Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1855, by
H I N T O N   R.   H E L P ER.,
In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States, for the
District of Maryland.

Sherwood & Co., Printers,
BALTIMORE.

PREFACE.

This correspondence was never intended for the public eye, for the simple reason that the matter therein is set forth in a very plain manner, with more regard to truth than elegance of diction. Indeed, how could it be otherwise? I have only described those things which came immediately under my own observation, and, beside this, I make no pretensions to extensive scholastic attainments, nor do I claim to be an adept in the art of book-making.

A weary and rather unprofitable sojourn of three years in various parts of California, afforded me ample time and opportunity to become too thoroughly conversant with its rottenness and its corruption, its squalor and its misery, its crime and its shame, its gold and its dross. Simply and truthfully I gave the history of my experience to friends at home, who, after my return, suggested that profit might be derived from giving these letters to the world in narrative form, and urged me so strenuously, that I at length acceded to their wishes, but not without much reluctance, being doubtful as to the reception of a book from one so incapable as myself of producing any thing more than a plain “unvarnished tale.”

In order to present a more complete picture of California, I have added two chapters, that describing the route through Nicaragua, and the general resume at the close of my volume. All that I solicit for this, my first offering, is a liberal and candid examination; not of a part, but of the whole—not a cursory, but a considerate reading.

H. R. H.

Salisbury, North Carolina, 1855.

CONTENTS.

THE LAND OF GOLD.

CHAPTER I.

CALIFORNIA UNVEILED.

To explain the causes of the frequent disappointment of these cherished hopes; to determine the true value of this modern El Dorado; to exhibit the prominent features of California and its principal cities, particularly San Francisco, and thus to enable those who still encourage golden dreams to form a proper estimate of their chances of success, without submitting to the painful teachings of experience—these have been the motives which have actuated the author of the present work.

The less to weary the reader, the book has been broken up into chapters, in which the author proposes to discourse familiarly upon what he has seen and felt, as he would in a friendly letter, rather than to write a formal essay or treatise upon California. In pursuing this plan, it is his intention to confine himself exclusively to facts, and to describe those facts as clearly as possible, so as to leave no ground for a conjectural filling up of those outlines which his negligence may have left vague and indistinct.

In this country, where almost every event that occurs is as momentous and unaccountable as the wonderful exploits of Habib’s and Aladdin’s genii, to deal with any thing aside from actual matters of fact, is at once as silly and profitless a business as that of whistling against the winds. Yet, in nine-tenths of the descriptions of life and times in California, truth and facts have been set aside, and the writers, instead of confining themselves to a faithful delineation of that which actually exists, have made astonishing and unwarranted drafts upon their imaginations. Instead of detailing facts, they have written fictions; instead of making a true record, they have interwoven falsehoods with the very web of their story. They have chronicled dreams instead of realities, and have registered vagaries as actual events and undeniable certainties. But they have themselves been deceived. They have been duped in listening to the delusive whispers of mischievous sirens, whose flattering suggestions and plausible stories have had such a magical influence upon their excited minds, that they have become accustomed to consider every thought of wealth that occurs to them a veritable mountain of gold;—that is to say, they have, by some strange hallucination, been converted to the belief that whatever California ought to be for their own particular ends and interests, it really is. In the night-time they have arranged and matured prodigious plans of profit, and although many days have dawned upon them since, that time has yet to come which shall reveal to them the utter nothingness of their nocturnal reveries. But the day will come, and it is fast approaching, when the spell must be broken. The iron utensils, which have been transmuted into golden urns and palaces night after night, shall once and for ever resume their true quality at the approach of day. The spell-bound shall be freed! The reverie shall be dissipated, the false wealth analyzed, and resolved into its component parts; and when these things are done, California will be seen in its true light. Then the eyes of the people will be opened. The golden haze which has hung over this land of romantic hopes and deadly disappointments will then be rolled away, and the clear, naked sunlight of Truth will shine upon this ugly cheat, revealing it in all its naked deformity to the eyes of the abused and misinformed public. Then, and not till then, will the full extent of popular delusion on this topic be known, and this mighty genie collapse into its original caldron.

