the Federal Government. It is in conflict with our institutions, derogatory to the age in which we live, and discredit- able to the Federal Government. Mr. Brown's visit to Col. Monroe and Mr. Johnson — the former the Clerk of the United States District Court for Northern California, and the latter the Clerk of the United States Circuit Court for California — ought to satisfy him that gentlemen in the service of the United States are not prepared to submit to domiciliary visits from the secret agents of the President, to overhaul their accounts and call in question their official acts. We know of some othei-s in the pub- lic service of the United States, who will give him no very pleas- ant welcome, should he make a demand upon them to give him an account of their stewardship. 63 CHAPTER XI, Long before the people of California became aware of the ex- istence of war between the United States ami Mexico, Upper and Lower California were virtually separated from the last named Republic. The oppressive and tyrannical course of the Mexican Government of California, towards our countrymen, drove the American people then residing in the State, to take up arms against their oppressors. They forced the Government to yield to their wishes, and it was not until the United States Hag was hoisted at Monterey, in July, 1840, that open Avar commenced be- tween the United States troops and those of Mexico. As wo have said before, the country was actually conquered before the Government of the United States was able to render our people here any assistance. Even when the United States troops did come to the rescue of the people of California, they did compara- tively nothing towards achieving the conquest of the country. All the hard fighting was done by the pioneers then living in California. It is a violation of the " truth of history," to give the United States land and naval forces the credit of conquering and suljduing the Mexicans. Some of the U. S. officers cut a most ludicrous iigure in that war. Capt. Merwin, Commander of the United States ship-of-war Savannah, on his march with three hun- dred men from San Pedro to Los Angeles, was comi)ellcd, by one hundred and fifty Mexicans, to retreat and lind protection on board of his ship. Now, we do not undertake to say, that be- cause Capt. Merwin, with three hundred men, was compelled to retreat before one hundred and fifty Mexicans, either he or his men were wanting in courage, but we do mean to say this, — that none of the pioneers ever had to retreat from tlie Mexicans ; that they never lost a battle, and that some of the United States forces, when pursued, did retreat, and that they did not achievo any great victories in the war. Some of Colonel Stevenson's men did good service, but I can- not find where any great deeds were performed Ivy the regidar forces of the army and the navy. Many individuals belonging to both these arms of national defence, we admit, performed signal services in the war, but the " truth of history" requires that the 64 credit of ccnquorinj^ Culifoniia from Mexico, justly belongs to the pioneer army under the lead of Ford, Fremont, Gillespie and otlier.s. All attempts to overrilaugh the pioneers by the United States officers of the Army and Navy, will fail. All bogus history ia perishable, and nothing but the truth will live. Brother Jon- athan's regular forces may continue to mr. rifaeturc history about the war in California until they have all " kicked the bucket" and they will accomplish nothing for themselves after all. " Truth crusliod to earth will rise ajjfain, Thu eternal years ol (loil are her'.s." Wc do not wish to detract from any portion of the land and na- val forces engaged in that war. No, wc would not take from them any of the laurels justly belonging to them, but at the same time we do not desire to see the real coiiiuerors of California overslaughed by those who did the least I.i Ll.at contest. Not only have the regular forces of the army and navy had the credit of conquering California from Mexico, but they have all been paid oil" by the General Government for their services in that war, while the piom ers, the real coiKiuerors of California, have been overlooked by it altogether. But a very few have been paid oil", and some of those who have been paid by the Govern- ment, have lost money by tlie expenses attending the collection of it. Major Snyder's claim for service in that war, was about eight hundred dollars, yet his agent in Washington, after he had obtained it, wrote hiin that the expense he had been put to in the collection of it, was one hundred and lifty dollars more than the whole claim came to. So Major Snyder got nothing for his ser- vices and lot>scs in the ^var. Not only have the pioneers not re- ceived their pay, but the General Government is still owing them and others who furnished their army, and that of the United States forces with horses, saddles, provisions and money, to en- able tliera to prosecute the war. A large number of the officers anil privates of the pioneer army, as well as the native Califor- nians, who took sides with the Americans, after they had found that the authorities in Washington would not pay, either for services rendered by those who had been