University Library University of California Berkeley 1*7 I l " Printed by the BEPUBLICAN STATE CENTBAL COMMITTEE of California. Campaign Document No. 8. SPEECH BY HARVEY S.BJIOWN, of San Francisco. CALIFORNIA AND THE DEMOCRACY. MR. PRESIDENT AND FELLOW-CITIZENS : A few week-? ,-siace, before the Republican Central Club of this city and county, I, among other things, sought to establish the fact that the Democratic party of the day was not that great and glorious party of the past, but had become sectional, aristocratical, and no longer the party of the people. For centuries past throughout the earth a continual contest has been going, on between the few and the many. At some periods and lo calities it has been a war between the crown and the people ; in others, as now in England, a contest between the titled nobility and the mass es. Our own country is not at all singular in this respect. At the inception of our govern ment the country was divided into two great parties : one, the Republican, under the leader ship of Thomas Jefferson, insisted that the aim of all governments should be to secure " the great est good to the greatest number ; " the other, under that brilliant leader, Alexander Hamilton, too much overlooking the wants of the governed, and dazzled by the pomp and splendor of a strong government, strenuously insisted for the rights of the governors. It would be a work of supererrogation to say more than that this was the same old contest, and that the people tri umphed. From that day until within the last decade the masses have been steadily advancing, when sud denly and unexpectedly they find themselves baf fled and disappointed their wishes thwarted by that party which claims to be the lineal descend ant of the old Republican party. Upon exam ining the legislation of that party, they find that it has departed from its course, has thrown away the good old Jeffersonian and Jacksonian charts, and now, instead of seeking how best to pro mote the welfare of the white man, is wholly oc cupied in perpetuating the enslavement of black men and the debasement of white labor. Their leaders also proclaim, in their speeches and writings, new and startling doctrines, to wit : that the free white men of the North, who earn their bread by the sweat of their brows who toil with their hands from " early morn to dewy eve" are "mudsills," "white slaves." Re member this, ye toiling millions! wherever your birth-place whether in the sunny South or frig id North ! Be ye laborers born in Erin or Italy, in France or Germany, or in whatever other spot on the face of the globe, remember that this is the doctrine of some of the High Priests in the temple of modern Democracy. Are you willing longer to perpetuate the power of those who call you names " white slaves " ? Look at the acts of the present Administra tion during the past four years, and what has it done but howl nigger, nigger, eternal nigger? Do a free people adopt a Constitution and ask admission into the Union as a sovereign State, they are excluded because they have no niggers. Do we ask a railroad from the Atlantic to the Pacific, we cannot obtain it because it would be unhealthy for niggers. Do we ask a daily over land mail, it is refused because it in no way ad vances niggers. Do we ask that a gift of one hundred and sixty acres of public land be made to every citizen, or foreigner who has declared his intention to become such, who desires a homestead, it is indignantly and peremptorily refused because it is wanted for the use of nig gers, because these measures do not please the 350,000 slaveholders who constitute the aristo cratic Democracy Democratic Senates and De mocratic Administrations oppose them. Why should a Californian vote for a Demo cratic nominee for the Presidency? What is he or the State to gain by so doing ? Are you in favor of the railroad? Do you want a daily overland mail ? Do you want a homestead as a gift, or do you prefer to buy it ? I address you, laboring men! You, heads of families! You, Germans, Irishmen, Frenchmen, Italians ! I ad dress you all white men of every clime ! Are you aware that a homestead bill has thrice passed the House of Representatives and been as many times killed by a Democratic Senate ? Are you aware that your Democratic President, James Buchanan, during the last session of Congress, vetoed the Homestead Bill and took from you, and you, sir all of you every voter in Califor nia a home of 160 acres of !and ? Go listen to Democratic orators go read their papers and documents ; you hear about niggers, read about niggers, until the eye and ear are "728-2. weary, but not one word of free homes. The very words nauseate a Breckinridge man. and words in favor of it in the mouth of a Douglas man would Mister the tongue, if there is any truth in the old saying, that "lies make a sore ]." What! Democrats ask for poor men's vhcnthey take from them /nnfxtt'ition of California, the Mexi-/ cans who held property here under theproviM'on.