Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1889-02-07

! -
became pillar of tire by night and a pillar of
cloud by Gay guiding the worlds spirit of ad-
venture, Florida ceased to charm the young
journalist, and shipping the material for print
i ing ofice TO Charleston for transhipment there
| 10 san Francisco, he soon followed landing
mere IN 1913. He was part OF that wonderful
| migration, the like OF which will not be seen
again. Across the plains. over the Isthmus,
l and around the Horn they came They were
empire builders. They came through risk and
danger. Savage tribes disputed their passage,
| laid tribute upon them, and made their march
skirnish, from the Missouri to the Saf ramento.
On the isthmus, where the tropic earth sweats
deatn, the fever lurked in ambush, and With its
! internal hand held many a gallant heart
| until lis struggles were over. By sea, the ehol
era, swlit-sailing pirate, flew its black flag and
Doarded ships freighted to their limit with
| human life, TO turn them into charnel houses.
Still the marching columns came and every
man hero. remember how the flower of the
! pioneers who had conquested my native fcon-
| tier, caught the contsgion OF adventure and
setting their faces westward marched into the
afternoon, while our strained eyes followed
their retreating shadows, and the night received
them, and when morning shone sgain, the
! world was lonesome. Theirs was high courage.
They battled against the forces of nature; they
withstood all that can appal the heart and
make the flesh confess its weakness and the
| conquest they made is our inheritance. 1t lies
| around us in the vineyards that purple in their
season, the orehai ds and the far reaching glebe.
| II is III the homes OF California under whose
! rose clad Intels the kiss of wifely love swaits
| the home coming of the men who have wrought
Qulet lOTtuue out OF the Lana OF promise.
sought and saved by the pioneers through ad-
| ventures and sacrifices which gid their names
| with honor imperishable.
He was one of that band of picked men, and
| at once went 10 the front. His newspaper dealt
| with the dynamics, the fortune yielding forces
OF the new land. With the judgment of vet
eran, and the zeal of neophyte, he began
| quest INTO the resources and advantages OF the
| state which was finally TO acknowledge his
! headship Commerce, agriculture, and mining
| were the fayorite themes upon which he
rsx-fA rsxsft n.
brought his instructive taste for the law to bear
| IN coum el concerning the necessary civic foun-
! dations of the State polity. He knew perfectly
| the ethics of journalism. They were to him a
code of honor and during this part of his career
| he kept them like stainless escutcheon, with
| no bar sinister. For ten years he confined his
| exertions to MS newspaper work During that
time the great fires. which laid San Francisco in
| ashes twice destroyed his property but his per
| severance passed all difficulties and his gains
| in that decade were the beginning of his modest
/ fortune. During that period the people of San
| Francisco discoye ed that the government
which most affected them was that which was
nearest TO then, and when It's inetfciency, or
indifference, or lack CT organic strength had
/ permitted intolerable evils they recalled its
! trusteeship and perfected and purified its meth
DDS by enlisting the whole civic body in the
| administration OF justice. These events greatly
| increased the responsibility and importance of
! the local offices, and to the most powerful OF
these Mr. Bartlett was chosen in 1859. He had
| stood with the people in kindling the refining
/ fires of reform, and had guarded them against
! becoming conhagration TO destroy what they
were only intended to purify. In doing his part
! he had manifested the militant spirit OF a war
| rior. In his action one gets an enchanting
| glimpse of the fires still burning in him which
| had been kindled in the soul of his Revolution
aiy ancestor, who preferred to offer his neck to
/ the sword of a headsman rather than to the
| yoke of tyrant.
When the people took him from his desk to be
| Clerk of the metropolitan county, they were
merely continuing the durating processes by
| which they had twice cleansed their local gov
eminent. But they robbed Journal M of a
knightly devotee. though they gained to public
\ life great example.
| His subsequent service in the State Senate
| and mis- unceasing efforts to keep the State and
municipal statutes strong for public defense and
| for the fostering of the great materialitieS OF
California, and at the same time free from the
! impingement of schemes to advance private
| ends at the general expense, are matters OF
| common knowledge. They made up that fault
| less personal record upon which he was twice
| elected Mayor of San Francisco. The city once
| inferior to many in our borders, but whose fE-
! ture primdcy he fOreSaW and toretOld in her
| weakness, in her strength called him with the
| voice of command, and he guided her enlarged
and enlarging destiny through period critical
and crucial in many ways.
