thin. But Latham's main strength lay in the almost insuperable dislike of most of Broderick's friends to Gwin. There were, however, two other large obstacles in Latham's way. In the first place Weller's friends were determined to defeat him on the ground that he had by his bargaining contributed to Weller's overthrow; and in the second place he had not manifested due subserviency to the master of the situation. It was doubtless for the latter reason especially that for several days further no decision was arrived at. On Saturday evening, January 10, the caucus met again and took five more ballots, making eleven in all, with little or no change from the former vote, except another slight gain for Gwin. The caucus then adjourned until Monday evening. In the meanwhile the excitement had increased and continued to increase in intensity. Sunday was a day of feverish anxiety. But in the middle of the night between Sunday and Monday an event took place that virtually settled the controversy and suited well the dark and devious ways by which it was accomplished. Perhaps nothing can be wondered at in the conduct of politicians; and no good ground can exist for surprise at any action they deem for their advantage. But notwithstanding all this, what now actually took place would seem almost incredible if it were not well authenticated. In the middle of the night referred to, Gwin, habited in a long, dark robe, stealthily and secretly made his way from his own lodgings in the Orleans Hotel, through a dark and narrow alley, across a main street and along another alley to the rear of the Magnolia House, where Broderick had his apartments. He was accompanied by a single companion. At the Magnolia they were expected and admitted by one of Broderick's henchmen. Being directed up stairs, they proceeded to the second floor and were received by Broderick, who was waiting for them. In a few minutes Broderick and Gwin were left alone; and a bargain was hastily patched up between them, by the terms of which Gwin agreed to give up all his right to patronage and appointments on the Pacific coast in consideration of Broderick's securing him the election over Latham. The work of the night being done and the evidence of the compact put in writing and securely placed

in Broderick's possession, Gwin made his way back to his own lodgings as stealthily and secretly as he had left them.'

It was still necessary to be extremely cautious. If what had taken place were known, there could be no telling what the result might be. It might be as disastrous to Broderick himself as to Gwin; and one side had therefore to be as circumspect as the other. It was strange that Gwin should have so humbled himself; but it was still stranger that Broderick should have allowed himself to be entrapped into a bargain with an adversary, who had so humbled himself. For the time being it may have been sweet for Broderick to triumph in the humiliation of his opponent and to hold in his possession the proofs of his abasement. But the abasement was quite as much Broderick's as Gwin's; and in the end it turned out to be much more Broderick's than Gwin's. For the time, however, nobody, except the participants and a few confidants, knew anything about the compact; and the struggle went on apparently as before. On Monday evening the caucus met again and three ballots were taken. The first and second of the evening, or the twelfth and thirteenth on the full count, were about the same as the eleventh. But in the meanwhile instructions had been issued from headquarters; and on the fourteenth many changes took place. In a number of cases attempts were made to explain the changes; but they were all hypocritical and based on falsehood. Everybody knew the reason of the change and that it was a reason which could not be avowed. As it was, forty votes were necessary to a nomination; and on the final count Gwin received forty-seven to twenty-six for Latham and six for McCorkle. Upon the announcement of the vote, the caucus adjourned sine die."

The next day the legislature met again in joint convention to elect a United States senator for the short term. James W. Mandeville nominated Gwin; James W. Coffroth nominated Henry A. Crabb, and Richard Chenery, Aaron A. Sargent. The vote resulted in eighty-two for Gwin, seventeen for Crabb, and eleven for Sargent; and Gwin was thereupon declared elected O'Meara, 172, 179. "O'Meara, 179-182.

as his own successor for six years commencing on March 4, 1855, or four years from March 4, 1857. Hardly, however, had the vote been thrown before the cries of "bargain and corruption" began to be heard on all sides. Few knew the real facts; but everybody could scent rottenness. The State Journal, Broderick's organ in Sacramento, edited by Benjamin B. Redding, came out boasting that the wings of the Democratic party had been at length harmonized and denouncing in the most violent language the “selfish and unscrupulous spoils-hunters," who wanted the old distracting quarrel to continue so as to enable them to steal into office and rob the Democracy of empire. At the same time Gwin published an address to the people of California, purporting to state "certain circumstances and facts" in reference to the contest which had just resulted in the election of Broderick and himself.1

