Grass Valley telegraph., 1857-12-26

fed the State. There would have been too
little salt to save it. No dignifed self-ris-
ings of the people could have restored off,
cial purity, when the majority were hope
lessly evil-minded Life would have been
too cheap to value. Robberies and burgla-
res would have been committed all the
while. Blackened ruins would have marked
every village aud city. Vice would have
been incomparably more shameless
All this has our State escaped, by disap-
P0'"sr"o -~I4---- ->a..ina homes of it's ia.
habitants
But its positiUe gain has been great. Here
were many thousands of honest and respect
able men, who were in a hurry to get away.
They did not come to benefit California, but
to make her benefit them. They meant to
snatch large handful from hel welI,flled
pockets, and be off with ito grab and
run. They thought it right to plunder this
youngest of the United Sisters to enrich the
older ones. She had been admitted into the
National concern, only to furnish capital
to be silent, unresisting partner, though
rude hands should snatch all the fruits of
her lavished wealth for the Atlantic side,
and leave her in gilded poverty. Mems
attachments and interests were all elsewhere:
they seemed not to dream Of any duty to
the Pacific coast. But, in spite of their
schemes, they have been kept here They
have been made to ask whether something
must not be done for California. The dictate
of selfpreservation has bid them lend a
helping hand to good order, morality and
religion. 1t needed but half an eye to see
that, for security of life and property. for
insurance in business point of view, they
must not be careless of California's social
and moral welfare. Common sense bade
them make their home tolerable and safe,
even though it should be temporary. And
many have risen to broader views. Forced
to stay here series of years, something of
a moral attachment has stolen into their
hearts, Ii they do not love the State, they
have asked if there was not a duty owing
her. They have begun to see the hand Of
Providence in their detention, and to glow
with patriotic, if not Christian wishes to do
something for this rising empire of tue Pa
cifc. ~
One of the best things they have done, has
been to transplant their families. This is
direct result of their disappointment. They
staid away till the patient home-partners
grew weary. Those little family systems
could not bear to be thrown so long out Of
their orbits; they wanted to reVolve again
around the central lumnaries And thus
refined and home-loving women, who had
looked on California as frighttul place to
live in, to be reached only by appalling
perils of sea and Isthmus, and who had
declared hundred times that they never
sOould go there,-these same refined and
huSbGnd-loVing women began to think bet
ter of the project Nerving themselves with
true womanly courage, they came willing
ly or even with joy. Quietly, but rapidly,
has this stream of families been flowing in;
and we see it's blessings to-day. We see
purity and virtue restored to their place Of
honor; thousands of innocent children, who,
by Gods blessing, may benefcially replace
the older and corrupted generation; a
healthful social influence, cleansing the cur
rent of life; schools, which could not be
denied the long parted little ones; churches
and Sabbath schools, claimed as a right, and
given as protection.
Thus has society begun to be restored to
its balance, socially and moraHy,-and we
trust, in God, that the good work is to go
on. Who can estimate the power of Cali
fornia for good, and therefore the blessing
of molding that power Alright? What State
can do more, in the great world-Struggle be-
tween light and darkness, between the pow
ers of good and the powers of evil? Her
promise was never greater. The feverish
excitement Of the first mad years, has worn
away. Gold-getting has assumed the form
of business, and is no longer game of
chance. Traffic is restored to it's old sobriety.
Vice has become disgusting. and Christian
morality asserts its inherent power. No
seeds of insurrection or of civil war, are
sown on our soil while, to the North, the
recent vote Of our young sister, Oregon,
guarantees one border, at least, consecrated
to freedom, besides that of the sounding
ocean,-and seems to secure us anew against
the efforts of heartless politicians to set us
again by the ears on the most angry of sub
Jects, and to blight our fair domain with the
acknowledged curse of slavery. Let US hope
that no serious attempt will again be made
to fasten the scourge on us; the scourge of
a system which is worse, even, for the domi.
nant than for the subject class,-which feeds
panic and fear, and seems to dictate that
anomaly of Anerica,-free speech forbidden
in free land making it unsafe to tread,
but with bare and cautious feet, in that
powder millS-unsafe to speak, except In