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DAWN AND THE DONS 167 tesies of debate have never been wantonly violated, and the result of every conflict of opinion has been a quiet acquiescence on the part of the minority. Now, at the conclusion, the only feeling is that of general joy and congratulation.”

It would be interesting to know how much of this gratifying result was due to the calm, deliberative mind of the Anglo-Saxon, and how much to the kindness, the hospitality and the social amenities heaped upon the delegates by the people of Monterey. The convention was held in Colton Hall, a rather fine building for that time, built by Walter Colton while Alcalde of Monterey. Of the origin and architecture of this building, he says in an entry of March 8, 1849, “The town-hall, on which

I have been at work for more than a year, is at last finished. It is built of a white stone quarried from a neighboring hill, and which easily takes the shape you desire. The lower apartments are for schools; the hall over them —seventy feet by thirty—is for public assemblies. The front is ornamented by a portico, which you enter from the hall. It is not an edifice which would attract any attention among public buildings in the United States, but in California it is without-a rival. It has been erected out of the slender proceeds of town lots, the labor of the convicts, taxes on liquor shops, and fines on gamblers.

“The scheme was regarded with incredulity by many; but the building is finished, and the citizens have assembled in it and christened it after my name, which