with his soldiers to the south in Alvarado's support; yet under existing circumstances it would doubtless be best to avoid violent measures.[1] To José Antonio Carrillo he wrote that his boasting and threats at Santa Bárbara had aroused not fear, but indignation that a son of California could adopt such a course, rebuking him for his hasty action and advising prudence. Let them wait till the vessel should arrive with despatches, and then the command would be legally and gladly surrendered, although the legitimate ruler had been grievously insulted.[2] In writing to Don Cárlos, Vallejo adopted a milder tone, appealing to his good sense and patriotism, and begging him not to plunge the country needlessly into a sectional strife by ignoring the rights of a ruler whom he had himself aided to put in power. Alvarado could not yield, even if he wished to do so, and leave his friends unprotected, while Carrillo assuredly could not rule successfully without northern support. Why not then secure that support by showing a conciliatory spirit, and consenting to a slight delay, or at least to a conference?[3]
Answers to these letters, though not extant, were evidently not conciliatory. The sum total of all that can be said against the position of Alvarado and Vallejo at this time is that they perhaps hoped to receive by the California, not an order to surrender their power, but authority to keep it. This hope on their part, causing them to desire delay, was neither more nor less culpable than Carrillo's fears on the same subject prompting haste. Otherwise, Alvarado's ground was tenable legally and morally, besides tending to
- ↑ Dec. 26th, V. to A., in Vallejo, Doc., MS., iv. 368. He hints that Carrillo may have heard in Mexico of some proposition to cede California to the U. S., which may account for his haste to get possession.
- ↑ Dec. 26th, V. to J. A. Carrillo, in Vallejo. Doc., MS., iv. 367.
- ↑ Dec. 26th, V. to Cárlos Carrillo, in Vallejo, Doc., MS., iv. 365. In a later letter to J. A. Carrillo, not dated, Vallejo accuses him of having asked congress to expend $60,000 in sending an army to Cal.; and says that had his commission and the appointment of D. Cárlos been genuine, they should have gone like men to lay their papers before the governor, and to come to an understanding. It seems that Carrillo had replied to V.'s first letter, asserting that his threats were exaggerated. Id., xiv. 13.
