resolution to authorize the state library committee to visit and examine the collection in San Francisco was laid on the table by a vote of thirty-one to seven; and in the senate, a motion to strike out the enacting clause of the bill was barely lost by a vote of sixteen to eighteen. The indications of final defeat, however, were so plain that the bill was withdrawn by its author.'

Among the books in the Bancroft collection some were undoubtedly of value, but many and probably most were duplicates of what were already in the state library and consequently of no great use to the state. Of this number, were almost all of recent publication relating to California. Notice has already been taken in these pages of the chief publications anterior to the gold discovery in 1848. Almost immediately upon that discovery and the rush to the gold fields, books and pamphlets and publications in reference to them and matters more or less connected with them and the country began to make their appearance in great numbers, running up into the hundreds or thousands; but they were mostly hasty sketches of travel, adventure and observations by persons who spent but a few years in the country and whose books are to be found in all the large libraries. Of the manuscripts most were copies, some from the California archives and a few collected from other sources— some of value but in general of little use except to fill shelves. There were also a number of what were called dictated narratives, written down by stenographic reporters from the statements of old residents; but these, even including those personally written, as may well be imagined, were in general not only unreliable but treated of incidents and observations of no great importance or interest in view of the very thorough and complete accounts that had previously appeared in better shape in printed books.

No state has paid greater attention to education than California; and probably in no other country in proportion to its inhabitants are there more or more judiciously selected or more widely patronized libraries and literary collections. Almost every branch of science, philosophy and learning has been more or less cultivated, and some of them with credit and success. 1 Senate Journal, 1887, 136, 139, 303, 427; Assembly Journal, 1887, 415.

The California Academy of Sciences, instituted in the very early days of the state, including its various branches, and other scientific associations in great numbers, historical and geographical societies, art associations and societies of all kinds for mental improvement, together with publications, magazines, pamphlets, and newspapers almost without limit or end, have all contributed to make the predominant tone of society intellectual and laid a foundation for literary and other intellectual work of the very highest order in the future. In the departments of history, law, medicine, science, political economy, novels, adventures, fiction and poetry, besides many others, excellent work has been done. Among the most popular and widely-known of the Californian writers were the humorists, George H. Derby, who wrote under the name first of "John P. Squibob" and afterwards of "John Phoenix," Samuel C. Clemens, whose nom-de-plume was "Mark Twain," and Francis Bret Harte. But there were many other deserving writers, who have attracted marked attention and deserved great credit. The same may be said of the poets, led by Edward Pollock, an irregular genius of the early days, whose fitful fire was too early quenched by death. And as the Californians have made large advances in the cultivation of literature, so have they in the various branches of the fine arts, painting, sculpture, architecture and music, all of which have met with recognition and encouragement and brought forth examples of skill and proficiency that compare well with any in other parts of the world. Of painters, especially, few states can boast so bright a galaxy, commencing with the excellent pioneer work of Charles Nahl and now flourishing in the brilliant, soul-fraught canvases of William Keith, Thomas Hill and others.

After the settlement of the Bancroft library business and the virtual determination of the state thereby that the literary part of its interests was in reasonably good condition as it was, there remained very little more for the legislature to do. There were, as there has been at every session since the adoption of the constitution of 1879, a great many proposed amendments to that instrument; but, though some were passed, none of them were finally adopted by the people; and it was not until some years subsequent that any great number became portions of the organic

law. A few interesting reports were received, particularly a couple in relation to coast defenses and the condition of the state militia, and one by the state controller, John P. Dunn, in reference to state finances and, among other things, various defalcations and shortages, which had occurred in state offices, and the suits which had been brought against delinquents. It remains to say of this session, that Lieutenant-governor Waterman had a somewhat novel experience as presiding officer of the senate. That body, which was more than two-thirds Democratic, had, as already stated, taken away from him as a Republican the appointment of committees; and, when he assumed office, there was at first a disposition to take appeals from his decisions. But the evident desire which he manifested to be impartial and do his very best in his position soon rallied friends around him; he became a favorite; and it seemed to be the general understanding that he must be sustained and his presidency made a success. On March 11, the day before the end of the session, not merely a vote of thanks was tendered him, but a formal series of resolutions were adopted, signed by every one of the forty senators and spread upon the journal, expressing their confidence in him as an honest and faithful officer, diligent, impartial and courteous in the performance of his duties, and giving assurances that in the hearts of each and all the warmest sentiments of regard and affection were entertained for him.'

