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American flag there; but, upon learning that the information upon which he had acted was not true, he restored the place to the California authorities; "yet, in my opinion, having once taken it, he would have done better to have kept it, and also to have seized the port of San Francisco." There are many persons in California who are friendly to France, and who can be very useful to us; one of our countrymen, Maturin, at San Francisco; Baric, a Frenchman, at Los Angeles; Suñol, a Spaniard by birth, who served in the French navy, who speaks our language well, who was on the French brig which Napoleon quitted, in 1815, when he surrendered himself to the captain of the. Bellerophon. The most important point on the northwestern coast of the Pacific is the port of San Francisco, which is in reality the key of the northwest coast of America and of the northern Pacific ocean, Captain Beechey, of the royal British navy, in 1813, describes it as being "sufficiently extensive to contain all the British navy, well sheltered, and with good anchorage everywhere, surrounded with a country varied with hills and valleys, partly wooded and partly of fine pasturage, and abounding with cattle of every kind." "It is easy to enter this harbor from the ocean," says De Mofras; "one should, after crossing the bar, lay well to the south, having the island of Alcatraz on a line with the fort, and then, on approaching the gate or strait, one should keep in the centre until Point Bonita is well passed, and then sail well over to the north. There is a dangerous reef, called Blossom rock, which lies on a line drawn from the southwestern point of Yerba Buena island and that of Alcatraz, which is to be avoided; but just behind the point of Saucelito lives an Englishman, who is married to a native Californian, one Captain Richardson, who is captain of the port, and an excellent pilot. There is no military force in California. There are no garrisons at the presidios. The gun-carriages at the forts have rotted away, and the guns, which were mostly cast at Manilla, more than a hundred years ago, lie rusting on the ground. It is perfectly clear that California will belong to whatsoever nation will take the trouble to send there a shipof-war and two hundred soldiers."

EFFORTS OF THE UNITED STATES TO OBTAIN POSSESSION OF CALIFORNIA.

Having thus giving a résumé of the French report of our own intentions and desires respecting the acquisition of California, I shall endeavor to give an authentic account of them, and of those of other governments. It is true, as above stated, that the English offered to receive Upper California in payment of a portion of the public debt of Mexico; and it is also undoubtedly true that the English were prepared to avail themselves of the pretext of an indemnity for that debt to take possession of California upon any favorable conjuncture. It is also true that the acquisition of California had long been an object much desired by the government of the United States. As early as the year 1835 President Jackson proposed to the government of Mexico to purchase that portion lying east and north of a line drawn from the Gulf of Mexico along the eastern bank of the Rio Bravo del Norte up to the 37th degree of north latitude, and thence along that parallel to the Pacific ocean. This would have included within the proposed cession to the United States all the Bay of San Francisco, and the territory to the north and east of it, and have left to the south the bay of Monterey. This proposition was favorably received by the Mexican government, and would doubtless have been accepted had it not been for the intrigues and powerful remonstrances of the British diplomatic representatives. The American government, however, did not relinquish its designs, nor desist in the execution of its plans for promoting the desired result. It continued to encourage and protect the emigration of its citizens to California. It caused to be made scientific and popular explorations by land, such as those of Frémont, and by sea, such as those sucessfully and thoroughly made by Wilkes's exploring expedition.

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Indeed, it is more than suspected that the main object of organizing Wilkes's exploring expedition was a thorough hydrographic survey of the harbor of San Francisco and its tributaries—a work which was so well accomplished that the maps and soundings of the bays and rivers from San Francisco to Sacramento, which were made on that occasion, are reliable to the present time. What Frémont's instructions were on his last expedition to California is a well-kept cabinet secret, which will probably not be divulged, at least in our time; but it is evident from his course of action that he was directed, in case of receiving reliable information of the breaking out of war, to do all in his power to secure possession of California. It is also very certain that the commanders of the American men-of-war cruising on the coast of California had explicit instructions not to suffer the country to fall into the hands of any other power. And the popular impression is that the English were about to take possession of California, and were prevented only by the seizure of Monterey by Commodore Sloat on the 7th of July, 1846.

MOVEMENTS OF THE CALIFORNIANS IN RELATION TO THEIR ANNEXATION TO A FOREIGN POWER.

