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Transcript of Missions and Missionaries - Forgotten Books
MISSIONSANDMISSIONARIES
CALIFORNIA
FR. ZEPHYRIN
VOL . 111. UPPER CALIFORNIA
PART IL GENERAL l-astonv
el se historla e leegrn
no uld tam dicero a ndant; delnde no
quid verl non ca dent.”
L eo mp t. Aug . 1 8. 1 888 .
N
“81230 he do oer pa rcla l de la verdad .
”Fr. L u uen , Ru pneata
0.
SAN FRANCISCO. CAL .
THE JAME S H . BARRY COMPAN Y1 01 8
sumOhmFR . THDOPH I L UB RICHARDT, 0. F. 1L .
Beer. Theol . L ector
Censor deputa tul
FR . CONRADINUS WAL LBRAUN . O. F. 1 1
Sa cr. Theol. L octor
Connor deputttu
FR . BEN EDICTUB SCHM IDT, 0 . F. E .
m ater v ln clan
DIG 1 5 Ju li. 1 91 3
3mmup PATR I TIUS GUL I EL H UB RIORDAN .
Archleplscopul Sa ncti h a nd set, Ca l.
Die 8 J ul“. 1 81 8
COPYRI GHT. 101 8
BY
CONTENTS
Section 1 .
CHAPTER I .
PageA Comisario-Prefecto for the Missions.
-Rela tion s with the Fr.
Presiden te.—Tbe First Comisa rio.
— H is Fine Pa stora l — UrgesLea rn ing the Indian Langua ge.
—Solicitude for the Whites.
Fr. Payéra s Succeeds Fr. Sehan a s Presiden te.— Dea th of
Governor Arrilla ga .-H is Testamen t. —H is Chara cter.
— Ar
riva l of Gov . Sela— “Interroga torio on the Mission s.
Trea chery of the India n s — Fr. Quin tana ’s Aw ful Dea th and
H is Vindica tion .— Aho de los Temblores.
— Effects of the
Mexican Rebellion in Ca liforn ia — The Troops En tirely Supported by the M issions .
— Willingn ess of the Fa thers — Foreign Trade Prohibited .
CHAPTER I I .
Zea l of the Fria rs — Fr. Jua n Cabot’s Expedition .— Fr. M a r
tinez’
s Expedition .— Soldiers Necessa ry a s Gua rds — Expedi
tion to the Sa cramen to — Fr. Payéra s’
s Appea l.— Morta lity atSa n Fra ncisco — Va rious Causes — Founding of M ission San
Ra fael. —Disaster at San Buenaven tura .— More Runaways .
The Causes.— Fr. Payéra s
’
s Wa rn ing.—Fr. Ma rtinez’s Sta te
ment— Gov . Sola Worried— H e takes Action .— Various Ex
peditions — The Mojaves Revenge Themselves — Fr. Nuez’aDia ry — 5016
’
s Regula tions to the Corporals.
CHAPTER I II .
Fr. Sarria’
s Circular.- Evangelica l Poverty to Be Observed .
Lea rn ing the L anguage — Other Exhorta tions .— Fr. Bestard
Orders Biographica l Sketches — Another Circula r of Fr. Sa r
rii — Ha ndling of Money.— Scarcity of M issionaries — Gov .
Sola 3 Beautiful Appea l in Beha lf of the Fria rs.— San Fernan
Contents
do College Ofiers to Cede Some M issions.— Orizaba College
Accepts — M issions Surrendered.— The Fria rs Displea sed w iththe Choice.
-Fr. Payera s Reelected .— No Money for Travel
ing Expenses — The College Offers to Cede the M issions tothe Bishop.— Vote of the Fria rs on the M issions to Be Ceded.Orizaba College Withdraws .
CHAPTER IV.
South American Rebels Invade Ca liforn ia — Pa triotism of the
Fria rs — Fr. Ma rtinez’s En thusia sm— 8016’s Report to the
Viceroy.— The Viceroya l Governmen t Awakens.— Wretched
Re-en forcemen ts.—Sol£ Distracted— Lodges “Cholos” in
M iss ion San Ca rlos — Fr. Sa rrié’
s Grief.— Viceroy VenaditoReproa ches the Settlers .
— The Missions the Ma in stay.— Their
Con tributions — Fr. Martinez Surprises the Governor.— Sola
Sends a n Agen t to Mexico — Fr. Gua rdian L 6pez’
s Urgen tAppea l.
CHAPTER V.
Fr. Payéra s'
s Encouraging Circula r.— Zea lous Disposition of
the Fria rs — M iss ion Sta tistics — M ission Products — Insolence of the Soldiers .
—Helplessness of the M issiona ries and
Their Neophytes.— Kotzebue a nd Russia ns at San Francisco.
-H is Strictures .— Fr. Payera s Elected Comisa rio-Prefecto.
- Fr. Cortes ’s New s — Fr. Guardian ’
s Circular.— H is Com
ma nds Rega rding “Ca rriages.
”— The Question Ventila ted.
Fr. Payéra s’
s Sensible Decision .
CHAPTER VI .
Happen ings in Mexico — The Span ish Cortes.— Its Politica l Di
v ision s .— Secula riza tion Decree.
— Leyes de la Reforms .
King Ferdina nd VII . Signs for Fea r of Dea th.— Efiect in
Mexico — How the Francisca ns in Mexico a nd Ca liforn ia Received the News — The Fr. Guardia n ’
s Instruction s — Fr.
Payéra s Informs Gov . $016 a nd the Bishop .— Fr. Payéra s’s
Beautiful Circular.— Gov . Sold to Fr. Payera s .
— BishopBern a rdo to Fr. Payera s.
— Fr. Sanchez’s Sentimen ts — Constitution to be Promulga ted.— Fr. Sefian
’
s Instructions.— Fr.
Ma rtinez on the Ca tecismo Politico.
Contents
CHAPTER VII .
M exico Independen t.— Religious Orders in Mexico.- The Sit
na tion at the College — 5015 Turn s Aga inst the Fa thers.
His Strange Dema nds — Fr. Payera s Appeals to the College.
—He Expla in s the Position of the M ission aries — Their Workand Sa crifices for the Indians— Their Sa crifices for the
Troops .— Funds of the M ission s.
— Why the Fa thers Con tinued in Charge.
—Their Sincerity.— Bancroft’s Insincerity.Sola Excused.
CHAPTER VI I I .
The Mission s Supporting the M ilita ry.— Fr. Payéra s’
s Cirenla rs.
- Fr. Cortés Va in ly Tries to Ca sh Dra fts.— Fa thers
Cata la a nd Viader Remonstra te.— Con tribution s of San ta
Cla ra — Demand of the Comandan te of San Diego.— Fr. Gil's
Touching Appea l. -The Ca liforn ia Settlers a nd Their Cha ra cteristics.
— Dramshops at San ta Barba ra .- M issions Exempt
from Taxa tion .— Governor Solar - In sists on Taxing the N eo
phytes.— Span ish Laws Concern ing Indian Converts — Prac
tice of Span ish Monarchs — 8 015’s H igh-handed Comma nds— In justice of H is Proceedings.
CHAPTER IX.
Zea l of the Fa thers — Expedition of Fa thers Payeras and Si n
chez.— Expedition of Capta in Luis Argiiello.
— Fr. Ordaz itsChron icler.
— The Regency in Mexico.— Council at Mon terey.
— Oa th of Allegiance — Fia t Genera l Election ElectedDelega te to Mexico — Arriva l of Comisionado Fernandez.
Council at Mon terey.— Fernandez’s Five Propositions .— Fer
nandez and Fr. Payera s Visit the Russian Fort— ExpeditionDescribed— Election of the First Legisla ture— Luis ArgiielloElected Tempora ry Governor.
— Fr. Payera s to EmperorIturbide.
— Fernandez and 5015 Depa rt.— Iturbide Deposedand Shot— Ba ncroft on Sola.
CHAPTER X .
Forfeiture of a Priv ilege — Decision of the B ishops of Mexico.
-Discouraging Letter of the Fr. Gua rdian .— The M issions
Con tribute a s Before.— Fr. Payera s Coun sels Submiss ion .
More Con tribution s Dema nded — Indolen t Troops.— Disgust
of the Fa thers .— First Legisla ture Imposes Taxes — Prohib
vii
Contents
ited Books .— Argiiello
'
s Proclama tion — Books Destroyed .
Rea son s Therefor.— Dea th of Fr. Payeras — Bancroft’s L av
ish Pra ise — Dea th of Fr. Sefian .— Bancroft’s View .
—Fr.
Sefian to Have Been H istorian .
CHAPTER XI .
Fr. Altimira ’s In trigues.— A Usurping Deputa tion .
— M issionsto be Suppressed— Fr. Altimira Founds a New Mission .
Ama zement of the Fr. Presiden te.— Fr. Altimira Proceeds
with the Buildings — Receives Fr. Sa rria’
s Letter.
— His
Wra th.— Fr. Sa rria Lays Down the L aw to Argiiello.
-Com
promise.— San Fra ncisco a nd San Ra fael Saved— Fr. Alti
mira notHappy.— The First Legisla ture in Second Session .
Imposes Taxes.—Discrimina tes Aga inst the Indians — Fr.
Abella ’s Protest— Fr. Sa rria’
s Firm Sta nd— In tolerable Oppress ion .
-Kotzebue and Estudillo.— Fr. Sa rria En lightens
Argiiello.— Sad Sta te of the M issions — Fr. Sarria Wa rns the
Governor.
CHAPTER X I I .
Indian Revolt.— Immedia te Cause.— Ha ppen ings at Sa n ta Inés
a nd Purisima .-Revolt Spreads to Sa n ta Barba ra .
— Fr. Ripoll.— The Soldiers Atta ck the Indian s — Indian s Retreat— Bruta lity of the Soldiers — Governor Sends Troops to Purisima .
— Execution of Some India ns — Sa n ta Ba rbara India nsFlee to the Tula res .
— Efforts to Bring Them Back— Fr. Ripoll Distra cted.— Fr. Sa rria Offers to Persuade Them.
— Suc
ceeds.- Change of Superiors in Mexico and Ca liforn ia .
Junta de Fomen to.— Min ister Alaman to Fr. Guardian .
God a nd Liberty.
”— Fr. Gua rdia n ’
s Reply to Alama n .
CHAPTER XII I.
New Mexica n Con stitution .— Oa th Dema nded — Fr. Sa rria Re
fuses — The Legisla tors Meet.— They Take the Oa th.—Fr.
E stén aga’s Action .
— Proposition of the Legisla tors — Argiiello
’
s Decision .— Fr. Sarria Justifies H is Refusa l to Fr.
Duran and Argiiello.— Fr. Tapis to Fr. Duran — Action of the
Mexica n Presiden t Concern ing Fr. Sa rria.— Fr. Dur£n
Cha nges H is Mind.— Demands for Supplies Continue.
- Fr.
Duran Angers Comanda n te Martinez.— Fr. Viader Unterri
fled— Arriva l of Gov . Echea ndia .— Wan ts to Reform Things.
Contents ix
PageH is Absurd Report— Fr. Arroyo to Herrera — NumerousBaptisms - Correspon dence of Fr. Ibarra w ith De la Guerraand Ca rrillo.
— Situation at M ission San Fernando.
CHAPTER XIV.
Fr. Ibarra’
s Pla in Language Concern ing the Soldiers.— I ndig
nan t Fr. Ma rtinez Takes Steps to Protect H imself.— Hittell’
s
M isrepresen ta tion .— Alva rado’
s Silly Story.— Fr. Martinez
Caustic.— In tolerable Conditions.
— Fr. Peiri Disgusted.
Echeandia Equa lizes M ission Taxes — H is Sen timen ts Re
ga rding the M issiona ries — M issions Mulcted. - Cause of M ilita ry Destitution .
— Oa th of Allegiance.— M ission La nds Gov
eted— Echeandia Emancipa tes Some Indian s.— Results.
Missions Decay.— Echeandia Orders Schools Opened . 229
CHAPTER XV.
The Franciscan s a nd the Oa th of Allegiance.— Fr. Sa rrié
’
s Cir
cula r.— Fr. Sa rria to Be Ba n ished.
— Absurd Cha rges Aga in stFr. Ma rtin ez — Some Stipends Pa id— Fr. José Si nchez Appoin ted Presidente.
— His Consterna tion .~ -Fr. Duran Con
soles Hum— Politics in Ca liforn ia — Politicians in Mexico.
Ca liforn ia a Pena l Colony. -Sensa tiona l Flight of Fa thersRipoll and Altimira — Un founded Charges . 243
CHAPTER XVI .
Spying on M issiona ries.—Result.— The Friars Necessa ry for the
Welfa re of the Territory .— Beechey
’s Opin ion — Fr. Martinez
Asks and Receives Pa ssport- Numerous Conversion s.
Beechey’s Description of M ission Methods .
— Mexico DecreesExpulsion of All Span iards — The College of San Fernandoon Verge of Extinction .
— Fr. Arreguin .— M ission Funds .
The Fa thers Refuse to Swear Allegiance.—Echeandia
’
s Ex
cuse for Inaction .— List of M issionaries a nd Their Condi
tion .— Echea ndia Pleads for Them— Another Decree of Ex
pulsion .— Action of the Town Councils of San José and Mon
terey.— Fa thers Dema nd Their Pa ssports.
CHAPTER XVII .
Fr. Luis Ma rtinez.- O&ends Echeandia and the Pa isanos.
—The
Solis Revolt. -“Bravery ”
of the Pa isanos.— Bancroft on Fr.
Ma rtinez.— Echeandia in Sea rch of a Pretext.— Fr. Ma rtinez
x Contents
PageArrested— Imprisoned.— Echea ndia s Motives — Fr. Sa rria
’
s
Defense of Fr. Ma rtinez.— Sad Sta te of the M issions.
Echea ndia's Hypocrisy.— His Impertinence.
— Rebulted.
Shameless Trea tmen t of Fr. Martinez.— Mrs. 0rd
’
s Narra tive. 280
CHAPTER XVIII .(Con tinued )
Echeandia Tries to Find Evidence Aga inst Fr. Ma rtinez.— L et
ters of Fa thers Juan a nd Pedro Cabot.— Fr. Ma rtinez’s Defence a nd Protest.— A Fa rcica l Court-Martia l.— Oflicers Composing the Court.— Echeandia ’s Instructions.
— Fr. MartinezBa n ished.— Va llejo’s Ca lumn ies.
— Attitude of the M issiona ries.
— The India ns.— Revolt in the North.
— Change of Presiden te of the M issions. 295
Section I I .
CHAPTER I.
A Summary - Position of the M issionary Fa thers in Ca lifor
n ia .— They Pacify the Savages a nd Secure the Territory.
Wan ted no Compensa tion but Freedom of Action .-They
Support the Territoria l Governmen t and Troops.— Indebt
edness of the Ca liforn ian s to the Missions.- Ingra titude of
the Pa isanos.— Their Religious Indifference — Fr. Viader’s
Compla in t.— Motive of the Pa isano Hostility.— Echea ndiaProposes the Confisca tion of the M ission Property. —Meaning of the Decree of 181 3 .
— Rea l Motive Aga in .— Echeandia
’s
Plan Adopted by the Ca liforn ia Assembly; Rejected in Mex
ico.— A Ridiculous Project. - Schools.
— Why They Fa iled.
CHAPTER II .
Presiden t Bustaman te to Fr. Duran .— Reply.
- The M issionariesIlltrea ted.— India ns Oppressed by the Troops.
— Insecurity ofthe Territory. - M ission a ries Threa tened. — Fr. Ma rtinezShamelessly Arrested at Sa n Luis 0bispo.
— OutrageouslyTrea ted at San ta Barbara .
—Fa rcica l Court-Martia l.— Echeandia ’s Despotism.
— M ission aries Fa lsely Accused— Appea l forProtection to the Presiden t. —Another Letter from Bustaman te.
— Lengthy Reply.— Stipends not Wan ted Un less the
Tr00ps Are First Pa id.— Neophytes Still Backwa rd— A Way
out of the Difl‘iculty.— Commerce.
— Propositions .— Good Will
of the Bustamante Admin istra tion .
Contents xi
CHAP TER I I I .
Echeandia Removed— Manuel Victoria Appoin ted— Bebeandia ’s Trickery — He Procla ims the
“Seculariza tion of the
Mission s — Bancroft on the Young Ca liforn ia ns a nd on
Echea ndia’s Action — Bfiorts of the Ca liforn ians to Seduce
the India n s.— Ba ncroft on Echea ndia
’
s Scheme — VictoriaRevokes Echeandia ’s Decree.
—Victoria and Padres — VictoriaExonera tes the M issiona ries .
— Religious Prin ciples bf the
Young Ca liforn ia ns — Victoria Accuses Padres of Trea son .
Ra ge of Pa dres and H is Young Pa rtisans .—Victoria En
dea vors to Restore order.— Sends Padrés outof the Coun try.
— H ittell and Ban croft on Gov . Victoria . 346
CHAPTER IV.
Rea l Motive of Oppos ition to Victoria .— Pronunciamen to of the
Conspira tors.— Victoria Goes to Meet Them.
—His Impru
dence.— His Fea rlessness.
— Dangerously Wounded— Resignsand Departs — Echeandia Aga in .
— The Legisla tive Assembly.— Three Governors at Once, then Two.
-Two Memoria ls.
Gra ndiloquen t Va llejo.- The Bustama n te Admin istra tion .
Views of the M issionaries Demanded .— Replies of Fa thersCabot, Jimeno, and Sinchez.
— Fr. Sarria’
s Letter.— Bancroft
on Fr. Durin ’s Commen taries .
CHAPTER V.
Fr. Duran ’s Magn ificen t Exposure of the Confisca tion Scheme
— Neophytes in the Position of Children Under Age
Echeandia M iscon strues L aw of September 1 3th, 1 81 3 .
Fa ilure of Ema ncipa tion .— Neophytes Not Forced in to Sub
jection ; Not Discon ten ted .— M issionaries Loya l.— L aw of
September 1 81 3 Abused— India ns Not Freed— Un just Distribution of Lands in Spite of L aw of Janua ry 4th, 181 3 .
Neophytes Robbed. -At the Mercy of Specula tors. 3 79
CHAPTER VI.
(Fr. Duran ’s Notes Con tinued.)
Disrega rd for the L aw of 181 3 .—India ns Overtaxed.
— Sa la riedOfficia ls to Replace Unsa laried M issionaries — India n s Burdened to Ea se White People.
— Indian s the Packmules and
Scapegoa ts .— Ta llc of Schools Mere Claptrap .
— Epilogue.
Rea l Aims of the M ission Enemies.— Victoria Defender of
India n Rights and Property.
Contents
CHAPTER VII .Page
Ca rlos Ca rrillo’s Splendid Address before the Mexican Congressin Beha lf of the M issions and the M ission Fund— Results.
Na tivism.— Mexica n Fria rs from Zaca teca s Go to Ca liforn ia .
Authority of the Leader of the M issiona ry Band— He Ad
min isters Confirmation .- Return to Mexico.
— Fr. DuranSends Fr. Peiri to Mexico.
—Object. —Fr. Peiri’s Noble Char
a cter.— Ca lumn ies of the Pico Clique.
— Forbes on Fr. Peiri.- Two Governors in Ca liforn ia .
— Echea ndia’
s La st Attempt.— Replies of Fa thers Martin , Oliva , Za lvidea , and Anza r. 403
CHAPTER VIII .
The M ission System.- Wea lth of the Missions the Result.
India n Liberty.— The Fria rs not Pa rish Priests.
— Filia l Subiection not Slavery.
— A Generous Proposition .— The Friars
Will not Stultify Themselves to Aid Echeandia .—Neophytes
Seduced by Echeandia .— Neophytes not Slaves.
— Fa lse
Charges of the Ex-Governor.— The Key to Echea ndia
’
s Mis
represen ta tions.—Neophytes Rega rded a s Children or Ap
pren tices — Con sequences of Echeandia ’s Machina tions .—The
Friars a nd the Tempora lities.— Willing to Surrender Them to
Lawful Authority. Conclusion
CHAPTER IX .
New Governor.— Za ca teca n Francisca n s for Ca liforn ia .
Mutiny.— Fr. Garcia Diego to Figueroa .
—The New GovernorArrives atMonterey.
— Dea th of Fr. J03 6 sanchez.- Fr. Duran
Compla ins to Figueroa — Distribution of the Friars — Fr.
Garcia Diego’s Circula r on Flogging — Fr. Gutierrez on the
Same Subject— Va llejo Compla ins of the Zaca teca n Friars.
Replies of Fr. Ga rcia Diego and Fr. Rubia — Va llejo SlandersFr. Merca do — The La tter Suspended.— Investiga tion .
- Fr
Mercado Decla red Innocent— Va llejo Himself Accused.
CHAPTER X.
Changes at San Fernando College.-Fr. Duran Vice-Prefecto.
— Dea th and Depa rture of Some M issionaries — Gov . Figueroa .
— Echeandia's Specia l Pleading — M in ister Alaman Re
pudiates Echeandia’
s Decree.— Figueroa ’s Genera l I n struc
tions — H e I s not Friendly.— Ca liforn ia Rid of Echeandia .
Figueroa ’s Colored Report.— His Emancipa tion Reglamento.
Contents xiii
— Ba ndim s Scheme Fr. Duran ’
s Distressing Report.Ema ncipa ted Indian s Veritable Slaves.
— H is Second Report.— His Reflections on the Reglamen to.
— His Circula r.—The
Fria rs notAbsolute Ma sters. 464
CHAPTER XI .
Fa ilure of Figueroa ’s Scheme.— Va llejo Applauds the Gov
ernor.—The Rea sons — Figueroa Turns to the Two Supe
riors for Advice.- Reply of Fr. Ga rcia Diego — Shows Im
pra cticability a nd Dangers of Secula riza tion — Fr. Duran ’
s
Exhaustive Sta tement— M ission s “Ready” under the L aw .
Difiiculties a nd Da ngers .— How It Might Be Accomplished .
— First to Propose Appoin tmen t of a B ishop — FigueroaReports Adversely.
-Shpws the Injustice of the Mea surebefore the Mexican Congress. 483
CHAPTER XI I.
Secula riza tion before the Mexican Congress — Wha t L ed to it.— Elections in Ca liforn ia .
— Juan Ba ndin i Goes to Congress.
— Legisla ture Meets at Mon terey.— Figueroa ’s Pompous Address — Proposes Pla n aga inst the M ission s — A Colon iza tionSw indle.
— Bandin i Join s the Schemers.-Colon ists Collected.
Compania Cosmopolitans .— Hija r a nd Padrés Demand Pos
session of the Missions — Ba ffled— H ija r’s Instructions — TheLegisla ture Rejects H is Demands — Colony Goes to Pieces.
- Bandin i Disappoin ted— H is Smuggling Opera tion s.— De
posed and Disgra ced.
CHAPTER X I I I.
Decree aga inst Monks a nd Nuns — Stupid Ignora nce of the
Authors — Fr. Duran ’
s Expressive Note.- The Mexican Con
gress Ena cts a Secula riza tion Decree — Not Sa tisfa ctory tothe Ca liforn ia ns — The Reason — Spirit of the Mexican Government— Assault on the Pious Fund — Another Secula rization Decree — Figueroa and the Ca liforn ians.
— Trick of the
Governor.— H is Own
“Seculariza tion” Project— Sa tisfactoryto the Ca liforn ians.
-Adopted.— Text of the Decree — A Supplementa ry Decree.
XIV Contents
CHAPTER X IV.
H ittell on the Act of Confiscation — Sa n Ca rlos Inven tory.
How the Legisla tors Provided for Themselves.— Rich H ar
vest for the Admin istra tors.-Portilla ’s Lamen t.— Neophytes
Obstreperous.— Fr. Duran on M issions San Luis Rey a nd San
Juan Ca pistrano — Dana on the Result of the Confiscation .
How the M ission a ries Bore Themselves — Fr. Duran Hurt atTheir Silence — H is In structions — The Friars AbsolutelyDeta ched a nd Disinterested.— Fr. Duran ’
s Confiden tial Circula r.
— Sa tisfaction of the Fria rs — Eager to Be Relieved.Action of the Fr. Guardian of Guada lupe, Zaca teca s.
CHAPTER XV.
The Old Story — Missions Must Furn ish Supplies As Ever.
Figueroa to Fr. Duran — Specimen Demands — Sla nders of
the Pa isano Chiefs.— Va llejo’s Absurd Charges.