engaged in the war, or those who had assisted it, and enabled it to be successful, abandon- ed all idea of prosecuting their claims. A great many have now lost their papers, and will, perhaps, never condescend again to ask the General Government for their pay. They are well satisfied 65 that the authorities in Washington would ratlicr spend public money "any day in the week," on some common snob or political pimp around Wasliington, than to save a California pioneer from starvation, by paying him his just dues. One thing is certain, a truthful history of the ])ioucers, and the wrongs done them l)y the Government, will be written and pul)lishe(l. Tiiank God, the Federal Authorities can never suppress this history. From July, l(S4r), and up to the day the Military Governor ceas- ed to have control of tlie revenue service, tlie people of California voluntarily paid, although under protest, atarifl'on foreign goods imported into tlie State, rather than come to an open rupture with our naval and military commanders. There was no law requiring duties to be collected from the merchant, and no revenue officer was ever authorized by Congress, or by the Executive and Trea- sury Departments of the Governmei:t to collect revenue, until Col. Collier, the first Civil Collector, reached San Francisco from Washington. To shoAV that we have the highest authority for this declaration, we will quote from Mr. Polk's last Annual Mes- sage to Congress of the Session of '48 and '40. He said : " No revenue has been or could be collected at the ports of California, because Congress failed to authorise the establish- ment of Custom Houses or the appointment of officers for that purpose." It is evident, therefore, from the Message of President Polk, that he never regarded the revenue collected by Gen. Eiley, as belonging to the Treasury of the United States, neither did Gen. Riley, or any one else, until the old fogies and speculators around Washington, had made up their minds to plunder this young com- monwealth. The amount collectsd under the orders of Gen. Riley, which he held for, and ever regarded as belonging to the State of Califor- nia, war. ^1,010,255 G7. Out of this fund there were expended by him, for the benefit of the State, the following sums, viz : ^162,- 236,27, for the expense of the State Convention and the organiza- tion of the State Government, and $100,000 to send relief to the the emigrants crossing the plains in 1849. This left a balance belong to the State, of $754,010,40. This fund has never been returned to the State, as Congress passed an act turning the whole amount over to the General Fund of the Treasury of the United States. It was an unjust and ungrateful act on the part 5 66 of the Parent Government. This i.ioney was taken from the Stateagainst the solemn protests of Gon. Riley, the Collector of it, Capt. Halleck. the then Secretary of State, Com. Jones, Gen. Percifcr F. Smith, and the Government and the people of Califor- nia. The Government of the United States never had any claim to this fund, and the manner of taking it away from the State of California, was as outrageous and as felonious as if it had author- ized any one of its officers to rob, by force, the iron safes of our merchants. Although the General Government, about two years ago, by act of Congress, appropriated nearly one million of dollars for the payment of the Indian War Debt of this State, still, even thh sum is withheld from us on mere quibbles and technicalities. Our Indian War claim against the Federal Government now amounts to $1,124,935,53. If we could get tlie amount due us on the Civil Fund, in addition to the War Fund, the whole Avould amount, in the aggregate, to $1,878,956,03. This sum would pay off about two-thirds of our present State indebtedness, and release our people from their present most onorous taxation. The Govern- ment at Washington has never properly considered and appre- ciated our condition, and the hardships and difficulties we have had to undergo in building up and in rendering productive to our common country, this new, extensive, yet remote portion of the American Union. We have been too much regarded as adven- turers and sojourners on this coast, where we are expected to live isolated from the rest of the Union, to be preyed upon by Congress and the Atlantic uiorchants and manufacturers, and it ippears impossible to convince them of their mistake. Any one who has lived hero for some six months or a year, and has, perhaps, during that time become notorious for his corrup- tion and peculation, and has succeeded in act-'undating a few thousand dollars, and leaves for the Atlantic tetates, and there sets himself up as a California millionare, is sure to be courted and lionized by the people there, at the expense of our peojtle and the character of our State. If he carries a gold headed cane and wears gold breast pins and finger rings, and sports a heavy gold watch chain, he becomes the " observed of all observers." lie is considered the gayest of the gay, and lives sumptuously in pal- aces, aiid has a cart blanche to marry any one of the beiles of fashion on the Atlantic side. Aii the country appears to be in a ing 67 rage about sucli coxcombs. Big dinners and