as appeared to be the quasi possession of Christ's
sepulchre ? The central idea of the Christian cru-
sades was fanaticism; that of the Plutonic crusades
was avarice. Which is better or worse, which has
done the more for or against human progress, is not
here a point of discussion. The question is, whether
gold is more valuable than religion, or avarice a
nobler passion than fanaticism ? Has the world then
grown no wiser nor more sober iu ten centuries ? Yet
as in the mediaeval crusades great benefits from great
evils came, so in the latter-day crusades for gold, good
will come of them ; but the great good God there-
from designed for man, California has yet to tell.
First those nearest at hand felt the subtle influence. The ox-team of the emigrant turned toward Coloma ; the trapper left his peltries, and the ranchero his herds, curious to see what this thing should mean. The excitement was felt by the devoted Mormons, some of whom attempted a small settlement on the Stanislaus, which they called New Hope, and immedi- ately they were reconciled to digging gold as if by gen- eral agreement. Sutter was nearly ruined by the dis- covery. On the instant his laborers deserted him almost to a man, leaving a mill unfinished, and all his property exposed to the depredations of the rabble, which were more serious than those of the natives had ever been. They drove off his cattle, squatted on his land, and then combined and beat him in the courts, when courts were established. Marshall was swept away by the tide.
Immediately following the discovery, most of the provisions for the mines were obtained at Sutter's fort ; then traders went to Sonoma for supplies. One would think that these early settlers, with leagues of land and thousands of horses and cattle, and of native la- borers, should have reaped a harvest from the gold crop. And so they did, most of them, at first, but so strange and unprecedented was it all to them that they became bewildered ; gold poured in upon them