— Cla im of
Wholesale Slaughter.— Fa thers Dishea rtened.— Pico's Sup
pression of Rea l Rea son for the Deca y. - Some Stipends forthe Friars — The Pious Fund.
— How the Governmen t MisusedI t. —Figueroa ’s Ungra cious Recommenda tion s.
-His Report.— H is Fan a ticism.
— The Ma jority of the People with the
Friars.
CHAPTER XVI .
Departure of Fr. Juan Cabot. - Dea th of Fa thers Uria and
Sa rria.— Ba ncroft on Fr. Sa da— Manufa cture of Wine.
An Amusing Episode.— Fr. Duran ’s Indign a tion .
—Fr. Bla sOrdaz Involved .
— Fr. Bla s Astray.— Expla na tion .
— Politician sto Blame — Fr. Ga rcia Diego’s Petition .
— Humilia tion of the
M issionaries .- Figueroa a nd Divine Worship. —Result of the
Comisionado System.— Fr. Quijas
’s Terrible Indictmen t of
Mariano Va llejo and Henchma n An ton io Ortega — ShockingSta te of Things at M ission San Fra n cisco Solano. 567
CHAPTER XVII .
Why Va llejo and Ortega Wen t Unpun ished .— A Sample of
Va llejo’s Ungovern able Van ity a nd Auda cious Fa lsehoods .
Fr. Ga rcia Diego Protests Aga in st Officia l Arroga nce — Beneficia ries of Mission Confiscation .
— L os Angeles a s Ca pita lof Ca liforn ia .
— Elections.— Last Address of Figueroa .
— Re
Contents xv
Pagesign s — H is La st Will .— His Dea th and Funera l.— Resolution sof the Territoria l Assembly.
— Wha t the Result Wa s — Figueroa
’
s Buria l at Santa Ba rbara — Fr. Garcia Diego’s Sta temea t— He Journeys to Mexico.
APPENDIX.
A.— Necessity of Learn ing the Language of the Indians
B.- Religious Instruction for the Settlers
C.— Religious Orders and Their EnemiesD.
— L a Bula de la San ta CruzadaE .
— The Span ish InquisitionE — Wea lth of the M ission sG.
—La nd Gra n ts during the M ission PeriodH .— Memoria s del Rey
I .-Very Rev . Alexis Ba chelot and Rev . Pa trick ShortJ.— Sta te of the M issions on December 3 l st, 183 2K.
- Alleged Wan ton Slaughter of Ca ttle
ILLUSTRATIONS
PageSt. M ichael, the Archangel, Specia l Pa tron of Francisca nM issiona ry Colleges Fron tispiece
Sea l of the Commissa ry- Prefect of Mexico 2
S igna ture of Fr. Vicen te Fra n cisco de Sa rria 5
Sign a ture of Fr. Florencio I ba r'
lez 8
Signa ture of Fr. Francisco Pujé l 1 1
Signa ture of Fr. Andrés Quin tan a 1 5
Signa ture of Governor J03 6 Da rio Argiiello 18
Sign a ture of Fr. Jua n Cabot 24
Signa ture of Fr. Luis Gil y Taboada 30
M ission San Ra fa el Archa ngel. Draw ing by Alexa nder Ha rmer 3 2
S igna ture of Fr. Joaquin Pascua l Nuez 3 9
Signa ture of Fr. Commissa ry-Genera l Juan Buen aventura Besta rd
Signa ture of Governor Pablo Vicen te de 5015.Sign a ture of Fr. Luis An ton io MartinezSigna ture of Viceroy Francisco Venega sGrinding Corn in the Morta r a nd Crushing Soft Corn on the
Metate. Origina l Draw ing by A. Harmer
Tabula r Bien n ia l Report for the Yea rs 1809- 1810.— The first
column notes the mission s existing atthe time. The othercolumn s in succession give the number of priests at ea ch
mission , the aid received from the roya l trea sury, which wa snothing, aid from the Pious Fund for the two missiona ries, tota l a id, number of ma le, number of fema le India ns,the tota l Indian popula tion . (Facsimile)
S ign a ture of Fr. Ba ldomero LopezOrdinary Conveyan ce in the Ea rly Days . Origina l Draw ing byArthur B . Dodge 90
Sign a ture of Fr. Presiden te José Sefian 105
Sign a ture of Fr. Comisa rio-Prefecto Ma riano Payera s 1 14
S igna ture of Fr. Magin Ca ta la 1 2 5
Sign a ture of Fr. Fra ncisco Sufier 1 3 2
Church of San Ferna ndo de Mexico. From a n old Lithogra ph 1 36Signa ture of Fr. Presiden te José Berna rdo Sanchez 144
Sign a ture of Fr. Ja ime Escudé 149
Sign a ture of Rev . Augustin Fernandez de San Vicen te 1 53
Signa ture of Fr. Augustin Gamo 162
xviii Illustrations
Sign a ture of Governor José M . de EcheandiaAlva rado Ha rangues the Indian s of San M iguel. Or1g1na l
Drawing by A. HarmerPortra it of Fr. Anton io Peiri
Fr. A. Peiti Blessing H is Indians. Origina l Draw ing by AHa rmer
Signa ture of Fr. Ferna ndo MartinArriva l of Governor J03 6 Figueroa with the Za cateca n Fran
cisca ns. Origina l Drawing by A. Ha rmerSign a ture of Fr. J . Ma ria GutierrezSigna ture of Fr. J . Maria Vas quez del MercadoSigna ture of Fr. Vincen te Pascua l OlivaM issionary College of Our Lady of Gua da lupe, Zaca teca sSigna ture of Governor Jose FigueroaIndian s at Sa n Luis Rey Refuse to Work for Capta in PortillaOrigina l Drawing by A. Harmer
Sign a ture of Fr. Buenaventura FortuniThe Rema ins of Fr. Vicen te de Sa rria Taken to M ission SanAn ton io. Origina l Draw ing by A. Harmer
Signa ture of Fr. B la s OrdazSigna ture of Fr. José Lorenzo Quua sFunera l of Governor José Figueroa . Original Drawing by AHa rmer
S igna ture of Very Rev . Alexis BachelotSigna ture of Rev. Pa trick ShortAnnua l Report on the Spiritua l a nd Tempora l Sta te of the
Mission s for the Yea r 1820.— The first column notes the
name, da te of founding, la titude, and dista nce from the
preceding mission . I n succession the other column s reportthe whole number from the da te of founding of Baptisms,Marriages, Dea ths, the neophytes at the mission, the num
ber of ca ttle, sheep, goa ts, sw ine, ma res with their colts,horses and mules, the number of fa nega s sown a nd ha r
vested tha t year of whea t, ba rley, corn , bea ns, ga rban zos,pea s, and horsebeans or len tils. (Facsimile)
End of the volume
SECTION I
FR. VICENTE FRANCISCO DE. SARRl/i( 181 24818, l824-I830)
FR. MARIANO FAYl-fRAS18 19- 182 3 )
COMISARIOS-PREFECTOS
FR. 103 15 SEN/(N( 18 l2 - 18 15; l820- 182 3 )
FR MARJANO PAYI-fRASIBIS- 1820)
FR. NARCISO OUR/(N1824- 182 7
José BERNARDO SANCHEZ182 7- 1830)
PRES IDENTES
Sea l of the Fr. Prefecto In Mexico.
CHAPTER I.
A Comisa rio-Prefecto for the Missions.— Rela tion s with the Fr.
Presidente.— Fr. Vicen te de Sa rria First Comisa rio.
— H is Fin ePastora l — Urges Learn ing the Indian Language.
— Solicitudefor the Whites — Fr. Maria no Payeras Succeeds Fr. Sefian a s
Presiden te.— Dea th of Governor Arrillaga .
— His Testamen t.His Cha racter.
— Arriva 1 of Gov . P. V. de Sa lt— “In terrogatorio on the M issions — Trea chery of the Indians — Fr. Quinti na ’s Awful Dea th and H is Vindica tion — Aha de los Tem
blores .— E&ects of the Mexica n Rebellion in Ca liforn ia .
The Troops En tirely Supported by the M issions.— Willingness
of the Fa thers.— Foreign Trade Prohibited.
N important innova tion wa s introduced into the ecclesia stica l government of the Ca liforn ia missions in 18 1 2 .
Fr. Estévan Tapis early in September, 1810, had petitionedto be relieved of the oflice of presidente to which he hadbeen three times elected. Fr. Guardian Agustin Garijo 1
promised tha t his wishes should be considered at the comingchapter. This was held for the election of College of
ficia ls on July 1 1th, 18 1 2 . Fr. Miguel Lull received the
ma jority of the forty-hye votes cast for the office of guardian ,and Fa thers Juan Ca lzada , Ba ldomero Lopez, Juan Torrens,and Juan Corte's were elected discretos or councillors. Fr.
Cortés was a lso made master of novices, and Fr. PedroMa rtinez became procurator for the Ca liforn ia missions.
Fathers Lopez and Cortes had labored in Ca liforn ia , and
therefore understood the situa tion there perfectly.
’ On the
same occasion Fr. José Sefian of Mission San Buenaventurawas appointed to succeed Fr. Tapis a s presidente.
‘ Two
1 Fr. Ga n jo to Fr. Tapis, Februa ry 20, 18 1 1 . Sta . Ba rb.Arch.
”Fr. Ga rijo was elected gua rdia n in 1809 probably, though
we have no record of the chapter held then .
Fr. Pedro Martinez to Fr. Sarria, July 1 7th, 181 2 . Sta . Barb.Arch.
”
‘ Fr. Lull, Pa ten te, to Fr. Sehan , July 1 5th, 181 2 ; Fr. Sefian ,
“Circula r,” December 9th, 181 2 .
“Sta . Ba rb. Arch.
4 M issions and Missionaries of California
days later, July 1 3th, the chapter aga in convened for the
purpose of choosing a comisa rio-prefecto for Ca liforn ia . He
was to represent the Fr. Commissary-Genera l of the Indiesand to transact the business a ffa irs of the missiona ries withthe territoria l government, whilst the Fr. Presidente at
tended to the interior or disciplinary matters of the Fa thers .
Practica lly, he was a kind of permanent visitor-genera l,whilst the Fr. Presidente possessed the authority of a com
missary-provincia l. The comisa rio-
prefecto ranked the Fr.
Presidente in matters perta in ing to the Indian missions and
to the missionaries as religious or friars ; but the Fr. Presidente held the position of vicario foraneo of the bishop,and as such was the head of the Church in the territory.
In ecclesia stica l a ffa irs, then , the Fr. Presidente outra nkedthe Fr. Comisario-Prefecto throughout the missionary period.
To avoid confusion this must be borne in mind. Of the
fifty votes cast for the office of comisa rio-prefecto Fr.
Vicente de Sarria received twenty-seven , whilst the rema inderwere ca st for Fr. Sefian . The former was accordingly declared elected to the new position .
‘
Although the news of his appointment reached Ca liforn iabefore the close of the year, Fr. Sarria wa ited six monthsbefore announcing it officia lly. Meanwhile he compiled a
beautiful and rema rkable“Pastora l” which he issued from
San Ca rlos on July 2 nd, 18 1 3 . On seventeen closely writtenfolio pages, and in forty-eight a rticles, the new comisarioprefecto exhorts his brethren in the Order to be fa ithfulobservers of the seraphic Rule of St. Francis, and by all
mea ns to adhere to the practice of the Annua l Spiritua lExercises, or the Retrea t. He then in eleven a rticles as
a matter of the highest importance,‘ urges the Fa thers to
lea rn the na tive language, and to teach the Christian doc
trine in the idiom of the Indians lest their missionary
Fr. Cortes, Tabla Capitula r, July 28th, 181 2 ; Fr. Juan B.
Ceva llos, Visitador y Presiden te to Fr. Sarria, Pa ten te,” July 1 5th,181 2 .
“Sta . Barb. Arch.
”
5 From four to fourteen inclusive.
0“de la sums importancia y necesidad.
The Comisa rio-Prefecto ; Quintana’s Death 5
efiorts rema in fruitless. He directs the attention of the
fria rs to the decla ra tion of en lightened missiona ries in the
past, to the decisions of Councils and of a Genera l Chapterof the Order, and even to roya l decrees. FurthermoreFr. Sarria quotes the instructions of a former bishop of
the diocese, and frankly tells them tha t the only meansto a ttain the purposes of the missionary establishments isthe study of the language of the Indians.
’ In his exhortation he urges the Fathers to compose or perfect catechismsin the dia lect of their respective missions, and quotes PopeBenedict XIV. who decla red tha t such ca techisms must conta in acts of Fa ith, Hope, and Charity, which two of his
Constitutions make it obliga tory to recite in the vernacularon all Sundays and fea st days. Fr. Sarria then goes on
to Show how this can best be done at the va rious missions
Signature of P r. Vicen te Fra ncisco de Ba r-rid.
with old and young, and insists tha t the old people, whocannot come to the church, should be instructed in their own
language individua lly at their homes.
“This is a burden ,
”
the Fr. Comisario concedes,“but we absolutely cannot throw
it from us. The duty of pastors is not to look a fter the
strong only, but a fter the weak and feeble, says St. Francisde Sales quoting St. Bemar The zea lous Father revertsto the subject aga in and aga in , and justly declares that theIndian cannot grasp the truths when they are impa rted to
him in a language not his own .
Articles fifteen to twenty-five dea l with the manner of
7 “que el 1
'
1n ico medio pa ra logra r los fines de nuestra misiones el estudio de la lengua de los Indios. See appendix A.
6 Missions and M issiona ries of Ca lifornia
leading the neophytes to make their con fessions, and he de
plores the observa tion tha t some missions a re backwardon this point. Articles twenty-six to thirty-one trea t of theholy Commun ion of the Indians. Fr. Sarria here quotes theCouncils of Mexico and Lima which command tha t holyCommun ion should be admin istered to the neophytes, provided, of course, that they are disposed and capable, especia llyin their la st illness. Particula r solicitude is expressed for
the sick, for whom he thought it advisable to have a com
mon infirmary. I f tenderness were employed, he thoughtthe repugnance of the Indians for such a place might beovercome. The Fr. Comisa rio then recurs to the duty of
structing the Indians, and reminds the Fa thers that theCouncil of Trent orders sermons on a ll Sundays and daysof obliga tion for all the people. In the absence of curates,then ,
”he says,
“we do not comply with the duties of our
min istry by merely celebra ting holy Mass at the presidioswithout prea ching, or at least reading an instruction to
those connected with the ga rrison . In as far a s in us lieswe must ha ve these white people recite their prayers da ily,and we must expla in them at times, especially in Lent ; wea lso must induce the people to make their con fessions in a
properFr. Sa rria next turns to the subject of the tempora l ad
min istra tion of the missions.
“This is a necessa ry ta sk, he
continues,“in order to ga in our spiritua l object ; but it must
never be ta ken up with such a rdor that it percha nce cause us
“Gen te de Razon is the term used throughout. For the sakeof clearness we usua lly give the English equiva len t.“The exhorta tion on these poin ts was timely. The white peo
ple certa in ly lacked the necessa ry religious instruction , otherw isethe ignora n ce of the la ter Ca liforn ia n s in officia l circles, a nd theirlittle rega rd for Religion and mora ls are incomprehensible. The
Fa thers had their hands full teaching and guarding the Indians ;but it seems something more could have been done to groundthe white children in Fa ith and mora ls. As it was, it seems
the ca techism wa s driven in to the children by unsympa theticsecula rs. The child thus lea rned to drea d the religious in struction which was rea lly no instruction at a ll. See Appendix B .
8 M issions and Missionaries of California
In the meantime Governor José Joaquin de Arrillaga dieda most edifying dea th at Mission Soledad at ten o
’
clockin theeven ing, July 2 5th, 1814, a fter he had received all the
Sacraments of the Church. On a tour of inspection he hadbeen seized w ith a serious illness, and had hastened to put
Signa ture of Fr. Florencio I badea .
himself under the a re of his old friend Fr. Florencia Iba fiez.
At ten o’
clock in the morning of July 26th the body wasin terred in the center of the mission church a s he had de
sired. Arrillaga had never ma rried, but owing to his ad
horenec to his religious principles he had led a clean lifethroughout. He left in Spa in a brother, three married sisters,and one unmarried sister, Maria Josefa . The la tter he con
stituted his chief heir ; but though he had been in the ser
v ice oi the king since November 1777 his esta te amoun ted tosca rcely three thousand dollars, most of which wa s due himfrom various persons. H is testament, dated Soledad, July1 5th, 18 14, begins
“In the Name of the Most Holy Trinity,
God the Father, God the Son , and God the Holy Ghost,three distinct Persons and one true God. First, Idirect that my lifeless body sha ll be clothed in the habitwhich the religious of our Fa ther St. Francis wea r, and mytomb sha ll be in one of the churches where I may die.
After enumera ting the legacies, among which were sma llamounts to his Indian servant Anton io and two other at
tendants, he ordered that his executor, José Maria Estrada ,should pay $600 to have six hundred holy Masses offered
up for the repose of his soul.“
1 3 Fr. Sarrra Certifica te, April 8th, 1 81 8. Ca l. Arch., Prov .
St. Pap., Benrcia , xxxiii, 498-503 ; xxxv ,428 ; xxxviii, 498-511 )
Prov . Rec. x, 266 ; Prov. St. Pap. xx, 842 -844. For Arrillaga’
s
autogra ph see vol. i, p. 52 7.
The Comisa rio-Prefecto ; Quintana’s Death 9
Such display of fa ith and piety is most distasteful toTheodore Kittell . The deceased therefore does not fare
as well at his hands as justice requires. In mention ing the
lega cy for the holy Masses K ittell adverts to the fact thatJosé Estrada pa id on ly $599 to Fr. Sarria, and that “theestate consequently saved a dolla r. It might have been betterand it would certa in ly have been pleasanter to record, if thedollar saved had gone to the missionaries and the five hun
dred and n inety~n ine pa id out to Dofia Maria Josefa .
”
Wha t fanatica l ha tred aga inst Ca tholic missionaries ! Whatthis writer’s description of the missions and missionariesmust be can be inferred from the pa ssage just quoted .
On the other hand it is agreeable to note tha t Bancroftendeavors to treat Arrillaga with fa irness, and forgets to
sneer at the religious conv ictions of the late governor.
“From the day of his en listment,”he acknowledges,
“to his
death, no fault wa s found with his conduct by superiors, bysubordina tes, or by the fria rs. As a soldier, officer, and
provincia l ruler, he obeyed every order and performedevery duty with zea l, courage, and good fa ith ; and he didthis with so much tact that as a rule he made no enemies.
Extremely pious and a ttached to the missionaries, he yet
seems to have escaped the reputa tion of frailéro1 ' in its
ofl‘ensive sense. In every station he was a model.In person , the governor wa s ta ll, with fa ir, ruddy Skin andblue eyes. In manner he was abrupt at times, but usua llycourteous and a ffable ; generous to a ll, cordia l and frankin his intercourse with the officers, kind-hearted and witty ;popula r with the soldiers, who used to ca ll him Papa Artillaga , but always ready in officia l transactions to put on thatsternness of demeanor so essential from a Span ish point ofview to dign ity. He was very fond of serving a s god
father and groomsma n , and no baptism or wedding in the
highest circles was deemed a ltogether complete and sa tisfactory without his services .
” 1 ‘ Arrillaga was on the best
1 4 H ittell, 1 630.
1“See vol. 1 1 , p. 3 58.
1 ' Bancroft, 1 1 , 204- 207.
1 0 M issions and M issiona ries of Ca lifornia
of terms with the missiona ries, a s Bancroft intimates ; henceit was tha t the missiona ries labored with fa r more cheer
fulness, and the missions progressed more rapidly in everyway, than under any of his predecessors . On December3oth, 1809, Fr. Guardia n Agustin Ga rijo acknowledged as
much by persona lly thanking him for his kind trea tment ofthe fria rs.
"
Ca pta in José Da rio Argiiello, comandante of San ta Ba rba ra and sen ior officer, assumed the tempora ry government ofCa liforn ia , but continued to reside at Santa Barba ra . On
December 3 l st, 18 14, Viceroy Ca lleja appointed LieutenantColonel Pablo Vicen te de 5015 governor of the territory.
Capta in Argiiello on the same da te wa s made governor of
Lower Ca liforn ia , but reta ined command until the arriva lof 8015. at Monterey on August 3oth, 18 1 5, a fter a voyageof seventy-five days.
“
Meanwhile the Span ish government had given some littleevidence of interest in the missions. On October 6th, 181 2 ,Don Ciriaco Gonzalez Ca rva jal, Secretary of Foreign Relations, addressed an
“Interroga torio”to the civil and eccle
sia stica l authorities in the Spa n ish domin ions of Americarequesting them to lend their a id to obta in from a ll the mis
siona ries and others replies to thirty- six questions regarding the na tives in their pagan state. The topics in theirorder a re as follows : races, their origin , languages, a ffectionfor wives, educa tion , agriculture, mechan ica l a rts, a ffectionor aversion toward foreigners, compla ints, their remedies,inclination for reading and writing, mean s to inculca te Spanish, v irtues of both sexes, superstitions, ca techisms in na tiveidiom, idola try, mora l and political conditions, ma rriage cus
toms, medica l treatment, ca lenda r, food, drink, sun or moon
worship, traditions, funera l customs, fidelity to promises,veracity, vices of both sexes, trade and money
,ha rvest cus
toms, whether ira scible, cha stisements employed by themselves, human sacrifices and their ceremonies, wea lthy na
1 7 Fr. Ga ruo to Arrillaga , Archb. Arch. , no. 3 43 .
1 ° Fr. Sa rria, Circula r,” August 3 l st, 181 5 ; Bancroft, 1 1 , 207- 209 ;
H ittell, i, 63 1 -63 3 .
The Comisa rio- Prefecto ; Quintana’s Death 1 1
tives , chiefs and caciques , services to one another, fondnessfor music, instruments , songs, prominent men in the pa st,idea s of etern ity, and dress. The Fa thers received thisinterroga torio through the Bishop of Sonora . The repliesmore or less complete of eighteen missions, a ll exceptPurisima , are extant. Fr. Presidente José Sefian devotedthe first seven months of 18 1 5 to compiling a summary froma ll the reports. It covers sixteen folio pages, and is the mostcomplete description of the Indian and his ways drawn up
by any of the friars. Fr. Seiian da ted his report to the
bishop on August 1 1th, What the object of the
Span ish governmen t was is not clea r. Nothing came of it.As the contents of the va rious replies have a lrea dy been utilized, or will find a place in the history of the respectivemissions in a subsequent volume, we need not dwell uponthem any further.
While the Fa thers sacrificed themselves for the Indians,they received little gra titude from their wa rds . N ay, at
some missions a ttempts were made upon the lives of the
Fa thers by neophytes . At San Anton io and San Miguel, forinsta nce, unknown persons tried to poison the missiona ries .
Fathers Ma rtin and Carnicer of San M iguel recovered, but
Signa ture of Fr. Fra ncisco Pujol.
Fr. Pujol, who had come from San Anton io shortly before,a fter suffering terribly, died a few weeks later in Februa ry,1801 . There seems to have been no doubt in the minds of
the people tha t his dea th was the result of poison ing,though no reason could be found for an a ttempt on the lives
“Sta . Barb . Arch.
”
1 2 M issions andMissiona ries of Ca lifornia
of these excellentmen .
” Among the vicious, however, therea lways were those who would have openly vented their wrathupon the missionaries for interfering with the gratificationof ca rna l desires, had not the presence of the guardschecked them. Yet, one of the most zea lous Fa thers fell av ictim to Indian treachery in this very year 1 81 2 . On the
morn ing of October 1 2th the neophytes of Mission SantaCruz were shocked to lea rn that their missionary, Fr.
Andres Quintana , had been found dead in bed. A superficia l investigation was instituted, but as no signs of violencewere discovered the verdict wa s that the Father had dieda na tura l dea th. About two yea rs la ter suspicions werea roused and it was lea rned that a number of neophytes hadconspired to put the missiona ry out of the way. As he
was a powerful man physica lly and fearless witha l, theyda red not assault him. So they pretended a sick-ca ll whilehe was ill himself, then wayla id him, and despatched theirvictim in a most revolting and diabolica l manner.
” An ex
amina tion of the body confirmed the evidence given at the
tria l. The murderers ofiered as their excuse excessivecruelty on the pa rt of the missionary. The conspiratorswere found guilty and the ca se was sent to the v iceroy forfina l sentence. In the spring of 18 16 the decision a rrived.
It sentenced five of the crimina ls to receive two hundredla shes each, and to work in cha ins from two to ten years.
Two other guilty Indians had meanwhile died in prison .
