The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1899-12-21
THE GREAT SEAL.

the brain of cloud compelling Jupiter.
This feat is successfully performed in
startling proximity to a pioneer miner.
His equanimity is not disturbed; he
would not be surprised to see whole
drove of Minervae in "CalifOrny-' The
o1her witness, a retiring grizzly, is more
prudent, and turns toward the phenom-
enon a countenance wherein is depicted
an expression of cautious curiosity
more becoming a modest coyote than
ene ambitious beast which disputes the
monarchy of the forest. 1t was clever
TO emblematize the sudden upspring of
an Anglo-SaxOn empire upon these
SHORES by representation of the in
Simultaneous birth of the Goddess of
wisdom Also, when a few pioneers,
assembled in the adobe fenced plaza at
Sonoma, resolved to rear a rallying
standard, they could have selected none
more significant of determined courage
and stern self reliance than the Bear
flag" But why both in the State seal?
Why disturb the unity of the concep
ton and distract the attention by the
alliterative grapes and grizzly, or by
the miner and the ship, the farmer and
his pillow, etc?
EARLY LAW.
The immense immigration which fol-
| lowed the discovery of gold, brought
into conflict two principles of internal
| tional law. The first is, that a colony
from a civilized nation to vacant terri
tory carries with it the laws and usages
of the parent State; the second, that
the laws and usages Of conquered
country remain in operation until
Il =
of California had been long settled and
improved, while in much the larger
portion the Mexican population was so
inconsiderable as hardly to constitute
an element in a numerical estimate of
the whole. Hence arose a pleasing va
riety in the modes of determining liti-
CATION. In Los Angeles and in San
Jose, perhaps, were few accomplished
civilians familiar both with the sources
whence was derived their own beautiful
system, and with the Spanish and Mex
lean DEGREES and statutes by which
that system had been modified. Else
where in the south rude justice, fitted
to the business and affairs and suited
to the tastes of a pastoral people, was
dispensed in inferior tribunals; some
times by juez del paz as dusky as
the Supreme Judge. of a reconstructed
State, who is said to have been so dark
that the whole bar could not enlighten
him. In Sacramento, where Pike"
was in the ascendent, judgments were
rendered according to the course of
the common law and the Acts of the
Missouri legislature; while in San
Francisco was a wonderful tribunal.
There, the Judge of First Instance as
sumed a jurisdiction unlimited as to
| parties or subject matter. All was fish
| that came to his net. His was a court
civil and criminal, taking cognizance
OF matters spiritual or in probate, mat
tiers maritime or in admiralty, matters
at common law or in equity; yet always
recognizing the rule of the civil law
as paramount, when anybody could tell
what was the rule of civil law. 1t has
Ian said that toward the last Just
thirty minutes were allowed to each
trial Now in the winter of 1880 it
rained necessarily four months and a.
half. In default of a jury room, twelve
sufferers were not infrequently cor
rallied in the uncovered ':back yard" to
lind verdict upon the opening of
plaintiffs counsel, or the testimony of
the first witness. They generally found
1t. The clerks name was Pomeroy.
and the judicial opinions ended with
the unvarying formula, Pom, what's
our fees?''
Our methods We're somewhat irregu-
lar, but l guess substantial justice was
done. How would it answer to intro
duce a few more Irregularities into the
modern practice? 1 had innocently
| supposed that there was no more tech
| meal art than the art of sitting the
truth from conflicting evidence; but on
reading the Dreyfus trial, 1 am per-
suaded that this art should be conduct
ed without any technicalities at all.
L need only mention the settlement
OF conflicting rights or claims between
those engaged in the mining industry.
The evolution of legislative and Judi
clai functions from the adoption of the
rules and regulations of the several
mining districts. is one of the most re-
markable proofs furnished in modern
history of the truth that law does not
originate in the arbitrary will of the
State prescribing what is right and
prohibiting what is wrong but in Gus
toms assented to by those whose con-
Duct they control The establishment
OF these mining regulations was the
outcome OF the constructive instinct of
freemen, the ancestors of many of
whom had lived under a system of To-
cal self rule as to matters of local in
terest, and serves to show that Ameri-
cans at least (whatever some+of us may
think OF the Filipinos or the Cubans)
are fit to govern themselves y
LOVE OF COUNTRY AND THE
UNION.
| Then was tested the attachment of
the pioneer Californians for their coun-
| try and the Union-an attachment in
which they have never wavered The
military commander, almost of neces-
sity, assumed civil functions. Governor
Mason did not know; but some of us
remember the last Military Governor,
| General Riley; not too scientific a SOL
der to fight, and not SO much of a
constitution monger as to interfere with
the natural course of events, he en-
ployed without ostentation, and sur
rendered without delay, such civil pow
erS as were thrust upon him by an
| extraordinary combination of circum-
stances.
| Notwithstanding, therefore, the un-
certainty in respect to specific rules of
genius of the American people for. self
| government and it's instructive regard
for justice and order, more signally dis
played than throughout California in
/ the interval between the close of the
Mexican war and the commencement of
our history as a State. The confidential