AN ENGLISH ADMIRAL’S MISSIVE.

At that time also there lay in the roadstead of Mazatlan a British line-of-battle ship, the Collingwood, Admiral Sir George Francis Seymour, a noble type of the English naval officer of Nelson’s time, whom I afterward met at Valparaiso. and it was the general belief that he had similar orders from his government to watch our naval operations on the west coast, and to anticipate us in the game of uti possidetis" as to California.

Commodore Sloat, having dispatched the Cyane and Levant in advance, and leaving the Warren to follow with the mail, hoisted anchor June 8th, and in the Savannah frigate stood to sea, steering for Monterey, California, arriving July 2d, where he found the sloops Cyane and Levant. On the 7th, having made the usual demand of the civil and military authorities to surrender, he landed Captain Mervine, with two hundred and fifty marines and sailors, who took possession of the customhouse, fort, etc., without opposition, and hoisted the United States flag. He also dispatched in advance couriers by land and sea, to Captain Montgomery, of the sloop Portsmouth, in San Francisco Bay, who promptly took possession of the village of Yerba Buena, hoisting the American flag there on the 11th of July. The American insurgents were already in possession of Sonoma and Sutter's Fort.

Hardly were our naval forces in full possession of Monterey, when appeared off the harbor the Collingwood, standing in. I have often heard our naval officers speak of their feelings and speculations at the time as to the probable consequences of a battle between the famous English warship and their own smaller vessels, Savannah, Cyane, and Levant. As she neared the anchorage, the guns were cleared for action, the men were called to quarters, and every preparation was made for battle; but this formidable ship came quietly to anchor in the harbor, and Commodore Sloat sent the usual message of courtesy to Admiral Seymour, who responded in like spirit, and, according to popular belief, remarked that our commodore had stolen a march on him, but that on the whole it was for the best.

LETTER OF COMMODORE WALKER.

As these initial acts of our navy possess a special interest to the pioneer settlers of California, I insert entire the following complete and valuable letter of Commodore Walker, now at the head of the bureau of details of the Navy Department:

NAVY DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, May 10, 1886. J

General W. T. Sherman, 912 Garrison Avenue, St. Louis, Mo.:

My Dear General—Your note of April 30th, to Silas Bent, Esq., asking him to furnish you with certain information, from his recollection, of matters at Mazatlan in 1846, has been sent by him to the Secretary of the Navy, and referred to me for reply.

An examination shows that at the date of the declaration of war with Mexico, May 13, 1846, the Savannah, bearing the broad pennant of Commodore J. D. Sloat; the Cyane, Captain William Mervine; the Levant, Commander Hugh N. Page, and the Erie, storeship, Lieutenant-Commander C. C. Turner. were all at anchor in the harbor of Mazatlan, and that the Warren, Commander J. B. Hull, arrived the following day, May 14th.

The logs of these ships show that her Britannic Majesty's ship Collingwood, the flagship of Rear Admiral Sir George Francis Seymour, got under weigh at 6 A. M.

on the 13th, went outside and stood off and on the harbor. The log of the Warren shows that on the 22d the Collingwood was off the harbor; she came in and anchored on the 23d, and on the 25th, at meridian, got under weigh and went to sea. On the 19th of May the Cyane went to sea, followed on the 20th by the Levant and Erie.

Commodore Sloat reports that on the 7th of June he received information that a state of war existed between Mexico and the United States; that he sailed on the following day, the 8th, for the coast of California to carry out the orders of the 24th of June, 1845, leaving the Warren at Mazatlan to take him any dispatches or important information that might reach there.

There is nothing in the log-books or report to show that the Savannah was followed or watched by the Collingwood. The Savannah arrived at Monterey on the 2d of July, finding the Cyane and Levant in port. On the 9th, the commandant having declined to surrender the place, a force was landed and possession was taken. The Collingwood, with Rear Admiral Sir George Francis Seymour on board, arrived on the 16th, when the usual tender of courtesies and the facilities of the port were offered. The Collingwood was subsequently furnished with a set of topgallant-masts and other spars, and sailed on the 23d for the Sandwich Islands.

The report says:

"The visit of the admiral was very serviceable to our cause in California, as the inhabitants fully believed he would take part with them, and that we would be obliged to abandon our conquest; but when they saw the friendly intercourse subsisting between us and found that he could not interfere in their behalf, they abandoned all hope of ever seeing the Mexican flag fly in California again."

But there is nothing to show that the English admiral said that he should have taken possession of California in the name of Great Britain if Commodore Sloat had not already taken possession in the name of the United States.

The Cyane and Levant went directly from Mazatlan to Monterey, the Cyane arriving June 20th, the Levant arriving July 1st. The Erie went to Honolulu and afterward to San Francisco.

A report has been current in our navy that the English intended taking possession of California, and were only prevented by the fact of finding the United States in possession, but I can find nothing official in support of this.

If I can be of any further use to you in this or other matters, please command me.

