the New Continent, (which includes the Atlantic coast from Boston to Savannah,) the frequent fogs give vigor to vegetation and fertilize the soil, which is covered with a black and spongy earth."

Although agriculture, throughout this vast and fertile region, is of the rudest and most unskillful character, nearly all kinds of grain have been readily raised. In the immediate neighborhood of San Francisco Bay the most extraordinary crops are easily produced. Dr. Marsh, long a resident on the banks of the Sacramento, informed Mr. Farnham that from ten bushels of wheat he had known to be harvested a crop of 3652: though he says that the average yield is from 30 to 50 bushels from one that is sown.* The first part of this statement is incredible; but Commodore Wilkes mentions an instance in which 3600 bushels were harvested from 30 sown; and he places the average crop at 80 fold. The most moderate of these statements exhibits a degree of fertility seldom found in the most favored regions of the earth. Indian corn is said to return about 150 fold. The potato thrives; hemp, flax, oats, barley, peas, fruits of all kinds, and indeed all the productions of the temperate zone, are produced in great abundance, and with the greatest ease; while in the southern portion, cotton, tobacco, figs, lemons, olives, oranges, and especially grapes, seem to find a native and most propitious soil; and the marshes about the mouths of the San Joaquin and Sacramento, may easily be turned into some of the richest and most beautiful rice fields in the world.

Here, then, lies upon the Pacific coast, adjoining our western border, included between the parallels which embrace the southern sections of the United States, and stretching northward to the southern boundary of Oregon, a region of country capable of sustaining a greater population than now inhabits the entire American Union. Traversed, through its entire length, and from its most remote corners, by noble rivers all concentrating their waters, and forming at their common mouth, the finest harbor perhaps in the world;-abounding in timber of the best quality for ship-building and all naval purposes, easily floated to a common point, and that the beautiful and capacious har

• Farnham's California, p. 343.

bor of San Francisco;-containing measureless water power, immense agricultural resources, and all the elements which nature can furnish of national wealth and national consequence-it is yet shut out from the influences of Christian civilization and abandoned to a people who neither know its capacities, nor feel the pressure of any obligation to develop and expand them. The aggregate population is probably below 20,000; the harvested crops in 1839 amounted to 69,000 bushels of wheat, 22,000 of maize, and 15,000 of barley; and the whole annual merchantable production of the country, including cattle and furs, its staple commodities, is estimated by Capt. Wilkes at less than a million of dollars. Nor is there anything in the history of the country, to induce the hope that, under its present control, it will ever attain that position, and serve those ends, in the great scheme of the world's civilization, for which Providence has so clearly designed it.

For more than three hundred years it has been under exclusive Spanish dominion. Yet up to the present time, notwithstanding its immense advantages for trade, it has no commerce; in spite of its fertility, it has no agriculture; its water power and ability to yield a bountiful supply of every raw material, have not erected a solitary manufacturing establishment within its borders; and the whole country is even now as far removed from that high and palmy state of wealth, cultivation and power of which it is susceptible, as it was before the Spaniard Cobrillo, in 1542, first explored its coast and landed upon its shore. We have stated the probable population of California at 20,000. Captain Wilkes estimates it at but 15,000, of whom some 9000 are Indians, 3000 whites, and 2000 of mixed blood. The whites, who are the only persons of any political account, inherit all the vices, with none of the half-virtues, of their Spanish ancestry; they are utterly ignorant, indolent and rapacious, cruel to their wives and dependants, destitute of spirit, industry and courage, and perfectly incapable of the slightest emotions of ambition, or the faintest pulsation of energy and enterprise.‡

No one who cherishes a faith in the wisdom of an overruling Providence, and

to prevent its falling into the hands of the United States, employs the following very emphatic language concerning the general result to which we have alluded. His letter bears date,

"MEXICO, Sept. 29, 1845.

"In the opinion of many, the existence, as a nation, of Mexico, is hastening to its termination; and, as far as I can see, no great man appears who is equal to the regeneration of the republic. The Government is powerless, even in the capital; the departments barely hold on the central State; there is no population to till the finest soil in the world; and riches, above and below ground, remain unexplored, for want of intelligence and hands to work them. If England will not interfere, the doom of Mexico is sealed, and in the course of a few years it must be incorporated with the United States. The Government and people of the United States entertain no doubt on this subject. They say that they do not interfere in the affairs of Europe, and that they are determined no European power shall interfere with them in the affairs of the new world. By aggression, annexation, or conquest, they are resolved on enticing all Mexico, down to the Isthmus, within the Union; and, come what may, that end must sooner or later be accomplished. I am fully aware of the danger to which the monetary circulation of Europe will be exposed, when the silver districts of Mexico are under the con

