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Monterey, CAL., April 18, 1848.
My Dear Brother: . . . We are here perfectly banished. Occasionally a vessel comes up from the Sandwich Islands and other parts in the Pacific, but now that the first excitement has worn off, California is fast settling into its original and deserved obscurity. Military law is supreme here, and the way we ride down the few lawyers who have ventured to come here is curious. We have no courts here but the Alcalde Courts, and no laws save the Articles of War and the Regulations of Police, and yet a more quiet community could not exist. The lawyers are rampant; they came here to make money, and there are no courts, and the Governor won't make any, because the coming of lawyers to California is a bad omen. . . .
Your affectionate brother,
- William Sherman
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