of this estimated population, while the potatoes, beans, peas and other vegetables and fruits, raised upon the remaining third, would, in connection with the animal food consumed, furnish an ample allowance for the sustenance of each individual of this population for one year. In consideration of the immense margin of over fifty-three million acres left for mountain ranges and water, no deduction has been made from the yield of this one-sixth for the amount of grain necessary for seed, and the consumption of cattle, neither is any reference had, in this connection, to supplies for export. The cultivation of a small portion of the reserved five-sixths will fully supply these wants. As population increases in the country, and manufactures and commerce are developed, the results of agricultural labor will be enlarged; while the ability of the country to feed its inhabitants will be increased and facilitated by the growth of cities and the greater density of population. The supply of animal food in the country will be found to be immensely large. Game abounds in the woods in great variety and excellence. The rivers, lakes and bays are full of the finest fish, while the number of horned cattle can be increased to an indefinite extent. A very large part of the reserved fivesixths consists of excellent grazing and pasturage lands, and as hides, tallow and jerked beef will form important articles of export, much attention will be given to the increase of horned cattle. The adaptation of California to the breeding of sheep, will make wool an important item of export and manufacture, and the supply of animal food from this source will be incalculably enlarged.‡ The next question to be considered is the probable permanence of population. The great majority of the emigrants now seeking California are undoubtedly attracted by the mineral wealth of the country. A large proportion of this class are unfitted by their habits of life and Say's Political Economy, 383. † Before the secularization of the missions, the horned cattle were innumerable. When these establishments were broken up, the cattle were slaughtered in immense numbers. Thousands have also been slaughtered for their hides alone. In 1831, the number of horned cattle in the possessson of individuals amounted to 500,000—of sheep, goats and pigs, 321,000—Bryant, 445. 1 Forbes, 278. The estimate in the text largely over-feeds the population, and the statement is purposely made a very moderate one. No individual could consume five bushels of wheat and five bushels of corn, together with meat and vegetables. Calculated according to the fixed principles regulating supply and consumption, the estimate would stand thus: 1-3d of the 1-6th or 3,555,555 acres in wheat, at 20 bushels to the acre, gives 71,111,100 bushels, which in the ratio of 4 bushels to each individual, furnishes the requisite supply for a population of 15,802,466. The average yield of corn per acre is also understated. It would be more correct to assume 35 bushels to the acre-which, supposing another third of the sixth, or 3,555,555 acres to be cultivated in corn, would give 124,444,425 bushels, or 5 bushels of corn to each individual of an aggregate population of 24,888,885. Thus assuming that the supplies of animal and vegetable food will be sufficiently large, we provide for the wants of a population of forty millions. See Patent Office Report for 1847, pp. 107, 549. Also in connection with the density of population, and its distribution to the square mile, see a very full article in the American Review of April, 1845, pp. 424 to 432. See also Humboldt's Essai Politique sur le Royaume de la Nouvelle-Espagne, 3 vol. p. 95. want of physical strength to engage for any protracted time in the arduous occupation of mining. It is probable, moreover, that before many years elapse, the large deposits of gold will be exhausted, although the mineral will be found scattered over an immense surface of country in the form of scales and dust. This supposition is consistent with the general theory of the formation of gold, and has been the history of nearly all auriferous regions. A great number of those who have gone and are on their way to California, however, have fixed purposes of life, irrespective of the digging of gold; and but little reflection will be necessary to satisfy the intelligent man, that by a thousand channels, and as a consequence of as many causes, the gold will speedily find its way from the possession of the original digger into the lap of enterprise, shrewdness and labor. When the precious metals have once attracted population, the sooner they are exhausted the better. A very small proportion of those who engage in mining, will realise enough to satisfy their expectations or their cupidity, while it is probable that thousands will amass a very respectable capital. The country itself will present the most tempting opportunities for the profitable use of this capital, and a great proportion of it will at once be invested in agriculture, manufactures and trade. The beauty of the country, and the salubrious and delightful character of its climate, will also exert a great influence in fixing population. The great commercial advantages which California possesses will perhaps constitute the strongest inducements to permanent settlement, while their development will form one of the most important elements of future greatness. The geographical position of the country is eminently favorable to commerce. The harbors upon the coast, and especially that of San Francisco, are well located and capacious enough to meet