Page:California Inter Pocula.djvu/246



Native American  citizens  objected  to  foreigners  fill- ing their purses  from  the  wealth  of  the  foothills,  and returning to  their  own  countries. They particularly objected to  Chinese  and  Spanish-Americans. White skins were  for  a  time  welcome  among  the  American miners ; but  Indians,  Africans,  Asiatics,  Islanders, and mixed  breeds  generally,  were  detested.

The state  of  California  having  no  title  to  either the agricultural  or  mineral  lands  lying  within  her limits, her  legislature  possessed  no  right  to  impose a special  tax  on  foreign  miners  as  it  attempted  to  do. Nor was  it  for  the  state,  but  for  the  United  States, to say  what  should  be  done  with  the  gold  embanked in the  foothills,  or  who  should  or  should  not  abstract it, or  pay  for  the  privilege  of  abstracting  it. The tax thus attempted  to  be  levied  was  twenty  dollars  per month. The people  soon  saw  the  folly  of  such  a measure. The miners  scarcely  averaged  twenty  dol- lars a month  after  all  their  expenses  were  paid. But those hostile  to  the  Spanish-Americans,  and  other  for- eign elements among  the  mining  population  gained their point. The Evening  Picayune  of  San  Francisco said on  the  14th  of  August  1850,  "We  infer,  with tolerable  certainty,  that  from  fifteen  to  twenty  thou- sand Mexicans,  and  perhaps  an  equal  number  of Chilenos,  are  now  leaving,  or  preparing  to  leave  Cali- fornia for  their  own  country." It is  true  that  certain outrao;es committed  in  the  south  had  somethino-  to  do with  this  exodus,  but  undoubtedly  the  main  cause was the  passage,  by  the  legislature  at  San  Jose,  of the  law  to  tax  foreign  miners. It would  be  useless to deny  that  the  first  day  the  tax-gatherers  appeared  at Sonora,  where  hitherto  peace  and  amity  had  presided, the community  was  split  in  two,  and  arrayed  one  part against the  other  with  bowie-knife  and  revolver.

It was  a  great  error  to  suppose  that  the  value  of gold  to  California  lay  in  enriching  a  few  trappers, farmers, and  emig-rants. Such narrow-mindedness could not  compass  the  idea  of  enticing   energy  and