My conclusion is that the 7th day of July, 1846, is the true date of the conquest of California by the United States. The California Pioneers, of which society I am proud to be a member, are inclined to adopt an earlier date viz., June 18, 1846, when Wm. B. Ide hoisted at Sonoma the old Bear flag (still jealously preserved), or July 4, 1846, when the American settlers north of the Bay of San Francisco issued their declaration of independence. Neither of these acts was, however, assumed, so far as I can learn, by the General Government, and the Pioneers celebrate the 19th of October, which is the anniversary of the admission of California into the Union in 1850.

READY TO OCCUPY CALIFORNIA.

I do not wish to fatigue you with the details of the measures which ensued and are given in all the current histories of California, save that Commodore Sloat was soon replaced by Stockton, who, in co-operation with Colonel Fremont and his bat

talion of California Volunteers, occupied the ports south of Monterey, viz.: Santa Barbara, San Pedro, Los Angeles, and San Diego. In rapid succession Stockton was succeeded by Shubrick; he by Biddle, and he again by Thos. Ap C. Jones.

Meantime the Government in Washington had also taken effectual measures to occupy California by land forces, so as to be in full possession of the country when the treaty of peace should come.

The company of artillery to which I belonged (Tompkins' F, Third Artillery) was dispatched in the naval storeship Lexington around Cape Horn, leaving New York July 14, 1846, and arrived at Monterey, then regarded as the capital of Upper California, on the 29th of January, 1847.

STEVENSON’S VOLUNTEERS.

Stevenson's regiment of volunteers, specially enlisted as emigrants and mechanics, left New York in September, in three ships, arriving at San Francisco Bay in March, 1847. These troops had to come around Cape Horn in sailing-vessel, necessitating a voyage of 23,000 miles in six months’ time; and to make assurance doubly sure the Government at Washington had instructed General S. W. Kearny, after securing possession of New Mexico, to go to California, which he reached in December, 1846, followed by the battalion of Mormons, commanded by Philip St. George Cooke, with which were serving Captain A. J. Smith and Lieutenant George Stoneman, so that by the spring of 1847 we had of land forces Colonel Fremont and his battalion of California pioneers, General Kearny, with two companies of dragoons and five companies of Mormons, one company of regular artillery, and Colonel Stevenson’s regiment of volunteers; and on the part of the navy, Commodore Stockton, Commodore Shubrick, Commodore Biddle, and Commodore T. Ap C. Jones, with the Pacific and Asiatic squadrons, comprising a good share of the navy of the United States. General Kearny was succeeded by Colonel R. B. Mason, and he by Colonel B. Riley, all experienced and able soldiers.

Proclamations without number were made that the Yankees had come to stay; and the natives were assured that they should be protected in their lives and property. So that I believe that long anterior to the Mexican War our Government and most of our leading American statesmen had resolved to acquire California, cost what it might, as an essential step in our national progress. I remember well to have met a man at Bodega in 1848, who had in operation the only steam saw-mill at that time in California, who told me that Mr. Webster had, long before the Mexican War, advised him to emigrate to California, because that country was destined soon to become a part of the United States. It is as true of nations as of men,

There is a tide in the affairs of men

Which taken at the flood leads on to fortune.
Omitted, all the voyage of this life

1s bound in shallows and in miseries.

On such a full sea we are now afloat,
And we must take the current when it serves,
or lose our ventures.

—Julius Cæsar, Act iv., Scene 3.

WESTWARD THE TIDE.

From the day when Napoleon sold to our commissioners in France, April 3o, 1803, the Spanish provinces of Upper and Lower Louisiana and the undefined territories beyond, there was a tide which swept us on to the Pacific Coast with a force that was irresistible. Oregon was the first step, and California a necessary sequence;

and even had there been no Texas, no Nueces or Rio Grande, and no such Mexican War as actually occurred, California was destined to become a part of the United States. The Spaniards as early as 1596 began to explore the coast and to acquire a quasi title by discovery. Settlements by them began about the beginning of the last century, but no progress was made till 1769, and then only in the form of missions to civilize and christianize the Indians. These had progressed till 1776, when the Mission of Dolores, or San Francisco de Assis, was established here.

Spain and Mexico had held this country, with free and unobstructed communication by land and sea, for a full century, yet in 1846 the highest estimate of population, embracing Indians, natives, and foreigners, did not exceed 23,000 souls. The divine command was to 'go forth, increase, multiply, and replenish the earth. Neither the kingdom of Spain nor republic of Mexico had obeyed this “command in California, for the land was uncultivated, the country in a state of nature. A dozen or more missions and pueblos were strung along the coast, at an average of a day's ride on horseback apart; a few scattered ranches existed, with wide intervals; wild horses and cattle were grazing on the plains and hillsides; the civil authority was incompetent, and the military power ridiculous. There was not a wharf at which a ship could lie to discharge and receive cargo; not a dock at which repairs could be made—none of the facilities which the commerce of the world demands of all civilized countries. There was not a manufactory in the whole country worthy the name; not a steam-engine save that at Bodega; not a wheeled vehicle, except the “carreta" of the native, the same that was used in Egypt in the time of Moses, or the few rickety wagons brought across the plains by American emigrants; not a blacksmith shop, where a horse could be shod; not a brick or bit of quarried stone, only the sun-dried adobe; no schools; nothing superior to what our Indians now possess. Such was California when it fell to us in 1846, and behold the change in forty years! A busy, thriving population of more than a million of people, deriving from the soil and mines enough for their own use, with an annual surplus of a hundred million dollars’ worth of produce for the rest of mankind; the harbors filled with the finest steamers and clippers by which the commerce of the world is carried on; with wharves, drydocks, foundries, and machine-shops which rival those of Liverpool and fulfill in an eminent degree the requirements of civilization on this most important seaboard.

