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On January ninth the Assembly adopted a joint resolution for a removal to Sacramento, and to meet in that city on the thirteenth. The next day the matter came up in the Senate and was defeated by a tie vote, but on the twelfth both Houses adjourned, to meet at Sacramento on the sixteenth. The steamer Empire left Vallejo for Sacramento, with the Legislature, at three o'clock on the afternoon of the thirteenth, and reached the latter city the next day. A dense crowd of people were at the landing awaiting her arrival, and she was received with the firing of cannon and other manifestations of appreciation. The work of fitting up the Sacramento Court House was immediately commenced, and by noon on the sixteenth everything was arranged, and the two Houses met in it. The grand ball was given on that evening by the citizens of Sacramento, who charged themselves $20 apiece for the tickets. A joint resolution was adopted on the sixteenth authorizing the Governor to have the State archives removed from San José to Sacramento, to remain during the session, and requiring the Governor and the Executive State officers to reside in Sacramento during the session. The State officers prepared to obey the order, when an injunction was served upon them, issued upon the petition of J. D. Hoppe, and other citizens of San José, who claimed that that city was the true seat of government. The restraining order was dissolved, however, and a

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few days afterward the records were boxed up and shipped to the new Capital, where they arrived on the twenty-first. On April thirtieth an Act was passed recognizing Vallejo as the permanent seat of government, and directing the Governor to remove the archives and State offices from Sacramento to that city without unnecessary delay upon the adjournment of the Legislature. Early in the session a joint committee was appointed to confer with General Vallejo to ascertain if he intended to carry out the terms of his agreement, and on January twenty-fourth that gentleman addressed a letter to the committee stating that since he had made the proposition, he had become so embarrassed as to be unable to perform his obligations, and asked that his bond be canceled. On March seventh the City of Sacramento was inundated by high water, and there was for a time a disposition to remove the Legislature to San Francisco.

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As in the preceding year, as the time for the meeting of the Legislature of 1853 approached, the question as to where the session should be held was agitated. General Vallejo had become so embarrassed as not to be able to perform the conditions of his proposition, and the accommodations at the "permanent seat of government were but little better than those which had been afforded at that place to the Legislature of 1852. The disposition was strong to have the Legislature remove to some other city immediately after it was organized. The citizens of Benicia and Sacramento held out flattering inducements for a change to their cities respectively, with the odds largely in favor of the former place, where it was urged there would be no danger of a flood, such as had rendered Sacramento so unpleasant in 1852. Immediately on the organization of the Legislature, resolutions were introduced to adjourn the session to San José, to Benicia, and to Sacramento, but they failed. The removal question, however, soon absorbed everything else, and the issue was made up between Vallejo and Benicia. The citizens of the latter place agreed to donate the free use of their new City Hall to the Legislature, to provide suitable offices for the State officials, and to pay the expenses of the removal, if the Legislature would meet in their city. On February fourth the Assembly adopted a resolution to adjourn to meet at Benicia on the eleventh. On the same day the Senate concurred and Vallejo again lost the Legislature. The same day an Act was passed, the preamble of which recited that by the law which located the Capital at Vallejo it was provided that if General Vallejo failed or refused to comply with the terms of his proposition, in whole or in part, the Act should become void; and that General Vallejo had petitioned the Legislature to be released from the performance of his bond given under that Act, and had expressed his inability to comply with its conditions. It was therefore provided that the permanent seat of government should, on and after February 5, 1853, be established at Benicia, if Vallejo should fail or refuse to comply with the conditions of his bond, or should be released from it.

The Act also provided that he should be released upon condition of his waiving all claims for relief or damages against the State, founded upon the location at or removal from Vallejo of the Capital. On the fourteenth General Vallejo executed the release. It was approved by the State authorities, and on the twenty-fourth the Mayor of Benicia executed a deed to the State for the City Hall property, conditioned that in case the seat of Government should be thereafter removed from that city the property should revert to the municipality. On May eighteenth another Act was passed declaring Benicia the permanent seat of Government in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution, and it was declared to be unlawful for any Court or Judge to grant a writ of mandamus or other order directed against the State officers to compel them to remove the State archives or offices from Benicia to any other point in the State. The building in which the Legislature met at Benicia was of brick. It covered about the same surface area as the present Court House at Sacramento, and was two stories in height. The rear end of the lower story constituted the Senate Chamber, which was approached by a hallway from the main entrance. There were four large rooms in the building on that floor opening into the hallway between the Senate Chamber and the entrance. In the upper story the Assembly Chamber occupied the rear part, and the front of the building was divided into two rooms. building is still standing and is used for a school-house.

