Page:History of California, Volume 3 (Bancroft).djvu/472

454 This version, while not altogether inaccurate, makes the revolt the result of a quarrel between the governor and a revenue officer, ignoring entirely the political aspects of the matter and the agency of the diputacion. Alvarado, on the other hand, ignores the revenue quarrel, and exaggerates perhaps the political element, choosing naturally to look upon himself as president of the diputacion rather than as an officer of the custom-house. There can be no doubt that the diputacion was concerned in the movement, or that Alvarado, the leading spirit, acted in its name, the quarrel about revenues being but a minor element in a complicated whole. It is therefore proper to present the version given by Alvarado himself and supported by other Californians, though in the absence of contemporary documents I cannot vouch for its entire accuracy.

From one of his stormy interviews with Gutierrez, Alvarado returned to the hall to find it empty, the diputacion having adjourned in its fright to meet at San Juan, whither the president hastened to join his fellow-vocales. A meeting was held at once, at which Estévan Munrás and other prominent citizens took part. Vocal Antonio Buelna made a radical