forthwith despatching his private
secretary and chaplain to seek for it, they discovered, in the office of
the Mexican commissary, several packages containing unopened files of
gazettes, as late as the 4th of August. "The general tone of the
articles,"--says the commodore,--"relating to the United States, in
these papers, was pacific, whilst the certainty that Mexico had not
commenced hostilities against us, up to the 22d of August, was
established by private commercial letters from Mazatlan." Thus, it
seemed to him, that the crisis had passed; that his victory was barren,
that the reported cession of the Californias to England was untrue and
could not have been prevented even by his valor. The war which had been
recklessly undertaken upon surmises or newspaper articles, and
stimulated by the sailing of an English fleet with sealed orders, came
to an end as it began--by Mexican journals.

Accordingly, on the 21st of the month, Commodore Jones addressed another
letter to the acting governor, Alvarado, announcing that information
received since the capture of the place, left him no reason to doubt
that the difficulties between Mexico and the United States had been
adjusted; and that, being anxious to avoid all cause of future
controversy, he was ready to restore the place, with its forts and
property, to the Mexicans, in the same condition in which they were
before the seizure. Monterey was therefore at once evacuated by the
Americans, and reoccupied by the Mexicans, whose flag, on being
rehoisted, was saluted by our ships.

If the commodore of our squadron had prudently despatched his secretary
and chaplain on a pacific mission of inquiry under a flag of truce,
immediately upon his arrival, it is extremely probable that they would
either have discovered on the 20th the newspapers they found on the
21st, or have received the commercial letter which terminated the
capture. This would have prevented an angry diplomatic correspondence;
it would have allayed the irritation of national sensibility, and,
whilst it saved us from the imputation of attempting to intimidate a
weak power, would not have subjected our forces to the mortification of
mistake upon such grievous subjects as peace and war. The Mexican
papers, of course, viewed the matter as a national insult; and the
government gazette, published in the capital, unequivocally asserted
that Commodore Jones attacked Monterey, agreeably to orders from his
government, with