CALIFORNIA.

Colonist, Volume III, Issue 272, 29 May 1860, Page 3

CALIFORNIA.

[From the Daily Herald.)

Adverting to the abolition of grand jui-ies, the Herald saj's :—There are few subjects of more importance to our own state than the grand jury system now in vogue, and none which the doing away with would result more beneficially. The grand jury is a humbug; its action productive of little good, and generally the most expensive of any system of county government. Proceedings by information, instead of the old grand jury system, have been tried elsewhere with success. Recently a bill was introduced in the Legislature of the State of Vermont to do away with the grand jury system, a movement which has already proved successful in the State of Michigan. Steps have been also taken toward the abolition of grand juries in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Pensylvauia, Virginia, Louisiana, and why not in California ? The Washington correspondent. of the same paper says:—" The President is decidedly in favor of some measure by which a railroad communication with the Pacific can be now attained. Both of the leading parties in Congress are also in favor of the Pacific Railroad Bill." He adds, that the " debate on Senator Douglas' resolution, instructing the judiciary committee to report a bill for the protection of each State and Territory against invasion, proceeding from any other State or Territory, has brought a few good speeches, and attracted a considerable attention. The scene in the Senate on the occasion of Douglas' speech on the subjet t was one of the most magnificent that can be imagined. Although he was not to commence speaking until half-past one, the corridors were full of visitors at eleven, and before twelve every seat in the spacious galleries was occupied, the reporters' gallery completely at the mercy of the fair, the doorways overflowing, and the lobbies impassable. All the beauty and fashion in the city adjourned to the capitol, and the Senate wing was completely besieged. There never was such a fluttering of curls and crinoline in these precincts before. The interest of the occasion was not confined to the fair sex and the sensation-seeking citizens. The politicians were on the gui vive. On the floor, some hundred and fifty members of the House of Representatives were attentive listeners to the Little Giant, until a messenger conveyed to them the intelligence that Barksdale had done addressing the empty house, and a call of the roll was about to be made.1'

Orders from Washington have been received instructing the Surveyor-General to have Round Valley, in Mendocino county, surveyed for an Indian Reservation. Round valley is the richest tract in the basin of the Eel river. It contains 18,000 acres of good soil, and the climate is mild, regular, and moist; plenty of timber and water, and the land is covered with rich grass. The valley is about ten miles long by six,, wide, and it is almost enclosed by the north fork of Eel river, which makes the bend that encloses the valley. The centre of the valley is prairie land, along the banks of which there is a great growth of black oak timber, valuable for fence rails and building purposes. {From the Empire.) INDIAN MASSACRE IN CALIFORNIA. The aboriginal inhabitants of California, like their brethren in the Atlantic States, are fast disappearing from the land which their forefathers had occupied for untold generations. British settlers in Australia have not much to pride themselves on in their conduct towards the aborigines of this country, but their treatment of these unfortunate people has been kindness itself, compared with the wholesale butchery sanctioned by the authorities and practised by the people of California towards the miserable Indians.

When we regard the course of conduct pursued by the British Government in New Zealand, in respecting the rights of the people of that country to an almost scrupulous degree, we cannot but feel proud of belonging to a nation which evinces so much justice and magnanimity in the treatment of the aboriginal races with which they are brought in contact.

It is pleasing, however", to observe, in respect to California, that the press of San Francisco has spoken out boldly against the inhuman atrocities which are being perpetrated in that country. The following is from the "San Francisco Herald of March 5 :—

" Mining, however lucrative, is little better than loss of time and misapplication of talent. The most profitable business in California is Indian killing, Indian scalping, Indian massacreing. According to the redoubtable Captain Jarboe's account, one Indian scalp is worth forty dollars, and Indian blood is cheap at a dollar a drachm. But ' mighty men of valour' look for other rewards beside mere pelf. Military glory, the warrior's renown, must be achieved. The fire of emulating the heroic deeds of Fernando Cortez, Francisco Pizarro, 'the man who killed Tecumseh,' and other celebrated Indian fighters, is not to be extinguished except by deluges of Indian blood. The sweet gratification of knowing how much one may do for one's country in this manner, is considerably heightened by the reflection, that the very best policy to prevent a recurrence of 'Indian ra-

[ vages'■■has been adopted, viz., that of destroying the women and children as well as the 'bucks.' The reputation of the Pharoahs and Herods of former ages have been fairly eclipsed, demonstrating the singular fact, that a greater refinement.in civilization is apt to be accompanied by a greater refinement in cruelty and infamy._ The sublime exaniples of courage and self-sacrifice heretofore set by our hunters of Indians has not been thrown away—far from it, for every day furnishes incon--testible evidence of |the glorious improvement made by the successors of their illustrious predecessors. With a laconism worthy: of Julius Caesar, Commodore Perry, or the London Punch, the incarnadined Captain Jarboe reported, that in one month he fought twenty-three battles, killed 283 warriors, and took 292 prisoners, and these brilliant achievements were performed with but twenty men. This is nearly a battle a-day, and about twenty-eight Indians and a third for each valiente.

But what is all this compared with the chivalric performances of Captain Brown, of Eureka, who with but four desperately brave and determined followers, is reported to have slaughtered about one hundred and twenty unarmed and unsuspecting Indians in one night, on Indian Island ? Who will piesnme to question the courage and indomitable spirit of Captain Brown, after so wondrous an exploit ? * As might have been expected, the Captain was not allowed to be alone in his glory. Magnificent deeds find magnificent imitators, and several other butchering parties fleshed their maiden swords at Bucksport, Humboldt Point, Elk River, Table Blufl, Boar River, and Mattiole Valley. Ot course, it is not to besxpected that those gallant defenders of their countrios, honor can leave their large interests, lose their valuable time, and risk their precious lives for nothing. It would be the height of ingratitude to insinuate such an outrage. ' " Did not France raise Napoleon to the throne, because of his great military skill and heroic achievements? Did not England lavish honors upon her Wellington ? Did not Cromwillif btain a Dictatorship by reason of his skill in human butchery ? Is not Nana Sahib renowned all over the world on account of his dexterity in slaughtering women and children ? " Who then, in the face of these comparatively second-rate examples^ will dare to arrest the recompensing hand of a grateful State —of aggrieved, bleeding, down-trodden, Indian-scourged California—or stay her from a munificent acknowledgment of the heroic deeds done in her service?

"We therefore propose to the Legislature to create the office of Indian Butcher, with a princely salary, and confer it upon the man who has killed most Indians in a given time, provided it be satisfactorily shown that the Indians were unarmed at the time, and the greater portion of them were squaws and papooses."