The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1894-10-08
RILEY'S VICTORY.
A Recollection of Early
San Francisco.
CIVIL WAR WAS AVERTED
By CaIifOrnia's Last Military
Governor.
JUDGE r. F. PECKHAM's STORY.
How an Independent Legislature Was
Dissolved and Papers Restored
to Alcalde Leavenworth.

to his recitalS of events that occurred in |
the early days of California, must admit |
that he is a splendid raconieur, and that |
those who listen t. him never fail to be in
terested.
Not long since the Judge, while enter
tanning party of guests at one of the |
fashionable watering places with recOllec-
tons of the times before the stars and |
stripes f1oated over the Golden State, said:
Zone thing that has ast0nished me is that
the early historians have never published |
in full the account of the attemp of a
party of men in San Francisco to establish
an independent government within the
territorial limits of California.
''Of course" said the Judge, laying his
half finished cigar on a table at his side,
"l'll tell you what L know about that
that is I'll tell you the story as told me by
General Riley. who was the last Terri
torial Governor of California, but / will
not tell it to you in the exact words of the
general. he was a straight forward man,
as honest as the day Is long, and he be-
lieved that every one else should be honest
and deal fairly with his fellow man. He
was a strict disclpinarian and believed
that orders should be strictly enforced,
the reSpon S biliy for their enforcement
resting with those who issued them. But
the general had habit when he was ex-
cited, Of expressing himself in language
that was forc bic. and that is not 10 be
found in the Century or WebsIer's diction-
airy.
"It appears, according to General Riley,
that in the early party of 1S49 "A party CT
men located 10 San Francisco were not
altogether satisfied with the manner in
which affairs were conducted They were
under the leadership OF man named
Cummings, but his first anne do not now
recall. This party organized an indie
pendent government and selected Legis-
lature for the several counties bordering
On the bag of San Francisco-that is, San
Fr ncisco, Marin, Contra Costa. Alameda
and Santa Clara. After they had arranged
everything to their own satisfaction a
number of them waited on Dr. 4. NJ
Leavenworth. the Alcalde, and NJ ade
demand on him for all the papers in mis-
uffice. The dOrtor asked for time to con-
sider the demand, which he thought ought
| OF to be acceded to without some rehec-
ton. He requested them to return at a
| given hour.
"The committee as these men called
themselves, retired, leaving couple
of men to guard the doctors Of
fee Before t the appointed oO Gnsr hour DR.
| for advice. and the advice he got
was that he must not comply with the de-
| mand made upon him nv this crowd of
seli-apnninted officials. When the com
| mlttee returned tor an answer the doctor
| said that he had concluded to hold On To
| ali the documents. The committee
| thought, however, that the doctor might
| be induced TO act otherwise, under certain
| circumstances, and they were right, for
the doctor did condos" end to surrender the
documents, but he did so under protest.
| The mem bers of the committed induced
the doctor TO recall bis determination not
! to give up the books and papers by pre-
| senung siXshooters at his head and telling
him that they did not want TO shed his
| blood, but they wanted the papers right
quick. And they go: them.
"rnen General Riley told me what he
| did. 'Peckham, he said to me, now
wasn't that nice state of affarsp Now
| when l heard of this consulted with Hal
| leck and other memb of my saf, aud
! the conclusion reached was that this was
lnsurrecuon against the constituted
authorities Of the United States. Il was
an affront to the President Of the United
States. an affront 10 me. sir, an affront to
| me, who represented he President. When
/ received news of this l was in Monterey
ana Halleck was Territorial Secretary. 1
got several membe;s OF my staff, went to
| San Francisco, and found out what was
| the matter. Why. Peckham, ] discovered
! that it was civil war and did not want 10
| permit anything of the kind in the Terri
| tory of which l was Governor OF course
all this was rendered more emphatic by
General Riey's way of expressing himself.
| l could tell you almost In exact words how
| he did express himself, but there are ladies
present, so / will not.
General Riley then said: when 1
! found out what here had been going on |
concluded TO get possession Of the sloOp-
ol-war St. Mary's at anchor at SausalitO,
| but the commander would not make "a
move without orders from Commodure
Jones, who was stationed at Benica.
There was nothing for me to do but to go
to him. l procured a wbaleboat that be-
longed to the estate of William A. Leides-
dorff, and was rowed up to Jones head
! quarters. l met the commodore and told
| him what / wanted. For time he hest
lated, saying it was very mportant move
| that proposed making, and that he did
not feel as if he could act without author
| ity from the Secretary of the Navy. told
him that before the Secretary could be
communicated with and an answer re-
! ceived those rebels might not only have
possession of the counties surrounding the
bay, but they might have possession If the
whole Territory of Cali ornia. l told him
| that the President had put me in charge
of the Territory, had made me the Gov
! ernor, aud that intended to uphold the
| trust he had placed In me.
1.-The commodore anc / talked the mat.
| Ter over for more than an hour. Finally
| told that all / wanted was an order from
him to the commaudsDt of the st. Mary's,
| anu LUdL III all WOulu not
move her from the vessel. He sat down,
wrote the order. and when | placed it in
my inside pocket l bid him good-by and
returned to San Francisco.
II hadn't teen in the place more than
| half an hour before a committee called
upon me and asked for an audience. This
| was q COMMITTEES representing the self
appointed Legislature, so | let them csme
| to hear what they had to say. The spokes-
man told me that he had heard that in
| tended to move my forces from Monterey
to San Francisco, with a view to making
an attack on the citizens and take forcible
possession of the place; that it was hoped
that l would not do any such thing, as
there was no necessity for shedding the
| blood Of any one; that those who were a.
the head of the movement were of the
opinion that it was their tight to esta blish
a civil government. Peckham, | looked
at those fellows for few minutes, ana
then gave them piece of my mind. /
asked them if they thought was such a
- fool as to wear my men out by making
them march all the way up from Monterey
''Then / told them In way that they
could not misunderstood that l repre-
sented the United States Government.
i shat was the Governor and wasn't GO
ing to stand airy Of their - foolishuess
| told them that what they had done
amounted 10 civil war, and that II there
MAS going 10 be any war wanted to lake