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last two years of his administration. And equally scrupulous it may be said was the government as to its obligations as a neutral touching the question of annexation.1

3

To the cause of Texas independence, Kentucky gave of her sons and means unstintedly. General Felix Huston writing from Natchez in the spring of 1836 has this to say: "I wish to get some men from Kentucky. There is no difficulty in getting as many as I want there, but more difficulty in rejecting those I do not want."2 With one exception no trace has been found of any opposition being offered by Kentuckians to the annexation of Texas. In the Lexington Intelligencer of July 12, 1836, appeared an interesting article in which the writer urges the people of Texas to avoid any connection with the Southern States; to forbid the immigration of slaves or slaveholders, and pictures all the benefits which would flow from a population of free men. But as events were destined to show, his was a voice crying in the wilderness, and his arguments fell upon deaf ears. In this connection it is to be remarked that in all the resolutions which were drawn up in Kentucky calling upon the United States government to recognize the independence of Texas, there is no suggestion whatever of the benefits that would accrue to the South by the possible acquisition of new territory being opened up to slavery. According to one of the leading Kentucky journals, six newspapers in the State were opposed to the annexation of Texas, but the names of these are not given. The attitude of the press of the State as a whole is no doubt more faithfully reflected in a quotation found in the Kentucky Gazette of July 7, 1836, which is copied from the New

'See Smith, The Annexation of Texas, Chapter 3.

Richmond Enquirer, May 3, 1836. A "Citizen of the West" writing on Texas in this paper September 2, 1836, remarks that there are "enough volunteers from Kentucky to go to Mexico if Texas had funds to pay the expenses of transportation, and to support them until they reached camp."

Cf. Wharton to Austin, December 11, 1836. Garrison, Dip. Cor. Tex., I, 152. The writer refers to the annexation of Texas being opposed by some in Kentucky and in other States on the ground that a brighter destiny awaited Texas as an independent State.

'On the other hand, the more influential portion of the press of Kentucky sided heartily with Texas. When news of the fall of Bexar reached the State, editorials appeared calling upon the citizens of Kentucky to aid the struggling Texans not only with sympathy but with men and money. See Frankfort Argus, April 20, 1836.

Orleans Bee: "But for Presidents Monroe and Adams, Texas would long have been what she should be a State of the American Union."

While urging the propriety of a recognition of the independence of Texas by the United States in the Senate of Kentucky, one of the members used these words: "Kentucky has been to Texas what France was to the British Colonies—she has furnished her with soldiers and money and advocated her cause in the face of the world." A correspondent of the Louisville Public Advertiser of June 2 writes: "Kentucky may claim a large portion of the glory acquired in the late decisive victory over Santa Anna on the San Jacinto. We have felt and bled for the safety of our brethren in Texas."

Both of these statements, though exaggerated, nevertheless, contain an element of truth. Kentucky afforded the struggling Texans moral and material assistance at a time when such aid was urgently needed. With justice she might lay claim to no small share of the "generous sympathy so abundantly manifested by the people of the United States."

The Commonwealth, February 1, 1837. As for instance when the lower house of the Kentucky Legislature passed a resolution instructing her representatives in Congress to vote in favor of recognition. It may be noted that Clay was chairman of the Senate committee which on June 18 reported in favor of the conditional acknowledgment of the independence of Texas. Cf. Rather, "Recognition of the Republic of Texas by the United States," in THE QUARTERLY, XIII, 218.

Kentucky Gazette, June 6, 1836.

"Burnet to Collinsworth and Grayson. August 10, 1836. Garrison, Dip. Cor. Tex., I, 210.

THE APPROACHES TO CALIFORNIA

FREDERICK J. TEGGART

The paramount interest of California history lies, not in the vicissitudes of settlers in the country, but in the search for a road thither. There neither was nor is any short or easy way of reaching El Dorado; and, from the days of the conqueror of Mexico to the present, the wrecks of lives and reputations have been strewn along the many paths by which men have essayed to reach this land.

In contrast with the coast of California-by which was once designated the whole stretch from Cape San Lucas to Unalaskathe Atlantic seaboard of North America lies open to Europe. To it there was but one line of approach for an expanding western civilization, and the problem of this approach was solved once and for all by Columbus and Cabot. Henceforward the nationsSpanish, Portuguese, English, French, or Dutch-might come, for the way lay open and direct.

