, Mr.
Pickett, he formed the decided opinion that there would be war not only
with Mexico but with Great Britain also.[27] Accordingly, he lost no
time in preparing for sea, and on the 7th of September, sailed for the
coast of Mexico.

On the 19th of October, Jones arrived at Monterey, in the frigate United
States, accompanied by the Cyane, Captain Stribling. They did not
communicate with the shore or endeavor, in any authentic way, to
ascertain the state of our political relations; but at four o'clock in
the afternoon, Captain Armstrong, the flag captain of the United States,
landed, and delivered to the acting governor, Don Juan Alvarado, a
letter from Commodore Jones, requiring the immediate surrender of the
place, with its forts, castles, ammunitions and arms, to the United
States, in order to save it from the horrors of war, which would be the
immediate consequences of a refusal to submit. Alvarado, upon this
summons, consulted the military and civil authorities; and, finding that
the garrison consisted of only twenty-nine men, that the artillery was
composed of eleven pieces, entirely useless from the rottenness of their
carriages, and that the whole number of muskets and carbines, good and
bad, did not exceed a hundred and fifty, he surrendered the place, which
was taken possession of by the Americans early on the 20th of October.
The articles of capitulation signed on the occasion provide, that the
Mexican soldiers shall march out with colors flying, and shall remain as
prisoners of war until they can be sent to Mexico, and that the
inhabitants shall be protected in their persons and property, so long as
they conduct themselves properly, and do not infringe the laws of the
United States. Commodore Jones at the same time issued a proclamation to
the Californians, declaring that "he came in arms as the representative
of a powerful nation, against which the existing government of Mexico
had engaged in war, but not with the intention of spreading dismay among
the peaceful inhabitants," and inviting them to submit to the authority
of a government which would protect them forever in the enjoyment of
liberty.

The evening and night of the 20th passed quietly; but, on the next day,
the commodore seems to have reflected on the results of a bloodless
conquest which was even more easily won than the victories of Cortez and
Pizarro three hundred years before. Learning that there was late and
pacific news from Mexico, and,