The Project Gutenberg EBook of Tennessee's Partner, by Bret Harte

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net

Title: Tennessee's Partner

Author: Bret Harte

Posting Date: August 24, 2009 [EBook #4674]
Release Date: November, 2003
First Posted: February 26, 2002

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TENNESSEE'S PARTNER ***

Produced by David Schwan

Western Classics No. Three

Tennessee's Partner

"Both were fearless types of a civilization that in the seventeenth
century would have been called heroic, but in the nineteenth simply
'reckless.'"

Tennessee's Partner

By

Bret Harte,

Including An Introduction By William Dallam Armes.

The Introduction

When Marshall's discovery caused a sudden influx of thousands of
adventurers from all classes and almost all countries, the conditions of
government in California were almost the worst possible. Though the
Mexican system was unpopular and the Mexican law practically unknown,
until other provision was made by congress, they had to continue in
force. But the free and slave states were equal in number; California
would turn the scale; there was a battle royal as to which pan should
descend, a battle that the congresses of 1848 and 1849 left unsettled on
adjourning.

Under these circumstances, it might be supposed that the worst elements
would get the upper hand, crime become common, and anarchy result.
Precisely the opposite happened. The de facto government was accepted as
a necessity, and under its direction "alcaldes" and "ayuntamientos" were
elected. But the mining-camps, which were in a part of the country that
had not been settled by the Mexicans and were occupied by men who knew
nothing of their system or laws, were left to work out their own
salvation. The preponderating element was the Anglo-Saxon, and its
genius for law and order asserted itself. Each camp elected its own
officers, recognized the customary laws and adopted special ones, and
punished lawbreakers. Naturally theft was considered a more serious
crime than it is in ordinary communities. As there were no jails or
jailors, flogging and expulsion were the usual punishment, but in