by Captain Lavalette, not by order of Commodore Shubrick. He was sent out to Cape St. Lucas, and whilst there, the weather becoming unfavorable, he was impatient to return, and he went and took Guayamas himself without orders from the Commodore. My friend also stated that Mazatlan "was taken in the face of a superior force " by Commodore Shubrick, and that he had achieved everything that was achieved on the Pacific. It appears that Mazatlan was taken without a solitary man resisting. The American flag was run up by Lieutenant Halleck, of the army, with two men; and Commodore Shubrick was informed by the municipal authorities or council, on November ii, 1847, that —
"The undersigned make known to the senior commodore that this port was evacuated since last night by the military force, and that, from the outpost to within the city, there is no other force than a small number of persons composing the police for the maintenance of good order." [Delivered by the President of the Junta.]
This is the achievement of which my friend spoke, and which was set forth with such flourishes in the newspapers. That is the history of the taking of Mazatlan. It appears farther that at Mazatlan, the day after this occurrence, I think, when an attempt was made to march ninety men, under the command of Lieutenant Selden, they met the enemy, who were fired upon from the Independence, the Commodore's ship, then at anchor off the cape at Mazatlan. All the Commodore's men ran at the first fire of the enemy, except one, who was killed. Stanly was in command of a six-pounder. Fifteen out of the seventeen men under his command were shot down and Lieutenant Selden was wounded. They maintained their ground for some time, until the force from the Independence rallied and came back.
I was also called in question the other day by the venerable Senator from Delaware, in relation to the statement which I made of the achievement at San Jose, out of which, unfortunately, the "whistle" grew. He said that I had reflected on the officers accompanying Captain Du Pont. I did no such thing. I never disparaged their conduct. I hold him responsible for his report, and not for the conduct of the men. It appears that Lieutenant Heyvvood sallied forth from his fortress to rescue Captain Du Pont, and relieve him. I did not cast any reflection on Heywood; but any military man can perceive the policy of leaving Lieutenant Heywood with eighteen or twenty men in all, in the heart of Southern California, without any succor within one hundred miles of him! Did it argue generalship to put him ashore under these circumstances? I leave it for military men to determine. I will not criticise it; but I will say that it is a miracle that they were not every one sacrificed. It was a strange thing, indeed, to leave them under such circumstances, when there were hundreds of men on board the vessels who could have strengthened the post. At least fifty men were necessary to live in the midst of three hundred enemies; but eighteen or twenty men, it is said, were left, without succor within one hundred miles. But for some whaling-vessels that went there, the captains of which supplied them with provisions, their fate would inevitably have been destruction. Heywood 's valor and chivalry, and that of his gallant companions, did everything that was done. His gallant comrade, Stevens, who was after-