The truth is, California has been much overrated and much overdone. She has been pressed beyond her limits and capacities. Her managers have been rash, prodigal and incompetent, and they have embarrassed her beyond hope of relief—though, it must be acknowledged, her condition was never very hopeful, but, on the contrary, I may say with the poet, she was only “half made up.” It is plain to be seen that she was never finished. She has never paid for herself. An overwhelming public debt now rests upon her shoulders, and she has nothing to show for it. She is bankrupt. Her resources are being rapidly exhausted, and there is but lank promise in the future. Her spacious harbors and geographical position are her true wealth; her gold fields and arid hills are her poverty. But commodious and safe as are her harbors when once entered, they are not the easiest nor safest of access in the world, as I shall hereafter prove by statistics of vessels wrecked upon this coast within the last six years. And, before I finish, I shall offer other statistical information of interest and importance relative to the State at large, in substantiation as well of what I have already said as of that which I have yet to say. I may remark here that, my curiosity having led me to collect and prepare these statistics with no little care and attention, and at no trifling sacrifice of time and means, they may be relied upon as correct.

A residence of nearly three years, during which time I have traveled over a wide extent of those parts of the State which are most highly esteemed for agriculture and minerals, has, I claim, enabled me to arrive at a pretty accurate estimate of her character and capacities; and I have no hesitation in avowing it as my candid opinion (and I have not been a very inattentive observer) that, balancing resource against defect, and comparing territory with territory, California is the poorest State in the Union. She has little to recommend her except her fascinating metal, the acquisition of which, however, in its first or natural state, seems always to require a greater sacrifice of moral and physical wealth than a single exchange of it afterwards can possibly restore. I know it has been published to the world that this country possesses extraordinary agricultural abilities; but this is an assertion wholly gratuitous, and not susceptible of demonstration. Taken altogether, it is no such thing. Some of her valleys are, indeed, exceedingly fertile; but, when we compare their superficies with the area of the State, we find they are but as oases in a desert. I seriously believe that a fair and thorough trial will show that she has more than three times as much sterile land, in proportion to her territory, than any of her sister States. On an average, a square rood of Carolina earth contains as much fertilizing nutriment as an acre of California soil. Comparatively speaking, she has neither season nor soil.

No rain falls between the first of April and the middle of November, in consequence of which the earth becomes so dry and hard that nothing will grow; and the small amount of grass, weeds, or other vegetation that may have shot up in the spring, is parched by the scorching sun until it is rendered as easy of ignition as prepared fuel. The valleys above mentioned are the only spots exempt from this curse. On the other hand, from the first of December to the last of March it rains, as a general thing, so copiously and incessantly, that all out-door avocations must be suspended; and as there is no mechanical or in-door labor, either of use or profit, to be performed, the people are subjected to the disagreeable and expensive task of idling away their time in hotels and restaurants, at the rate of from two to three dollars per day for board alone, other expenses being in the same ratio. More of the disadvantages of this unfortunate inconsistency of the seasons, and of the paucity of resources of employment here, will be noticed as we proceed. As for the valleys we have spoken of, they will afford a sufficient supply of breadstuffs to support sparse settlements, but the average or general surface of the country is incapable of sustaining a dense population.

