more than fifty of the most distinguished orators and stump-speakers of the nation took part in that exciting and desperate canvass, the leading journals of those States referred to the Oregonian as being the most eloquent and brilliant of them all; and through such grave testimony, and in the presence of such competition, it was there demonstrated that his fame and popularity are not things belonging only in the Far West.

In person, Gov. Woods is tall, graceful, and commanding, with a handsome, cheerful face, which is set off by a full, flowing beard, and manifesting the utmost mental activity. He is one of those positive and magnetic men who draw around them a great number of intimate and devoted friends, and possess about an equal mumber of very decided enemies; but, in his case, these last are the result of political antagonism. His political adversaries in Oregon regard him as their most dangerous and destructive foe, and on the other hand, his political friends consider him their most steadfast and indomitable champion, who never loses a battle. His manner of speaking is rapid, but distinct and impressive, never using long or high-sounding words or indulging in any extravagance or impropriety of metaphor. He seems to depend on the natural forces of ideas rather than upon the sonorousness of words; and although never written, unless by some very swift reporter at the time of their delivery, his speeches would be considered well adapted to the most refined of lecture-rooms. Although they may be at times insupportably severe, his remarks are never coarse or personally offensive. Perhaps no American orator is capable of a quicker or keener retort, but it is a cut from a rapier, rather than a stroke with a bludgeon. This peculiar style of political fence is one of Woods' strongest points, and is an essential of popular stump speaking in Oregon, where political meetings are actually debates before both sides, of the question, and where the orator is subject to frequent interruptions by his opponent or by some questioner in the audience. Such a thing as a set speech at a political meeting in that State would be one of the most grotesque of absurdities, and an orator with

out presence of mind and the capacity to turn an unexpected question to good account, would be a gentleman to be pitied and a person suitable for immediate emigration. Notwithstanding his rapid utterance, and their sometimes great length, Woods' speeches cannot be called diffuse in style; on the contrary, they seem to be each an exhaustive argument-an oration complete in all its parts, with a beginning, a middle and an ending, and often containing passages of lofty and surprising beauty, but never extending to empty declamation or the transgression of rhetorical laws.

The writer of this has heard Gov. Woods many times. both in California and Oregon, and is of opinion that as a popular orator, he is the most brilliant and effective now living in either of those States. As an orator, as a patriot, citizen, and man, he is entitled to a high place, not only among the representative men of the Pacific, but of the whole country. The distinction which he has attained under great disadvantages at home, he is capable of maintaing anywhere in the Republic; and if life and circumstances permit, his friends may hope to see him in a position as nationally distinctive as that is individual and distinguished which he now bears to his own State.

FRANK TILFORD.

BY THE EDITOR

FRANK TILFORD is of Scote

RANK TILFORD is of Scotch-Irish descent, and a native of Lexington, Kentucky. In the year 1745, a remote ancestor, John Tilford, emigrated with his family from the North of Ireland and settled in the valley of the Shenandoah. The descendants of this family are now scattered through the Western States. They belong to that hardy race of pioneers, who, after driving the Indian tribes from their hunting grounds in the Mississippi Valley, laid well and deep in their wilderness homes the foundations of a free government.

In the spring of the year 1849, Frank Tilford, then twenty-seven years of age, with a small party of youthful adventurers, started overland for the Pacific. He arrived in California in August of that year, and from that time until now has resided on the Pacific coast.

In the early days of San Francisco, when the place was a Pueblo, Mr. Tilford was a member of the AYUNTAMIENTO, and in that capacity contributed largely and beneficially to the development of the future city. The cause of education received from him earnest attention, and to his exertions we owe the first endowment ever bestowed upon a public school in San Francisco. He endeavored, although ineffectually, to procure an appropriation of some of the public lands belonging to the corporation to the establishment of a College of the Pacific. Had the scheme succeeded, we might, years ago, have had on this coast a University richly endowed and ranking with the

noblest educational institutions of the land. At that time, unfortunately, a large majority of our people lived only for and in the immediate present; few either appreciated or cared for the magnificent future which awaited their adopted State; and the inevitable result of such indifference was the failure of all propositions of a public character, which did not promise a speedy remunerative return to the community.

In May, 1850, Mr. Tilford was elected Recorder, or Criminal Judge, of San Francisco. He held the position for one year. During his term of office, San Francisco was noted for the fierce controversies which prevailed in regard to the title and possession of the lands within her limits. These conflicts, commencing in acts of lawlessness, ended, too often, in sanguinary violence, and became, therefore, the subjects of investigation in the criminal courts. In all such cases the sympathies of the Judge were with the actual and honest occupant, and the law was administered to protect him against the aggressions of trespassers who sought to obtain possession without the shadow of legal title or equitable claim. The firm yet just course pursued by Recorder Tilford in these troublesome disputes, won for him the esteem and regard of all well-disposed citizens. His re-election to the same position, it was conceded, was certain, had he been a candidate. It so happened, however, that the Democratic party placed Judge Tilford before the people as their candidate for Mayor at the municipal election in April, 1851. The nomination was made against the earnest, openly-expressed wishes of the candidate, and finally accepted with great reluctance. The contest was animated, and rendered more interesting as being the first to occur in California on strict partisan issues. The Whig party, then, for the first time, organized, and under the leadership of T. Butler King, collector of the port, achieved the most brilliant, and almost the only victory, which ever rewarded its expiring efforts in California. The average majority against the Democratic ticket was not less than one thousand, while the candidate for the mayoralty was defeated by only four hundred votes.