Only one is sa id to have survived his pun ishment .This sca rcely sufficed to clear the decea sed of the stigma
of cruelty broached aga inst him by the murderers, pa rticula rly as the reviewing judge in Mexico seemed to put some
little fa ith in the cha rge. Ma levolent writers, a s well as
ma levolent Indians, have frequently endeavored to fa stenthe reproach of cruelty upon the missiona ries. Documentaryevidence has demonstrated that there was little or no truthin such cha rges as far a s former periods are concerned.
3 1 Libro de Entierros de la M ision de San Anton io.
3 ’ Libro de En tierros de la M ision de Sa nta Cruz.
The Comisario-Prefecto ; Quintana’s Death 1 3
It is sufiicient to quote the following officia l declaration of
the governor to prove tha t the accusation was a lso un true of
the Fathers in the second deca de of the century. Writingto the viceroy on June 2 ud, 18 16, Governor Sola expressedhimself as follows“Most Excellent Sir -As soon as I received your de
cision , which was made in accordance with the Auditor of
War, regarding the crimina l case aga inst the Christian In
dians of M ission Santa Cruz, whose names are Lino An
ton io, Quirico, Julian , Ambrosio, Andres, Leto Anton io,Secundino, and Fulgencio, for the trea cherous and cruelmurder of their missiona ry, Fr. Andrés Quintana , I transmitted it for execution to the comandante of the San Francisco presidio. It ha s been ca rried out a s I informed YourExcellency on Februa ry 5th.
“My a tten tion , Your Excellency, was a roused by an ex
pression of the sa id Honorable Auditor in favor of the
defendants, in addition to the doctrine of Solorzano, and bythe reason the Indians set forth for committing the deed.
They cla im tha t the Missionary Fa ther had ordered a whipmade of iron to pun ish them. I have examined the sa idca se, and I find in rea lity tha t the second witness says tha tthe Fa ther ordered a whip made of iron to bea t them.
The same is cla imed by the culprits Julian and Quirico. The
defendant Anton io says that the Father commanded it tobe made for the pun ishmen t of Quirico. Andrés says tha t themissiona ry whipped two so tha t they almost died . Lino,the son of Andrés, sa id tha t the Fa ther pun ished very much,and tha t he ordered sa id whip of iron to be made, and thathe pun ished with it two who almost died in consequence.
After I had rea d a ll the documents of the tria l and de
cision , I saw tha t the fisca l in the sa id ca se does not approveof sa id pun ishment inflicted on the Indians. Aware tha t itis my duty to prevent similar excesses, because they a re
contra ry to a ll human ity, I have set on foot the most secretand closest investiga tions in order to become acqua intedw ith the practice of the Rev. Fathers of the missions of
this territory concern ing the neophytes under their ca re.
1 4. Missions and Missionaries of California
Having lea rned how the Rev. Missionary Fa thers manageall these nineteen missions of the province, and hav ing become acqua inted w ith their zea l in their sacred apostolicmin istry for the better ca techetica l instruction , and for the
improvement of the property of the India ns when they are
a lready w ithin the fold of our holy Mother Church, I findtha t they not only rega rd them as neophytes, but they lookupon them with perhaps more love than na tura l parentslook upon their children .
" In some missions they do not use
a lash or whip ; in others the la sh is made of two rapes withwhich they pun ish the public sins of fornica tion and theft,to which the whole Indian popula tion of both sexes are
genera lly inclined. When the missiona ries discover tha t somehave fa llen into one or the other of these vices, and onlywhen reprimands have fa iled to be effective, they apply thepun ishment of the lash ; twelve or fifteen strokes a re thenadmin istered to each one. This whipping is more adaptedto children of six yea rs than to men , most of whom receiveit without an exclama tion of pa in .
“With rega rd to the conduct of the la te Fr. Andrés Qu°
tana I have lea rned tha t he was a very pious missionary,and tha t while seriously ill himself his complying with the
duties of his min istry was ra ther the cause of his prematuredeath ; for while undergoing medica l trea tment at this Mission of San Ca rlos, his compan ion at Santa Cruz fell sick.
In order tha t the la tter might come to receive trea tment,Fr. Quintana depa rted for his mission . It was then that themisfortune happened . I a lso know tha t this good Fatherwent to excess, not in pun ishing his Indians but in the lovewith which he ever rega rded them.
“ He stra ined all his
faculties as far as zea l and industry ca rried him in orderto improve and advance them. He distinguished himselfamong many for the solicitude and tenderness of his pa
terna l ca re to relieve his neophytes of whatever savored of
” “No solamente los mira n como neofitos, si quiza s ma s
amorosamen te que los padres na tura les 1 sus hijos.
““se excedi6 no en ca stigo de sus Indios sino en el amor con
que siempre los mir6.
”
1 6 M issions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
my name and in the name of the rest of the Fathers. Itseems to me tha t you describe well the distinctive characteristics of sa id Fr. Quintana in wha t you say about him.
”
The same year 18 1 2 will be forever memorable as the
yea r of earthquakes. The w ildest terror preva iled in the
territory from Mission Purisima to Mission San Juan Capistrano. At the former place a ll the buildings were wrecked,so tha t the Fa thers removed to another loca lity on the
other side of Santa Inés River. At San Juan Capistrano thenew stone church came down and crushed thirty-n ine In
dians under its ruins. The church at Santa Barbara M ission was damaged beyond repa ir, so tha t another had to
be erected . Deta ils will be found in the loca l anna ls.
"
Meanwhile the effects of the revolt in Mexico began to
be felt in Ca liforn ia . As ea rly as April loth, 18 1 1 , Fr.
Guardia n Ga rijo in formed Fr. Tapis that it was useless topropose any subject concern ing the missions to the viceroy ;tha t the transport L o Princes-a on arriving at San Blas fromCa lifornia , not awa re that the port was in the hands of
rebels, had been captured, and tha t Fathers Norberto Santiago and Domingo Ca rranza , who had come a long as
passengers, had been made prisoners. Fortunately the sen
tence had not been executed, the Fr. Gua rdian writes, and
both were now at Guada la jara .
” The insurgents, however,had made the roads so unsa fe that it was not possible to
forward the annua l Memorias, nor send the five religiousintended for the missions.
” Two months later the Fr.
Guardian found a way out of the difficulty as fa r as the
five recruits were concerned. Instead of traveling directlywest to San Bla s, they left the College on July l st, 1 8 1 1 ,journeyed south, and took passage at Acapulco for Loreto
3 ° Fr. Sarria to 5018, Apri l 3 rd, 181 6. Archb. Arch., no. 904.
1 7 Records of missions Purisima , San Juan Capistrano, a nd
Sa nta Barba ra.
3 0José de la Guerra wa s among the prisoners . He wa s rescued
a nd then served aga inst the rebels at Tepic. Ba ncroft, ii, 197- 198.
3 9 These fria rs were Fernando Martin , An ton io Ripoll, JaymeE scudé, Joaquin Nuez, a nd Ramon Olbés.
The Comisario-Prefecto ; Quintana’s Death 1 7
which they reached on April 2 3 rd, 181 2 . From Loreto theysa iled to Bay San Luis in the Gulf of Ca liforn ia , and
thence made their way overland to San Diego where theywere welcomed in July. Another Father, Vicente Oliva , hadto rema in behind at Acapulco on account of illness, and didnot a rrive in Ca liforn ia until the following yea r.
‘ 0 In formation also a rrived tha t the Memorias or goods for the year1 81 1 lay packed up, but that there was no hope of movingthem ; and that the dra fts on the government of Mexicofor produce and other goods furn ished the troops in Ca lifornis already amounted to The sindico, however,could not collect them because there was no money in the
roya l treasury.
“ Thus Hida lgo’s rebellion was a lready be
ginn ing to retard the progress of the missions.
The soldiers fared even worse. Despatches received in18 1 2 expla ined tha t attempts had been made to send the
presidia l supplies by way of Acapulco, but tha t they hadreturned ba rely escaping from being captured by the rebelsunder Morelos. When the yea r 1 81 3 brought no suppliesand oflered no prospect of any a id in the nea r future, thefour presidio commanders represented the destitute con
dition of the troops to the governor, who could do noth
ing but express his sympa thy, and echo the compla ints to
the viceroy. Thus, for instance, the commanders of San
Francisco and Santa Ba rbara wrote to the governor tha t therewere no shirts, and but little food. Juan Zesta je writingfrom San Blas on Ma rch 3 rd, 1 8 1 3 , reported that no lettershad a rrived from Mexico in six months, and tha t there wasno hope of sending the Memorias for the tr00ps. GovernorArrillaga compla ined to the viceroy that no pay had beenreceived in three yea rs, and tha t the presidios were in a sad
condition .
”
Fr. Ramon L 6pez, O. P., Loreto, to Fr. Ti pis, April 2 5th,June 6th, July 2 5th, 181 2 ; Fr. Tapis to Fr. Lopez, June 2 nd, 1 81 2 .
“Sta . Ba rb. Arch.
”
3 1 Fr. Pedro Martinez to Fr. Sarria, July 17th, 181 2 . Sta .
Barb. Arch.
” Bancroft, 1 1 , 199.
3 ’ Ba ncroft, ii, 198-203 .
1 8 M issions and Missionaries of California
To the comisa rio-prefecto Arrillaga on June 2ud, 1 8 14,
wrote : “On this da te I notify the commanders of Monterey,
San Fra ncisco, San ta Ba rbara , and Sa n Diego at theirrequest, tha t the missions of the district of each presidiomight be able to succor the troops and give such assistanceas corresponds with the needs of their families. The furnishing of the supplies which we should receive, from the
governor down to the last recruit, perta ins to our sovereign,but inasmuch as he or the regency tha t represents him, lackthe means to support us, it seems to me na tura l to requirethem from those who may be able to contribute to the
support of sa id troops.
”Fr. Sa rr1a replied tha t the mis
sionaries would a lways give what a ssistance they could ;and then issued three circulars on the subject to the
Fathers.
”
On Janua ry 20th and February 8th, 1 8 1 5, the tempora rygovernor, José Argiiello ca lled the attention of the comisa rioprefecto to the destitution of the troops atMonterey and SanFrancisco, and appea led to him to have the missions furn ish
Signa ture of Governor J. D. Arguello.
flour and blankets for the soldiers and their families. Fr.
Vicente de Sarria in a circular da ted San Ca rlos February1 6th applied to the Fa thers of the Monterey jurisdiction ,
asking them to provide wha t their missions might spa re and
to charge it to the habilitado of the presidio. Though
‘ 3 “Archb. Arch., no. 402 .
‘ 4 Fr. Sarria to Arrillaga , June 4th, 1814. Archb. Arch., no.
404.
”Fr. Sa rria, “Circula rs, June 6th ; October 1 2th ; November19th, 18 14, nos. 4o5aa ; 41 2 , 41 3 . See a lso nos. 408 and 410,
Archb. Arch.
”
The Comisa rio-Prefecto ; Quintana’s Death 1 9
there appea red poor prospects of seeing the dra fts pa id, theFa thers quite willingly assented, a s may be seen from the
replies attached to the circular.
“Mission San Juan Bautista w ill give three hundred a r
robas of flour, and will continue to furn ish the garments and
weapons required — Fr. Felipe Arroyo de la Cuesta .
”
“Mission Soledad will give two hundred a rrobas of flour,and will continue to provide the covering for the body and
the weapons asked for.— Fr. Anton io Jayme.
”
“Mission San Anton io ha s no gra in left, but will con
trive to give one hundred arroba s of flour, and will a lwayscon tinue to furn ish the clothing and weapons requested .
Fr. Juan Bautista Sancho.
”
“Mission San Miguel has no whea t nor cloth for blankets ,but can furn ish some ba rrels of wine, which may be soldand with the proceeds clothing and weapons may be pro
cured. One hundred a rroba s of wool will a lso be forwa rded .
— Fr. Juan Ma rtin .
”
“Mission San Luis Obispo, on account of epidemics and
the locusts which have three times consumed the corn , can
prov ide no produce. Some blankets may be spa red — Fr.
Luis An ton io Ma rtinez.
“Mission San Ca rlos produces no more flour than it consumes. Some scrapes will be furn ished as we have donein pa st yea rs ; but there is not wool sufficient here to clothethe Indians — Fr. Juan Amoros.
”
On January 5th, 18 16, Fr. Prefecto Sarr1a issued anothercircular in beha lf of the troops of Monterey who then neededwoolen cloth.
" Fr. Juan Amoros from San Ca rlos repliedtha t the mission possessed not enough wool to clothe the
neophytes. For a ll tha t he would furn ish twenty-five blankets. Fr. Anton io Jayme of Soledad reported that woolwas scarce, but he would beg some from other missions, andmeanwhile forward twenty-five blankets. Fr. Tapis notifiedFr. Sarria that Mission San Juan Bautista would manu
‘ 0Fr. Sa rria, Circula r, Februa ry i6th, 181 5. Sta . Barb. Arch.
“Archb. Arch no. 453 .
ao Missions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
facture fifty blankets without delay.
" Fr. Pedro Cabotof San Antonio informed the Fr. Comisa rio-Prefecto tha tthree hundred blankets promised for the soldiers wereready.
“ This goes to show that the missiona ries stra inedevery nerve to assist the troops.
The situa tion might have been improved if the missionsand settlers had been at liberty to trade with foreign ves
sels. Little produce could have been spa red, now that theburden of providing for the milita ry and their familiesrested entirely on the missiona ry establishmen ts ; but foreignmerchants eagerly exchanged groceries, ironwa re, and household goods for hides, ta llow, and wool, and the ships neededfresh mea t for their crews. In this way the Fathers wouldhave felt less keenly the loss of the stipends, because theycould have thus procured the articles wanted, except church
goods, to the purcha se of which the stipends had been de
voted. Now, however, tha t trading with foreigners was
forbidden through the jea lousy and shortsightedness of
the Span ish government,“ the missions could not dispose of
their surplus product, and in consequence suffered the wa ntof things rega rded as quite indispensable. The result wastha t the Indians had to be burdened w ith labor in order tokeep in clothing and to support the soldiers together w iththeir families, whilst they themselves a long w ith the mis
sionaries suffered no little inconven ience. With the a rriva l
3 8 “Archb. Arch., no. 453 .
3 " Fr. Cabot to Fr. Sa rria, Ma rch 7th, 1816. Archb. Arch. , no.
467. Fr. Payera s, the presiden te of the mission s on September1 3 th, 1 816, a lso issued a circula r in beha lf of the troops at the
request of Governor Sola.
“Archb. Arch no. 52 1 .
“The Fran ciscan Superiors empha sized the king’s w ill byadding their own prohibition . Bancroft, ii, 1 96 ; 202 , cla ims thatthe fria rs smuggled, n evertheless, and thus “
a ccumula ted la rge
sums of money.
”For this assertion he offers no other ev idence
tha n his“doubtless,” “I have no doubt. He
“doubtless” judgesthe fria rs a fter his own principles, wherea s to do them justicethe missiona ries must be judged by their standa rds. At any ra te,they could a ccumula te nothing for themselves. This he knowsvery well. Why endea vor to mislea d the public?
The Comisa rio-Prefecto ; Quintana’s Death 2 1
in 18 1 3 of the Flora and the Tagle from Lima , a sma ll tradebegan with South America . These vessels brought ca rgoesof cloth and va rious goods for which they accepted ta llow,
hides, and produce. The governor received the merchandisein exchange for the gra in which he had obta ined from the
missions for dra fts on Mexico, and thus the soldiers at leastexperienced some relief for a time. Another source of
assistance were the Russians, who continued in possessionof Bodega and Fort Ross. From them the governor in a
simila r manner procured goods in exchange for supplies.
“
‘ 1 Bancroft, 1 1 , 202 .
CHAPTER II.
Zeal of the Friars — Fr. Juan Ca bot’s Expedition .— Fr. Luis Ma r
tinez’
s Expedition .— Soldiers Necessary a s Gua rds — Expedition
to the Sa cramen to.— Fr. Payéra s
'
s Appea l.— Morta lity at San
Fra ncisco.— Various Ca uses — Founding of Mission San Rafael.
— Disa ster at San Buenaven tura — More Runaways — TheCauses — Fr. Payéra s
’
s Warn ing.— Fr. Martinez’s Sta tement.
Governor Sola Worried— He Takes Action .-Various Expedi
tion s — The Moja ves Revenge Themselves.— Fr. Joaquin
Nuez’a Dia ry. —Sola’s Regula tion s to the Corpora ls.
OTWITHSTANDI NG the many burdens which weighedheavily upon the missiona ries, they never cea sed to
remember those who still “sat in da rkness and in the shadowof dea th.
” 1 They were ever plann ing to sta rt new missions,notably in the extensive Tula re Va lley. The Indians therehad become accustomed to the use of horses which theycould ea sily stea l from the mission herds ; and the regionwas fast becoming a refuge for runaway neophytes. As earlyas 1804 Fr. Ma rtin of San Miguel visited tha t country, andla ter reported tha t, un less a mission were soon establishedamong the Tularefios, Sata n , wa r, and venerea l diseaseswould leave no one to be converted.
’ Politica l commotionsin Spa in and Mexico had prevented the Fa thers from exe
euting their projects. Means were wanting and the futureseemed to offer little encouragement for rea lizing their desires. Nevertheless, efforts were made to discover suitablesites in the hope tha t something might turn up to make possible the founding of a mission or two.
With this end in view Fr. Juan Cabot of San Miguel onOctober 2 nd, 1 814, set out with an expedition and reachedthe edge of the Tula res tha t same n ight. Next day he
arrived at the v illage of Buba l on the shore of the grea tlake. He estimated the popula tion at seven hundred souls.
1 Luke i, 79.
”See vol. ii, chap. xiii, 62 3—62 1 .
2 4. M issions and Missionaries of California
Cabot, reporting this v isit to Capta in José de la Guerra , ex
pressed the hope tha t ah expedition might be sen t out to
bring back the numerous runaways, but not as prisoners tothe Monterey presidio, because from there they would besure to run away aga in .
“
Fr. Luis Martinez accompan ied by troops sta rted out
Signature of Fr. Jua n Cabot.
from Mission San Luis Obispo in May 1 8 16 to v isit TulareVa lley. At the first village, Lucluc, twenty-eight leaguesfrom his mission , he found about fifty Indians with theirwives and children . The settlement lay on the border of
the pla in . N ine leagues beyond he discovered Tuohua la or
Huba l, perhaps identica l with Buba l. Continuing for
eighteen leagues the explorers arrived at Gelecto. Fromthere they wandered n ineteen leagues when they came
upon the rancheria of Lihuauhilame. After Fr. Martinezand his compan ions had journeyed seven leagues more theyreached Guihuane, on the banks of a la rge river whichflowed from north to south and prevented further progress .
The little pa rty therefore began the return march and arrivedat San Luis Obispo by the end of May without hav ingaccomplished a s much as was expected.
“
Fr. Ma rtinez reported to the governor that the
soldiers had behaved themselves honorably on the journey but Fr. Cabot of San Miguel blamed the pa rty from
5 Fr. Jua n Cabot to José de la Guerra , May 2 3 rd, 181 8.
“De laGuerra Collection .
0Fr. Ma rtinez to Fr. Sa rria, May 29th, 1816. Archb.
no. 489.
7 “con hon radez, Fr. Martinez writes to Sold, May 3oth, 1 816.
Archb. Arch., no. 479.
Expeditions ; Founding of San Rafael 2 5
San Luis Obispo for the failure of the expedition , since he
had found the gentiles friendly when he travelled throughtheir country.
‘ Fr. Muiioz, however, had met with muchdistrust and some hostility.
o Writing to Governor Sold on
the failure of Fr. Martinez’s expedition ,Fr. Sa rria says
that such an outcome need not appea r stra nge. It butconfirmed his belief of what Fr. Para , a man of extensiveexperience in the ma tter, asserted.
“I do not know,
”he
writes,“that any conversion had been efiectcd when the
min isters of the Gospel have taken troops a long. The re
sults have ever been disastrous. The Indians begin to lookupon them with drea d, for the first sight of troops makesthem think tha t subjection and loss of liberty will follow.
The consequence will then be either Open resistance or
flight, and thus the soldiers become an obstacle to the
missiona ries’ efiorts. The Indians have no fear nor dreadwhen the missiona ries come a lone. They will on the con
trary receive them with many signs of good will. Expe
ditions for the preaching of the Gospel and those for ex
plora tion , Fr. Sarria concludes, are two difierent undertakings. The latter sometimes require milita ry a id ; the
former never.
1 °
The Fr. Prefect must ‘
have modified his v iew very soon ;
for on ly four months la ter he approved of a gua rd for Fr.
Juan Ca bot on a tour among the Indians toward the east. 1 1
I n view of Fr. Quintana ’s fate and the treacherous disposition of the savages, as well as of the aposta tes who flockedto the Tula res, the going away from the mission to a grea tdista nce w ithout protection was foolhardy. Besides, roya l
and viceroya l regula tions expressly forbade it. The grea ttraveller and missiona ry Fr. Garces, it is true, had passedthrough the Tula re regions unaccompanied by soldiers and
Fr. Ca bot to Fr. Sa rrii , June l st, 1816. Archb. no.
49 1 .
’ Fr. Mufioz, Dia rio, November 2 nd, 1806. Sta . Barb. Arch.
1 ° Fr. Sa rria to 8016, June loth, 1816.
“Archb. no. 507.
1 ‘ See below note 14.
2 6 M issions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
attended by only a few Indian guides w ithout sufiering
ha rm ; but that was forty yea rs before, when the bad ex
ample of the soldier guards and settlers had not yet
a roused the distrust and an imosity of the natives .
In his bienn ia l report of May 2 nd, Fr. Pres identePayera s showed tha t some of the northern missions weresuffering from incursions of the gentiles and apostateneophytes. He therefore strongly urged the planting of a
presidio and some mission s in the Tulare Valley. This, hesa id, would put a stop to the vexa tions ; at the same timeit would ga in souls for heaven and subjects for the king.
He especia lly recommended the loca lity of Telame, fortyfive or fifty leagues directly east of Mission San Miguel,which was popula ted by about 4000 pagan s . In 18 1 5 an
epidemic v isited these people and ca rried away many of
them. In their extremity, wrote Fr. Payera s, they pleadedfor Baptism and for the spiritua l food of Christian doctrineno less than for the ma teria l food ; but to his grief no one
could brea k the brea d of eterna l life to them on account ofthe grea t distance and the hostility of the surroundingtribes. He hoped tha t the king would ca st a sympa theticgla nce at this va lley, where over an a rea of one hundredand more leagues so many souls clamored for missiona ries .
La ter Fr. Payera s proposed sending another expedition to
the Tula res. Fr. Sa rria hea rtily approved the plan and rec
0mmended that Fr. Juan Cabot be selected to accompanya detachment of soldiers from Santa Ba rbara who might atthe same time go in sea rch of runaway neophytes.
“
No action seems to have been ta ken on this proposition ,
but in May 18 17 an exploring expedition set out for the
regions fa rther north. This expedition was conducted by
1 3 See vol. 1 1 , sect. i, chap. ix.
1 3 “In forme Biena l,” 181 5- 1816. Sta . Ba rb . Arch.
1“‘
L a escolta me pa rece tambien que sea de San ta Barba racon el jefe que solicita V. R ., pues por a qui 1 ma s de la sa lidaque se considera precisa del P. Jua n Cabot se ofrece tambien
ahora mismo la de la busca de Cima rrones . Fr. Sa rrifi to Fr.
Payera s, October 5th, 1816.
“Sta . Ba rb. Arch.
Expeditions ; Founding of San Ra fael 2 7
Lieutenant Luis Arguello. Fr. Ramon Abella of MissionSan Francisco and Fr. Na rciso Duran of Mission San Joséaccompan ied him and his soldiers. Leav ing the beach at the
presidio on the Golden Gate, Tuesday morn ing May 1 3 th,
the little party in two launches moved across the bay to the
Isla de los Angeles. From here they continued on the same
day, and passed through Ca rquinez Stra it until they reachedthe junction of the two rivers which formed the grea t riverhitherto known as San Francisco. The stream coming fromthe northeast was ca lled Sacramento ; 1“ the one comingfrom the southea st was known since 18th as the San
Joa quin .
“ From the mouth of the la tter Arguello and
his following passed up the Sacramento for about fortyleagues to a place where on the 20th they ca rved a la rge
cross in an oak- tree. This emblem they blessed and ven
cra ted and then returned to the presidio, which they rea chedat dawn in the morn ing of May 26ib. On two days,Ascension Day, May 1 5th, about six or seven league abovethe mouth of the San Joaquin , and Sunday 18th, aboutfourteen leagues fa rther on , High Mass wa s sung.