If we inquire after the manufacturing and mechanical resources of the State, we will find that she has none whatever; in this respect she is as destitute as the aboriginal settlements of America. Nor can she establish, encourage or maintain these arts, for the reason that she would be under the necessity of importing, not only the machinery and raw materials, but also the fuel. She could not, therefore, compete with neighboring States, which have at least some of these indispensable requisites. Nor has she any advantages or facilities for either water or steam power. How, then, can she obtain a reputation for manufactures and mechanism, having neither the material to work, nor the force or means to work with? She has neither cotton nor flax, coal nor timber. She is rich in nothing, and poor in every thing. She has to import every thing she uses, but has nothing to export, except her gold, which, instead of being a blessing to her, is a curse. Even the ground she cultivates she has to inclose with imported fencing wire, not having timber suitable for railing or paling purposes. That which is esteemed her chief treasure, dependence and commodity, gold, seems to be the least subservient to her advancement and prosperity; for, comparatively speaking, she sends it all away, and retains none for home use or convenience; and thus it is that she has, in a measure, been a benefit to others, while she has blindly and foolishly impoverished herself. In this she has acted upon the principle of the cobbler, whose shoes are ever tattered, and of the blacksmith, whose horses always go unshod.

But this profuse exportation of gold is significant of another important fact, while at the same time it demonstrates what I have said above. It shows conclusively that there is no inducement to invest capital permanently in this country, either in the prosecution of business or in the establishment of homes or residences. Immigrants find neither beauty nor gain to hold them here; and I feel warranted in venturing the assertion that not more than ten per cent. of the population are satisfied to remain. Of the other ninety per cent., the bodies only subsist here—their hearts abide in better climes; and they are anxiously waiting and wishing for the time when they shall have an opportunity of releasing themselves from the golden fetters which detain them, and escaping from a country which, with all its wealth, is to them a dreary prison. Only a small minority of the few who are lucky enough, by fair means or foul, to accumulate fortune or competence, are induced to identify their lives and interests with the country.

But the women are almost unanimous in their determination not to make California any thing more than a temporary residence; and they have good reasons for this resolution. Besides the social depravity to which I shall presently allude, and which is sufficient to shock the sensibilities of any man of ordinary morality, there are hosts of minor annoyances, resulting from the climate and the geographical position of the country, that inflict peculiar pain upon female sensibilities. The mud, which is often knee-deep, keeps them imprisoned all the winter; while, in summer, the dust, as fine as flour and as abundant as earth itself, stifles the inhabitants, fills the houses, penetrates into every nook and corner, finds its way even into the inner drawers and chests, soils the wardrobe, spoils the furniture, and sullies every thing. Besides, California is especially infested with vermin. Fleas, ants, and all sorts of creeping things are as ubiquitous as those that tormented Pharaoh and his people, and quite as annoying. No house is free from them, no one can escape the perpetual martyrdom of their stings, or the annoyance of their presence. As the ladies are the special sufferers from these abominable little nuisances, their unanimous dislike of the country is not at all to be wondered at. In proof of this unanimity, I can only offer the fact that, in conversation with quite a number of women who have resided in this State, I have yet to meet with one who is willing to make it her permanent abode.

We have alluded to the winds, because they really are a peculiar feature in the meteorology of this State. In the summer time they blow with peculiar violence, and facilitate the spread of the great fires from which California has suffered so much.

CHAPTER II.

THE BALANCE-SHEET.

Without charging California with any of the enormous expenses of the Mexican war, or the check given to the increase of population which that war occasioned, we will simply make her debtor for the amount of purchase-money that was paid for her, and for the various sums it has cost to control, manage and maintain her since. And, to avoid that complication and multiplicity of entries that would inevitably result from an introduction of all the individuals, parties or countries that have had dealings with the State, and as a matter of convenience, we will assume that there shall be but two parties recognized in the transaction, one of debit and one of credit—California and the United States. This will be treating the subject as a matter of dollars and cents, and will enable us to see how much has been made or lost, as the case may be, out of this Eureka venture or speculation.