To the Pacific Coast, on the other hand, no direct approach was possible. Between western Europe and California there lie, not the oceans merely, but the great land masses of the globe. These obstacles are the primary consideration in her history, which assumes ever new aspects with the opening of new routes. The history of the Spanish period is the record of land expeditions from the south and of hazardous voyages on difficult and uncharted coasts. The short period of Mexican domination witnessed the coming of the Americans from the castward overland through the wilderness, and of new ventures on the coast by American ships. The conquest in 1846 was but the prelude to the coming of the Argonauts by sea and land, over routes new and old. The conditions created by this mad influx had scarcely been reduced to order when a new chapter was opened with the completion of the first transcontinental railroad. Such, moreover, is the recognition of the importance of these approaches that, in spreading out the unwritten page for a newer chapter, the people of California are preparing to mark its importance with the frontispiece of a great international pageant.

The history of the one hundred and forty years since the first Europeans settled in California turns thus upon the approaches by which men have reached her shores. Back of this period there lie two and a quarter centuries of similar endeavor so that the entire scope of European activity on the coast is unified by one special interest.

To appreciate the significance of these endeavors it is necessary to disabuse one's mind of the idea, expressed in its accepted form by Bishop Berkeley, that the expansion of the nations follows the path of the setting sun. This is an idea evidently born of the movement across the Atlantic; and is one that could not possibly have originated on the western side of the continent. From the standpoint of the Pacific Ocean the question is not merely of Spaniards and Englishmen crossing the Atlantic Ocean and the American continent, but of Russians making their way eastward across Asia and leaving us a memorial of their ambitions in the name of the Russian River; and, further, of the hitherward overflowing of oriental nations that has created in perpetuity the problem of Asiatic exclusion. When the time comes for a new interpretation of the movements of expansion the old conception of a western line of advance may give place to the idea that civilization, spreading out from an original focus in eastern Asia, after traversing equal distances to the east and to the west, is drawing to a new focus on this spot which is opposite the first but on the other side of the world.

It is unnecessary to dwell upon the fact that the earlier explorations of great land masses were, of necessity, made in ships. The world of ancient history was confined to the shores of the Mediterranean Sea; and even today, with all the modern facilities for overland travel, the seaboards of the world are infinitely better known than the inland parts of the continents. Theoretically, in order to reach California from Europe, it was necessary, at the beginning, to pass round either one or other of the two great land masses of the globe. There were thus four possible approaches: the explorer might sail eastward to the north of Europe or to the south of Africa; or he might sail westward to the north or to the south of the American continent. One only of these four has been used as a route to the Pacific Coast, though each of them has in turn been tried. The northern routes are ice-bound, while that

by "The Cape" presents no advantages over the South American route to compensate for the greater length of the voyage it entails. The route by Cape Horn was itself so long and hazardous that the search for an available alternative was eagerly pursued. After centuries of effort the only possible alternative-one first proposed in 1523-is now being made ready by the government of the United States.

The first explorations of the California coast were not dependent, however, on the use of the long sea routes. They were the inevitable sequel to the conquest of Mexico. The efforts of Cortés disclosed no such wonders, however, as had been described by Ordoñez de Montalvo, and can scarcely be called successful from any point of view. The two ships he sent out in 1532 never returned. In 1533 the Concepción and San Lázaro discovered the extremity of the peninsula, but were otherwise unfortunate. The expedition of 1535, led by Cortés himself, landed at the bay of Santa Cruz, possibly La Paz, but failed in the purpose of establishing a colony. Finally, the expedition under Francisco de Ulloa, in 1539, which was the supreme effort of Cortés, succeeded in exploring the Gulf of California to its head and the outer coast to about the latitude of 28°.

The viceroy, Antonio de Mendoza, next took up the burden of northward exploration. To co-operate with Coronado in the search for the famous Seven Cities of Cibola he sent Hernando d'Alarcón, in 1540, by sea to the head of the gulf. Mendoza had no better fortune than Cortés in discovering fabulous lands and cities, but by his next venture, the expedition under Cabrillo and Ferrelo, in 1542, the California coast was explored to 40° 26'. The return of Ferrelo marks the conclusion of the first period of California exploration when next the scene opens interests of quite another character are disclosed.

In 1566 Urdaneta crossed the Pacific Ocean from the Philippine Islands to Mexico and demonstrated the practicability of this voyage. The route thus marked out brought the returning galleons to the American coast in the vicinity of Cape Mendocino, and further examination of the coast thus became a matter of necessity. It required, however, the stimulus of Francis Drake to bring the Spanish government to the point of ordering this exploration to be made.

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