-- of the treaty of Gniidalnpn Hidalgo, were to b* protected in (he enjoyment and possession of the same as fully and completely as though thffe / had been no change of sovereignty. Under the Mexican system, land was granted by the league to citizens of that Republic. The population being sparse, and no market for the products of the soil, as well from inclination as necessity the people were in the main devoted to the rearing . of flocks arid herds, the hides and tallow of which furnished the only articles of export. Land, like everything else, was cheap in every section, a league being worth little if anything more than a quarter section now. The archives of the former Government were in the possession of the American authorites, in which was to be found the evidence or some evi dence at least of nearly every valid grant that had been made in California. Agents, learned in the law, were appointed to proceed to Califor nia, examine the archives, and report to the Government the quantity of land and to whom granted. These gentlemen, with great diligence and fidelity, performed the delicate duty assigned them, and made full and able reports, and though the great body of the then grants were clearly genuine and legal, and a few others were regard ed as doubtful, yet what think you our good Democrats did? You. naturally enquire, did they not discriminate between the two classes of grants, confirm by act of Congress those which were known to be just and proper, and litigate the others? No, instead of trying to purchase the grants of the claimants so as to make all the lands in the State public and open them up to settlement, instead of confirming by act of Con gress all those grants that were known to be bona fide and genuine, and settling titles so that the seller could give and the purchaser receive an indisputable' title, and allowing the claimants under grants which were from any cause consid ered invalid to litigate them only, they passed a law creating a Board of Land Commissioners, and, under the penalty of forfeiture, made it oblig atory upon all who claimed under Mexican grants to present and prove their claims before this Board, and gave the United States the right of appeal to the U. S. District Court, and from thence to the Supreme Court of the United States, after which, if the same should be confirmed, final ^ survey might be made and patent issued. The ingenuity of man never devised a more mis chievous and effectual plan to ruin both Califor- nians and Americans, than this law. Had a thun derbolt fallen among the old Calitbrnians it could not have more astonished and amazed them ; ignorant of our laws and language, they were compelled at once to employ counsel to prevent the confiscation of their estates ; this, though interesting to the legal fraternity, was far from palatable to the Californians. for the process usually reduced their ^ ranches, some times a few hundred acres, other times a quarter or a third, and often a half, by way of a fee ; traveling expenses from distant parts of the State to San Francisco and back, the expense of conveying witnesses and keeping them whilst waiting the law's delay, soon materially reduced their herds of cattle ai d menadas of horses, and finally, came confirmation or rejection, and which, mattered not, as they were compelled again to employ counsel in the U. S. District Court, for the United States appealed every case confirmed by the Board. This, of course, involved new expense and trouble, and required either money or more land. After passing the ordeal of that Court, they were often compelled the third time to em ploy counsel to see their cases safely through the Supreme Court. If finally confirmed there, and he had money enough left to pay the U. S. Sur veyor General for making the survey, (this was necessary during some years, because a Demo cratic Congress failed to make the necessary- appropriations,) he or his children after him might hope to have a glimpse of a patent written upon parchment with the great seal attached, which would doubtless excite some curiosity and wonder, but, practically, could be of little other use.for the lands therein so particularly described had long since passed into the hands of the spec ulator. How many, oh, how many of these grayg haired Californians who had lived independently all their days, are now homeless, landless, house less strangers in the land of their nativity their fortunes spent, not in procuring for them selves and families the comforts and luxuries of life, but wasted in litigation caused by the Demo cratic party that party which these old Califor nians have been taught to respect and vote for. Whilst this policy has proved so utterly disas trous to the California portion of the community, it has not been less baneful to the American por tion. Americans coming here saw large tracts of land unfenced, and, apparently, unoccupied, and, hoping that the lands were public, made haste to make their locations. Californians see ing intruders on their lands, warned them off, but they having located, and knowing the action of our Democratic Congress, and thinking that all