Page:History of California, Volume 3 (Bancroft).djvu/281

Rh the Mexican provinces would not have done so well by far, either for themselves or for California.

In connection with the colonization project, a commercial company was formed, with the colony leaders and other prominent men as partners, about which little is known, except that it was called the Compañía Cosmopolitana, and that its object was to purchase a vessel and engage in the exportation of Californian products. Of course it was only by some such commercial scheme that the empresarios could legitimately hope for profit beyond the salaries of a few officials; and it is very certain that a patriotic desire to develop the resources of California was not their sole motive. General Anaya is said to have been president, and Juan Bandini vice-president, of the company. Agents were sent to Acapulco to purchase a vessel, securing the brig Natalia, to be paid for in tallow. A considerable sum was to be received from the government for transportation; effects to a certain amount could be smuggled on the first trip;