Read Online L'or by Blaise Cendrars - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Blaise Cendrars
Tags: Biographical fiction, Fiction, Literary, Historical fiction, General, Historical, California, Gold mines and mining, Sutter; John Augustus, Pioneers
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soil, the tracks already laid out, the bridges and canals. One after another, villages spring into being. The fort crumbles into ruins. The very name of New Helvetia disappears. New names are given to the region and although Sutterville, Sutter's Creek and Sutter's County bear his name, Sutter himself does not see this as an act of homage but rather as a symbol of the ruination of his settlement and the calamity of his life.
36
John Augustus Sutter has retired into his Hermitage.
He has rescued what he could of his herds and flocks. In spite of events, the first harvest brings him in 40,000 bushels. His vineyards and his orchards seem to be blessed. He could still exploit all this, for there is a shortage of foodstuffs in the area, due to the massive immigration, and more than once the locust-cloud of gold-seekers is threatened with famine.
But Sutter's heart is no longer in the work.
He lets everything go.
His most faithful employees, his closest confidantes have deserted him. No matter how well he pays them, they can earn more in the mines. There are no longer any hands to tend the fields. There is not a single shepherd left.
He could, once again, make a fortune - speculate, profiteer in the astronomic rise in the price of edible commodities - but, to what purpose? He sees his stocks of grain dwindling and, presently, the end of his provisions.
Other men will make fortunes.
He lets things go.
He does nothing.
Nothing.
Impassively, he watches the seizure and partition of his lands. A new land registry is established. New title-deeds are drawn up. The latest arrivals are accompanied by men of law.
37
Since the cession of Texas and California to the United States, the government in Washington has extended the federal laws to these two territories, but there is a dearth of magistrates and, at the time of the gold rush, no authority has any hold over these cosmopolitan multitudes lusting for gold. When the Governor of Monterey sends in troops to maintain order, the soldiers lay down their arms, drop bag and baggage and desert to the mines, and if a warship, sent by the federal government to enforce respect for the law, disembarks an armed crew, they will vanish forever, drawn irresistibly to the mines. The commander cannot hold his sailors, not even with a wage of fifteen dollars a day.
The country is infested with thieves and bandits. The outlaws and the desperadoes lay down the only law— their law. It is the epic reign of the '45' and of summary justice. In the struggle for survival, might is right. Men are hanged with lassoes or shot down with revolvers. Vigilance committees are formed to protect the slowly-reviving civic life. Those who first took possession of the land can, as a last resort, go to Monterey to seek redress and have their property claims evaluated. The Governor addresses their just claims to the proper quarter and the government appoints a Commission of Inquiry. But Washington is too far away, the official commissions travel slowly, while the immigrants pour in in ever-increasing numbers, swamp the country, settle and multiply. By the time the gentlemen commissioners at last arrive on the spot, they can do nothing but report the overwhelming upheaval of men and affairs, total chaos where property is concerned, and if, by an unlucky chance, they take the time to study an individual case in detail, they are sure to be overtaken by events.
Ten large cities have sprung up. Fifteen hundred villages.
Nothing can be done.
Appeal to the Law.
The Law.
In September 1850, California officially enters the confederation of the United States. It is a State at last, a fully-fledged constitutional body, endowed with officials and magistrates.
And so begins a series of prodigious, costly and futile legal actions.
The Law.
The impotent Law.
The men of law whom John Augustus Sutter despises.
----
TENTH CHAPTER
----
38
Basle, late December, 1849.
In Basle, they still know nothing about the
36
John Augustus Sutter has retired into his Hermitage.
He has rescued what he could of his herds and flocks. In spite of events, the first harvest brings him in 40,000 bushels. His vineyards and his orchards seem to be blessed. He could still exploit all this, for there is a shortage of foodstuffs in the area, due to the massive immigration, and more than once the locust-cloud of gold-seekers is threatened with famine.
But Sutter's heart is no longer in the work.
He lets everything go.
His most faithful employees, his closest confidantes have deserted him. No matter how well he pays them, they can earn more in the mines. There are no longer any hands to tend the fields. There is not a single shepherd left.
He could, once again, make a fortune - speculate, profiteer in the astronomic rise in the price of edible commodities - but, to what purpose? He sees his stocks of grain dwindling and, presently, the end of his provisions.
Other men will make fortunes.
He lets things go.
He does nothing.
Nothing.
Impassively, he watches the seizure and partition of his lands. A new land registry is established. New title-deeds are drawn up. The latest arrivals are accompanied by men of law.
37
Since the cession of Texas and California to the United States, the government in Washington has extended the federal laws to these two territories, but there is a dearth of magistrates and, at the time of the gold rush, no authority has any hold over these cosmopolitan multitudes lusting for gold. When the Governor of Monterey sends in troops to maintain order, the soldiers lay down their arms, drop bag and baggage and desert to the mines, and if a warship, sent by the federal government to enforce respect for the law, disembarks an armed crew, they will vanish forever, drawn irresistibly to the mines. The commander cannot hold his sailors, not even with a wage of fifteen dollars a day.
The country is infested with thieves and bandits. The outlaws and the desperadoes lay down the only law— their law. It is the epic reign of the '45' and of summary justice. In the struggle for survival, might is right. Men are hanged with lassoes or shot down with revolvers. Vigilance committees are formed to protect the slowly-reviving civic life. Those who first took possession of the land can, as a last resort, go to Monterey to seek redress and have their property claims evaluated. The Governor addresses their just claims to the proper quarter and the government appoints a Commission of Inquiry. But Washington is too far away, the official commissions travel slowly, while the immigrants pour in in ever-increasing numbers, swamp the country, settle and multiply. By the time the gentlemen commissioners at last arrive on the spot, they can do nothing but report the overwhelming upheaval of men and affairs, total chaos where property is concerned, and if, by an unlucky chance, they take the time to study an individual case in detail, they are sure to be overtaken by events.
Ten large cities have sprung up. Fifteen hundred villages.
Nothing can be done.
Appeal to the Law.
The Law.
In September 1850, California officially enters the confederation of the United States. It is a State at last, a fully-fledged constitutional body, endowed with officials and magistrates.
And so begins a series of prodigious, costly and futile legal actions.
The Law.
The impotent Law.
The men of law whom John Augustus Sutter despises.
----
TENTH CHAPTER
----
38
Basle, late December, 1849.
In Basle, they still know nothing about the
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