The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1849-07-17 00:00:00

CALIFORNIA.

Letters to the New Orleans Picayune and other papers,
from San Francisco, dated May 18th, state that every-
thing was in a disordered condition ; that no law existed
but the law of the strongest, which had been proclaimed
by the mass ; and that Governor Persifer F. Smith and
the troops under his command were refugees on board
the American ships lying in port, and soldiers were
hunted down like wolves.

The New Orleans Picayune gives the following details
of a conversation had with Mr. C. B. Weller, of the
Mexican Commission, passenger in the British steamer
Clyde :—" The news he communicates of the affairs in
San Francisco reaches to the 18th of May. A party of
foreigners arrived from San Francisco had reported tho
country in a miserable condition, and both life and pro-
perty unsafe. The rainy season had set in, and the placers
were covered with water; everything was more plentiful
than gold dust. A great many vessels had arrived, and
were still arriving with goods, which could be purchased
nearly as cheap as in the States. A large number of
persons had arrived at St. Francisco, and were in a mi-
serable condition, there being no houses to shelter them,
and many had landed without a dollar in their pockets.
One party, mix in number, had returned disgusted, and
reported that when they went out to the mines, they were
met by men who took away their provisions, &c., without
any ceremony.

The New York Herald says, " Our correspondent at
Washington has seen letters from Mazatlan, containing
intelligence from California to the 18th of May, written
to Mr. Parrott, our consul at that place, who is now in
Washington. The accounts of the riots at San Francisco,
of the want of power of Gen. Smith, and of his seeking
shelter on board the ships of war in port, have been gene-
rally discredited ; but it will be seen by our private ad-
vices, that there is some truth in the reports from Mexico,
and that General Smith has been compelled to leave San
Francisco by the riotous proceedings of a portion of the
inhabitants of that place, The causes of the riotous pro-
ceedings in California are attributed to the disappointment
of the inhabitants on hearing that Congress had adjourned
without extending the laws of the land over their territory.
They could no longer bear such neglect. Mobs, it seems,
were organised at all the drinking-houses, to express their
indignation at such unparalleled neglect on the part of the
government. The effects of an overindulgence in liquor
afforded the materials for a general outbreak, which Gen.
Smith and his officers endeavoured to quell ; but, after
exhausting his patience, and despairing of being able to
pit an end to the innumerable crimes publicly committed,
had, for his own personal safety, taken shelter on
board the ships-of-war in the harbour. If such be the
order of things in San Francisco, what may we expect to
hear from the gold diggings ?
" Much discontent was manifested, on the part of the
Americans and Californians, that the rich deposits of
gold were thrown open to foreigners, who were arriving,
in regular organised and armed parties, from all places on
the Pacific, for the sole purpose of digging and carrying
away the gold. Such was the influx of foreigners that,
from Mexico alone, 50,000 had gone. Some fifty persons
had arrived at Mazatlan from California, who gave a
most deplorable account of the state of the country.
They found the Yankees too much for them, even at their
own game—mining. There will be no more emigration
from Mexico. The placers of Sonora are drawing people
in that direction. They are said to be richer than those
of California."

A letter from Mexico, dated June 4th, says, " .A gen-
tleman now in this city, who has just arrived from
California, says the inhabitants there are much in want of
provisions ; but he thinks that, in another year, there
will be a plentiful harvest, as a great many are already
turning their attention to agriculture. General Green,
U.S. Commissioner, left here this morning in the dili-
gence for California. He will make a full report as soon
as convenient after his arrival."

Another account says " It is of a very interesting cha-
racter. The advices are favourable to the prospects of
the gold diggers ; some of the miners were very success-
ful. Thousands of pci3ona ►era daily arriving. Jr, was
estimated that about 8,000 persons were employed in
digging for gold. The Monitor Republicano states that
according to the latest accounts received from the land of
gold, the extraction of the precious ore from the earth
was attended with vast difficulties and dangers ; the snows
had been so deep as to interrupt the operations ; to
which add the furious attacks which the Indians had
made on those who were working in the placers; and
although they had been repulsed, they kept up hostilities."