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dispatched with cargoes of horses, cattle, grain, etc., to Honolulu. The first animals of this class ever seen on the Islands, were taken from California, on board the brig Delia Byrd, and landed there in June, 1803: they consisted of one horse and two mares. In the course of a year or two, these exports were increased by shipments of lumber, shingles, flour, potatoes, soap, etc. The Hudson Bay Company, also, began to send to California for supplies of grain and provisions, for its establishment on the Columbia, and the missionaries began to produce wine, raisins, olives, etc., which found a ready market in Mexico.

From 1825 to 1836, an important element in the trade of California consisted of the skins of the sea otter, which were exceedingly abundant on the coast from Mazatlan to San Francisco. But their reckless slaughter by the hunters exterminated them before 1840. La Pérouse states that when he visited Monterey, in 1786, the agents of the Spanish Government, who then controlled this trade, were collecting the skins. Twenty thousand otters were in the list. The great French navigator thought they might have collected fifty thousand, the animals were so very numerous.

As the export trade increased, the value and variety of the imports began to increase also, and about the year 1830, they included clothing, furniture, agricultural implements, salt, candles, lumber, etc.

There was no trade with the interior of the country until about 1840. The few inhabitants who resided beyond the boundaries of the missions had to produce all they required, or barter with the missionaries. for cloth, wine, etc. There was no circulating medium of any kind in the country until 1824, when the "hide ships," introduced a few hundred dollars worth of silver, which generally found its way into the coffers of the missionaries. In 1832 there was but little money in circulation, most of the trade being transacted by barter. As late as 1848, up to the discovery of gold, the currency of the country was almost exclusively silver. When La Pérouse visited the country, in 1798, beads were the circulating medium.

The trade of California steadily increased under the judicious cultivation of the American residents. English, Chilian, and Mexican merchants sent their ships here to compete for a share of this trade. The following table of imports and exports, compiled by De Mofras, in 1841, show that the Bostonians, who at that time managed this trade, obtained the largest share of it:

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Included in these exports were hides valued at $210,000; tallow, $55,000; peltries, lumber, etc., $15,000. About thirty vessels visited California, annually, in the conduct of this business.

From 1837 to 1841, the trade of San Francisco was almost exclusively in the hands of the Hudson Bay Company. In 1841, this company sold out its establishment and left the country. San Diego was then the seat of the export and import trade, but San Francisco began to take the lead in 1842. From 1841 to 1846, the commerce of California greatly increased. The preparations made by the United States Government to take possession of the territory caused an extensive circulation of money. The arrival of large detachments of its naval and military forces, and the great increase in the number of inhabitants by immigration, both by sea and overland, created a considerable inland trade. The imports and exports were also materially increased.

The following table of exports and imports, at San Francisco, during October, November, and December, 1847, will convey an idea of the course of the trade at that time :

Imports and Exports at San Francisco during the last Quarter of 1847.

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The discovery of gold on the 19th of January, 1848, so thoroughly revolutionized the commerce, and everything else in the country, that a new era was inaugurated. As all the particulars of that event, and the history of San Francisco, which became the metropolis of the Pacific Coast in consequence of that discovery, are each given in a separate

chapter, the commerce of the country subsequent to that event will be found in those chapters.

THE ACQUISITION OF CALIFORNIA BY THE UNITED STATES.

As there are many persons in California, as well as in the Atlantic States and Europe, who labor under the impression that the acquisition of this State was influenced by, or was in some manner connected with the discovery of gold, the following synopsis of the policy pursued by the United States Government in acquiring territory on the Pacific Coast may be useful in removing such an erroneous impression, and in proving that that grand discovery was the result of American enterprise. subsequent to the possession of the country by the Federal Govern

ment.

We have already stated, when explaining the causes which led to the establishment of the first settlement of Americans on the Pacific Coast, that the importance of the fur trade of the northwest territory, as early as 1784, induced Mr. Jefferson, while Minister to France, to employ John Ledyard, to make an exploration of a portion of that territory, with a view to its ultimate possession and settlement by the United States a purpose so well understood by the Russian Government that Ledyard was arrested and expelled from the country. This did not prevent Mr. Jefferson and his friends from persisting in their efforts to obtain their end. Through their influence, Mr. Astor, the great American fur merchant, was induced to fit out several vessels, ostensibly to trade, but really to found a settlement on this coast. One of these vessels discovered the Columbia River, and another founded a trading post on its banks, claiming the land by virtue of its discovery. This claim was denied by both Russia and England, which were most anxious to prevent an American settlement on this coast. This settlement was the entrance of the wedge of American possession on this coast, which has yet to be driven home. On the 30th of April, 1803, the United States purchased the territory of Louisiana from France, which gave it another foothold on the Pacific. It was stated in the title conveyed by this purchase that the western boundary of that territory was the Pacific Ocean. Spain, England, and Russia, objected to such boundary. Pending a settlement of the dispute which arose on this point, Mr. Jefferson, who was then President, to carry out the object for which he had employed Ledyard, nearly twenty years previously, appointed Clark and Lewis, two famous explorers, whose names are familiar to every reader of American history, and several other parties,

