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 748 PIONEER REGISTER AND INDEX. nary, as P. and the leaders well knew, though a few settlers were led to be lieve it real; 2d, the necessity of prompt action to save Cal. from England an excuse invented later, which has had a success out of all proportion to its merits, for had England entertained the idea of a protectorate the settlers re volt would have afforded the best possible occasion for interference; and 3d, the receipt of instructions from Wash, to seize the first opportunity to wrest Cal. from Mex. In a statement of 85 a MS. furnished by Gen. and Mrs F. to Dr Josiah Royce, and by the kindness of the latter added, with the authors consent, to my collection he relies mainly on this 3d plea, and alleges posi tively, as he and his friends have always implied, that he received such in structions, guardedly expressed by Sec. Buchanan, and more openly by Benton in a private letter. This is simply not true. I have the instructions sent from Wash, in 45, both the original, signed by Buchanan, and the copy written by Gillespie from memory on arrival, and they contain not a word to justify any but conciliatory measures. The lieut disobeyed the letter and spirit of his orders, unless deceived by Gillespie at Benton s instigation. His real motive was a desire to make himself more prominent in the approaching occupation by the U.S. than he could be if the whole matter were left to Larkin and the naval officers. Doubtless he drew his inspiration largely from his brilliant father-in-law. He saw several plausible avenues of escape from disgrace should there be no war or should matters otherwise go wrong; but it is likely that the young filibuster was far from anticipating the full measure of success that good fortune was to give his deception. Once committed to the Bear cause, he acted in most respects with commendable energy and consistency; yet it must be stated that he meanly assumed for himself credit for the Bears war like acts, in which he took no active part; that never in his Cal. career was he in the actual presence of an armed foe; that in his S. Rafael campaign, repre sented by him as a grand victory, he was completely outwitted by Joaq. de la Torre; and that the murder of the Haro brothers and Berreyesa is an inef faceable stain on his record. This deed F. and his friends have chosen to ignore as far as possible, alluding to it as a trivial occurrence incidental to a state of war, falsely representing the Haros as spies, on whose bodies murderous in structions from Castro were found; and finally, F. has the assurance to refer to it as the act of his Delawares out on a scout, unknown to him till later. For his part in the conquest proper, from July 46 to Jan. 47, see v. 231, 246-53, 266-7, 283, 286-7, 290, 295, 302, 304-5, 357-60, 372-6, 385-410, 412, 617, 630, 634, 639. At Mont., though Com. Sloat would not adopt his views, F. found in Stockton a filibuster after his own heart, willing to incorporate the Gavilan episode and the Bear revolt in the sacred cause of the U.S. As major of the Cal. battalion, he aided in the occupation of S. Diego and Los Ang. iu Aug., returning north as mil. com. of Cal. Later he reorganized the battalion, and marched south to take part in the final campaign, concluded by his treaty of Cahuenga in Jan. 47. In all this period the major and com modore merely overcame obstacles of their own creation, but the former effi ciently performed somewhat difficult duties, and merits but little of the blame and derision heaped upon him for his methods of obtaining supplies, for his disastrous crossing of the Sta Lie s Mountain, and for his cautious approach to Los Ang. His policy at Cahuenga deserves no more severe adjective than the slangy one of cheeky. Next we have his proceedings at the capital in Jaa.-May as gov. of Cal. by Stockton s appointment, and his connection with the complicated controversies of the commodore and general, as related in v. 421-68. In general terms, it may be said of these quarrels that Kearny was in the right, Stockton in the wrong, and Frdmont first right, then wrong. Though technically disobeying mil. orders, F. could not, consistently with the honor that should prevail among filibusters as well as thieves, abandon the chief who had fathered his cause and given him office; but at last his disobedience was renewed in so offensive a form as to move Kearny to wrath and the fullest exercise of his authority. Crossing the continent in disgrace, he was con demned by court-martial to dismissal from the army. v. 455-62. The verdict was technically a just one, but the lieut-colonel refused to accept the presi-