HISTORY OF THE NEW CALIFORNIA. THE WONDERFUL STORY. Herbert Spencer calls attention to the fact that all history is perverted, and aptly cites the remark of a French king who, wishing to consult some historical work, called to his librarian, "Bring me my liar!" The incident illustrates a truth that is known to all who have had occasion to verify disputed points in either biography or general history. That it is almost always difficult, and sometimes impossible, to get at vital facts, is apparent to those who have ever taken pains to investigate epochs of history, or to search for the exact truth concerning contemporary events. Often idle rumors have been repeated until public opinion has been firmly grounded in error, and often the reverse of the facts has been sent forth with the stamp of truth. Distortions of this character are to be looked for in all cases where deep religious feelings or bitter political contests are factors; but it may surprise the reader to learn that many errors have crept into the pages of histories that deal with facts about which there should be neither dispute nor ill-feeling. The development of society in California here and there affords striking examples of controverted history, particularly with reference to the life and labors of Fremont and his men, the character and habits of the native Californians, and the work and purposes of the famous Vigilantes. These phases of history are likely to be disputed always. The sole purpose of this work, where debated points have confronted the author, has been to sift the facts and reach the truth-but for the most I part the annals of the state afford an interesting and consistent story of American life under picturesque circumstances. In some aspects the early years of California's history-after the discovery of gold in 1848-remind one of the simplicity of the ancient Greeks. Emerson's description of the days of Hercules might well apply to pioneer life in California in the few years just following Marshall's good fortune; for "the manners of that period were plain and fierce. The reverence exhibited is for personal qualities-courage, address, self-command, rude justice, strength, swiftness, a loud voice, a broad chest." Certainly there was even less luxury and elegance than in Homeric Greece, save that inventions here and there-matches, the improvements in clothing and houses, fire-arms, and like additions to human comfort— had lightened human toil in some degree. "A sparse population and want," says the Sage of Concord, "make every man his own valet, cook, butcher, and soldier, and the habit of supplying his own needs educates the body to wonderful performances." Such were the environments of Agamemnon and Diomed in Homer's story, and such, too, were the conditions that confronted the rough and ready men of brawn who rounded the Horn, crossed the Isthmus of Panama, or made their way with oxen over the untrodden wilds that stretched from the Missouri to the hills of the Sacramento, where there was gold for the gathering. Columbus needed a planet to shape his course upon, and Copernicus, Newton, La Place, and Galileo required the star-strown depths of space to enable them to fulfill the bent and genius of their natures. The restless and aggressive American of 1848 and 1849 was ripe for the great fields of opportunity that lay in the rich mountains, the fertile valleys, and the sunset slopes of the Golden West. And in no other epoch of our country's history, save, perhaps, in the days of the Revolution "that tried men's souls," were there ever such opportunities on the one hand and such hardships on the other as tested the strength and manhood of the actors in the days of the California Argonauts. To write of the Mediterranean shores of America, as Charles Dudley Warner has aptly called California, is to tell of a country of wonders and unexplored possibilities, and to recount the story of the conquest and occu |