USA > California > San Francisco County > San Francisco > A history of the city of San Francisco; and incidentally of the state of California > Part 12
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themselves the majority of the adventurers from their country, were outnumbered by others, so that the French became one of the prominent features of the population of California; and even now, after a con- tinuous decrease of the French residents for nearly a quarter of a century, San Francisco has yet relatively more Frenchmen than any other city in the Union save New Orleans.
They were at a great disadvantage as compared with the British, Irish, Germans and Scandinavians, because as a class they did not learn English, and they would not be naturalized. Most of them went to the mines, but in several of the camps where they were most numerous they were attacked by bands of ruffians and robbed of their claims, the demagogue of- fice-holders refusing to protect men who had no votes.
The expulsion of the French miners from many of their claims was most unfortunate for California, since if they had been protected and encouraged, the im- migration from France would have been large and continuous, giving to the country a class of people who would have been of great value to its agriculture and commerce, as well as to its mining. Those who came contributed not a little to the industry of San Francisco, where most of them collected after the outbreaks at the diggings. Few of them knew any mechanical trade at which they could earn much money, and on account of their ignorance of English they were excluded from occupations which they could otherwise have pursued with profit. Sev-
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eral thousand of them were dissatisfied, and though generally peaceable, they offered excellent material for some desperate enterprise.
SEC. 92. Raousset. Gaston de Raousset Boulbon, a count by birth, a native of Provence, thirty-five years of age, thought he could give them congenial employment that would accrue to his own honor and to the benefit of his country. He knew the sting of disappointed ambition. Notwithstanding his noble title, excellent education and superior talents, after coming to California almost penniless, he had been in the mines, then fisherman, hunter, stevedore and shoveller of sand, and had not, in any capacity, ob- tained more than a scanty compensation. He thought Sonora was a field suitable for himself and his adven- turous countrymen in California. Here they were subordinate and powerless; there they might obtain dominion. It was supposed and confidently asserted that the basin of the Gila was as rich in gold as the western slope of the Sierra Nevada, and it was known there were, besides, many silver mines fully opened, and wanting nothing but the expulsion of the Apaches to enable the Mexicans to render them productive within a few months.
He spoke to his friends of organizing a party of Frenchmen to settle in Sonora, and they encouraged him. In the latter part of 1851 he went to Mexico, where he was received with much favor by Levasseur, French minister, under whose counsel a company called the restauradora, or restorer, was organized, to occupy
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and work the mines of Arizona. President Arista approved the plan of the company, promised to assist it, and advised capitalists to take stock in it. Many of the mines to be occupied were well known by name and reputation, but they had long been abandoned. The fame of the richness of these mines, the opinion that Sonora exceeded all other portions of Mexico in its mineral wealth, the promise of governmental pro- tection, and the advice of the French minister induced the banking house of Jecker, Torre & Co., which had French sympathies, to contribute a large part of the funds needed for the undertaking.
With this aid Raousset returned to San Francisco, and found no difficulty in gathering followers. He was required by his contract with the government to take at least one hundred and fifty armed Frenchmen to Sonora but he took two hundred and fifty, landing at Guaymas on the tenth of June. Instead, however, of being welcomed with open arms by the local author- ities, as he expected, there was a feeling of ill-con- cealed hostility. Soon after he left the capital, intrigue had been commenced to prejudice the administration and the people against him. The English feared the dominance of French political influence, and the con- trol of the treasure shipments and foreign commerce of Mexico by French merchants. Some Mexicans were afraid the French would repeat in Sonora the game which the Americans had played in Texas. Assertions were made that Raousset had told his friends that he intended to establish a colony that
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would be of more value to France, and that would at- tract more French settlers than Algeria. If the pres- ident, Arista, was not convinced, he at least became apprehensive, and authorized a company, headed by the wealthy British banking house of Barron, Forbes & Co., to take the same mines which had been previ- ously set apart for the French company.
