PRESENTATION AND BANQUET.

307

states, bearing with him tangible proofs of the esteem in which he was held by the citizens of that town, in the form of a massive gold medal, and a heavy chain composed of nuggets of gold in their native shapes."* Thus ended with a banquet and a presentation one of the most important periods through which the California country was to pass.

"These gifts were presented on the occasion of a farewell banquet given to General Riley at the Pacific house at Monterey, where 200 covers were laid, and the ceremonies were in an imposing style. Gen. T. H. Bowen presided. The city of Monterey voted him a medal of gold weighing one pound, which was presented to him by Maj. P. A. Roach. It cost $600. On one side it bore the arms of the city; on the other, this legend: The man who came to do his duty, and who accomplished his purpose." Id., April 20, 1878. Canta Cruz Sentinel, July 23, 1870; Quigley, Irish Race, 343. Some citizens of S. F. had previously presented him with a gold snuff-box. Pacific News, sau. 1, 1850.

CHAPTER XIII.

POLITICAL HISTORY.

1849-1850.

THE FIRST LEGISLATURE QUESTION OF STATE CAPITAL-MEETING OF THE LEGISLATURE AT SAN JOSÉ ORGANIZATION AND ACTS-PERSONNEL OF THE BODY-STATE OFFICERS-FURTHER STATE CAPITAL SCHEMES-CALIFORNIA IN CONGRESS-IMPENDING ISSUES--SLAVERY OR NO SLAVERYADMISSION INTO THE UNION-CALIFORNIA REJOICES.

THE first legislature of the state of California consisted of sixteen senators and thirty-six assemblymen. The rainy season which had set in on the 28th of October, 1849, was at its height by the middle of December, and did not close until the 22d of March, during which period thirty-six inches of water fell upon the thirsty earth. The roads were rendered nearly impassable, and the means of travel, otherwise than on horseback, being limited, it was with difficulty that the members made their way to San José from their different districts, no quorum being present on the first and second days.

The people of San José had sent as commissioners Charles White and James F. Reed to Monterey, during the session of the constitutional convention, to endeavor to secure the location of the capital at their town. They were compelled to pledge themselves to provide a suitable building for the meetings of the first legislature, upon the chance that the capital might be The legislative building furnished was

fixed there.

1 Dr Logan, at Sac., kept a rain-gauge, from which the fall for the season was taken.

THE FIRST LEGISLATURE.

309

an unfinished box, sixty feet long and forty feet wide, two stories in height, having a piazza in front. The upper story, devoted to the use of the assembly, was simply one large room, approached by a flight of stairs from the senate-chamber, a hall forty by twenty feet on the ground-floor; the remainder of the space being occupied by the rooms of the secretary of state, and various committees.2 For the first few weeks, owing to the incompleteness of their hall, the senators held their meetings in the house of Isaac Branham, on the south-west corner of the plaza.

The crudity of the arrangements occasioned much dissatisfaction, and on the 19th a bill to immediately remove the capital to Monterey passed its first reading, but was laid over, and the business of the session allowed to proceed. The senate was organized on the

