hubert howe bancroft - Central Pacific Railroad Photographic History ...

UNION MEETING. 277
organization of a Pacific republic, they would thereby
be greatly encouraged in their course. " The repudiation
of the Pacific republic notion by California," said
the Bulletin, " and her declaration against secession in
any form, may therefore prove an important step toward
restoring harmony to the country." If the union
were to be dissolved, what was to become of the Pacific
railroad ? No portion of the country had so
much to gain by the preservation of the union as California,
and both people and legislature should take
immediate action ; such was the conclusion arrived at.
But the California representatives had already declared
their convictions, each in his chosen manner,
Gwin and Latham in the senate, Scott* and Burch in
the house of representatives. An attempt to pass
resolutions of loyalty and support to the federal government
by the California legislature called out the
forensic talent of that body/ while it betrayed the
lurking fear of being beforehand with its duty. To
keep the union sentiment up to a safe and proper point
a mass meeting was arranged to take place on the 22d
of February. This meeting, intended for a test, was
attended by fully fourteen thousand people. The day
was fine; flags fluttered from house-tops and windows;
1 Scott wrote a letter to the chairman of the state central democratic committee,
Charles V. Lindley, in which he said, ' If this union is divided, and
two separate confederacies are formed, I will strenuously advocate the secession
of California, and the establishment of a separate republic on the Pacific
slope.. .If California links her destiny with the northern government,
crippled and ruined as she must necessarily be by the separation and withdrawal
of her southern allies, California, instead of being benefited, and receiving
aid from the northern confederacy, will be heavily taxed to carry on
the machinery of their government. 1 Address of Charles L. Scott of California
to his constituent* on tJie constitutional right of secession, in Hayes' Cal. Pol, 1861-
2, vol. iii., p. 54. Burch, his colleague, declared in favor of union; but
should the union be dissolved, he favored a Pacific republic. Gwin, the
power behind the throne, remained discreetly silent, while Latham boldly
corrected his blunder of the previous session.
* I allude to speeches in the senate from Edgerton of Napa, in favor of
coercion; Thornton of Sierra, against coercion; Crittenden of El Dorado, in
favor of reconstruction, or secession; to speeches in the assembly by Durst
of Coluaa, on the preservation of the govt; Kungle of Yuba, in defence of
slavery; Morrison of Los Angeles, in favor of letting the rebellious states
take their own course, because they were ' brothers ' to the loyal states, and
should have kind treatment; and Conness of El Dorado, on the duty of sustaining
the govt.