" In
three Indian villages a ltogether thirteen paga ns, aged, dying,
or infants, were baptized. Many neophytes were discoveredliv ing sca ttered through the country. Most of them be
longed to M ission San José.“
In the bienn ia l report for 18 17- 18 1 8 1 ’ Fr. Payeras returnedto the subject of missions in the Tula re region . This, at
1 ‘ “El uno v iene del N y NE y se llama del Sa cramen to. Itis not clear whether it wa s so named on this occa sion or pre
viously. The river wa s ca lled San Francisco down to 181 1 . Of
a ny in terven ing expedition there is no record.1 ° Fr. Mufioz,
“Dia rio,
” November 2 nd, “Sta . Ba rb . Arch.
The first record of holy Ma ss in those regions1 ‘ Fr. Duran ,
“Dia rio.
“Ca l. Un iversity Library, Bancroft
Collection .
1 ° May 4th, 1 819 ; Fr. Payera s, Memoria l, June 2 nd, 1820.
“Sta . Ba rb. Arch. La te in 1 820
“we find Fr. Payera s proposing
to make in person a tour through the Tula re Va lley.
” Bancroft,ii, 3 3 8.
2 8 M issions and Missionaries of California
all events, shows how anxiously the Fathers looked for an
opportunity to bring the Gospel to the savages, at a period,too, when the support of the whole government and milita ryof Ca liforn ia occupied their minds in addition to their chiefduty : the ca re of the mission popula tion . In view of the
fact, Fr. Payeras writes to the government, that the objectof the sacred min istry is the propaga tion of the Fa ith amongthe gentiles, and as there a re no more on the coa st, theFathers are anxious to go in search of them. The experi
ment of inviting the savages of the Tulare region to come
to the missions had been tried. Those who came were in
structed and baptized, but by rea son of their fickleness and
the evil surroundings in their rancherias a lways with bad re
sults. They would come, not a foot, but on horseback, and
on return ing to their homes they would drive a long horses
from the mission herds, slaughter, and eat them. The sol
diers would follow the thieves, but the swamps and lagoonssurrounded by tules would offer the fugitives a ll the hidingplaces they wanted, so tha t the troops could not reach them.
Hence, a s well for the peace of the coast missions as for
the spiritua l welfare of the savages, it will be necessa ry toestablish missions and presidios in the interior. Meanwhile, missiona ry sta tions with one Father and a few sol
diers ought to be founded in the Tulare Va lley. I f thisprecaution is not taken , the thieves pun ished, and the run
aways brought back, Fr. Payeras concludes his appea l,the very existence of the coast mission s is endangered.
The governments of Spa in and Mexico, however, hadtroubles of their own , and were therefore not disposed to
worry about Ca liforn ia and its needs. Thus it was tha t,while the government kept control of the Pious Fund,which in the han ds of the religious would have furn ished
every means) , and would not permit the College to send as
many missiona ries as were wanted, nor a llow the fria rs to
undertake the conversion of savages una ttended by troops,the Fa thers had to console themselves as well as they might.That they cea sed not to win many of the Tula reiios never
theless, we learn from the baptisma l registers of the mis
Expeditions ; Founding of San Rafael 2 9
sions, notably of those of San Juan Bautista and San
Miguel . The rest of the savages in the course of time diedaway much faster than the Indians in ca re of the missiona ryFa thers.
Fr. Payeras had compla ined tha t wild Indians on horsebackwere accustomed to stea l horses belonging to the missions.
Governor 5015. had observed as much, and he had noticedtha t the neophyte Indians as well as the savages were be
coming too expert horsemen . He thought as such they mightcause trouble to the territory, and therefore ca lled Fr. Sar
ria’s a ttention to the roya l laws and regula tions which forbade Indians the use of horses . Without intending to crea tea ha rdship for the missionaries, 8012 directed them da ily to
give to the corpora l of the gua rd a list of the vaqueros noces
sa ry for herding the cattle and horses, and of the few men
whom they needed for specia l purposes. He then ordered thesaddles and bridles to be taken away from all others, and toannounce tha t the soldiers would a rrest any other Indiandiscovered on horseback. Fr. Sarria in a circular informedthe Fa thers to that effect, and instructed them to comply withthe governor
’
s commands.
’o
Wha t the fria rs to their grief could not accomplish in the
Tulare country to the east, they had the happiness of rea liz
ing in the north . The morta lity at Mission San Franciscohad a lways been out of proportion to the ordinary ra te. In
reply to the governor for the rea son Fr. Ramon Abellapoin ted out three causes for the high dea th rate. A largepercentage of the dead were children or in fants, who probably lacked ra tiona l treatment on the part of the mothers.
Though Fr. Abella does not say so, it is the experience of
missionaries to this day. The next cause, according to the
Fa ther, wa s the change from a wild to a civilized life.
"
3 ° Sold to Fr. Sarria, Janua ry 2 nd; Fr. Sa rria to 8016, January9th; 5011 to Fr. Sa rria, Janua ry 9ih ; Fr. Sa rria, “Circula r,” Janua ry 1 2 th, 1 818 ; Sola to Fr. Payera s, October 16th, 1819.
“Sta .
Ba rb. Arch.
3 1 “H ay ga llina s de monte y ga llina s de ca sa ; si la s ga llina s demon te la s trahe 1 la ca sa se mueren , y en con tra .
3 0 Missions and M issionaries of Ca lifornia
Lastly, the unfortunate people were constitutiona lly debilita tedby venerea l disea ses.
” Fr. Prefect Sarria fla tly declaredtha t the race was dying from the galico or French disease.
”
The proxima te cause of numerous dea ths at Mission San
Francisco wa s the inclemency of the climate which a peopleso constitutionally weak could not endure. This seems to
have been the preva iling opin ion , at one time at least ; for itwas seriously proposed to remove the mission across the
bay and to abandon the presen t site.
“ Governor Sold fina llysuggested transferring a pa rt of the mission popula tion . By
Signa ture of Fr. L uis Gil y Ta boada .
way of experiment a sma ll number were accordingly sentto the northern shore, greatly to the benefit of their hea lth.
Owing to the difliculty of commun ication and for want ofpriests, the Fr. Prefect hesita ted about the forma l transfer ;but when severa l neophytes died there without the Sacraments, Fr. Gil y Taboada offered to live among them.
“Iam ready to sacrifice myself in the service of these poor
2 2 “Esta n muy podridos, y ésta enfermedad de el galico en
ellos es incurable.
”Fr. Abella to 8012 , January 29th, 1817
“Archb. no. 698.
”“Debe lleva r 1 la human idad mucha con sideracion la muche
dumbre de galicos y podridos de este ma l, con que se va
acabando esta pobre gen te, especia lmen te el mujério. Pa receque en a lgun a s misiones lo mismo es ca sa rse que toma r despachopa ra el cemen terio.
”Fr. Sa rria to 5012 , June 28th, 18 1 5.
“Archb.
no. 441 .
3 ‘ Fr. Abella to Sola, June 3 l st, 1 81 7. Archb. no. 727.
Fr. Sarria to Fr. Payera s, September 7th, 1 819. Sta . Barb.Arch.
”
Expeditions ; Founding of San Rafael 3 3
the following morn ing, which chanced to be Pentecost Sunday, while the neophytes were assisting at High Mass inthe church, one of the Mojave Indians wanted to leave the
gua rd house. The sentinel in charge struck him. Thisnatura lly en raged the savage. Corpora l Rufino Leiva , whowith M a riano Cota came out of the church to ascerta in the
cause of the unseemly noise, foolishly a ttempted to put the
Indian in stocks. Thereupon a ll the Mojaves ran to the
rescue and killed the two men with clubs. The rest of thesoldiers and the neophytes rushed out of the church, and a
genera l fight ensued in which ten of the strangers and one
Christian Indian were killed. Luciano Felix, the sentinel andthe whole cause of the quarrel, ran away to Santa Ba rbarain order to notify the commander of the presidio. SergeantAna sta s io Ca rrillo with fourteen men hastened to the scene
of the disaster, and succeeded in capturing four of the ten
gentiles who had fled. They were put to work at the SantaBa rba ra garrison , but some time la ter made good theirescape.
” Re-enforcements were then hurried to San Gabrielbecause tha t mission lay directly in the way of the ColoradoIndia ns, and would be the first to sufier if the Mojaves determined to take revenge. They probably saw the futility of
attacking San Buenaventura , but they vented their anger on
others in the south, as we sha ll learn presently.
However, the missionaries were not to escape vexations.
Numerous runaways at this period gave them no little un
easiness ; for the fugitives joined the gentiles and became a
menace to the public welfa re. The increased theft of horsescaused additiona l a larm. Fr. Payera s at last appea led to
the governor. He warned 5016. tha t the whole territorywould suffer if the neophytes were a llowed to join the sav
ages.
“The spirit of insubordination ,
”he wrote,
“which is
rammnt in the world at la rge has rea ched the Christia nIndians. A considerable number have withdrawn from the
‘ 3 Fr. Sef'ia n to 8012 , June 3 rd, 1819. Archb. Arch. , no. 943 .
Fr. Sefla n to José de la Guerra , June l st and 4th, 1819.
“De la
Guerra Collection . Bancroft, i, 3 3 3 - 3 34.
3
34 Missions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
mild rule of the fria rs, and have become one body with thesavages with whom they ea rry out whatever evil their heartand ma levolent soul dicta tes . The contagion is genera l, andwe must con fess that the pagans a re corrupted by the badexample and perverse suggestions of the aposta tes. The
spirit of insolence and idleness is spreading and aflectingeven the more sta id of the neophytes. The territory will seeitself in trouble when it least expects trouble. We Fathers,who have the Indians under our very eyes, feel the situation w ith deep sorrow and concern , and we know that thewhole cause of the desertions lies in the fact tha t the troopshave ceased to go a fter the culprits who are unmindful oftheir duties. From day to day the danger of an atta ckfrom the un ited aposta tes and gentiles is growing ; for theya lready boldly ridicule the soldiers and cha llenge them to
fight.” The gua rds a re not strong enough to resist at
tacks ; soon they will not be able to restra in even the do
mesticated Indians. We, therefore, implore Your Honor tosend out expeditions in order to recover the Christians, toscour the Tula re country, and to make those unruly sav
ages feel the strength of Span ish arms. We plead tha t youmerely restra in the Christians and savages within the boundsof wha t is just ; for in keeping with our sacred ca lling, whichdemands kindness and mildness, we solemn ly protest tha t insuch expeditions we abhor dea ths, mutila tions, and whateveris opposed to Christian gentleness.
”Three days la ter Fr.
Payeras aga in urged Governor 5012 to take energetic se
tion .
“l
Fr. Luis Martinez of San Luis Obispo in a letter of September 17th, 1 819, throws considerable light on the situa
3 ’ “que con la mayor osadia se burlan ya de los soldados y
desafian para la pelea .
”
3 ° Fr. Payera s to Sola, September i7th, 1819. Archb. Arch.,
no. 950. Fr. Payera s, “Memoria l,” June 2 nd, 1820, no. 16.
“Sta .
Barb. Arch.
”
8 1 Fr. Payera s to 8012 , September 2oth, 1819. Archb.
no. 955.
Expeditions ; Founding of San Rafael 3 5
tion . He shows that runaway neophytes then had otherreasons for taking to the mounta ins, besides the usua l desireto gratify their ca rna l passions and to en joy un limitedfreedom. Never before, Fr. Ma rtinez writes, “has so much
wa tchfulness been necessa ry with rega rd to the soldiers.
They have come to us without discipline and Religion .
” Theyha ve been taught to sufier many hardships, but never for
God and for the Icing. They should be relega ted to the
presidios, and an eye should be kept upon them. Theyshould be given some occupation which is not useless and
which is ea lculated to ban ish idleness, the mother of all
vices .
” They should be sent outon expeditions. I hea r thereare numerous runaways to be brought back.
“ These in
union with the savages can do nothing good. When we
shall be most unguarded they will be upon us sudden ly, es
pecially if a un ion be efiected with those of the ColoradoRiver, who know how to ride better than I . They shouldbe made to feel the arm of the government. The viceroyought to be notified with some energy tha t a territory whichcannot support itself, will be still less able to susta in others.
The missiona ry is expected to furn ish shoes, boots, and even
gunsticks . They want him to be ta ilor, weaver, mason ,
ca rpenter, and everything else without having lea rned it, andthis too without support, without a id. Whence sha ll he ob
tain the in fused science ? Then , how can a poor Indian be
cheerful, who throughout the yea r is occupied at work in a
mission ,when his labor procures for him nothing more than
a poor suit of clothes and a blanket since he must labor for
“esta s tropas sin disciplina y religion que nos han ven ido.
Fr. Sarria on ly four days la ter, September 2 1 st, (“Archb.
no. 954) notified 80 16 tha t a soldier at M ission San Ca rloshad seduced an Indian woman . It is men tioned here by way of
illustra tion . Such ca ses were common at a ll missions. It demonstrates the cha ra cter of the men sen t to Ca liforn ia to protectthe missions. The distress of the missiona ries may be imagined.Sola cla imed tha t 1 50 out of 500 were missing at Soledad.
Sold to Fr. Payera s, September 2 3 rd, 1 8 19.
“Sta . Ba rb. Arch.
”
3 6 M issions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
others ? Wha t the work of the Indians amounts to we
know . With Christian ity the infused science of mechan ica la rts necessa ry for the commonwea lth has not been giventhem. Indians a re expected to be useful without a
teacher. The viceroy should be asked how it can be aecom
plished.
”
Governor Sola felt the weight of the arguments and of
his duty to insure the peace of the territory ; moreover hewa s on the best of terms w ith the friars ; but the lack of
revenues and the utter indifl’erence or ra ther helplessness of
the v iceroya l government made him lose sight of the dan
gers pointed out by the Fa thers.
“1 have foreseen the de
plorable consequences,” he writes to Fr. Payeras,“which
Your Patern ity with so much reason indica ted to me, ever
since my arriva l in the prov ince, and I have reported themto the government. I have taken the steps which werepossible ; but the condition of the tr00ps is most unfortunateby rea son of the want of clothing, unserviceableness of the
weapons, and the lack of them.
" To prov ide aga inst thefirst I have petitioned the prelates for assistance in order toclothe the tr00ps so tha t they can bear the inclemency of
the sea son . As for the weapons I have asked for smiths.
Please command the missionaries to go on w ith what ea ch
mission can supply so that the soldiers may be made rea dyfor the expeditions so much needed for the tranquillity of theChristians and for intimida ting the gentiles. Plea se a lsoa ssign a smith to ea ch of the four presidios in order tha t
‘ 5 Tha t is to say, for the soldiers in order to keep them clothed,well fed, and equipped. Even money had to be furn ished. For
a ll this the missions received worthless dra fts on Mexico. Thusit was tha t the Fa thers found it impossible to rewa rd theirneophytes w ith the gifts of va rious kinds which the childish India ns prized so highly. La cking these the Indians grew disconten ted, a s they were but overgrown children .
‘ 0Fr. Ma rtinez to $015, September 17th, 1 819. Archb.
no. 951 .
“Siendo el estado de las tropa s de la gua rn icion tan infelizpor su desnudez, y en a rmas descompuesta s, y fa lta de ellas.
”
Expeditions ; Founding of San Rafael 3 7
they may put the guns, lances, etc. , into condition . 5015
a lso asked the Fathers to send him monthly reports con
cern ing the Indians who ran away from each mission . Largequantities of pinole and dried meat were to be prepa red so
tha t the troops might be suficiently supplied on the ma rch.
“
8015 determined to despa tch three expeditions aga inst thefugitives and their insolent accomplices . The first sta rted out
from San Francisco ea rly in October 1819. The company,which consisted of twenty-five men under Sergeant JoséSanchez, marched by way of San José to San Joaquin Va lley,where they encountered the Muquelemnes or Moquelumnes
in the region of Stockton . In the fight the Span ia rds killedtwenty-seven savages, wounded twenty, and captured sixteen .
Forty-n ine horses were a lso recovered. Their own loss was
one neophyte killed and five soldiers wounded.
”
An other expedition , forty men strong under LieutenantJosé Maria Estudillo, set out from Mon terey in the latterpa rt of October. The troop proceeded to the Tula re Va lleyby way of Mission San Miguel. Nothing sca ns to have
been accomplished, except that Estudillo became convincedtha t, if missions were to be founded ea st of the lake and the
river, it would require a strong garrison to protect them.
“
Early in November the third expedition left Santa Ba rba ra . It consisted of thirty-five cavalryrnen under L ieutenant Gabriel Moraga , fifteen infantrymen of a troop of sol
diers who had lately arrived from Maza tlan under L ieutenant Na rciso Fabregat, four artillerymen with a sma ll cannon ,
and a large number of neophyte Indians. Moraga wa s in
structed to ma rch to the Colorado, and if he found proof tha t
‘ 0 8016 to Fr. Payeras, September 2 3 rd, 1 819. Sta . Ba rb.Arch.
”Fr. Payera s, “Circular,” October 8th, 1819.
“Archb.
no. 956.
Fr. Payera s to 5011 . September 1 7th, 1 819. Archb.
no. 950. Fr. Duran to 5015, June 2 nd, October 28th, 1819.
“Archb. nos. 942 ; 959. Fr. Payera s, Memoria l,” June 2 nd,1820, nos . 16 ; 20 Sta . Barb Arch.
”
Fr. Payera s, Memoria l, June 2 nd, 1820, nos. 19, 20. Sta .
Ba rb. Arch.
” Bancroft, ii, 3 36.
3 8 M issions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
the Mojaves had committed the a trocities reported to Mission
San Gabriel, he wa s to capture the fugitives, and to give the
gentiles such a lesson as they would not soon forget. After a
High Mass for the success of the undertaking had been cel
ebrated by Fr. José Ba rona of San Juan Capistrano, the
little army moved out from San Gabriel on November 2 2 ndunder the pa tronage of our Lady of Pili r and of St.
Gabriel, the Archangel. Fr. Pascua l Nnez accompan ied thetroops as chapla in and dia rist. On November 27th, aboutforty-two leagues from the mission, the soldiers discoveredthe ra na ins of four neophytes from San Gabriel, three fromSan Fernando, and of some pagans who had a ll been murdered by the Mojaves.
‘ 1
Next day, which was the First Sunday in Advent, Fr.
Nuez celebra ted a High Mass and preached. After that thebones of the dead were borne in procession to the tem
porary chapel where Fr. Nuez had celebrated holy Mass.
Here the funera l ceremon ies were held. The rema ins werethen taka i back to the scene of the murder and buried benea th a la rge cross which the Father had blessed tha t morning. The place therea fter was known as La s An ima s Bendita sde Atonga ibit. On the fea st of St. Andrew, November 3oth,Fr. Nuez celebra ted holy Mass at San Hilario de Cacaumeat,whereupon the march was resumed. He a lso ofl’ered the holySacrifice and preached on Sunday, December 5th ; December8th, the fea st of the Immacula te Conception , aga in at San
Hilario ; and on December 1 2th, the fea st of Our Lady of
Guada lupe, at Santisima Trin ida d, six and one-ha lf lea guesfrom Cucamonga . Meanwhile on December 2 nd Moragawith ten soldiers and four settlers left the ma in body at Sa n
Joaquin and Santa Ana , and rode ahead to overta ke the
murderous Mojaves . After travelling a ll day and part of then ight the lieutenant found tha t the horses could go no
fa rther for want of water and grass. He therefore rejoinedFr. Nuez at the camp of San Joaquin and Santa Ana . On
41 I n this way the Moja ves revenged themselves for the wrong
they suffered at San Buenaven tura . Moraga lea rn ed tha t the
savages had committed various other murders a ll a long his route.
40 M issions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
future to make known and to see that the following dircetions be ca rried out in a ll places in your cha rge
“1 . No guard corpora l is authorized to use the lash in
his own name on any Christian or pagan Indian , unless theRev . Missionary Father surrenders the Indian to him or or
ders him to seize the Indian and specifies the pun ishment hemust apply. In this ca se he must seize or capture the Indian ,
inflict the pun ishment enjoined, and in form me throughthe next ma il .
2 . The corpora l of the guard sha ll give a deta iled report
of every Indian , Christian or pagan , who has been arrested
for some crime committed, to his own presidio commander,in order that through him I may receive it and impose the
pun ishment of which I consider him deserving.
“3 . I n order tha t no one may allege ignorance of this
command, Your Honors will make certified copies, which
you will aflix in a ll guard-houses . Know ye also tha t on thisda te I transmit a copy to the Rev . Fr. Prefecto of the mis
sions, Fr. Vicente Francisco de Sarria, so that he may notifythe religious subject to him for its observance, and tha t Imay be informed of any transgression they may notice.
When the comandante of San Diego ha s appended the ac
knowledgment of its receipt and circula tion he will returnthe circular to me.
”
To Fr. Sarr1a the governor wrote : I send this to YourPatern ity for your in forma tion , in order that you commun ica te it to the Rev . Missiona ry Fathers of the missions underyour ca re. L et them execute it for the good of the neophytes
and pagans who may present themselves, and let tha n re
port to me stra ightway for its correction the least trans
gression they may witness. July 20th, 1 8 18. Pablo Vicentede Sola.
”
Sola, “Circula r, July 20th, 1818 ; Fr. Sa rria, Circular," Au
gust 14th, 1818.
“Sta . Ba rb. Arch. See a lso simila r regulation s
in n ineteen a rticles of Gov . Borica , May 19th, 1 797.
“Ca l.
St. Pap., M iss ion s ii, 2 22 - 2 28.
CHAPTER III .
Fr. Sarria’
s Circular.— Evangelica l Poverty to Be Observed.
Learn ing the Langua ge — Other Exhorta tion s .— Fr. Besta rd
Orders B iographica l Sketches.— Another Circula r of Fr. Sarria.
— Handling of Money.— Sca rcity of Missiona ries — Governor
Sola’s Beautiful Appea l in Beha lf of the Fria rs — San Fern ando College Offers to Cede Some M ission s.
— Oriza ba Col
lege Accepts — The M ission s Surrendered.— The Fria rs Dis
plea sed w ith the Choice.— Fr. Payera s Reelected .— No Money
for Traveling Expenses — The College Ofiers to Cede the
M ission s to the Bishop .—Vote of the Friars on the M ission s
to Be Ceded.— Orizaba College Withdraws.
HILE he held the office of comisario-prefecto Fr.
Vicente de Sarria made two canon ica l visita tions at a ll
the missions . After return ing from the second visit he on
Janua ry 2 5th, 1 81 7, issued a circular which conta ined twentyseven articles. As its length precludes the reproduction of
the beautiful document, we confine ourselves to a few ex
tracts .
“My coadjutors in the min istry,”he begins his ex
horta tion ,
“twice I have been the happy witness of yourmeritorious toil, incessant solicitude, constant and ardentzea l in the discha rge of our evangelica l vocation . I haveseen how through the grace and benediction of the MostHigh, and by means of your apostolic enterprise, your ex
ample, your charity, and the journeys which you make whileannouncing eterna l pea ce to a ll, the extension and propagation of the Gospel has been efiected throughout the vast coastregions and the adjacent islands ; and tha t through its entiresubjcction to Christian ity the country
, which before unhappilylay wrapped in the dense darkness of error and eterna ldeath, ha s been transformed into a flourishing commonwea lth,and ha s become a notable addition to holy Church, a gloryto the Divine Redeemer, an honor to our Seraphic Order,and an ornament to our Apostolic College.
”
Fr. Sa rr1a then encourages the friars to continue in the
observa tion of the Rule of St . Francis as a means of Chris
42 M issions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
tian perfection , especia lly with rega rd to poverty. He had
noticed, he writes, that in a few missions the rooms of the
missiona ries appea red more spacious and conta ined more furniture which, though notmore expensive, wa s more elabora tethan Franciscan simplicity and evangelica l poverty wa rra nted.
As to the churches, in accord with St. Francis, he says “it
is right for each Father to give full reins to his idea s of
beauty in architecture, a rt, etc. , but a lways within the boundsof lovely, evangelica l sirnplicity which our worthy predecessorshave taught us.
” With regard to wea ring shoes, he insiststha t the Fathers know this could notbe practised unless thereis rea l necessity. Lest occasion be given to even a Sha dowof suspicion , which the Rule expressly forbids, the comisa riodirects the Fathers not to receive the v isits of women when
these come a lone or when they themselves are a lone.
