event was perce indident which together was a As early as 180 with such mu animals" that them. A num The best piece ng the period bras during the be a real addi יו IMENT OF STATE GOVERN- CHAPTER I MERICAN INFLUENCE AND THE CONQUEST conquest of California began during the territory was occupied by Spain. Looking nnacle of the present we can see that the tible from the beginning, and that every brought the American and the Spaniard actor in the movement. The captains of vho smuggled goods into California ports, es sailors arrested and thrown into conish authorities, the contraband trade with , all of these played a part in the conquest. William Shaler, captain of the Lelia Byrd, niards had removed every obstacle from the ing enemy; and had "stocked the country itudes of cattle, horses and other useful would be impossible to destroy or remove er of defenceless inhabitants, he continued, f work done on the American influence in California ceding 1850-Cleland, The Interest of the U. S. in Cali who had been spread over the territory, could not be expected to act as enemies against invaders who should treat them well. Nothing was needed but a good government to enable California to assume an influential and important position in the commercial, industrial, and political world. And closing the paragraph with probably the first published hint of a conquest, he says, "It would be as easy to keep California in spite of the Spaniards as it would be to wrest it from them in the first place." 1 A Beginning The Spanish laws forbade the Californians to trade with foreigners, and even the presence of the latter in the territory had to be explained satisfactorily to his Majesty's officials. But despite these provisions, which were urged ever more strenuously by the Spanish officers in Mexico as California developed, American sailors and traders continued to make their appearance along the coast. Sometimes ships loaded with Boston merchandise, having secured permission to anchor at San Diego or Monterey under the pretence of much needed repairs, would quietly distribute their cargoes among the natives and sail away. Or again they might enter a secluded harbor without permission and exchange commodities clandestinely with the padres, who were invariably eager to trade their mission 1 Shaler, Journal of a voyage between China and the Northwestern coast of America, made in 1804. In American Register, or General Repository of History. Politics, and Science. nt. I for 1808. III. 137–75. produce for such a cire necessity subsistence. W taken with his s with the native Spanish officials He daimed that then agricultura I have provid instructing the They have pai sins. I have me in return pr trit can inform And on the follows to Vice The padres and general ne they have expe ure from day Arale of cand ich by the 1 Richman, Cal |