trol of the American Congress, and of the imprudence of our permitting a naval power, like that of the United States, to become the richest nation in the world; but I cannot help admitting, at the same time, that if Great Britain will not interfere, the general good of humanity must be advanced by the annexation of this country to the American Union. The tide of emigration will, instead of flowing directly, take the current of the United States, and even millions of English, Scotch and Irish emigrants can pass through the American ports to fix as settlers in this land of milk and honey. The wretched Indian race must give way before the influx of a white population, and myriads of acres, now untilled, will teem with wealth and abundance. The climate is magnificent, except on the coast, and in particular districts fever does not appear. Every European production can be raised; and I may say there is room for all the emigration that can be poured in a quarter of a century from the British Isles. The next

good to the British occupation of Mexico, is its incorporation with the United States. We shall find, when it takes place, immediate employment of our poor, a consumption of British manufactures spread over

this great continent, the dispensation of the English language and English feelings over an almost boundless territory. We must, in short, make up our minds to this result, and happy will it be for the common interests of humanity-unless Great Britain should take the matter directly into her own hands, alarmed at the growing power of the United States, and their dominion over the mining districts from which our monetary circulation is furnished-when it is accomplished."

The writer of this passage attributes designs to the United States which are unsustained by any evidence, and must therefore pass for simple assertions. But he declares, very emphatically, that the general good of humanity demands that the whole of Mexico should pass into the hands of some foreign power. If this be true of the whole, (and, for our purpose, it is not necessary either to admit or question this,) it must certainly be true of California; and no one, we apprehend, will hesitate to admit that that country would be immensely advanced in wealth and power; that a new field for civilization and all the arts of Christian life would be opened; and that "the general good of humanity must be advanced" by the occupation of that country by another than the Spanish

race.

What

remains only to inquire, into whose This point, then, being conceded, it hands shall California pass? nation of the earth shall succeed to Mexico, whenever the sovereignty shall pass from her grasp?

There are, we believe, but two powers to whom the design of acquiring California is ever ascribed. One of these is Great Britain; the other is the United States. The German Allgemeine Zeitung, a few months since, announced the establishment by Russia of a post at Bodega, in California, and ascribed to that colossal power of the North the intention of obtaining a foothold, and ultimately acquiring dominion, in that extensive province. The Zeitung was evidently ignorant of the facts from which it sought to draw so important conclusions. Bodega was first established by the Russian Fur Company, in 1812, with the permission of the then Governor of Monterey, to erect a few small huts for salting their beef. It gradually increased until it successfully resisted the attempt-feeble at the best-of the Spanish authorities to drive it away. But its maintenance be

came too expensive for the purposes of its establishment, and, in 1839, it was transferred, with all its property, for the sum of $30,000 to Capt. Suter, an American emigrant, who has nearly supreme command of a very large tract of land upon the eastern bank of the Sacramento. At the time of the visit of Commander Wilkes, the guns had been removed, the stock transferred, the Russian occupants, a few hundreds in number, scattered, and the post was entirely and forever abandoned.* Russia, then, it may safely be presumed, has no design of obtaining possession of any portion of California.

By Great Britain, on the other hand, such a purpose, we have no doubt, has long been cherished. It is generally known that as long ago as in 1837, by an arrangement with the English creditors of the Mexican government, lands in that country, to the amount of 125,000,000 of acres, were set apart for the payment of the debts which Mexico had incurred in England. The precise terms on which this mortgage was effected are more clearly and succinctly stated in the following letter from the Hon. Mr. Cushing to the writer of this sketch, than elsewhere within our knowledge. The letter has already been published in the Courier and Enquirer, from the columns of which journal we copy it:

"Newburyport, 24th October, 1845. "DEAR SIR-I have before me sundry documents, which appertain to the subject of your inquiry as to the interest of the British holders of Mexican bonds in the territory of California.

I. By decree of the President ad interim of the Mexican Republic, issued April 12th, 1837, under the authority of an Act of Congress of the 4th of the same month, it is declared—

1. That the entire foreign debt of the Republic may, if the public creditors see fit, be consolidated through the agency of Messrs. Lizardi & Co., and of the Mexican Minister in London.

2. That the existing bonds may be exchanged, one half for new bonds of such consolidated fund, and the other half in land warrants on the vacant lands in the departments of Texas, Chihuahua, Sonora, and California, at the rate of four acres for each pound sterling.'

7. That for further security in the payment of the principal and interest of the national consolidated fund, the Mexican government specially hypothecates, in the name of the nation, one hundred mil

lions (100,000,000) of acres of the vacant lands in the departments of California, Chihuahua, New Mexico, Sonora, and Texas, with special guaranty to said con

solidated fund until the total extinction of the bonds.'

10. That foreigners, who, in virtue of their land warrants shall come to establish themselves on their properties, shall acquire from that date the title of colonists, and shall participate, they and their families, in all the privileges which the laws grant, or may grant, to any others of the same origin, and under the same condi tions.'

