it strictly and executed it conscientiously and with great intelligence. From the lands subject to be granted are excepted such as belong to Pueblos and Missions. Of Pueblos, i. e. villages, there were but two-San José and Los Angeles--or three including the unprosperous Villa de Branciforte. Whatever lands these owned were at their foundation surveyed, marked out, and set apart to them; and then recorded. The same course was followed with such of the Presidios as were converted into Pueblos, as at Monterey; and would have been pursued with the Missions when converted into Pueblos, if that change had not been arrested. In these cases there could have been no uncertainty as to what lands the Governor could grant. With the Missions, untouched, or incompletely secularized as they were left, there was difficulty. The title of the Indian who had consented to become a Christian and a civilized man, binding as it was upon the King, had always been indefinite as to quantity, and as to the situation of his lands, save that it should be at and about the Mission; in which essential particulars it rested altogether in the King's discretion, exercised by the proper officers of his government. The Mexican Republic stepped into the same relation to these Christian Indians. That no injustice might be done them, every petition was referred to the Priests, and afterwards to the Administrators of the Missions. They were asked whether the grant could be made without prejudice to the Indians. As they replied, so were the grants given or withheld. So it was at least in Figueroa's day, and that, no matter how far the land petitioned-for was from the nearest Mission. Other Governors were neither so exact nor so conscientious as Figueroa. And as, in the hands of the Administrators to whom they were delivered over, the Missions went rapidly down to complete ruin, it is evident that the lands required for the Indians would become continually less-such would be, and was, the answer of their new guardians to the inquiries of the Governor-and finally all was granted, and in some cases, it is alleged, even the Missions themselves. Their cattle, without the aid of a grant from the Governor, took the same course. It is not too much to say that when the United States in 1846 took possession of the country, they found it passing through a conquest still raw and incomplete. It was the conquest of the Missions and the Christian Indians, by the settlers of the Presidios and Pueblos who at first had been introduced into the country mainly for their benefit; to aid the King and the Church in carrying out their pious and humane intentions towards them. Yet it was well that it was so. Who that looks upon the native Digger Indian could wish that a superior race should be sacrificed or postponed for his benefit? We contemplate a miserable result of the work begun with so much zeal and heroism in 1769. But because they failed, we none the less respect the motives and the laborers, whether of Church or State.

The unworthiness of the Californian Indian did not altogether deprive him of sympathy. Every Government expressed some feeling at seeing him hasten so rapidly to his wretched end. And the just and kind-hearted Figueroa battled for him manfully. In the

midst of the complex labors of his administration he was almost crushed by the arrival of three hundred persons, for whom he had to make provision, without resources, and who came under the charge of a Director of Colonization, instructed by the Supreme Government, at that time radically democratic, to begin operations by taking possession of the property of the Missions and admitting the new colonists to a division of it with the Indians. During the winter of 1834-5, Figueroa and the Director carried on an animated discussion in writing, on the subject of the last of these propositions. Figueroa maintained that the Missions were the private property of the Indian, and protected from invasion by the Constitution. The Director insisted upon the letter of the order of the Supreme Government. Figueroa said it was improvident, and refused to obey it until he could make a representation to the Supreme Government on the subject. The end was, that some of the partizans of the Director attempted an insurrection at Los Angeles, in the spring of 1835, which was easily suppressed, but furnished Figueroa the opportunity to send the Director and the heads of his faction back to Mexico. Of these, the principal was the same man who had been sent out of California by Victoria for the same cause-a desire to have a part in the secularization of the Missions. The colony, however, remained, and though numbering but three hundred, was a great addition to the population of California in those days. Among them we find the names of several persons who afterwards became conspicuous in the country-José Abrego, José Ma. Covarrubias, Augustin Olvera, and Francisco Guerrero.

Figueroa died at Monterey, on the 29th of September, 1835, his death being probably hastened by the effect of the anxiety and vexation of this controversy, upon a constitution already broken. At that time his manifesto to the Mexican Republic, in which he gives a clear and forcible statement of the whole affair, and an able vindication of his conduct, was going through the press at Monterey. His death seems to have been very greatly deplored at that time, and he is still recognized as the ablest and most upright of the Mexican Governors. His work of the political organization of California lasted but a little while; it fell with the overthrow of the Federal Constitution of 1824, by Santa Anna, in 1836. California then became a Department: Political Chief was changed into GovERNOR, and Territorial Deputation into Departmental Assembly.

