FUNERAL CEREMONIES.—ELECTED ALCALDE.—FLIGHT OF GEN. CASTRO.—LOS
ANGELES TAKEN.—OVEN-BATH.—GROG IN A CHIMNEY.—THE FLEA.—FIRST
RAIN.—RISING OF THE CALIFORNIANS.—MEASURES OF COM.
STOCKTON.—MORMONS.
SUNDAY, SEPT. 13. Officiated to-day on board the Savannah, and called on
my way to see a sick child, whose mother seems at a loss whether to
grieve or rejoice in prospect of its death. If it dies, she says it will
at once become a little angel: if it lives, it will be subject to sorrow
and sin. She desires, for her sake, that it may live; but, for its own,
that it may die. This balancing between life and death, is common here
among mothers. Their full persuasion of an infant’s future bliss,
forbids that they should mourn its loss. They therefore put on no weeds,
and utter no lamentations. The child, when its pure spirit has fled, is
dressed in white, and stainless roses are strewn upon its little shroud.
It is borne to the grave as if it were to be laid at the open portal of
heaven, and few are the tears which fall on that threshold of immortal
bliss.
MONDAY, SEPT. 14. A letter from the Sacramento, received to-day, informs
me of the arrival of two thousand emigrants from the United States. They
are under the guidance of experienced men, and have been but a little
over four months on the way. The Mormons are selecting the site of their
city, which they intend shall be the paradise of the west.
TUESDAY, SEPT. 15. The citizens of Monterey elected me to-day alcalde,
or chief magistrate of this jurisdiction—a situation which I have been
filling for two months past, under a military commission. It has now
been restored to its civil character and functions. Their election is
undoubtedly the highest compliment which they can confer; but this token
of confidence brings with it a great deal of labor and responsibility.
It devolves upon me duties similar to those of mayor of one of our
cities, without any of those judicial aids which he enjoys. It involves
every breach of the peace, every case of crime, every business
obligation, and every disputed land-title within a space of three
hundred miles. From every other alcalde’s court in this jurisdiction
there is an appeal to this, and none from this to any higher tribunal.
Such an absolute disposal of questions affecting property and personal
liberty, never ought to be confided to one man. There is not a judge on
any bench in England or the United States, whose power is so absolute as
that of the alcalde of Monterey.
WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 16. The Congress, bearing the broad pennant of Com.
Stockton, returned last evening from her trip to the south. She has
captured, during her absence, Santa Barbara, San Pedro, and the Pueblo
de los Angeles. Over these the American flag is now flying.
Gen. Castro had taken up his position just outside the Pueblo, on an
elevation which commands the town and adjacent country. He was well
supplied with field-pieces, and had a force of seven hundred men. Com.
Stockton landed at San Pedro with three hundred seamen and marines from
the Congress, and marched against him. His route, which extended some
thirty miles, lay through several narrow passes, which Gen. Castro might
easily have defended against a much superior force. But the general kept
in his entrenched camp; and informed the commodore by a courier, that if
he marched upon the town he would find it the grave of his men. “Then,”
said the commodore, “tell the general to have the bells ready to toll in
the morning at eight o’clock, as I shall be there at that time.” He was
there; but Castro, in the mean time, had broken up his camp, mounted
with an armed band, and fled towards Sonora, in Mexico. The town was
taken, the American flag hoisted and cheered.
THURSDAY, SEPT. 17. The U. S. ship Cyane, under Commander Du Pont,
proceeded from this port to San Diego, took that important place, and
landed Col. Fremont, with his riflemen, who hastened to cut off the
retreat of Castro. He would have done it could he have anticipated his
route; but to overtake him was impossible, as the general had taken the
precaution to send on in advance relays of fresh horses, sufficient to
take him and his band beyond the reach of any pursuit.
FRIDAY, SEPT. 18. A bearer of dispatches from Commodore Stockton to our
government is to leave to-morrow morning in the Erie, and we are all
busy in writing letters home by him. The Erie is to take the
dispatch-bearer to Panama, and then proceed to the Sandwich Islands. We
have not received any letters from home since we sailed from Callao; the
year has rolled from the buds of spring into the sear leaf of autumn
since any intelligence has reached us from those we love. Death may have
stricken them into the grave, but the sad tidings is yet a melancholy
secret. We ought to have a regular mail between the United States and
California. We seem remarkably eager to possess ourselves of foreign
territory, and then leave the wild geese to convey all intelligence. If
the land is only ours, and those at home can hear from it once in fifty
or a hundred years, that will do; a more frequent communication would be
quite superfluous. Had we possessed Egypt in the days of Cheops, all
information would still be considered seasonable which should come when
his pyramid had crumbled.