In the first place, then, California is debtor to the United States for her quota of the amount of purchase-money paid to Mexico for herself and for New Mexico, including contingent fund absorbed by Mexican claimants, as per agreement at the treaty of Guadaloupe Hidalgo, $10,000,000. In the next place, let us see how much she is indebted to the United States for labor. At the present time, her population is estimated at about two hundred and fifty thousand. It is but little greater now than it was in 1849. In ’51 and ’52 it was larger than it was or has been at any preceding or subsequent period. It would probably be fair to estimate the average population at two hundred and fifty thousand for the last six years; of this number, it is supposed that from thirty to thirty-five thousand are women and children, who have become residents of the State within the last three or four years. Admitting, then, that there are thirty-five thousand women and children, and deducting this number from two hundred and fifty thousand, we have a balance of two hundred and fifteen thousand men, whose service for six years, at say $225 per annum for each man, amounts to $290,230,000. The outfits and passage of these men—to say nothing of the women and children—cost, at the lowest calculation, $200 per head; so we find that the expense of transporting the actual laborers alone has been at least $43,000,000. We may afford to let this latter amount rest as it is; but when we take into consideration the fact that the steamers are continually crowded with persons returning from California, and that their places are filled by new emigrants, who have to purchase new passage-tickets and new outfits, it is quite obvious that the figures express much less than the real amount. The above sums added together constitute the United States’ charge against California. We will add them together, and then compare the total sum with the amount of gold that has been produced in California.

Thus we see California is debtor to the United States three hundred and forty-three millions two hundred and thirty thousand dollars. Now let us examine the account which California brings as an offset to this amount. The entire yield of the mines up to the present time, January, 1855, has been about two hundred and forty-five millions of dollars. And this is all. We cannot credit her with any thing else that would not be equipoised or balanced by the capital, whether owned or borrowed, brought hither from various parts of the world, and invested in business and improvements, and about which nothing has been said in the bill of charges. Here, then, is the sum and substance of the whole matter:

And now let us see how much money has been lost in and about California by casualties, accidents and mismanagement. The reader shall judge whether any part of the amount should be charged to the State. As for us, we shall simply feel it our duty to furnish the statistics. In regard to the expenses of Fremont’s Battalion, of the Army of Occupation in ’47 and ’48, and of the wars since waged against the Indians—amounting in all to several millions of dollars, we will say nothing.

In the annexed table is an account of the various fires that have occurred throughout the State. It will be perceived that the date of occurrence and amount of property destroyed are both given.

FIRES IN CALIFORNIA.

The following sailing vessels and steamers have been wrecked upon the coast within the same period:

SAILING VESSELS—SOME WITH CARGOES.

STEAMERS.

RECAPITULATION.

These figures show the amount of property that has been destroyed, or the amount of losses that have been sustained in California, by accidents, mishaps and mismanagement, within the last six years. I will, moreover, give a list of lives lost by violent measures during the same period:

It may be urged that the State ought not to be held accountable for any number of these sixteen thousand four hundred unfortunates, who, for the lack of law and order in a majority of the cases, lost their lives by violent means. We leave the question entirely with the reader. It may also be urged that the State ought not to be charged with any part of the extraordinary losses by fire and shipwreck, notwithstanding foreign capitalists were the principal sufferers in both cases. This question we also submit to the decision of the reader.

But I deem it unnecessary to dwell on this part of my subject. In presenting the foregoing calculations, it has been my aim to show that California is a country of unparalleled casualties and catastrophes, and to direct attention to the immense losses which have been sustained in opening its mines of wealth. A large number of people, it seems, have got into the habit of estimating the gains without taking into consideration the cost or losses at all; and there are those, no doubt, who will attempt to find fault with the account which I have drawn up between California and the United States. Though that account is in the main correct, I admit that slight errors may here and there exist; for, as I remarked at the outset, the debits and credits are so numerous, and of such an intricate nature, that it would be impossible to arrive at the exact amounts without the greatest research and elaboration. If I have succeeded in undeceiving those who have heretofore regarded California as an unincumbered God-send, my object has been attained. I have endeavored to show that, though there has been a great deal of gold obtained in the country, it is not all clear gain, and that notwithstanding there are large deposits of pure metal, there are also huge masses of dross. Shallow enthusiasts have asserted that the United States would have become bankrupt two or three years ago, had it not been for the discovery of gold in California. A more preposterous opinion was never entertained. Equally as much wisdom might be found in the assertion that Great Britain would have been sold by the sheriff, if gold had not been discovered in Australia. As a further proof of the beggarly condition of the country, it may not be amiss to remark that, during the last session of Congress, the general government appropriated upwards of four millions of dollars for the relief and benefit of California; and her senators and representatives are still clamoring for additional favors.

