Plumas County, CA History Transcribed by Sally Kaleta Jul 2009 This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor, OR the legal representative of the submitter. All persons donating to this site retain the rights to their own work. Illustrated History of PLUMAS, LASSEN & SIERRA Counties with CALIFORNIA from 1513 to 1850, Farriss & Smith , 1882, San Francisco. CHAPTER XI CALIFORNIA after the CONQUEST, until ADMITTED into the UNION as a STATE in 1850. Peace Having Been Restored with the Enemy, Hostilities Commence between the Army Officers - Stockton's Views - Kearny's Opinion - Fremont in a Difficult Position - What Kearny Wished him to do, and what Stockton Expected of him - Fremont Decides against Kearny - Stockton and the General both Leave Los Angeles - Fremont Made Governor - Commodore Shubrick Arrives, and Assumes Command - He Joins Kearny in an Order Declaring that the General is Governor - Kearny Issues his Proclamation - How it was Received - Fremont Becomes Satisfied that he will not be Sustained - He Yields to Kearny, and is Taken, by that Officer a Prisoner to the States - The Result - Colonel R. B. Mason Becomes Governor - His Distinguished Subordinates - The Effects of the Discovery of Gold upon the Californians - The Tidal-wave from Abroad - The Necessity of a Change in the Government - Chronological Events - General Riley Succeeds Mason as Governor - The Condition of the Country at that Time - A Convention Frames a Constitution - The Vote upon its Adoption - Officers Elected - The Struggle among the Titans in Congress over the Admission of California - The Territorial Legislation - What it did - State Admitted into the Union - Final. Stockton, Kearny and Fremont, having conquered peace, at once inaugurated war among themselves. No longer having a common enemy to fight, they became hostile to each other. General Kearny, as we have before stated, came from New Mexico with orders if he subdued the country on the Pacific coast to establish a civil government there. He had entered the territory, met the enemy at San Pasqual, and, but for the timely assistance from Stockton, would have been theirs; therefore, he was not in a position to assume the right to civil control at the establishment of peace, on the grounds of having conquered the country. The commodore claimed that the general could set up no other reason for authority, as conquest was a condition precedent in the government orders to him; that, the conditions not having been complied with, the whole was null and void, and, consequently, the general was only "a looker-on-here in Vienna." General Kearny was not of the same opinion regarding the orders, under which he claimed the right to assume command and control on land. He interpreted them to be the expression on the part of our government of an intention, not that control should be given as a reward for services in gaining battles, or subjugating the land, but that he (Kearny) should establish a civil government in California after it had been conquered; and that the condition precedent was, that the country should be subdued, not that he should do it. The country being now at peace, he claimed to be its governor and to be entitled to assume command. He also believed it to be his right by virtue of his rank as general. This difference of opinion had arisen immediately upon the occupation of Los Angeles, and Fremont had become aware of the fact before entering the place. He was outranked by both those officers, and the question became a serious one with him as to which of them he should report and thus recognize as the head of the western or Pacific department. The one to whom he reported for orders would be placed in a position to maintain his supremacy by force of arms, if necessary, by the support of the California battalion. General Kearny said, "Recognize my authority, and eventually I will leave you here as Governor." Commodore Stockton said, "You have been acting under my orders; there is a doubt as to who is entitled to control; give me the benefit of the doubt, and I will make you Governor at once." Fremont reported to Stockton on the fourteenth of January, 1847, and received his appointment as governor from that officer two days later, with Col. W. H. Russell as secretary of state. On the eighteenth of January, Kearny left for San Diego with his dragoons. On the nineteenth, Stockton also departed for San Pedro, where he embarked and sailed for Mexico. On the twenty-second, Fremont issued at Los Angeles his proclamation, signing it as "Governor and Commander-in-chief of California." On the next day, Com. W. B. Shubrick arrived at Monterey, and assumed the title and duties of commander-in-chief, as evinced by his proclamation of February 1, 1847. One month later he joined General Kearn in the following circular order, it being practically a notice to Fremont that he was an usurper, and that if he played at being Governor any longer, it would be at his own peril: - CIRCULAR To all whom it may concern, be it known - That the president of the United States, desirous to give and secure to the people of California a= share of the good government and happy civil organization enjoyed by the people of the United States, and to protect them at the same time from the attacks of foreign foes and from internal commotions, has invested