New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1850-03-30
CALIFORNIA.
.EP0RT OF HON. 7. BUTLER KING.
MAsHlxeroN. Ma-eh u. la.l

lisO On the Sth dag oil June.
The steamer in which I took passage vas the
st convey ance that reached Cai;ornia with iate-
Hence OF the Inauguration d. Prcsiden, Tsy Tor AID
ne appointment o. his Cabinet, and that Congress
" "a tailed . All tie Executive IN providing GOV
kOmen, Tor the people q that TeuItOry. Ine
Greatest ankle y Was nai0rally felt an4 na-acsteo
ascertain the cause Of this neglect On the pat
~ Government o. tho United States, slc =, bat
5.cps duty 20 themselves required them % taIc, .I
he painful and embarrassing position in @hich
hey placed, icr their protection md welfare.
brief sketch r.! Their couci'ioH Wi explain fac
ts1se Of this anxiety.
! The discovery o. the gold mines had attracted Fl
F,ry .argo number Of citizens Ci the Jnite1 states
II TIA, Terriiory who hoj never been accustomed
Il any other than a merican law. administered hy
american courts There they found their rights
Ii property and person sab.ec, % the unceri all.
lssd frequently most oppressive, operation OF laws
Ig0,ten in a language they did not understand ard
LANDED on principles IN many respects, rev 10
Ihem They complained that the alcaldcs. Or
gdges. most Of whom he'd been appointed elect
I'D before the immigration had COmmen cd, were
aot lawyers by education or profession and, beine
Americans. they were, Of course, unacquainted
With the laws Of Mexico, or the principles Of Tie
ovi law o. which they are founded.
AS our own laws. except for the collection o.
aeyenue, the transmission OF tie mails, and estso
shmeut Of post Offices had not boen extended
-,cr that Territory, the laws OF Mexico as they
.Ss,cd a. the conclusion Of the treaty 0s Glada ape
IHdsgo. regulating the relations Of the iahabitant.
nj California with each other, necessarily remained
n force :. yet there was not single volume c0i.
sining those lawg, as far rs know or believe, d.
tas whole Territory, except perhaps IN the q
enoI Office, at Monterey.
The magistrates therefore could not procure
them, and the administration q Justice was, necos
ssnly, as unequal and iiuciuetine as the opinions
Z he Judges were conflicting and variable
There were no fee bills 70 regulate costs. and
consequently, the most cruel exactiouS. ln many
usrances were pTactlsof
The greatest confusion prevailed respecting
tiles 70 property, and the decslon Of SUITS nYoif
M the most important nights. and very large
sons o. money depended upon tho dictum of tie
ndge
The sale OF the Territory b. Mexico t. the Unit
"a States had necessarily cut oil OF solved the
avs regulating the granting or procuring titles TO
and and as our own land laws had not been ex
tended over 1t. the people were compelled to re
csive such titles Is were offered 70 them. without
the means OF asceftaining whether they were valid
or not
Litigation wss 40 expensive and precarous.
that injustice and oppression were frequently end
ared rather than resort to so uncertain q remedy
Towns and cities were sprnging INTO existence
many Of them without charters or any legal night
% organize municipal Authorities or 10 tex IroPer
ty on the citizens for the establishment of a police
tho erection OF prisons, OF providing any al those
means for the protection OF life aud property which
IRE 90 necessary IA all civil oOmmunItles and c.-
re,slly among people mostly strangers TO eaoh
other.
Nearly one million and half Of dollars hal
been paid into the Custom H0ufes g. duties Ga
mporied goods before our revenue laws had been
attended over the country and the people coa'
t'aiped bitterly that they were thus heavily taxed
-, lad f,sr lac
protection or laws which they could understand, or
allowed the right - be represented 10 the councils
Of the nation.
While anxousy Whiting the action OF Congress,
pressed aud embarrassed by tbs state OF attl's
ID feeling the pressing necessity OF applying su'n
remedies rs were in their power and circumstance
seemed o. Justify, they resolved 10 substitute laws
of their own for the existing system, aud 10 es'a5
sh tribunals for then proper aud faithful admin
hstOn.
la obedience, therefore TO tho extraordinary cal
gencies OF their condition the people OF the city o
san Francisco elected Members to form Legs
lRlure, and clothed them with full powers 10 pass
lsws
The communities Of Souoma aud OF Sacramento
CITY followed the example.
Thus were three legislative bodies organized ,
the two most distant being only one hundred and
thirty miles apart
Other movements OF the Mind were threatened
nnd doub less would bave follow ed IN other seciio.
ofthe Territory. had they not been arrested by tho
formation OF State Government.
While the people Of California were looking to
Congress for Territorial Government, II was quite
evident that such an organization was dauy be.
coming less suited TO their condition. which was
entirely different from that OF any OF the Terrific,
res out OF which the new States ot the Union he'd
been formed
Those Territories had been at first slowly and
4 ot.lt
who penetrated the wilderness, or trsversed tie
plalries in search of game OF new home aud
when thus gradually their population warranted l.
agovernment was provided for them. They how.
ever had no foreign commerce, nor any thihs t'-
yond the ordinary pursuits Of agriculture aud tie
various branches Of business which usually accom-
pany it, to induce immigration within their Dor
ders. Several years were required to el'e them
sufficient population and wealth 10 place them In
condition to require, enable them 10 support q
State Government
Not So with CaliGrns. The discovery Of Tie
vas, metallic aud mineral wealth IN her mountains
had already attracted to her, IN the space ol TWEEN
months more than one hundred thousand people B.
an extensive commerce had sprung up with emma,
the ports Of Mexico on the Pacific, Chill and Aus
,rlsla
Hundreds of vessels from the Atlantic ports OF
the Union, ireighted with our manufactures a. 4
agricultural products and filed with ou' fellow oii
zeus had arrived, or were on their passage round
Cape Horn so that in the month OF June last th-ie
mere more than three hundred sea coiog vessels Ia
The port Of San Francisco
California has q border ON the Pacihc 81 ten dc
grccs d latitude and several important hsroofs
~hch have never been surveyed, nor Is there @
buoy, beacon lighthouse, or hruhcation. 81"
the whole coast
There are no docks for the repair OF national or
mercantile vessels nearer than New York, dis-
lance Of some twenty thousand miles round Care
Horn
All these things. together with the proper reen-
s,ons Of the gold region, the quicksilver mines,
the survey and disposition o. the public lands, tie
adjustment o; land titles. the establishment o. "A
rmt and O. marine hospitals, required the !mmc
date formation OF more perfect Civil Govern
ment thsn California then had. aud the iosieripc
are Of Congress and the Executive.
California had, as IL were BY magic, become :
State Of great slth snd power. One short yesE
had gwen Ter a commercial importance bat htte
inferior 10 that Of the most powerful OF the Ga
States. She hsd passed her minority a, single
hound. and might Justly be regarded as fully emit.
ed to take her place as an equal among her SIS
tiers OF the Union
When therefore. the reality became known %
TIC people Of that Territory this; the Government
had dono nothing 10 relieve them from the evils and
entertainments under which they were sotierins.
snd seeinas no probability Of any charge on Us
saAeo, which divided Congress, they adopted ~l'h
IL n