History of California, Volume VI, Part 74

Author: Bancroft, Hubert Howe
Publication date: 1885-1890
Publisher: San Francisco, Calif. : The History Company, publishers
Number of Pages: 816

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20 John Wilson of S. F. was chosen president of the convention; G. R. Griffin of El Dorado, Rush of Sta Clara, J. M. Burt of Butte, Alfred Morgan of Calaveras, James Fitton of San Diego vice-presidents; and James B. De- voe of Sta Clara, P. L. Sanderson of El Dorado, and J. S. Robb of San Joa- quin secretaries. The committee on rules, and basis of representation, consisted of A. J. Ellis, S. F .; Horace Smith, Sac .; J. Fitton, S. D .; Thos

651

WHIG CONVENTION.

tiality to certain districts, and the usual resulting dis- affection of the neglected portions of the state. The resolutions adopted21 had in them a little more meat than those of the democratic convention, albeit they corresponded in a portion of their demands, opposing the sale or lease of mineral lands, but being in favor of the general government holding them for the bene- fit of the miners, to be worked by them free of taxes; favoring the adjustment of disputed land titles in the state by commissioners under the authority of con- gress, with the right of appeal to the United States courts; desiring the immediate extension of the pre- emption laws over the public domain not embraced in the mineral lands, and the adoption of laws which should secure to actual settlers a donation of not more than 100 acres to each head of a family, and grants of the same amount to settlers on private lands, where valuable improvements had been made, under the be- lief that they were open to settlement; asking generous grants of land for educational purposes; liberal appro- priations for works of a public character, and the improvement of rivers and harbors; aid to the con- struction of a railroad to the Mississippi Valley, the establishment of a line of steamers between California, the Hawaiian Islands, and China; complaining of the

Bodley, Sta Clara; Painter, Shasta; H. Critcher, Yolo; H. T. Boarem, San Joaquin; H. P. Watkins, Yuba; Geo. O. McMullin, Trinity; Judge Brooks and W. S. Mesick, Sutter; J. H. Long, Solano; Charles Justis, Placer; Dr McLean, Santa Cruz; H. H. Lawrence, Napa; E. Stone, Mariposa; J. C. Boazann, Contra Costa; John A. Collins, Nevada; John Minge, Jr, Marin; Bowen, Calaveras; W. D. Ferazee, Tuolumne; Perkiam, Butte; Martin of Tuolumne; E. J. C. Kewen of Sac .; J. C. Fall of Yuba; B. F. Moore of Tuolumne; J. O. Goodwin, Wm Waldo, and D. P. Baldwin. The state central com. consisted of John Wilson, R. Hampton, P. W. Tompkins, Jesse D. Carr, E. L. Sullivan, D. H. Haskell, R. N. Wood, Wm Robinson, and Chambers. The candidates chosen by the convention were Pearson B. Read- ing for gov .; Drury P. Baldwin, lieut-gov .; E. J. C. Kewen and B. F. Moore for congressmen; Tod Robinson, judge of the sup. court; W. D. Fair, atty- gen .; J. M. Burt, state treas .; Alex. G. Abell, controller; Walter Herron, surveyor-gen. Reading came to Cal. in 1842, crossing the mountains by the northern route, and presenting himself at Sutter's Fort, engaged in business with Sutter. He obtained his title by leading parties in the Micheltorena war, and in the operations of the battalion of mounted riflemen in 1846. It was said he was born and educated in Phila, and possessed a polished address. 21 J. Neely Johnson was chairman of the committee on resolutions.

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POLITICAL HISTORY.

failure of congress to make provision for a mint in California; demanding the return of the civil fund, and the payment of the Indian war expenses; cordially approving the compromise measures in congress; prom- ising to maintain the supremacy of the state laws, and to administer the same with economy, that the people might not suffer from oppressive taxation.

I cannot help being struck with the almost total ignoring by both parties of the condition of the state resulting from imperfect legislation, official corruption, and excessive taxation. The whigs did, indeed, prom- ise economy, and to lighten the burdens of the people; but in a manner to show a timorousness about touch- ing the subject which amounted to a promise of failure. They feared to lose votes; but had they been honest, they would have preferred losing in a good cause to winning in a bad one.

