San Francisco Daily Alta California, February 1, 1861

For the last two months we have been constantly in the receipt of the most exciting intelligence from the Atlantic side. Situated as we are, at a distance from the centre of the great strife, we have been slow to believe that any considerable number of persons in any or all of the Southern States are bent upon the destruction of the fabric formed by the heroes of the Revolution—the greatest and grandest monument of human genius ever erected. We are aware that the South has had some cause for complaint. We know full well that the Republic is composed of two distinct forms of civilization, and that to maintain its integrity mutual concession is necessary. All this we comprehend; but when we see the North ready and willing to offer the olive branch, we are at a loss to understand the motives that actuate the men who are now hurrying some of the Southern States to certain ruin and destruction. It looks to us, away here on the distant shores of the Pacific, like deliberate and premeditated treason, and the hope is universally expressed that no effort will be spared by the Federal Government to impede the secession movement till reason shall begin to reassert her sway.