With all these elements of wealth in our midst, with this experience of the past and these prospects for the future, it would be madness should we prove false to ourselves in the career upon which we have but just entered. Let us hope that the foundations of our State government are wisely and skillfully laid, and let us endeavor to rear a superstructure thereon which shall prove worthy of the high destiny to which we are called. The responsibility rests upon us whether this first American State on the Pacific shall, in youth and ripe manhood, realize the promise of infancy. We may, by unwise legislation, by unhappy dissensions, by maladministration, cramp her energies and distort her form, or we may make her a rival even of the Empire State of the Atlantic. The best wishes of Americans are with us they expect that the fortunate past will prove but the harbinger of a still more glorious future; that the Herculean youth will grow to a Titan in his manhood. The world is interested in our success, for a fresh field is open to its commerce, and a new avenue to the civilization and progress of the human race. Let us then endeavor to realize the hopes of America and the expectations of the world. Let us not only be united amongst ourselves for our own local welfare, but let us strive to cement the common bonds of brotherhood of the whole Union. In our relations to the federal government let us know no South, no North, no East, no West: wherever American liberty flourishes, let that be our common country—wherever the American banner waves, let that be our home.

36

JAMES KING OF WM.*

AMES KING OF WM. will always be a prominent and

the espec

and

ially in the annals of its chief city. His was the head that planned the regeneration of California society, the heart that periled life to achieve it. From his assassination, as from the blood of a martyr, sprang a great political and social movement, or revolution, as it may be better termed, in San Francisco. That solemn and irresistible rising of the masses for virtual liberty, will be recorded by the historian, and pointed out by statesmen and by philosophers as one of the most signal and instructive triumphs of an outraged people over men who had long violated the right of suffrage, usurped the powers of government, made the Constitution and law a farce, and polluted public morals. His life how short, yet how eventful! He beheld San Francisco rise like Venice, "a sea Cybele, fresh from ocean." In 1851, he beheld it the abode of crime, and was among the earliest and most effective of those who formed the celebrated Vigilance Committee in that year. But he never violated the laws of his country, and was always ready to uphold them even at the risk of his life. Many members of the old Committee remember how manfully he interceded for a suspected prisoner, before that body, and actually armed himself to defend him-believing that none but the vicious should be accused, and none but the guilty punished.

Who can forget his holy wars? No crusader ever engaged Mussulman beneath the walls of Jerusalem with

* For explanatory note, see Preface.

sterner resolution or more glorious chivalry, than he did the dastardly pests who for years had hovered like carrion crows over the decomposing elements of California society. No Kentucky rifleman ever sent the death messenger with an aim so sure as his, when, with steady nerve and fixed eye, he discharged the terrors of his pen at villainy, vice and corruption. There was no blanching in his features; no quailing in his heart. He knew well the dangers that surrounded him, but, inspired by the justice of his cause, he despised them all.

JAMES KING was born at Georgetown, District of Columbia, on the 28th day of January, 1822. He was of respectable parentage, and was one of the youngest of a numerous family. His father died in June, 1854, at the ripe age of eighty-three years. Mr. King received a liberal education, and proved himself an apt scholar. To the last of his life he was a student, eagerly seeking knowledge of every kind wherever it could be found. He had a fair acquaintance with the Latin classics, and was well read in the best English and American writers. In later years, he spoke fluently the French and Spanish languages, and was moderately acquainted with the German. About the age of sixteen he assumed the term "of Wm.," which was found to be necessary in order to distinguish him from a number of other James Kings then living at Georgetown. William was his father's name. Some men distinguish themselves from others of the same name by using the word "senior" or "junior," "1st," "2d," and so on. The same end was obtained, in this instance, by adopting the affix of "Wm." It is a custom in some parts of the United States, and particularly in Maryland, thus to take the father's given name as a portion of the son's.

When about fifteen years old, in 1837, Mr. King left the parental home to push his fortune. He went first to Pittsburgh, where he remained a twelvemonth, as clerk in a store. Afterwards he proceeded to Berrien and St. Josephs, Michigan, at each of which places he stayed a short time. Towards the close of 1838, becoming sick of fever and ague, he returned to Georgetown. The next

year he entered the Post Office there, as a clerk, where he served a few months. In the fall of 1839-40, during the Presidential contest between Mr. Van Buren and General Harrison, Mr. King (now "of Wm.") became connected with Kendall's Expositor, a Democratic campaign. paper. His connection with that journal lasted for half a year, after which period he engaged for a few months on the Washington Globe. In 1841, he entered, as bookkeeper, the banking establishment of Messrs. Corcoran & Riggs, bankers in Washington. He remained in the employment of these gentlemen till 1848, when he determined to migrate to California. He was married in 1843 to Miss Charlotte M. Libbey, of Georgetown. About the time of Mr. King's departure for California, a gentleman who now resides in San Francisco called upon Messrs. Corcoran & Riggs, and asked the latter what he thought of Mr. King. "He is a very clever, steady sort of a man," said Mr. Riggs; "but I don't believe he will ever set the Pacific on fire."

When Mr. King resolved to emigrate, the gold discoveries of California had not been made, or, rather, the news of them had not yet reached the Atlantic border. An elder brother, who had been engaged in Col. Fremont's expedition across the Rocky Mountains, had visited California in 1846, and had subsequently filled the mind of Mr. King with glowing prospects of the future greatness of the country. This brother was also in the expedition of Col. Fremont in 1848; and it was to meet him in San Francisco, in order that they might enter into business together, that Mr. King sought the shores of the Pacific. Unhappily, the brother perished during Fremont's disastrous trip of the year last mentioned. Mr. King left Washington in May, 1848, and an extract from a letter written to him by his brother while he was in New York waiting for the vessel to sail, shows the condition of things in California, immediately after the Mexican war. He writes:

"You must recollect that society is not formed yet properly in California, and as the population increases they will gradually form laws, adapted to their own peculiar circumstances. I think it