In the mean time, in San Francisco and elsewhere, the people, that is to say, the commercial and pro- ducing classes, were struggling hand to hand with a criminal element whose practices, while brutalized by ignorance and evil associations, were not more dis- honorable, in proportion to the comparative intelli- gence and social conditions of the two classes, than those of men who followed politics as a profession, and fattened on the spoils of office. Yet, owing to the fact that they were more brutal, that they com- mitted murder in order to make robbery safe, it was found necessary for an outraged people to turn aven- gers, and kill and banish in return. Of this necessity I have spoken freely in other places. I mention it here only to point out the apathy or the criminal truckling to vice of the political parties.

As for the independents, "the true California party," as it was denominated by the Alta, though numerous they made no nominations, as they lacked organiza- tion and cohesion. It had little or no concern for old political issues, cared nothing for administration or

653

INDEPENDENT PARTY.

anti-administration; but while loyal to the union, it was solely interested in the welfare of the state. It might throw its weight on one side or the other, ac- cording to local interests or former prejudices. In San Francisco, in April, it had helped to elect the whig municipal ticket,22 and some reforms had been effected by the change. But no such unanimity of action could be secured for the general election, and the chief use of the independent newspapers was to exercise a censorship over the doings of the two par- ties which had put forth candidates and principles.

It was not long before trouble arose in both parties on account of an unfairness toward the southern por- tion of the state in regard to the distribution of offices by the conventions, all of the state nominees and congressmen being chosen from the northern half,23 which contained three fourths of the population, and was fairly entitled to but three fourths of the offices. Why the whigs should have so blundered is not ac- counted for, except by the greater greed of office of the northern men, or by competition with the demo- crats who had made their nominations. But the motive of the democrats was not so well concealed that it could not be fathomed.

Senator Gwin, under whose lead they were, had a distinct idea with regard to righting the wrongs of the southern states in the matter of slave territory; and that was to divide California, attach to the south- ern division a portion of the Mexican territory,24 and

22 A strong appeal for reform was made in the independent address, signed by Joseph S. Wallis, John E. Bell, and J. R. Robinson. S. F. Alta, March 29, 1851.

23 The democrats claimed that their candidate for state treasurer was put forward by the delegations from Sta Clara, Monterey, and San Diego, as the representative of the southern half of the state. The idea of making a Sta Clara man a representative of San Diego was scoffed at by the independents, who made a shrewd guess at the policy of the convention.

24 Says the Alta of Sept. 2, 1851: 'The mysterious givings out that efforts are to be made to drag into the coming contest the proposition to acquire more territory from our neighbors, either by conquest or purchase, is not a matter of moonshine, in our opinion. There is no doubt, we opine, that great efforts are afoot to bring the suspicious and obstreperous south into the cheer- ful support of the party candidates [national], through the expectations and inducements of a further acquisition of territory. What that territory will

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POLITICAL HISTORY

in time annex the Hawaiian Islands,25 all of which was to become slave-holding. With this in view, he surprised the constitutional convention in 1849 by his complacency with regard to the boundary of the state and the exclusion of slavery. It was in his thought to change it in the not distant future, and to leave the second Pacific state open to southern institutions. It was, therefore, of no consequence that the counties adjoining the Mexican boundary,26 and the southern

be, it is not so easy to tell; but the recently authenticated insurrectionary de- monstrations in Cuba point significantly to the possibility that that fair and fertile isle may yet be the gem whose annexation is to restore the balance of power to an equipoise between the north and south. If this scheme should fail, through the suppression of the insurrection, as no doubt it will, it seems plausible that the northern provinces of Mexico will be the bait next held out.' The Alta also saw some good reasons for the purchase of these prov- inces, one of which was that the U. S. was bound by treaty to protect them from the inroads of the Indians, and for failing to do so heavy damages had already accrued against the U. S.