3

2 This house was destroyed by fire April 29, 1853. S. F. Argonaut, Dec. 1, 1877.

3 There being no county organizations, the members of the legislature were elected by districts. San Diego district sent to the senate E. Kirby Chamberlain; San Joaquin, D. F. Douglas, B. S. Lippincott, T. L. Vermeule, Nelson Taylor, and W. D. Fair; San José, W. R. Bassham; Sonoma, M. G. Vallejo; Monterey, Selim E. Woodworth; Santa Bárbara, Pablo de la Guerra; Los Angeles, A. W. Hope; Sac., E. O. Crosby, John Bidwell, H. E. Robinson, and Thomas Jefferson Green; S. F., N. Bennett, G. B. Post, D. C. Broderick. Post resigned, and E. Hydenfeldt was elected to fill his place. Broderick was not elected until Jan. 1850. Six of the senators were from New York state; namely, John Bidwell, born 1819, immigrated to Pa, Ohio, Mo., and thence in 1841 to California; E. O. Crosby, aged 34, came to Cal. in 1848; D. C. Broderick, born in D. C., but brought up in New York, came to Cal. in 1849; B. S. Lippincott, aged 34, born in New York, came out with N. Y. Vol. from New Jersey; Thomas L. Vermeule, born in New York in 1814, came to Cal. in Nov. 1849; he resigned his seat; S. E. Woodworth, born in New York in 1815, began life as a sailor in 1832, entered the navy in 1838, came to Cal. overland through Or. in 1846, resigned his commission in Oct. 1849, and was elected senator for two years in Nov. He was a son of the author of the Old Oaken Bucket.' Connecticut furnished 2 senators: E. K. Chamberlain, born 1805, removed to New York in 1815, to Pa in 1829, to Cincinnati subsequently, where he studied medicine, served during the Mexican war as army surgeon, and accompanied the Boundary Line Commission to Cal. in 1849; C. Robinson, born in Conn., removed at an early age to La, studied law, but engaged in mercantile pursuits, and came to Cal. on the first mail steamer in Feb. 1849. Cal. furnished 2 senators: Pablo de la Guerra, born at Santa Bárbara in 1829. He entered the public service at the age of 19, being appointed administrator-gen., which position he held until 1846. M. G. Vallejo was born at Monterey in 1807. In 1824 he commenced his military career as a cadet, and served as lieut, lieut-col, and commander of northern Cal. He founded the town of Sonoma. E. Heydenfeldt was born in S. C. in 1821, removed to Alabama in 1841, to La in 1844, and to Cal. in 1849. D. F. Douglas was born in Tenn. in 1821, removed to Ark, in 1836. Three years afterward he fought a duel with Dr William Howell, killing his

17th, E. Kirby Chamberlain being elected president pro tem. On the same day the assembly elected Thomas J. White speaker. On the 20th the governor and lieutenant-governor were sworn in by Kimble H. Dimmick, judge of the court of first instance of San José. Immediately thereafter the legislature in convention proceeded to the election of United States antagonist. He was imprisoned over a year, and when liberated returned to Tenn., but afterward removed to Miss. and engaged in Choctaw speculation, moved with these Indians as their commissary, but finally lost money, and went to N. O., where he was clerk to a firm; from N. O. he went to Texas in the winter of 1845-6, and in Mex. war joined Hay's regiment. From Mex. he came to Cal. in 1848. W. D. Fair was born in Va, and came to Cal. via Rio Grande and Gila route in 1846 from Miss., as president of the Mississippi Rangers.

The assemblymen came from the several districts as follows: San Diego, O. S. Witherby; Los Angeles, M. Martin, A. P. Crittenden; Santa Bárbara, J. Scott, J. M. Covarrubias; San Luis Obispo, H. A. Tefft; Monterey, T. R. Per Lee, J. S. Gray; San José, Joseph Aram, Benjamin Cory, Elam Brown; S. F., W. Van Voorhies, Edmund Randolph, J. H. Watson, Alexander Patterson, Alfred Wheeler, L. Stowell, and Clarke; Sonoma, J. E. Brackett, J. S. Bradford; Sac., P. B. Cornwall, H. C. Cardwell, John T. Hughes, E. W. McKinstry, J. Bigler, George B. Tingley, Madison Walthall, Thomas J. White, John F. Williams; San Joaquin, B. F. Moore, R. W. Heath, D. P. Baldwin, Charles M. Creaner, J. S. K. Ogier, James C. Moorehead, J. F. Stephens, Van Beascheten, Crane, and Stewart, 4 of these being substitutes for members who resigned during the session. Those who resigned were Martin, Van Voorhies, Cornwall, and speaker White. Joseph Aram was a native of N. Y., who came to Cal. in 1846. Elam Brown, born in N. Y. in 1797, removed to Mo., and from there to Cal. in 1846. E. B. Bateman immigrated from Mo. in 1847, to Stockton, Cal. D. P. Baldwin, born in Ala, came to Cal. in May 1849, and resided at Sonora, in what is now Tuolumne co. A. P. Crittenden, born in Lexington, Ky, married in Va, settled in Texas in 1839, left his family in Tex. and came to Los Angeles, Cal., in 1849. B. Cory, born in Ohio in 1825, came to Cal. in 1847, and resided at San José. José M. Covarrubias, born in France, came to Cal. in 1834, and resided at Sta Bárbara. James A. Gray, born in Phil., came to Cal. in 1846, in N. Y. regt. John F. Hughes, born in Louisville, Ky, came to Cal. in 1849. Thomas J. Henly, born in Ind., came to Cal. in 1849, through the South Pass; resided at Sac. Joseph C. Moorehead, born in Ky, came to Cal. in 1846. Elisha W. McKinstry, born in Detroit, Mich., came to Cal. in 1849; resided at SutJ. S. K. Ogier, born in S. C., removed to N. O., and thence to Cal. in 1848. Edmund Randolph, born in Va, migrated via N. O. to S. F. in 1849. Geo. B. Tingley, born in 1815, in Ohio, came to Cal. in 1849. John Cave, born in Ky. Alfred Wheeler, born in N. Y. city, in 1820, came to Cal. in 1849; resided at S. F. Marin Co. Hist., 210-12; Colusa Sun, in Southern Californian, May 22, 1873; Anthropographic Chart, 1867; Cal. State Register, 1857. The secretary of the senate was J. F. Howe; asst sec., W. B. Olds; enrolling clerk, A. W. Lockett; engrossing clerk, B. Dexter-resigned April 10, 1850— succeeded by F. T. Eldridge; sergt-at-arms, T. J. Austin; door-keeper, E. Russell. The clerk of the assembly was E. H. Thorp, who, being elected clerk of the supreme court Feb. 21st, was succeeded by John Nugent; asst clerk, F. H. Sandford; enrolling clerk, A. D. Ohr, appointed asst clerk, and Sandford enrolling clerk in Jan. Engrossing clerk, C. Mitchell; transcribing clerk elected in Jan., G. O. McMullin; sergt-at-arms, S. W. Houston; doorkeeper, J. H. Warrington. Hayes' Scraps, Cal. Notes, iii. 198.