SEC. 93. Fighting in Sonora. General Blanco, Governor of Sonora, doubtless followed instructions from the capital when he refused to fulfil the condi- tions of the French contract, but he acted as if he had a personal grievance, and as if the entrance of anybody into his state with an independent command was an insult to himself. He was mean as well as hostile. He attempted to get the French commander away from his men, and finding that he could not suc- ceed by that kind of treachery, he sent word on the twenty-eighth of August, when Raousset was at Saric, near the northern frontier, that the Frenchmen must enter the Mexican army, take out letters of se- curity as aliens without the right of owning any mine or real estate, or reduce their military organization to fifty men under a Mexican commandant. All these demands were submitted to the adventurers in mass meeting, and were instantaneously, indignantly and finally rejected, with the declaration that they would fight to the last rather than submit to any one of them. So soon as the governor of Sonora learned their reply, he sent word to the local authorities near Saric that the French were not to be recognized as the owners or lawful occupants of any mines.
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On the sixth of October, Raousset, seeing that nothing could be done where he was, started for the capital of the state, determined to see what could be done there. If he had submitted without protest to the gross insults offered, and pecuniary wrongs done by the Mexican officials, he could have left the coun- try in peace, but neither he nor his men felt like sac- rificing a point of honor, as well as of business inter- est, for the sake of avoiding danger, so they marched gallantly and gaily to the chief city of the state, stopping for several days at Magdalena to enjoy the amusement of a religious festival and a large popular gathering. They were a jolly set of fellows, and made friends with the common people there and at all other places where they stopped.
They entered Hermosillo on the morning of the fourteenth of October, driving out Governor Blanco and his twelve hundred soldiers, who had a defensive position selected in advance, the shelter of thick adobe walls, and all the advantages of fighting among their own people. Blanco had a narrow escape from cap- ture. Raousset was now in possession of the chief city of Sonora, and he determined to hold the state with the assistance of those inhabitants friendly to him and hostile to the central government. He con- sulted several influential citizens, who promised to aid him, and they told him they would organize a general revolt. He depended upon them, and they did noth- ing-probably they never intended to do anything. Before he could discover their inefficiency or bad faith,
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dysentery, with which he had been troubled before, became severe, and reduced him to a helpless condi- tion. None of his subordinates was capable of lead- ing the party, and they could not maintain themselves where they were, so they marched to Guaymas, carrying their commander in a litter. Arrived at the port, they made a treaty with Blanco, he paying forty thousand dollars, and they leaving Sonora. They returned to San Francisco, where they learned that the news of the battle of Hermosillo had been re- garded throughout California as the conquest of Sonora, and thousands of Frenchmen would soon have gone to their aid. A party of six hundred men, well provided with arms, was ready to sail.
Raousset, who was not a party to the treaty, so soon as able to move, went from Guaymas to Mazatlan, and thence to San Francisco, where he was received with distinction, his men giving him high praise for courage, capacity, generosity, and considerate attention to their feelings and mate- rial wants, declared themselves ready to follow him again. All the dissatisfied Frenchmen in Califor- nia hoped that he would make another trial with better luck the next time. He was determined to make another effort; he had wrongs to avenge, he had convinced himself that a considerable party in Sonora would favor independence, and he believed that, with his reputation, all that was necessary for success was a good start.
He was encouraged by Dillon, French consul in
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San Francisco, and affairs in Mexico turned in his favor. President Arista was dethroned in January, 1853, by Ceballos, he by Lombardini in February, and he by Santa Anna in April. In June, under an invitation from Levasseur, Raousset went to Mexico, where Santa Anna received him with favor, promised to compensate him for the injustice done by Arista, and made a contract with him for the introduction of a company of five hundred armed Frenchmen into Sonora. They were to receive one hundred and eighteen thousand dollars a month as regular pay, besides fifty thousand dollars in advance, for trans- portation and equipment. The contract was written out, approved by the council, signed by Santa Anna, and then annulled by him. To pacify the ambitious Frenchman, he offered him the command of a regi- ment in the Mexican army, but Raousset refused, and wrote a note to the president stating that he had come not so much for his own gain as to get justice for the Frenchmen who had been defrauded by the Mexican government, and hinted plainly that Mexi- cans are liars. He returned to San Francisco to find that in the meantime a filibustering party of Ameri- cans under Walker had left San Francisco to seize Sonora. If they should get hold of the prize for which he had been scheming, there would be no chance there for France. He could not afford to waste any time.