the undersigned with separate and distinct powers, civil and military, a cordial co-operation in the exercise of which, it is hoped and believed, will have the happy result desired. To the commander in chief of the naval forces the president has assigned the regulations of the import trade - the conditions on which vessels of all nations, our own as well as foreign, may be admitted into the ports of the territory, and the establishment of all port regulations. To the commanding military officer the president has assigned the direction of the operations on land, and has invested him with administrative functions of government over the people and territory occupied by the forces of the United States. Done at Monterey, capital of California, this first day of March, 1847. W. Bradford Shubrick, Commander-in-Chief of the Naval Forces. S. W. Kearny, Brigadier-General U. S. A. and Governor of California. On the same day Kearny issued the following proclamation as Governor, in which he ignored the existence of the treaty of Couenga, and notified the Californians that they were citizens of the United States and were absolved from allegiance with Mexico. PROCLAMATION TO THE PEOPLE OF CALIFORNIA The president of the United States having instructed the undersigned to take charge of the civil government of California, he enters upon his duties with an ardent desire to promote, as far as he is able, the interests of the country and the welfare of its inhabitants. The undersigned has instructions from the president to respect and protect the religious institutions of California, and to see that the religious rights of the people are in the amplest manner preserved to them, the constitution of the United States allowing every man to worship his Creator in such a manner as his own conscience may dictate to him. The undersigned is also instructed to protect the persons and property of the quiet and peaceable inhabitants of the country against all or any of their enemies, whether from abroad or at home; and when he now assures the Californians that it will be his duty and pleasure to comply with those instructions, he calls upon them all to exert themselves in preserving order and tranquility, in promoting harmony and concord, and in maintaining the authority and efficiency of the law. It is the wish and design of the United States to provide for California, with the least possible delay, a free government, similar to those of her other territories, and the people will soon be called upon to exercise their rights as freemen in electing their own representatives to make such laws as may be deemed best for their interest and welfare. But, until this can be done, the laws now in existence, and not in conflict with the constitution of the United States, will be continued until changed by competent authority; and those persons who hold office will continue in the same for the present, provided they swear to support the constitution and to faithfully perform their duty. The undersigned hereby absolves all the inhabitants of California from any further allegiance to the Republic of Mexico, and will consider them as citizens of the United States. Those who remain quiet and peaceable will be respected in their rights and protected in them. Should any take up arms against or oppose the government of this territory, or instigate others to do so, they will be considered as enemies and treated accordingly. When Mexico forced war upon the United States, time did not permit the latter to invite the Californians as friends to join her standard, but compelled her to take possession of the country to prevent any European power from seizing upon it, and, in doing so, some excesses and unauthorized acts were no doubt committed by persons employed in the service of the United States, by which a few of the inhabitants have met with a loss of property. Such losses will be duly investigated, and those entitled to remuneration will receive it. California has for many years suffered greatly from domestic troubles. Civil wars have been the poison fountains which have sent forth trouble and pestilence over her beautiful land. Now those fountains are dried up, the star-spangled banner floats over California, and as long as the sun continues to shine upon her, so long wi= ll it float there, over the natives of the land as well as others who have found a home in her bosom; and, under it, agriculture must improve, and the arts and sciences flourish, as seed in a rich and fertile soil. The Americans and Californians are now but one people. Let us cherish one wish, one hope, and let that be for the peace and quiet of our country. Let us, as a band of brothers, unite and emulate each other in our exertions to benefit and improve this beautiful, and, which soon must be, our happy and prosperous home. Done at Monterey, capital of California, this first day of March, A.D., 1847, and in the seventy-first year of Independence of the United States. S. W. Kearny, Brigadier-General U.S.A. and Governor of California. Lieut. E. Bryant records that "The proclamation of General Kearny gave great satisfaction to the native as well as the immigrant population of the country." That was probably true as regarded the immigrants and some of the natives, but as to a majority of Californians it was not correct. They had been forced to