be ol (tained for our shipping. This, for two reasons.
First, because it is necessary for its protection in
time of war, and for repairs in time of peace ; and,
secondly, that a point may be obtained from whence
the produce of the United States may be sent
abroad, and foreign produce or fabrics may be
landed, and taken into the interior, without making
the circuitous route of Cape Horn.
It will be seen that the route from Japan and
China via Oregon and California, is not only the
nearest to Charleston, New- York and Boston, but
also to London; and we may not only expect that
POLK ADMINISTRATION. 293
the transmission of intelligence may be made by
that route, but that it will be the great highway
for many articles of merchandise and produce con-
veyed to and from Europe.
In this connection I will refer to the proposed
canals at Panama, Nicaragua, and Tehuantepec.
The great objection to these routes to Asia and
the East, is, that we have to diverge from the direct
route ; the distance being about 2,000 miles further
from the Mississippi valley to China, even by Te-
huantepec, than by California, and much further
via Panama. I shall now proceed to notice the
harbors in Oregon, and that portion of California
which we have acquired from Mexico by the recent
treaty. Along the coast of Oregon, there is but
one large and convenient harbor, and that is nearly
in latitude 49°. There is one circumstance, too,
connected with the harbor of Puget's Sound, and
that is contained in the treaty of 1846 with Eng-
land, settling the boundary of Oregon. The en-
trance to that sound is through the Straits of
Fuca. The navigation of these straits, by the terms
of the treaty, is open to the commerce of both na-
tions. This is one objection to the erection of a
commercial city upon Puget's Sound. Another is,
the fact that the Straits of Fuca are commanded by
the southern part of Vancouver's Island, which be-
longs to Great Britain. These would be objections
in time of a war between the two countries, which
it is not unlikely will occur in the next half cen-
tury.
The immense commerce carried on between this
294 HISTORY OF THE
country and Asia, which will concentrate at some
point upon our western coast, must be under the
command of our own, instead of British guns.
It will be discovered from this view of the sub-
ject, that the harbors acquired from Mexico by the
Treaty of 1848, are of very great value to this
country.
The bay, or roadstead, of Monterey, is a half
circle, protected from the storms coming from the
west or southwest, but exposed to the northwestern
winds. It can be rendered a very important harbor,
by the erection of a breakwater. San Diego is an
important acquisition; lying a short distance from
the new line established between the United States
and Mexico.
England has hitherto obtained more advantages
from the China trade than any other nation; yet it
is very evident the elements of commercial inter-
course are possessed to a far greater extent by the
United States and China, than by that country and
Great Britain. The popular idea, long entertained,
that trade to be beneficial to one nation, must have
a balance in its favor, to be liquidated by the pre-
cious metals, is now exploded. Commerce between
nations, based upon mutual benefits, must consist in
iin interchange of commodities. The dishonest in-
tention of overreachinar the nation with whom we
trade, by obtaining a balance in our favor, to be
discharged 1»\ abstracting from them, and drawing
into our own coffers the precious metals necessary
for their commercial prosperity, should be aban-
POLK ADMINISTRATION. 295
doned. The effect of the latter policy is already
felt Iby England*
The Select Committee of the House of Com-
mons, in their report, alluding to the cause of the
declension in the British trade with China, assign as
a reason for that result, that the sole difficulty is in
finding a return for the articles supplied to China, f
Thus we discover that the drain of specie upon
China to discharge the balance against her, is too
great, and the trade between the two countries is
falling off.
The trade between the United States and China,
although now very extensive, can be still increased.
There is a heavy balance against us, however, which
might be liquidated by the demand in that country
for cotton.^ There is no reason why this amount
* The total of British imports into China, in 1844, was $35,929,132
The exports from China on English account, for the
same period, amounted to ... - 17,925,360
Leaving a balance against China, .... $18,003,772
f " In reporting on the condition of our commercial relations with Chi-
na your Committee regret to state, on undoubted evidence, that the trade
with that country has been for some time in a very unsatisfactory posi-
tion, and that the result of our extended intercourse has by no means real-
ized the just expectations which had been naturally founded on a freer ac-
cess to so magnificent a market."
