The herald., 1894-03-07

from this state they did not care who
| elee wae elected. The minor state Of
flces fell to such evowed secession gym
rshizers as Charles s. Fairfax, Horace
HiRley, Samuel II. Brooks and men OF
that cRliber.
Broderick cams back from Washing
ton, his face st;ll red with the passion
OF his angry denunciation Of Buchanan
for bis completely In the "Lscompton
lniquity." He said tnat America must
| be psopled by ell freemsn or all slaves
that there Was nc middle ground In she
| premises: and that every man who be-
lieved in the right Of each stats to say
whether IL would or would not tolerate
slavery within It's borders muat face the
music and ,dsdnes It's status. Looking
over tho past ns / do, and dispassion-
Ately reviewing events. 1t is often Rmua-
ing to aee the men who at that time
were roaring about "damn blackhearted
abolitioniste, )" and who have since oc-
cupied stations OF honor aud large COM
penHAtion under the banners Of che Re.
publican party.
Broderick ct once mapped out the
| plan OF an aggressive campaign, with
! the assistance OF his henchmRn, Andrew
| J. Ruler, a brother Of the national stra-
! hismTi5. III got up con veztion Of ths
! Free Soil Democrats and started O news
| paper 10 San Francisco with an English
man named John White IS its editor. In
the filth ar eixth issue OF tbs concern it
charged q man Of now national reputa-
tion with having accepted bribe while
acting as q Justice of the supreme court.
hroderick, who was ous OF the city at
| the time, was furious about II. and two
days later White was obliged to publish
q humiliating retraction. This was the
first blow the new party received.
! John Currey OF Solano was its nomi-
nee for governor and the rest OF the
ticket have forgotten. At all events it
! was beaten from start to finish, the
whole Latham Downey ticket being
(, elected and the Republican ticket,
headed by the late Leland Stanford, was
good second. The Fres-Soil Democra-
cy did not despair, however. but main
tanned its organization for two years
| later.
Latham was governor less than one
month. He defeated q man-John B.
| Weller--who was aH much his superior
in statesmsnship as in lofty courage. It
was my good fortune to listen to Weller'E
| speech in Salt Lake ON the trial OF the
supposed slayers of DIR. Robinson. Such
scorching invective aa it WAS against
the Mormon church, Poor man, he
deserved better fate.
With Latham's election to the senate
came Downey's accession to the gov
ernorship. He bore bis elevation very
complacently and was not in the least
ostentatious over it. George Wallace,
an early friend of mine, was his private
secretary. In February he was called
His Accidency," but by the following
year he was q famous man through his
veto of the famous Parsona bulkhead
bill. which originated as follows:
Levi Parsons was from Albany, N. Y,
a con of the famous author of Parsons
on Contracts. He was middle-aged
man and the attorney Of the French
banking house of Phoebe, Bayogue & Co.,
agents Of the Pariaian firm Of seillere
IL 90. In France money commands
from Q to per cent per annum, while
in San Francisco at that time it COM
mRnded that much per month. So
Phoebe went to France and arranged for
q plan by which they were to build q
sea wall about the city, similar
to the one now in use. In return
for this they were to have the collection
of tolls on all merchandise and produce
shipped across the wall. Gilbert A.
Grant, senator from San Francisco, was
the principal advocate OF the measure
and it dug his political grave.
The proponents Of the scheme knew
six months ahead that its passage was a
certainty but they never dreamed of a
veto. The bill went to the governor inn
mediately on it's enrolment and did not
come back for three days. After "a
hours had elapsed they became alarmed
and began to bring a pressure upon
Downsy to sign it. He was. deaf to all
opportunities and on the third day re-
turned it without his approval. Never
did San Francisco go unanimously greet
the worthy act of an honest man. The
name OF Downey became household
word.
OF his defeat by Law in 1868 there is
little to be said. The state had become
Republican in the meantime and he fell
at the head OF the column, fighting
brevely. Speaking Of the bulkhead bill,
some years after, he said: 81 vetoed that
bill from the standpoint of an Irishman,
| for had seen my native land impover-
iahed by having ell the profits of its in
dustries spent in England, France and
elsewhere. California would have been
| impoverished in the same way. All the
| profits derived from the tolls and wharf,
age collected on the bnlkhead would
have been spent in France. Again, the
water front of her chief maritime city
belongs of right to the state.
The Oulton bill. under which the
present state harbor System was devised,
was shown to me by Mr.. Oulton before
ever it was read in the senate, of which
he was q member from Siskiyou. told
him if it passed in that shape / would
sign it, and it did. They feared to
amend it lest should veto it,"
| More than 28 years had passed since
/ had seen the sturdy little governor, but
on my return to this part of the world
his doors we're always open to me. His
long white beard had given him a
patriarchal appearance and age had
given what youth had denied. He was
very plain, blunt man, but
good friend where he took q liking.
His death came upon us all like
the tread OF thief in the night, and it
was with sorrow unfeigned that our
people learned that the sturdy little
figure lay prone in death. The ranks OF
our pioneers are being thinned daily by
the Grim Reaper, and soon the last OF
our pioneers will be laid to rest. Gov
ernor Downey was worthy member OF
the iast-waning band of heroic spirits
| that oava ia kha TJn;nn a naW aknka His