surrender upon agreed conditions, signed at Couenga, and those conditions had been ignored. It was a breach of faith, and they were justified in doubting the integrity of those into whose hands they had fallen. On the eleventh of March, orders reached Fremont that satisfied him of the intention on the part of the home government to sustain neither Commodore Stockton nor himself. He received orders to either disband the California battalion or muster it into the United States service; and that force refused to be mustered, and asked for their pay. Fremont immediately visited Kearny at Monterey, to see if his men could be paid, and was ordered to return and ship by water such of his command to Monterey as would not muster, and to follow it by land. Upon Fremont's return to Los Angeles, he found that Col. P. St. George Cook, of the Mormon battalion, had arrived during his absence and demanded possession of his artillery, the demand not having been complied with. Col. R. B. Mason (afterwards governor) visited Los Angeles with the intention of mustering out or into the United States service the battalion. He was followed early in May by General Kearny, when Fremont yielded to the pressure, and on May 31, 1847, started with General Kearny overland for the east, a prisoner. He was tried at Fortress Monroe, and convicted by a military court-martial of having been guilty of mutiny, disobedience and disorderly conduct, and was sentenced to forfeit his commission in the army. This he declined, and abandoned the military service. A few years later he narrowly escaped being made president of the United States, because of the opinion that had become rooted in the minds of the people, that he had through jealousy been made a victim by his superiors in rank, because of his justly-earned fame in the acqui-sition of California. At present (1881) he is governor of Arizona. With Fremont's departure dissentions ceased, and Col. R. B. Mason, of the first United States dragoons, assumed the duties of governor, with W. T. Sherman, (now one of the world's great captains), as his adjutant-general, and H. W. Halleck (the late commanding general of the United States army), as secretary of state. Colonel Mason died of cholera in St. Louis, in 1849, and his widow married Gen. D. C. Buell, and is now living in Kentucky. The administration of Governor Mason commenced May 31, 1847, and ended April 13, 1849. It was, therefore, during his administration that gold was discovered at Coloma, on the nineteenth of January, 1848. Fourteen days later, a treaty was made between the United States and Mexico, for which the United States government paid that country $15, 000,000, besides assuming an indemnity debt of $3,500,000, which Mexico owed citizens of our republic; neither of the contracting parties knowing, at the time, of the discovery of gold, for the particulars of which the reader is referred to another chapter devoted to that subject. When the people on this coast began to realize that the royal metal lay hidden away in the foot-hills and along the mountain streams of the Sierra, a change, sudden and absolute, "came o'er the spirit of their dream," leaving the desire for sudden wealth as the only predominant impulse that moved the masses and controlled their acts. Those who had come to California intent upon making in this country their permanent homes, suddenly lost sight of that fact, and became possessed of an irresistible desire to abandon them that they might dig wealth from nature's secret places, and then return to enjoy the fruits of their brief labors. During 1848, those only were benefited by the gold discovery who were residents of the country, or upon the coast. But the herald had gone forth into the highways and by-places of earth to summon the adven-turesome of all countries to the El Dorado of the world. The news of the discovery of gold in 1848 did not reach Oregon until the last of August, when it was brought by a vessel that sailed into the Columbia from the Sandwich Islands. Immediately there was great excitement, and a company with twenty wagons started overland to California, while as many as could get passage on the few vessels that were accessible went to San Francisco by sea. Others passed down the old trail through Shasta valley. The wagons turned off in the Rogue River valley and followed up the emigrant road to Pit river, where they came upon the wagon trail made by Peter Lassen and a party of emigrants a few weeks before. This they followed, and overtook them near Lassen's Peak, at the head of Feather river, out of provisions and unable to move. By the aid of the Oregonians the party reached the valley, being the first company to enter California by the Lassen road, and the Oregonians being the first to take wagons from Oregon to California. The estimated population of California on the first of January, 1849, was: Californians 13,000 Americans 8,000 Foreigners 5,000 TOTAL 26,000 Early in the spring the first vessel came laden with gold-seekers, who were followed in rapid succession by others. This was the premonition of the tidal-wave that swept this shore that and the ensuing year from the outside world. Between the twelfth of April, 1849, and the twenty-eighth of February, 1850, there arrived in San Francisco 43,824 passengers, of whom 31,725 were American men, 