The southern press., 1850-09-09
All other employmcnts and Elegant Lei

! OF the l5 members borl, in slave States, ten
were from the border States Of Maryland, Ken
lucky and Missouri, and only Gre from interior
Southern States.
New York was the birth place of ten of the
members, California of FIRE, Spain ono, France
one, Scotland one, Ireland one, Alabama none
Georgia nonp South Carolina none, North Caro-
lima none Mississippi none, Louisiana none, Ar
kansas n0ne Texas none. Nine members had
not been ONE year in the country. Such was
the material of which the California Convention
was omposed Let It's now see how they came
to be convened On page 1873 Of the journal OF
debates, Mr., Bolts says: "We meet here under
TO express law; we meet here with no previous
legislation; We meet here to produce order out
OF chaos; We meet here, sir under what is some
times called Il proclamation, and what is some
times called Il suggestion Of Gen. Riley. BE it
one or the other, it is the basis Of our action
here"
Again: Mr.. Eotts said, q" that he was elected
to his set in this Convention bv SO votes, and
that while one Of his colleagues got some 20 or
80 more, the rest were cve worse off than him
self"
1t thus appears to have been a proceeding of
the Executive branch Of the Government. car
ried out through the agency of the military,
without any authority from Congress. Gen
Riley not only convUked this ASSEMBLY, but he
promised TO pay lis expenses We find that in
one place they asked for seventy thousand dol
lars and as they were in sc. sion from the lSt of
September till the 18th Of October, or 80 days.
exclusive of Sundays this sum will make 5c.
tween 400 and 1900 dollars for each of the AZ
members, or something over forty dollars per
day. Part Of the money may have gone to pay
otter expenses. In any event the per diem was
OIL grand s. ale.
Let Us now see what were the ohec's of these
people in the boun Iares w!lch they haze
marked ont for themselves, and from W ,ich they
exclude the South. Mr.. Shannon sad the d.
vai:t gcs Of this line (the boundary proposed by
hmse!fD Il deem very great, for he reason that
it will include erery prominent and rniuable point
in tie tertiary" Mr. Hasting said, the line
proposed by the committee includes all that is
ratuabie, and 70 more The committee were
very cautious to include as little as possible, and
yet o. it no portirn Of the tertiary that ,caS
dssned rat,able." \ r. Snyder sid, " the Sierra
Neynta is almost imTaSslbIc for nearly nine
months in the year, aud know that when it is
ut all passable, it is with great difficulty, either
with wagons or pack mules. ] would like tn
know what use tie country on the eastern side
possible to pass them with ease. There is no
territory there Of any ralue to this State. Inter
Ininable plains Of artcmesia, vast bodies of salt
water great part Of the year, and immense
deserts Truly valuable acquisition! II any
gentlemen, acith their sidres wish to inhabit the
country Of the Great Basin, let them have it,
and wish them all the happiness tina; man can
enjoy amidst deserts Of sand and sail lakes
We have, within the region OF country between
the Sierra Nevada and the Pacific Ocean, he
onIy lands in Upper California that are fit for the
habitation of community Of people"
Thus it appears that these squatters had it in
view to take all that is valuable, and leave gen.
tlemcn with their slaves to the benefits Of the
Cass and Cobb doctrine OF ,'on-interu' niion, as
10 deserts Of sand and salt lakes! And that
too, in the face not only of this bare faced in
terventon to get all that is valuable in Upper
California, but of the principle and practice of
congressional intervention sustained by their
rotes, establishing free-soil in Oregon--Mr.
Cobb thinks "a change has come Ger the spirit
of our dream" because we were willing TO
adopt the principle of non-intervcntion as ap-