For the benefit of the reader, and in confirmation of statements made in this chapter relative to the past and present of California, I give the following extract from the Louisville Journal, to which my attention has been called since the foregoing calculations and statistics were prepared.

COST OF CALIFORNIA GOLD.

“For the information of those persons who believe that the United States thus far have been benefited by the discovery of gold in California, we propose to submit a few remarks and calculations.

“After the close of the Mexican war and the cession by treaty to us of Upper California, the world was astonished by the announcement, toward the close of 1848 or the beginning of 1849, that immense deposits of gold had been discovered in that country. As soon as the truth of this report was established, vast numbers of persons, young and old, flocked to that country. There was a perfect stampede of people from every State in the Union. Property was sacrificed to raise money with which to reach this Eldorado, where fortunes for all were supposed to be awaiting the mere effort to gather them. The first injurious effect on the country was the sudden withdrawal of so much labor from the channels of production; it was mainly, too, that description most needed here—that is, agricultural labor.

“We are not in possession of the statistics requisite to determine with exactness the number of persons who have been taken from the old States and have gone to California. The population of that State now exceeds two hundred thousand. But as there is a constant stream of people always in transitu, either going to or leaving that country, the number of people withdrawn from the business of productive labor largely exceeds the population of that State. It is not our purpose to over-estimate the amount of labor that has been withdrawn from the old States, but we feel satisfied that it will be under rather than over the mark to say that from 1849 to 1854, each year inclusive, there has been an average of 150,000 persons who have been during that time either in California or on their way going or returning. The time is six years for 150,000 persons, or one year for 900,000 persons.

“Now, if we estimate the average value of this labor at $25 per month each, or $300 per year, we have ($270,000,000) two hundred and seventy millions of dollars as the value of the labor taken from the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains and placed on its western side. In addition to this, it cost on an average $200 per head as the expenses of the removal from one country to the other. This makes ($180,000,000) one hundred and eighty millions of dollars as the cost of removal. The sums together make the sum total of ($450,000,000) four hundred and fifty millions of dollars drained from the eastern side of the United States. To ascertain the amount of the gold obtained from that country, we propose to take the gold coinage of the mint. This coinage was in—

“As these figures make the sum total of all the gold coined at the mint, and a portion of it is known to have been obtained from other sources than California, the credit will rather be in excess than too small; but still we propose to add to this amount twenty millions more as an allowance for unminted gold sold to workers in jewelry and plate and which has been consumed in the arts. The statement will then stand thus:

“This shows that there is a balance due us in lost labor and capital of over one hundred and eighty millions of dollars.

“So far as California is concerned, it is probable that this deficiency is replaced there by the value of property, real and personal, which the labor taken from this region of country has produced there.

“The injurious effect of this vast emigration has been felt in the undue stimulus it has given to the prices of produce, induced by diminished production and increased demand.

“Another bad effect of this gold crop has been the influence it has exerted in stimulating excessive importations of foreign goods, In the last six years the imports will exceed the exports three hundred and three millions of dollars. Commencing in 1849 with an import trade of only seven millions of nominal balance against this country, it rapidly increased, until, in each of the past two years, it has exceeded sixty millions of dollars.”

CHAPTER III.

SOCIETY IN CALIFORNIA.

We cannot, indeed, pretend to disclose all the terrible iniquity of that society in the compass of a single chapter—the theme is too extensive, the facts too revolting. It requires space to unfold the scroll which records such damning facts—it needs time for the mind to become sufficiently reconciled to the hideous details, to be able to listen to them without impatience or disgust. We can, at present, do no more than open the way for a fuller exposition of the subject in subsequent chapters. Suffice it to say that we know of no country in which there is so much corruption, villainy, outlawry, intemperance, licentiousness, and every variety of crime, folly and meanness. Words fail us to express the shameful depravity and unexampled turpitude of California society.