951 American women, 10,394 foreign men, 754 foreign women. At the same time that the high seas were bringing this throng of humanity to our shores, a steady stream of immigration was pouring over the mountains from the plains. The experience of Lassen's party in 1848 was repeated the next year, when a large emigration came over that route, and became snowed in and out of provisions on the head-waters of the Feather river. When word of their precious situation reached the valley, the people of San Francisco, Stockton and Sacramento, who remembered the sad fate of the Donner party, made a great effort in their behalf. Their condition was represented to Gen. Percifer F. Smith, who, with the consent of Gen. Bennett Riley, the military governor, placed one hundred thousand dollars in the hands of Major Rucker, United States quartermaster, to purchase animals and supplies for their relief. The military authorities were the more moved to this act of humanity because General Wilson, United States Indian Agent, was among the sufferers. John H. Peoples, who was afterwards drowned in one of the Trinidad expeditions, was selected to lead the relief party. About the first of October, Mr. Peoples started with twenty-four pack-animals, three wagons, and fifty-six beef cattle, having twenty-five men in his party. He found the emigrants in the snow on Pit river, out of food and suffering with the scurvy. On the first of December he brought in fifty families to Lassen's ranch, including General Wilson's, the last thirty miles being traversed through a blinding snow-storm. The majority of the emigrants settled in the head of Sacramento valley, or went to the Trinity mines in the early spring. YEAR POPULATION INCREASE January 1, 1849 26,000 ------- (Estimated) "��������� 1850 107,069 81,069 "����������1852 264,435 171,838 "��������� 1860 379,994 115,559 "��������� 1870 560,247 180,253 "��������� 1880 864,836 304,589 It needs but a glance at this table to see the necessity that existed of some acceptable form of government for this territory, which was receiving those tens of thousands, coming from the pulpit (but few), the college, the bar, the factory, the shop, the farm, the dens of vice, the prison-ships and penal colonies of the world. Gold was discovered January 19; the treaty of peace was signed Feb. 2; the United States ratified that treaty March 10; Mexico ratified it May 24; official news of the gold discovery was sent to Washington Aug. 17, and the official news of peace was received by Governor Mason in September; all in 1848. From the seventh of July, 1846, when Sloat hoisted the flag at Monterey, until the news was received officially in September, 1848, that peace was declared, a military governor was the proper head of the government here. From that time forward there was no law existing, under which the military branch of the United States government could, yet it did, continue to control the country. Gen. Bennett Riley superceded R. B. Mason as governor April 13, 1849, and upon going into office, found that a spirit of discontent pervaded the people, because of the uncertainty that seemed to exist in regard to what laws were operative in the territory. They were given to understand that those existing at the time of its conquest remained in force within its limits, provided that they were not contrary to the constitution of the United States, and would continue to do so until changed by competent authority. This fact was not a popular one with the incoming inhabitants, especially the American portion of it, and the result was that but little respect was paid to any law except that of the revolver. With such a state of affairs, General Riley, under advice of the president, deemed it advisable to set on foot a territorial organization, although not authorized by law to do so. Consequently, June 3, 1849, he issued a call for an election of delegates to take place on the first day of the coming August, at which time alcaldes (Justices of the peace) and judges of the courts of the first instance were also to be elected in places entitled to such officers. The election occurred in accordance with the call, and the delegates assembled at Monterey, September 1, when they commenced the organization of a territorial government by framing a constitution, and, completing their labors, adjourned October 13, 1849. The constitution was submitted to the people on the thirteenth of the next month (November), at which time a general election of state officers occurred. The vote was almost solid in its favor, twelve thousand and sixty-four having been cast for, and only eight hundred and eleven against its adoption. At the election the votes cast for governor were: Peter H. Burnett 6,716 W. Scott Sherwood 3,188 J. W. Geary 1,475 John A. Sutter 2,201 Wm. M. Stewart 619 TOTAL 14,199 John McDougall was elected lieutenant-governor, and Edward Gilbert and George W. Wright were chosen to represent the territory in congress. The light vote, where a few weeks later a population of 107,069, was claimed, proves conclusively that the miners cared but little for politics. On the fifteenth of December the legislature met at San Jose, and on the twentieth of the same month General Riley turned over the governmental control of affairs to the care of the newly-elected territorial officials, and the