suppers, magnificent wedding parties and Government contracts, are given them, and most all persons are ready to consult and advise with such men about California. This shows just what dupes they are on the other side, and how little they know about the people of this country. Even the Government officers and most all the politi- cians around Washington, regard such coxcombs with si)ecial favor, although, they may have been considered here as the con- tempt of all wise men, and the admiration of fools, yet there they are, looked upon as oracles of Avisdom and worthy of all acceptation. If a jdain citizen of California goes to the Atlan- tic States on a visit, he is passed by and cast aside by and for these men. He is supposed not to know anything about the Pa- cific coast — is looked upon as a laborer, a miner, or a plain farm- er with no influence, and therefore, worthy of no consideration. Such men are made to appear also as bogus Callfornians ; while the coxcombs are pui down as Callfornians, par excellence, al- though many of them may have had to " leave their country for their country's good." CHAPTER XII. Some sixteen years since, Daniel Webster in the Senate of the United States, offered a resolution to that body, in which he pro- posed that the General GovornnuMit should make some nrrange- ment with the Government of Mexico, for the privilege of using the harbor and Bay of San Francisco, for the use and benefit of our merchant and whaleships in the North Pacific, and also as a rendezvous station for our ships of war. This proposition failed to receive any serious consideration at the hands of Congress, or the Federal Executive. At that time, but few of our statesmen had paid any attention to the condition of our Territories on the Pacific coast, and our commerce on this ocean. Indeed, they knew comparatively nothing of the condition, resources, and com- mercial inUuence of the numerous and p' pulous nations iidmbit- ing the shores and islands of the Paciiic. There were but few, that did not scout the idea that the Government of the United 68 States, would ever extend its possessions on these distant shores, or wield any political or commercial influence on this ocean. Mr. Webster very frequently said, that our statesmen neglected too much the duty of studying the condition of their country, and un- derstanding the wants and necessities of those regions, remote from the seat of the Federal Government ; and for this rca:.on, he was always fearful that our Territories on the Pacific would be neglected and deeply wronged by the authorities in Washington. He, therefore, said that he would not be sur,)rised, nor could he blame us, if we should erect here, an Indeper. dent Republic of our own. In 1846, the whole country was agitated from centre to circum- ference, growing out of our difficulties with Great Britain, in reference to tlie settlement of the boundary line between the Ter- ritories of Oregon and the Territories of the Hudson Bay Com- pany, on the Pacific. During the discussion of this subject in Congress, the most of our loading statesmen looked upon our possessions on this side of the continent, as of no earthly value or consequence to the Union. They, therefore, rather than have any farther dispute and difficulty with Great Britain about these possessions, abandoned our just claim to the line of 64 deg. 40 min., and for which we had contended for nearly half a century, and p greed to accept, as a final compromise, the line of 4!) deg. At the close of the late war with Mexico, we acquired, among other territory, the present State of California. When this treaty was presented to the Senate for its ratification, a large number of the members of that Kugust body, even considered the acquisition of this now young giant State of the Pacific, as of ny very great consequence to the North American Republic. They t'lid not be- lieve that it would add anything of importance to the commerce, resources, revenues and power of the country. How have tliese men been deceived ! What a change has not California already wrought in the financial and commercial affairs of our own coun- try, as Avell as in almost every other part of the world I Why, California is now the fourth net postage revenue paying State in the Union, .md the fifth tarilT revenue paying State to the Treasury of the United States, — and yet she has not had an independent existence but a little over six years. In another port of this book, we have shown what she has done for the Atlantic States and the world, and what she is still doing for them and for G9 among herself. Is it not strange, in consideration of these facts, that the Federal Government should exhibit such a parsimonious and niggardly feeling towards this State ? To show how little the autliorities in Washington understand and appreciate their own, as well as our interests in this country, wo will give two striking instances, which have recently come under our observation. After the new Custom House and Appraiser's buildings were erected, it was deemed by the Collector, and other officers of the lleveuuc service, that they should be enclosed by a substantial fence. They therefore addressed t\u Secretary of the Treasury on this subject. After mature