" We find that the difficulties of the trade do not arise from any want
of demand in China for articles of British manufacture, or from the increas-
ing competition of other nations. There is no evidence that foreign com-
petition is to be seriously apprehended in the articles of general demand.
The sole difficulty is in providing a return." — Report of the Select Com-
mittee of the House of Coimnons.
I The imports of merchandise into China from the United
States, in 1844, amounted to ... - $1,320,170
The export from China on American account, was - 6,686,171
Leaving a balance against the United States of - $5,366,001
296 HISTORY OF THE
of imports in China should not be furnished by the
United States. We can raise cotton cheaper, and
of a better quality, than any other people. We can
manufacture coarse cotton goods cheaper; and the
route to its destination will be much nearer, by
means of the great highway via California and the
Pacific. It must be recollected, that England and
the United States are the great competitors for the
trade with that country. There is no reason, how-
ever, that the commerce with China should not in-
crease very largely. We can not only supply them
with cotton, raw and manufactured, but with lead,
ginseng, wheat, and corn; for which we can receive
whatever necessaries and luxuries they may have to
exchange.
The empire of China contains at least three
hundred millions of people. The density of the
population is most remarkable, so much so, that it
is exceedingly difficult to obtain a living. What
benefits will not be extended to them by the utmost
freedom of commercial intercourse ? Not only can
we supply them with raiment, but with food, in ex-
change for which we can receive whatever their
climate or their ingenuity may enable them to fur-
nish us. In this way the vast amount of surplus
produce, which the fertility of our soil and the in-
Have wo the means of discharging this balance, other than by a pay-
of s|iocic ?
Value of raw cotton imported into China in 1844, - 6.983.347
Cotton fabrics, 5,383,093
Total, cotton and cotton fabrics, .... $12,366,440
POLK ADMINISTRATION". 207
dustry of our people places at our disposal, will
banish from the firesides of millions the gaunt
spectre of famine which stalks through the hovels
of the poor.
"We should not overlook the advantages which
will certainly result from the establishment of libe-
ral commercial relations with the Empire of Japan.
The population of these islands is variously estimated
at from 50 to 100,000,000 inhabitants. They live
still nearer our possessions upon the Pacific than
China, being between 32° and 45° north latitude.
The first American ship which attempted to
trade with the Japanese was in 1797. It was a
Ions: time before the authorities could be made to
distinguish between English and American sailors.
The owner, however, of this ship, the Eliza, sailing
under Dutch colore, was suffered to trade with
them.
But returning in 1803, under the American flag,
he was compelled to depart. The Dutch, who alone
were suffered to trade with them, artfully aroused
their suspicions, that no rival might divide the
trade with themselves. Another attempt was made
in 1807, with no better success. Similar efforts
have been made by England and Russia up to
1837, but unsuccessfully. The Americans are re-
garded with much more favor than either the Eng-
lish or Russians. The hope may be confidently
entertained that at no distant day commercial rela-
tions will be established with those islands, mutu-
ally beneficial to both countries.
It is remarkable that China and Japan have
298 HISTORY OF THE
almost insurmountable objections to tlie admission
of foreigners within their dominions. The conse-
quences are the absence of that intelligence and
morality which characterizes other countries.
As the eye glances along the map of the world
to the west, passing over Asia and Europe, the
pleasing reflection crosses the mind of the observer,
that with eaeli degree of longitude increases the
regard for liberality of intercourse between neigh-
boring powers. And when we look at our own
country, we find that Christianity wields a con-
trolling influence — the arts and sciences have reach-
ed a greater degree of perfection — the people have
enlarged and enlightened views, and the female sex
are treated with much of that deference and respect
which distinguished the age of chivalry.
In whatever light we regard the intercourse be-
tween the nations of the earth, benefits must be the
result. Commercial advantages, the extension of
liberal principles, the dill'nsion of the doctrines of
the Bible, will flow from the most unrestrained
commercial regulations.
A- the tide of emigration flows westward, it is to
be hoped that a disposition will be manifested still
further to remove restrictions upon our commerce,
and tli ns accelerate the moment when our new pos-
sessions upon the Pacific wall become the centre of a
flourishing and extensive commerce.