machinery of state was set in motion. "The legislature of a thousand drinks" immediately inaugurated business, and on the sixth day went into joint conven-tion for the election of two United States senators to represent the state at Washington as soon as she became such by being admitted into the Union. The balloting resulted in the choice of John C. Fremont and William M. Gwin, who afterwards served for a few days in the capacity for which they were elected. Those gentlemen, our first senatorial representatives, witnessed that fierce contest of the Titans as they struggled against each other in congress over the question of slavery, a firebrand the California constitution had hurled into their midst, igniting a flame quenched only by the shock of the legions that melted away under Grant and Lee around Richmond. The people on the Pacific coast had said in their organic law that slavery should not be tolerated within their territory. Calhoun, Foote, and Jefferson Davis replied, backed by an almost unanimous South, that we should never become a state of the Union while such a declaration was engrafted in our constitution. It was in response to such a sentiment, coming from Jefferson Davis, that the great American orator, Henry Clay, rose in that body and said: "Coming, as I do, from a slave state, it is my solemn, deliberate, and well-matured determination, that no power - no earthly power - shall compel me to vote for the positive introduction of slavery, either south or north of that line." (Missouri Compromise Line). In this debate Daniel Webster, always Calhoun's antagonist, uttered one of those sentences that fasten themselves upon the memory of mankind: "I would not take pains to reaffirm an ordinance of nature, nor to re-enact the will of God." William H. Seward, then young in the senate, was found battling side by side with Webster, Clay, Benton and the Little Giant of Illinois, Stephen A. Douglas, in their efforts to gain admission for California, and in his enthusiastic warmth uttered the following beautiful thought: "Let California come in - California, that comes from the clime where the west dies away into the rising east. California, that bounds at once the empire and the continent. California, the youthful Queen of the Pacific, in the robes of freedom, gorgeously inlaid with gold, is doubly welcome. She stands justified for all the irregularities in the method of her coming." While this contest was in progress, the territorial legislature had gone quietly on enacting laws. One was passed February 18, 1850, dividing California into counties, and on March 2, another was enacted, authorizing the first county elections that took place on the first of April. On the twenty-second of April the legislature adjourned, having enacted in its four months' session one hundred and forty laws that were supposed to so completely cover the requirements of the times as to warrant that body, in its own judgment, in making their enactments the only existing law. Four months after the adjournment of the legislature, the bill for the admission of California passed the senate, the vote being taken August thirteenth, and going to the lower house, passed that body September seventh. It was signed by President Fillmore on the ninth of the same month, and Senators Fremont and Gwin were permitted to take their seats, as well as the other two representatives of the youthful "Queen of the Pacific," and October 18, 1850, General Bidwell arrived in San Francisco on the steamer Oregon, the bearer of the welcome news. With California standing as a state at the threshold of her destiny; with her limits defined and laws established; with her name a magic talisman to the world; with the $100,000,000 in gold from her ravines, gulches and canons distributed among the nations; with her $455,000,000 that, in the coming eight years, were to follow in the same channel; with the little that is said and the much that remains untold, we are compelled to close this history. GOVERNORS OF CALIFORNIA American Rule - Territorial. NAME TERM 1. Com. John D. SLOAT July 7, 1846 to August 17, 1846. 2. Com. Robert F. STOCKTON August 17, 1846 to January 16, 1847. 3. Col. John C. FREMONT January 16, 1847 to March 1, 1847. 4. Gen. Stephen W. KEARNY March 1, 1847 to May 31, 1847. 5. Col. Richard B. MASON May 31, 1847 to April 13, 1849. 6. Gen. Bennett RILEY April 13, 1849 to December 20, 1849. American Rule - State NAME INAUGURATED 1. *Peter H. BURNETT December 20, 1849. 2. John McDOUGALL January 9, 1851. 3. John BIGLER January 8, 1852. January 8, 1854. 4. J. Neely JOHNSON January 8, 1856. 5. John B. WELLER January 8, 1858. 6. *Milton S. LATHAM January 8, 1860 7. John G. DOWNEY January 14, 1860. 8. Leland STANFORD January 8, 1862. 9. +Frederick F. LOW December 2, 1863. 10. Henry H. HAIGHT December 5, 1867. 11. *Newton BOOTH December 8, 1871. 12. Romualdo PACHECO February 27, 1875. 13. Wm. IRWIN December 9, 1875. 