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As early as October, 1853, a movement was set on foot to remove the permanent seat of Government from Benicia to Sacramento, and soon after the organization of the Legislature of 1854 the question of removal was second in importance to the election of the United States Senator. It was argued that the conveniences to the members at Sacramento would be greater, the accommodations for State officers would be more ample, and greater security would be provided for the public records; and there was a strong disposition to make the change. Governor Bigler, in his annual message of January 4, 1854, said:

Although deeply impressed with the importance, as well as the necessity of economizing in every department of the State Government, I feel it incumbent upon me to direct your attention to the insecure condition of the public archives. The entire public records, as well as the State Library, now numbering about four thousand volumes, are kept in fragile frame buildings, without fire-proof vaults or safes. The public records are now invaluable, and if destroyed, could not be replaced, and their loss would involve the State and individuals in serious difficulties. In the other States of the Confederacy, the officers of State are provided with substantial brick or stone buildings, and the public records rendered entirely secure by being deposited in fire-proof vaults or safes, provided for that purpose. In this truly important matter, we are admonished of the necessity of increased safeguards by the many and terrible conflagrations which have occurred during the past year. I trust, therefore, that you will, without delay, adopt such measures as you may deem necessary to render entirely secure the public archives in the several offices, and also the State Library.

On January sixth the Governor sent a special message to the Legislature, transmitting a communication from the Mayor and Common Council of Sacramento, offering, if the Capital should be removed to that city, to grant to the State Government the free use of the Court House, and other suitable rooms, for the accommodation of the State officers, together with fire-proof vaults for the security of the public moneys and records; to remove the members of the Legislature, and the State officers, and the Government furniture and archives, free of charge, from Benicia; and to grant to the State, for a building lot for the Capitol, the public square between I and J and Ninth and Tenth Streets. The Court House tendered for the use of the Legislature was the same building in which the session of 1852 had been held. It was of brick, sixty by eighty feet in dimensions,

and two stories high. The people of Benicia offered the free use of the buildings then occupied for State purposes, for as long a time as they might be desired. The propositions were referred to special committees, to whom, also, were referred the various resolutions and bills that had been offered on the subject of the Capital removal.

Early in the session joint and concurrent resolutions were offered to remove the Legislature to Sacramento, but they failed, and it looked very much as if the removal proposition would be defeated. Finally, on February ninth, A. P. Catlin introduced a bill in the Senate to fix the permanent seat of government at Sacramento. In the Assembly there was a clear majority in favor of the removal, but in the Senate Benicia had the advantage. Catlin, however, succeeded in carrying the bill through the Senate. The measure passed that body on the eighteenth by a vote of thirteen to eleven. The Senate adjourned, however, without assenting to the title of the bill, and on the twentieth that question came up. After a number of amendments had been voted down the title was approved. A motion to reconsider the vote by which the bill had been passed was then made, and the remainder of the day was consumed in voting on motions for delay, when the whole matter was sent over until the next day by the withdrawal of enough members to leave no quorum. On the twenty-first a motion to indefinitely postpone the motion to reconsider was carried. The bill went to the Assembly on that day, and a motion to reject it was defeated by a vote of thirty-two to thirty-five. On the twenty-third the bill was referred to a committee. It was favorably reported on the next day, and came up on its passage. Various amendments were defeated, and the bill was passed as it had come originally from the Senate, by a vote of thirty-nine to thirty-five. On the twentyfifth a motion to reconsider was defeated, and on that day it met with the approval of Governor Bigler. The Act repealed all former Acts in relation to the location of the Capital, and provided that from and after one day after its passage the seat of government should be located permanently at Sacramento. A resolution to adjourn to the new Capital was immediately passed. On the twenty-eighth, the Governor and the other State officers arrived at Sacramento, where they were received with numerous demonstrations of rejoicing. The Sutter Rifles paraded the streets, acting as an escort to the Governor. The procession, after marching through the principal streets, halted in front of the Orleans Hotel. Here Alderman Spaulding delivered an address of welcome to the State officers and members of the Legislature. Speeches were also made by Governor Bigler, General J. W. Denver, Mayor Hardenburg, J. W. Coffroth and others. On March first the Legislature met in the Sacramento Court House.