With the end of the legislature of 1887, Bartlett's career substantially closed. It was with difficulty that he could get through with the strain of the last days of the session. He had been attacked by the disorder, commonly known as Bright's disease, and was a very ill man. Soon after the finishing up of his legislative business, he moved in search of health or relief to Highland Springs in Lake county and from there to the Santa Cruz mountains. But the hand of death was upon him; and he knew that the end was approaching. Being unmarried, he made a final remove to the house of a cousin in Oakland, in which city also or its neighborhood most of his relatives in California resided; and there on September 12, 1887, he breathed his last, universally esteemed and universally regretted. Soon after death his body Senate Journal, 1887, 614.

was taken to San Francisco and lay in state in the Hall of the Society of California Pioneers until September 16, when it was given a public funeral; and the entire community united in paying him the respect due to his virtues and doing honor to his memory. And in the afternoon of the same day his remains were deposited in Mountain View cemetery--on the Contra Costa hills overlooking the peaceful bay with its teeming cities and out, through the Golden Gate, to the great ocean beyond.

Bartlett was the first state governor that died in office. Eight of the ex-governors were living at the time-Burnett, Downey, Stanford, Low, Booth, Pacheco, Perkins and Stoneman-and seven were dead. McDougal died in San Francisco on March 30, 1866; Bigler in Sacramento on November 29, 1871; Johnson at Salt Lake City on August 31, 1872; Weller at New Orleans on August 17, 1875; Haight at San Francisco on September 2, 1878; Latham at New York on March 4, 1882, and Irwin in San Francisco on March 15, 1886. But, within a few years, six more diedBooth at Sacramento on July 14, 1892; Stanford at Palo Alto on June 20, 1893; Downey at Los Angeles on March 1, 1894; Low at San Francisco on July 23, 1894; Stoneman at Buffalo, New York, on September 5, 1894; and Burnett at San Francisco on May 17, 1895. Upon Bartlett's death on September 12, 1887, the office of governor devolved upon Robert W. Waterman, who had been elected lieutenant-governor, and the office of lieutenantgovernor upon Stephen M. White, the president pro tempore of the senate. On the next day, September 13, Waterman assumed the duties of governor and at the next legislature, in 1889, White presided over the senate as lieutenant-governor; and they continued in those positions until the installation of their successors.

Meanwhile the life of the state, as a social aggregate or organic whole, continued its mighty growth. The loss of many of the pioneers, those remarkable men who had given a distinctive character to civilization on the Pacific coast, affected it to some extent; but the impress they stamped upon the country remained; and in its continuing growth it took the direction and shape with which under their guidance it had started. The same energy and enterprise, intellectual as well as physical; the same earnestness and steadiness of purpose; the same hatred and contempt of

shams and shoddy; the same respect for the rights of others and sympathy for misfortune; the same light-hearted and goodhumored way of meeting and overcoming obstacles-all these peculiarities of the old immigration and the early mining days have become, so to speak, an integral part of and contributed to make up the genuine Californian character. It is the character of men who have learned to face danger with intrepidity; who have had vast experience of all kinds of fortune and been taught to meet each with equanimity; who in the feeling of their own worth and strength have found it good to be patient and willing each to wait his own turn; who have become accustomed, though not guiltless of excesses and rather given to profanity and slang, to do just what they profess and, when in earnest, to say just what they mean, and who, though not specially fond of controversy and sensibly averse to getting into unnecessary quarrels, have never failed in the end to recognize their own rights, and, knowing, to insist upon and maintain them.

In illustration of these statements and in proof of this peculiar character of the Californians-which is still in the early stages of its growth and development and whose complete perfection has been and must continue to be the great end of Californian polity and civilization-it is only necessary to recall for a moment a few main circumstances of their history. One, and the first to be specially noticed as indicative of extraordinary character, was the vigilance committees and particularly that most remarkable and significant one that may be, and generally is, called the great one of 1856. It might be too much to say that no other community could have conceived and carried through to completion those famous popular movements; but it is certain that no other community has had anything of the kind to equal or compare with them in intrinsic excellence. They may have been, and doubtless were to a greater or less extent, evolved and developed out of the frequent and necessary associations for mutual protection in the long journeys across the plains and the long voyages around Cape Horn; but, however this may be, they were the genuine growth and product and, it may be added, the efflorescence of the choicest spirits of the world thrown together in a new, untried and unprecedented situation, of which no other