SAN FRANCISCO, Cal., March 14, 1855.

MR. FREDERICK DOUGLASS: SIR:—The rain —the long looked-for rain—has come at last, and with it, light hearts and cheerful faces. Rain, at this time, is to Californians, what "manna" was to the Israelites. The suspension of the banks, the want of rain, the low price of labor, and the high rents, all conspired to produce a crisis, the effect of which cannot be easily shaken off. None of the suspended banking houses have resumed, with the exception of Page, Bacon & Co., and Wells Fargo & Co. Adams & Co. is said to be hopelessly bankrupt. These suspensions have caused great excitement, and greater distress, particularly those of the Savings Banks, as their depositors were mostly poor people. Their savings, the result of no swindling speculations, but of their own hard-earned labor, are suddenly swept away by a few unprincipled scoundrels, who, eager to avail themselves of any pretext to rob their depositors, close their doors before a run is made upon them. One of the proprietors, (Robinson,) whose conduct, since his suspension, would justify me in saying that he never intended doing an honest business, recently called a meeting of his depositors for the purpose (as it transpired afterwards) of contradicting the report in propria personae, that had he left on the steamer for the East. His depositors, being satisfied that he was not non est inventus, requested a statement of his affairs. This he undertook to give, which, however, proved very unsatisfactory, as he declined giving up the books. A poor woman at this meeting created quite a scene, by expressing her anxiety, in choice Billingsgate, to obtain, not her five hundred dollars, but his (Robinson's) heart. The police succeeded in quieting her. The meeting resulted in the appointment of a committee to examine the books of the concern.

The Legislature is still in session. Mr. Flint's Bill, to "prevent the Chinese and all others not eligible to citizenship from holding mining claims," has been published. The Chinese cannot be effected half so much by the passage of this bill, as the colored people. The most of the Chinese are worked as "coolies," and are satisfied to make from one to two dollars per day, as it costs them little or nothing to live. The same objections cannot be urged against the colored people, as are urged against the Chinese, viz: that their habits and customs entirely prevent their amalgamation with Americans; that they degrade labor, because their wants are so few, that they can afford to work for a third of what is necessary to support an American[.] I am apprehensive that the real object of the bill is to enable owners of slaves to work them in the mines—for, it must be recollected that California is not altogether a free State. (See the, so called, Fugitive Slave Bill of California, enacted in 1852, which provides that all slaves brought into the State prior to its admission into the Union, shall be considered subject to their masters for one year.) This privilege the Legislature has extended from year to year,

so that, at this moment, it is not more free
that it was in 1852. My apprehensions
are grounded upon the fact, that slaveholders
are prevented from taking up claims
for their own benefit, on account of their
slaves. This is, obviously, just—for the
reason that a slaveholder with a hundred slaves
could occupy a 101 mining claim, to the great
injury of northern men. This bill allows
others (white men) to hold claims for them
(Chinese and negroes.) Thus, it will be
seen, by the passage of this bill, that
capitalists can hold claims for their coolies, and
slaveholders for their slaves.

The price of passage between this place
and New York is to be reduced. This will
prove a great desideratum to Californians—
for, at the present high rates, but very few
can afford to send for their families. The
Isthmus Railroad is completed—a work that
has cost at least fifty thousand lives, but
which will prevent, in time, the sacrifice of
twice that number.

The election of William H. Seward to the
United States Senate has given general
satisfaction to the people of this State—for
he is said to have done more for California
than all its representatives combined.—
His public career will not end in the Senate.
He will be President of these United
States[.] It is in the womb of time, and
must eventually be brought forth.

No Senator has been elected to fill the
place of Dr. Gwinn, whose term will shortly
expire in the United States Senate. The
Legislative Convention could not unite upon
any one of the numerous aspirants, so willing
to sacrifice their private interests for the
good of the nation. Dr. Gwinn is very
unpopular in this State. Why it is, I cannot
divine. He has never proved recreant to
the slaveholding interest of the State, or
of the South; and that interest sent him to
Congress. His action, with regard to the
repeal of the Missouri Compromise, was
endorsed by the Legislature, and by the people
generally. But he is accused of sacrificing
the interests of the State, to build up
his own private fortune, and of being "a
tool to the Administration," which latter
charge seems to me a most singular one, as
the Administration, in the first place, is the
tool of the slave power. It is not surprising,
then, that slaveholders should serve the
Administration.

The colored people have not petitioned
the Legislature this session, as heretofore.—
Their petitions, couched in humble and even
abject language, have been treated shamefully.
Boisterous cries of "throw it out of
the window," "reduce it to ashes," hailed
their advent in the Legislature.

Groomes' Brass Band, an organization of
colored musical performers, are giving
concerts in this city. The papers have noticed
their performances favorably. The leader,
Mr. S. J. Groomes, was formerly a member
of Johnson's Band of Philadelphia.

Yours, respectfully,
NUBIA.