Meanwhile the natives of California, with that instinctive apprehension of the coming storm which seems to prevail in the political as well as in the natural world, began to consult upon the policy of preventing the anticipated acts of foreign governments by declaring their independence of Mexico, and placing California under the protection of some great political power. In the year 1836 Don Juan Bautista Alvarado revolted against Mexico, and by the aid of sixty American riflemen, headed by Isaac Graham, drove Gutierrez, the constitutional governor of California, out of the department, and was himself proclaimed governor in his stead. Acting in conjunction with General Mariano Gaudalupe Vallejo and Don José Castro, and aiming at annexation with the United States, he declared California to be completely independent of Mexico, and erected into a free and sovereign state-el Estado libre y soberano de la Alta Californiaand raised a flag like that of the United States, but with a single star. This revolt was finally abandoned on certain concessions being made by the central government, including the appointment of Alvarado as constitutional governor. In 1842 President Santa Anna sent General Manuel Micheltorena to California as governor and commandant general, with 150 persons to act as officials, and an army of 300 convicts, drawn from the prisons of Mexico.* But he

I should not dare to credit this act of Santa Anna if it were not officially substantiated beyond any doubt. It was published at the time, at Mexico, in El Observador Judicial y de Legislacion, 1842, vol. i, p. 372, and also afterwards, in the Coleccion de los Decretos y Ordenes de Interes Comun, que dicto el gobierno provisional en virtud de las bases de Tacubaya, Mexico: Imprenta de J. M. Lara, 1850, page 352, under date of February 22, A. D. 1842, and is in the following terms:

66 MINISTERIO DE JUSTICIA E INSTRUCCION PUBLICA.

"Exmo. Señor el exmo. Señor Presidente Provisional, en uso de la Facultad que concede et art. 7o de las bases acordadas en Tacubaya y juradas por los representantes de los departamentos, ha tenido a cien disponer: que de los reos sentenciados à presidio que existan en las cárceles de esta capital, se destinen trescientos al departamento de Californias, escogiendo al efecto à los que sengan algun oficio ò industria util; en el concepto de que si al llegar á aquel destino hubieren guardado buena conducta, â juicio del gobierno departmental, se les recajarà una parte de su condéna, o se les indultarà del todo, segun los servicios que prestaren, y aun se auxiliarâ à sus familias para que vayan á unirse con ellos, dandoles terrenos y los instrumentos que necesiten para colonizar: (with the purpose of rekating a part or the whole of their term of punishment, according to the services they render; and also their families shall be assisted to join them, and lands and implements of cultivation furnished them.). "Lo que tengo el honor de comunicar a V. E. para su debido cumplimiento, y que se sirva hacer saber esta suprema disposition á los presidiarios que al indicato efecto fueren escogidos. "Exmo. Señor Gobernador del Departamento de Mexico."

too, after a stormy administration, was forced to retire, in the year 1845, after having stipulated with the insurgents by the treaty of Cahuenga-so styled from the rancho of that name where it was conducted-that he and his adherents might march away with their side-arms with all the honors of war. The crisis of severance from the mother republic became every day more inevitable. Dissatisfied as the Californians were with the exactions and oppressions of the central government, and with the importation from Mexico of a convict soldiery, who graduated from the camp to become turbulent citizens or ferocious bandits, the question of secession from Mexico was freely discussed and its policy approved. They differed only as to what great political power should be invoked for protection and annexation. The departmental assembly of California, in the year 1846, passed a law for the election of delegates to a junta, or extraordinary convention, to be styled "The general council of the united pueblos of the Californias: el concejo general de los pueblos unidos de California," which was to meet at Santa Barbara on June 15, 1846, for the purpose of determining the destiny of California. Meanwhile the resident consuls and agents of the three great powers which were striving for the possession of California - Forbes for Great Britain, Guys for France, and Larkin for the United States-commenced their movoments and counter movements, each hoping to gain the predominating influence in the coming convention. But the result of an informal meeting of some of the leading men of California, at the house of Don José Castro, in Monterey, dissipated all these hopes, and showed that the convention, even if held, must prove an utter failure. On that occasion a native Californian, whom it would be invidious to mention, as he is now a loyal citizen of California, but who then represented the monarchical party, spoke as follows: *