SEC. 94. Obstacles. Raousset and his poorer friends had before vainly appealed repeatedly to all the French
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capitalists of San Francisco for aid in seizing Sonora for France, but now three houses came forward and subscribed three hundred thousand dollars, enough to arm and transport one thousand five hundred men and maintain them till they could get control of the rev- enues of Sonora. Before any of the money thus sub- scribed was paid, a report was published that the American government had bought Sonora, and though not generally credited, there was good reason to be- lieve that the Washington cabinet was negotiating for the cession of at least part of Sonora. The capitalists would advance no money under these circumstances.
While matters were in this position, Santa Anna, frightened by the proceedings of Walker, and consid- ering the French the only secure protection against the American filibusters, instructed Del Valle, the Mexican consul at San Francisco, to send three thou- sand Frenchmen to settle as a military colony in So- nora. This order filled Raousset with ecstacy. The Mexican government, at its own expense, was provid- ing for him far more than he demanded for his tri- umphs. He told his men to go, and in a few days eight hundred had applied to Del Valle and had been accepted. But the friends of the filibusters were not indifferent to this danger. They saw that if these Frenchmen should get secure foothold in Sonora, no room would be left there for Walker, slavery or an- nexation. The federal attorney in San Francisco had Del Valle and Dillon arrested, and the " Challenge " seized for violating the neutrality laws of the United
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States. There was much doubt whether those laws had been violated, but there was no doubt that the charge must be made if the Frenchmen were to be headed off. It succeeded. The "Challenge " sailed on the twentieth of April with three hundred col- onists, but many of them were men whom Raousset would not have taken, and few others followed. The delay gave time to Santa Anna to see that there was no serious danger in Walker, and to recover from his scare. He felt grateful to the American authorities for protecting him against the three thousand French- men. Raousset was in despair. The American offi- cials would permit no emigration of French military colonists, and there was no other way of getting the force needed to establish French authority in Sonora. Louis Napoleon, though solicited for aid, had refused. If a great conquest was to be made for France, it must be made by the three hundred who went in the " Challenge." Some of them had gone at Raousset's request, and with the assurance that he would follow, so he determined to go. He saw that in all proba- bility the venture would be fatal to him, but there was a remote possibility of conquering for France not Sonora alone but all Mexico, and with that purpose distinctly avowed to a few friends he left San Fran- cisco, in a sloop of ten tons, on the night of May twenty-fourth. He made his departure in the dark- ness to avoid arrest, for he had been informed that a warrant had been issued against him for violating the neutrality laws.
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SEC. 95. End of Raousset. It was his plan to land in secret, join the "Challenge " party, seize Guay- mas or some other sea-port town and wait for reinforce- ments from San Francisco, or a revolution in his. favor in the interior. His arrival was announced be- fore he landed, so Gen. Yañez in command at Guay- mas, where the "Challenge" party had remained, could not be taken by surprise. Raousset went ashore and was received politely. The Mexicans anticipated trouble. When the French went out into the streets they were assailed by the populace. Yañez had a regiment of Mexican soldiers, and on the morning of the thirteenth of July more troops arrived from the interior, raising his force to twelve hundred men, and it was reported that eighteen thousand were to arrive the next day. The French would not wait to be attacked. They went to the house where Raousset was, called on him to lead them. He refused to take command, but joined them in a disastrous attempt to storm the Mexican barracks. After a hundred had fallen, the remainder surrendered, under a promise by the French consul on behalf of the Mexican authori- ties that the lives of all should be spared. The con-
ditions first offered to the French included life to all save Raousset, if they would lay down their arms, but they refused, and then the exception was with- drawn. Notwithstanding this explicit promise, Raous- set was shot on the twelfth of August, dying with free hands, open eyes, and a firm countenance. Of these we are told by witnesses of his execution; and
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that his heart was gay we learn from his letters writ- ten on the night before his execution. As one of his biographers says, "he was a Cortez slain at the begin- ning of his enterprise." He had the material but not the opportunity for a great conqueror. If he had re- ceived a little assistance from Louis Napoleon he might and probably would have done far more for France in Mexico than Maximilian did ten years later. His death was the end of the scheming among the Frenchmen of San Francisco for the conquest of Sonora.