California is, undoubtedly, the richest mineral
country upon the Globe. Not only does gold
abound in such quantities that thousands have be-
conie enriched byitwithoul incurring the expense
POLK ADMINISTRATION. 299
of mining operations, but there is also vast quanti-
ties of silver and quicksilver. The amount of gold
dust which has been brought from California since
Jury, 1849, to the present time,* has been estimated
in value at 9,000,000 of dollars, and still the supply
appears inexhaustible. As fast as the quantity
seems to diminish at one placer another is easily
found, where, with the sifter, the gold is easily
separated from the sand, and in a short time wealth
crowns the efforts of the laborer. Where such vast
quantities are found in the sand, still more can un-
doubtedly be obtained by mining operations, and
from the hills and mountains of Upper California,
the Government and people of the United States
will obtain immense quantities of the precious me-
tals.f The number of persons who have thronged
to California • since its acquisition by the United
States is almost inconceivable. They have poured
into that country from almost every land, and there
may be found congregated together, the South
American, the Asiatic, the European, the African,
and the Mexican, and from the United States a
ceaseless tide of emigration has continued to roll
thither. New routes have been explored, and so
* March, 1850.
f " Thus it appears that the deposits of gold, wherever found in the
Territory, are the property of the United States. Those, however, which
are known to exist upon the lands of individuals are of small comparative
importance, by far the larger part being upon the unclaimed public lands.
Still our information respecting them is yet extremely limited ; what we
know in general is, that they are of great extent and extraordinary pro-
ductiveness, even though rudely wrought. The gold is found sometimes
in masses, the largest of which brought to the mint weighed eighty-nine
ounces." — Report of the Secretary of the Interior, December 'id, 1849.
300 niSTORY OF TIIE
fiv [uently traversed that the hitherto trackless re-
gions of the West have become a great highway,
and the burning sun of the torrid zone has pre-
sented no obstacle to the thousands who throng to
the Isthmus of Darien, while the threatening dan-
gerns of Cape Horn have presented no terrors
to those who have left their homes in search of
gold.
The early and rapid development of the re-
sources of California is mainly attributable to the
precious metals, but it is very questionable whether
they equal in importance the commercial and agri-
cultural advantages which must inevitably flow from
their possession. Of the former I have already
spoken. With regard to the latter, little has been
done to test the capacity of the soil. When the
existence of gold was first discovered, people of
every occupation at once took their departure for
the gold regions. Farmers left the plough, the me-
chanic his workshop, the doctor his patient, the
lawyer his clients, the sailor deserted his ship, and
the soldier his colors, and all sought for the glitter-
ing dust. The emigrants have relied upon foreign
supply for the necessaries of life, and very few of
the inhabitants of California have turned their at-
tention to the cultivation of the earth. It is true
that the want of rain during a portion of the year
is one disadvantage, but that has been' greatly ex-
aggerated. There can undoubtedly be produced in
California, wheat, rye, oats, buckwheat, vegetables,
and fruits, of ;is fine quality as in any part of the
United Slates territory, and it only remains for
POLK ADMINISTRATION. 301
enterprise and industry to deveiope the resources
of California, to render it one of the richest and
most productive States in the Union.
After years will fully illustrate the three great
results which must flow from the acquisition of that
territory: its mineral wealth, and its agricultural
and commercial advantages.*
* " The prospects of California were never brighter than now. Skep-
ticism as to its immense mineral resources is gradually yielding to the
solid and radiant proofs now abundantly made manifest. Three millions
of dollars' worth of native gold shipped by a single steamer, following
and to be followed by others, at intervals of barely two weeks, ought to
vanquish the most stubborn incredulity. An intelligent friend who en-
joyed good opportunities for information in San Francisco, estimates the
amount of gold in the hands of the gamblers alone, of that city, on the
1st of January, (our latest date,) at fourteen millions of dollars." — Edito-
rial of the New- York Tribune, February 11 th, 1850.
" San Francisco, December 15lh, 1849.
