principle hiid down by General elackson, that " any individual of any nation making war against the citizens of another nation, they being at peace, forfeits his allegiance, and becomes an outlaw and a pirate." If he acted, as there is little reason to doubt, as the agent of the President, and in accordance with his wishes, upon that officer rests the perfidy and turpitude of secretly instigating this rebelhon and eivil v»'ar, while professing friendly intentions towards Mexico, and soliciting a renewal of diplomatic intercourse with her. Had Mexico paid all our claims ao the last cent, had she yielded the Valley of the Rio Grande without a murmur, and had there conse- quently been no war, still, Fremont's " Republic of Cali- fornia,'' like Houston's " Republic of Texas," would have become ours by "joint resolutions" of annexation, and Mr. Polk, or some other President in his words would have congratulated Congress that " This accession to our territory," like that of Texas, " has been a bloodless achievement. 1^0 armed force has been raised to produce the result. The sioord has had no loart in the victory It is curious to observe with what wonderfid clairvoyance the naval officers in California understood and exe- cuted their instructions, long before they were received.
It appears officially* that the despatch of the 13 th May, 1846, announcing the declaration of war, did not reach the Squadron till about the 28fch of August ; and of course up to that time these officers had been acting on their own discretion. Let us now see what instructions were sent to them after the war, and how exactly they had been anti- cipated before their receipt, * Report of Secretary of Navy, 19th Dec, 1846 Appendix to Cong. Globe for 29th Cong , 2d Sess., p. 45.
On the loth May, two days after war was declared, Commodore Sloat was directed to " consider the most im- portant object to be, to take and hold possession of San Francisco." On the 19th July, San Francisco was taken, and the inhabitants were informed by proclamation, that " henceforth California will be a 2'^ortion of the United States."