SEC. 96. 1853. In 1853, the gold exportation culminated at fifty-five millions, as officially reported, though the yield of the placers had probably reached its highest point in the previous year. Mining being the chief industry, and the one upon which all others depended, everything was affected by its decline, which, however, was not generally understood or discovered by merchants and bankers in San Fran- cisco till the close of the year, and even then many of them were not fully convinced. There was a decrease in the rate of wages; and for the first time there was a large return migration to the Atlantic states, so that the gain of population by sea was only three thousand, or at least seventeen thousand less than in any of the previous four years. At the same time there was a great falling off in the immigration by land, and it did not again approach its previous mag- nitude until after the railroad had been completed.
The period within which Mexican land grants had
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to be filed in the land commission under penalty of con- fiscation of the title, expired in March, and as the spec- ulation in city land had been the source of much wealth, and was looked to for much more in the fu- ture, the citizens were not a little concerned to find that two claims had been filed for nearly everything south of California street, and a third one claimed eight hundred acres in the district south of Market and west of Second street. While the Limantour, Santillan and Sherreback claims covered three deep much of the best upland, the " Peter Smith men," as the purchasers at the sheriff's sale in the previous year were called, were trying to seize a strip six hundred feet wide outside of the permanent water front, by the help of the legislature, and Governor Bigler. In-
tense indignation prevailed among the citizens against the proposed fraud, and after it had passed the assem- bly, it was defeated in the senate by the casting vote of Lieutenant Governor Purdy. Notwithstanding Bigler's efforts in favor of the extension bill, and his great unpopularity in San Francisco, he was renomi- nated under the influence of Broderick, who had ob- tained a predominant influence in the Democratic con- ventions of the city and state. The chivalry poli- ticians hated Broderick and Bigler, and many of them voted against the latter; so the former, as chairman of the state committee, published an address to the peo- ple, denouncing them as traitors to the party.
The real estate prices, which had been rising rapidly since the fall of 1848, culminated in December, 1853,
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when two full blocks, known as the " city slip," be- tween Clay and Sacramento streets, east of Davis, were sold at public auction. This land was intersec- ted by the wharf of Commercial street, and included lots then believed to be among the most valuable sites for business houses in the city. Montgomery, between Pacific and Pine, had now become the street of the most elegant stores; Stockton street and Rincon Hill had the most costly residences.
The construction of the plank road on Folsom street to the Mission, gave access to an extensive area previously, on account of the sand hills and swamps, inaccessible for wagons. Russ's garden, on the corner of Sixth and Harrison streets, became the first popu- lar suburban Sunday resort. The erection of a tele- graph line to Point Lobos, and the connection of the wires with the Merchants' Exchange, led to the aban- donment of Telegraph Hill as a station for signaling vessels. An electric telegraph brought the city into instantaneous communication with San José, Stockton, Sacramento and Marysville. The Metropolitan thea- ter on the west side of Montgomery street, between Washington and Jackson, one of the largest and most elegant buildings of the kind in the United States, and the Union theater on Commercial street, above Kear- ny, offered opportunities for dramatic performances, in addition to the American theater on Sansome street, and the Adelphi, occupied by a French company, on the west side of Dupont, north of Clay. The First Unitarian church on Stockton street, between Clay
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and Sacramento, and the First Congregational church on the south-west corner of Dupont and California, were completed, and St. Mary's cathedral was com- menced on the corner diagonally opposite. These were three of the leading congregations of San Francisco at the time, and the situation of their buildings was in the vicinity of the fashionable residence district. Other notable events of this year were the sailing, of Walker's expedition to conquer Sonora and Lower California, the foundation of the Mercantile Library, the adoption of a comprehensive system of grades, the erection of Montgomery block, and the election of C. K. Garrison to the office of mayor.
