Spanish sovereignty in the Pacific was threatened. The Russians had
crossed Bering Sea, had established themselves on the coast of Alaska,
and their hunters were extending their pursuit of the sea otter into
more southern waters. England had wrested Canada from France and was
ready to turn her attention to the American possessions of Spain. The
Family Compact of the Bourbon princes of France, Spain, and Italy had
aroused the ire of Pitt, then at the zenith of his fame, and he resolved
to demand an explanation from Spain, and, failing to receive it, attack
her at home and abroad before she was prepared, declaring that it was
time for humbling the whole house of Bourbon. A check in the cabinet
caused Pitt's resignation, but in 1766 he was again restored to power
with vigor and arrogance unabated.

On February 27, 1767, Don Carlos III of Spain issued his famous decree
expelling the Jesuits from the Spanish dominions. This society had
established a number of missions in Lower California, and Don Gaspar de
Portola, a captain of dragoons of the Regiment of Spain, was appointed
governor of the Californias and sailed from Tepic with twenty-five
dragoons, twenty-five infantry, and fourteen Franciscan friars to
dispossess the Jesuits and turn the California missions over to the
Franciscans.

The king having been warned of the advance of the Russians upon the
northern coasts of California, ordered the viceroy of New Spain to take
effective measures to guard that part of his dominions from danger of
invasion and insult. While the viceroy was casting about to find a
person of sufficient importance and ability to organize and carry out so
great an undertaking, Don Jose de Galvez, visitador-general of the
kingdom and member of the Council of the Indies, offered his services
and volunteered to go to Lower California and effect the organization