The result of all these reactionary and defensive measures was — and without any intermediate diplomacy, so far as the records show — that Alvarado entered the city without resistance, probably on the 23d, certainly within two or three days. He was accompanied by Graham's company and by the Monterey militia, leaving the Santa Bárbara volunteers at San Fernando. Castro, with thirty or forty men, arrived from Monterey on or about the same day.[1] Rocha's soldiers were at San Gabriel. The volunteers of the Angeles army had disbanded, but the twenty Dieguinos were still encamped in the city, and aided the northern troops in preserving order.
The ayuntamiento met once more on the 26th. The meeting was attended also by Alvarado, J. J. Pico, and Miguel Ávila of Monterey, by Pio Pico, Ortega, Cabello, and Regidor Alvarado of San Diego, and by A. M. Osio of Los Angeles. No allusion was made to the resolutions adopted at the last session, but the object was to take into consideration the agreement made with Alvarado at San Fernando.[2] The governor addressed the meeting in defence of the new system, and proposed a plan in six articles on which he thought all might agree, thus avoiding future controversy. This plan was referred to a committee of three, Pio Pico, Cabello, and Osio, who reported it back with certain modifications, mainly intended, as it would seem, to obscure its exact meaning and provide for subsequent variations of interpretation.[3] The
- ↑ Jan. 9th, Alvarado orders Castro to come south with 20 men by sea. Vallejo, Doc., MS., iv. 9. Jan. 14th, Castro to Vallejo. Will start in 3 days. Id., iv. 11. Jan. 17th, C. says he will start at 4 P. M. with 50 men by land, as the Clementine is not ready. Id., iv. 12. Alvarado, Hist. Cal., MS., iii. 216, 226-30, says that to raise funds Castro had to pledge his own property to Spence and Malarin. The debt was paid by Alvarado after 1811. The two officers lodged at the house of Abel Stearns. The city was carefully patrolled but no disturbance occurred.
- ↑ It is spoken of as the agreement made by the 2 alcaldes and the S. Diego comisionados with Alvarado, and would seem therefore to have been distinct from that of Jan. 20th; but there is no record to show its nature. It was perhaps the interview mentioned by Pico. See note 32.
- ↑ The plan was in substance as follows, the portions in parentheses being the committee's additions: 1. Alta California proclaims the federal system