Fr. Sarr1 a then touches a subject which at tha t time heseemed to have at heart more than any other.
1 He ca lls theattention of the friars to the words of St. Paul, “Christ sen tme not to baptize, but to preach the Gospel .” “Situa ted as
we a re,he says,
“whilst ca lled to preach the Gospel we a re
a lso called upon to baptize and to admin ister the otherSacraments ; but the success of these depends upon the
former, since we sha ll make little progress in ba ptizing and
admin istering the Sacraments, speaking of adults , unless itbe our chief ca re and efl
’ort to eva ngelize or instruct the
Indians beforehand .
”The zea lous comisa rio next points out a
method for teaching the little ones as well as the adults intheir own language. He reminds the Fa thers tha t the ThirdCouncil of Lima , convoked by Archbishop Toribio in 1 583 ,made it a rule tha t the Indians should be taught in their owndia lect. Hence it is not enough, Fr. Sa rria decla res, to giveinstructions in Span ish and say nothing in the language
which the Indians understand . They must be taught in the
native idiom, even though it were necessa ry to employ an in
terpreter. By way of illustration and wa rn ing the Fr. Pre
1 He devotes two closely written folio pa ges to it.I Cor. i, 17.
Exhortations ; Offer to Cede M issions 43
feet tells an anecdote. I remember having read the ca se
of the Rev . Juan Rico of the Company of Jesus, who as
rector at Ma llorca once aga inst his custom preached in Ca stilian . The Blessed Alfonso Rodriguez thereupon heardthe voice of God saying,
‘
The rector sha ll expiate this ser
mon in the fire of purgatory.
’ When the Rev . Rector hea rdof it he never more preached in Castilian . At his dea thBlessed Alfonso saw him surrounded with brilliant rays indicative of his heavenly glory. The threa t may more properly apply to us. The reward ought to encourage us to
cornply with wha t is prescribed.”
Fr. Sa rria next with much sorrow tells the Fathers thathe ha s hea rd that not a few Indians had died without re
ceiving the Sacraments . Any compla int on this point, hesays, ought to be irrationa l. He therefore vehemen tly im
plores, through the love of Jesus Christ, that the missiona ries a llow no one to pass out of this world without theassistance of the Sacraments, and for tha t purpose to visitthe sick, the aged and decrepit frequently. He aga in revertsto the subject of language, and reminds the Fa thers thataccording to the Council of Trent no one can be obliged tocon fess through an interpreter, though the dying person is atliberty to ava il himself of an interpreter if he wishes. The
conclusion which Fr. Sa rr1a wishes the missiona ries to drawis obvious. This subject of visiting the sick and adminis
tering the Sacraments to the dying a lso fills about two pagesfolio of sound instructions.
The comisa rio a lso strongly urges the Fathers to cultivatea ta ste for reading.
“ For everything else time is found, so
‘ The la ngua ge of Ma llorca wa s Ca ta lon ia n , which con siderably difiers from the Ca stilian .
4 There wa s good rea son to empha size the necessity of learn ingthe India n languages. See Appendix A.
5 From his numerous letters we can see tha t Fr. Sa rria wa s a
grea t reader ; but his books dea lt with dogma tic and moral theology, canon law, church history, lives of the sa ints, a nd a scetics.
On these subjects he wa s the authority, and genera lly consultedby the missiona ries.
44 M issions andM issionaries of Ca lifornia
time should be set apart for the study of subjects that areof use in the min istry .
“Oh! how expedient it is to know
how to govern our interior, our actions, and how to pay to
God wha t we have promised l” he excla ims.
“How many
things rela ting to the service of the neophytes ! How manythings that a lso concern other people, whose obliga tions become our own when they make us judges of themselves inthe Sacred Tribuna l !” In connection w ith this point Fr.
Sarria dwells upon the necessity of the annua l SpiritualExercises : “for it cannot be hoped that he w ill enkindle firein others who permits it to be extinguished in himself.
”
With regard to pun ishing the Indians, the missiona ries a re
urged to remember tha t a ll the laws enacted for the na tivesbrea the pity, favor, a nd gentleness. Fr. Sarria had observedthat the neophytes were made to work on St. Francis Day.
He would have the day celebra ted solemnly, though with the
understanding that, like the feast of St . Michael, the Archangel, which wa s kept, it was not a day of obliga tion , hence
not a sin to work on either day. Fina lly he commendedthe custom of tolling the bell at three o
’
clock in the a fter
noon , which was observed at some missions . He would haveit adopted at every mission in order to give the people an op
portunity to ra ise their hea rts to God a few moments .
‘ The
practice continues at Santa Ba rba ra to this day.
In another circula r of September 3 rd, 18 1 7, Fr. Sa rr1a byway of wa rn ing directs the friars to refra in from acceptinga rticles of luxury, or things not in harmony with seraphicpoverty a nd simplicity, in return for products furn ished to
the Mexican transports . They should purcha se things tha ta re indispensable, such as ironwa re, church goods, medicines,etc. He has hea rd tha t the transports had brought upcoaches and sold them on the coast. I f these were in tendedfor the missiona ries they should absolutely refuse to acceptthem, because these conveyances were foreign to evangelica lpoverty and humility. I f necessary, as wa s the ca se with some
infirm Fa thers, they might use the carts made in the terri
0Fr. Sa rria, “Circula r, Janua ry 2 5th, 18 17. Sta . Ba rb. Arch.
Exhortations ; Offer to Cede Missions‘
45
tory.
’ Also costly sombreros,‘ expensive chests, etc., must be
left to people of puerile aspirations,“so tha t in nothing our
min istry may be reproached.
”
Fr. Presidente Mariano Paye' ras, as vica rio foraneo of the
B ishop of Sonora , in a circular also addressed the Fa thers,but on purely ecclesia stica l matters, such as the annua l confession and holy Communion , the manner of instruction beforethe reception of the Sacraments of Penance and Matrimony,a nd reverence at div ine worship.
1 °
Most Rev . Fr. Juan Buenaventura Bestard, the commissa ry
Signa ture oi Fr. J. B. Bestard.
genera l of the Franciscans in the Indies, on May 6th, 1 816,
from Madrid issued an importan t circular to a ll the prov incesand colleges under his jurisdiction demanding exact reportson the sta te of the missions and the observance of the Rule.
He wanted to know the number of religious in each district,their age, na tive country, place of reception into the Order,condition , offices filled by each, their persona l merits, theiraptitude for such and other offices, and their conduct during
7 in which traveling wa s ra ther a torture for a sick man .
Much money was and is often wa sted in costly ha ts by ma leMexican s.
‘ I I Cor. vi, 3 . Sta . Ba rb. Arch. Most of the Fa thers in
signing the circula r protested in warm terms tha t they would donothing a ga in st these comma nds or aga in st holy poverty. Downto the period of confisca tion a ll indeed observed the vow of
poverty scrupulously.1 ° Fr. Payera s, “Circula r, December 19th, 181 7. Sta . Barb.
Arch.
”
1 1 He wa s, on January 24th, 1816, nomina ted by the king to
succeed Fr. Pablo de Moya , who had died December 20th, 181 5,at the age of 59 yea rs.
“Sta . Barb. Arch.
46 M issions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
the revolt. In obedience to this command Fr. PrefectoSa rr1a wrote his Biographica l Sketches of the thirty-sevenfria rs living in Ca liforn ia , and added other remarks on the
conditions in Ca liforn ia .
Reverting to the subject of holy poverty in another circularFr. Sarria says : “With regard to the disposition and han
dling1 ’
of money the friars have more than once expressedtheir scruples ; but in view of its necessity for the proper ad
min istration of the ternpora lities which has been entrusted tous, and because there genera lly is no one to whom we couldconfide the money, I have had no difficulty in concluding tha tit could be done without mora l v iolation ; for to whom is
given or conceded a cha rge, it is understood that to him is
also granted the means which he pruden tly judges necessary ;and I base my resolution on the authority of the Bulls of
Pope L eo X . and especia lly on the Bull Omnimoda of PopeAdrian VI . in favor of the missions. As far as Ca lifornia isconcerned, the decla ration of Rt. Rev . Francisco Ronset, a
brilliant ornament of our Order, and the bishop of the dio
cese, appea rs sufficient. Since my accession to the ofi ce of
prefect, I have urged the observance of holy poverty in cir
culars and at the visitations. Nevertheless some disordersexist here and there, but of no pa rticula r importa nce, suchas having the rooms decorated more than agrees w ith our
poverty ; and a lso with regard to wearing shoes and otherclothing prohibited by the Rule.
“ Though I cannot say thateverything ha s been ra nedied according to my wishes,through the mercy of God there is nothing of moment toprosecute, nor anything that might seem disedifying consid
ering the circumstances under which we labor. Indeed thereare those, and not a few, who observe the seraphic Rule
1 ’ Some of the fria rs ma inta ined tha t the mere handling of
money even in the missions was con trary to their Rule.
1 3 “No he ten ido repa ro de resolver poderse hacer sin mora l
contravencion .
”
1 4The Rule prescribed sa nda ls. I n ca se of necessity the Superiors could permit the use of shoes.
48 Missions and M issionaries of Ca lifornia
80151 in formed Fr. Sa rria of the royal order which aga infavored the Jesuits, the good Fr. Comisario replied,
“L ettha n
come as soon as possible ; for the harvest is grea t, but thelaborers are few .
” 1 ° No Jesuits, however, came, and as the
governor himself w itnessed the heroic efforts of the Fathersto satisfy a ll demands, he himself appea led to the v iceroyin their beha lf . On account of the bea utiful spirit which itman ifests and the interesting in forma tion it conta ins we re
produce the letter entire.
“Your Excellency,” Sola writes, The n ineteen missions,
which His Ma jesty has in this province of Upper Ca liforniafor the spiritua l reduction of the natives under the directionof the missionaries of the College of San Fernando de Mexico,at this time are each served by two religious. Those of San
Francisco, Santa Clara , Santa Cruz, San Ca rlos, Santa Ba rba ra , San Gabriel, and San Diego, moreover, have to attendto the spiritua l wants of the presidios and pueblos in theirimmedia te neighborhood. In addition they all have varioussta tions in their agricultura l and stock-ra ising districts at a
distance from the missions where a number of neophytes are
employed and whom they must visit,“besides difl’erentranchosof white people at dista nces of three, five, and seven leagues.
They are cha rged with the temporal and spiritua l ca re of the
neophytes, the instruction of the gentile applicants, the solicitude for the sick whose number is genera lly la rge at a ll the
missions because of the infection from venerea l diseases, whichresults from the preva iling vice among the Indians. Thosea fflicted in this manner, notw ithstanding the grea test a ttention on the part of the fria rs to cure them, do not rega intheir hea lth because of the entire lack of willingness to te
stra in themselves as soon as they see themselves ha lf re
stored. These and other duties w ith which the missionariesa re burdened do notperm it tha n the commete execution of all
1 ° “Venga n cuan to a n tes, pues la mies es mucha , y los Operarios pocos.
”5012 to Fr. Sarrifi, June i7th; Fr: Sa rrii to 8016,
June 2 2 nd, 181 5. Archb. Arch., no. 440.
1 ° Such as San ta Ma rga rita from San Luis Obispo and Pa in
from San Luis Rey.
Exhortations ; Ofier to Cede M issions 49
they desire, because va rious Fathers find themselves worn out
through age or infirrnities ; in such cases they a re content todo for their mission what they can and wha t is necessary.
Hence it is tha t the people in the presidios, pueblos, ranchos,etc. , lack the necessary spiritua l a id. From the pueblo of
Our Lady of Los Angeles, for instance, with more than fivehundred souls, sca rcely twenty go every Sunday and holyday of obligation to the neighboring mission of San (h briel,
three leagues distant, for the purpose of a ssisting at holyMa ss. The same is observed at the pueblo of San José, oneleague from Santa Clara . Some sta y away because theydo notwant to leave their home deserted ; others on accountof old age ; others for want of mea ns which does not permittha n to leave the house. As it is impossible for the missiona ries to a ttend the dying in their last hour outside the missions, or to hasten to a victim of sudden accident, withoutabandon ing the mission , which cannot be a llowed,”o the out
side people remain deprived of the spiritua l help in tha ttremendous hour when they need a idmore than ever to renderan account to the Crea tor.
“1 have thought it my duty to make this sta tement to
Your Excellency in order tha t you may be pleased to makea rrangements for the coming of twenty missiona ries, so thata supernumera ry may be placed at each of the seven pointsmentioned before, and others at various missions whence thefria rs because of advanced age, infirmity or debility oughtto retire to be restored to hea lth at the College, and to take
1 ° i . e. to aba ndon the numerous seriously ill at the mission in
order to a ttend to those at a distance whom strictly speakingthey had no obliga tion in justice to a ttend. It was the duty of thegovernmen t to provide chapla ins for the white people from the
secular clergy, or to engage religious on the same terms ; but,as we have seen , the governmen t had refused to gran t an a llow
ance for tha t purpose. Nevertheless, a s Fr. Pa lou and otherssta ted. the fria rs out of cha rity would admin ister the Sacramen tsto the white people whenever ca lled upon , nor would they a llow
any of them to die w ithout the con sola tions of Religion ; but ithad in some places become a physica l impossibility at the timeof which 5015 speaks .
50 Missions and Missionaries of California
the rest which they have deserved by their apostolic laborsand ha rdships. I am not unawa re, Your Excellency, tha tthe College of San Fernando de Mexico, which conductsthese missions, at present ha s no religious to send ; but thiscan be remedied if Your Excellency would ava il yourself ofthe information which I possess tha t in the new collegefounded at Orizaba by the same Fernandinos there is a
sufficient number from which they could come, either bysepa ra ting from Orizaba and join ing San Fernando, or bycoming on their own account to accept the management of missions in view of the fact tha t they, too, are missiona ries of thePropaga tion of the Fa ith ; themore so as the sa id Orizaba College ha s no missions among Indians. In this way, besides
giv ing the a id which is so much needed, as I have sa id, newmissions might be projected to attract to the bosom of our
holy Religion the numerous gentiles who inhabit the coun
try to the ea st of these establishments. There are severa lFa thers who have their whole mind concentrated on thatplan . They would most cheerfully cultivate these fields, even
Bma tura of Governor P . Vicente do 8011 .
at the cost of the grea test hardships, in order to bring the
light of the Gospel to those who are deprived of it, and thusto gather souls for Heaven . This they cannot now do for
the reasons given before. There are a lso some missions thatpossess an abundance of ca ttle and sheep with which theycould help in ease the plan of founding of missions should be
3 1 November 1 2 th, 1 799, by Fr. Besta rd. Oriza ba College
Exhortations ; Offer to Cede Missions 5 1
rea lized, which at present I do not propose, notwithstandingthe many petitions which the Fr. Prefect and various missionaries have offered to me, because more troops would beneeded the additiona l cost of which the roya l treasury underthe circumstances is not in a condition to cover. The troopswe have scarcely sufice to man the different posts and ga rrisons. Your Excellency
'
s etc., Monterey, August l t, 18 16.
Pablo Vicente Sola.
”
The result of the clamors for more missionaries was thatSan Fernando College on June loth, 1817, made the following offer to the viceroy : “
The Fr. Guardian and discretosof the College of San Fernando de Mexico, in the most tespectful manner and a s fa r as the law permits, declare tha t,inasmuch as this College is obliged not on ly to give missionsto the fa ithful, but a lso to preach the Ca tholic Fa ith to the
gentiles, for which purpose at present it has under its cha rgein New Ca liforn ia n ineteen missions w ith four presidios and
three pueblos ; and wherea s it is unable a lone for the futureto bea r such a grea t burden on account of the scarcity of laborers in that v ineya rd, we voluntarily cede to the missionaries of Orizaba the following n ine missions which a re in
the south : San Diego with its presidio, San Luis Rey, SanJuan Ca pistrano, San Gabriel with the pueblo of Our Lady ofthe Angels, San Fernando, San Buenaventura , Santa Barba rawith its presidio, Santa Ines, and L a Purisima , so tha t ourCollege reta ins the ten missions tha t are in the north, twopresidios, one pueblo, and the villa of Branciforte, subjectto the determina tion of His Excellency, the viceroy. Mexico,
June loth, 1817. Fr. Juan Ca lzada , guardian ; Fr. MiguelLull, ear-guardian ; Fr. José Gasol, ear-guardian ; Fr. Nor
berto de Santiago, Fr. Anton io Alamo, Fr. Francisco Gonzalez, discretos ; Fr. Francisco Casa ls, secretario.
”On
July l6th the Fr. Guardian of the College of San José deGracia , Orizaba , in formed the viceroy tha t his commun itywould accept the n ine missions. The viceroy then notified
“Sta . Barb. Arch ”; “Cal. Prov. Rec. ix, 491 -494.
3 ‘ “Sta . Barb. Arch.
52 Missions and Missionaries of California
both colleges that he approved of the transaction subject tothe decision of the king.
“
Fr. Sa rr1a received the news of the surrender from the
Fr. Guardia n , and commun ica ted it without comment to the
Fa thers in a circula r of October l lth, In his“In
forme Biografico”to the Commissary-Genera l, however, Fr.
Sarr1a writes : “The surrender of the n ine missions in the
south which has been made to the Orizaba College has
pleased me very much, if I must say the truth ; but even
this is not sufficient to provide for such a grea t necessity.
A la rge portion of the missionaries who are here is com
posed of sick, aged, and exhausted men . There are few
who have not completed the term fixed by the regulationsof the College and of the sovereign in order to obta in the
desired liberty to In a circular of Ma rch 1 7th,
1 8 1 8 , the good Fr. Prefecto in formed the missiona ries tha t thev iceroy had approved of the surrender, and then venturedto say,
“I hope in the Lord that the coming of these desired Fa thers may not be delayed .
”In the sa id In forme,
”
Fr. Sa rria went even further when he wrote to the Commissa ry-Genera l tha t “under the circumstances, when there isa dea rth of missionaries, exempla ry lay
-brothers or even
donddos could be of much assistance to the missions, byplacing one of them with the missiona ry who stands a lone.
On August 27th, 1 8 1 8, Viceroy Venadito at last notifiedthe Fr. Guardian of San Fernando that he had written to
the Fr. Gua rdian of Orizaba tha t,“Inasmuch as the send
ing of missionaries to Ca lifornia is urgent, which need the
governor has represented to me, I have issued a decree
Viceroy, Decree on the surrender of the missions, September26th, 18 17. Sta . Ba rb . Arch.
”
” “Sta . Ba rb . Arch.
3 ° Fr. Sa rria, “In forme Biografico, November 5th, 1 817. Sta .
Barb. Arch.
”
3 7 “Sta . Ba rb. Arch.
3 ‘ Men who devote themselves to the service of the Fa thers.
They may in time be admitted to the First Order. Mea nwhilethey are Tertiaries Regula r, who wea r the habit w ithout the cowl.
Exhortations ; Offer to Cede M issions 53
to-day that the seven religious destined for tha t purposeby sa id holy convent be pa id by this genera l treasury $200each, so tha t they may commence their journey to Aca pulco,and while they a re sa iling to their destina tion , provided delays a re involunta ry and for just cause, they sha ll be as
sisted with four rea les a day at the expense of the PiousFund of Ca liforn ia . The amount assign ed to each religiousshall be applied in this way : $70 for the expenses of the
journey from tha t town (Orizaba ) to this capita l, and the
rema in ing $1 30 for the journey they have to make from thiscapita l to Acapulco, which is the same with which the otherreligious have been helped who found themselves in the
same predicament, and so I in form Your In
his circula r to the fria rs of Ca liforn ia Fr. Gua rdian Lopez givesthe news, and then says tha t “as sa id commun ica tion assignsno ship nor time so tha t the missiona ries might avoid staying at Acapulco many months at the risk of fa lling sick, orlosing their life on account of the clima te, and because of
the excessive cost which they must necessa rily incur, thisgovernment has been urgently supplica ted to assign some
ship, to fix the da te of sa iling, and then to notify this College in order to see if some religous may go a long ; but so
fa r no reply ha sIn the meantime the terms of Fr. Payeras as presiden te
and Fr. Sa rn a as comisario prefecto expired. At the chapter held August 8th, 18 18, Fr. Ba ldomero Lopez was re
elected guardia n of the College, and the Fa thers Anton ioAlamo, Juan Torrens, Juan Cortés, and Francisco Casa lswere chosen discretos. Fr. Cortes became vica r and reta inedthe office of procurator for Ca liforn ia . Fr. Ma riano Payera swas continued as presidente, though he had asked to be re
lieved. Ina smuch a s the Fr. Commissa ry-Genera l had not
” This wa s a n igga rdly proceeding, a s though the Fa thers wereboys inca pable of handling the pittan ce doled out to them. The
Oriza ba n s ca n ha rdly be blamed for w ithdrawing in the end.
“Sta . Barb. Arch.
”
Fr. Lopez, “Circula r, September 1 2th, 1818. Sta . Ba rb.
Arch.
”
54. Missions and Missionaries of California
authorized the election of a comisario-prefecto of Ca liforn ia ,the office rema ined vacant. Hence it was tha t Fr. Payerasfound himself clothed with the full authority possessed bythe ea rly presidentes.
"
When by August 1819 the new missiona ries had fa iled tocome, and the governmen t pleaded lack of funds for not
paying the travelling expenses," the situation in the mis
sions grew despera te. Of the thirty- four Fa thers sixteenhad a sked to be retired because of infirmities, old age, or the
expiration of their term of service. Fr. Payeras then pro
posed a plan which would remove the difficulty and fetchthe requisite substitutes. He suggested tha t the missions,without wanting to create a preceden t and for this once
only, should tax themselves according to the judgment ofthe Fr. Presidente, in order to pay the travelling expensesof the Fa thers from the two colleges. The ma jority of the
missionaries declined to commit themselves. In their repliesthey sta ted tha t they would leave the decision to FathersJosé Sef'ian and Estévan Tapis, ex-presidentes, and to Fr.
Vicente de Sarria, ex-prefecto.
“ The missions, a lready overtaxed to ma inta in the tr00ps, were not ca lled upon to makethe sacrifice. Fr. Juan Cortes, the procurator, about thesame time in formed Fr. Payeras that Viceroy Venadito hadresolved to let the Pious Fund Esta te forward to the mis
sions in Ca liforn ia or and in every subse
quent year This w ith the arriva l of the recruitswould have relieved the Fathers of a ll worry and heartache. Unfortunately, when the admin istrator of the Pious
Fund was approached, he decla red tha t he had nothing to
spa re. This was strange in the face of the fact that themissiona ries of Lower Ca liforn ia received their stipends,
‘ 1 Fr. Lopez, “Circula r, September 1 2th, 1 818 ; Fr. Sa rria, “Circular,
” December 1 8th; “Circula r," Janua ry 1 2 th, 1819 ; Fr. Pay
eras ,“Circular,” Janua ry 19th, 1819.
“Sta . Barb. Arch.
”
" “El gobierno no da pa so i ello, porque no hay dinero.
”
Fr. Sa rria, “Circular,” December 18th, 1818.
“Sta . Ba rb. Arch.
ss Fr. Payeras , “Circular,” August 28th, 1 819, w ith the repliesof the friars. “
Sta . Ba rb. Arch.
”
56 M issions and M issionaries of Ca lifornia
out wa iting longer for the four Orizaba Fathers who had
given no notice of their intentions, Fathers Fra nciscoIbarra , Thomas Esten aga , José Altimira , and Bla s Ordazset out from the College probably in January 1 820. Whenthey arrived at Tepic in the la st week of Ma rch, theylea rned from Juan de Martiarena , whom the Fr. Gua rdianhad appointed sindico for that place, that the friars of Ori
zaba had suspended their journey because of disagreementwith the propositions of the viceroy. Fr. Ibarra a nd his
compan ions fina lly reached Monterey in August.“
In the meantime the Fathers in Ca liforn ia made no secretof their amazement and disappointment at the action of the
College in surrendering n ine missions w ithout considering the
views of the missiona ries on the subject . Fr. Mariano Payeras, who on October l lth, 18 19, had been elected comisarioprefecto, whilst Fr. José Sefian became presidente, visiteda ll the missions from north to south, and thus obta ined theopin ions of the fria rs. He wa ited a year for developments .