VINDICATING THE GOVERNMENT.

Having been personally associated with California from 1846 to 1858, I would delight to trace her progress upward; but that is not my purpose now. I desire simply to vindicate, as far as I can, our Government from any stain of ungenerous or unkind dealing with our weaker neighbor, the republic of Mexico.

When the Mexican War closed in 1848 we were in absolute possession of all New Mexico, Arizona, California, and the intermediate country, as well as of Lower California and parts of Sonora and Sinaloa, when, by international law and the doctrine of uti possidetis, we could have held them all without compensation; yet our Govèrnment did, in the treaty of peace, stipulate to relinquish all conquests south of San Diego and to pay for the territory retained after the war the sum of $15,00o,000, a fair and reasonable compensation at the time. The first boundary agreed on by the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, February 2, 1848, was substantially the Rio Grande, or Bravo, from its mouth, in the Gulf of Mexico, to El Paso; thence west along the southern boundary of New Mexico to its west boundary; thence north to the river Gila, and down that river to its mouth, and by a straight line to the Pacific Ocean, one league south of the bay of San Diego.

METEORIC RISE.

The very moment our Government had secured title to this vast region it began a series of explorations and surveys looking to the transcontinental railroads and to increased development. These surveys showed that the best southern route for a railroad was south of the river Gila, and negotiations were begun by our minister in Mexico, Mr. Gadsden, when, by treaty of December 3o, 1853, the present southern boundary was agreed on, for which ten millions more of dollars were paid to Mexico. Thus we paid to Mexico $25,000,000 for territory which she was unable to populate or govern, and we, as a people, can safely challenge the world for an example of as fair dealing with a conquered neighbor as is presented by the United States to Mexico in 1848 and 1853. Since 1846 the rise of California has been more like a meteor in the skies than the usual slow and systematic development of newly discovered land. This, to be sure, was occasioned in part by the accidental discovery of gold in 1848, the very gold for which the Spaniards and Mexicans had been dreaming for centuries, and this gold has almost revolutionized the world. But even now this has diminished in importance as compared with the products of the soil. When we were here in early days wheat was a rarity. We had to send to Valparaiso and Guaymas as late as 1848 for the flour to make bread for our soldiers. Now California produces, of wheat alone, enough for her population, and a surplus of fifty millions of bushels for export. You will hear and see at the markets all you want of the fruit, vegetables, and flowers of California, but I will tell you since I have been a man grown I have ridden on horseback from Monterey to San Francisco without a house to sleep in by the way, where are now hotels, palaces, and houses as luxurious as the best of England or France. I could in 1847 have bought land by the league of 4,444 acres for a thousand dollars, that now in some parts is worth a thousand dollars an acre; and I actually quarreled with my best friend, Captain Folsom, for advising me to buy a fifty-vara lot on Montgomery Street, with an out-lot of 100 varas on Market Street, for a doubloon, sixteen dollars. I then considered San Francisco as the most God-forsaken spot of our continent, with the whirling sands of Africa and the winds of Cape Horn. Such an investment of dollars in 1847 would to-day be as many millions. So, my soldier friends, you can see that our foresight is not as good as our hind-sight; and yet I have my doubts if, with our system of State, county, and municipal taxation, a purchase of land made at that date might not have hopelessly impoverished me, because I am told that hardly a single native of California who owned and occupied his leagues of land in 1846 now owns a foot of his native soil. I know that Captain Sutter, who once owned the Hock farm of eleven leagues, and three more at the site of Sacramento city, died recently in Pennsylvania absolutely poor; and I have inquired after many of my old ranchero friends, who in 1847 owned their leagues of land, with herds of horses, cattle, and sheep, who have been impoverished and driven to death or exile by taxes. There is yet plenty of room for reflection and for amendment in this our glorious land of liberty before the coming millennium.

THE ORIGINAL CALIFORNIANS.

Nevertheless when I look about me now and compare the condition of California with what it was in 1847, I cannot help admiring and glorifying the enterprise and industry of our fellow-countrymen. The native Mexican population we found here on arrival were content and happy; they were kind, gentle, and most hospitable, but they occupied more of the earth’s surface than was compatible with modern civilization. They also held the Pacific Coast from Mendocino to San Diego with commercial