Monterey County CA Archives History - Books .....Chapter VIII Premonition Of Impending Change 1893 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/copyright.htm http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/ca/cafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com June 2, 2006, 6:32 pm Book Title: Memorial And Biographical History Of The Coast Counties Of Central California. CHAPTER VIII. PREMONITION OF IMPENDING CHANGE. IN July, 1844, news was again received that war with the United States was imminent, as the annexation of Texas had been consummated. Micheltorena announced his intention to establish his headquarters at San Juan Bautista, whither cannon were removed from Monterey, and where for a time the soldiers held possession; while many of the citizens, with their movables, had retired to the interior, not so much because they feared an attack by Americans as that the "cholos" would pillage the town, if an enemy of any kind should appear, and give them the slightest pretext for such an exploit. Manuel Castanares, who represented California in the National Congress, was working with zeal in behalf of California. He warned the government of its danger from within and without, urging the sending of additional troops, and the payment without further delay of those already there. He declared that the holding of California was more important to the republic than to keep possession of Texas. He compared California to a rough diamond. In his "Exposicion," addressed to the Government, September 1, 1844, he used these eloquent and prophetic words: "Uncared for and abandoned as hitherto, she will be irredeemably lost. *. * A powerful foreign nation will encamp there; * * then her mines will be worked, her ports crowded, her fields cultivated; then will a numerous and industrious people acquire property, to be defended with their blood; and then, all this, for our country, will produce the opposite effects. And when there is no longer a remedy, when there shall begin to be gathered the bitter fruits of a lamentable negligence, and an unpardonable error, then we shall deplore in vain evils which might have been avoided!" But the Mexican Government could not be roused to a realizing sense of the situation, or would not take Castanares' view, that distant California was really of more importance to Mexico than Texas. In the early part of 1845, the central government was again stirred up by reports, to which Castanares earnestly called its attention, that California would share the fate of Texas, and that Governor Micheltorena would be driven out of the country, unless something was promptly done. The administration proposed to appoint Castanares as civil and military governor. But he would only accept on conditions of being adequately supported, not with promises, but with men and resources for the accomplishment of the proposed task. But the war came on, and it was already too late to do anything to save California. LATER VIEWS OF CASTANARES. Manuel Castanares, who, by his residence with his family, for several years at Monterey, and by his able and zealous service of the province at the national capital, had become thoroughly conversant with the affairs of California was in 1857 summoned as a witness, in the great Limantour claim to a considerable portion of the land on which the city of San Francisco is situated. This claim of the astute Frenchman was afterward proved to have been based largely on forged or falsified documents. So, some thirteen years after Castanares left Monterey in 1844, to wit, in 1857, he came to California again, and gave his testimony, which it seems was favorable to Limantour, before the United States Courts. It was the good fortune of the writer of these lines to make the acquaintance of Mr. Castanares, on his return trip to Acapnlco, traveling on the same steamer, and occupying the same state-room with him. The result of many conversations with that gentleman was embodied in a letter to the San Francisco Bulletin, which, in condensed form, is of sufficient general and local interterest [sic] to warrant its insertion here. The letter was dated- ON BOARD THE STEAMER CALIFORNIA, AT SEA. September 12, 1857. " * * * Castanares says that he is now 'Gefe de Hacienda' of the department of LaPuebla, i. e., collector of imposts on tobacco, lotteries, etc., for that district, where he resides with his family. In Mexico, the government has Interior, as well as maritime collectors of customs. [We have them now, in 1892, in the United States, but did not in 1857.] It is also the business of these officers to disburse as well as collect public moneys, which go to the payment of governmental expenses, the support of troops, etc. He says that he receives and pays out monthly, $135,000, generally more now, on account of the confiscated property of the clergy. He is enthusiastic in his admiration of Comonfort; says 'he is The Man for Mexico;' that the rulers of most countries are ambitious and selfish, but that Comonfort seemed to have only the liberty and progress of Mexico in view. Of Santa Ana he said that although he was his friend personally, and his father and himself and brothers had held offices under him, yet he did not want to