or nearly all of the grants were or mi^ht be invalid, would neither move or buy. But the claim of ownership, in most cases, deterred them from making valuable improvements, for not a fruit or ornamental tree would they plant in the ground, not a fence or a house could they * but what the thought would unbidden come, "I may lose my improvements and labor/' and, in hundreds of instances, their houses were but huts and their fences but apologies. Thousands have spent years of time in constant dread and doubt, not daring to buy, fearing to improve, and spending their earnings in protracted and costly litigation. Bitterness of feeling was sometimes engendered between the contending parties, wrongs were committed, sometimes crimes and bloodshed,. and innocent wives and children have sometimes suffered by incarceration of their na tural protectors in prison for deeds of violence committed in the settlement of land titles, whilst others, unpunished by the law, have a dead man on their souls, destroying their peace and making life a hell. Where the claims are rejected, the set tler may then obtain his quarter section at Gov ernment price, but even then, counting the time and money spent, the vexations of litigation. and the postponing of his improvements, it will be in many cases dear. But if the claim is finally confirmed, as ninety-nine out of every hundred have been which had an expedients of the same in the archives, then he must either buy or lea vi' : !>ut to buy now he must pay live, ten, twenty, fifty, and sometimes a hundred times as much as he would have been compelled to pay had the title been settled when he first went up on it. This difference in cost is a part, though small portion, of the benefits of Democratic rule. But these are not a tithe of the evils of this pol icy. A few (and I am happy to say they are few) of the old Californiaus, seeing that all claims were subjected to the same trials and de lay, felt that to retaliate on the Government would not be amiss, so uniting themselves with a few unprincipled adventurers, they undertook to palm off fraudulent grants upon the Board ; these grants, though not very numerous, made up in the quantity of land claimed what they lacked in numbers. The effect of these frauds was to throw a cloud over nearly all the richest agricultural lands in the 'State, which, as a mat ter of course, retarded the natural growth of the whole State. Some of these frauds being detect ed, induced the belief in the minds of some, yes, thousands who were uninformed on the subject, that all or nearly all the grants in the State were bad ; hence, naturally, settlers made little if any discrimination in making locations. Other fraud ulent grants being confirmed, caused others to think that they might as well purchase one as another, and they were induced to pay large sums of money for titles worse than worthless. The title to a few millions of acres has been settled, but the cloud of uncertainty, like a pall, hangs over millions upon millions of acres of the best land in the State, the terror of both claimant? and settlers, and a nuisance to the people and State, the end of which will probably come about the time that the heavens are to be rolled to gether like a scroll. But this is not all : the De mocracy have again hoisted the flood-gates of litigation, which bids fair to very nearly if not quite to equal that which has preceded. Instead of allowinsr the U. S. Surveyor General to go upon the ground and there determine conflicts as to boundaries, and there fix the lines, and then allow the contestants to settle their disputes in a cheap, easy and speedy way, in the county where the land lies, in the courts of the State, the last Congress passed a law requiring the sur veys to be returned into the TJ. S. District Court, where a trial de novo as to boundaries may be had which may take years longer to determine, and, when finally ended, is not after all a finality, but may be again contested in the State courts. I charge then upon the Democratic party that they have disturbed the peace and retarded the growth of this country, have fostered litigation, distracted land titles, have caused frauds and perjuries, bloodshed and violence, have caused American citizens to buy and pay for worthless titles, and others to settle upon and contest bona fide titles, made them lose the labor of years and pay out their money in fruitless litiiration, and finally, have plundered and confiscated the es tates of old Californians, made them expend th'-ir all in contesting the law-suits that they have thrust upon them, made many of them houseless and homeless, reduced them to want and poverty, that they have wounded hearts, broken up fami lies, and violated the solemn obligations of treaties. I charge the present administration, through Attorney General BLACK, with the pub lication of untruths concerning California and land grants, in order to make political capital, and account for the disbursement of SI 00. 