23 Says Gwin in his Memoirs, speaking of himself in the third person: 'Mr Gwin was an earnest advocate of the annexation of the Sandwich Islands and the extension of our territory south. The Gadsden treaty, as it was called, at a later period came before the senate for ratification. He proposed that the boundary, instead of the one adopted in the treaty, should begin 30 miles south of Mazatlan, and run across the continent to the gulf of Mexico, strik- ing the gulf 30 miles south of the mouth of the Rio Grande (there are certain lakes there that make a fine harbor), and to pay Mexico $25,000,000 for ac- cepting this line of boundary instead of $10,000,000, as was proposed in the Gadsden treaty, for the present boundary. This was in a secret session of the senate, and the debate therefore is not of record .... Mr Gwin was so much dissatisfied with the boundary adopted by the senate, that he would not vote in favor of the treaty. In 1851 a proposition was made by the Hawaiian authorities, probably under the influence of an agent, but was not accepted. To have accepted would have opened afresh the question of free territory.

26 The Mexican boundary commission, appointed in 1849, consisting of J. B. Weller and Surveyor Andrew B. Gray, resigned their unfinished work in 1850 to Capt. E. L. F. Hardcastle of the top. engineers, who with a captain of Mexican engineers completed the survey in 1851. The marble monument near San Diego was placed in situ in June of that year. On the south side is a shield bearing the inscription, 'Republica Mexicana,' with an arrow above pointing eastward, over which is 'direccion de la linea.' On the reverse side is 'United States of America,' 'direction of the line,' shield and arrow as on the first. On the east side is 'North latitude 23-31-58-59. Longitude 7-48, 20-1, west of Greenwich, as determined by Wm H. Emory on the part of the United States, and José Salazar Ylarrequi, on the part of Mexico.' On the west side, facing the Pacific, is 'Initial point of boundary between the United States and Mexico, established by the joint commission 10th of October, 1849, agreeably to the treaty dated at the city of Guadalupe Hidalgo, February 2, A. D. 1848. John B. Weller, U. S. commissioner, Andrew B. Gray, U. S. surveyor.' The same inscription in Spanish, in another column on the same side, gives the names of Pedro Garcia commissioner, and José Salazar Ylar- requi surveyor. A plain square shaft, about three feet at the base, rises above the pedestal 11 feet, terminating in an appropriate cap. The whole is 16 feet 3 in. above the surface. The inscriptions are upon the pedestal, which is about 5 feet high. The boundary line is straight from a point of the Pacific

655

DYNASTY OF DEMOCRACY.

coast, should be offended; it was indeed a part of the scheme to make them more discontented than they already were, that they might be driven to seek a division from the northern counties.

Meanwhile the independent press labored to awaken in citizens a sense of their obligations as guardians of the public weal to turn their attention to election matters; and charged that the reason why public af- fairs were in so unpromising a condition was on account of the neglect of good men to look into them, being interested in business, and still looking upon the older states as their homes. From this apathetic condition they were entreated to arouse themselves and save the credit of California. They had started the ma- chinery of government, and left it in reckless and incompetent hands. The law-makers had not suffi- ciently felt that they were laying the foundations of a stable community ; and the officials who executed them acted as if the present, with its spoils, was all that California ever would be, and these could not too soon be safely stowed in their pockets.

The independents, as third parties usually do, helped the election of one party by dividing the other, and the democrats carried the state by a major- ity of 441.27 From this time until the commencement of the war of the rebellion there was no change of importance in the comparative strength of parties, California remaining democratic.

The congressmen McCorkle and Marshall had been elected 'at large,' the legislature having neglected to divide the state into congressional districts-another way of slighting the southern counties. Owing to a defect in the election laws, the congressional term hav- ing expired March 4th, California had no representa- tives in the lower house until the following December ;

a marine league south of the bay of San Diego, to the junction of the Gila- 150 miles; seven monuments were erected, six being of iron.

27 Bigler received 23,174 votes, and Reading 22,733. S. F. gave a whig majority, every other co. going democratic. Cal. Reg., 1857, 164. See cam- paign doggerel in Taylor's Spec. Press, 632.