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to make a thorough exploration of the country, "from the Missouri to the Colorado, Oregon, and Columbia, to find the most direct and praeticable communication across the continent, for the purposes of com

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The expedition of Clark and Lewis left the Missouri on the 7th of April, 1805, and reached the mouth of the Columbia, on the Pacific. on the 15th of the following November. The report of this expedition, the remarks of Mr. Jefferson, and the action of Congress in relation thereto, were accepted by England, Russia, France, and Spain, as a notification that the United States intended to establish settlements in the newly acquired territory on the Pacific, and caused considerable opposition to be manifested by each of these nations. They all denied the title of the United States to any portion of the Pacific Coast, rejecting the claim based on the Louisiana purchase, on the ground that France did not possess any territory on that coast, consequently could not convey any to any other power.

In order to anticipate the proposed settlement by the United States, England fitted out an expedition to take possession of the country, and in 1808, founded a settlement near Frazer's Lake, a tributary of the Columbia. This was the first settlement of the British west of the Rocky Mountains.

The Russians, equally anxious to prevent an American settlement on the Columbia, sought to attain their ends by strategy. In 1808, Count Romanzoff, the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, proposed to John Quincy Adams, who was then Minister to that country, to give American ships the privilege of supplying the Russian settlements on the Pacific Coast with provisions and manufactured goods, and of transporting the Russian American Fur Company's furs to China, (a most valuable trade,) provided the United States government would recognize Russia's asserted right to the Pacific Coast, south of the Columbia. river.

The United States rejected the proposition, and insisted on its title to the territory south of that river, by both discovery and purchase. In 1811, the settlement of Astoria was founded, under the most favorable auspices, and was progressing equal to the expectations of its projectors, until the commencement of the war between the United States and England, in 1812, when the destruction of that settlement appears to have been sought with extraordinary zeal. It was captured by the English on the 13th of October, 1813. After the conclusion of the war, strenuous efforts were made by England to retain Astoria. The dispute for its possession was not settled for nearly twenty-five years--

the Federal Government, never relaxing its hold of the territory thus fairly acquired, and necessary for the extension of American interests on the Pacific Coast. So important had this place and Oregon, which sprang from it, become, in 1845, that it was for the purpose of making communication between them and Panama that the Pacific Mail Steamship Company was projected.

In 1818, Don Luis de Onis, the Spanish Minister, prompted by the French Government, set up a claim to the territory on the Pacific Coast purchased by the United States from France. After many delays and much diplomacy, this claim was settled by the Florida treaty of February 22, 1819, by which Spain ceded to the United States all the territory west of the River Sabine, and south of the upper parts of the Red and Arkansas rivers, from a line drawn from the source of the Arkansas, on the forty-second parallel of latitude, to the Pacific Coast.

In 1823, President Monroe, in a message to Congress, explained to the world what the policy of the United States on the Pacific Coast would be thereafter, in reference to colonization, in his memorable assertion of the Monroe doctrine, "that the American continents, ry the free and independent condition they have assumed and maintained, are henceforth not to be considered subjects for colonization by any European power." This declaration caused the crowned heads of Europe to protest against a doctrine-the recent disaster to France by the overthrow of Maximilian, the purchase and conquest of California from Mexico, and the peaceful acquisition of the Russian possessions on this coast prove-that the people of the United States intend to maintain, peaceably if they can, forcibly if they must.

As an illustration of how strongly impressed were the intelligent minds of the nation in favor of this doctrine, and with the belief that the Pacific Coast would, at no distant day, form the western boundary of the Union, many years before the acquisition of California, we refer to an oration delivered November 3d, 1835, when the first spadeful of earth was dug towards constructing the New York and Erie railroad. The event was one of great ceremony and much national importance. The orator, on that occasion, in the course of his remarks, stated “that some of his hearers would live to see a continuous line of railroads from the bay of New York to the shores of the Pacific." Who then thought so bold an assertion would so soon be realized? This sagacious speaker merely gave expression to the policy of the United States, which has been but partially carried out.

The enunciation of the Monroe doctrine caused France and England, who were deeply interested in the Pacific coast to use every means to

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