! After his election to the Governorship, the
President of the United States asked me the
reason of result which amounted to a revolu-
tion in the politics of the State | ske ched
briefly the incidents OF his service as Mayer Il
was story Of public credit restored; of disoI-
dered finance steadied and straightened of re-
sumption oil the dlscnargS OF current cost of
| government by the use OF current revenue, ana
the payment of past deficits without the future
burden of a bobded debt. As told it, the Presi-
dents fine face which is cast in that out line
| which the Greeks gave TO their heroes IN whom
they idealized power, and purpose and purity
was afiame with vivid interest, and his com
ment was expressive OF the conviction that, in
men who can do such things in executive OF
| fee, we have the salt of our institutions whose
sayor is their preseTy tive principle.
Before this service had ended, the suffrage
Df "a hp nDrlla fcrf
| ernor of the State. soy the suffrage of his
party, as distinct from the partisan mechanism
which secures results against the drift, or OPP
posed to the expressed preference, of public
| opinion. An observer OF political events must
| coneede that after all, parties in this country
in majority tor instance, seek out the men OF
| merit and make his fortunes the object OF their
care. If young man should ask me what are
the four cardinal points of the political compass
by which he intends to steer his way to public
| honors, Notwithstanding some cases which are
quoted to prove the opposite, should tell him
that the first cardinal point is, fidelity to the
people; and that the second is, fidelity TO the
people; that the third is fidelity to the people;
and the fourth is, fidelity to the people Not
| running with the masses when they chase
chimeras but faithful devotion to the few and
| simple principles upon which alone popular
| government can be long administered
The contest which followed this nomination
is memorable. Opposed to him was one of our
foremost citizens, a pioneer, a man of conspie-
! nous talents and stainless honor. A the Strlg-
gle progressed, it attracted national attention
New England, mindful OF this descendant of
her early defenders who had in his veins the
blood OF the Revolutionary Governor of one of
her states, viewed the combat from afar with
strained attention to its incidents. The South
| where his father sleeps, and his life began
! joined the audience which faced toward Cal
ffornia. Here the emergencies OF the battle
e,lled from long retirement the eloquent Booth
| who had himself been Governor and Senator
and now stood agans destiny but with that
| ferbearanee in speech which cannot be TOO
often illustrated upon the stump. The banner
of Bartlett wss gsllantly advanced by White
and score of young men.
| In that dignined competition | was thrown
| into very int mate association with him whose
death has put upon me this heavy duty. II was
at a time in which mans genuine character is
visible to the keen observer, in lights that are
not possible under other circumstances He
was Of a retiring, almost shy, disposition, re-
served in manner, and innocent OF those arts
! which make what we call in politics "a good
| mixer" He had no tricks of speech o. manner
by which to catch the popular eye or fancy. In
friendly or cultured association he always sus-
tanned himself He surprised me not only by
the ex' ent. bat by the exaetness OF his knowi-
edge AS knew him better | saw in him that
which goes for evidence of genius; he would
state principle, and leave those to whom it
| was novel to argue their way up to it. During
his candidacy he made but few speeches, but
they were models OF statement. Indeed he was
better able than any public man have known
TO illustrate the difference between statement
and oratory. He was master of statement To
| orstory he made no pretentionS. Yet | never
upon popular audiences than followed his
! speeches. They seemed TO refresh the intell1-
gence to which they were addressed Their
meaning was always clear; and / am sure that
younger men who speak in public would have
| pearl of great price If they would always COM
mand the power to make their meaning clear.
which ought TO be the only object OF public
speaking.
AT the end he was chosen to he Chief of the
State; to control the affairs OF territory larger
than Great Britain or Prussia.
Nearly two score years had passed since he
came in the flush and prime of his youth an
immigrant to the land that now bestowed upon
him the highest civic honor in the gift of its
people
While in the Office of Mayor he had found, as
he said on exchanging it for the larger trust,
that under the polity of that city the Mayor had
responsibilities IN nexcess OF his power of efficient
! action. have often reflected upon how much
| Is covered by that simple statement OF a grave
organic defect. But at last he had reached ex-
eeutive functions that were up to the measure
! OF his matured powers and ripe experience. He
entered trusteeship in which responsibility
and freedom of action and fullness of power
were concurrent. He succeeded able men, for
! Caliioipia has been nicely discriminating in
her choice of Governors. But it is a REGULARITY
OF our form OF government that its affairs never
| reach the angle of repose. Ifthey did there
| would be relaxation of that eternal vigilance
4 which is the price OF liberty. But that relaxa-
t.