Excerpt from California, From the Conquest in 1846 to the Second Vigilance Committee in San Francisco: A Study of American Character As to the originality of the various parts of this book, the later chapters are written with relatively the most complete independence of fellow-workers. In the first and second chapters, and in part in the third chapter, I have, on the other hand, to make my most important acknowledgments for help received. To Mr. Hubert Howe Bancroft I owe the very great privilege of a free use of his immense collection of original documents on the early history, especially of the conquest, a privilege of which I took advantage during the whole of the sum mer vacation of 1884. And from both Mr. Bancroft and his able collaborators I received, during all this time. Frequent and most friendly oral advice about the use of the collection itself. As Mr. Bancroft's library contains the material for his own great work. Now in process of publication, on the history of the Pacific States of North America, I feel especially indebted to the generositywn are, as they stand. Always my own final nt upon all the evidence that I could obtain. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.