CALIFORNIA. 



83 



him, ho entered tlio ranks of the Carlista, 

 niii'iiitf whom In- sunn liecame known for his 

 liravery mid liin cruelty, particularly for the 

 latter. In 1887 he took part in the expedition 

 of |)DII Carlos against Madrid, on which he re- 

 ceived tlu- title of Count of Morella, in conse- 

 quence of a successful battle at Morella. Es- 

 partero, who had command of the Christines, 

 repulsed the Carlists, whose cause from that 

 time gradually declined. Maroto, the Carlist 

 coniiiiunder-in-chief, concluded the convention 

 of Yergara, Espana was murdered, and only 

 Cabrera succeeded in maintaining himself in 

 tin- mountains of Aragonia. In 1840 he was 

 defeated by O'Donnell, driven to Catalonia, 

 and finally forced on July 6, 1840, to cross the 

 French border. For one year he was a pris- 

 oner in the fortress of Hani, then went to 

 Lyons, and from there protested against the 

 resignation of Don Carlos. In 1848 he again 

 tried to carry the standard of revolt into 

 Spain, but was defeated and forced to flee. 

 After the battle of Pastoral, on January 17, 

 1849, he was driven to France, remained there 

 for a short time, and then went to England, 

 where he married Miss Richards, a very rich 

 lady. In 1850 he sought in vain to bring 

 about complications between the kingdom of 

 Naples and Spain, and, having been expelled 

 from the former country, he retired entirely 

 from the political field, taking no part in the 

 Carlist rising in 1854 against the rule of Espar- 

 tero and O'Donnell. In the last Carlist war, 

 which came to an end in 1876, he openly took 

 the part of Don Alfonso XII., who confirmed 

 all his titles and dignities which he had re- 

 ceived from Don Carlos, The address which 

 he issued to the Carlists, calling upon them to 

 lay down arms, produced but little effect, while 

 Don Carlos had him tried by court-martial, 

 which sentenced him to death in contumaciam. 

 CALIFORNIA. The twenty-first session 

 of the Legislature of California began on the 

 6th of December, 1875, and continued until 

 April 3, 1876. The number of acts approved 

 by the Governor was 585 ; but scarcely any of 

 .hese were of special importance. The lead- 

 ing subjects of consideration and discussion 

 were finally left without any practical action. 

 Among these was a general plan of irrigation 

 " the State, reform of the educational system, 

 Tevention of what was known as the " land 

 onopoly," the regulation of agricultural and 

 ining interests, reform in the penal system, 

 d other matters, which occupied a large 

 are of attention, and were the subjects of 

 reports and bill?, but of no enactments. The 

 subject of retrenchment in government expenses 

 was referred to a special committee, which 

 made an elaborate report, pointing out where- 

 in the expenditures were extravagant, and 

 could be reduced, but nothing was done either 

 in the appropriations or tax-levy to diminish 

 materially the cost of administration. 



The question of calling a convention for the 

 revision of the constitution of the State occu- 



pied considerable attention. The Legislature 

 of 187S-'74 had provided for submitting tin- 

 (|iie-tion to a vote of the people, declaring in 

 the act for that purpose that " a majority of 

 the aggregate vote of the State cast for mem- 

 bers of the Legislature being in favor of a con- 

 vention, said convention shall be deemed to 

 have been called." The provision of the con- 

 stitution which relates to calling a convention 

 for its revision uses this language : " If it shall 

 appear that a majority of the electors voting 

 at such election have voted in favor of calling 

 a convention, the Legislature shall, at its next 



STATE SEAL OF CALIFORNIA. 



session, provide by law for calling a conven- 

 tion, to be holden within six months after the 

 passage of such law.' 1 At the election of 1875 

 a majority of the votes cast upon the proposi- 

 tion for a Constitutional Convention were in 

 favor of it, but the number was much less than 

 a majority of all the votes cast at the same 

 election for other purposes. The question, 

 therefore, arose whether the vote of the people 

 authorized the calling of a convention. A bill 

 for the purpose was introduced in the Senate 

 and referred to the Judiciary Committee. Two 

 reports were made, a minority of the com- 

 mittee recommending that the bill pass, and 

 the majority recommending its indefinite post- 

 ponement. The minority took the ground that 

 it was the intent of the constitution that a ma- 

 jority of the electors voting on the proposition 

 for a convention should determine whether it 

 was to be held, and the majority maintained 

 that a majority of the persons voting at the 

 election for any purpose was necessary. The 

 majority report was finally adopted. A bill 

 originating in the Assembly for the same pur- 

 pose was passed by that body, but defeated in 

 the Senate. An act was passed recommend- 

 ing the electors of the State to vote at the next 

 election on the amendments of the constitu- 

 tion, proposed by the Legislature of 1878-'74. 



The subject of regulating railroads occupied 

 a very large share of attention during the ses- 

 sion. No fewer than four bills were introduced 

 and debated at considerable length. They were 

 all referred to a committee, which made an 



