APRIL 10th.-Lecture given by Gov. Isaac J. Stevens, of Washington Territory, in Musical Hall, to a large and respectable audience, on the subject of the great Inter-oceanic Railway. It is evident that the agricultural and other resources of California can never be fairly developed, until some cheaper, more expeditious, and less hazardous and painful mode of reaching the country be provided, than the present overland way across the great plains, or the Isthmus, or round by Cape Horn. What California wants is population; an industrious, active, intelligent population. If the long talked of Atlantic and Pacific Railroad were once formed, the western terminus being in the State, this want would soon be remedied. Three general routes have at different times been proposed for this great undertaking. These are first, the southern route, which proceeds from Texas through the Mesilla Valley, in the northern part of the Mexican territories, and enters California at the southern extremity of the State; second, the middle route, which proceeds from the State of Missouri across the plains to Utah, and from thence across the Sierra Nevada to some point on the Sacramento River; and third, the northern route, which would connect the basin of the St. Lawrence with Puget Sound, passing along the lines of the Upper Missouri and the Colombia Rivers. This last route lies considerably to the north of California. Gov. Stevens, in his lecture, dwelt much on the advantages which the extreme northern route possessed over all other proposed routes-on its comparatively low levels, its freedom from deep snows, the fertile country in its course, &c. In the present thinly peopled condition of the immense regions which lie between the Eastern States and the Pacific coast, it is probable that no more than one through railway will be made for a great length of time. It is therefore of the utmost consequence to San Francisco, and to California, that that railway should terminate within the bounds of the State, and if possible at its chief city. It should never be forgotten, that Puget Sound offers commercial advantages nearly as many and as great as the Bay of San Francisco presents, for the establishment of a great maritime city upon its shores. If the western terminus of the Inter-oceanic Railway be made at the former great inlet of the sea, immigration will be prematurely

diverted from California, and turned directly, and chiefly, to the advantage of a far northern territory. The people of San Francisco and of California, if they study their own interest, will take care that a rival State and city do not suddenly arise to overshadow their own greatness. The best way to maintain the supremacy of the former is to make sure, by all and whatever means, that the first great Inter-oceanic Railroad terminate at San Francisco. Later through lines may terminate where they will; only let our city have the first one.

APRIL 10th.-Oakland, on the eastern side of the bay directly opposite San Francisco, is to the latter, something like what Brooklyn is to New York. Between the two former places there are frequent daily opportunities of communication by steamers. Many people who carry on business during the day in San Francisco, have their dwellings and families at Oakland. The latter is one of the sweetest and most beautiful places on the bay. It is a great excursion quarter for holiday folk from San Francisco. As its name implies, Oakland is celebrated for

its trees, of the live-oak kind, which give at all times a peculiarly cheerful and refreshing character to the place. Recently a small village, then a thriving town, it has now assumed the name, if not all the pretensions of a city, although the inhabitants number only two or three thousand. Of this date, the first election under the city charter took place, when Mr. Horace W. Carpentier was chosen mayor.

APRIL 12th.—A portion of the U. S. Bonded Warehouse, at the corner of Battery and Union streets, fell. This was only one of several accidents of a like nature which happened about this time. Public attention on this occasion was strongly drawn to the generally inferior character of building materials used in San Francisco, and to the supposed frail condition of many of the most elegant and apparently substantial structures in the city. Not only is the greater part of the materials-such as brick, lime and timber, employed in building, of an inferior quality, but the sites on which the houses have been erected are of a shifting and treacherous nature. Nearly all the edifices situated below the line of Montgomery street have been built on what was only a few years ago the bed of the sea. The mud bottom of Yerba Buena Cove, on which dry sand has been loosely heaped, to form the foundations of these edifices, could scarcely be expected to be very secure. Accordingly, by the unequal sinking of the walls, many fine houses have been, or will soon be, totally ruined. The tides are also continually washing out particles of the loose sand, and thus still more danger is threatened to the stability of many buildings. It seems absolutely necessary for the protection of the lower part of the city, that a great sea wall, on the outer front of the harbor, be soon constructed. Until, however, the various schemes which are being continually hatched, for extending the water front are for ever settled, one way or another, and the really permanent water front fixed, nothing can be done regarding a sea wall. If, in addition to such a breast work against the waves on one side and the rolling sands on the other, the foundations of the larger and more important buildings, to be erected on the "beach and water lots," were deeply and closely piled, much farther security would be obtained for the structures.

APRIL 15th.-Explosion of the boiler of the steamer Secretary, while midway between San Francisco and Petaluma. Out of between fifty and sixty persons on board at the time of the accident, upwards of one-half were killed, and nearly all the rest were more or less severely wounded.

APRIL 19th.-The Lord Warriston arrived from China with 780 Chinese passengers, 200 of whom were females. About this time, there was a very large immigration of Chinese, and it was understood that many thousand more of these people were only waiting for ships to embark in from the ports of their country for San Francisco. The State and city press discussed at much length the propriety of excluding the race altogether from California, or at all events of only admitting it to labor under certain specified restrictions, particularly reserving the gold mines to the white population. It was admitted on all sides, that the Chinese were naturally an inferior race, both mentally and corporeally, while their personal habits and manner of living were peculiarly repulsive to Americans. It would be out of place in a work of this nature to discuss the general Chinese question, which promises to give much debatable ground for philosophers, statesmen, politicians, and mere laborers in California, for many years to

(come.

APRIL 20th.-The clipper ship Flying Cloud arrived at San Francisco from New York, having accomplished the voyage in cighty-nine days, eight hours. This is the quickest passage recorded as having been made by a sailing vessel between the ports named. On a former occasion, the Flying Cloud made the same voyage in eighty-nine days, twenty-one hours.

April 22d.-The Golden Fleece was wrecked at Fort Point, on leaving the harbor.

CHAPTER XXXI.

1854.

Trial of the Mexican consul.-Arrest of the French consul.-Chinese newspaper established.-German May-feast at Russ's Garden.-The Hoadley street grades.-Indictment by the Grand Jury of Sonora filibusters.-Dedication of the Lone Mountain Cemetery.-Extensive Conflagration.Report of the funded debt commissioners.-Squatter difficulties.—Sale of public property.-Captain Adams arrived with the Japan treaty.-Alderman elected.

APRIL 28th.-Conclusion in the U. S. District Court of the trial of the Mexican consul at San Francisco, Don Luis del Valle, for a breach of the neutrality laws. This was only one of a series of important events, connected with the subject, which took place about this time. It appeared that the Mexican consul, some two months before this date, had received instructions from his government, to enlist, or select, a body of emigrants, chiefly of French or German origin, who were to proceed (at the cost of the Mexican Government,) to the province of Sonora. There, after a year's service, they were each to receive a grant of a certain portion of land. The particular service which these emigrants were to render was not exactly known, either by the emigrants themselves or by the federal authorities in San Francisco of the United States, although the latter presumed it was service of a military description. The attention of the federal authorities had been recently attracted to the filibustering movements of Col. Walker and his associates upon Lower California and Sonora. It was understood that the governmental instructions of Gen. John E. Wool, the chief military officer on the Pacific coast, bore particular reference to the necessity of putting down all filibustering schemes whatever. In furtherance of his duty, Gen. Wool took occasion to narrowly watch the proceedings of the Mexican consul in regard to the expedition which he was fitting out for Sonora. The British ship Challenge, on board of which five or six hundred of the expeditionists were