Other articles of this decree, namely, the 3d, 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th and 9th, regulate va rious questions of detail, in regard to the

new bonds and the land warrants.

II. On the 14th of September, 1837, in pursuance of a previous meeting of the holders of Mexican bonds, it was agreed, between them and the agents of the Mexi can government, to accept the offer of the latter, with twelve modifications proposed, of which the most material to the present purpose are the following, namely:

2. That (among other things), instead of bonds into land warrants, for that half at once converting one-half of the old shall be issued deferred bonds, which deferred bonds shall be at all times receivable in payment of vacant lands in the departments of Texas, Chihuahua, New Mexico and California, at the choice of the purchaser, at the rate of four acres for each pound sterling.'

4. That the deferred bonds shall contain a clause stipulating that the Mexican government, when thereto required, shall grant to the bearer of the said bond full right of property and complete possession in the number of acres of land corresponding to the amount of said bond, with the accruing interest thereon, at the rate of four acres of land for each pound sterling, of which full and complete possession shall be given, by the competent authorities, on the presentation of said deferred bond.'

* *

The other articles are not particularly important to the subject of inquiry.

III. On the 1st of June, 1839, an act was passed by the Mexican Congress, which

1. Approves the above agreement made with the holders of Mexican bonds on the 14th of September, 1837.

2. Grants one year for the proposed conversion of the foreign debt.

4. Requires the Executive to take heed that no lands on the frontier shall be granted to the subjects of the border States, in the event of any bonds falling into their hands, which they may be desirous of exchanging for lands,' &c.

6. Enjoins that the lands be so divided among the emigrants as to prevent their

too great concentration on one point; they are, therefore, to be located at some distance from each other, and as near to our towns as may be convenient.'

IV. On the 29th of July, 1839, there was issued by the President ad interim of the Mexican Republic, (Santa Anna,) an order in Council, of twenty-four articles, which regulate, in detail, the issue of the new bonds, and especially those of the first class, for which a certain portion of the custom-house revenues were specially pledged; but this order in Council does not materially affect the present object. Please to observe that the hypothecation of 100,000,000 of acres of land in California, Texas, Chihuahua, New Mexico and Sonora, is permanent until the whole debt be paid, and the right of locating the deferred bonds in California, Texas, Chihuahua and New Mexico, also continues until these are paid, it being a condition inserted in the bonds, Yours truly,

C. CUSHING."

This mortgage, of course, confers no right of sovereignty over the mortgaged soil. But from the day of its date, nearly ten years since, to the present time, it has been made the point d'appui for projects of colonization, acquisition and final dominion over California. Thus, an English work on California-that of Mr. Forbes-published in 1839, and written at about the time when the arrangement noticed above was concluded, remarks that "there have been some thoughts of proposing to the Mexican government that it should endeavor to cancel the English debt which now exceeds fifty millions of dollars, by a transfer of California to the creditors." And in pursuing the suggestion, the author says:

"If California was ceded for the English debt, the creditors might be formed into a company, with the difference that they

should have a sort of soVEREIGNTY over the territory, somewhat IN THE MANNER OF THE EAST INDIA COMPANY."

This is, certainly, a most pregnant intimation-one which will not be deemed unworthy of notice by any who understand the history, organization and character of that gigantic engine of British power to which the company in California is to be assimilated. Its origin was far more humble than that suggested for this new establishment. It began simply as a partnership of merchants. In the early part of its career it considered itself merely a trader in the territories of after its own pecuniary interest, and a foreign potentate. It looked closely sought commercial influence and the pow er of wealth, but did not dream of political projects, or venture, in any way, to interfere with the independent States, among whom it had become a commercial resident. Soon, however, its conception of its position began to change. Political ambition obtained control of it, and soon became its informing and shaping spirit. Wealth was seen to follow power, and the unbounded, unregulated, unprincipled thirst for gold, soon drove its devoteesremoved from the restraints of law and the fear of responsibility-into deeds of stupendous guilt. For a stipulated sum of money, the company engaged to extirpate an innocent and independent nation-the Rohillas. English troops were soon posted, first for pay and then from policy, throughout the magnificent province of Oude; and but a short time elapsed before the revenues of all the adjacent countries were under the administration of British subjects. Thus, in the very recent language of the London Times, they "began humbly, as merchants and traders they ended proudly, as kings and conquerors." Availing itself gradually of the weakness and internal dissensions and generous confidence of the Asiatic powers, it began in commerce and closed in empire," and became, what by Roman justice and reason had been deemed impossible, eundem negotiatorem et dominum-or in BURKE'S still more pointed phrase, a "State in disguise of a merchant." Thus it had power to pass laws, to build forts, to maintain a force, to hoist a flag, to keep vessels and govern territory-granted, originally, for purposes of trade, but equally available for purposes of empire. Thus it has gone on, extending its possessions over kingdom after kingdom,

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