000 which he didn't spent in California. These, my friends, are some of the wrongs that California has suffered at the hands of the Democracy. Are not these truths, old Californians? Do you not feel them away down in your inmost souls? Americans, do you not knmv they are PO ? have you not felt, suffered, and paid enough on ac count of Democracy ? If so, remember the bal lot-box and the remedy ! 1 Our opponents have so much to say of slavery and taking negroes into the Territories, that it is scarcely possible to avoid alluding to the sub ject. All agree that Congress has no power over slavery in the States. The Breckinridge party insist that the owners of slaves have the right to take them into any of the Territories, and that neither Congress or the people of the Territory can prohibit it. The Douglas party claim that the will of the people of the several Territories is supreme unless the Courts decide otherwise, in which event that every department of the Government should protect the rights so deter mined. The Bell party have staked off a claim upon the Constitution, and as the lead is rather blind and not well defined, and. from a little prospect ing, seems inclined on the North of Mason and Dixon's line to run one way, and South of it to run another they insist on the priority of loca tion and possession, and aver the right to follow it and hold it, with all its dips, angles and spurs, though it lead heavenward or the reverse. The Republican party insist that the normal condition of the Territories is that of freedom ; that slavery is local, not national ; and that Con gress has full power, and that it is a duty which that body owes to free white men to prohibit slavery therein so long as it remains a Territory. The three first named parties most cordially unite in abusing the Republicans, and charge that it is a sectional party, being confined to the free States. One word on this point. We may be extremely unfortunate, but. nevertheless, we have been led to believe that under our Consti tution there are o,fcw other rights besides that of owning niggers. In the days of our childhood we were taught, and the reading of manhood has confirmed those teachings, that under that instru ment the citizens of the several States have the right to go wherever they please in this Union, that they may engage in any kind of lawful bus iness, may freely express their sentiments upon any and all subjects, may edit and publish news papers, religious or political, may receive news papers through the public mails, may buy, sell, and read books not immoral, work and vote for whatever candidate they please, and shall be se cure in their persons and property. I regret that these rights, in some of the Southern States of this Union, exist in the imagination only. In Carolina, an Irishman who expressed an opinion derogatory of the institution of slavery, was whipped and tarred and feathered. In Virginia a few Republicans raised a Lincoln and Hamlin pole and hoisted the flag of their party, and the aristocratic democracy looking upon these labor ing Republicans as white slaves, with force and violence cut it down. In Maryland a few simi lar poles are raised, and the aristocracy are greatly exercised, and threaten to give them a Virginia dose. In Texas, Gerftans who favor the rights of white men and talk of the wrongs of black men, are expelled the State. Throughout the entire South the mails are liable to examina tion, and if N. Y. Tribunes are found, they are burned. Scarcely anywhere in the South can a man express and avow Republican doctrines with safety to life and limb. The Legislature of Tex as during the last winter passed a law of which the following is an extract : "ART. 653. A. Any free person iwho shall publicly maintain that masters have no right of property in their slaves, either by speaking, writing, or print ing, shall be punished by confinement in the Peni tentiary not less than two nor more than four years. "ART. 653. B. Any free person who shall private ly or otherwise than publicly maintain that masters have no right of property in their slaves, with pur pose to bring the institution of slavery into disre pute in the mind of any free inhabitant of this State, or of any resident for the time being therein, shall be punished by confinement in the Peniten tiary not less than two nor more than five years." What a commentary on free institutions and a free government is this ! Imprisoned in the penitentiary not less than two years, and for what ? Once things were not thus. Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declar ation of Independence, in the original draft of that instrument, wrote : " HeJ[George III.] has waged cruel war against human, nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of a distant peo ple, who never offended him, captivating and car rying them into slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither. This piratical warfare, the opprobrium of infidel Powers, is the warfare of the Christian King of Great Britain. Determined to keep a market where men should be bought and sold, he has at length prostituted his negative for suppressing any legislative attempt to prohibit and restrain this ex ecrable commerce." Washington, the father of his country, said " his vote never would be wasting for the pas sage of a law to abolish slavery." He writes to John F. Mercer : " I never mean, unless some particular circum stances should compel me to it, to possess another slave by purchase, it being among my first wishes to see some plan adopted by which slavery in this country may be abolished by law." John Randolph says : " I give to my slaves their freedom, to which my conscience tells me they are justly entitled. It has a long time been a matter of the deepest regret to me, that the circumstances under which I inherited them, and the obstacles thrown in the way by the laws of the land, have prevented my emancipating them in my lifetime, which it is my full intention to do in case'l can accomplish it." Patrick Henry, the first great orator of the revolution, whose burning words thrilled like an electric shock through the hearts of the American people, said : " I believe a time will come when an opportunity will be offered to abolish this lamentable evil. Ev erything we can do is to improve it, if it happens in our day ; if not, let us transmit to our descend ants, together with our slaves, a pity for their un happy lot, and an abhorrence for slavery. If we cannot reduce this wished-for reformation to prac tice, let us treat the unhappy victims with lenity. It is the furthest advance we can make toward jus tice. It is a debt we owe to the purity of our re ligion, to show that it is at variance with that law which warrants slavery." Again. Mr. Jefferson declared, in 17T4:' " The abolition of domestic slavery is the great est object of desire in these colonies, where it was unhappily introduced in their infant state." And at a later period of his life, as the re sult of more mature experience, he says : " Nothing is more certainly written in the book of fate, than that these people [the negroes] are to be free ; nor is it less certain that the two races, equally free, cannot live in the same government. Nature, habit, opinion, have drawn indelible lines of distinction between them. It is still in our pow er to direct the process of emancipation and depor tation, and in such slow degrees as that the evil will wear off insensibly, and their place be, part passu, filled up by free white laborers. If, on the contrary, it is left to force itself on, human nature must shudder at the prospect held up." JMflcilOJ These revolutionary heroes this founder of Democracy the idol of the people of these States down to the last decade this old-fash ioned Republican, Thomas Jefferson, were he and Washington and Henry and Randolph on a visit to Texas in the year A. D. 1860, and heard to utter these old sentiments, they would be consigned to a prison and confined with male factors and felons. God pity the people God save the country. Such language, yea, much less than this, now these aristocrats say is in cendiary and exciting to the slaves. How is this? It did not in former times excite them, and why should it now ? Is it not their con stant boast that the slaves are contented and happy; much more so, indeed, than the free laborers of the North ? How then can they get excited ? No ; 'tis not an insurrection among the slaves that they fear, but one among the voters the poor the laboring white men in their midst an insurrection at the ballot-box, which might overturn and destroy this lordly aristocracy which has planted its iron heel, if possible, more firmly on th'e poor white man's neck than that of the ebon slave. Let the la boring white men of the South understand that it is not abolition or slave insurrection that the Republicans want, but the elevation of our own race, and there is not a Southern State that would not soon become intensely Republican. Who is to blame that there are few Republicans in the South ? Certainly not Republicans, but rather the violence of the aristocratic Democracy. 6 The great body of the people are honest, though often deceived by the wiles of the dem agogue; but their impulses are right, and the " second sober thought " rarely fails to rectify error. That thought is now upon, among, and moving the people of this great nation, and when November conies it will take form and voice will sweep through New England, cross the Alleghenies. speed along the great lakes, sweep down the Ohio, bound over the father of rivers, skim over the plains of Kansas, pass by the Mormon prophets, mount the Sierra N da, come thundering down California's aixl Or egon's canons, and proclaim to a listening world that we are yet free. REPUBLICAN STATE CENTRAL COMMITTEE. Office, 163 Clay Street, San Francisco. B. W. HATHAWAY, WM. RABE, F. B. FOLGER, GILBERT A. GRANT, HENRY BAKER, JOHN SATTERLEE JOHN T. McLEAN, JACOB SHEW, AUSTIN SPERRY. B. W. HATHAWAY, Chairman. F. B. FOLGER, Treasurer. WILLIAM RABE, Secretary. The Committee request full returns of Clubs to be sent to their office. Campaign Document No. 11. POLITICAL PEOSPECTS IN CALIFORNIA. The entire