Lost Journals of a Pioneer.—I. [pp. 75-90]

The Lost Journals of a Pioneer.
the persons disposed to press these suits to
a conclusion than an acquittal or even a par don; but it is not acceptable to the individ uals concerned as defendants, if we except
Dr. Charles Robinson, the undoubted secret
author of this bill.
Saturday, irthz March. Clear, warm.The bill to discontinue the squatter trials at
Benicia was defeated in the Assembly on
Wlednesday.... So the trial must go on;
and very properly, since these men need no
pardon-they can be acquitted and will be
acquitted by a jury if they have, as they can
at Benicia, a fair and impartial trial....
This attempt to stifle these cases by legislation has been in every way impolitic. It
has kindled anew the rage of the speculators
against them, and encouraged these unreasoning, pocket-nerved creatures in the belief
that the defendants fear a trial, and will certainly be convicted. This has kindled their
zeal to assail the squatters anew, and they
begin to talk of more bloodshed, of a war in
which cannon must be used, and many, very
many, lives lost. "Ten men at least must
be killed," was the expression of one of
them, intimately connected with the leaders
of the party, to me this afternoon in my
office, and this knowing me to be a squatter.
It did not strike me at the instant as of
much importance, but upon reflecting on the
manner in which it was said, I concluded
that he was thinking aloud, repeating their
private conversation and wishes, and that the
"ten men'were the ten men most inimical to
their rage and malice; and the more I ponder on this point, the stronger becomes my
conviction that such was the fact, and that I
was one of the doomed and fated ten. The
will, I believe, is good enough for the renewal of tumult and bloodshed, but the power
is wanting; and as they feel that they will become entirely impotent after the ingress of
the immigrants of this season, and a few days
will expose to them the fallacy of their expectations that Caulfield and others will be
convicted, or that they can rally a party to
sustain them in the wild and illegal course
that they pursued in 1850, their threatenings
will die away in faint murmurings, and they
will quietly, though reluctantly, abide by the
result of the investigation of these titles.
Sunday, I6th Marci. Clear, warm. Having been foiled in the attempt to discon tinue the Benicia trials by a direct method,
Bigler has introduced a joint resolve requir ing the Attorney-General to direct the District Attorney to investigate the evidence in
these cases, and if the evidence will not authorize a conviction in his opinion, to report
thereupon to the Attorney-General, who, in
that event, shall enter a nole proseyui. This
is a very tame mode of attaining the object
of the smotherers, since if the District Attorney examines but one side of the case, that
to which he has direct access, he must report that an offense has apparently been
committed, and that evidence is fully sufficient to put the defendants upon trial.
Individuals have been killed, and certain
persons are charged by a Grand Jury with
having murdered them; and this was done under the advice of M. S. Latham, the District
Attorney. If he is to be appointed to investigate the evidence, he must, for the sake of
his own personal and professional reputation,
report affirmatively, unless he is required
and directed to make a thorough and searching examination into both sides of the question....
Monday, z711h Marcli. Serene, clear,
warm.
St. Patrick, not in clouds or storms,
But peaceful as the faith you taught
Pure as the steadfast truth that warms
The souls to heaven's glad image wrought,
This day on our wide western land
Where thine own shamrock native grows,
Is by an arch of sunlight spanned,
And full of summer radiance glows,
The beaming type of this fair realm,
Proud mistress of the western sea,
The continent's bright diadem,
Wide, glorious, and free.
A bill to dismiss the April trials at Benicia is before the Senate, and urged with
great earnestness. Dr. Robinson is represented as being very feeble in health, and
the object of much sympathy. He urges
the claims of Caulfield and Packer to be
discharged from these prosecutions, but is
1886.]
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