deliberation, that distinguished lunctionary concluded that they should be enclosed, if the expense of doing so did not exceed /om/- hundred dollars ! What a gener- ous-minded old fogie Mr. Guthrie must be ! Why, four hundred dollars, in this country, would not be more than enough to pur. chase the rough timber necessary to enclose it. We will give another. Among the bogus grants confirmed by the recent Board of Land Commir^i^ioners, were those of the renowned Limantour, for about ten million of dollars worth of pro])erty, within the limits of San Francisco, — including Rincon Point, on which is located the United States Marine Hospital. Also, two separate grants for Alcatrass Island, on which arc erected fortifications and a light-liouse, and the Farriillaonc Islands, on which is likewise erected a light- house. Now, here is property of the United States, valued at ])erliaps something like four millions and a half of dollars, which the Federal Government stands in inimincnt danger of losing al- together, and yet, the authorities in Washington ai-e com])arative- ly giving themselves not .he least concern about it. The citizens of San Francisco, who have been placed also in innninent danger by the conlirmation of these Limantour titles, have subscribed between lifteen and twenty thousand dollars, and ouiployed three able lawyers, to resist the coiilirnnition of these titles by the Uni- ted States District Court of Nortiiern (^'alifornia, and the Su- preme Court of the United States. Considering the amount o'" property the Government had involved in these suits, the citi/cns of San Francisco, and the Federal officers in California, invited tlie authorities in Washington to co-oi)erate with theui. They icplied to our peoi)le, that they would consent to employ assist- ant counsel to co-ojjeratc with them, provided he would not charge 70 the Government a fee over fve hundred dollars ! Is it possible that those who administer the Government of tlie United States, are so i,i>;norant of California as to make such a proposition as this ? Why, the meanest pettifogger in California would feel in- sulted by it. By this proposition, the Government proposes to employ a counsel to fight this Linmntour case, to employ all his time for perhaps two or three years, to contest its confirmation through the United States District Court for Northern California, and to assist the Attorney General of the United States to pre- vent its confirmation by the Supreme Court at Washington, and yet it expects tliis counsel to do all this for five hundred dollars ! The fact is, the Federal Government expects our people to protect its property, and it will no douljt abuse us if wo do not. We are threatened, at this time, on all sides, — with a war with one or two large European Powers, and with very grave difficulties in Cen- tral America, — and yet the Government is not even willing to take the proper stejis to defend tlie title to the property on which its own fortilications, and other public buildings, are erected in California. Such conduct is enougii to bring the blush of shame to every American. It is but proper to admit tliat we have brought many of these difficulties upon ourselves. We have forgotten our duty to this part of the country, arising from the strong disposition on the ])art of our public men, of all partirs, to keep in with each reign- ing Administration in Washington, and the politicians on ilie other side of the continent. Owing to this very fact, the aathori- ties in Wasliington have always treated the Pacific coast with the most marked contempt. The State of California has only four votes in the Presidential Electoral College, and the adjacent Ter- ritories none whatever, and for this reason, California is a ma[tcr of very little concern to Presidential aspirants and President makers. It is a well known fact, that j)oliticians deal in votes as morchunis do in merchandise. Tlie interests and welfare of Cali- fornia, therefore, will never connnand respect and attention, when they come in conllict with those Stales Avhieh can out vote her. We must, therefore, make the Government of the United States respect our demands, by some stronger power than the mere four votes we are entitled to give for the election of a President. The Federal CJovernment, as well as the States on the other side of the continent, are now de})endent upon us, and we will have to W n f these to this on the re i •^li- on liie ithori- \h the y four ut Tcr- nialtcr si(hmt otO? 513 Cali- 1, wlion to hor. States re four . The side of lavo to test their patriotism and sense of justice for us, by influences more i)otcnt than votes. The pocket nerve is more sensitive, with politicians, than the most sensitive nerve of their bodies. When that is touched, they can become patriotic very suddenly. Here is our strong point, and we must make it tell. The most of our politicians have greatly impaired their influ- ence and standing in this State, by becoming the apologists or defenders of the policy and course of the Government of the United States towards the Pacific coast. The Hon. William M. Gwin, who has been one of the most efficient and effective men from tiiis State in Congress, has damaged his prospects on the Pac'fic coast