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Excellent Sirs, to what a deplorable condition is our country reduced! Mexico, professing to be our mother and our protectress, has given us neither arms, nor money, nor the materials of war for our defence. She is not likely to do anything in our behalf, although she is quite willing to afflict us with her extortionate minions, who come hither in the guise of soldiers and civil officers to harass and oppress our people. We possess a glorious country, capable of attaining a physical and moral greatness corresponding with the grandeur and beauty which an Almighty hand has stamped upon the face of our beloved California. But although nature has been prodigal, it cannot be denied that we are not in a position to avail ourselves of her bounty. Our population is not large, and it is sparsely scattered over valley and mountain, covering an immense area of virgin soil, destitute of roads, and traversed with difficulty; hence it is hardly possible to collect an army of any considerable force. Our people are poor, as well as few, and cannot well govern themselves and maintain a decent show of sovereign power. Although we live in the midst of plenty, we lay up nothing; but, tilling the earth in an imperfect maner, all our time is required to procure subsistence for ourselves and our families. Thus circumstanced, we find ourselves threatened by hordes of Yankee emigrants, who have already begun to flock into our country, and whose progress we cannot arrest. Already have the wagons of that perfidious people scaled the almost inaccessible summit of the Sierra Nevada, crossed the entire continent, and penetrated the fruitful valley of the Sacramento. What that astonishing people will next undertake, I cannot say; but in whatever enterprise they embark, they will be sure to prove successful. Already are these adventurous land-voyagers spreading themselves

The alleged design of converting California into a convict colony was only a flimsy pretext for furnishing Micheltorena with three hundred desperate soldiers; still, it is interesting to know that the intention of making our State the Botany Bay of Mexico was once thus officially announced.

* The speeches which follow were reduced to writing at the time, by the late Thomas Ọ. Larkin, then American consul at Monterey. The first had already been delivered, in substance, in the Departmental Assembly.

far and wide over a country which seems suited to their taste. They are cultivating farms, establishing vineyards, erecting mills, sawing up lumber, building workshops, and doing a thousand other things which seem natural to them, but which Californians neglect or despise. What, then, are we to do? Shall we remain supine, while these daring strangers are overrunning our fertile plains, and gradually outnumbering and displacing us? Shall these incursions go on unchecked, until we shall become strangers in our own land? We cannot successfully oppose them by our own unaided power, and the swelling tide of emigration renders the odds against us more powerful every day. We cannot stand alone against them, nor can we creditably maintain our independence even against them, nor can we creditably maintain our independence even against Mexico; but there is something which we can do, which will elevate our country, strengthen her at all points, and yet enable us to preserve our identity and remain masters of our own soil. Perhaps what I am about to suggest may seem to some faint-hearted and dishonorable. But to me it does not appear so. It is the last hope of a feeble people, struggling against a tyrannical government, which claims their submission at home, and threatened by bands of avaricious strangers from without, voluntarily to connect themselves with a power able and willing to defend and preserve them. It is the right and duty of the weak to demand support from the strong, provided the demand be made upon terms just to both parties. I see no dishonor in this last refuge of the oppressed and powerless, and I boldly avow that such is the step I would now have California take. There are two great powers in Europe, which seem destined to divide between them the unappropriated countries of the world. They have large fleets and armies not unpracticed in the art of war. Is it not better to connect ourselves with one of these powerful nations than to struggle on without hope, as we are doing now? Is it not better that one of them should be invited to send a fleet and an army to protect California, rather than we should fall an easy prey to the lawless adventurers who are overrunning our beautiful country? I pronounce for annexation to France or England, and the people of California will never regret having taken my advice. They will no longer be subjected to the trouble and grievous expense of governing themselves, and their beef, and their grain, which they produce in such abundance, would find a ready market among the new comers. But I hear some one say, "No monarchy !" But is not monarchy better than anarchy? Is not existence in some shape better than annihilation? No monarchy! And what is there so terrible in a monarchy? Have we not all lived under a monarchy far more despotic than that of France or England, and were not our people happy under it? Have not the leading men among our agriculturists been bred beneath the royal rule of Spain, and have they been happier since the mock republic of Mexico has supplied its place? Nay, does not every man abhor the miserable abortion christened the republic of Mexico, and look back with regret to the golden days of the Spanish monarchy? Let us restore that glorious era. Then may our people go quietly to their ranchos, and live there as of yore, leading a merry and thoughtless life, untroubled by politics or cares of state, sure of what is their own, and safe from the incursions of the Yankees, who would soon be forced to retreat into er o wn country."