SEC. 97. City Slip Sale. In December the city council passed an ordinance to sell the city slip water- lots-they were covered by the bay, some of them to a depth of twenty-five feet at low tide-in the two blocks bounded by Clay, Sacramento, Davis and East streets. This slip had been set apart by ordinance for a public dock, but it was evident, after Commercial, Clay and Sacramento street wharves had been built out, that the place would soon fill up, and the project to sell was, therefore, a wise and proper one. The council consisted of two boards, each containing eight members, one for each ward. The ordinance to sell having received a majority in the board of aldermen, and four out of seven votes in the board of assistants (one member had resigned), was declared passed, and the property was sold on the twenty-sixth of Decem- ber, at public auction, the average price of the lots
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being nine thousand seven hundred and eighty-four dollars; the total, one million one hundred and ninety- three thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars. One fourth was to be paid down, one half in two months, and the remaining fourth in four months from the day of sale. The Sacramento street and Commercial street wharf companies threatened to enjoin the sale, on the ground that they had built their wharves on the faith of the ordinance setting off this property for a public dock, and the council, on the day of sale, passed an ordinance giving one hundred and eighty-five thousand dollars out of the proceeds to those companies as a compensation for the injury done to them.
SEC. 98. Filibuster Walker. The expedition of Raousset with his Frenchmen to Sonora, in 1852, under a contract with the Mexican government, pro- voked much angry comment among the American slavery extensionists. They looked forward to the conquest of Mexico as a matter of manifest destiny, and the introduction of negro slavery there as a source of much wealth and political influence to the gulf states. The establishment of a large French population anywhere in the sister republic, and espe- cially near the border, was represented as the delib- erate planting of an obstacle in the path of the Union, and as an act of monarchical intervention in the af- fairs of the republican hemisphere. It was partly for the purpose of excluding Raousset from the southern half of the Gila basin, which was supposed to be the richest part of Sonora in mineral wealth, that in 1853
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a treaty was negotiated by the cabinet of Washington with Santa Anna for a region that now forms a con- siderable portion of Arizona. This treaty, however, left abundant room in Mexico for the ambitious French- man, and before anything was known of the negotia- tions for it, some of the slavery extensionists in San Francisco thought that the responsibility of defeating Raousset's purposes rested upon them. The leading men among them, mostly lawyers from the slave states, had numerous consultations upon the subject, and they agreed, in the summer of 1853, that the proper remedy for the danger of a French occupation of Sonora was the conquest of the country by a fili- bustering expedition.
William Walker, a native of Tennessee, then thir- ty-three years of age, who had been a lawyer and ed- itor in California, was selected as commander by the San Francisco conspirators. He was a ready writer and speaker, a man of moderate ability in every respect, but brave and willing to risk everything rather than live in obscurity. He imagined that he was destined to establish the dominion of the United States over Mexico and Central America, and misled by that fancy, spent years with small bands of ruf- fians in fighting and plundering the unfortunate Span- ish-Americans in those districts which he selected as the fields of his exploits. Money was subscribed, bonds of the new republic of Sonora and Lower Cal- ifornia were printed and sold, a flag was made, and meetings were held in the city hall, where the men
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considered desirable recruits for the expedition were brought together under injunctions of secrecy, ad- dressed upon the brilliant promise of the adventure, and enlisted. There was no difficulty in getting men; money enough was gathered to buy arms and charter the brig " Arrow;" but when she was nearly ready to sail, General Hitchcock, commander of the United States forces in California, seized her on a charge of violating the neutrality laws. This procedure gave great offense to the federal officials generally, most of them slavery extensionists, and the federal attorney ordered the release of the vessel, on the pretext that there was not " a scintilla of evidence " against her.
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