Page:History of California, Volume 3 (Bancroft).djvu/305

Rh date. Vallejo received the order on the 14th, "watched the colonists until their preparations called for prompt action, and then suddenly fell upon them on the 16th at 4 P. M., arresting Verduzco, Lara, and others," who the next day were taken on board the Rosa at San Francisco. On the 15th, several sessions of the Monterey ayuntamiento were held to approve all the governor had done and proposed to do; though the latter seems not to have made known his orders to Vallejo, and the ayuntamiento declined to name the persons who ought to be sent away. Next day Figueroa issued a printed address to the people, announcing that "the genius of evil has appeared among you, scattering the deadly poison of discord," declaiming in the most bitter terms against Híjar and Padrés, congratulating all that he has been able to save his beloved country, and promising a more complete vindication of his policy later. On the 17th, Híjar, still at Solano, replied to Figueroa's order of the 13th with a protest against the insult offered him, a declaration of his belief that the revolt was purely imaginary, a denial of the governor's right to suspend him, an expression of his determination to drag his prosecutor before competent tribunals, a complaint of unnecessary outrage at the hands of Vallejo, but at the same time an announcement of his disposition to yield to force and obey the order to