Page:History of California, Volume 3 (Bancroft).djvu/551

Rh Zamorano desired the position; but desired Vallejo to aid him in giving it to Captain José de la Guerra, on the ground that it was better that it should be held by a friend than a foe. Vallejo replied in a printed letter of July 20th, the meaning of which is not quite clear, but in which he declared the separation of the civil and military commands to be impracticable, and thus apparently showed a desire to see Alvarado share in his own fall. He, however, saw the necessity of resigning his position, and based his resignation on the alleged ground of his unwillingness to swear allegiance to the central constitution, "such oaths having become bywords in the whole country." At the same time all military officers were ordered to meet at Monterey to choose a comandante general. The San Francisco company, on receipt of orders from Alvarado to take the oath, addressed a protest to Vallejo, in which they declared that they had once sworn to die in defence of federalism, and asked to be discharged from the service rather than change their political faith. I suppose that Vallejo and other officers and soldiers in the north were subsequently induced to take the oath in support of centralism; but I find no definite record of the fact. The council of war for the election of a comandante had not been held as late as October, and probably was not held at all, the aim of Vallejo and Alvarado being perhaps to postpone definite action until the result of Castillero's efforts could be learned. Portilla insisted that the choice must fall on the senior officer, meaning himself. Some officers