Gwin said, in his address, that he had found himself, at the expiration of his first term, after a laborious service and after having outlived as he supposed the misrepresentations of his enemies, engaged in a new struggle and that his second election had been attended by circumstances that rarely accompanied such contests. It had been his evil destiny, as it was the destiny of every representative that had occupied his position, to be the indirect dispenser of federal patronage; and every dispenser of patronage strangely miscalculated if he expected to evade the malice of disappointed men. But he believed he could say for himself that the hostility, malignity and abuse, which had pursued his senatorial career and which had accompanied him during the strife just closed, were such as no other representative had ever endured and survived. The opposition he had sustained had come from an unexpected quarter or from persons whose friendship, he had thought, strengthened as it was by personal obligation, nothing could weaken or sever. Ardent, devoted and disinterested friends he had, whose fidelity remained unshaken from first to last. But their attachment, faithful and zealous as it was, would have proved unavailing, if unaided, to meet and conquer the opposition which open hostility and secret treachery had arrayed against him. He Assembly Journal, 1857, 106, 107; O'Meara, 183, 184.

had learned in the struggle that "he who aids in conferring great official power upon individuals does not always secure friends and that the force of deep personal obligation may even be converted into an incentive to hostility and hate." word, it was to the federal patronage he had dispensed in California that he attributed, in a great degree at least, "the malice and hostile energy, which, after years of faithful public service and towards the closing period of life," had nearly cost him the indorsement of a re-election. From patronage, therefore, and the curse it entailed, he said he should in future gladly turn, and his sole labor and ambition should thenceforth be to deserve well of the state and to justify the choice of the legislature in honoring him a second time as a representative of its interests. He then referred to the assistance rendered him by Broderick and his friends. "Although at one time a rival," he continued, "and recognizing in him ever a firm but manly opponent, I do not hesitate to acknowledge in this public manner his forgetfulness of all grounds of dissension and hostility in what he considered a step necessary to allay the strifes and discords which had distracted the party and the state. To him and to the attachment of his friends to him, I conceive, in a great degree, my election is due; and I feel bound to him and them in common efforts to unite and heal where the result heretofore has been to break down and destroy."

As was to have been expected, this address was regarded with surprise by nearly everybody and with humiliation and anger by a large number of Gwin's supporters. It was believed to mean a great deal more than it said; and rumors of Gwin's self-abasement became rife, though nothing could be proved. It was of itself, perhaps, abject enough; but it was supposed to indicate a still lower depth of degradation than appeared on the surface. Gwin had left Sacramento for San Francisco on the afternoon of Tuesday, January 13, the day of his election and the day on which his address bore date; but before doing so he had invited every senator and assemblyman to attend a collation to take place at his residence in San Francisco on the following Thursday in honor of his election. Some, and 'O'Meara, 184, 185.

particularly those who had most strenuously opposed him, abstained from the banquet; but it was nevertheless largely attended; and it passed off with pretended, if not real, jubilance. As for Broderick, his return to San Francisco, after his great victory, was the occasion of what might be called a public triumph. He came like a conqueror, swelling with the apparent influence he wielded and the seeming patronage he controlled, exulting over his prostrate adversaries and above all over his conspicuous colleague, whom he had forced to demean himself to such an extent as forever to preclude anything like genuine gratitude or cordiality. Such feelings could not, perhaps, have been felt by Gwin towards Broderick in any case; but whether so or not, it was certain that he could not, and under the circumstances could not be expected to, feel them toward the man who had made him cringe at his feet.'

It was not long before Broderick found out the mistake he had made and began to reap the whirlwind he had sown. He and Gwin started for Washington by the Panama route late in January and reached New York towards the end of February. There Broderick was received by his old acquaintances with even greater honor than had been tendered him in San Francisco; and everybody seemed disposed to pay him respect. But it was in Washington, to which place he hastened on so as to take his seat on the approaching March 4, that he created the most sensation. Rumors of the peculiar circumstances which had attended the senatorial contest in California had preceded him; and exaggeration had so magnified his importance and power that he was regarded on every side with wondering admiration, while Gwin was viewed with looks askance. The latter had immediately upon his arrival taken his seat; but even his former warm southern friends, though they did not know the depth to which he had descended, felt that he had compromised himself; while on the other hand many of them as well as men of other parties felt attracted by what they regarded as the commanding genius of Broderick and showed him attentions that were not often manifested towards new men. Broderick in fact found himself well known..

'O'Meara, 183, 185–187.

14 VOL. IV.