Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-12-09
1T WAS ALWAYS 50.
A Protest From Southern
California In 1850.
THE STATE DIVISION QUESTION.
The Reasons of Forty Years Ago
Are Fresh and COgent
To-day.

HERALD the following interesting docu
ment. 1t is the rough draft Of memo
rial adopted at meeting of American
and Spanish citizens, held in Los An
geles city in February, 1850, to protes
against the Act of Admission forcin;
Southern California to become part o
the State of California. The documen
is endorsed: "The original copy Of {
memorial largely signed and forwarded
to the U. S. Congress-" 1t was writer
by one of the signers, W. w. Stevenson
whose son has furnished it to us for pub
lication. 1t will be seen that the prin
cipal reasons advanced by these pioneers
against being tied to the northern part O
California are the same that are urget
to-day in favor of division.-EDs
HERALD.
The undersigned citizens OF California,
in primary meeting, unanimously
adopted the following protest:
To the Honorable the Congress of the
United States:
We, citizens and residents of Califor.
MIA, upon mature reflection, have be-
come satisfied that the calling of the late
Convention aod the entire action OF that
body was premature.
The people were called upon to take
such steps as would secure to them the
entire exercise OF self-government, SO
dear to every American and SO congenial
to the political happiness OF all men.
This call was responded to by part of
the people. All permitted it to be acted
upon without opposition. Subsequent
reflection has, however, convinced us Of
our error in the whole matter; and,
under this conviction, we have rescrted
to the only remedy known to Americans
in redressing political evils, namely-to
petition and protest in their sovereign
capacity of citizens of the United States.
The reasons which have influenced us
in this affair are sim pie and obvious.
The unusually short space of time
between the rati6cntion of the treaty and
the calling of said Convention is of itself
sufficient reason to justify (after time
for deliberation) the course we have
taken in relation to the admission of the
proposed State. 1t is well known fact
that large number Of the people of Cal
ifornia are Spaniards who Justly claim
for themselves a due share of patriotism.
The changes OF government were SO sud-
den as to prevent the most jealous of
them from being fully acquainted with
the nature of the American government
and all the consequences growing out OF
the new political relations into which
the treaty Of Queretaro had placed them
In the southern part of California there
are many Spanish citizens who are zeal
ous for the welfare of their own State
and the great confederacy Of which it is
part, and would be the last to take any
measures which would not be for the
best interests OF both. 1t is not our in
tention to impute improper motives to
those who were movers in this matter,
but are willing to admit they were actu-
ate6 by feelings of patriotism. 1t is
but natural for those who have re-
Gently left behind them the
fullest privileges of political life
to desire the same enjoyed in the coun.
try of their adoption. To Americans
this feeling is paramount. 1t is not our
wish to extinguish this patriotic ardor,
but would foster and encourage it. 1t
becomes US, however, as American citi-
zens, to exercise our rights in such a
manner as to secure the greatest amount
of good to the whole. The limits as.
signed by the proposed Constitution are
such as to embrace very large tract of
country, say atleast 1S0, 900 square miles,
more than three times the size of the
largest State in the Union, thus bunch
ing together of points remote from each
other and very dissimilar in their inter-
ests and resources. Such is the vast ex-
tent of territory that the machinery OF
government must partake of the nature
of foreign rather than a self-propelled
power. The southern part of California
is and must be an agricultural country
the northern is and will be mining and
commercial country. Commerce is self
ish and has a concentrating tendency.
Capital finds it's way to one point and
bids defiance to competition. This ten
dency Of things is already felt california,
San Francisco possessing great natural
advantages became at once the emporium
OF the mining region; to her capital
flowed in a torrent until in the short
space of two years mere rancho be-
came a large commercial city; at this
we rejoice nor would we desire to change
the progressive prospects Of that magic
town, The matter of complaint is that
with all these natural advantages the
present attempt to bind the entire coast
OF California in one political compact
has a powerful tendency to augment
the resources of San Francisco at the
expense of the South. We have har-
bors, we must have commerce, but of
what use are the harbors to US? Our
commerce must be mere secondhand
retail affair dependent on San Francisco
for everything foreign. Let the South
be separated from the North by fair
political line of partition and she will at
once bestir herself, her har bors will be
surveyed and the latent resources of the
fertile valleys will be brought out, and
while the South would not expect to
rival the North in opulence and grandeur,
she would present to the world the beauti-
full picture of happy, united people.
The mining and commercial ad-
vantages of the world must forever
give it an advantage over the south in
commercial strength. Thousands will
flock there who have neither capital nor
permanent identity, but being citizens
must swell the political weight of the
north and give to it vast majority in
representation without materially in
creasing the revenue of the State. From
this circumstance the south must forever
be subject to the north in every sense Of
the word.
1t is we'll known that an ad valorem
tax bears more heavy on an agricultural
than a commercial people. The mer-
chant and speculator have their capital &C
as e. Cd