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Show I F:11 tcred accord11," to c 1, Act of ConoTess 1n the ·year 18"0 b· E E B - .1 , rr . . c ' .> ' Y · . ARC LAY, m tlu-et, c s O.nce of the D1stnct Court of the Eastern District of Pcnns_yl vaoia. • INTRODUCTION. ..... . IT was in the month of September, 1849, when a c0n1pany of young men, most of whom had just arrived from France, were sitting and dis~ cussing in the "Exchange" saloon at New Orleans, where the daily papers gave a manifold eeho of the striking news from the Gold Regions in California. Wise and over wise people shook their heads in philosophical doubts of these golden stories; but our young heroes believecl every word of the "dou btful tale," (as the head-shaking philosophers called the intelligence from California) and immediately resolved upon going there by land. They were not at all ignorant of the difficulties, 1Rtignes and dangers of such a journey; but with them nothing appeared 00 extraonlinary. Most of the Frenchmen had bravely fought through t e great insurrection of June, 184~, in Paris, when their lives had hl'en at stake for several days and nights, retreating only step by step, m·e rpowcr d by the numerous armed unr1erlings of General Cavaignac. A l length , after losing every thing but their honour, they had safely rr·ached Havre, and f'mbarked for the great and only asylum of the tmf(>rtunrl te and oppresscr1, wl1ich is modestly cC\Hed the United States, Such youngsters consider difficulties, fatigues, dangers, &c., as trifle·· t!111S, the land exprrlition to California was resolved upon, as if it ha(t b(·r>n a pleasnre-excur ion. Carrel, a native of Paris, about thirty-six years old, was unnnimously <'ltdell by hi comrade, for their first leader. He had travelled through s ' \·erol of the U nitcu States, and lived for some years at New Orleans engaged in one of the first commercial houses there. His noble chil racter, de\'eloped by an excellent education; his enthusiasm for liberty) 1 o which he would devote and sacrifiee all his fortune, and his unim pe'tchable life, entit led hirn to surh a preference, notwithstanding hi3 rnndcsty, with which he at first refused to accept the office of a first !c,ad er of the party. After thanking them for their confidence, he said : " My dear friend s ! Now let us act with energy, prudence, and conrage, withotlt lo ing one day in idleness. I wish you to appoint our noble friend, Adam, as my second; he not only equnls me in every respect, hut he knows the English as w~ll as the F rench and Ge nna~t languages; ;mel since we left Europe, he has begnn to speak Spanish. Adam was abo unanimously elected for the second leader of the company, and Carrel gave him the important charge of a journalist, \:vhich Adam gln1lly unclertonk, as his little vanity was not a little flattered, tn .\'nte down the future "Exploits of th Heroical and of oaring Adventurer~, trave1ling to California aero s the great wilderness." And, Carrel eontinuerl, "such a jonrnal may be very useful to others, \Vhn will follow us, and even to ourselves dnring our journey. Now, I propose to increac:: our small number by some hartly nnd Sf'lcct men of othel' nations, for they all may be of great service in the expedition. But, I repeat, they must be hardy anc1 select men, as we are our elve , having equal shares \'i'ith us, in every thing, bad or good, loc;s or gain."' (vii ) |