14. George C. Perkins January 8, 1880. *Resigned. + Term of office increased from two to four years. POPULATION OF CALIFORNIA Counties 1870 1880 1. Alameda 24,237 63,639 2. Alpine 685 539 3. Amador 9,582 11,332 4. Butte 11,403 19,025 5. Calaveras 8,895 8,980 6. Colusa 6,165 13,362 7. Contra Costa 8,461 12,400 8. Del Norte 2,022 2,499 9. El Dorado 10,309 10,647 10. Fresno 6,336 10,459 11. Humboldt 6,140� *15,515 12. Inyo 1, 956 2,974 13. Kern 2,925 5,607 ����� Klamath 1,686 *____ 14. Lake 2,969 6,643 15. Lassen 1,327 3,329 16. Los Angeles 15,309 33,392 17. Marin 6,903 11,326 18. Mariposa 4,572 4,340 19. Mendocino 4,572 4,340 20. Merced 2,807 5,661 21. Modoc ______ 4,700 22. Mono 430 5,416 23. Monterey 9,876 11,270 24. Napa 7,163 12,894 25. Nevada 19,134 20,534 26. Placer 11,357 14,278 27. Plumas 4,489 6,881 28. Sacramento 26,830 36,200 29. San Benito ______ 5,593 30. San Bernardino 3,988� 7,800 31. San Diego 4,951 8,620 32. San Francisco 149,473 233,066 33. San Joaquin 21,050 24,323 34. San Louis Obispo 4,772 9,064 35. San Mateo 6,635 8,717 36. Santa Barbara 7,784 9,522 37. Santa Clara 26,246 35,113 38. Santa Cruz 8,743 12,808 39. Shasta 4,173 9,700 40. Sierra 5,619 6,617 41. Siskiyou *6,848 8,651 42. Solano 16,871 18,774 43. Sonoma 19,819 25,874 44. Stanislaus 6,499 8,680 45. Sutter 5,030 5,212 46. Tehama 3,587 9,414 47. Trinity 3,213 4,881 48. Tulare 4,533 11,361 49. Tuolume 8,150 7,634 50. Ventura ______ 5,088 51. Yolo 9,899 11,880 52. Yuba 10,851 11,540 TOTAL 560,247 864,836 *By act approved March 28, 1874, the territory comprised in the county of Klamath was annexed to the counties of Humboldt and Siskiyou. Modoc county was formed from the eastern part of Siskiyou county. San Benito county was formed from the eastern part of Monterey county. Ventura county was formed from the eastern part of Santa Barbara county. AN IMPORTANT DOCUMENT The histories of California, since its acquisition by the Untied States, have all given a similar version of the position, acts and intentions of the British government, in regard to the possession of this state, prior to and at the time when Commodore Sloat solved the problem of possession by the seizure of Monterey. Thinking from the tone of those versions that it was possible they might be partisan statements, instead of authentic history, a letter of inquiry was addressed to J. Alex Forbes, ex vice-president consul of Great Britain, and the following reply, that speaks in no uncertain terms, was received : - West Oakland, California, Dec. 12, 1879 Colonel Frank T. Gilbert - DEAR SIR: I received duly your letter of the tenth current, informing me that you are engaged in writing a California State History, and desiring to adhere strictly to correctness, in your narration of political occurrences in this state prior to its acquisition by the United States, you send me two extracts from historical compilations of California, by Messrs. Tuthill and Cronise, for the purpose of testing the accuracy of certain statements therein published, relative to negotiations which they allege I had, in 1846, with Governor Pico, General Vallejo, and General Castro, for affecting a separation of California from the Mexican Republic, and for placing the former under the protection of Great Britain. As I have taken no exception to these statements, my silence regarding them may perhaps be ascribed to a tacit recognition of the same as true. Never having seen those compilations, I was entirely ignorant of the inaccuracies therein published until I read the above-mentioned extracts. My notice thereof, at this late day, may appear supererogatory, and, so far as concerns myself, I regard those statements with indifference; but I feel it my duty to defend the aforesaid respectable Californians from the liberal unauthorized imputations cast upon them by those compilers in their erroneous assertions, respecting which, even if those statements were true in fact, I deny the right of Messrs. Tuthill and Cronise to censure Governor Pico, General Vallejo, and General Castro for their personal or official acts, in proceedings which they were at perfect liberty to carry into full effect for achieving the independence of California, by and with the consent of a majority of the inhabitants thereof, and without the least responsibility to any foreign power. Furthermore, I declare that the statements contained in the aforesaid extracts are absolutely inaccurate, unfounded in fact, and based upon hearsay evidence, originating in incorrect official reports of Mr. Thomas O. Larkin to the United States government, under which, since 1844, he held the appointment of consul at Monterey, of whose official acts alone and with due respect to his memory I speak in this connection. Mr. Larkin's very limited knowledge of the Spanish language and his inclusiveness, prevented him from exercising political or social influence with the rulers or the people of California, and rendered difficult his acquisition of reliable information of the political occurrences that were passing in the spring of 1846, when he informed his government that he had discovered the existence of an intrigue or scheme, in which Governor Pico, General Vallejo, General Castro, and myself, were secretly negotiating "for passing their country to the possession of England, under the direction of a Catholic priest named Macnamara, who was to conduct a colony of Irishmen to California, as he had petitioned the Mexican government for large grants of lands around the bays of San Francisco and Monterey, at Santa Barbara and along the San Joaquin, of which lands that government had readily granted, not all that Macnamara asked, but three thousand square leagues in the San Joaquin valley, and for the perfection