262 



HIS ADVICE AS TO CALIFORNIA. 



the western coast of America, upon which, he believed, the future 

 interests of Spain would materially rely. The settlement of the 

 Californias had engaged the attention of many preceding viceroys, 

 as we have already related, and their coasts had been explored and 

 missionary settlements made wherever the indentures of the sea 

 shore indicated the utility of such enterprises. But the count fore- 

 saw that the day would come when the commercial enterprises of 

 European nations, and, especially of the English, would render this 

 portion of the Mexican realm an invaluable acquisition. Accord- 

 ingly he despatched an expedition to the Californias to secure the 

 possessions of Spain in that quarter ; and has left, for posterity, an 

 invaluable summary or recopilacion of all the enterprises of dis- 

 covery made by the Spaniards in that portion of the west coast of 

 America. This document, — more useful to the antiquarian than 

 the politician, now that the boundaries between the possessions of 

 Mexico, England and the United States have been definitely settled 

 by treaties, — may be found in the third volume of " Los Tres 

 Siglos de Mejico, " a work which was commenced by the Jesuit 

 Father Cavo, and continued to the year 1821, by Don Carlos 

 Maria Bustamante. Revilla-Gigedo recommended the Spanish 

 court to avoid all useless parade or expense, but resolutely to 

 prevent the approach of the English or of any other foreign power 

 to their possessions in California, and to occupy, promptly, the 

 port of Bodega, and even the shores of the Columbia river, if it 

 was deemed necessary. He advised the minister, moreover, to 

 fortify these two points ; to garrison strongly San Francisco, Mon- 

 terey, San Diego and Loreto ; to change the department of San 

 Bias toAcapulco; and to guard the j ondos piadosos of the missions, 

 as well as the salt works of Zapotillo, by which the treasury would 

 be partly relieved of the ecclesiastical expenses of California, while 

 the needful marine force was suitably supported. These safe- 

 guards were believed by the viceroy sufficient to confine the 

 enterprising English to the regions in which they might traffic for 

 peltries without being tempted into the dominions of Spain, at the 

 same time that they served as safeguards against all illicit or con- 

 traband commerce. 1 



We have, thus endeavored to describe rather than to narrate 

 historically, the principal events that occurred in the reign of the 



1 During the administration of the second Count Revilla-Gigedo the sum of one 

 hundred and nine millions, seven hundred and four thousand, four hundred and 

 seventeen dollars, was coined in gold and silver in Mexico. 