SATURDAY, SEPT. 19. I encountered to-day a company of Californians on
horseback, bound to a pic-nic, each with his lady love on the saddle
before him. He, as in duty bound, rides behind, throws his feet forward
into the stirrups, his left hand holds the reins, his right encircles
and sustains her, and there she rides safe as a robin in its nest;
sprigs of evergreen, with wild-flowers, wave in her little hat, and
larger clusters in his; both are gayly attired, and smiles of light and
love kindle in their dark expressive eyes. Away they gallop over hill
and valley, waking the wild echoes of the wood. One of my hunting dogs
glanced at them for a while, and seemed so tickled, he had to plunge
into the bushes to get rid of his mirth.
SUNDAY, SEPT. 20. At the invitation of Captain Richardson, I preached
this afternoon on board the Brooklyn. The crew assembled in the cabin,
which the captain had converted for the occasion into a chapel. None
attended by compulsion, but all were present of their free will. The
good order and respectful attention which prevailed showed the spirit
which pervaded the ship, and conveyed a testimony of the wise and
Christian conduct of the captain which none could mistake. I have never
met with a ship where a greater degree of harmony and alacrity in duty
were observable; all this, too, without any resort to physical force;
such is the result of moral influence when brought into full play. Give
us more of this in the navy.
MONDAY, SEPT. 21. A Californian mother came to me to-day to plead her
son out of prison. He had driven off a herd of cattle which had another
owner, and sold them, and I had sentenced him to the public works for a
year. She felt as a good mother must feel for her son, and plead for his
liberation with a pathos that half shook my resolution. Nothing but an
iron sense of duty kept me firm. There is something in a mother’s tears
which is almost irresistible; she wept and trembled, and would have
kneeled, but I would not let her. I lifted her to her feet, and told her
I once had a mother, and knew what her sorrows were. I told her I would
liberate her son if I could, but it was impossible; law and justice were
against it. But if he behaved well, I would take off a few months from
the close of the year; and in the mean time she might see him as often
as she desired. She thanked me, lingered as if she would plead again,
and departed. What depths there are in a mother’s soul!
TUESDAY, SEPT. 22. The frigate Savannah sailed this morning for San
Francisco. She left her berth, where she has lain since our flag was
raised here, and with her royals set, glided gracefully out of the bay.
The Congress gave her three cheers as she passed,—still she goes with a
heavy heart. The time of her crew is out; they are almost half the
circuit of the globe from their home, and have now, seemingly, as little
prospect of reaching it as they had a year since. Com. Stockton went on
board a few days since and addressed them, but even with his happy tact
in inspiring enthusiasm, it was difficult to arouse their despondency,
and make them cheerful in a resignation to their lot. The war being
against a power unarmed at sea, is with them a mere bubble. To chase or
capture a privateer is a game not worth the candle. Were an English or
French squadron in this ocean, in declared hostility, they would not
murmur while a tattered sail could be set, or a shot be found in the
locker.
WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 23. I was waked this morning by sounds of merriment in
the street. Day had only begun to glimmer, and its beam was contending
with the glare of rockets, flashing over the lingering shadows of night.
The child which I had visited a few evenings since had died, and this
was its attendant ceremony to the grave. It had become, in the
apprehension of those who formed the procession, a little angel—and they
were expressing their joy over the transformation. The disruption of
ties which bound it here—its untimely blight—and the darkness of the
grave—were all forgotten. Its little coffin was draped in white, and
garlanded with flowers; and voices of gladness, ringing out from
childhood and youth, heralded its flight to a better world.