of the patent it only needed the signature of Governor Pico." Here we have the absurd assertion that the executive authority of a departmental governor suddenly became superior to that of the supreme government of Mexico, in that the former had to approve the official act of the latter, by signing the patent for the said grant made to Macnamara, whom Mr. Cronise says was "an agent of the British government," and that his title deeds for said land "fortunately fell into the hands of the Federal government before they were signed by Governor Pico!" etc. And further, "to show how thoroughly informed the Federal government were of this design, we quote the following instructions from Secretary Bancroft to Commodore Sloat, under date of July 12, 1846, only two months after Forbes' contract had been signed." I now ask, what contract, when and where signed? In justice to Governor Pico, General Vallejo, and General Castro I say that neither of them ever had any negotiation with me as above stated. I deny that the Rev. Mr. Macnamara was an agent of the British government. That gentleman came from Ireland to Mexico for the purpose of soliciting a grant of land for colonizing it with Irish immigrants. He was informed by the Mexican president that large grants of land suitable for colonization could only be obtained in California, as there were two large tracts vacant in this depart-ment. Accordingly Mr. Macnamara went to Mazatlan to take passage for Monterey, but not finding any vessel there bound for this coast, he finally succeeded in obtaining a passage in an English corvette, whose captain was a countryman of Macnamara. He arrived at Monterey in June, 1846, when I made his acquaintance, and being informed by him of his desire to petition Governor Pico for a large tract of land for colonization, I informed him that the only lands suitable for his purpose were situated in the San Joaquin valley. He petitioned the Governor and received a grant of two hundred square leagues, subject to the approval of the supreme government of Mexico, and with the condition of placing two hundred families of immigrants upon said lands within one year from the date of his grant. These are the facts respecting the occurrences that caused so much apprehension in the mind of Mr. Consul Larkin, that the United States would be cheated out of the principal prize that made war acceptable to her. Mr. Cronise states that the deeds for three thousand square leagues of land in the San Joaquin valleys, made in favor of this Macnamara, very fortunately fell into the hands of the Federal Government before they were signed by Governor Pico. Mr. Macnamara had no muniment of title upon which to base his tremendous claim for compensation; consequently nobody was injured by his petition to the governor for that grant of land, and there was no necessity for the unfounded animadversion of the aforesaid alleged participants in the pretended political above-mentioned intrigue. Mr. Cronise forgot to explain to his readers how Mr. Macnamara's deeds for three thousand square leagues of land fell into the hands of the Federal government before they were signed by Governor Pico. Those unsigned title deeds were the copies or register of Macnamara's grant, which were doubtless found in the government archives after the change of flag, and, of course, they were unsigned by Governor Pico. Macnamara had the original. The only facts upon which Mr. Consul Larkin based his official report to the United States government of the supposed intrigue for placing California under British protection, originated in the following information imparted to him by myself: 1st. That Governor Pico and two members of the departmental assembly, who were Don Juan Bandini and Don Santiago Arguello, had informed me, that as California was in reality abandoned by the government of Mexico, the authorities of this department were seriously discussing the necessity of severing their political relations with that republic for the purpose of soliciting the protection of a foreign power, for which object the governor and said members requested me to inform her Majesty's government thereof, to ascertain if its protection would be extended over California. 2d. That, in reply thereto, I informed Governor Pico and the said members, that I was absolutely without authority to give them any official answer upon the subject, but that I would duly inform her Majesty's government of the matter. On the seventeenth of July, 1846, Rear Admiral Sir George Seymour, in command of her Majesty's ship Collingwood, arrived at Monterey, and forthwith addressed an official letter to Governor Pico, at Los Angeles, informing him that, in view of the existing war between the United States and Mexico, her Majesty's government would not interfere in the affairs of California. That official note was sent by me to Governor Pico, by a special messenger, under a safe-conduct granted by Commodore Stockton. On the return of the messenger to Monterey, I paid him one hundred dollars for his service, and delivered the safe-conduct into the hands of Captain Mervine, then in command of the United States forces at that port. In conclusion, I deny positively that the British government ever had any intention pf establishing a protectorate over California. Respectfully Yours, J. Alex. FORBES.