Fr. Guardian Lopez meanwhile informed him that it wasnecessa ry to cede some of the missions, but that, owing to
the feelings of the missiona ries on the subject, they shouldhave an Opportun ity to decla re which of the establishmentsought to be surrendered . Thereupon Fr. Payeras on June2 nd, 1 820, drew up a memoria l which covers nea rly fifteenfolio pages. Therein he gave his rea sons why the southern
missions should be reta ined, and why instea d n ine of those inthe north should be ceded to the fria rs from Orizaba . One of
the reasons, and a good one, was tha t the aged and infirmFathers from the south could not endure the cold clima te of
the north, and that, though there were pagans to be con
verted there whom they would gladly offer the opportun ityto hea r the Gospel truths, the southeast was not wanting insavages who needed attention as well. The Fa thers were,however, urged to append their own views in the matterand to sign their names . All the missiona ries in the n ine es
‘ 3 Sindico Jua n de Ma rtia ren a to Fr. Payera s, Ma rch 29th, 1 820.
Fr. Lopez, “Carta Reservada ,” no da te, but doubtless December1819.
“Sta . Barb. Arch.
”
Exhortations ; Offer to Cede M issions 57
tablishments, which the College had offered to surrender,voted to reta in them and to cede the n ine north of San LuisObispo. Of the fifteen friars in the ten northern missions,including San Luis Obispo, eight emphatica lly declared tha tif any missions must be surrendered they should be those of
the north. Of the seven rema in ing Fathers five, amongwhom was the venerable Fr. Magin Ca ta la, would leave itentirely to the decision of the College discretory. Fr. Sarria,who had favored the surrender of the southern missions, nowstated tha t he cheerfully and entirely voted with the Fr.
Prefect for the surrender of the northern establishments,but could not give his reasons in a mere note. With himagreed his compan ion Fr. Ramon Abella . Hence there was
not one outspoken vote for the surrender of the southernmissions.
“ As the Orizaba friars, however, declined to come
to Ca lifornia at a ll, for the rea son tha t some of the dispositions of the v iceroy were not acceptable to them, nothingeame of the plan . The missionaries were, therefore, com
pelled to plod a long a s well as they could .
“
Fr. Payéra s, Memoria l, June 2 nd, 1820. Sta . Barb. Arch.
We have gone into this ma tter at some length because Bancroft, ii, 407-410, devotes three pages to it in a way which mightmislead.
CHAPTER IV.
South America n Rebels Invade Ca liforn ia .-Pa triotism of the
Fria rs.— Fr. Luis Ma rtinez’s Enthus ia sm.
— Sola’s Report to the
Viceroy — The Viceroyal Governmen t Awaken s.— Wretched Re
enforcemen ts.— Sol£ Distracted— Lodges “
Ch610s”in Mission
Sa n Ca rlos.— Fr. Sarria
'
s Grief.— Viceroy Venadito Reproachesthe Settlers — The M issions the Ma instay.— Their Contribu
tions — Fr. Martinez Surprises the Govemor.- $ ol£ Sends an
Agen t to Mexico.—Fr. Guardian Lopez’s Urgen t Appea l.
excitement was a roused when the
Clarion on October 6th, 1 8 18, broughtthe sta rtling news to Santa Barba ra tha t two rebel shipsfrom Buenos Aires were at the Hawa iian Islands prepa ring an a ttack on Ca lifornia . Comandante José de la Guerraat once notified Governor Sola and the missionaries of his
jurisdiction . 5015 on October 8th gave orders to remove all
articles of va lue from the exposed presidios and missionsto places named in the interior. Women and children shouldbe ready to retire to these loca lities at a moment’s notice.
The live- stock, except horses for use, should a lso be drivenin land as soon as the hostile boa ts appea red. The missionaries, especia lly Fr. Luis Ma rtinez of San Luis Obispo, manifested an intensely loya l spirit. Fr. Martinez wrote to De
la Guerra ,“I f I had but two cannon I should have the
ships ; but there is nothing, so I sha ll content myself withdoing wha t I can and as long as I can . There are horsesenough for flight, even as far as New Mexico, when I leavethe mission burnt to the founda tions. Live Fernando, whilewe are a live ! Live the holy Church and our na tive countryeven if we a ll die.
” 1
Two hostile ships in command of a certa in Frenchmannamed H ipolite Bouchard appea red off Monterey on No
1 Fr. Martinez to José de la Guerra , November 1818. De la
Guerra Papers.
"Fr. Martinez had the bad habit of not da ting
his letters.
Invasion ; Fr. Martinez’s Patriotism 59
vernber 2 2 nd. Some high sounding language passed be
tween Gov . 50151 and Bouchard, whereupon the la tter withfour hundred men a ttacked and captured the fort, a fter$015. and his much in ferior force had retreated to the
Ra ncho del Rey.
’ The enemies ruined the orcha rd and ga r
den , seized goods to the va lue of about destroyedabout as much more which belonged to the oficers and pri
vate persons, set fire to the buildings, and re-emba rked on
the fifth day a fter their arriva l. Boucha rd sa iled down the
coast, sacked the Rancho del Refugio belonging to the
Ortega family of San ta Barba ra , and then continued south
ward as far as Mission San Juan Capistrano. Here the privateer aga in man ifested his true spirit by robbing and firing
the mission buildings. Boucha rd by this time had learnedtha t he could not induce the Ca liforn ians to become dis
loya l, and therefore sa iled away for Lower Ca liforn ia .
‘
In a specia l dispa tch to the viceroy Governor Sola can
didly recogn ized the grea t help he received from the mis
sions as follows : “Your Excellency. The necessity of rendering without delay a due account of the attack made uponMonterey by the insurgents gave me no tith e to express myself with rega rd to the commendable zea l which these missions displayed to a id not only those points tha t before hadbeen indica ted, but a lso those tha t might have been attackedduring the invasion , by furn ishing supplies, and as manytame horses as they had to replace the anima ls of the troopstha t were exhausted from the ma rch of more than two hun
dred leagues. I have especia lly to mention the Rev . Fr.
Luis Antonio Martinez, missiona ry of San Luis Obispo in
I n the v icin ity of the presen t Sa linas.
‘ José de la Guerra to the Fa thers, November 1 1th, 181 8 ; Fr.
Payeras, “In forme B iena l, M ay 4th, 1 819.
“Sta . Ba rb. Arch
Fr. Sehan to Guerra , November 1 5th, 1818.
“De la Guerra Pa
pers.
”— Fr. Ulliba rri to Fr. Payera s, January l st, 181 9 ; Fr. An
ton io Jayme to 5016, November 26th, 1818 ; Fr. Olhes to 8016,
November 26th; Fr. Sarria to 8016, December 14th, 1818. “Archb.
nos. 844; 850; 851 ; 860. Bancroft, ii, 220-249 ; Kittell, i,649-658.
60 M issions and M issionaries of California
this jurisdiction , fifty-two leagues from Monterey. No
sooner had he hea rd of the presence of the two hostile ves
sels in this bay than he sent, though sick in bed, twen tyfive volunteer Indians to our assistance. When the Indians
returned a fter the ships had sa iled away, and he lea rnedthat rebels were in the Channel of Santa Ba rba ra and an
chored in the roadst of Refugio, Fr. Ma rtinez rose and
with thirty-five Indians set out, joined Ca pta in José de laGuerra y Noriega at Santa Ba rba ra , and accompan ied the
troops a s far as San Juan Capistrano distant one hundredand thirty leagues, the last point a ttacked by the rebels.
There he an imated a ll to defend the rights of the sovereignand their own homes.
“In my prev ious report I in formed Your Excellency that
in the conflagration at this presidio there had been de
stroyed $2000 worth of soap, ta llow, beans, corn , rice, and
other goods belonging to the ga rrison of Monterey. No
sooner had I made known the loss which the unhappy ser
vants of the king had suffered, as a lso the need of one hun
dred and fifty machetes to supply the tr00ps, and a likenumber of ca rtridge boxes, than the Rev . Fr. Presidente of
themissions, Fr. Mariano Payeras, issued a circular orderingthose articles to be made, and we have already received them.
At the same time I asked for a contribution in favor of the
company. I have been given a list which shows tha t themissiona ries have contributed I have expressed
Large kn ives, shorter than a sword and longer than a dagger.5 Fr. Payeras , Circula rs,” March 5th; March 2 1 st; March 29th,
1819.
“Archb. nos. 928-930.
Invasion ; Fr. Martinez’s Patriotism 6 1
my warmest thanks,‘ and sta ted tha t I would report it toYour Excellency for the gra tifica tion and recogn ition of the
religious . In my opin ion it will be more gracious and stimulating that I reiterate the thanks to them in the name
of Your Excellency, if you would deign to authorize me.
Particula rly do I aga in mention the Rev . Fr. Luis Anton ioMa rtinez for his serv ices and the rapid ma rches which heexecuted as I have sa id before ; and because at the missionin his cha rge he has assisted and still assists the sick troopsby his persona l a ttendance and with medicines, by clothingwith the products of the missions the families of the troopswhich compose the gua rd, and by succoring many othersduring the long period of n ine yea rs when they received no
wages . God protect Your Excellency, etc. Monterey, July6th, 1 8 19 . Pablo Vicente deGovernor 8015 was accordingly authorized to convey the
thanks of H is Ma jesty to a ll the Fa thers, especia lly to
Fa thers Payeras and Martinez, for the pa rt they had takenaga inst the insurgents and in beha lf of the soldiers !
The a larming news tha t the Spanish possessions on the
west coast were endangered by actua l invasion of SouthAmerican rebels, efl’ected wha t numerous petitions had fa iledto bring about. The first report of Bouchard’s atta ck on
Monterey reached Mexico in December 1 818 . Viceroy JuanRuiz de Apodaca , Conde de Venadito,
‘ immediately sentorders to Guada la jara , San Blas and Sonora tha t two
‘ June 2 7th, 1 81 9. Sta Ba rb. Arch.
$016 to the v iceroy. Sta . Barb. Arch.
” “Ca l. Arch., Prov .
St. Pap. xvii, 661 -662 .
5016 to Fr. Payera s, April 4th; Fr. Payera s to 8016, April1 7th. Archb. no. 1082 . Viceroy to Sola, October 28th,1820. Ca l. Arch., Prov . St. Pap. xx, 186- 187. Words were
chea p. The Fa thers would have preferred to see those thankstake some ta ngible shape, for in stance, the paymen t of the sti
pends or at least of the dra fts held for supplies furn ished the
troops during the past n ine years.
He succeeded Viceroy Felix M . Ca lleja in September 1816
the la tter had succeeded Viceroy Francisco Javier de Venega son February 28th, 181 3 .
62 Missions and Missiona ries of Ca lifornia
vessels should be despa tched with all the troops and mun itions of war tha t they could ca rry. One detachment of
one hundred well armed and disciplined cava lrymen underCa pta in Pablo de la Portilla sa iled from Maza tlan on the
Cossack on July 14th 18 19, for San Diego. Storms, however, drove the ship into the Gulf of Ca liforn ia . The sol
diers to disemba rk at Bay San Luis Gonzaga ,
Signature of Viceroy F. x. do Venega s .
they wended their way to their destination and a rrivedSeptember 1 6th. Forty-five men under Lieutenant Nar
ciso Fabregat and Ensign Ignacio Delga do were assignedto the presidio of Santa Barba ra , whence they accompan iedMoraga on the expedition aga inst the Mojaves.
“
The on ly other detachment consisting of one hundred infantrymen under Ca pta in José Anton io Navarret in the two
ships San Carlos and L a Reina de los Angeles reached Monterey probably in the beginning of September. These menwere best known as Ckolos .
“ “They were most empha tica lly a bad lot,
”says Bancroft.“ “Such is the unan imous
testimony of the governor, commandants, fria rs, and citizens,no one of whom ha s a word to say in their favor. Theybelonged to the crimina l and vagabond classes ; were taken forthe most pa rt from the ja ils or picked up by pressgangs in
1 ° See chapter 1 1 .
1 1 The term is still a pplied to men of the lowest cla sses comingfrom Mexico.
1 ’ H istory of Ca liforn ia , 1 1 , 255.
64 M issions and Missionaries of California
of making the governor understand tha t he was guilty of
usurpation ; but Fr. Sarria like the friars genera lly lovedpea ce, and therefore much too ea sily submitted to milita ryarrogance. The governor now tried to make it appea r thatFr. Sa rria was making himself guilty of disrespect to
roya l authority.
“What !” he excla imed,“will you not aid
the tr00ps of His Ma jesty l” “I have not sa id tha t,”the
missionary meekly replied ; I have sa id that if Your Honorbring these men right here into the mission , here are the
keys of the qua rters. I will not actively pa rticipa te in thistransaction .
” 1 °
The governor furthermore demanded metater and
comdles .
” Fr. Sarria declared that a s fa r as he knew therewere no such articles for common use, that if any existedthey belonged to the Indian women ,
from whom he wouldnot take them, because they would need them for their own
use. 5015 thereupon ordered the Indian a lca ldes to procurethem. They did so, but regretted it the next day, and com
pla ined to Fr. Sarria tha t they feared these uten sils wouldnot be returned. They were indeed taken to the presidio at
Monterey, and on the following day Coma ndante Estudillocame for some more. Reporting the matter to Fr. Presidente Payera s the amazed Fr. Sarria excla ims : Why werethose utensils demanded from the unhappy Indians of San
Ca rlos to whom they belonged, as the missions possessednone for common use a fter it had suffered in the Boucha rdinsurrection ! It seems to me tha t in such and simila r ca ses
they should have applied to other parties, such as the set
tlers and soldiers who have such articles. Why do not
such people ha ve to contribute in case of public neces
sity i"
1 ° Fr. Sarria to Fr. Payera s, September 7th, 1 819. Sta . Barb.
Arch.
”
1 ° The metate wa s a curved stone for crushing corn
tortilla s . The coma l was an a lmost flat ea rthen pla tema ize.
3 ° Fr. Sa rria to Fr. Payera s, September 7th and 26th, 18 19.
Sta . Ba rb. Arch.
”
66 M issions and Missionaries of California
Thirty men under one officer came out and took up
their qua rters right in the mission , and lodged in the store
room a rranged for them. Wha t was fea red came to pass.
“As I go through the Indian village,
”Fr. Sarria writes,
“Ifind this one at the door of a neophyte’s hut, and that oneinside the hut of another. I have told the officer, who
promised to stop it ; but how is it possible to avoid everything ? The words of Solorzano come to my mind,
‘
The
scum of other races kills the ‘ 1 On ly two weekslater, the good Father with keen sorrow was compelled toreport to the governor tha t the soldiers had seduced an
Indian woman . Fr. Presidente Payeras on September16th protested to 8015 aga inst quartering soldiers at the
missions or letting them have a nything to do with the
neophytes . It is ha rd enough, he sa id, to manage the Ia
dians with the best soldiers from the presidio as guards ;but this kind of troops should be kept in the garrisons.
I f some must be quartered at the missions, he would directthe missiona ries to construct sepa rate buildings for them.
”
Fr. Payeras actua lly gave orders to that effect on October8th“
,Meanwhile 8016 began to be troubled in conscience
at sight of the grave disorders caused by his Chalos, and hepromised Fr. Sa rria tha t he would remove the objectionablemen before the end of the month.
"
Neither the San Carlos nor the Reina had brought whatwa s more needed than additiona l soldiers, and that was thelong hoped for supplies and equipment for the troops, as
well a s supplies for the missionaries. Wan t preva iled at
the presidios and among the guards at the missions, and
Que el vaho de la s otra s gen tes ma ta a los Indios.
” Fr
Sa rria to Fr. Payera s, September 7th, 181 9. Sta . Barb. Arch.
‘ 3 Fr. Sarria to 5015, September l t, 1 819.
“Archb. Arch.,
no. 954.
Fr. Payeras to Sola, September 16th, 1 819. Archb. Arch.,
no. 953 .
3 ‘ Fr. Payera s, “Circular. Archb. Arch., no. 956.
3“Fr. Sarria to Fr. Payeras, September 2 6th, 1819. Sta . Barb.Arch.”
Invasion ; Fr. Martinez’s Patriotism
compla ints never cea sed. The commanders would representthe destitute condition of the troops to the governor ; but
he could only express his sympathy and echo the compla intsin letters to the viceroy. The la tter could send no reliefbecause of the rebellion which consumed the income from
custom duties. In reply to a letter of Governor $016 whichthe v iceroy deemed more than inconsiderate, Venadito withmuch justice wrote,
“Two vessels have been laden w ith sup
plies, and w ill take away the product of the country, thusa iding the pueblo which you say you have to feed . As to
those settlers, let them go to work, as God and the kingrequire ; let them develop the rich resources of their province and ta lk less, and thus will they live comfortably, anda lso be an a id rather than a burden to the government insuch trying times as these.
” Instead “at the pueblos a
large pa rt of the settlers were content to be idle, giv ing the
Indians one- third or one-ha lf the cr0p for tilling their lands,and living on what rema ined .
”Had the soldiers a lso
heeded the advice of Venadito, there need not have existedmuch want in the territory. They, too,
however, preferredto idle away their days, to go in rags and depend for sup
port upon the poor missiona ries who in con sequence withtheir neophytes had to sufier privations besides overworkingthemselves. The missions, therefore, continued to be the
ma in and a lmost exclusive source of relief . Thus the verymission system, which the enemies of the friars and the
despoilers of the missions never tired of denouncing, saved
Californ ia and its inhabitants .
“The response of the missiona ries, Bancroft acknowl
“Viceroy to Sola, December 1 5th, 1819, in Bancroft, n , 2 57-2 58.
3 " Bancroft, n , 415.
3 3 Capta in James Wilcox Smith of the America n schooner
Traveller,” at the time of his visit in 1 817, found tha t “themost of the troops and other inhabita n ts could not a ttend Massfor wan t of clothing ; and the padres had neither wea ring ap
parel, orn amen ts for the churches, nor implemen ts to till the
soil.” Bancroft, n , 2 17.
68 M issions and M issionaries of Ca lifornia
edges,”“was most satisfactory and libera l ; especia lly when
we consider that there were now two hundred additionalmouths to feed ; that the losses of the missions in connectionwith the Bouchard afia ir had been quite considerable in
time, labor, and effects, besides the inconven iences na tura llya rising from the hasty abandonment of so many establishments, and tha t the padres made a direct contribution of
about $3000 to supply losses susta ined at Monterey, besides furn ishing laborers and many a rticles to which no
specia l va lue was given , and besides having been put to
much trouble and expense in 1 8 19 to protect the provincefrom the new attacks which were feared. It is, indeed,surprising how cheerfully each mission did its part eitherin voluntary gifts, in regula rly assessed contributions, or inresponse to specia l loca l demands, and how ra rely even slightmisunderstandings a rose in individua l cases. The fria rs
seem to have rea lized the fact that they had the provinceto support, and to have made the best of it, cheering themselves with the idea tha t they were working for the kingand with the hope of better times to come. Yet at timesthey were very much discouraged at the prospect beforethem.
”
“5015 did not fa il toward the end of 18 19 to vent some of
his peevishness on the friars, accusing them, as he accused
everybody, of lukewarmness and fa ilure to appreciate his
own troubles and efforts ; but the Fr. Presidente replied in a
dign ified manner that he had given no just cause for such
compla ints ; tha t he fully rea lized the governor’
s difficulties,and tha t he had done and would do a ll in his power for theprovince. Yet he was about to resign and hoped his suc
cessor would give better sa tisfaction ; and he insisted thatwhile the padres were stra in ing every nerve to support the
Bancroft, 1 1 , 2 57-2 58.
3 ° A ma teria list like Ba ncroft, of course, cannot conceive of a
higher motive tha n the groveling ma teria l, and therefore he fa iledto understand the missionaries. The friars were an ima ted by muchloftier motives for persevering.
‘ 1 Fr. Payera s on the con tra ry wa s elected comisa rio- prefecto.
Invasion ; Fr. Martinez’s Patriotism 69
troops, and doing everything except the impossible, the
comandantes should be ordered to comply promptly withthe friars
’suggestions in minor ma tters, such as the trans
fer of (worthless) gua rds and deta ils of mission dis
cipline.
”
It would be tedious to enumerate here the many con
trilmtions made by the missions for the ma intenance of the
milita ry in Ca liforn ia . A specimen or two must sumec to
give the reader an idea of wha t was demanded of the mis
siona ries and their neophytes. The governor would sendhis orders and they were expected to be executed withoutdelay. Here is one such demand on a small sheet of paper.
It reads as follows :“List of the woolen goods needed for
the troops . 100 Sarapes grandes.
" 80 Frazadas cameras.
“
300 Frazadas Pastores.
“ 600 Varas dc Jerga ordinaria .
“
Monterey loth of December, 1817. On March29th,
1 81 9, Fr. Payeras in a circular tells the Fa thers tha tthe governor wants $800 worth of corn , $200 worth of
beans, 300 arrobas of fat for cooking," 100 sa rapes, 300
frazada s pastores, 80 fraza das cameras, 300 gamuzas,” 1 50
pair of stockings, and worth of soap, etc.
“
“There is little to be added,”says Bancroft, on the mat
ter of mission supplies to the presidios to what has beensa id. Upon the Franciscan establishmen ts fell the whole burden of supporting the provincia l governmen t and the troops,and their dues for unpa id dra fts amounted in 1 820 to nea rly
Ban croft, 1 1 , 2 58-259 ; Fr. Payera s to Sola, December 26th,1 819.
“Archb. no. 1064.
‘ 3 A kind of blanket w ith an aperture in the cen ter for the
hea d. It wa s worn over the un iform.
“Blankets for the house.
Blankets for outside use.
A coa rse cloth.
“Sta . Ba rb. Arch.
‘ 0Man teca , i. e. beef drippings, a lso any kind of an ima l fat.Ca lf skins ta nned soft like chamois.
“Archb. no. 93 1 .
70 Missions and Missionaries of California
ha lf a million dollars.
“ Not a dollar of stipend was receivedby the friars during the whole decade ; and not a singleinvoice of goods for the missions— goods usua lly bought w iththe proceeds of habilitado’s dra fts and the friars’ stipendscould be forwarded, except one or two of very sma ll amountobta ined from other sources . The fact tha t the stipendcame from the Pious Fund, to which the treasury had no
cla im save a s a kind of‘
self-constituted’ trustee for the
missions, and the fact tha t other missionaries were not so
en tirely neglected as those of Ca liforn ia , made the situa tionall the more exa sperating ; yet the protests and compla intsof the friars were neither so frequent nor so bitter as mightbe expected, considering the lega l rights that were beingviola ted.
”
Besides the forced contributions, the missionaries in be
ha lf of their neophytes frequently made volunta ry dona tionsin money and goods which amounted to many thousanddollars. The noble old hero Fr. Luis Martinez of San LuisObispo, for instance, on July 2 2 nd, 1820, surprised Governor 5016 w ith the following commun ica tion : “When in
the pa st month of April I was at the presidio of Monterey,and beheld the want of clothing on the soldiers of the
ca va lry and artillery as well as of the garrison , and a lso'
of the fifty-n ine in fantrymen who arrived last year, my
breast felt tormented and my hea rt wa s pierced with pa inwhile I observed with what equanimity those worthy servantsof our beloved King Ferdinand VII endured the inclemencyof the wea ther, and much more when I considered the afilic
tions which Your Honor sufiers in trying to remedy the
troubles, ma inta in the soldiers, and susta in your characterand responsibility as chief superior of the province whichis cut off from a ll resource, and not having any one to aid
‘ 1 Over a ccording to Governor Sola’s letter to the
viceroy. Ca l. Prov. St. Pap. xvii, 540-542 .
‘ 2 Bancroft, n , 405-406.
48 As much a s $2 800 was furn ished in October 1818. Fr. Sar
ria,“Circular,” September 23 rd, 1 818. “
Sta . Barb. Arch.
"
“desnudez.
72 Missions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
port for the return voyage and sa iled from San Blas in June1820with goods invoiced at but va lued in Ca liforniaat or With this slight relief he a rrivedat Monterey in August."
Moved by the appea ls of the Fathers in Ca lifornia , Fr.
Gua rdian Ba ldomero Lopez a lso made an efiort to obtain
some relief for the missions. On January 18th 18 19, he pre
sented the following petition to the viceroy : By decree of
Viceroy Venegas Feb. 24th, 18 1 3 , it was ordered to be pa idat the trea sury of Guada la ja ra to the missions of Alta Ca lifornia , the sum of as stipends to the missiona ries,and the dra fts which to tha t date had been given for produce and goods furn ished to the troops. Every effort wasmade on various occasions to obta in payment of this moneyin order to relieve the neophytes and missionaries with articles of the first necessity, but until now without success, andonly the h0pe remains to me tha t Your Excellency will havecompassion on those poor neophytes and their missionaries.