THURSDAY, SEPT. 24. An Englishman called at the court to-day, and
desired me to issue a warrant for the apprehension of his mistress, who
he said had run away and carried off a rich shawl and diamond breastpin
which did not belong to her. I told him, when he entered into a criminal
compact of that kind with a person, he might expect just such results as
he had experienced,—and as for a warrant, I should issue none, and would
not if she had carried off every thing in his house, and him too; for I
should consider the community quit of two persons who could in no way
benefit its morals. He looked not a little surprised at this decision,
shrugged his shoulders, and departed. The first thing a foreigner does
here is to provide himself with a horse; the second, with a mistress;
the third, with a pack of cards. These, with a bottle of aguardiente,
are his capital for this world and the next. This is true of many, but
not all; there are some high and honorable exceptions.
FRIDAY, SEPT. 25. The Congress left her moorings last evening, and held
her course majestically out of the bay for San Francisco. Com. Stockton
proposes, while there, to construct batteries which can command the
entrance to the harbor, and afford protection to our merchantmen in the
absence of our squadron. The new city will probably be located before
his return. It is the point towards which all eyes are now turned. The
tide of emigration is setting there with as much steadiness and strength
as the rivers which roll into its capacious bosom. The day is coming
when the spires of a great city will be mirrored in its waters.
SATURDAY, SEPT. 26. The Indians here are practical Thomsonians or
Hydropathists; they sweat for every kind of disease. Their bath is a
large ground-oven, to which you descend by a flight of narrow steps, and
which has a small aperture at the top for the escape of the smoke. In
the centre of this they build a fire, close the entrance, and shut
themselves in till the temperature reaches an elevation which throws
them into a profuse perspiration. They then rush out and plunge
themselves into a stream of cold water. This is repeated every day till
the disease leaves or death comes.
But many, without any ailment, resort to this bath as a luxury. They
will stay in the oven till they are hardly able to crawl out and reach
the stream. It is great fun for the more sturdy ones to lift out the
exhausted and dash them in the flood. You hardly expect to see them rise
again, but up they come, and regain the earth full of life and vigor.
The reaction is instantaneous, and the effect, I have no doubt, in many
cases beneficial. It, at least, gives them a good washing, which they
would hardly get without, and which they too often need. The Indian also
takes to the water to quench the flames of rum. His poor mortal tenement
is often wrapped in such a conflagration. It would be a good thing if
all the rum-drinkers could be marched once a week under the falls of
Niagara.
SUNDAY, SEPT. 27. There is no day in the week in which my feelings run
homeward so strongly as on the Sabbath. That day makes me feel indeed as
an exile. A vast moral desolation spreads around me: only here and there
a speck of verdure sprinkles the mighty waste. All else is bleak and
barren. You turn your eyes to the hills where you were born, the church
where you were baptized, and would rush back to them on the steep wave
of time.
MONDAY, SEPT. 28. When Monterey was taken by our squadron, an order was
issued by the commander-in-chief that all the grog-shops should be
closed. The object of this was to prevent disorder among the populace
and among the sailors, whose duties as a patrol confined them to the
shore. It was with great difficulty that this order could be enforced.
All moderate fines failed to secure its observance. The price of
aguardiente rose to four and five dollars the bottle, more than ten
times its original cost: for such a premium the shopkeeper would run the
hazard of the penalty.
We searched for it as for hid treasures, but only in one instance found
its hiding-place. This was in a chimney, hanging about midway from the
top. When discovered, the shopkeeper laughed as loudly as they who made
the search. He was fined, not for having grog in his chimney, for that
is a very good place for it, but for retailing it at his counter. An
offer of four or five dollars from a customer never failed to bring down
a bottle. He paid his fine of twenty-five dollars, but begged hard for
the liquor. I took it into my custody, and told him to call for it when
the last American man-of-war had left port.
TUESDAY, SEPT. 29. A brother and sister of a Mexican family applied to
me to-day for permission to leave their mother. On inquiring the cause
of this singular request, they stated that their father was dead, and
that their mother by her immoralities had brought sore discredit on
their house. I ascertained from other sources the truth of their
statement, and then gave them permission to rent another dwelling. They
were both modest and genteel in their appearance, but jealousy of a
sister’s fair reputation had prevailed with the brother over filial
affection. And yet when he spoke of his mother his eyes filled with
tears.
WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 30. An express arrived last night from the Pueblo
below, bringing the startling intelligence that the populace had risen
upon the small American force left there under command of Capt.
