Los Angeles daily herald., 1875-07-25
General John BidaOelE-

eng for the Republican NOmina-
tiOn, Etc.
General John Bida0etI-
SIR: 1t has been justly remarked
that politics, like poverty, makes
strange bedfellows; but, well ac-
quainted as 1 am with your personal
and political history, I confess to some
astonishment to find you sleeping on
a platform, in the close embrace of
Ishmaelites, like Pixley, whom you
most abhor, and renegades like Swift,
whom you ought to despise. The
principles, too, that you have recently
hugged to your bosom, must have
made you kick and squirm, filled your
dreams with ugly phantOms and made
your marriage couch bed of thorns.
Let us review portion of your pOlit-
ical career.
How did it happen, General, that in
1861 you suddenly woke up to the
enormity of negro slavery, after hav-
ing held in bondage a whole rancharie
of Indians, who for more than fifteen
years had been your absolute slaves ?
Did they not mine for you at Bid
wells Bar for three years without re-
muneration? Did they not farm for
you at Arroyo Chico for over ten
years without pay? Did you ever
build a root over a single one of them
during the long years they scraped
the rocks of Feather river and titled
the soil for you, without recognition?
Did you ever send single papoose to
school? Did you ever decently clothe
single squaw, except in your kitch-
en, or a single buck, except in your
harvest field? What aroused the
honest yoemanry of Butte county
against you, at the opening of the
civil war, and compelled you to break
the chains of the Chico Indians, but
a sense of shame for the inconsistency
of the first citizen of the county, who
with his tongue preached freedom
and with his hand robbed labor Was
there no monopoly in this ?
THAT TITLE.
Coming down a few years later, tell
us how it is that your title alone, of
the entire batch of the "Sutter gen.
eral titles' was confirmed? While
in Washington city, whittier you hur-
ried on receipt of the bad news from
the Capital, why did you telegraph
back to your agent for ten thousand
dollars" to meet sudden emergency?
VIII you be kind enough to present
full account of the disbursement of
that fund? Was any Of it placed
"where it would do the most good"?
What "sub" in the office of the At
of the United States
got slice? How many settlers did
you dispossess on your return? Note,
General, do not envy you the pos
session of $4,000 acres of the best land
in California, nor desire to defraud
you out of q single rod of it. But
will you please inform the citizens
whom you elected how much better
your title was than absolute theft ?
Can gold so emboss fraudulent Mex
lean grant as to purify the parchment
upon which it is written and sanctify
the means by which it was confirm
ed? Was not this, also, a monopoly"
of land?
THE GENERALS DEFENSE.
listened with great interest and
must say profound establishment, at
your feeble attempt at exculpation,
a short time ago at Platt's Hall. 1t
now appears that your pretended title
to the Arroyo Chico grant is based on
what you are pleased to denominate a
provisional grant or concession. This
makes your case still worse. In the
first place, the provisional grant was
not grant of the land at all, but
mere privilege to occupy it until a
grant should be made, and the only
grant made was the Sutter general
title. The privilege to occupy was but
o barren license, decided by the Su-
preme Court of the United States in
the De Haro case, to be entirely void;
and in the second place, your whole
case was presented, tried and deter
mined upon the validity of the Sutter
title. 1t was novel way of trying a
law suit in the Supreme Court of the
United States, to abandon the case as
made before the Courts and try it in
the Office of the Attorney-General on
q new record, never relied on and
known to be worthless. Here is ex-
actly what plain people do not under
stand. Try again.
THE YATES OF CHICO.
Approaching still closer to the pres
ent time be pleased to enlighten the
people of the State upon the question
of your claim to the sole enjoyment
of the waters of Chico creek. Who
gave you the right to appropriate for
ever, and without expense a flowing
stream from the Sierras to the Sacra-
Do you tell me that you new
er preferred claim so monstrous?
Now, General, entreat you to listen
to the following facts: ] suppose that
you will not deny that there is such a
in Butte county as the
"Butte Flume and Lumber Compa-
n.y." and that you have heard of it.
Do you not also know that that COM
pany with an enterprise which all
must commend, built and put in sue
cessful operation magnificent fiume
more than thirty-three miles in length,
from the head waters of Chico creek
in the Sierras down to the town of
Chico where your place is situated?
Did they not carry that fiume against
every obstacle of nature, and at an
enormous expense, the entire distance
right to your door without one word
of encouragement from you? And
when, after spanning ravines hundreds
of feet in depth, and clinging to noun
tain sides thousands of feet in height,
it approached completion, and half
the comfy was rejoicing on the cheap
ening of lumber and the other half
congratulating the intrepid builders
on their success, who, pray then,
rushed in, protest in hand, and noti-