How much of this is attributable to the metal which attracts the population, we leave others to determine. One thing, however, is certain; mining districts do not generally enjoy a very enviable reputation in any part of the world. Gold, especially, is thought to be so easily accessible, and the return of the miner’s labor is so immediately visible, that it has ever attracted the most unthrifty and dissolute. Men who could not be induced to work at any thing else, will spend days and weeks delving for the precious bane, hoping against hope, and laboring with an eager energy which nothing else can excite, and almost any thing else would more surely reward. Hence, the immediate neighborhood of a gold-mine is too liable to be a sink for all the idleness and depravity of the surrounding country. How these evils are multiplied by the absence of individual proprietorship in the land, and by the remoteness of a mining district from the beneficial restraints of public opinion, any one who gives a moment’s consideration to the subject will perceive.

The exclusive devotion of labor to this one pursuit is another cause of increased laxity of morals. In the Atlantic States, gold-mining is only a branch of industry, and not a very important one, compared with the other pursuits of the population; but in California it is the chief and almost the only occupation of the inhabitants of the mining districts; so that while, in the former place, the general virtue of the people keeps in check the particular vices of the miner, in the latter, the good intentions of the few are overruled and stifled by the vices of the many.

We must not, however, commit the mistake of supposing that all the depravity of California is attributable to the nature of its industrial pursuits. This is but one of the elements which assist in producing the deplorable state of affairs under consideration. There are others which spring from the character of the people, and the circumstances which have brought them together.

It must be borne in mind that all the adventurers to this country have come for the express purpose of making money, and that to this end every other consideration is sacrificed. They have come to “put money in their purses,” and as a large majority of them are of a class who are rarely troubled by any qualms of conscience, they are determined to do it at all hazards. Mammon is their god, and they will worship him.

If it be deemed desirable to make further inquiries into this state of things, it is only necessary to philosophize a little upon the physical structure of society. A single glance at it will suffice to convince the most superficial observer that its ingredients cannot be compounded into a harmonious, perfect and complete whole. Will a panther from America, a bear from Europe, a tiger from Asia, and a lion from Africa, organize in peace and good feeling around the body of a fresh slain deer? If not, will the Americans, English, French, Germans, Chinese, Indians, Negroes, and half-breeds, greet each other cordially over a gold mine? These are problems which those who have leisure may solve as their reason dictates. In the present case, it is more my province to relate the condition of things, than to account for their existence; yet, in preparing statements upon a variety of intricate subjects, owing sometimes to the difficulty of making one’s self understood, it is both consistent and proper that, now and then, a few remarks in the way of explanation should be given.

Another very important cause of this wild excitement, degeneracy, dissipation, and deplorable condition of affairs, may be found in the disproportion of the sexes—in the scarcity of women. At present, there is only about one woman to every ten or twelve men, and the result is what might be expected. The women are persecuted by the insulting attentions of the men, and too often fall victims to the arts of their seducers. Nowhere is the sanctity of the domestic hearth so ruthlessly violated as in California. For proof of this, we need look no further than the records of the courts of San Francisco, which show that, in the course of a single week, no less than ten divorces had been granted, while, during the same time, only two marriages had been solemnized!

