would waste time in trying savages for their lives ?
A whole rancheria of 150 souls, for the killing of one
Anderson, under the severest provocation, and the
stealing of some cattle, were shot down and butcherd
with knives in the most cowardly manner by self-
styled citizens of Trinity county, in April 1852.
Hundreds of such clisiJ:raceful instances mio^ht be re-
corded had I the time, space, or inclination to parade
them.
Durina: 1852 the crusade aofainst foreio-n miners reached its climax, with the result that in the spring of the year Mexican guerrilla bands extended from Mariposa to Mokelumne hill. The Americans of Saw-mill Flat, in Tuolumne, would have been massa- cred on the 7th of July, but for an Italian who warned them. They thereupon took up arms and drove all foreigners from the locality. Many meas- ures adopted to drive foreigners from the mining claims with varied success mioht be mentioned, but for lack of space I must leave them out of these pages. It is worthy of notice, however, that amidst the strong feeling aroused on many occasions, and the multitudin- ous threats, little blood was shed. The Americans were none of the time sure that they were right, and their action was much less determinate and uniform than in the administration of popular justice.
As time went by, from urging persecutions against all foreigners alike, it became directed against Asiatics only. In this cowardly work, white foreigners them- selves, but recently obnoxious to American citizens, were the chief instigators. By this time the better class of Americans had given up the occupation of minintr • and the dretrs of the nationalities had taken their places to glean what they could from the leav- ings. The latter continued the persecutions against the Chinese.
The president said in his message to congress, De- cember 2, 1850, that he was at first disposed to favor the plan of leasing the mines, or of granting l
