I Cannot Pause For The Civility Of Referring To The Many Kind
Attentions I Received, And The Society Of Educated
Men and women
from all parts of the Union I met with; where New England,
the Carolinas, Virginia, and the
New West sat side by side
with English, French, and German civilization.
My stay in California was interrupted by an absence of nearly four
months, when I sailed for the Sandwich Islands in the noble Boston
clipper ship Mastiff, which was burned at sea to the water's edge;
we escaping in boats, and carried by a friendly British bark into
Honolulu, whence, after a deeply interesting visit of three months
in that most fascinating group of islands, with its natural and its
moral wonders, I returned to San Francisco in an American whaler,
and found myself again in my quarters on the morning of Sunday,
December 11th, 1859.
My first visit after my return was to Sacramento, a city of about
forty thousand inhabitants, more than a hundred miles inland
from San Francisco, on the Sacramento, where was the capital of
the State, and where were fleets of river steamers, and a large
inland commerce. Here I saw the inauguration of a Governor, Mr.
Latham, a young man from Massachusetts, much my junior; and met a
member of the State Senate, a man who, as a carpenter, repaired
my father's house at home some ten years before; and two more
Senators from southern California, relics of another age, - Don
Andres Pico, from San Diego; and Don Pablo de la Guerra, whom I
have mentioned as meeting at Santa Barbara. I had a good deal of
conversation with these gentlemen, who stood alone in an assembly
of Americans, who had conquered their country, spared pillars of
the past. Don Andres had fought us at San Pazqual and Sepulveda's
rancho, in 1846, and as he fought bravely, not a common thing among
the Mexicans, and, indeed, repulsed Kearney, is always treated with
respect. He had the satisfaction, dear to the proud Spanish heart,
of making a speech before a Senate of Americans, in favor of the
retention in office of an officer of our army who was wounded at
San Pazqual and whom some wretched caucus was going to displace to
carry out a political job. Don Andres's magnanimity and indignation
carried the day.
My last visit in this part of the country was to a new and
rich farming region, the Napa Valley, the United States Navy
Yard at Mare Island, the river gold workings, and the Geysers,
and old Mr. John Yount's rancho. On board the steamer, found Mr.
Edward Stanley, formerly member of Congress from North Carolina,
who became my companion for the greater part of my trip. I also
met - a revival on the spot of an acquaintance of twenty years
ago - Don Guadalupe Vallejo; I may say acquaintance, for although
I was then before the mast, he knew my story, and, as he spoke
English well, used to hold many conversations with me, when in
the boat or on shore.
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