About this time was the first appearance of the celebrated clipper
ships. They anchored off of Happy Valley and attracted great attention;
they could make the trip around Cape Horn from New York to San Francisco
in three or four months; they run wet; their bows were very sharp, and,
in a rough sea, instead of mounting the waves, they cut them, and the
bows ran under water, and their progress was not impeded by the waves,
saving two or three months' time, which was of great consideration then.
There was no railroad across the Isthmus then, and there was no other
way of transporting freight between the cities of New York and San
Francisco except around Cape Horn. They had great fame then. England
conceded their superiority over all other sailing vessels for speed; but
they have passed away, the railroad reducing the time to from five to
eight days; of course, there is a great difference between that and
three or four months. The days of sailing vessels, however great their
speed, to a great extent, is gone. Besides, there are regular lines of
steamers to most every port of the world, and the ocean is covered with
tramp steamers.
That winter a convention was called to organize a State government and
apply for admission to the Union. The Southern element there wanted to
make it a slave State. The Northerners, including both Whigs and
Democrats, wanted it free. They did not want to be brought in
competition with slave labor in the mines, and have their occupation
degraded in that way. Their pride, as well as interest, was at stake,
and there was great feeling on the subject. Meetings were called all
through the mines and addresses made and candidates nominated. The
average of intelligence there was away above any other part of the
country. For they were men of enterprise, or they would not have been
there in that early day. At Mormon Island, one of the miners got up and
made a speech. He so impressed them with his ability that they
unanimously nominated him as their candidate to the Constitutional
Convention. He was an old acquaintance of mine. In 1847 or 1848 he was a
Democratic member of the Legislature of the State of New York, from
Washington county, and was chosen by that body to deliver the oration
on Washington's birthday. His name was George Washington Sherwood. He
was elected to the Constitutional Convention of California, and wrote
its first Constitution, copied after that of his native State, New York.
The Northern element prevailed in that convention, and California came
in a free State by its unanimous vote. Broderick headed the Northern
sentiment; Gwin, who had been a United States Marshal in Mississippi,
the Southern. I met him often. He would come into a bar-room and say: "I
did not come here to dig gold, but to represent you in the United States
Senate." He would then say: "Come up all, and take a drink." I thought
that was a strange way to inspire the people with the idea that he was
the proper person to represent them in the United States Senate. He was
elected, with Colonel Freemont, the first two United States Senators
from California. At the next election for United States Senators,
Broderick got absolute control, and although Gwin had fought him
bitterly, they were the two senators to be elected again. Broderick had
the magnanimity to induce his friends to go for Gwin and had him elected
with him, and Gwin showed his ingratitude by going at once to Washington
and securing from Buchanan the control of all the appointments of the
government in the State of California. So when Broderick came there,
there were none to give his friends. Gwin was afterward very prominent
in the rebellion. He went out in a boat in Charleston harbor, crying out
from it his advice to Major Anderson, advising him to surrender at the
time of the attack on Fort Sumter. (This is a matter of history that
occurred after the time of which I am writing.)