with China-perhaps more than most men not directly interested in them. His predecessors to China during the last twenty-five years have been Caleb Cushing, Humphrey Marshall, Mr. Parker, Robert MeLane, William B. Reed, Anson Burlingame, and J. Ross Browne. Mr. Low, albeit he has done his State service in various responsible positions, is still a young man, and the future may yet be burthened with his honors. Next to his clear-headed insight into involved questions, and abilities as a negotiator, perhaps the secret of his remarkable success in life may be found in his amiability and urbanity, which are appreciated by a wide circle of friends, and which draw men towards him almost without an effort on his part.

As a public speaker, he exemplifies the unpretending directness of his character, seldom aspiring to flights of eloquence, always sensible and to the point, ready in language and appropriate in style. At the dinner given in San Francisco to commemorate the opening of the line of steamers between that port and China, in January, 1867, Mr. Low, who presided on the occasion, concluded as follows an eloquent speech on the relations of the United States with China:

Until within a few years, China has been to us a sealed book, practically, and even now we are permitted to examine only the outside and the title-page; and it seems but yesterday that Commodore Perry anchored his fleet in front of Japan, and gave the Tycoon the option of opening his outside door, or having it battered down with shells made of American iron. Who can foretell all the results of intimate commercial relations with these countries during the next ten, twenty, or fifty years? China, with an area of 5,000,000 square miles, a coast line of 3,350 miles, and containing a population of 410,000,000 people, or about one-third of the whole world, thrown open to unrestricted intercourse with, and the indomitable. energy of the American people, what mutual advantages may not be expected to flow from it? The ruling powers in China will learn that free intercourse will be of advantage to them; that they can increase their imports of merchandise with profit, and dispense with the large amounts of precious metals which are annually received in payment of exports, and hoarded. And while the Chinese are receiving these valuable lessons, may not our magnates in finance learn that the true remedy for the unsettled state of our financial affairs is to be found in securing a balance of foreign trade in favor of the United States, rather than in acts of Congress making the selling of gold a misdemeanor? We must learn to treat the Chinese who come to live

among us decently, and not oppress them by unfriendly legislation, nor allow them to be abused, robbed, and murdered, without extending to them any adequate remedy. I am a strong believer in the strength of mind and muscle of the Anglo-Saxon race, which will win in the contest for supremacy with any people, without the aid of unequal and oppressive laws; and the man who is afraid to take his chances on equal terms with his opponents is a coward, and unworthy the name of an American. Were I to sum up the whole duty imposed upon us, I should say let us be honest, industrious, and frugal; be persevering and progressive, and remember Raleigh's maxim, that, "Whoever commands the sea commands the trade of the world; and whoever commands the trade of the world commands the riches of the world, and consequently the world itself."

ANTONIO MARIA PICO.*

TH

THE little of romance that attaches to the name of California is connected with the days prior to American intrusion, when the scattered missions and presidios held the aborigines in bodily and spiritual thrall, and a few descendants of the heroes of the Spanish conquest lorded it over broad leagues of territory, and maintained an estate of patriarchal independence. Afterwards came the coarse, brutal days of the gold-digger; nor have we in our history any other epoch to which we can look back with something of that romantic feeling which clings around the older days of chivalry in the lives of older countries, except the epoch of the Spanish rule. One of the few remaining lives which connected us, as by a palpable link, with the past, was that of Antonio Maria Pico. Like the Castros, Vallejos, and other familiar Spanish names, that of Pico is united with the early history of the Californias. Don Antonio Maria was born at Monterey, California, in 1808, when our own nation had barely attained its majority, while our revolutionary fathers still directed the career of the Republic; when the Regent held a brilliant court at St. James', and nearly twenty years before the American colonies of Spain asserted their independence. Then the Californias were to the world at large as much terra incognita as the shores of Tanganyika are to us to-day. Their very name savored of the age of fable. It seems now almost wonderful that

* For explanatory note, see Preface.

the changes of these sixty years-the growth of one great nation from feeble infancy to vigorous maturity, the decadence of others, the overthrow of monarchies, the extinction of dynasties-should have transpired within the span of one human life; and yet they were all crowded within the experience and ken of Señor Pico. The same thought might be expressed upon the death of any man of equal age, but they are not so naturally suggested as in the case of this old Californian, whose own youth reaching back to the romantic period of our history, naturally connects itself with the contemporaneous scenes which have been enacting in the world's greater drama.

When but sixteen years of age, Pico was called from his home at Monterey to San Juan Capistrano, by Padre Ramon, to take charge of the books and business of that Mission. He afterwards removed to San José, where he held for many years the office of Alcalde; while discharging the duties of that position, he induced the people of San José to commence the erection of the old Mission Church.

He was residing at that place, and in the prime of life, holding office under the Mexican Government, when the Americans under Fremont broke over the mountains and on to the plains of California, and the Federal Navy scoured the coast and seized the ports of California. Pico was a Colonel in the Mexican service, but was unable, with the means at his disposal, and the equipments at his command, to successfully oppose the progress of the American troops. The Mexican forces retreated towards Los Angeles, and soon afterwards the war in California was closed by capitulation and a surrender to the United States. Col. Pico soon came to appreciate the heroic qualities of the American soldiers, and formed that strong attachment for Gen. Fremont which he ever afterwards manifested.

Upon the calling of the Convention at Monterey to form the Constitution of California, in 1849, Col Pico was elected a delegate from Santa Clara county, and took his seat in that body, and was a useful member in its deliberations: was appointed Prefect by Gov. Burnett, and in 1850 was elected a member of the General Assembly from