CALIFORNIA.

The first settlements in California were made under Spanish authority, and the principal direction and control of affairs fell into the bands of Catholic missionaries, who acquired extensive possessions, and brought large numbers of the native Indians under their influence.

By the treaty with Spain, February 22, 1819, the boundary between Mexico and the United States, from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific, was fixed at 42° north latitude, which line has ever since been the northern boundary of California.

Upon the overthrow of the Spanish power in Mexico in 1822, and the establishment of a Constitution in 1824, New California, as it was then called, not having a sufficient population to entitle it to admission as a State, was made a Territory, represented in Congress by a Delegate, who was allowed to speak upon any measure, but not to vote. A Commandante-General, as formerly, held the nominal place of Governor, but the powers of local government were virtually held by the Fathers of the Missions. Frequent changes of policy, however, with attempts to secularize the property of these establishments for the State and other purposes, caused a rapid decline in the ecclesiastical wealth and power, while a foreign element, having no sympathy with the Mexican government, began to find its way into the country.

The policy of centralization, attempted by the party headed by Santa Anna, in 1835, was not acceptable to California, and a feeling of alienation, and desire for independence gradually extended through the country. Emigrants from the United States began to find their way into the country, in the summer and fall of 1846.

Early in 1846, and before war had been declared between the two countries, the appearance of a small force near Monterey, under Colonel Frémont, upon an exploring expedition, led to jealousies on the part of the Mexican officials, and soon after to hostile movements, which, in conjunction with a naval force, soon reduced the country to the authority of the United States. Colonel Richard Mason was established as the Military, and ex officio Civil, Governor of California on the 31st day of May, 1847; the American forces occupied the whole of what was then known as Upper California, and were posted in small detachments, from Sutter's Fort in the north, to San Diego in the south; the Pacific squadron of the navy of the United States lay off the coast and in the harbors, and the country remained quietly in possession, for about a year before the close of the war.

Upon the conclusion of peace, the boundary agreed upon between the two countries left the present State of California entirely within the United States. By the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, February 2, ratified by the Senate of the United States March 10th, and by the Mexican Congress at Queretaro, May 19-25, 1848, the former line between Upper and Lower California, running directly from the Colorado, opposite the mouth of the Gila, to the Pacific, at a point one marine league south of San Diego, became the national boundary.

A great increase of population began with the American occupation, and the discovery of gold in April, 1848, accelerated this growth with a rapidity scarcely paralleled in history.

The news of the peace reached the country August 7, 1848, and was announced to the people by a proclamation of Governor Mason. After reciting so much of the treaty as applied to California, he stated that the existing laws would remain