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POLITICAL HISTORY

and having failed in the election of a senator to succeed Frémont, for a period of eight months the only dele- gate to congress from the golden commonwealth was Gwin.28 It is not strange that he came to regard California as his particular preserve.

The third legislature convened at Vallejo, under the protest of Governor McDougal, January 5, 1852,29

26 The legislature of 1852 remedied this defect by a special act, making the congressional election fall on the general election preceding the expiration of a term-in 1852, and each second year thereafter. Cal. Stat., 1852, 146.

29 Placer Times and Transcript, Jan. 15, 1852. The senate consisted on this occasion of A. Anderson, who resigned Apr. 3d, having been appointed judge of sup. court; D. C. Broderick; A. M. de la Guerra; John H. Baird, who resigned in March, when J. W. Denver was elected to fill his place; James M. Estill, J. Frye of Placer; Paul K. Hubbs, B. F. Keene of El Do- rado; P. W. Keyser of Sutter; J. E. N. Lewis; J. Y. Lind of Calaveras; C. F. Latt of Butte; J. C. Mckibben of Yuba; J. Miller; L. B. Van Buren; G. B. Tingley; J. Warner, J. Walsh of Nevada; J. Walton of El Dorado; M. M. Wombaugh of Yolo and Colusa; J. N. Ralston of Sac .; Philip A. Roach; H. C. Robinson; J. R. Snyder, S. F .; Frank Soule, S. F .; R. T. Sprague of Shasta. The officers of the senate were: S. Purdy, prest; B. F. Keene, prest pro tem .; A. C. Bradford, sec .; A. G. Stebbins, asst sec .; W. F. McLean, P. K. Woodside, clerks; C. Burnham, sergt-at-arms; G. W. Harris, door-keeper. Placer Times and Transcript, Feb. 1 and S, 1852.

Baird, of Sta Clara, was born in Ky in 1822, and educated at the Pilot Knob Academy. Going to N. O. he was employed in a large mercantile house for several years. He came to S. F. on the Niantic, and was deputy sheriff under John Pownes, the first sheriff of S. F. He was interested in the S. F. Powder Works in 1870, with J. A. Peck, the company having been incorpo- rated in 1861, when Baird was one of the trustees, Peck, Moses Ellis, C. A. Eastman, Edward Flint, and H. R. Jones being his associates. Politics had no charms for Baird, who kept closely to his business after his half-term in the state senate. Rep. Mem. of S. F., 967.

J. M. Estill was also a native of Ky, and came to Cal. in 1849. He was fond of politics, and took a 10-year contract in 1851 to keep the state's pris- oners, as I have related, abuses compelling the legislature to declare the lease forfeited. In 1856 the state again leased the prison to Estill, paying him 810,000 per annum. He soon sublet his contract for half the amount, and the legislature again declared the lease forfeited, and the gov. took forcible possession of the keys. The matter came up in the courts, which decided against the gov. The affair was compromised by paying a bonus to the assignee, in 1860, and thereafter the prison management improved. Hayes' Coll., Cal. Notes, ii. 304; Sac. Union, March 6, 1857.

Paul K. Hubbs, of Tuolumne, was born in N. J. In 1833 he was sent by the prest of U. S. to France as a representative of the govt, where he resided 5 years, returning and entering into commercial pursuits in N. Y. and Phila. In 1840 he was commissioned col in 3d regt, Penn. vols. In 1846 he was elected controller of the public schools of Phil. co., resigning in 1849 to come to Cal., where he arrived, on the Susan G. Owens, in Oct. He was chairman pro tem. of the senate in 1832, and gave the casting vote on the S. F. bulkhead bill in the interest of the city. In 1853 he was chosen state supt of public instruction. In 1839 he removed to Wash. Ter., where he practised law, and was several times elected to the presidency of the ter. council; but in 1865 he returned to Vallejo, Cal., where he died, Nov. 17,

657

GOVERNOR BIGLER.

and three days afterward Governor Bigler was inau- gurated. He was in many ways a strong contrast to

1874, of heart disease, at the age of 74 years. He was an active politician and good lawyer. Los Angeles Express, Nov. 26, 1874; Oakland Transcript, Nov. 19, 1874; Solano Suisun Republican, Nov. 19, 1874; Solano Co. Hist., 357-64; Vallejo Chronicle, Nov. 21 and Jan. 23, 1875; Vallejo Independent, Nov. 18, 1874; Oakland Alameda Co. Gazette, Nov. 21, 1874.