see him president again. He (Castanares) made reply to one of the priests of La Puebla, which is worthy of being preserved. "In executing some of the orders of the government, one of the principal priests told him he would not grant him absolution, "Padre, si V. no me absuelve, Dios me absolvera!" Father, if you do not absolve me, God will! " * * * "Castanares lived four years in Montery, from 1840 to 1844, where two of his nine children were born. He knows most of the old settlers, and captains and supercargoes of the Boston ships of that period. These he named over to me. He was afterward sent to the Mexican Congress as delegate for California for two years, 1844 and 1845. While there, and in that capacity, he opposed and prevented the granting of three hundred leagues of land in the Californias to the Society of Jesus, who had asked for that amount of land, through one of their priests, Padre McNamara. Castanares, as representative of the Californias, opposed the measure with all his energy. He procured secret sessions of the National Chambers, for several nights previous to the final vote,-and noisy sessions they were too, he says,-but he gained the question by only three votes. People may now make much ado about the Limantour claim, which he also opposed, and doubt his testimony, but the United States have to thank him that these three hundred leagues were not granted away, and which, if done, would have to be respected. He opposed, knowing well, as he did, the true interests of California, for the same general reason, the grants to the Jesuits, to Limantour and to Capt. Smith, of Bodega; not that he had any enmity against these parties, but because he desired that the lands, of California should be granted to actual settlers. "He tried also to procure the reversal of the grant to Limantour for another reason; Limantour was not, and never had been a citizen of Mexico, and it was against the law, then and still in force in the republic, which prohibits the cession of lands within five leagues of the coast to foreigners. (Sic.) Although Limantour had frequently loaned the Mexican Government money at large rates of interest, Castanares was in favor of paying him in some other way, at least according to law. He wrote, he says, sundry communications on this, as well as various subjects pertaining to California history at that time, which were printed, and copies of which are yet extant, both in Mexico and in the hands of De la Torre and others in California. The Mexican Government, ever dilatory, neglected his advice, and those grants were never reversed, and now he says they are good, sin duda,-without doubt, Why, he says, there is Senor Bocanegra, an old man seventy-five or eighty years of age, living now in Mexico, who was minister at the time of the grant, and who has been judge of the Supreme Court of Mexico and foreign minister, etc., and a man of the highest probity and honor, and is universally esteemed, whose correspondence in relation to these grants to Limantour is preserved in the public archives of the republic, and who is utterly incapable of deception and dishonor, he (Bocanegra) says the titles are good, and he lately acknowledged before witnesses his own communications on the subject as contained in the archives. * * "Castanares says that in 1846 he was appointed governor of California and he started to come to the country to assume the duties of his office, but on his arrival at Tepic he learned that the American forces were on this coast, and so it was not thought advisable to sail, and he has not been in California since 1844 till the present time. "In answer to my question as to why he came now to testify, he said that he came at the earnest request of the French minister in Mexico. In the existing difficulties between his country and Spain, out of which it was feared war might result, the French minister had written several notes, favorable to Mexico, to the Spanish Government; and now that the French minister had desired a Mexican citizen to come to California, and tell what he knew about a grant that was made while he was a Represencative of California in the National Congress, the request in courtesy, not to say in gratitude, could hardly be denied. Castanares received a telegraphic dispatch on the 4th of June last at La Paebla, from President Comonfort to come to the city of Mexico, where he immediately repaired, when the president made known the wishes of the French minister. He says he told President Comonfort that be did not wish to come; that he could not leave his office, etc. Well, said the president, you can do as you think best; but the French minister has pressed me very strongly that you go, and it would gratify me very much if you would accede to his wishes, especially in view of the favors that he has lately done to the Mexican Government. "So Castanares could not but consent, and his evidence is before the court. He says that he has served his country thirty years; his father died when he was twenty years old, charging him, being the eldest, with the care of nine brothers and sisters and a mother, all of whom are still living, and for whom he had never ceased to care. And now, after having guarded his reputation as dearer than