Not long since, an English gentleman, of whom myself and others had purchased some real estate in this city, came to me, requesting that, inasmuch as his wife had left him the day before, we would not let her have any money on his account. After finishing his business instructions, he gave us the following history. Listen to it. Said he: “Four years ago, myself and wife, and six other men with their wives, came together in one vessel to this country. Shortly after our arrival, family feuds and jealousies became rife in the domestic circle of one of the parties. The man and his wife separated. Soon their example was followed by another couple, and another, and so on, until all the marriage ties of our company were broken, except those that happily existed between myself and wife. Left alone thus, and having been true to each other so long, and through so many opposing circumstances, I cherished the hope that we might remain together, and be true to the end. But, alas! my fond thoughts and anticipations have proved a sickly dream. My hopes have been blasted, my happiness wrecked, and my children disgraced and deserted. My wife, whom I loved and held dearer than all else on earth, the partner of my life, has been basely seduced. The last link that bound the remnant of our seven families together has been severed, and the consequence is, we are a disbanded and disreputable people. Cursed be the day and the incentive that started me to this damnable country!” These were his own words, almost verbatim; and he uttered them as if partly speaking to himself, and partly addressing me.

The total disregard of the marriage tie by the majority of the men of California puts the husband, who is foolish enough to take his wife with him to that county, in a painful and embarrassing position. Should the wife be pretty, she is the more liable to the persecution of attentions which will shock her if she be virtuous, and flatter her into sin if she is not. She is surrounded at once by hosts of men, who spare neither money, time, nor art to win her affections from her husband. What wonder if they often succeed?

Female virtue or chastity, in the conventional sense of the word, is known to every one, who is familiar with the internal history of society, to be a very complex idea. There are women who are chaste only for want of the opportunity to be otherwise. There are others who are kept chaste by the force of public opinion, the dread of exposure, and the general fear of consequences; while a third class preserve their persons untainted by an innate purity of soul, which shrinks instinctively from all indelicacy, and feels contaminated by an unclean thought, and degraded by a lustful look. It is not our business to inquire into the relative proportion of women embraced in these three classes. It is enough to know that they exist, to appreciate the effect which the society of California will exert upon them.

As for the first class, it is not necessary to speak of them. They fulfil their shameful destiny every where, and California only ripens their depravity a little earlier. It is the second class who suffer chiefly from the peculiar moral atmosphere of the land of gold. In the Atlantic States, hedged in by a healthy public opinion, guarded by jealous laws, flattered into chastity by the respectful attentions which that virtue ever commands, they might retain to their dying day that physical purity which satisfies the great majority of husbands. In California, however, these restraints are all removed. Public opinion arrays itself on the side of vice; the laws are powerless to punish the sins of impurity; and all the attentions the women receive are based upon the hope of their ultimate fall. How are such women to resist? Cut loose at once from all those restraints which kept them in the right way, will they not dart off into the devious paths of error and of sin? It is impossible that it should be otherwise; and the man who would keep faithful to himself a wife of this type in California, must have wealth enough to gratify her most extravagant whims, time to devote exclusively to watching her, eyes keener than those of Argus, and cunning sharper than that of Vidocq.

The third class—of whom, I regret to say, I have met with but few in the Eureka State—have also peculiar trials to undergo. Society in that country is a reproduction, on a large scale, of the morals of the courts of Charles II of England and Louis XV of France. Vice only is esteemed and lauded, virtue is treated as an idle dream, an insulting pretence of superiority, or a stupid folly beneath the notice of men of sense. People do not believe in it—they scorn it, they insult it; they consider it a mere avaricious attempt to dispose of venal charms above their market value, so that the chaste woman has not only to suffer the persecution of insulting proposals, but the doubt of that virtue which repels her pursuers, and the sneers and scandal of a depraved and debased community.

Many women, of conceded respectability in California, seem to have come out there for the exclusive purpose of selling their charms to the highest bidder. Others, of more honest hearts, have fallen victims to the peculiar seductions of the place, but I must be allowed to pay a tribute to the sex, even in this its degenerate condition. Paradoxical as the statement may sound, it is rigorously true that these very women have improved the morals of the community. Any one who, like myself, has had the opportunity of seeing California before and after the advent of these women, must have been struck with the decided improvement in society since their arrival. They have undoubtedly banished much barbarism, softened many hard hearts, and given a gentleness to the men which they did not possess before. What, then, might we not expect from an influx of the chaste wives and tender mothers that bless our other sea-board?