accused of having acted in bad faith when they exiled Gutierrez and his companions. The charge has no foundation; there was no stipulation that they might remain; and to have permitted it would have been a very stupid proceeding. I add some brief notes respecting the men who went away at this time.[1]
- ↑ Of Nicolás Gutierrez, his life and character, all that is known has been told in this and the preceding chapters, and in chap. x. of this volume. He came to California as a captain with Figueroa in Jan. 1833. His terms of office as ruler ad interim of the territory were as follows: Comandante general from Sept. 29 (assumed office Oct. 8), 1835, to Jan. 2, 1836; gefe político and comandante general, Jan. 2d to May 2d; and from Aug. 1 to Nov. 5, 1836. He took away with him some trunks containing effects belonging to the late José Figueroa. Dept. St. Pap., Ben. Mil., MS., lxxxi. 34. Nothing is known of him after he left California, except that on April 21, 1837, he wrote from Mazatlan to Joaquin Gomez that he would probably see him back again soon in command of an expedition that was being prepared. Vallejo, Doc., MS., xxxii. 83.
Licenciado Don Luis del Castillo Negrete was a Spaniard, his father having been an attorney of the council of Indies. He was educated at Alcalá, Toledo, and Granada in philosophy, mathematics, and law, leaving Spain after 1820. These facts appear from diplomas and certificates shown in Monterey. Vallejo, Hist. Cal., MS., iii. 180-9, with samples of some of his literary productions, one of which I have already presented. He arrived at Monterey Sept. 25, 1834, Sta Cruz, Arch., MS., 77, with his family, having been appointed district judge of Cal., of which office he took possession on Oct. 1st. He also acted as legal adviser to Gov. Gutierrez. After leaving Cal. Don Luis was sub-gefe político of Baja California from May 1837 to June 1842. See Hist. N. Mex. States, ii. In March 1839 he was trying to collect back pay due for his services in Cal. Dept. St. Pap., Ben., MS., v. 344-5. He died Nov. 25, 1843. Moreno, Doc., MS., 21. He is represented as having been a very able lawyer, and a brilliant, accomplished gentleman. The Californians say he was unscrupulous; but this may have been because he was inclined to ridicule rather than sympathize with their political projects. Alvarado and his associates would have liked to secure his coöperation, but this was not consistent with his official position and his plans for the future; besides, he had a great dislike for Angel Ramirez and Cosme Peña, the latter being not only a rival lawyer but a rival poet. Don Luis had a brother who was a general in the Mexican army; and a Luis del Castillo Negrete, who in 1871 was a diputado in Sinaloa, Ures, Estrella del Occidente, Jan. 5, 1872, was perhaps his son or nephew.
Francisco Javier del Castillo Negrete was a brother of Luis, who came to Cal. with the judge; served as Gov. Chico's secretary; perhaps sent by Chico, just before his own departure, on a mission to Mexico. He was subsequently comandante of the frontier in Baja California. In Aug. 1854 he was in San Francisco in very destitute circumstances, as he wrote to Gen. Vallejo. Vallejo, Doc., MS., xiii. 379. Francisco is said to have had some of his brother's brilliant qualities, being somewhat less reserved and more popular.
José María Herrera first came to Cal. in 1825 with Gov. Echeandía, as comisario de hacienda for the territory. Of his early life, or any part of his record outside of Cal., I know nothing. With his career here, his quarrel with Echeandía dating from 1827, and his expulsion from the country in 1830 for complicity in the Solis revolt, the reader is already familiar. See chap. iii. of this vol. Herrera came back in 1831, at the same time as Castillo Negrete, to resume his old position and manage the territorial finances. During this second term he engaged in no controversies officially, and so far as
