LEGISLATIVE ELOQUENCE IN CALIFORNIA.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 201, 31 July 1862, Page 5

LEGISLATIVE ELOQUENCE IN CALIFORNIA.

From tin Victoria (Vancouver Island) Times. The following extraordinary specimen of rhetoric was delivered in the llous* of Assembly of California la^t Monday week :— Mr. Barstow—The amount of the whole thins; i ; thi«. If any calamity overtakes a people by wnicn prosperity is lost, the strong arm of the State "must at once be raised to assume their burden. For myself, sir, I think if this special relief be extended anywhere iit should be to the people of Sacramento Valley and ; Sacramento City. There has been suffering and loss by the late calamity which has no parallel ; yet no crying for assistance is beard from them. Xo sir; j that brave and heroic people are too high spirited and independent, and manly; they choose to bear their o^n burdens, however sorely pressed. I admire them for their bravery and heroism in this respect. But in c-rnies some gentleman—Mr. Jones, (if you please,) j from Redoubt Slough, (if you like) or from Catfish | Jar, with a Kooster Relief Bill, and be rises and says: I Mr. Speaker—My constituents, the people of Catfish Bar, have ha 1 all their roosters stolen by the Mongolian race—all save one solitary rooster, and he was lost by the disasters ot the recent flood ; and, sir, the last that was seen of him he was floating down on a chip, and like Napoleon when he was chained to a solitary rock, he reared himself aloft, clapped his \vmgs for the last time, and said in the language of Galileo, "Othello's occupation's gone." Therefore resolved, that all my constituents of Cr.tfish Bar who have lost their roosters by the Chinese races, or ! the late floods, don't pay uo taxes nohow. Mr. Spaker, once of Cattish Bar, is for the Rooster bill. bir, these 'ere birds are not of the destructive character of the rhinoceros, who sends forth from his native forests the most frightful bellowings, tearing up the ground with his hoofs aud hurhug the fragments to a fearful distance. Nosir; nor like the clandestine racoon that steals the corn in the night time, and hides atvav ;n the day time, s • as j nobody can't tell nothing about where" the cuss is. No sir; nor like the roaring lion, going up and down, from Dan to Beersheba, seeking to devour somebody. No sir; they are of the chanticleer species, and it is the habit of these useful birds, at that interesting moment when Aurora of the dawn illuminates the eastern hills with his circumambient rays, to crow; yes, sir to crow— not only to arouse my constituents, the inhabitants of Catfish Bar, from their peaceful slumbers, in the dewy lap of morning, but sir, to scare away all them shaky Dinimycrats and Abolitionists and Secessioners who are hostile to the Star Spangled Banner. Mr. Speaker, I want to say something upon the character of these birds. My j constituents are a unity on this subject. They are quarrelsome, it is said. Sir, I deny it. Jones denies it. That solitary rooster never fought but once, that was when; he was interfered with by another in his domestic concerns. (Great laughter") Like Hector among the dames of Troy, he fought—but he fought with a countenance " more in sorrow than in anger.'' He was in the exercise of his constitutional rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. (Laughter) What would you have done, -Mr. Speaker ? Sir, so long as you had the spirit of a man in you, you would fight. Jones is constitutional, sir.

Mr. Ferguson (interrupting)— Mr. Speaker, I have been absent a few moments, and I would like to know what is before the House.

Mr. Baratow—l don't yield the floor, sir ; no sirnever ! No, sir; you bet I don't.' (with a significant look at the " Yoio delegation.") You bet 1 don't! I want to know what the constitution says. I call John Bull to order. I call every gentleman on this floor to order. I call the gentleman from England, Mr. Edmund Burke, to order. He says the days of chivalry are gone. No, Sir; they are not gone. They will find at the next election that the days of chivalry are not gone in California. Gentlemen "may interrupt me as much as they please. But, Sir, when the news of the next election comes down from the reverberating mountains of Mono, and from the virgin soil of the White Mountain districts—in allusion to the remarks of Mr. Coffrotlron the Davis and Orr contested Beat case)—it will make Rome howl; it will squelch all your Star Chamber committees and all.that tort of thine; and amidst the roar of Niagara, and the echoes of the surrounding mountains of the universe, there will be heard the still small voice of my constituents, the people of Catfish Bar, saying, louder than ten thousand thunders, " Jones, you are a hoss !" Sir, Mr. Speaker, lam ready to fight any man on this honorable floor. Gentlemen, you can t raise the cry of bunkum on me. My constituents are unity.