" Messrs. Greeley tj- McElrath :
"Of all the marvellous phases of the history of the present, the
growth of San Francisco is the one which will most tax the belief of the
future. Its parallel was never known, and shall never be beheld again.
I speak only of what I have seen with my own eyes. When I landed
here, not quite four mouths ago, I found a scattering town of tents and
canvas houses, with a show of frame buildings on one or two streets, and
a population of about six thousand. Now I see around me an actual me-
tropolis, displaying street after street of well-built edifices, filled with an
active and enterprising people, and exhibiting every mark of permanent
commercial prosperity. Then, the town was limited to the curve of the
bay fronting the anchorage and the bottoms of the hills. Now, it stretches
to the topmost heights, follows the shore around point after point, and,
sending back a long arm through a gap in the hills, takes hold of the
Golden Gate, and builds its warehouses on the open strait and almost
fronting the blue horizon of the Pacific. Then, the gold-seeking so-
journer lodged in muslin rooms and canvas garrets, with a philosophic
lack of furniture, and ate his simple though substantial fare from pine
boards. Now, lofty hotels, gaudy with verandahs and balconies, are met
with in all quarters, furnished with home luxury, and aristocratic restau-
rants present daily their long bills of fare, rich with the choicest techni-
302 HISTORY OF THE
When we reflect upon the extension of the terri-
torial limits of this country, since its first settlement,
we can scarcely realize where our ultimate bounda-
calities of the Parisian cuisine. Then, vessels were coming in day after
day, to lie deserted and useless at their anchorage. Now, scarce a day
but some cluster of sails, bound outward through the Golden
Gate, take their way to all the corners of the Pacific. Like the magic
seed of the Indian juggler, which grew, blossomed, and bore fruit before
the eyes of his spectators, San Francisco seems to have accomplished in
a day the growth of half a century.
" When I first landed here, bewildered and amazed by what seemed
an unnatural standard of prices, I expressed the opinion that there would
be before long a great crash in speculation. Things, it appeared then,
had reached their crisis, and it was pronounced impossible that they could
remain stationary. This might have been a very natural idea at the time,
hut tin' subsequent course of affairs has shown it to be incorrect. Land,
goods, subsistence, &c, have continued steadily to advance in cost,
and as the credit system has been meanwhile prudently contracted, the
character of the business now done is the more real and substantial. Two
or three years will pass, in all probability, before there is a positive abate-
ment of the standard of prices. There will be fluctuations in the mean-
time, occasioning great gains and losses, but the fall in rents and raal
estate, when it comes, as it inevitably must in the course of two or three
years, will not be so crushing as I at first imagined. I doubt whether it
will seriously injure the commercial activity of the place. Prices will
7n 1 i< r fall to the same standard as in the Atlantic States. Fortunes will
always be made here by the sober, intelligent, industrious, and energetic;
but. no one who is either too careless, too spiritless, or too ignorant to
succeed at home, need trouble himself about emigrating. The same
il rule holds good, as well here as elsewhere, and it is all the better
for human nature that it does.
- \nt only is the heaviest part of the business here conducted on cash
principles, but all rents, even to lodgings in hotels, are paid in advance.
A single bowling-alley, in the basement story of the Ward House — a new
Hotel on Portsmouth-square — prepays $5,000 monthly. The firm of
Pindley, Johnson & Co., recently sol.! their real estate, purchased a year
aim for $20,000, at $300,000 ; $25,000 down, and the rest in monthly
enta of $12,500. The purchaser. Mr. Steinberger, has since
been offered .xl-j.500 monthly, in advance, for the rent alone, which would
thus pay at once the first cost of the property, This is a fair specimen
of the speculations daily made here. Those on a lesser scale are fre-
POLK ADMINISTRATION. 303
ries are to be. From the lauding of the pilgrims,
successive years have witnessed the triumph of our
ancestors over the Indians and French, to be quickly
followed by the obstinate encounter with, and the
final overthrow of the British power within these
States. The steady progress of civilization succeed-
ed ; the Alleghanies were passed, and thriving cities
studded the shores of the father of waters. Flor-
ida, Louisiana and Texas have been acquired ; and
a neighboring nation, against whom a brilliant war
has been waged, has consented to yield one half
of her immense territory. And still our vast re-
sources are undeveloped. The oak and the pine,
spreading far westward to the Pacific Ocean, are yet
waving their towering forms undisturbed by the
woodman's axe, while each year illustrates our pow-
er, and proves that our destiny is not yet fulfilled.*
quently of a very amusing character, but the claims on one's astonishment
are so constant, that the faculty soon wears out, and the most unheard of
operations are looked upon as matters of course. The greatest gains are
still made by the gambling tables and eating-houses. Every device that
art can suggest is used to swell the custom of the former. The latter
find abundant support in the necessities of a large floating population, in
addition to the swarm of permanent residents. Rovve's Circus, which is
still here, does an immense business, and a large and handsome theatre is
about to be erected on the upper side of Portsmouth-square. If con-
ducted with becoming order and decency, the latter establisluuent will
have a decidedly moral effect, by diminishing the influence of a much
greater evil." — Extract of a Letter from Bayard Taylor.