Joseph E. N. Lewis, of Butte and Shasta, was born in Jefferson co., Va, in 1826, and educated at William and Mary college. He studied law with B. F. Washington, and was admitted to the bar of Va. In 1849 he came to Cal., settling in Butte co. which he helped to organize, and being its first senator. He was an able lawyer, but reserved in disposition, unmarried, and not a member of any of the pioneer societies of the state. He died suddenly of heart disease, in July 1869, generally lamented by the members of the bar in his county. Sta Cruz Sentinel, July 3, 1869; Carson Appeal, Nov. 20, 1874.

Philip A. Roach was born in Ireland in 1820, and came to N. Y. in 1822, and to Cal. in 1849, arriving at Monterey July 15th, after a journey across the Isthmus midst cholera and fever. He erected two houses at Monterey and entered upon business t'.ere. He was of much use to the administration of Gen. Riley, and held the office of judge of the First Instance. Under the state organization he became Ist mayor of Monterey, was elected in 1851 to the senate for two years. He was the author of the law authorizing married women to transact business in their own names as sole traders. In 1853 he was appointed U. S. appraiser for the dist of S. F., which office he held until 1861, when he resigned, and in 1867 was editing the Examiner. In 1873 he was elected state senator for four years, and was sent a com. to Washington to secure restriction of Chinese immigration. Among the democratic leaders of Cal. he has maintained a prominent position from the organization of the party to a late period. See Quigley's Irish Race, 337-48; Roach, Statement, MS., 1-8; Larkin, Doc., MS., vii. 187; N. Y. Graphic, in Sta Cruz Sentinel, July 15, 1876; Limantour, Opin. U. S. Judge, 9; Upham Notes, 497-503; Sac. Record, Dec. 1, 1873; West Coast Signal, May 25, 1875; Monterey Herald, July 11, 1874; Lakeport Avalanche, June 17, 1871; Val., Doc., MS., 55, 195.

H. C. Robinson, of Sac., was a native of Conn., but removed at an early age to La, and was educated to the profession of law. He came to Cal. in 1849, on the first passage of the steamer California. Anaheim Gazette, Oct. 16, 1857.

The assembly consisted of D. L. Blanchard, J. Brush, J. W. Coffroth, W. B. Dameron, and T. J. Ingersoll, Tuolumne; L. W. Boggs and J. M. Hudspeth, Sonoma; P. Cannay and J. H. Gibson, Placer; A. G. Cald- well, Sutter; D. M. Chauncey, A. C. Peachy, A. J. Ellis, Benj. Orrick, G. W. Ten Broeck, Herman Wohler, and R. N. Wood, S. F .; T. H. Coats, Klamath; G. W. Colby, A. Kipp, G. N. McConaha, and J. C. Tucker, Sac .; J. Cook, J. H. Paxtan, and James H. Gardiner, Yuba; H. A. Crabb, R. P. Hammond, Fred Yeiser, San Joaquin; A. P. Crittenden and J. T. Thomp- son, Santa Clara; C. B. Stevenson, Sta Cruz; John Cutler, W. R. Hopkins, S. A. McMeans, and A. Wing, El Dorado; Ygnacio Del Valle, Andreas Pico, Los Angeles; E. F. W. Ellis, W. H. Lyons, and J. N. Turner, Nevada; S. Fleming, E. D. Pearse, Shasta; H. L. Ford, Colusa; C. B. Fowler, J. L. Law, and Nelson D. Morse, Butte; James S. Graham, Solano; A. Haraszthy, San Diego; P. T. Herbert, S. A. Merritt, and T. E. Ridley, Mariposa; A. Hinch- man, J. M. Covarrubias, Santa Barbara; W. P. Jones, W. L. Kim, and G. E. Young, Calaveras; F. S. Mckenzie, G. O. McMullin, Trinity; M. Pacheco, San Luis Obispo; J. G. Parrish, Yolo; Napolean B. Smith, Contra Costa; J. S. Stark, Napa; A. W. Taliaferro, Marin and Mendocino; Isaac B. Wall, Monterey.

