the depredations of pirates, by which, indeed, the coast has much
suffered--it does not prevent the Mexican government from exacting taxes
from the various settlements--taxes enormous in themselves, and so
onerous, that they will ever prevent these countries from becoming what
they ought to be, under a better government.

The most northerly establishment of Mexico on the Pacific Ocean is San
Francisco; the next, Monterey; then comes San Barbara, St. Luis Obispo,
Buona Ventura, and, finally, St. Diego; besides these seaports, are many
cities in the interior, such as St. Juan Campestrano, Los Angelos, the
largest town in California, and San Gabriel. Disturbances, arising from
the ignorance and venality of the Mexican dominion, very often happen
in these regions; new individuals are continually appointed to rule
them; and these individuals are generally men of broken fortunes and
desperate characters, whose extortions become so intolerable that, at
last, the Californians, in spite of their lazy dispositions, rise upon
their petty tyrants. Such was now the case at Monterey. A new governor
had arrived; the old General Morreno had, under false pre-texts, been
dismissed, and recalled to the central department, to answer to many
charges preferred against him.

The new governor, a libertine of the lowest class of the people, half
monk and half soldier, who had carved his way through the world by
murder, rapine, and abject submission to his superiors, soon began to
stretch an iron hand over the townspeople. The Montereyans will bear
much, yet under their apparent docility and moral apathy there lurks a
fire which, once excited, pours forth flames of destruction. Moreover,
the foreigners established in Monterey had, for a long time, enjoyed
privileges which they were not willing to relinquish; and as they were,
generally speaking, wealthy, they enjoyed a certain degree of influence