110 DON LOUIS ARGUELLO. 



requisite to her political aggrandizement, but 

 that she needed a man of ability in her councils. 

 &quot; Don Louis Arguello,&quot; said he, &quot; is not the man 

 to re-invigorate our radically disordered finances, 

 to introduce a wholesome subordination, without 

 which no government can flourish, and to esta 

 blish a constitution upon which our future tran 

 quillity and improvement may be founded. Our 

 soldiers are all of one mind ; whoever pays 

 them the arrears due from the Spanish govern 

 ment is their master ; he purchases them, and to 

 him they belong. Induced by a knowledge of 

 this disposition, Mexico has entered into nego 

 tiations with us ; and the question whether Cali 

 fornia shall exist as an independent state, or 

 place herself under the protection of another 

 power, has been particularly discussed at the late 

 congress at Monterey, and is still undecided.&quot; 



I confess I could not help speculating upon 

 the benefit this country would derive from be 

 coming a province of our powerful empire, and 

 how useful it would prove to Russia. An in 

 exhaustible granary for Kamtschatka, Ochotsk, 

 and all the settlements of the American Com 

 pany ; these regions, so often afflicted with a 