vote of this State in 1856 was* 110,- 221. We do not anticipate that it will be mate rially increased this year. Owing to the distracted, state of the Democratic party, it is probable that many will nof vote at all, and hence it is reason- able'to conclude that the vote of the State will not exceed in round numbers 110,000. We be lieve that any candidate who shall get 38,000 out of this 110,000 votes will carry the State After deducting some 10,000 votes from the sum total, which the foolish old gentlemen intend to throw away on Bell and Everett, there will be 100,000 votes to divide up among Lincoln, Breck- inridge and Douglas ; 33,333 would be an equal division. If Lincoln can carry 38,000, we believe the remainder will be so equally balanced be tween Douglas and Breckinridge that the State will be safe enough for honest Abraham. That Breckinridgo will lead Douglas largely we do not question, but after deducting the 38,000 votes for Lincoln, and 10,000 for Bell, it will leave but 62,000 for the other two. Supposing that Breck- inridge gets 36.000 of these, it leaves but 21,000 for Douglas, which will be full as many as he can get. But Lincoln's vote will not be limited to 38,000. In 1856 Fremont got 20,691 votes. This vote will unquestionably be doubled for Lincoln this year. In this city it may not be thought it will be largely increased. The vote for Buchanan in San Francisco in 1856 was 5,332; for Fremont 5,089 ; being a plurality of 243 for Buchanan. Lin coin will this year have at least 3,000 majority There are at least 1,500 of the old friends o Broderick who will vote for Lincoln, who never before voted the Republican ticket. This alone would make a change of 3,000 in the result. But there arc a great many others who were noi Broderick men that have never yet been Repub licans, who will vote for Lincoln, so that we are clearly within bounds when we put Lincoln's plurality in this city at 3,000. In Sacramento the change will be still greate: n proportion to the vote. There Fremont got ut 941 votes. This year Lincoln's vote will loubtless exceed two thousand. .In fact we are ssurecl that in every county where any effort las been made to ascertain what the Republican e will probably be, (excepting only San Fran cisco,) the Republican vote will be doubled. In act we do not see, if there is any reliance to be )laced on statements that come to us well authen- /icated, how that Lincoln's vote throughout the State can fall short of double that which Fremont received. This would give him 41,382, and that s the least vote that Lincoln will receive. In many - of the smaller counties his vote will be ten times that received by Fremont in 1856, and n fact there is no earthly power that can pre vent his carrying the State. But, to make assurance doubly sure, we have prepared the following table of votes thrown ha 1856 for Buchanan, FUlmore and Fremont. Op posite the name and vote of each county we have left a blank space to be filled in by the residents of different counties of the estimated votes that will be cast this year. Now if our friends in the different counties will take the pains to inform themselves by means of the various- club rolls, and all other available means, what will be the probable vote this year, and send the table filled out with their estimated results to the State Central Committee, they will be able in the course of two or three weeks to tell just about how the State will go ; and also, if they find that any district or State will not do so well as anti cipated, to send in the documents and speakers to arouse them and bring out the full Republican strength. We beg to assure our friends in the interior that it is of very great importance that they at tend to the filling out of those tables. Ascertain your strength in your own counties, and let us know how many votes you will throw for Lin coln and Hamlin. Send your estimated returns to the State Central Committee, and then the way is easy and the work open before us. [8] PRESIIM-:NTIAL VOTE IN 1856. PRESIDENTIAL VOTF IN 1860. riKs. HucliiUiau Fillmoro Fremont Lincoln Douglas Breck'ge BelL Linc'ln gain 729 It 84 2501 3616 289 487 4048 218 204 832 721 350 1254 249 267 444 3500 2808 1124 3438 314 173 5332 282 1285 83 '176 576 320 1537 2506 2073 799 1515 436 491 436 1011 248 2936 553 2451 2 1 :; 1557 1702 1504 305 288 2956 123 191 440 135 82 772 124 169 341 2238 2096 865 3386 7 38 1598 113 1040 15 10 673 288 1083 2205 1791 634 498 228 347 311 882 139 2112 583 2081 723 657 744 562 18 188 1391 1 103 82 521 151 165 14 220 157 1462 992 217 941 93 18 5089 238 548 107 183 809 196 169 . 693 464 189 382 21 92 44 188 23 1056 130 650 i ^.ma-dor Butte Calaveras .' Contra Costa Kl Dorado Frezno llumboldt Los Angeles Marin . . .... Mariposa MLTCIKI Js'apa Jsfvada Placer Plumas Sacramento San Bernardino San Die^o San Francisco San "Nlateo San Joaquin San Luis Obispo Santa Barbara Santa Clara S'int'lCruz Shasta Sierra Solano Sonoma & Mendocino. . Tehama Trinity Yolo Yuba TCnfViinan 53,365 Fillmore 36,165 Fremont.. 20 > 691 Total.. no > 221