To these arguments General Mariano G. Vallejo, a native of California, whom we are proud to number among the members of this society, and who has not lost our esteem in consequence of the assaults made upon him by those who have succeeded in confiscating so large a portion of that landed property of the native Californians, whose possession was guaranteed to them by the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, replied as follows:

"I cannot, gentlemen, coincide in opinion with the military and civil functionaries who have advocated the cession of our country to France or England. It is most true that to rely any longer upon Mexico to govern and defend us

would be idle and absurd. To this extent I fully agree with my distinguished colleagues. It is true that we possess a noble country, every way calculated, from position and resources, to become great and powerful. For that very reason I would not have her a mere dependence upon a foreign monarchy, naturally alien, or at least indifferent to our interests and our welfare. It is not to be denied that feeble nations have in former times thrown themselves upon the protection of their powerful neighbors. The Britons invoked the aid of the warlike Saxons, and fell an easy prey to their protectors, who seized their lands and treated them as slaves. Long before that time, feeble and distracted provinces had appealed for aid to the all-conquering arms of imperial Rome, and they were at the same time protected and subjugated by their grasping ally. Even could we tolerate the idea of dependence, ought we to go to distant Europe for a master? What possible sympathy could exist between us and a nation separated from us by two vast oceans? But waiving this insuperable objection, how could we endure to come under the dominion of a monarch ?-for although others speak lightly of a form of government, as a freeman I cannot do so. We are republicans. Badly governed and badly situated as we are, still we are all, in sentiment, republicans. So far as we are governed at all, we, at least, profess to be self-governed. Who, then, that possesses true patriotism will consent to subject himself and children to the caprices of a foreign king and his official minions? But, it is asked, if we do not throw ourselves upon the protection of France or England, what shall we do? I do not come here to support the existing order of things, but I come prepared to propose instant and effective action to extricate our country from her present forlorn condition. My opinion is made up that we must persevere in throwing off the galling yoke of Mexico and proclaim our independence forever. We have endured her official cormorants and her villanous soldiery until we can endure no longer. All will probably agree with me that we ought at once to rid ourselves of what may remain of Mexican domination. But some profess to doubt our ability to maintain our position. To my mind there comes no doubt. Look at Texas and see how long she withstood the power of united Mexico. The resources of Texas were not to be compared with ours, and she was much nearer to her enemy than we are. Our position is so remote, either by land or sea, that we are in no danger from a Mexican invasion. Why, then, should we hesitate still to assert our independence? We have indeed taken the first step by electing our own governor; but another remains to be taken. I will mention it plainly and distinctly. It is annexation to the United States. In contemplating this consummation of our destiny I feel nothing but pleasure, and I ask you to share it. Discard old prejudices, disregard old customs, and prepare for the glorious change which awaits our country. Why should we shrink from incorporating ourselves with the happiest and freest nation in the world, destined soon to be the most wealthy and powerful? Why should we go abroad for protection, when this great nation is our adjoining neighbor? When we join our fortune to hers we shall not become subjects, but fellow-citizens, possessing all the rights of the people of the United States, and choosing our own federal and local rulers. We shall Have a stable government and just laws. California will grow strong and flourish, and her people will be prosperous, happy, and free. Look not, therefore, with jealousy upon the hardy pioneers who scale our mountains and cultivate our unoccupied plains, but rather welcome them as brothers who come to share with us a com mon destiny."

Upon the conclusion of these remarks General Vallejo and his friends retired in a body from the meeting, and he immediately addressed a letter to the gov ernor reaffirming the views which he had expressed, and declared that he would never assist in any project for annexation to any nationality except that of the United States, or hold any office under any government which proposed to surrender California to any European monarchy; and thereupon he and his sup

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