These changes, however, were not fully completed in California until 1839. The Department of the Californias was then divided into three districts; the first extending from the frontier of Sonoma to San Luis Obispo, its principal point or seat of administration being the old Mission of San Juan, on the Pajaro river; the second district included the rest of Upper California, the seat of its administration being the city of Los Angeles, which had been promoted to that rank from the original condition of a Pueblo, in the year of 1835; and the third comprised Lower California, which, after a separation, was now re-united with Upper California. These districts were divided each into two Partidos, of which, consequently, there

were four in Upper California. Ayuntamientos were abolished, and a Justice of the Peace substituted in each Partido. For the whole district there was a Prefect, who resided at the seat of the Administration of one of the Partidos, and a Sub-Prefect, who resided at that of the other Partido. In 1843 Micheltorena, acting under extraordinary powers, made some changes in this system, but it was substantially restored by Pio Pico, in 1845, when again Lower California was thrown off.

With Figueroa everything like stability, and indeed order, passed away. The next year after Figueroa's death, the Californians drove away the Governor; and Don Juan B. Alvarado, being at that time President of the Territorial Deputation, was declared Governor. After this was done, the Deputation went one step further, and on the 7th of November, 1836, passed these resolutions:

(1.) "California is declared independent of Mexico until the re-establishment of the Constitution of 1824."

(2.) "California is erected into a free and sovereign State, establishing a Congress, &c., &c."

Public documents for a while were headed "Free and Sovereign State of California. This anomalous state of things lasted until 1838. The demands of the Free and Sovereign State were not complied with, nor on the other hand was the Central Government disposed, or perhaps able, to push the controversy to extremes. In 1838, Alvarado was appointed Governor ad interim; and Constitutional Governor in 1839, when we have seen that the innovations of Santa Anna took effect. Whilst California was in rebellion, the President of Mexico commissioned Carlos Antonio Carillo, as Governor. Alvarado refused to recognize him, and accepted the aid of a party of Americans who, since the time of Jedediah Smith, seem to have found their way into the country. Alvarado prevailed over Carillo; and the appointment of the former as Governor ad interim compromised the difficulties of those times. Here is a document relating to this contest, which will serve to illustrate California warfare. It is the report of Gen José Castro to Governor Alvarado, dated the 28th of March, 1838.

"I have the honor to announce to your Excellency, that after two days continual firing without having lost but one man, the enemy took to flight, under cover of night, numbering one hundred and ten men; and I have determined to dispatch one company of mounted Infantry, under the command of Captain Villa, and another of Cavalry lancers, under the command of Captain Cota, in their pursuit, remaining myself, with the rest of the division, and the Artillery, to guard this point, &c., &c."

And here is another of the same period. It now appears that the Americans who resided with Alvarado had fallen under suspicion and into disfavor at about the time that their chief made up his differences with the Central Government, and received his commission as Governor ad interim. They were all arrested, some fifteen or twenty perhaps, it is said by surprise, and sent to Mexico. Amongst them was Mr. Isaac Graham, of Santa Cruz. This paper

will also serve as a specimen of Californian eloquence at that period,

and I commend it at the present moment as a model to our political orators.

PROCLAMATION MADE BY THE UNDERSIGNED :—

"Eternal Glory to the Illustrious Champion and Liberator of the Department of Alta California, Don José Castro, the Guardian of Order, and the Supporter of our Superior Government.

Fellow-citizens and Friends: To-day, the eighth of May, of the present year of 1840, has been and will be eternally glorious to all the inhabitants of this soil, in contemplating the glorious expedition of our fellow countryman, Don José Castro, who goes to present himself before the Superior Government of the Mexican nation, carrying with him a number of suspicious Americans who, under the mask of deceit, and filled with ambition, were warping us in the web of misfortune; plunging us into the greatest confusion and danger; desiring to terminate the life of our Governor and of all of his subalterns; and finally, to drive us from our asylums; from our country; from our pleasures, and from our hearths.