immensely, owing to the very fact that he has had great infl'ieiicc with the " Powers That Be," in the Federal City. No mai doubted his ability, or his devotion to the State ; but many became fearful that his influence with the Government was too greai to be true, in all things, to California. This was the rock on which he partially foundered his future prospects in this State. Had he, from the «tart, resisted the aggressions of the Federal Govcrniiicnt towards Lliis country, his influence might have been omnipotent on the Pacific, at this time, and his standing in the country, as a public man, would have been as strong again as it is now ; while his influence Avith the authorities, in Washington, would not have been lessened one iota. Had he denounced the usurpation of the Government towards California, from the start, he would have held a jjosition, as a Senator from this State, that woultl have made him, with the people of the United States, (but not the ])oliticians,) on ) of the most prominent men in the country. We repeat, that this State has lost everything by being tied up to the political "dug-outs" and " bniigoes," in Washington. It is idle for the politicians of the Pacilic coast to think of sus- taining the " Powers That Be," in Washington, until we know how we aie to stand with them. No j)olitical party cjin long maintain an existence, in this country, that will give a in-eference to these old Washington rats, over the people of the Pacilic coast. Every pai'ty has had satisfactory proof of this fact. Every i)ub- lic man, therefore, who expects to remain here, and to possess the confidence and the support of the people, will have to take his position with this country, and stand by it to the last. Demo- crats, Ivnow-Nothings, and Republicans, will all find this to be the case, and ^he sooner they take their positions the better. Bo- 72 sides, tliey will lose notliing with the " Powers Tliat Be," in doing so. Indeed, instead of losing, they will coniinafiid the respect, if not the admiration of the authorities in Washington, and the people Oil the other side, by taking this position, and it is certain they will never be forgotten by the inhabitants of the Pacific coast, for their devotion to this country. In addition to all this, let us support no man for President who will not give the Pacific coast a Cabinet officer, and he must be a man whom all the peo- ple out here can trust. We need fear nothing, when wc are true to ourselves. When the people of the Pacilic coast are concerned for themselves, no one need be concerned for them. The Federal Government will do us justice, when it is satisfied that it can neither coax or drive us. When we take into consideration the strange and unnatural course pursued towards this country by the Parent Government, it is really astonishing how wo have been able to accomplish so much. Had it not been for our vast mineral wealth, we certainly would have been doomed to a state of wretchedness and distress, whif^,h no people perhaps on this continent have ever experienced. The authorities at Washington can never lay the flattering unc- tion to their souls, that to them California is indebted any thanks, for what she has done for herself, and for what good she has ac- complished, and for what benefits she has conferred upon our whole country. Had we on the Pacific coast, depended upon the Government of the United States for assistance, to aid in the de- velopment of our resources, and for increasing the commerce and pi'oducts of this country, we should have depended upon a broken reed. Indeed, instead of its seeking to })roteot and befriend us. it has acted towards us as if desirous to sink us to the dijcpest depths of despondency and humiliation. Had it succeeded in all of its plans for our injury, it would have only been necessary for it to crown its ignoble triumphs over us, by striking from the spangled banner the star that now glitters in the name of Califor- nia, and leave behind the stripe as a tit emblem of our degradation. From the facts narrated in the foregoing part of this work, it will be plainly seen that a majority of the statesmen, as well as a large proportion of the inhabitants of the Union, residing on the other side of the continent, have ever regarded our ])eople and country with evident indifference, if not contempt. TJiey can hardly realise the fact that California, so remote from the 78 scat of the Parent Government, can be, in fact, a co-equal mem- ber of the confederated States of North America. They ac- IcnoAvledge tliat we have a rich country, but they act as if they regarded us as being a foreign State, and our people a mere band of adventurers. It is about time that tliey should bo convinced of their error, and change their policy towards us, as the griev- ances of wliich we liave so very justly complained, if persisted in, may very greatly impair tlie brotherly union and harmony of these two great divisions of the North American Republic. CHAPTER Xlir. Let us see what our people have done for themselves, their country, and the entire civilized world, since they commenced laying broad and deep this new Anglo-American Empire on the Pacific. In the year 1848, we believe, the aggregate amount of bullion