trappers and hunters of the roughest type. Although there was no real
war, and no fighting occurred, yet when Alvarado and his party were
successful, Graham and his men demanded large rewards, and because the
governor would not satisfy them they began to persecute him in every way
possible. Alvarado says: "I was insulted at every turn by the drunken
followers of Graham; when I walked in my garden they would climb on the
wall and call upon me in terms of the greatest familiarity, 'Ho,
Bautista, come here, I want to speak to you.' It was 'Bautista' here,
'Bautista' there."

To express dissatisfaction they held meetings in which they talked
loudly about their country's getting possession of the land, until
Governor Alvarado, having good reason to believe that they were plotting
a revolution, expelled them from the territory and sent them to Mexico.

The United States took up the defense of the exiles and insisted on
their being returned to California. It does not seem that the better
class of Americans who had been long residents of the country
sympathized with Graham and his followers, but from this time there were
less kindly relations between the Californians and the citizens of the
United States who came into the territory.

We come now to the story of the conquest.

At the beginning of the year 1845 the United States and Mexico were on
the verge of war over Texas, which had been formerly a Mexican province,
but through the influence of American settlers had rebelled, declaring
itself an independent state, and had applied for admission to the
American Union. Because the question of slavery was concerned in this
application, it caused intense excitement throughout the United States.