If a branch mint be established at the great commercial point
upon that coast, a vast amount of bullion and specie would flow thither
to be recoined, and pass thence to New Orleans, New York, and other
Atlantic cities. The amount of our constitutional currency at home would
be greatly increased, while its circulation abroad would be promoted. It
is well known to our merchants trading to China and the west coast of
America that great inconvenience and loss are experienced from the fact
that our coins are not current at their par value in those countries.
The powers of Europe, far removed from the west coast of America by
the Atlantic Ocean, which intervenes, and by a tedious and dangerous
navigation around the southern cape of the continent of America, can
never successfully compete with the United States in the rich and
extensive commerce which is opened to us at so much less cost by the
acquisition of California.
The vast importance and commercial advantages of California have
heretofore remained undeveloped by the Government of the country of
which it constituted a part.
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