in the United States was officially reported, if we recollect cor- rectly, to be $130,000,000. Since then, tliere has been dug from the mines of California, by our hardy miners, about §400,000,000 in gold, and our mineral resources are admitted, by all wlio know the country, to bo inexhaustible. The average annual exports of the products of California, amounts to about §60,000,000. This amount is far greater than any other State in the Union annually exports, of its own jn-oducts. Indeed, it is almost as large as any two, of the old States of the Union combined, export of their own products alone. We have purchased and paid to our At- lantic brethren, for the products of their soil, merchandise, manu- factures, (fee, since we have occupied the shores of the Pacific, §250,000,000. We have increased the value of the real and per- sonal property of the Atlantic States, within the last six years, over §200,000,000. Within the same time, we have kept the Federal Treasury, from the products of our mines, overflowing with revenue, and within the same time, also, we have been the means of increasing the ship tonnage of the United States over twelve hundred thousand tons. Wo have saved the banks, and the importing merchants of the Atlantic States, from threatened 5* 74 pecuniary disasters, and our whole country from bankruptcy ; and we have protected the financial honor and credit of tliirf entire Union, both at home and abroad. Our people, by their own vol- untary labor and outlays, have constructed tunnels, canals, ditches, bridges and roads, at a cost of $85,000,000. We are now con- nected, by steamers, with the Pacific Ocean coast, in Nortli and South America, from Paget Sound in the North, to Talcahuana in the South. Besides this, wo have lines of j^ail vessels to all the principal commercial ports in the Pacifu!. AVithin the next five years, we will be connected with China, Ja])an, Australia and the Sandwich Islands, by lines of steamers, and Avith nearly every part of the globe by telegraph lines, whether the General Gov- ernment renders us assistencc or not. We shall also, by that time, have under way a good distance, (perhaps as far as Salt Lake, in Utah Territory,) with or without the aid of Congress, the great National Continental Railroad. Our foreign commerce, within the next fifteen or twenty years from this time, must become incalculably large. We have already entered upon a contest with the great maritime States of the world, for the commercial supremacy of the Pacific. If the Gov- ernment of Washington, and our brethren of the Atlantic States, refuse to grant to us the same facilities as arc and have been ex- tended to other parts of the Union, wo can and will maintain this contest single-handed. We have marked out our course, and we do not intend to take any step backwards. Two-thirds of the human race reside on the Islands, within and around the shores of the Pacific Ocean. Our position on this continent is such as to enable us to have access and intercourse with thcni during almost every month of the year. Our commerce is now sweeping across, in every direction, the broad main of this Ocean, and we shall soon hare it extended to every sea, bay, harbor, roadstead, and river connected with it. From 'the orient to the Occident, and from the icebergs of the Polar regions to the ver- dant plains of the Torrid zone, American commerce is now ox- tending its sway ; but in ho part of tlie world has it increased and progressed to such an extent, as it has done in the Pacific, since California became a part of the American Union. Instead of our State, therefore, being regarded with indiil'erence by the Government at Washington, and the people of the Atlantic States, we should be looked upon as the brightest star in the 76 galaxy of the Union — as the richest State in the tiara of our National rejoicing — as a State, " Great, frlorious nnil free, First pride of the Union, first gem of tiic sea." We rejoice in all the great achievnients of our country — in all her victories in war and in peace, whether on land or on sea. Her achievements in peace are no loss ronowncd than those of war. While we are united, we are strong, for " united wo stand, divided Ave fall." A glorious future awaits the destiny of our whole country, if we are but true to ourselves. The tonnage of our commercial marine exceeds, at this time, that of any otlicr power on the plobe. In this respect, Ave lead all the nations of the world. Our flag now floats on every sea and ocean, and long may it Avave, as an illustrious ensign ot the strength and the glory of our country. Who is there, that is a native of the Fast Anchored Isle, and is not proud of the magnitude of her acliievements and power? One of her greatest statesmen, Avhen alluding to licr stupendous sway, on land and sea, said of her, that " the sun never sets ujion her territories : that her military posts are dotted around the en- tire globe, and their morning drum-beat, following the course of the sun, sends forth continual strains of tlie martial airs of Eng- land," — and thus one of her most eminent of poets has iuunor- talizcd her in song — " Britannia needs no Imlwarks, No towers iiloiii; the strep ; Her lionie is on t!ie nioiintuin wave, Her [latlnvay on tlie deep." Why should Ave not, too, glory in the expansion of our coun- try's dominioriS, and her commercial triumphs on the ocean, as Avell as her i)eaceful SAvay among tlie nations of the earth. Let us aAvay Avith all sectional feeling ; aAvay Avith all political and geographical divisions ; aAvay Avith all national strife, and as men, and as Americans, let us look u})on our Avliole country, how- ever bounded, as still our country, to be defended with all our hearts and hands, as " the land of the free, and the home of the brave," and as possessing for us all, one home, one country, one constitution, and one destiny. We have now, one State and tAvo Territories on the Pacific, and if Utah may be considered as belonging to the Pacific por- tion of the Union, avc then have one State and three Territories. 76 In six years from lliis time, tliorc will l)c throe States formeil out of the Territories of Washington unci Oreuon. Three States can, and no doubt will, be funned out of California, and three out of Utah and a i)art of New ^Mexico. This Avill nuike nine States on the I'aeilic coast, and give us a representation in the United States Senate of eighteen Senators, and in the House of Rc'pre- sentatives at least twenty-live members. In the mean time, Low- er California and Sonora will as naturally full into our hands, as the ri])i' i)ear falls to the ground. When this takes jdaee, we will have ti. 00 more States on this side of the continent — being within one of the number of original States that secured the indepen- dence of America — that ordained and established the Federal Constitution, and that laid the foundations of the most enlight- ened and powerful Republic the world has ever seen. These twelve States will then give us twenty-four Senators, and some thirty-two members of the House of Representatives. The population of these Pacific States of America will number, by that time, not far from two millions and a half of souls. Wc will then have also a sea coast of over three thousand miles in extent, with some of the most safe, accessible, and s))aeious har- bors on the globe. For mineral and agricultural wealth, all this region of country exceeds that of any other jjortiou of the world. It is, indeed, a land of promise and abundance, for the enterpris- ing and industrious of all climes and all countries. No })eople, on any part of this great sphere wc inhabit, can boast of so salu- brious a climate, and so productive a country. The Past and the Present of the Paciiic 1 have but imperfectly presented, but the actual of the Future has yet to l>e seen. Yet» far in the distant future, I can distinctly liehold the generations that arc to follow us, rising into being ; and by their enterprise, I can see them establishing new civilized States and Territories, in this vast region of the world. I can see this mighty ocean, whose waters now wash our shores, covered with ships and steam- ers, sweeping along its broad main, and exchanging the ])roduets of Nations. I can see new temples dedicated to Almighty God, occupying the places of those where formerly stood temj)les dedi- cated to wood and stone. I can sec the public school house rising on those spots now consecrated to the war-dance and the funeral pyre. I can see and hear read the works of new statesmen, i)hi- losophcrs, biographers, historians and poets, who have recorded gn 77 the woiulorfiil events, tlie spirit and tlie patriotism of tlicir times, that thoy might breathe thoiti to a future aj^o. I can distinctly hear the cliihlren of the future, " in the vales and on the mount," joyously singinj^ sonj^s in praise of the freedom, dominion and glory of America. I can hear, npon each returning Fourth of July, the military hands playing the martial airs of this Land of the Free, for a peoi)le whos'> '•:,.,um3 are swelling with pride and delight. I can behold new countries, inhabited by a free, patri- otic, erdightened and energetic people, over which proudly lloats the stars and stri])es of the Union. I can distinctly see new ora- tors, in the halls of legislation, while maintaining and upholding the rights and interests of their country, holding their listeners in breathless attention, bv captivating them with their eloquence ; and I can hear, on each larly morn and dewey eve, the cannon's opening roar, from new American ramparts and fortilications, on and along the shores of this ocean. T':e child is even now born, Avho may behold these wondrous and glorious events. The triumphs which our people have already' achieved, is an index of what may be accomi)lished in the future. They have already overcome almost supcrhn''j,n difficulties and adversities ; and this, too, they have done, in the face of the most determined opposition against them, on the part of the General Government. Indeed, the difficulties they have overcome, and the many great deeds they have performed, arc truly wonderful. If wc shall continue to advance, for the next six years, as we have done for the six that is past, we will then exhibit a progress unparalleled in the world's great history. Our position and resources, as well as our progress in all that makes a people enlightened, wealthy and powerful, arc already the subject of