ELDORADO 219 



war for our defense. She is not likely to do anything 

 in our behalf, although she is quite willing to afflict 

 us with her extortionate minions, who come hither, 

 in the guise of soldiers and civil officers, to harrass 

 and oppress our people. We possess a glorious coun- 

 try, capable of attaining a physical and moral greatness 

 corresponding with the gradeur and beauty which an 

 Almighty hand has stamped upon the face of our be- 

 loved California. But although nature has been prodi- 

 gal, it cannot be denied that we are not in a position 

 to avail ourselves of her bounty. Our population is 

 not large and it is sparsely scattered over valley and 

 mountain, covering an immense area of virgin soil 

 destitute of roads and traveresed with difficulty ; hence 

 it is hardly possible to collect an army of any consid- 

 erable force. Our people are poor as well as few, and 

 cannot govern themselves and maintain a decent show 

 of sovereign power. Although we live in the midst of 

 plenty, we lay up nothing, but, tilling the earth in an 

 imperfect manner, all our time is required to procure 

 subsistence for ourselves and families. Thus circum- 

 stanced we find ourselves threatened by hordes of 

 Yankee immigrants, who have already begun to flock 

 into our country and whose progress we cannot ar- 

 rest. Already have the wagons of that perfidious peo- 

 ple scaled the almost inaccessible summit of the Sierra 

 Nevada, crossed the entire continent, and penetrated 

 the fruitful valley of the Sacramento. What that as- 

 tonishing people will next undertake I cannot say, but, 

 in whatever enterprise they embark they will be sure 

 to prove successful. Already are these adventurous 



