This is strongly and firmly said; and we hope that it will exercise some influence on those to whose attention it is directed. Nothing can be more unjust in politics than taxation without a due compensation of protection and of law. There is scarcely any prospect, however, that California will be required to go back to a territorial organization. Such a request would be absurd in the highest degree, and none but ultras recommend it.
Whether California be admitted into the Union at the present session of Congress, or not, we may consider her Constitution and many of her laws necessary for carrying out the provisions of the Constitution, as fixed and operative. We have then, in a knowledge of their laws, a view of the character of society in California, in many particulars, but there are others which require further observation. One feature strikes the observer at first glance. It is the variety of nation which marks the population of the principal cities of California. There may be seen the rapid, yet prudent Yankee, with a sharp eye to the main chance, and a ready comprehension of the consequences of a bargain or a speculation; the cool, slow, and heavy-moving Englishman, wishing to be sure of his game, and, therefore, late in grasping for it; the lively and sociable Frenchman, contrasting appearances and manners with things in Paris; the coarse-looking German, with a lively conception of the wealth of the country, and a deep consideration of the means of grasping a goodly share of it; the half-Spanish native of California, with his love of indolence, and easy of satisfaction; the Chilian, with the ferocity and the cowardice of the descendants of the Spaniards, and loving fandangoes and riding horses, as intensely as the Californians, the Chinese, with dirty, but industrious habits, and the native Indians--a mean, degraded specimen of that noble race that once were lords of the American forests.
At the present time, it is a matter of doubt, whether the Americans or the foreigners predominate in the population of California. It is certain that the former have things pretty much their own way in the various cities and in the mines. But that may be from a want of unity of action among the foreigners. The habits and modes of life belonging to the Americans are generally prevalent in the cities; but in the smaller and older towns, the native Californians conduct every thing in the old Spanish mode. The difference between the society of Los Angeles and Sacramento City, is wide, and affords a good contrast between the restless, enterprising, utilitarian spirit of the Americans, and the indolent, pleasure-loving spirit of the Californians. With the Americans, in the cities where they are in the majority, business is the uppermost consideration upon all occasions, and profit and loss, and chances of obtaining a competency, the constant subject of thought. With the Californians, the enjoyment of the present, which alone is theirs, is at all times a matter of prime importance; and gambling, drinking, dancing, guitar-playing, and riding on horseback, are the principal sources of their pleasures. Which of these modes of passing away life is the most philosophical, we leave to the speculative. But it is apparent in California, that the energy of the American character is exercising a great influence on the descendants of the Spaniards. Their spirit is infectious. In some of the towns upon the coast, one half of the buildings are occupied by persons who have emigrated from the Eastern States; and the contrast between their log and brick houses, and the _adobé_ houses of the Californians, is singular, and seems as if the old dead looking trunk of the tree had suddenly sent out new branches full of life and freshness.