Gratitude that we have to-day a Union of free States without a slave to stand as a reproach to that immortal declaration upon which our Government rests. [Cheers.]
Pride that our people have achieved so much; that, triumphing over all the hardships of those early pioneers, who struggled in the face of discouragement and difficulties more appalling than those that met Columbus when he turned the prows of his little vessels toward an unknown shore; that, triumphing over perils of starvation, perils of savages, perils of sickness, here on the sunny slope of the Pacific they have established civil institutions and set up the banner of the imperishable Union. [Cheers.]
Every Californian who has followed in their footsteps, every man and woman who is to-day enjoying the harvest of their endeavors, should always lift his hat to the pioneer of '49. [Cheers.]
We stand here at the political centre of a great State, in this building where your lawmakers assemble, chosen by your suffrages to execute your will in framing those rules of conduct which shall control the life of the citizen. May you always find here patriotic, consecrated men to do your work. May they always assemble here with a high sense of duty to those brave, intelligent, and honorable people. May they catch the great lesson of our Government, that our people need only such regulation as shall restrain the ill-disposed and shall give the largest liberty to individual enterprise and effort. [Cheers.]
No man is gifted with speech to describe the beauty and the impressiveness of this great occasion. I am awed in this presence. I bow reverently to this great assembly of free, intelligent, enterprising American sovereigns. [Cheers.]
I am glad to have this hasty glimpse of this early centre of immigration. I am glad to stand at the place where that momentous event, the discovery of gold, transpired, and yet, after you have washed your sand of gold, after the eager rush for sudden wealth, after all this you have come into a heritage in the possession of these fields, in those enduring and inexhaustible treasures of your soil, which will perpetually sustain a great population.
In parting, sir [to the Governor], to you as the representative of this people I give the most hearty thanks of all who journey with me and my own for the early, continuous, kindly, yea, even affectionate attention which has followed us in all our footsteps through California. [Great cheering.]
[BENICIA, CALIFORNIA, MAY 2.]
On leaving Sacramento the President made a brief stop at Benicia, where a large crowd greeted him, including the school children, who bombarded him with flowers. The welcoming committee was D. M. Hart, President of the Board of Trustees; A. Dalton, Jr., S. C. Gray, and W. H. Foreman.