Gillespie—that the insurgents had entire possession of the town—that the
Americans were closely besieged in their quarters, and it was doubtful
if they would be able to hold out much longer. The express stated that
he left the town under a volley of musketry, which he narrowly escaped,
but which took such deadly effect on his horse, that he dropped under
him about two leagues out.
He had a permit from the American alcalde to press horses wherever
found. He rode the whole distance—four hundred and sixty miles—in
fifty-two hours, during which time he had not slept. His intelligence
was for Com. Stockton, and in the nature of the case was not committed
to paper, except a few words over the signature of the alcalde, rolled
in a cigar, which was fastened in his hair. But the commodore had sailed
for San Francisco, and it was necessary he should go on a hundred and
forty miles further. He was quite exhausted; I ordered him a bowl of
strong coffee, which revived him, and a hearty supper, which he eagerly
devoured. He was allowed to sleep three hours: in the mean time I
procured fresh horses, and penned a permit for him to press others when
these should begin to flag. Before the day glimmered he was up and away.
THURSDAY, OCT. 1. Com. Stockton, before the departure of the Congress,
appointed T. H. Green, Esq., collector of customs at this port. Mr. G.
is a native of Pennsylvania, has resided in this country several years,
and enjoys a wide reputation for business habits, and sterling integrity
of character. Mr. Hartwell, an Englishman by birth, has been appointed
inspector and translator. He is familiar with all the languages spoken
in California, and filled the same office under the Mexican government
to which he has been appointed under this. But we are gratified with his
appointment for another reason. He has some twenty children of his own,
and in addition to these, five adopted orphans.
FRIDAY, OCT. 2. A Spaniard of some note and noise here, and consul of
her Christian Majesty, attempted in court to-day to flourish down the
claim of an humble Californian to whom he was indebted some eight
hundred dollars. He said this creditor was once his servant, that he
could neither read nor write, and that he felt quite indignant that he
should have the assurance to bring him into court. I told him the first
question was, whether he really owed the man the amount claimed: this
being settled, we could very easily dispose of the belles-lettres part
of the matter. He at first recollected nothing, except that the man had
once been his servant; but on being shown the account, reluctantly
admitted that it might be correct. I told him, if correct, and he had
the means, he must pay it, though the creditor were fresh from Congo.
Finding that we had in our court only a horizontal justice, holding its
level line alike over kings and slaves, he signed an obligation for the
payment in six months, and gave the security required. So much for
attempting to liquidate a debt by an hidalgo flourish. Law which fails
to protect the humble, disgraces the name which it bears.
SATURDAY, OCT. 3. A heavy mist hung over the landscape this morning till
the sun was high in the heavens, and many began to predict rain, a
phenomenon which I have not yet witnessed in California. But towards
noon the mist departed like a shadow dissolved in light. The scorched
hills lifted their naked summits, and the deep ravines revealed their
irregular lines of lingering verdure. In these the cattle still graze,
though the streams which once poured their waters through them exist now
only in little motionless pools, hardly sufficient to drift a duck. A
stranger looking at these hills might be excused if he inquired the
distance to Sodom. It would never enter his most vagrant dreams that he
had reached that land towards which the tide of emigration was rolling
over the cliffs of the Rocky Mountains.
SUNDAY, OCT. 4. The presiding priest of this jurisdiction applied to me
a few days since to protect the property of the San Antonio Mission. A
Spaniard, it seems, who owns a neighboring rancho, had, under color of
some authority of the late administration, extended his claims over the
grounds and buildings, and was appropriating the whole to his private
purposes. I summoned the Spaniard before me, and asked for the evidence
of his right and title to the establishment. He had no document to
exhibit. His sole claim evidently rested in some vague permission, in
which the lines of moral justice were wholly omitted, or too faintly
drawn to be seen.
I therefore ordered that the mission buildings and grounds should be
delivered back to the presiding priest, and that the fixtures, which had
been removed, should at once be restored. The order was forthwith
carried into effect. This decision is of some moment, as it will serve
as a precedent in reference to other missions. These sacred domains are
the patrimonial inheritance of the Indian, and they once embraced the
wealth of California. But they have fallen a prey to state exigencies
and private rapacity. They ought at once to be restored to their
primitive objects, or converted into a school-fund.