ter.

ELECTION OF SENATORS.

311

senators, this being the object of the so early meeting of that body, the candidates being upon the ground, plying their trade of blandishments, including an inexhaustible supply of free liquor.5

Of candidates there were several, Thomas Butler King, John C. Frémont, William M. Gwin, Thomas J. Henley, John W. Geary, Robert Semple, and H. W. Halleck. On the first count Frémont received twenty-nine out of forty-six votes, and was declared elected. On the second count Gwin received twentytwo out of forty-seven votes, increased to twenty-four at the third count, and he was declared elected. Halleck ran next best; then Henley. King received ten votes on the first count, the number declining to two, and at last to one. Charges were preferred against him, and he was not wanted because he was thought not to be so much interested in California as in his own personal aggrandizement. Frémont enjoyed the popularity which came from his connection with the conquest, and his subsequent trial in Washington, in which he had the sympathies of the people. Gwin

"It has always been alleged that the American-Californians of an early period drank freely, and this body has been styled the 'legislature of a thousand drinks.' However this may have been, it was the best legislature California ever had. For what they drank, the members returned thanks. All were honest-there was nothing to steal. Their pay was no inducement, as they could make thrice as much elsewhere. Furthermore, this was before Californians began to sell themselves as political prostitutes. In Currey's Incidents, 7, I find it stated that the first legislature was chiefly made up of the 'chivalry,' who were aggressive, and so on, but the evidence is the other way. I should say that chiefly they were hard-working men. The candidates for the U. S. senatorship kept 'ranchos,' as they were termed, or open houses, where all might enter, drink freely, and wish their entertainer's election. But the legislature of a thousand drinks received its designation, not on account of this prodigal custom, but through the facetiousness of Green of Sac., who, for lobbying purposes, kept a supply of liquors near the state-house, and whenever the legislature adjourned, he cried to the members, Come let us take a thousand drinks.' Crosby says: There were a few roistering men in the legislature, more in the assembly, the senate being a small body, and composed of very circumspect gentlemen.' Early Events, 61-2; Fernandez, Cal.. MS., 165; Watsonville Pájaro Times, April 29, 1865; Owen, Sta Clara Valley, 10; Hayes' Scraps, Cal Notes, v. 30; Sac. Record Union, March 27, 1875; Hall, San José Hist., 220; Peckham, Biog., in San José Pioneer, July 28, 1877, 30.

Jour. Cal. Leg., 1850, 23-26; Petaluma Argus, Sept. 12, 1873; Polynesian, vi. 150; Amer. Quart. Reg., iv. 515; Sup. S. F. Pac. News, Dec. 27, 1849; Tuthill, Cal., 76-7; Cal. Jour. Sen., 1850, 38–9; Id., 1851, 19-21.