The bark which carries this valorous Hero on his Grand Commission, goes filled with laurels and crowned with triumphs, ploughing the waves and publishing in distinct voices to the passing billows the loud vivas and rejoicings, which will resound to the remotest bounds of the universe. Yes, fellow-citizens and friends, again we say, that this glorious chief should have a place in the innermost recesses of our hearts, and be held as dear to us as our very breath. Thus we desire, and in the name of all the inhabitants, make known the great rejoicings with which we are filled, giving, at the same time, to our Superior Government the present proclamation, which we make for said worthy chief; and that our Governor may remain satisfied, that if he (Castro) has embarked for the interior of the Republic, there still remain under his (the Governor's) orders all his fellow countrymen, companions in arms, etc., etc."

The foregoing is signed by seven citizens of note and respectability in the country. When this laurel-laden vessel reached San Blas, the Mexican authorities took a different view of the matter. They put Gen. Castro in prison and Graham and his companions in the best hotel in the place, (he says a palace) and entertained them handsomely until they could send them back to California, which they did at the expense of the Government.

In 1839, Captain John A. Sutter, a man who had seen many vicissitudes and adventures, in Europe and the wilds of America, arrived in California from the Sandwich Islands. By permission of Governor Alvarado he established himself in the valley of the Sacramento, then the extreme northern frontier. He engaged to protect the Mexican settlements extending in that direction under the Colonization Law (the only vital thing left of the Mexican rule for many years) from the incursions of the Indians, and he kept his word.

In 1841, he obtained a grant of land himself, and built a fort which soon became the refuge and rallying point for Americans and Europeans coming into the country. Over all these Sutter, by virtue of an appointment as Justice of the Peace, exercised whatever government there was beyond the law of the rifle. Practically his powers were as indefinite as the territorial limits of his jurisdiction. Amogst those who early gathered around Sutter, we find the names of John Bidwell, who came in 1841, and Pierson B. Read

ing and Samuel J. Hensley, who came in 1843, and many others well known at the present day.

The Pioneers of that day all bear testimony to the generosity of Captain Sutter, at a time when his fort was the capitol and he the Government for the American colony, in the valley of the Sacramento. In 1844, the number of this population had come to be so considerable as to be a power in the State. In the revolution which then occurred, Sutter took the side of Governor Micheltorena. But before he marched he took the reasonable precaution, so obviously required by justice to his men, to obtain from Micheltorena a grant of the land for which they had respectively petitioned. Micheltorena then issued the document known as the General Title.

In this document he declares that every petition upon which Sutter, in his capacity of Justice of the Peace, had reported favorably, should be taken as granted; and that a copy of this document given to each petitioner, should serve in lieu of the usual formal grant. This done, he marched to the south, but was unfortunate, for he was taken prisoner, and Micheltorena expelled from the country. This is the last of the civil wars of California.

In the spring of 1846, General Castro in the North, and Pio Pico, the Governor, in the South, were waxing hot against each other, and preparing for new conflicts, when the apparition of Captain Fremont with his small surveying party of old mountaineers, and the hardy and indomitable Pioneers of the Sacramento Valley and the Bear flag, put an end to their dissensions. Castro had himself prepared the way for this aggression, by driving Fremont and his surveying party out of the Mexican settlements, a few months before. The colony on the Sacramento necessarily sympathized with Fremont: and rumors, more or less well founded, began to run through the valley, of hostile intentions towards all the American settlers. But resentment and anticipations of evil were not the sole cause of this movement. There can not now be a doubt that it was prompted, as it was approved, by the Government of the United States; and that Captain Fremont obeyed his orders no less than his own feelings.

Fremont was still on the northern side of the Bay of San Francisco, when the American flag was hoisted at Monterey, on the evermemorable seventh day of July, 1846.

Before the war, the Government of the United States had fully determined, so far as that matter rested with the Executive, upon the conquest and permanent retention of California, as soon as the out-break of war should offer the opportunity. Orders, in anticipation of war, were issued to that effect, and it was under these orders that California was actually taken. The danger of that day was, that England would step in before us. Her ships were watching our ships on the coast of Mexico. The British pretext, it is said, was to have been to secure an equivalent for the Mexican debt due to British subjects; and it is understood that there was a party here who favored this design.