t
their wealth proved their ruin, and the ruin of Upper California.

The new republic was at peace, and the surplus soldiery had to be got
rid of. It was not safe to disband them at home, where they might take
to the roads and become successful robbers; but 1500 of the worst were
selected for a distant expedition--the conquest of the far-off
territory of California. And then a general was found who was in all
respects worthy of his soldiery. He was pre-eminently the greatest
coward in the Mexican army--so great a coward, that he subsequently,
without striking a blow, surrendered a fort, with a garrison of 500
men, unconditionally, to a party of 50 foreigners.

MEXICAN CONQUEST OF CALIFORNIA.

Such was the great General Echandrea, the Mexican conqueror of
California; and such was the army that he led to the conquest of
unarmed priests and an unarmed province. It was a perilous
expedition--perilous, not to the soldiers, but to the villagers upon
their route. All dreaded their approach and rejoiced at their
departure, for their march through their own country was a continued
triumph, if one may judge from the amount of plunder they took from
their friends upon the road. It was an expedition that Falstaff would
have rejoiced to command, and his regiment would have distinguished
themselves in such a war. Dry and dusty were the desert plains over
which they marched, and dry and dusty were the throats of the army, for
_cigaritos_ were scarce, and _muscal_ could seldom be found. But the
toils of the long marches were relieved by frequent _fandangoes_, for
the wives that followed the expedition equaled the men in numbers and
courage.

This long journey, and these days of perilous marching and nights of
dancing, at length came to an end by their arrival at the enemy's
frontier--the frontier of California, which, to their joy, they found
unguarded; nor was there any found to dispute their passage or "to make
them afraid;" for, had there been fifty resolute persons to oppose
them, this valiant army would have absconded, and California would have
remained an appanage of the crown of Spain. But Providence had ordered
it otherwise; and this horde of vagabonds (_leperos_) came rushing
on, with their wives and children, until they reached the cattle-yards
(_corrals_), and then was displayed their valor and their capacity
for beef, and in the name of "God and Liberty" they gratified their
appetite for plunder. The priests, on thei