“In a commun ica tion of Februa ry 14th, 181 5, Viceroy Ca l
leja directed the Fr. Procura tor of the missions in fu
ture to apply to the trea sury of Guada la ja ra for the stipendsand payment of the dra fts . Urgent appea ls were made, butw ithout success. I have therefore cea sed making applications in tha t city, because I am convinced tha t they wouldresult on ly in useless expense a s was the case until now .
“At a council of the roya l trea sury officia ls on Ma rch3 l st, 18 1 5, and by decree of Viceroy Ca lleja , April 1 5th, ofthe same year orders were given tha t at this treasury the ac
customed travelling expenses should be pa id for the six re
ligious who in 1 8 1 1 went to Alta Ca liforn ia from this College by order of the v iceroya l government, and for two
others who returned by the port of San Blas. A smallamount was pa id, but though the rest was demanded on
various occa sions to cover the debts of the missionaries on
their pa in ful journey, nothing was pa id. The same has cc
‘ 7 Bancroft, u, 261 -262 ; Fr. Ba ldomero Lopez to Fr. Payeras,
no da te, but probably May 1820.
“Sta . Ba rb. Arch.
Invasion ; Fr. Ma rtinez’s Patriotism 73
curred with the travelling expenses of other religious thoughorders were given on December 6th, 181 5, to pay the money.
“By decree of November 2 7th, 18 1 5, orders were issuedto pay likew ise at this roya l trea sury $4000 on account of
the dra fts to pay the freight of pa rt of the ca rgo sent a longwith the goods of the presidio in 18 1 5 by way of Acapulco,but nothing wa s pa id.
“I f to the missionaries of the Zacatecas College the stipends
a re pa id, the missionaries of Alta Ca liforn ia it would seem
ought to be preferred, because their territory is more remoteand less able to obta in relief. Likewise the missiona ries of
Lower Ca liforn ia have been pa id and a re pa id their stipends,while those of Alta Ca liforn ia do not en joy this favor ; perhaps it is because for on ly the missions of Lower Ca liforn iathere is assigned the Pious Fund. Be that as it may, it isto be believed that the w ill of the pious founder was for thepropaga tion of the Fa ith, and this certa in ly is being done inAlta Ca liforn ia , whose mission s surrounded by paga ns havenot less need than those of Lower Ca liforn ia , and it seemsthe Pious Fund should not be limited to these only.
“The missions of Alta Ca liforn ia have sufiered and a re
sufiering for want of missiona ries. In 18 1 5 some who vol
unteered should have been sent with the ship tha t ca rriedthe scanty memoria s which were sent and had been collectedsince 18 10 but the Fr. Gua rdian then determined not to
send them whilst they lacked the money for travelling ;for in 181 5 efiorts were made to recover the money to paythe travelling expenses of the six fria rs who had gone byway of Aca pulco in 1 81 1 , and to this day the expenses havenot been refunded .
“
“This sounds stra nge ; but it must be borne in mind tha t theCollege had absolutely no mean s save the a lms which were givenit. The College educa ted a nd tra ined the friars by mea n s of the
a lms received. It furn ished the Fa thers for Ca liforn ia w ithoutreceiv ing compen sa tion from either the mission s or the government. It wa s a sking too much to demand tha t the Collegeshould go begging in order to pay the travelling expen ses of the
missionaries, especia lly when there existed a Pious Fund whichhad hitherto borne tha t burden .
74 Missions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
Your Excellency, so many and grave a re the necessitieswhich the missions of Alta Ca lifornia a re suffering, tha t themissionaries have found themselves in the dire necessity of
celebrating the tremendous Sacrifice of the Mass with can
dles of ta llow. I f thus is lacking wha t is necessary for
Divine Worship, Your Excellency, with your deep penetration will comprehend the lack of other a rticles of strictnecessity which they have sufiered.
“Every year before the insurrection it was customary to
remit from Mexico copious M emorias, to meet the needsof the growing numbers of neophytes who were in charge
of the missionaries. With the exception of brea d and meat,everything went to them from here for the various branchesof industry and for other needs which could turn up in the
n ineteen missions which were equiva len t to n ineteen pueblosof neophytes. Not to forward the goods means to
stop the plow, the ax, and other implements of agriculture,and this would result in the lack of whea t, corn , etc., and
of course would be felt by missiona ries, neophytes, colonists, and soldiers.
“These people who since the yea r 1810 lacked the annua lhelp which they were wont to receive from this capita l,
Signa ture of Fr. Baldomero LOpea .
have snfiered with resigna tion , and a re sufiering grea t need,whilst they are led to hope tha t they will be relieved, themissionaries by their stipends, the neophytes and settlers bythe payment of the dra fts, and the soldiers by receiv ingtheir wages ; but seeing that in the course of eight yea rstheir hopes have not been rea lized , some fa ta l result is to be
Invasion ; Fr. Martinez’s Patriotism 75
fea red as a consequence of the protracted want if no stepsare taken to remedy it in time. This extends to a ll the ih
habitants of New Ca liforn ia , as is notorious to a ll who have
any knowledge of tha t pen insula . It causes compa ssion thattheir labor is so useless tha t it does not even furnish thempoor clothing and they go ill-clothed like the paga ns . The
discontent of the colon ists and troops is great. It a risesfrom the want of supplies in the presidios since the memoriashave cea sed to come which the habilitado-
genera l used to forward annually from this capita l to the comandantes of thosepresidios, who aga in helped the colon ists with clothing in
payment for provisions, and so they provided themselvesand their families for the year. They also provided the sol
diers and their wives with necessa ry clothing in return for
their milita ry services ; but now the want of clothing is suchtha t many of the women of the colon ists and troops do not
assist at holy Mass on Sundays and holydays for want ofthe necessa ry clothes to be able to present themselves in
public with the decency which their sex requires.
“The sufiering which has existed until now weakens them,
and it will not be strange if it crea tes genera l discontent.Their dismay has a lready become so grea t, and the servicesthey perform are more forced than volunta ry, so tha t it maywell be fea red that through the same discontent the milita ryforces may dimin ish, and the province rema in without thenecessa ry protection for some un foreseen ca se which may cc
cur. There might be revolution and Spa in lose the ter
Therefore, Your Excellency, my heart being penetratedwith the justice with which those poor neophytes and the
missionaries clamor, and the anxieties sufiered there even
in most favorable times, which to me are not unknownsince I lived six years in those missions, I can do no lessthan to present to Your Excellency’s consideration their sad
predicament, in order that, if it be your pleasure, you applythe quickest remedy, by ordering tha t for the present someamount be placed at the roya l trea sury which may sufiice
to relieve the neophytes and their missiona ries who
76 Missions and Missionaries of California
occupy the n ineteen missions ; and in future, if the sta te of
the treasury do not permit the payment of all, I beg tha tat least the $3000 assigned be pa id every month .
this way is the Fr. Procura tor enabled to assist the missionsannua lly with the goods and a rticles of urgent necessity.
n
Nothing came of this appea l for what was due to the
missions from the Pious Fund. Spanish rule in Mexico wasthen approaching its doom, so that the viceroys had enough
to do to hold their own without troubling themselves aboutthe needs of distant Ca lifornia .
4° Fr. Ba ldomero Lopez to Viceroy Venadito, Janua ry 18th, 18 19.
Sta . Ba rb . Arch.
”
78 M issions and Missionaries of California
propagation of our apostolic institute, I can do no less than
give you abundant thanks for such good work, and to ex
hort you to holy perseverance, beca use on ly he that perseveres will see his work crowned.
Seven months later, addressing the F athers in connectionwith the plan to cede some of the missions, Fr. Payeras as
comisa rio-prefecto could say : I do not believe that it ca n besa id with truth that, as far as lay in the missiona ries, and inv iew of the means in their power, this spiritua l conquesthas ever deteriorated. We have a lways been anxious to
advance it, and if not more has been accomplished, or withmore speed and promptness, it has been for lack of means,because of the peculia r circumsta nces of the country and its
na tives, and because the government, which guards and pro
tects us, sets limits to and checks our zea l and apostolicspirit, especia lly where it supposes a tempora l risk. Thoughaware of the present circumstances and needs, the dangerconnected with the founding of missions in the Tularesmentioned, the feebleness, infirmity, and age of ma ny of the
religious of the territory, when the Fa thers hear of foundingnew missions the zea l of the ma jority rises, their hea rts no
tably expand, and they man ifest the fervent desires whichanimate them for the propagation of the Fa ith of their beloved Jesus among the savage paga ns. He that makes thisreport, though the least oi the missionaries and unworthythe name, offers himself as the first to lead the explora tionif he be of any utility for establishing sa id missions, and tostay there with the help of God until he gives up his spiritin such a glorious undertaking.
” Evidently apostolic fervor had not died out among the friars of this period, and itwas a consolation for them to see tha t it was thus publiclyrecogn ized.
Ma tt. x, 2 2 . Fr. Payera s, “Circular, December i3 th, 1819.
Sta . Barb. Arch. Fr. Commissary-Genera l from Madrid, August 29th, 1818, a lso sen t the friars a letter of pra ise and thanksgiving which it is not necessary to repea t. “
Sta . Barb. Arch.
”
8 Fr. Payera s, “Memoria l,” June 2 nd, 1820; “In forme Biogrifico.»December 3 l st, 1820, punto 4to.
“Sta . Barb. Arch.
”
Missionary Zea l ; Kotzebue ;“Coaches” 79
M ission statistics at the close of the second decade of the
n ineteenth century confirm Fr. Payéras’
s contention tha t, notwithstanding the unfavorable conditions in the territory, thework of the Fathers still flourished. Some of the missionshad indeed lost in the number of their neophytes ; this wasprincipa lly due to the high rate of morta lity, and partly tothe fact tha t in their districts there were no more pagans
to convert ; but on the whole the missionaries could reportmore Indians living in their cha rge than ever before. Atthe close of the yea r 1819 Baptisms in the nineteen missionshad reached the magnificent number of a ga in of 1 7
3 87 in n ine years, and an increase of over the hum
ber reported on December 3 1 st, 1801 . During the same pe
riod, ( 1769 to December 3 lst 1 8 1 9) as many as mar
riages had been blessed, an increase of 5002 in nine years.
On the other hand the death registers contained the names
of dead, an increase of since December 3 lst,1810. It was pla in tha t the na tives were slowly dying out,
and this was due chiefly to venerea l diseases or the ma !
Calico, as it was ca lled, introduced at former periods bywhite adventurers and soldiers.
“ The Indian population of
the nineteen missions and the asistencia of San Ra faelamounted to a ga in of 1 2 40 in n ine years. Thisleaves a difference of 3 3 04 souls between the baptized and
buried. About two- thirds of this number indicate the Baptisms of others than Indians, and the rest, or about 1 100,point to the missing, such as apostates and runaways.
In tempora l ma tters, despite the fact tha t they had fur
nished the milita ry goods and produce to the amount of
for which they had received nothing and were not
likely to obta in anything, the missions not on ly held their
‘ San Ra fael a s yet had no registers. Its Baptisms are includedin the report from San Francisco.
“Esta mortandad se atribue a l Gi lico, originado de su incon
tinencia 6 heredado de sus padres, aunque se procura evita r dichalamen table causa ; pero no es el fruto correspondiente ni a l tra
ba jo que se toma en ello, y menos a los deseos.
”Fr. Sarria to
Fr. Commissary-Genera l, November 5th, 1817.
“Sta . Barb. Arch.”
80 M issions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
own , but through the a lmost superhuman eflorts of the fria rs,though they were fewer in number and ma ny of them old and
infirm, showed marked improvement. The n ineteen missionsat the end of 18 19 owned head of cattle,‘
sheep,1 1 562 goa ts, 1926 sw ine, 2 174 mules, and
horses of a ll kinds. The yield of gra in in 1819 wa s
bushels of whea t, bushels of ba rley, bushels of
corn , S71 1 bushels of beans, and 2 505 bushels of peas, ga rvanzos, etc.
‘ The missions a lso ra ised va rious kinds of fruitsfor home consumption , especia lly olives and grapes. The
manufacture of w ine was reported from severa l missions in1798 . The v iceroy recommended the culture of hemp a s
early as 1794. An a ttempt was made, and in 1808 SantaBa rbara , for instance, produced 5275 pounds of hemp.
“
Even cotton was among the mission products, but as no
reports were required on these items it is impossible to makea sa fe sta tement. The subject will receive a more deta iledtrea tment in the loca l history of each mission . Nor was
account dema nded by the king rega rding the products of
the various mechan ica l arts practised in those establishmentsConsiderable damage was done to the crops by ground
squirrels and gophers ; for since the Indians had no longerneed of hunting tha n for food, they multiplied rapidly.
Locusts and gra sshoppers were other plagues which de
crea sed the crops and often destroyed them altogether. In
some places a slaughter of horses wa s ordered by the governor to keep the numbers w ithin limits . There was no ne
‘ A ga in of over 1810.
7 An increa se of
3 “In forme Genera l,” December 3 l st, 18 19. Sta . Ba rb. Arch.
“En a lguna s de la s mencion adas misiones se empieza 6 coger
aceytun as ; y ya en San Diego se ha hecho nu poco de a ceitemuy bueno. Fr. L a suen,
“In forme B iena l,” Februa ry 2 1 st, 1803 .
“Sta . Ba rb. Arch1 ° Fr. L a suen , I nforme B iena l, Februa ry 20th, 1799 ; Fr. Tapis,Informe Bien a l, February 1 6th, 1809.
“Sta . Barb. Arch.
" Ban
croft, 1 1 , 179- 180.
82 M issions and Missionaries of California
lies. They eat their food without butter in order tha t thetr00ps may have it. They do not taste beans in order to beable to deliver tha n to the military store ; and even the
branding iron is put to the service of the military. To con
clude, the whole Indian is for the whole Indian . The Indianwill die, but he says,
‘ It is for that we have the Fa ther.
’
Let wha t has been sa id sumec, Sir Governor. I believe Ihave not been moved by passion , nor by self- interest, nor
am I angered at any one ; but I considered myself obliged tomake sa id denunciation . You well know that I am can
did.
‘ 1 Why the neophytes ran away under such conditionscan ha rdly be a puzzle.
Though Spanish commercia l regulations forbidding tradewith foreign vessels were not relaxed, necessity, as Sola re
ported to the viceroy and for which he was not reprimanded,drove the prov incia l authorities to purchase every eargo
for which they could pay with mission produce. The gov
ernor, however, insisted on the collection of duties on ex
ports and imports according to a tariff which, it sca ns, hadbeen devised to meet the needs of Ca lifornia . Otherwisethere was practica lly no obstacle thrown in the way of tradeafter In tha t yea r, October 2 nd, the Rurik in corn
mand of Otto von Kotzebue, of the Russian navy, who hadleft Russia in 181 5 on an exploring expedition , anchored inSan Francisco Bay. He was accompan ied by the natura listsAda lbert von Chamisso and Dr. John Fr. Eschscholtz,
“ the
geologist Engelhardt, and the a rtistLouis Choris. The strang1 1 Fr. Amoros to 8015, March 17th, 1816. Archb. Arch., no.
469. Though the good Fa ther’s style is abrupt and pa rtly ob
scure, he pictures the situa tion graphica lly enough. I f his bloodhad not boiled he must not have been human . More grief and
ma terna l solicitude than anger, however, inspired his words.
1 3 The prices of the period were for ta llow, per arroba ;suga r, $5; rice, whea t, $2 per fanega or hundredweight ;barley, $1 ; peas, ca ttle, $2 to $6 ; mules, $10; sheep-skins,
ca licoes, 87 cen ts per yd. ; flannels, serapes, $5; Cuzcocloth, a lpa ca , Bancroft, ii, 251 ; 419 ; 42 1 .1 ‘ From him the Ca liforn ia pa ppy received its scien tific name
Eschscholtzia.
”
M issionary Zeal ; Kotzebue ;“Coaches 83
ers, due to previous instructions from Spa in, were receivedwith every ma rk of respect, and they were furn ished withall they needed by the military a s well as the missionaries.
Governor 5015. came up from Mon terey to greet the foreign
guests.
On November l st they sa iled away to resume their scientific observa tions. Kotzebue’s and Chamisso’s impressions wereun favorable. Beyond the country in its natura l sta te and Spanish hospita lity they saw little to pra ise. They found the na
tives ugly and stupid. Notwithstanding that the missiona rieshad for yea rs with their neophytes made all kinds of sacrifices for the support of the military, the
“Span ish oflicers at
the presidio,”
says Bancroft, “could not refra in from ac
quainting the v isitors with their pet grievance, and spokebitterly of the friars, who in these times of sca rcity and suf
fering would furn ish the men with the barest necessities on
forma l requisition of the governor, a lthough they had plentyof everything.
” It is no wonder tha t the non-Ca tholicstrangers were not favorably impressed with the work of
the missionaries, when they heard the ungrateful oficers of
His Most Ca tholic Ma jesty belittle the country’s benefactors,so tha t Kotzebue could write this ridiculous and un juststa tement : “The rage for converting savage nations is now
spreading over the whole South Sea , and causes much mis
chief, because the missionaries do not take pa ins to makemen of them before they make them Christians.
”
It is pla in that he could not have written from close persona l observation . Bancroft hirn self is constra ined to de
clare that “in ma ny respects the visitors took little advan tageof their opportun ities.
” 1 ° They noticed, however, what wasobvious to any one, that
“the soldiers seemed as discon
tented with the government as with the missions, and it isnot surprising,
”says Kotzebue,
“as it is a lready seven years
since they have received any pay, and they are destitute of
“Bancroft, n , 2 79.
1 ' Kotzebue, “Voyage of Discovery, vol. i, 279. London , 182 1 .
1 ‘ Bancroft, n, 280.
86 Missions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
Lest the world observe in Your Reverences anythingtha t is not good, apply to yourselves what the un iversa lPreacher sa id to the Thessa lon ians,
‘From all appearanceof ev il refra in yourselves.
’ St. Bernard expla in ing thesewords says,
‘We are obliged not only to avoid what may bemanifestly evil, but whatsoever has the color and appea rance of ev il.’ Such is the kind of rumor which has foundcurra icy at this capita l. It is cla imed that the missionariesof Alta Ca liforn ia travel in vehicles with two wheels, and
even in coaches with four wheels ; that they convey in tha nto and fro the oflicers who a re to assist at the functions ;tha t they themselves ride in them for plea sure. I have a lsobeen assured that the same pleasure was given to mariners,who thankfully pra ise the good will of Your Reverences inyour presence, but doubt not tha t in your absence they willsay tha t the missionaries of New Ca liforn ia neither sufier
the ha rdships which they cla im, nor the privations whichthey publish, but that they en joy such comfort as riding in a
coach which is the privilege of the wea lthy and the mighty,but not of the poor.
“On the first occasion on which I heard such talk I was
amazed and unwilling to give it credit. I hea rd it again ,
tried to suppress my feelings and to verify it. I discoveredit to be as I was told. Whether such vehicles have beenmade with the permission of the prela tes, I cannot say ; butI am convinced tha t the authors thereof have not reflectedupon the consequences, and tha t conven ience or necessity willhave impelled them to construct sa id vehicles. Reflectingabout it brought on various doubts with regard to theiruse, and it occurred to me that the worthy predecessorsof Your Reverences never employed tha n, but that eva r theaged and infirm used horses and mules . Hence I found no
reason for approving the use of sa id vehicles . Nevertheless,my doubts continued. In order to determine with securityin this matter, I ca lled to mind what Solomon says in his
Proverbs : Tha t wisdom rules and governs those that go to
3 ’ 1 Thessa lon ian s, v, 2 2 .
88 Missions and Missionaries of California
Gua rdian upon the use of coaches or similar vehicles, and
then admon ished the friars to guard aga inst anything thatwould be incompa tible with the Franciscan Rule.
“
All that St. Francis says on the subject is “they must notride on horseback unless compelled by man ifest necessityor infirmity.
”The Papa l Expositions of the Rule, however,
apply this a lso to travelling in vehicles of every kind. The
custom of the fria rs, therefore, was to travel a foot, unless
grea t distances, press of time, or infirmity, hence“man ifest
necessity, compelled the use of a conveyance. Fr. Serragenera lly wa lked when not forced to use a horse on ac
count oi ill hea lth or lameness. La ter the presidentes useda horse when making their v isita tions of the missions whichextended over a distance of nea rly seven hundred miles.
Other missiona ries likewise of necessity travelled in tha t waywhen time pressed upon them, or when infirmity precludedwa lking. It will be remembered tha t the gua rds, ow ing to
governmenta l regula tions, were not a llowed to ra na in awayfrom their post over n ight when they had to accompany a
missiona ry for any cause whatsoever.
" Wa lking the requireddistance in one day was often manifestly impossible. Thusa horse became a necessity. As there was a surplus of tha n ,
the question of poverty could not rise. At a ll events, St.Francis himself had excepted the ca se of necessity. It a lldepended upon what was a necessity. In a general way
the decision of the Superior removed a ll doubt. At othertimes, when the fria r had to act on the spur of the moment,his own conscience and good sense pointed out the rightcourse to pursue in conflicting circumstances . The criticismswhich came to the ears of the Fr. Gua rdian were morecaptious than sincere. They should have ca lled for a reportfrom the missiona ries, instead of being taken for true withoutinvestiga tion . However, we do not find that any
“ca r
Libro de Pa ten tes of every mission .
Borica Ma rch 2 nd, 1 796, forbade the priests to tra vel in such
a manner a s to keep escorts out at n ight. “Ca l. Prov.
Rec. vi, 2 92 - 293 .
Missionary Zea l ; Kotzebue ;“Coaches” 89
riages” were burnt or sold or put to other use. The
rea son doubtless was tha t there were no such vehicles in use
at any of the
About one yea r a fter Fr. Payeras had commun ica ted theFr. Guardian ’
s commands to the fria rs a long with his own
orders on the subject, he sca ns to ha ve concluded that theconditions in the widely separated missions of Ca liforn iaconstituted a standing necessity for the use of conveyancesof some sort besides the slow, noisy and torturing ox-ca rts .
Writing to Fr. Presidente Jose Sefian the Fr. Prefecto says :“I regret very much the poor sta te of your hea lth. I sha llnever cease to ask H is Divine Ma jesty to grant Your Reverence with a lav ish hand a ll tha t may be sa luta ry. In any
case have ca re of yourself, and put a side anxieties as longas the little donkey is not in condition to ca rry burdens.
I too have had my a ilments this yea r, I mean an abscess on
the back of the hea d which forced me to keep my hea dbundled up. Just now I have a sore on my leg which re
sulted from a scratch— With rega rd to the coaches, whichI men tioned in a former commun ica tion , I have to say, tha tthey are using them at the two nea rest missions.
” At SantaBa rba ra la st March I saw a sma ll one with two wheelswhich is as conven ien t as it is becoming, in my opin ion .
““Ca rrua jes, a ll sorts of vehicles for tran sporting persons or
goods. Ca rriages of those days were not the fancy and couve
n ien t vehicles of our times.
‘ 7 Fr. Sa rria as ea rly a s September 3 rd, 1817, had forbidden the
fria rs the use of coaches at the mere rumor tha t some had ar
rived in the territory. It is not likely tha t any one had dis
obeyed. Sta . Barb. Arch.
St. Francis wa s won t to address his body Brother Ass.
”
Hence the term “burrito” which Fr. Payeras here uses playfully.3“San ta Ba rba ra and San ta I nes. Fr. Payera s, though com
isa rio- prefecto, had refra ined from making San Ca rlos his hea dqua rters, but left Fr. Sa rria in cha rge ; he therefore writes fromPurisima Con cepcion . At San ta Inés Fr. F. X . Uria wa s a lone
in cha rge of an exten sive mission .
92 Missions and Missiona ries of Ca lifornia
atlantic ma il. By the next ma il I sha ll have definite knowledge on the subject of your solicitude. N0, my dea r Father,notwithstanding my burdens and anxieties, I have not
neglected nor will I neglect any efiort for the sake of you,
my Fathers and missionaries, upon whom I have a lwayslooked with very exceptiona l a ffection . I f this has not
been expressly sta ted until now, it was because I am con
tinually kept going up and down .
”
Fr. Lopez to Fr. Payera s, May 1820. No da te was given .
The letter wa s marked “confidentia l,” though the reason is not
pla in .
“Sta . Ba rb. Arch.
”I f the faculties were granted they
doubtless first went to Spa in to receive the roya l pa se. I n the
politica l commotions of Spa in and Mexico the documen ts were
then probably lost.
CHAPTER VI .
Ha ppen ings in Mexico.— The Span ish C6rtes.
— Its Politica l Div isions — Secula riza tion Decree.