MONDAY, OCT. 5. A courier arrived to-day from San Francisco, bringing
the intelligence that the Savannah had sailed for San Pedro. They will
there land a large force, which will march at once to the Pueblo de los
Angeles, and, if possible, bring the insurgents to an engagement. But
the probability is, that they will instantly disband and fly to the
forests. If they declined battle, with Gen. Castro and his regular
troops at their head, they will undoubtedly do it when left to
themselves, unless frantic passion has entirely overcome inherent
fickleness.
TUESDAY, OCT. 6. The usual rate of interest for money loaned here on
good security, is twenty-four per cent. This is sufficient evidence of
its scarcity, and yet it is almost valueless when you come to the
question of labor. A foreigner may be induced to work for money, but not
a Californian, so long as he has a pound of beef or a pint of beans
left. Nor is it much better with the Indian: take from him the
inducements to labor which rum and gambling present, and he will refuse
to work for you. The blanket, which he wore last year, will answer for
this; his shirt and pants can easily be repaired; his food is in every
field and forest, and he seems to have as little scruple in taking it
from the one as the other.
Hunger is unknown here; the man who has not a foot of land seems about
as independent as he who has his ten-league farm, and has vastly less
trouble and vexation. It is true he will now and then kill a bullock
that is not his, but the fact that there are vast herds roaming about
which never had an owner, seems, in his estimation, greatly to diminish
the private trespass which he commits. It is with him only as if he had
taken a pickerel from a pond instead of the ocean.
WEDNESDAY, OCT. 7. The great Mormon company, who came out in the
Brooklyn, have had a split. The volcano, it seems, has been rumbling for
some time, and has at last broke forth in flame. The explosion will
undoubtedly throw them into different parts of California, and defeat
any attempts at a distinct political community. The difficulty lay in
the assumptions of the leader. He has all the ambition of their lost
prophet, without any of his affected meekness. He attempted the iron
rod, without first having persuaded those who were to feel its force
that it had been put in his hands by a higher power.
THURSDAY, OCT. 8. One of the rooms in the house which I have rented, has
been occupied by some of the goods and chattels of the previous tenant.
To-day they were called for, and I observed among them a large basket
filled with egg-shells. They had been perforated at both ends, and their
contents blown out. But to what use could any one put these empty
shells? They had been prepared, it seems, for the festivities of the
carnival. On this occasion they are to be filled with scented water or
tinsel, the apertures closed with wax, and then broken, in merriment,
over the heads of guests. This liberty with caps and wigs is warranted
only where some intimacy exists between the parties. Where this is
found, the eggs fall thick as hail. The young and old float in lavender
and cologne. This expensive frolic is often indulged in by those who,
perhaps, have hardly money enough left to purchase one of the forty hens
that laid the eggs.
FRIDAY, OCT. 9. The trouble of young and old here is the flea. The
native who is thoroughly inured to his habits may little heed him, but
he keeps the stranger in a constant nettle. One would suppose, from his
indiscriminate and unmitigated hostility, he considered himself the
proprietor of all California. Indeed, he does seem to be the genuine
owner of the soil, instead of a tenant at will. It is true he may
construct no dwellings, but he will plant himself in every nook and
corner of the one which you may construct. He jumps into your cradle,
jumps with you all along through life, and well would it be for those
who remain if he jumped with you out of it. But no, he remains still;
and grief for your loss will half forget its bereavement in parrying his
assaults.
SATURDAY, OCT. 10. We are waiting with some anxiety for news from the
Pueblo de los Angeles. A rumor reached here yesterday, that the small
American force there would not be able to hold out much longer against
the overwhelming odds of the insurgents. But the Savannah must by this
time have reached San Pedro, and her crew be on their march to the scene
of action. They are a body of brave, unflinching men, and are commanded
by officers of great firmness and force. A sailor on land never thinks
of running more than he would at sea. He is trained to stand to his
post, and will do so on the field as well as the deck. The last man who
left the ground in that disreputable retreat from Bladensburg was a
sailor. When the rest were far out of sight he remained at his gun, and
was wadding home to give the enemy another shot. In the fight of the
Essex many threw themselves out of the ports, determined to drown sooner
than surrender.
SUNDAY, OCT. 11. Another bright and beautiful Sabbath has dawned; but
there is little here to remind one of its sacredness. A few of the
larger stores are closed, but the smaller shops are all open. More
liquors are retailed on this day than any other three. I have the power
to close these shops, and shall do it.