Butte record., 1856-06-28

surrounded Dy lue HihitdrF VI tDe Com-
mittee in large force, and compelled to
surrender. Resistance would have en-
! madness in the face Of such an over
" helming force. Their arms were seized
and tax to the .oms Of the Commit
i tee, and many of the men arrested and
MARCHED as prisoners to the fort of the
insurgents.
| | have also to report that the arms
(ll3 stand( delivered on your requi-i-
ton to the State by Gen. VOL, while
in custody Of two officers of the Stat
in small vessel. on their way to San
Francisco, were s,-lz d by an armed par
" of the Vigilance COMMITTEE, who had
been sent lom the city for that purpose
in a vessel armed with cannon AMI mus
kets. That whe one of the officers de-
manded their authority, thy produced
the vell-knoun al and authority of the
Committee, and read it, Commanding
tie seizure. ais, learn tat the arms
shipped from Sacramento we're subse-
quently seized in the same way. Thus
has this lawiess band of men added pi
rlcy to their other crimes and enormi
f ties.
Seeing that there was no hope OF
effectng anything in the city for the de
fence and protection of those arrested, |
have deemed 1T my duty to report al the
circumstances to your Exc, llency, that
you make take such action as your judy
ment may suggest.
The ieumstances connected with
his movcm Mt are such as TO leave no
doubt on my mind that the insurgents
aim at nothing less than an entire over
hrow of the State government and Sc
ccssinn from the Federal Uniol. If it
had been their purpose to disband in ii
short period, they would not have com
'nlted piracy by robbing a " ssel Of !,
small quantity of arms uprn the Bay
They would not subsequently ave lev
d actual war upon the State by sur
rounding the armorics by large militia.
ry force and seizing the State arms, and
making prisoners Of the men guarding
them especially when they knew that
your orders were that | should act on
he defensive, and that had nc power
or means to pursue any other line Of con-
duct Ii must b. obvious to all men OF
ordinary discernment, that this lawless
association has proceeded from one
crime and outrage to another until tn y
have arrived at the conclusion that there
is no saftty for their leaders bui in rev.
oluhon AMI s"parate government OF
the Pacific. They have committed Trea-
son, Murder, Piracy and the felony of
kidnapping. They have violently and
with force Of arms, trodden down the
authority Of the Executive and the Ju
dietary. They have at the point of the
b yonet r sisted the execution Of the
writ of habeqs corpus-lor ages justly
considered the hulwark of personal lib
erty. They have assembled around the
Jail of the county Of San Francisco larg,'
numbers of armed men, and planted a
cannon against the front, and thus COM
I pellsd the sur:en. er of two persons
therein detained in the custody of the
!aw, whom they have since put to death
without legal trial or the forms of judi
cial proceedings. They have, without IL
y arfant or any other process of law,
tore bly, searched the houses of honest
and p aceable citizens at the dead hour
of highs, outraging families and terrifying
defencelrss females. For nearly six
weeks they have 'rampled down by an
armed drspotism in San Francisco every
consitu'i MI right secured to The cit,-
zens by Mogna CAarta and the Bill Of
Rights. They have robbed us of the
heritage earned for us by the labors and
suferIngs of the sages and patriots of
1776. They have erected in the heart
If The commercial metropolis fortic
ton filled with armed men to over-awe
the citizens and the civil authorities -
By day and night they paraded in th'
streets large b.dies of armed m n, and
San Francisco presents continually the
appearance of city in possession Of
Il foreign foe. And it is so practically.
1t is we'll known that the Vigilance Com
mittee have armed and hired large
body of fnreign mercenaries to sh OF
down the officers and citizens of the
State in discharge of the duties cast
upon them by the laws and their oaths of
office.
Notwithstanding that the French