aught else, and kept it free from blot or blemish, to suppose that he would swear to a falsity-those do not know him who believe so idle a charge. His good name he desired to bequeath to his children untarnished that they could not say: 'Mi padre ha deshonrad mi nombre:' My father has dishonored my name. "All this Senor Castanares says with great earnestness and feeling. One cannot listen to him and not believe that he speaks the words of truth and soberness,' or at least that he is sincere in his opinions. "Again: In hearing people talk on the subject of Limantour's claims, I told him I had heard many say that if his claims were good, it was unaccountable that he had not made them before. "Castanares replied that Limantour is, and always had been, a keen speculator, and had shown himself as such in his dealings with the Mexican Government. He had even stood ready to furnish it money or goods, at big prices, and at high rates of interest. "He was absent in Europe, Castanares believes, from 1849 to '52, or '53; and then he (Limantour) thought it no bad speculation to let things run - the barren sand hills would not, at least, depredate in value. This last is merely a matter of opinion with Castanares: he never heard the owner say as much, but that is the way he understood it. "That Limantour's grant is genuine and legal,* and should be allowed, he does not doubt, because he knew the circumstances under which it was given, and has been familiar with the archives in which the records of it have been preserved. *This, however, does not agree with Castanares' concession that a law of the Mexican Republic prohibits the session of lands within five leagues of the coast to foreigners; and that Limantour was not and never had been a citizen of Mexico. Therefore, in any case, the grant was illegal. "Castanares certifies to so many corroborating circumstances, and refers to so many documents, and shows such close acquaintance with California history, and tells all with the sincere air of a true and honorable gentleman, that one is constrained to believe that he must be telling the truth. * * * "Castanares keeps his room most of the time, where many of the passengers have called on him, all of whom he receives with the courtesy of a Castilian. In an interesting interview with Dr. Gwin (in which the writer acted as interpreter, as Senor Castanares does not speak English), he spoke with the intelligence of a statesman and the fervor of a patriot of his country, its government, its president, and of the future of Mexico." In the meantime Micheltorena had been overthrown, and his office was declared vacant by the Junta and Pio Pico, on the 15th of February, 1845, was proclaimed the legal governor,-and he was the last governor under Mexican rule. Don Pio is still (1892) alive and vigorous, although in his ninety-second year. He was born at the Mission San Gabriel, in 1801. He is believed to be the only living representative of the Mexican ex-governors of California. His residence is in Los Angeles. Bancroft estimates the number of overland immigrants to California in 1845, at 250 persons, of whom he thinks 100 were women and children. They came from Oregon, and over the Sierra Nevada mountains. American influence now began to grow very rapidly in California. Thomas O. Larkin was United States Consul at Monterey. Later he received an appointment as confidential agent of the United States Government, and he carefully kept his government advised of the course of events here; and being a man of excellent judgment his views were considered, and really were very valuable. Mr. Larkin was born in Charlestown, Massachusetts, in 1802. He came to Monterey in 1832, on the Newcastle, by way of Honolulu, and, at first, was employed by his half-brother, Captain Cooper. Larkin and Dr. Semple; in 1847 founded the town of Benicia, and both he and Semple were members of the Constitutional Convention, in 1849. He afterward lived awhile, 1850-'52, with his family in New York, but returned in May, 1852, to San Francisco, where he died in 1858. Of his children, two sons and a daughter, were living only a few years since. There is an excellent portrait of Mr. Larkin in the old Cooper mansion at Monterey. Additional Comments: Extracted from: Memorial and Biographical History of the Coast Counties of Central California. Illustrated. Containing a History of this Important Section of the Pacific Coast from the Earliest Period of its Discovery to the Present Time, together with Glimpses of its Auspicious Future; Illustrations and Full-Page Portraits of some of its Eminent Men, and Biographical Mention of many of its Pioneers, and Prominent Citizens of To-day. HENRY D. BARROWS, Editor of the Historical Department. LUTHER A. INGERSOLL, Editor of the Biographical Department. "A people that take no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors will never achieve anything worthy to be remembered with pride by remote descendants."—Macaulay. CHICAGO: THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY. 1893. File at: http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/ca/monterey/history/1893/memorial/chapterv171gms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/cafiles/ File size: 15.9 Kb