4 PREFACE. 



To gratify the public curiosity with respect 

 to the history and present state of this new 

 member of the Union, is the purpose of this 

 volume. In preparing it, the author has 

 passed rapidly over the early history, and 

 dwelt chiefly on recent events, and the actual 

 state of the country, as he considered that, by 

 this course, utility would be more effectually 

 consulted. 



In the Appendix he has introduced the con- 

 stitution of California, and some official docu- 

 ments, whose importance demanded their pre- 

 servation in a permanent form. 