On March twenty-fourth an Act was passed requiring the sessions of the Supreme Court, which were then being held in San Francisco, to be held at the seat of Government; and on the twenty-seventh Justices Heydenfeldt and Wells decided, Chief Justice Murray dissenting, that San José was the legal Capital and that all the acts in relation to removals which had been passed were unconstitutional. An order was entered by the Court directing the transfer of the judicial archives to San José, and ordering the Sheriff of Santa Clara County to provide suitable accommodations. On the thirtieth the change was made.

After the election in 1854 the question of the removal of the Capital was again discussed, and so confident were the people of San José that the seat of Government would be removed, to that city, in view of the favorable ruling of the Supreme Court, that extensive preparations were made there

for the accommodation of the State officers and the Legislature. On October twenty-first a writ of mandate was issued by Judge Hester, of the Third District Court, at the instance of Thos. L. Vermule and others, directing the State officers to show cause why they should not forthwith remove their offices and papers to San José. The Attorney-General answered on the twenty-eighth, and, on the hearing the Judge, made an order directing that the removal be made. The matter was carried to the Supreme Court, and on December twenty-eighth Justices Murray and Bryan (who had been appointed vice Wells, deceased) filed opinions reversing the judgment of Judge Hester, and an order was made directing the Clerk of the Supreme Court to remove the records of that Court to Sacramento, and ordering the Sheriff of that county to provide suitable accommodations for the Court. The Court then adjourned to meet at Sacramento on the first Monday of February, 1855. Their decision was that Sacramento was the legal State Capital. Justice Heydenfeldt dissented from these opinions, and held that as the Act to remove the Capital to Sacramento had not been passed by a two-thirds vote in the Legislature, it was unconstitutional. He also held that the Act to remove to Vallejo was unconstitutional, for the reason that it appeared on its face that in its passage the Legislature had been prompted by a consideration of the amount of money which General Vallejo had agreed to pay, that that had amounted to a sale of the seat of Government, and that it had not been the deliberate judgment of the Legislature. He therefore concluded that San José was the legal Capital.

The first Court House that was erected at Seventh and I Streets in Sacramento City, and in which the sessions of 1852 and 1854 were held, was commenced in June, 1850, and completed on December 24, 1851. It was destroyed in the great fire of July 13, 1854, which consumed a large portion of the business part of the city. On the fourteenth the "Democratic State Journal" gave the following as one of the incidents connected with the destruction of the Court House:

PATRIOTIC.-When the fire threatened the Court House with destruction, the Governor (Bigler), who was present, and who had been working from the commencement of the fire wherever Sacramento most needed a soldier, asked those present to assist him in saving the furniture. To this many objected, on the ground that private parties, who could not suffer the loss as well as the county, needed their services. A full length portrait of Washington was standing against the southern wall, and, pointing to it, the Governor said: "See, there is the portrait of the Father of your Country; will you permit it to be destroyed?" when a general rush was made for the portrait, and it was saved.

Immediately after the fire a contract was entered into between Joseph Nougues and the county officers for the erection of the present Court House. As originally arranged the building answered the following description: Extreme height, sixty-one feet; dimensions, eighty by one hundred and twenty feet; with a portico supported by ten pillars, three feet six inches in diameter by thirty-one feet six inches in height. The ground floor was devoted to a County Prison. On the same floor were two separate offices containing fire-proof vaults and occupied by the State Controller and State Treasurer. The second floor was devoted to a Senate chamber, fifty-seven by thirty feet, and an Assembly room, seventy-two feet eight inches by forty-one feet four inches, together with nine rooms for clerks and officers of the Legislature. The style of architecture is Ionic. The original contract price was $100,600, and the subsequent contracts made the total cost of the building to the county $240,000. The cornerstone was laid September 27, 1854, with Masonic honors, and the brick work

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