Page:California Inter Pocula.djvu/266



Very different  was  the  Californian  nation  in  its makino; from  the  American  nation. In the  settle- ment of  New  England  there  was  an  agreement  in religion,  in  politics,  in  morals  and  manners,  in  every- thing appertaining to  the  new  commonwealth. One was as  prim  and  puritanical  as  another. All were death on  sin,  and  although  they  had  so  lately  fled from persecution,  they  were  little  behind  their  perse- cutors in requiring  all  men  to  believe  what  they  be- lieved. This fanaticism  was  the  strongest  element  of their  union,  the  most  exalted  of  Plymouth-rock  senti- ments. In California  the  moral  ideal  was  not  nation- making, or  meeting-house-making,  but  money-making. The meanest  of  occupations,  however,  was  saturated with thought. It was  an  epoch  of  expansion,  follow- ing a long  period  of  concentration  of  ideas,  both  upon these shores,  among  the  Hispano-Americans,  and  at the  east,  where  intellect  was  more  slowly  but  none the less  surely  marking  out  the  pathway  of  its  final emancipation.

There were  yet  new  moralities  under  the  sun  as well  as  new  lands. Conscience, which  was  once  con- sidered an original  faculty,  was  now  regarded  as  the product of  an  association  of  ideas. And under  the new survey,  right  and  wrong  assumed  original  prerog- atives. And as  the  primary  elements  of  the  social structure in  California,  more  than  in  any  spot  or  time the world  has  ever  seen,  were  abstracts  of  the  beet elements of  the  foremost  nations  of  the  earth,  so  the body politic  in  its  completion  and  entirety  was  second to none. Every element  of  pioneer  character  was  in- stinct with directness  and  efficiency.

For the  matter  of  that,  there  were  among  them men without  a  country,  men  who  never  had  a  country, who, born  upon  the  wing,  were  accustomed  to  rest on any  spot  where  they  happened  to  light,  and  to  fit their ears  to  any  name  given  them.

Like animals  of  an  elevated  type,  while  the  organ- ism grew rapidly,  the  organs  of  the  bo