* The inhabitants of California, through their delegates, in 1849,
framed a constitution, which was ratified by the people. Members of Con-
gress and Senators were elected, who took their departure for Washing-
ton. The question of the admission of California into the Union has oc-
cupied much of the attention of the 31st Congress. Clay, Calhoun and
Webster have given their views, but the sequel no ono can with certainty
divine.
30-4 HISTORY OF THE
While new improvements are made in the arts,
and new discoveries are made in science; while the
moral tone of society is becoming more and more
healthy, and each year adds to our veneration and
regard tor the Constitution, who can proclaim the
extent of our greatness as a nation?
What ground is there, then, for the senseless
cry that our brilliant destiny has reached its merid-
ian ( What is there to produce so melancholy a
result? The treachery of individuals cannot effect
it. There is no approaching danger from without.
No internal dissensions of so alarming a character,
as to threaten so terrible a disaster.
The fears of those who dread a dissolution of
the Union are as idle as the wishes of the dissatis-
fied and depraved, who would gladly produce so
di<a-trous a result to gratify their own selfish views.
Such an event might have occurred in the infancy
of this republic, when patriots doubted the capacity
of the people for self-government. But now, when
that problem lias been solved, when the public heart
brat- with almost idolatrous love for that Constitu-
Wli.it will bo the result of the settlement of the country bordering upon
the Pacific ? Hitherto our enterprising citizens have gone westward until
the farthest west is occupied. Will California and Oregon arrest the on ward
nut of the Americans? No! Tliey will diverge to the south and
overrun Mexico; not, it is true, as the Goths and Vandals ravaged the
of the Romans ; and then, if the citizens of Japan still refuse
to enter into commercial regulations, a little of that persuasion will be em-
ployed which bo effectually moderated the tone of the Chinese towards the
English. It will not be extraordinary if the citizens of the United States
before the lapse of another century, should gain a foothold upon Asia, and
either overawe and control the natives, or drive them back upon the Eu-
ropeans.
POLK ADMINISTRATION. 305
tion which, for more than half a century, has proved
the palladium of our liberties, who can be guilty of
such folly as to suppose that the masses will submit
to its destruction ?
The people understand fully the object of a few
disorganizes at the north and south. They appre-
ciate to the full value, and no more, the threats at
encroachment or dissolution which are so freely
used. They can listen to this with some patience ;
but let threats be followed by a single overt act, and
they will hang the traitors as high as Haman was
hung.
The thanks of Congress were voted repeatedly
to the army for their gallant conduct in the face of
the enemy. On the 16th of July, 1846, a joint
resolution, presenting the thanks of Congress to
General Taylor, his officers and men, for their forti-
tude, skill, enterprise and courage upon the Rio
Grande, was approved by the President. Similar
resolutions passed Congress March 2d, 1847, March
9th, 1848, and August 7th, 1848, tendering the
thanks of Congress to General Taylor and his men
for the victory of Monterey and Buena Vista ; and
to General Scott, his officers and men, for the bril-
liant campaign of 1847 ; and to the officers, sailors
and marines, for their zeal and ability before the
walls of Vera Cruz, and the castle of San Juan de