Page:History of California, Volume 3 (Bancroft).djvu/63

Rh of congress to take the place of Gervasio Argüello for the term of 1829-30; and on Sunday, October 5th, Lieutenant José Joaquin Maitorena of Santa Bárbara was chosen for the place, with Santiago Argüello as substitute. This was a most extraordinary choice; for Maitorena, though honest enough and good-natured, was unreservedly given up to drunkenness, and had retained his place in the Santa Bárbara company only because he had when sober some skill as an accountant. There were times, generally following illness and confinement in the calabozo, when, like Rip van Winkle, he 'swore off'; perhaps it was in one of these sober intervals that he was elected to congress. But the honor was too much for the poor fellow. He was very drunk at Tepic, where he was the object of much ridicule; he seems not to have been in a condition to take his seat as diputado, and he died in Mexico about the time his term of office expired.