surprise and admiration, both at home and abroad. But if we have made such vast pro- gress, within the last six years, what will be our condition Avithin the next six years to come, when we shall have, by that time, as Mr. Benton has said, " risen to the dignity of an Empire." The future of the Pacific must, therefore, form one of the most bril- liant, instructive and remarkable chapters in the history of human civilization. In coidusion, I beg to be allowed a few words personal to my- self. All the evils which have been inflicted upon this State by the Federal Government, I foresaw, and predicted through my paper, the California Courier, in 1850 and '51. would come upon us. 78 I rcsistoil tlicn, tlio sale and tho lease of tlio iiiiucral laiuln ; I re- sisted tlie cstalilisliincut of the IJoard of Land Conunissioncrn, and the onthiwini^ of tho tith's to our hinds ; I resisted tlio Assay Office swindle ; I resisted the poliey, of shipijini;' ont men, from tho Alhintici, to lill our ollices, ami to tn'owd the piont'ei's, fori know that they would aecnmulate all tlie money they could, and then leave us; I said then, that the authorities in Wasliinpjton, cared nothing al)ont California, but to plunder it ; I said then, that Congress would never con-ent to give us any continental road until we were determined to withhold the precious metals of this country, from the use of tho General (Jovernment, and the people of tho Atlantic States, or take some other means to strike terror into the hearts of our oppressors, and thank God, this evi- dence is on record. Every word I then wrote, has i)roved to ho true. During the whole of this time, however, I had almost to bite the dust, from my sti'aightened pecuniary circumstances. Mr. Collector King's ])olicy towards tho State, as avcII as that of a majority of the Federal Officers, in California, also, many of the members of Mr. Fillmore's Administration, and the members of Congres, was just the reverse of nunc, I was therefore pro- scriliod. When it was found, that neither money or offices would purchase my silence — would make me abandon ray position, then I was to be crowded to the wall, I asked from them no quarters) however, and I gave them none, although, from losses by four de- structive fires, and other adversities. Host all the money and ])ro- perty I possessed. The only regret; I had on account of these mis- fortunes, was tho fact, that some of my friends, also lost money by the disasters which befell mo. Let them not think that I have forgotten them. But, although the men who pursued me with such violence, and succeeded in making me poor, triumphed for a while, yet thank God, I have lived long enough to sec about all of them overwhelmed with discomfiture. They have all fled back to the Atlantic States, with their ill-gotten gains, while I am still here and " still live" to write the history of the past, and again to defend the interests and rights of this State, as well as to con- sign these once favorite minions and pets of Uncle Sam, in Cali- fornia, to merited oblivion and contempt. I am here, too, sus- tained by the proud consciousness that my course then, has been approved by the people of the Pacific coast, and theirs has been T9 coiulcmncd. Who, now has triiiinphod ? Capt. Macondray and othoi-rfaro still here also, who were then threatened, that if they gave their sui)i)ort to me, they shoidd siiilV't for it, and nearly every old Calilbrnian, who followed a legitimate business for siipitort, and wlio resisted then the encroaehments of tlic Federal (iovern ncnt u))on this State, (wlio arc living'^ are likewise hero, ready, as of yore, to defend their rights and property, and to vindicate tlio in- tegrity and independence of the State. The approbation, with wdiich the lectures, containing the sub- stance of this work, has been received )»y the public, has been a source of no ordiimry |)rido and gratillcation to me. Indeed, in consideration of this fact, I have considered myself justiliuble in adopting, on the conclusion of this work, tlie language used by the great Emmet, when on trial for his life, although his position and mine are vastly diflcront ; when his judges charged him with be- ing the keystone of the cond)ination of Irishmen, who had leagued together for the overthrow of the liberties of his country, ho re- idied, to his accusers by saying : — " My Lords you do me honor overmuch — you have given to the subaltern, all the honors of a superior." That I should feel proud of the approljution of my fellow-citizens for the course I have pursued ever since I have lived on the Pacific coast, and for the labors I have performed for this part of our country is but natural. Who could help it? But I am not vain, no: shall I be puffed up with conceit, should this work be approved by those for whose interest and welfare it has been written. I have made this country my permanent home. Here will I die, and here shall my body be buried. May that Good Providence •which lias so long preserved us a nation, continue to watch over, and to direct the destinies of our be- loved country, until that day shall come, when, as Mr. Calhoun has most beautifully expressed it, — " Heaven shall usher in the dawn of the earth's great jubilee." fS^