the requirements of the most extended trade. The country is capable of supporting the requisite population. The materials for the construction of a navy exist in great abundance. The ship timber upon the Upper Sacramento is represented as being of a superior quality. The mountain ranges are covered with pine trees. Hemp can be cultivated upon the numerous water-courses. Cotton may perhaps be raised in the San Joaquin Valley, or easily supplied from the United States; and iron and copper and coal have already been discovered. The mountain streams will supply water-power for mills and factories. The precious metals and minerals; the productions and manufactures of the country, together with supplies received in exchange from the Union, will provide articles of export; and when the spirit of commercial enterprise is prepared to avail itself of all these advantages, a vast field of exterior trade is open before it. Across the Sierra Nevada, lies this immense Republic, overflowing with natural productions, and the results of labor and art; to the north, the great Oregon Territory with its yet undeveloped wealth; to the south, Mexico and the American Continent; while the Pacific Ocean, with its whales, (the trade in which will find in California a point President's Message of Dec. 5, 1848. † Forbes, 349, 350. Immense supplies of coal exist also on Vancouver's Island, and on the main land about the upper tributaries of the Columbia River.-California Star, April 1, 1848. of concentration,) offers a short and direct route to the Islands and Empires of the east. The Ladrones and Phillipines, Borneo, Sumatra, Java, the clusters of the Indian Ocean, Japan, China, Burmah, Hindustan, with their various productions and accumulated wealth, unfold resources which are wholly inappreciable from their extent and richness. In the development of these resources, steam will be a powerful agent of commerce. With a continuous line of rail roads connecting the two oceans, and steam-ships traversing the Pacific, California will become the recipient and highway of the Oriental trade. The rich commerce of Asia will flow through her centre. "And where has that commerce ever flowed without carrying wealth and dominion with it? Look at its ancient channels, and the cities which it raised into kingdoms, and the populations which upon its treasures became resplendent in science, learning and the arts. Tyre, Sidon, Balbec, Palmyra, Alexandria, among its ancient emporiums, attest the power of this commerce to enrich, to aggrandize, and to enlighten nations. Constantinople, in the middle ages, and in the time of the crusades, was the wonder of western Europe; and all, because she was then a thoroughfare of Asiatic commerce. Genoa and Venice, mere cities, in later time, became the match of kingdoms, and the envy of Kings, from the mere divided streams of this trade of which they became the thoroughfare. Lisbon had her great day, and Portugal her pre-eminence during the little while that the discovery of the Cape of Good Hope put her in communication with the east. Amsterdam, the city of a little territory rescued from the sea, and the Seven United Provinces, not equal in extent to one of our lesser States, became great in arms, in letters, in wealth and in power; and all upon the East India trade. And London, what makes her the commercial mistress of the world—what makes an island no larger than one of our first class States-the mistress of possessions in the four quarters of the Globe-a match for half of Europe-and dominant in Asia? What makes all this, or contributes most to make it, but this same Asiatic trade? In no instance has it failed to carry the nation, or the people which possessed it, to the highest pinnacle of wealth and power, and with it the highest attainments of letters, arts, and sciences."* Society in California is in a transition state. Peculiar influences operate there to develop in an unusual degree the traits inseparable from incipient organization. The abundance of the precious metals will exert for some time a deleterious influence upon society. The great conservative principle however is there, and property will provide protection. Law will correct licentiousness. Already a provisional government is about to be established, and no very long time can reasonably be expected to elapse, before the social elements will become purified and settled. The design of this Paper has been to exhibit as fully as its limits would permit, the History and Capacities of California. Where opinions have been expressed, they have been based upon sufficient data. Its statements have been well considered; its facts carefully collated, and its calculations made in accordance with settled principles. The • Senator Benton's speech in support of a national road to the Pacific, delivered February 7, 1849. subject itself is full of importance, and would reward a much more extended investigation. The century in which we live has been crowded with great events, Development has been its characteristic. Progress has been its watchword. Science has achieved in it her brightest triumphs. The resources of nations have been multiplied. The field of human energy has been enlarged, and among the greatest of the events which will mark the epoch in the estimation of the future historian, will be the consolidation of the first Anglo-Saxon Empire upon the borders of the Pacific. Baltimore, Md., March, 1849. BANK STATISTICS. Comparative View of the Condition of the Banks of Pennsylvania, [Compiled for the Bankers' Magazine from the Official Reports to the Legislature.] |