Officers of the assembly were: R. P. Hammond, speaker; Blanton McAlpin, chief clerk; Albert Alden, asst clerk; J. C. Potter, engrossing clerk; W. C.

HIST. CAL., VOL. VI. 42

658

POLITICAL HISTORY.

McDougal. Honest and easy," the squatters called him, to whom he was indeed a father. He was an approachable, good-natured, neighborly man, who had not scorned to labor with his hands when it seemed necessary, to unload steamboats at two dollars an hour, cut wood, take a contract for making cotton comfortables when bedding was in demand,50 or sell goods by the hammer in an auction store. There were those who said his election had been secured by ballot-box stuffing; but it seems more rational to be. lieve that the squatters, who were a power in 1851, joined themselves to the southern democracy and carried the election. Gwin had not despised the squatter influence, as his land bil's and land commis- sion testified; and why should Bigler? As far as manners went, Reading would have pleased the chiv- alry much better; but his politics were not of their complexion, and Reading had the disadvantage be- sides of having been associated in business with Sutter, to whom the squatters were as a party hostile. But a better reason than any other for Bigler's victory was the fact that, as I have said, California was

Kibbe, enrolling clerk; C. C. Hornsby, sergt-at-arms. J. H. Warrington, door-keeper; Richard Zambert, page; C. H. Hubbs, asst page. Thomas J. Ingersoll was born at Tolland, Conn., 1806, of early colonial stock. He pos- sessed an academic education, and studied medicine at Worthington college, Ohio, where he graduated in 1836, going aferward to Louisville and St Louis. In 1838 he settled in La, practising his profession until 1849, when he came to Cal. via N. M., and located himself in Tuolumne co., where he engaged in mining and medicine. In 1852 he removed to San José, where he married in 1859 Mary Gorman, a native of St Louis, Mo. He died April 30, 1880; S. J. Pioneer, May 8, 1880; S. F. Chronicle, May 1, 1880; S. F. Bulletin, May 1, 1880.

A. W. Taliaferro was one of the Virginia company, which was organized in Richmond in April 1849. It was composed of 75 members, who disbanded soon after arrival. The vessel which brought the company arrived in Oct., and was soon sold for a third of its value, the cargo, chiefly tobacco, being left to rot in the streets. An association formed out of the dissolved Virginia co., Taliaferro being one, leased the mission lands of San Rafael from Don Timoteo Murphy, for farming purposes, but did not long continue in this peaceful occupation. Of all these adventurers, Taliaferro alone remained a permanent resident of Marin co., which several times elected him to the assembly and senate. Marin Co. Hist., 121-2.

30 Plumas National, Dec. 9, 1871; Sac. Reporter, Nov. 30, 1871; Curry, Incidents, MS., 11-12; Solano Press, 1865, in Hayes' Cal. Notes, ii. 289; Gov.'s Inaugural Message, in Cal. Jour. Assem., 28-9. Sac. Transcript, Feb. 14 and June 1, 1851.

659

DAVID COLBERT BRODERICK.

democratic. Had the governor been able to with- stand the influence of his associations, or to control legislation, his after-fame might have been brighter; few men realize, however, when they are in the smoke of battle, that they are making history, and must be tried by its searching light. He talked honestly, but alack! of how many degrees is political honor! The apportionment having been increased,31 as well as the counties, there were 62 members in the assembly, and 27 in the senate,32 Frank Soule in the latter body enjoying the distinction of being the only whig elected to it in 1851.

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History of California, Volume VI, Part 74

Author: Bancroft, Hubert Howe Publication date: 1885-1890 Publisher: San Francisco, Calif. : The History Company, publishers Number of Pages: 816

Author: Bancroft, Hubert Howe
Publication date: 1885-1890
Publisher: San Francisco, Calif. : The History Company, publishers
Number of Pages: 816