— Leyes de la Reforma .— King
Ferdin and VII . Sign s for Fear of Dea th.— Efiect in Mexico.
How the Franciscans in Mexico and Ca liforn ia Received the
News .— The Fr. Guardian ’
s In structions.— Fr. Payeras In forms
Governor $015 and the B ishop.— Fr. Payéras’s Beautiful Cir
cula r.— Governor 5015 to Fr. Payera s — B ishop Bernardo to
Fr. Payera s.— Fr. Jose Sanchez’s Sentimente— Constitution to
be Promulga ted .— Fr. Sehan ’
s Instruction s.— Fr. Ma rtinez on
the Ca tecismo Politico.
HE much afflicted missiona ries were destined to face
worse tria ls than un just cha rges of worldly extravagance.
The na rra tive in consequence grows sadder. At first thefria rs in Mexico on ly were afiected. The source of the
troubles lay in Spa in . A letter of Fr. Procurator JuanCortes to Fr. Payera s expla ins the situation .
“The Procla
ma tion on the Reform, I will ra ther say Destruction of the
Religious Orders,”he writes,
“ha s bea r issued. In Mexico
the Jesuits, the Bethlehemites, those of San Juan de Dios,of Monserra te, and the Hippolytans have a ll been suppressed.
In our College we have for some days a lready two secularized Jesuits, one secula rized Benedictine, and the SuperiorGenera l of the Hippolytans who is a priest. As the Re
form, which was sanctioned by the king, declares that onlyone convent of each institute sha ll rema in in each city, weof San Diego, San Cosme, and San Fernando 1 feared tha twe, too, should be suppressed ; but, thanks be to God! so farwe have received no notifica tion wha tever. Likew ise theyhave gone to work publishing the Bando which deprives everyecclesiastic, secula r or regular, of his privileges, but they
1 Besides the Conven to Gra nde de San Francisco, these threebelonged to the Francisca ns. Being mendican ts, who possessednothing but the buildings and churches they occupied and well
stocked libraries, these friars were a llowed to con tinue unmolestedfor a while longer.
94. Missions and Missionaries of California
have suspended its execution , because among the Mexicansthe robbing of convents has created great sensa tion , and a
revolt is fea red. Genera l Iturbide indeed decla res tha t thedecrees of the C6rtes a ttack Religion , and in his follow inghe has many Europeans of good standing. Hence we knownot wha t will happen to us, but we are a ll filled with bitterness. All we regula rs have placed ourselves under the
obedience of the Archbishop, as yet no innovation has takenplace.
” 3
The innova tions to which Fr. Cortés a lludes were madeby a body of men who assembled at Leon , Spa in , Septa nber
24th, 1 8 10, just as Hida lgo ra ised the flag of rebellion in
Mexico, and constituted themselves the C6rtes of Spa in . Itwas an attempt at government during the imprisonment byNapoleon of King Ferdinand VII ., but it went further and
usurped the supra ne power. A large number of the deputies were men chosen at Cadiz to act as proxies for thoseentitled to membership, but who were unable to reach thatcity whither in February 18 1 1 the sessions had been transferred. The fifty
-five representa tives and the forty- seven
proxies, save one American , were Spa n ia rds. The ma jorityof these would-be legisla tors were un iversity professors,ecclesiastics including some rega rded as Jansen ists, some
public officia ls, and not a few young men strongly imbuedwith the notions of infidel French philosophers.
‘
This motley assemblage, which included the worst elementsof disorder and which was anything but representa tive of
the people of Spa in or Span ish America , constituted itselfthe government and elected a regency composed of threeofficia ls who, in the absence of King Ferdinand VII ., wereto execute its decisions. On March 19th, 18 1 2 , this Cortesadopted a new constitution . Whatever authority existed inMexico from 18 10 to 1 814, when King Ferdinand returnedto Spa in , was exercised in the name of this self-appointedC6rtes of Cadiz and its regents. The members were divided
3 Fr. Juan Cortes to Fr. Payera s, Ma rch 5th, 182 1 . Fr. Lopezto Fr. Payera s, February 7th, 182 1 “
Sta . Ba rb. Arch.
”
Alamin, vol. iii, 2 3 . Escosura , H istoria de Repalle, 301 -m
96 M issions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
the purpose of deciding whether or not the Indian Reduetions subject to the missions in cha rge of the Capuchin and
Disca lced Religious, and which for thirty, forty, fifty,
and more yea rs have a lready been conva'
ted from paga n ismto our Ca tholic Religion , should be delivered to the Bishopof the Diocese, has concluded to decree and decrees :“1 . That all new Reductions and Christian settla na rts in
the provinces on the other side of the ocean , which are in
charge of missiona ries from Religious Orders, and whichhave been converted ten yea rs, sha ll be immediately turnedover to the respective Ordina ries without excuse or pretextwhatever, con forrnably with the laws and decrees on the
subject.
“2 . Tha t these Christian settlements, as well as a ll the
rest tha t have been erected into curacies, must be providedfor canon ica lly by the same bishops with suitable priestsfrom the secula r clergy in accordance with the laws and
decrees on the roya l pa trona to.
“3 . The missiona ries of Religious Orders, who are re
lieved of the convert pueblos which are turned over to the
bishop, sha ll apply themselves to extending Religion in other
hea then places for the benefit of their inhabitants, and proceed in the management of their missions in conformity withwha t is commanded in pa ragraph 10, art. 3 3 5, of the Con
4. The Rt. Rev . Bishops and ecclesiastica l prelates, invirtue of the ordina ry jurisdiction belonging to them, maydestine suitable Religious, as they may judge expedient, for
,
the tempora ry cura tes of secular pa rish priests, only provisiona lly, in the pa rishes where necessity da nands it ; butsuch temporary cura tes can never aspire to be put in charge
permanently, nor sha ll they continue in cha rge of the par
7 The Capuchins form a branch of the Franciscan Family.Disca lced or Ba refooted Fra nciscans were so ca lled from the re
form of St. Peter of Alcan ta ra . The Reformed Augustin ianswere a lso ca lled Disca lced. We are unable to determine whichOrder wa s mean t here.
The C6rtes ; Fr. Payéras’s Circular 97
ishes longer than appea rs necessary to the bishop in accordance with the laws.
“5. For the present
, and until the C6rtes w ith more
knowledge sha ll resolve otherwise, the Religious Orders tha tmay be in possession of any curacies may continue in charge
of one or two Doctrina s or curacies in the district of the
convents which a re subject to a provincia l, in such a way
tha t the number of these curacies, which a re continued, mustbe counted, not for the convents tha t are in va rious places ,but for each prov ince of the Order Regu lar under whoseobedience and authority those respective convents may be,a lthough these may be sca ttered in different dioceses.
“6 . The missionaries from Religious Orders must irnme
diately surrender the government and admin istra tions of the
esta tes of those Indians, leaving it to the care and choice of
these Indians, by means of their Ayuntamientos and underthe supervision of the civil governor, to nominate from amongthemselves those who would be to their sa tisfaction , and
may have more intelligence for managing them, the landsto be divided and reduced to individua l ownership in ac
cordance w ith the Decree of Janua ry 4th, 1 8 1 3 , concern ingthe reduction of the Va ldios and other lands to priva teownership.
”— José Miguel de Cordoba y Barrios, Presiden t ;
Miguel Riesco y Puente and Francisco Ruiz Lorenzo, Secreta ries. Cadiz, September 1 3th,This “
law” did not reach Mexico and wa s not published
until the year 1820, and then it came a long with the ah
nounca nent of other legisla tion directly antagon izing Re
ligious Orders. The ma nbers of the Cortes of that yea rproved themselves even more
“libera l than any of their
predecessors . Among its first laws wa s one pa ssed August17th suppressing the Jesuits. It relega ted the individua lsto the ranks of the secula r clergy,
and forbade them to
commun ica te or have a ny rela tions with Superiors outsideof Spa in . Their property was confiscated . On October
3 Va ldios- vacan t lands.
9 “Sta . Barb. Arch.
”
4
98 M issions and Missiona ries of California
first a ll the convents of monks in Spa in and its domin ionswere decla red suppressed. On motion of a proxy for Mex
ico, without investiga ting whether the victims were of publicbenefit or not, they adopted the resolution suppressing in
America a lso the houses of the Bethlehemites,l oJuanites,
“
and Hippolytans.
" The author himself declared that he hadno other object for including these religious than to get rid
of friars.
" With rega rd to other religious it was decreedto permit no more than one convent of each Order in
the same town ; tha t a ll should be suppressed tha t hadnot as many as twelve priests in the commun ity ; tha tno prela tes should be recogn ized by the subjects save the
local Superior elected by the members of the commun ity ;tha t no more convents should be established, no habit be
given , and no profession be permitted, and tha t the esta tesof the religious should be confisca ted .
“ The king who thus
fa r had submitted to the vaga ries of the Cortes and his
min isters, refused to sign the in iquitous mea sures on the
ground that his conscience would notpermit him to be a partyto such wrongs. As the authors had not consulted theirown conscience in the proceedings, they saw no reason why
Ferdinand VII . should be a llowed the luxury of beingguided by his conscience. They accordingly insisted that
1 ° They had cha rge of va rious priva te schools a nd conducted a
hospita l for conva lescen ts .
1 1 Brothers of St. John of God. They conducted hospita ls forthe poor.
1 ’ Brothers who had charge of hospita ls for demented .1 3 “Cuyo autor no tuvo ma s objeto en ella , que
‘
ir quitandoAlami n , v . 28. A noble motive, indeed ! It is in keep
ing w ith libera lism.
N Alaman , v , 2 9. One is at a loss to find on wha t grounds theauthors of such mea sures ca lled themselves Ca tholics whilst theyacted the part of Judas or Julian the Aposta te. They were cer
ta in ly crippling the Ca tholic Fa ith to the bes t of their a bility.The reform of religious institutions belonged to the Church and
not to unscrupulous and impertinen t politicia ns who needed to
reform themselves in order to bring their conduct in line withthe Div in e Precepts a nd common justice. See Appendix C.
1 00 M issions and M issionaries of Ca lifornia
driver: but of the missions they had rea red for the Indians.
Bancroft cannot help expressing his surprise, or chagrinperhaps, at the conduct of the Franciscans under these try
ing circumstances.
“In the communica tions of the gua rdian
and prefect there appea rs no word of protest, no compla int,but only joy as at relief from a burden .
” However, thatwas giving the friars too much credit ; he therefore turnsand labors hard to show tha t they were not sincere, and that“the complacency of the Franciscans was for the most partassumed .
” 1 " We doubt very much that Bancroft was sincerein making such a stata nent; he merely endeavored to re
ma in truc to his hostile principles , which from this date out
become more apparent.The Fr. Guardian of San Fernando College on Februa ry
3 rd, 1 82 1 , received six copies of the Bando de la Reformafrom the v iceroy. In reply he promptly in formed Venaditothat he had sent two copies to the Fr. Comisario-Prefecto inCa liforn ia with direction s to circula te them and to surrenderthe n ineteen missions which had existed more than ten
yea rs, as soon a s the bishop should wish to accept them in
accordance w ith the decree of the Cortes . To Fr. PayerasFr. Lopez wrote : “Your Reverence please direct the Bandoto be circula ted through a ll the missions in order that theMissionary Fathers may lea rn of it and carry it out in whatconcerns them. In compliance w ith what has been decidedby this venerable Discretory, Your Reverence as immediateSuperior of sa id missions, will make the transfer of them,
with a ll the forma lities da nanded, to the Rt . Rev . Bishopof Sonora , when he persona lly or through a representa tive
1 ° Ba ncroft, n , 43 2 . En tirely steeped in commercia lism thisauthor w ill not concede tha t the Francisca n s could or wouldmake a step un less a dolla r ma rk appea red within rea ch beckoning to be a ccepted. It proves how little he understood the spiritof the mission aries. Why should they cling to the con trol of
property which to them could be of no earthly benefit, and uponwhich they looked a s upon a heavy burden necessarily to be
borne for the sake of the neophytes who could not manage the
property themselves ? I n our opin ion Bancroft knew this verywell, but it did not fit into his plans to give the credit due.
The C6rtes ; Fr. Payéras’s Circula r 1 0 1
may appear to receive tha n . You will observe with exact
ness wha tever instructions are given by the decree of the
Cortes Genera les y Extraordina rias of September 1 3th, 18 1 3 ,which is a nbodied in the same Bando ; and you will drawup inven tories with the utmost scrupulous care of whateveris to be found in the missions when it comes to give up
the temporalities, and with proper authentica tion YourReverence w ill plea se send them to this College for the
archives . God keep you many years. Fr. Ba ldomero Lopez,Guardian .
”
Fr. Payéras received the letter of the Fr. Gua rdian in
the beginn ing of July . On the 7th he promptly notifiedGovernor 5016. After quoting Article S ix of the L aw of
September 1 3 th, 1 81 3 , he continued a s follows :“Ina smuch
as blind ‘ 1 and prompt obedience, so much due to establishedauthorities, is an innate propensity in every son of our
Father St. Francis, I and a ll the missiona ry Fa thers, mysubjects, declare in advance that we wish to comply punetua lly with sa id supreme order the moment Your Honor,whom in this case we regard as the organ of the higher
government’
s voice, so determines . Wha t I have sa id to
Your Honor I am about to say to H is Lordship, the Rt.Rev . Bishop of Sonora , the Ordinary of these missions, so
that the sa id prela te may prov ide the missions with secular
priests, whether or not to higher minds they a lready seemripe. Would to God tha t these apostolic works might correspond to the distinguished zea l of the grea t monarch, andthat it may please Your Honor to accept the surrender of
them immediately.
”
On the next day Fr. Payeras addressed the missionaries
3 ° Fr. Lopez to Fr. Payeras, Februa ry 3 rd, 7th, 182 1 . Sta .
Barb. Arch.
’1 Within lawful limits ; tha t is to say, the religious need never
obey in anything tha t is aga inst the law of God or the Church.
I n this way the religious, who made the vows , is certa in ly morefree than the members of secret societies or lodges who in
German and La tin coun tries persecute monks and nun s at the
dicta tes of unknown parties and in spite of divine laws .
“Archb. no. 1 2 3 1 .
“Sta . Barb . Arch.
”
1 02 M issions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
in a long circula r, to a great extent couched in scriptura lexpressions the spirit of which may be glea ned from the
follow ing extracts : My estea ned Fa thers and Sirs. The
Lord grant you peace. I have just received the accompanying documa its from the Fr. Guardian . MyBrethren , Your Reverences are min isters of Jesus Christ ;so am I . You are sons of St. Francis ; so am I. Let us
a ll be wise, and I like one less wise say to you,
‘
Be followersof me ( in this ma tter) , and observe them who walk so,
’
(with ma ture counsel and in due accord )‘
as you have our
model’ ; do not decline to the right or the left man ifestingany desire for things tempora l. Let us exhibit ourselvesas wha t we are ; and let us labor in every place and at all
times like such as a re responsible to the world, the angels,
and men . Let us labor, I repea t, with such prudence and
modera tion that he who is hostile to us may have nothingbad to say aga inst us. Let us be in accord in thought,word, and deed, and let us render ourselves worthy of
blessings.
“My dearly beloved Fathers, I have received va riouscounsels from our College, that we comport ourselves underthe circumstances like angels of God counting a ll thingsas loss and as dung,
" for because of them grave evils havecome upon us. Al ready in January last a certa in Tama rizwas venting his ire aga inst us in Mexico. L et us not irn
agine tha t decent subsistence shall be lacking us ; for such
would be repugnant to our noble nation , the zea l and pietyof the present governor, and down to the last generouspoor one in the territory.
”
“I f the bishop ha s priests to relieve us, what a glorious
thing ! Meanwhile let us stand ready for everything,
laboring in a ll sincerity and a lacrity. Be you therefore prepa red . Have a ll spiritua l and tempora l matters,the registers and other books in the best order for the
2 3 Philippia n s iii, 17.
3 ‘ Philip ., iii, 8.
3 ° St. Fra ncis had promised his son s tha t a s long a s they followed his Rule wha t wa s necessary would not be wan ting.
1 04 Missions and Missionaries of California
expressed his surprise tha t the religious should give up the
management of the neophytes.
“I think that it will be veryagreeable to Your Reverence to see yourself frwd from the
superiorship. Would tha t I might be relieved from thischa rge w ith the promptitude which I desire ! Time will tellus a ll about it, the governor wrote.
“ On the same da te5015 aga in addressed Fr. Payeras, and stated that as yet hehad received no officia l notice of the decree that no religiousin this province or the others of New Spa in should con
tinne in charge of the property belonging to the neophytes .
"
“I sha ll proceed with that care and prudence which so
delica te a matter demands,”he assured the Father.
"
The bishop replied tha t the Act of Seculariza tion had not
been en forced anywhere in America ; tha t the Ca liforn iaFathers might peacefully rema in in charge of their missionsuntil the imperial (Iturbide) government should be firmlyestablished and dispose otherw ise.
”
What individual missiona ries felt at the prospect of havingto leave Ca lifornia , may be in ferred from a letter whichFr. José Sanchez of San Gabriel addressed to Governor5015. on receipt of the Bando and Secula riza tion Decree.
“Icannot refrain from replying in the words of the first verseof Psahn 1 2 1 :
‘My heart rejoiced exceedingly at the things
3 ° “Oja lal que a mi se me releva re con la pron titud que deseo deeste ca rgo. $016. to Fr. Payera s, July l0th, 182 1 .
“Archb.
no. 1 2 3 3 .
3 1 “L os bienes pertenecientes a los neéfitos, hence not to the
fria rs . The Fa thers regarded themselves as stewards or gua rdia ns of the Indians. Thus i t was tha t they could readi cedetheir places when lawful authority so demanded, but, be it remembered, in the sense of this Act of the C6rtes, not in the
sen se of the la ter mission despoilers. The governor here ohi
cia lly gives the sta tus correctly. The missions belonged to the
neophytes. The fria rs and government could in justice act as
guardian s only.3 2 5012 to Fr. Payera s, July loth, 1 82 1 . Archb. no. 1 234.
88 Bishop Bernardo to Fr. Payeras, December 20th,
Archb. no. 1 2 56. Sta . Ba rb . Arch.
”
The C6rtes ; Fr. Payéras’s Circula r 1 05
tha t were said to me. Yes, I assure Your Honor ; for such
has been my anguish and disgust.”
Mea nwhile a milita ry revolt in Spa in early in March1 820 restored the Constitution of 18 1 2 which had beenabolished in 18 14. King Ferdinand on March 9th wa s
commlled to take the oath on it, and to publish it as the
law of the Span ish dominions.
“ In Mexico Viceroy Venadito reluctantly promulga ted the document and on May
3 l st, 1820, took the oath with the higher officia ls . The
Archbishop and his chapter on June lst likewise swore to
uphold the Constitution .
“
The Bishop of Sonora forwa rded a copy of the viceroy’sproclama tion to Fr. Pres idente José Sefian , the vicarioforaneo of Upper Ca liforn ia , who a fter receiving it issuedthe following circular to the missionaries : “Your Revera ices,in a letter from the Rt. Rev . B ishop of Sonora accompanying the Bando of the v iceroy to which it ca lls a ttention ,
it is
Signa ture of Fr. Presidente Jose Selim .
sa id tha t the king gives it out as his w ill that the solemn
publica tion of and swearing to the politica l Constitution of
the Span ish Nation must take place on the first fea st daya fter the receipt of these letters in a ll the churches of our
missions. The Cortes decreed tha t the people and the clergyshall swear to preserve the Constitution . Those who have
any jurisdiction or authori ty will swear by this formula : ‘ Iswea r to God and on these holy Gospels to observe the Constitution and to see that it is observed.
’ January 2 5th, 1 82 1 .
u Fr. Si nchez to 5015, April 17th, M ay 8th, Archb.
nos. 1 2 65.
‘ 5 Alaman ,v , 10- 1 3 . Ger6n imo de la Escosura , Historia de
Espa i’ia ,
”3 10.
“Alamfin , v, 16- 19.
1 06 Missions and Missionaries of California
Fr. José Sefian .
”Governor Sola had a lready notified Fr.
Prefecto Payeras to the same cfiect on October 9th, 1 820.
The cera nonies probably took place as prescribed, thoughwe have no particulars.
"
Along with the Constitution framed by the C6rtes came
an explana tion in questions and answers, doubtless drawnup by a pa rtisan . Here is wha t the old hero Fr. Luis Mar
tinez of San Luis Obispo, who was celebra ted far and widefor his jokes, sarcasm, and fearless speech as well as for hismissiona ry energy, had to say about the work : “
The po
litica l ca techism of the Constitution has arrived. The en tirebook does not once bea r the name of God,
‘0 whence you can
judge its erudition , its author, its public utility, and wha tbenefits ( in ferna l ) it will bring into the world . I f the
deputies of the Cortes had endeavored more to put intopractice wha t our Lord Jesus Christ taught, they would havelabored less and accomplished more.
”In another missive
to the same friend Fr. Martinez says : “The name of Jesus
Christ is not seen any more in the new ca techism which fellinto my hands, and which some at Monterey a re a lreadystudying morn ing and even ing in order to obta in by its lightthe true liberty which men must en joy in the future. In
this one a lso the name of God is not found, because He being the Crea tor has some principles which Oppose those of
the day, and because He taught us to seek our true end in
a different manner. He is in the way of a ll these notions.
” ‘ 1
The young Ca liforn ians certa inly studied this politica lca techism fa r more thoroughly than their religious ca techism.
8 7 “Libro de Ordenes, Sa n ta Barbara .
3 ° 8015 to Fr. Payera s, Ca l. St. Pap., Sacramen to, xviii,43 6-43 7.
8“Ca tecismo Politico Arreglado 1 la Con stitucion de la Mon
a rquia Espanola . It is a quarto of thirty-two double-columned
pages. Copy in San ta Ba rba ra Archives is in the ha ndwriting of
Fr. Na rciso Duran .
4° This is true, though the Ca tholic Religion by the way is
given out a s the Sta te Religion in two questions a nd an swers.
41 Fr. Ma rtin ez to Don José de la Guerra .
“De la Guerra Collection . Fr. Ma rtinez writing to his friend uses no da tes.
CHAPTER VI I .
Mexico Independent— Religious Orders in Mexico.-The Situa
tion at the College— Sole Turn s Aga inst the Fa thers.- His
Strange Demands.— Fr. Pa yeras Appea ls to the College— He
Expla ins the Position of the M issionaries.— Their Work and
Sa crifices for the India ns — Their Sacrifices for the Troops.
Funds of the M issione — Why the Fathers Con tinued in
Charge.—Their Sincerity. -Bancroft’s Insincerity. Ex
cused.
HE machinations of the Spanish C6rtes aga inst the reli
gious Orders had at last effectua lly estranged the America n colon ics from the mother country. Only a month a fter thepublica tion of the in iquitous decrees, which were to smothermonastic religious life in both Spa in and La tin America ,Genera l Agustin Iturbide from Igua la on February 24th,
1 82 1 , issued the proclamation which set forth the necessityof independence and a new plan of government. This wasthe celebrated Plan dc Igua la which embodied the three
guaran ties— Religion , Independence, and Un ion .
1 On Sep
tember 27th Iturbide took possession of the capita l. Nextday Viceroy O
’
Donoju resigned . A regency was establishedwith the L iberator Iturbide at its head, a fter a junta had
decla red Mexico to be a free and sovereign na tion independent of Spa in .
’ Un fortuna tely the elements of disorderand irreligion soon came to the front and controlled the
government such as it was . Rea l freedom was not established, lea st of all for Religion and its representa tives.
In the meantime the College of San Fernando, to whichthe Fathers in Ca liforn ia looked for relief, in cormnon withother religious commun ities received a taste of what was tobe expected under purely Mexican rule. In a circular, onemonth a fter the decla ration of independence, Fr. Jose'
Ga sol announced to the Ca liforn ia fria rs tha t he had been
1 Alaman , Mej ico, vol. v . 98—99 ; 3 3 3 ; and Appendix, pp. 8-1 3 .
3 Alam6n , v, 3 3 1 - 3 39.
Independence ; Sola ; Splendid Defense 1 09
elected gua rdia n by the cha pter held on July 28th, and thenpictured the situation as follows :
“From L a Gaceta and
other papers forwarded to Your Reverences you will learnthe new plan of government to which we must submit. I
therefore do not stop to write concern ing the decrees of
the new government. What I enjoin upon you is that ineverything and in every event you proceed with prudenceand strive for un ion , peace, and tranquillity, and tha t youpermit the infliction of wrong ra ther than break the bond of
charity. I am not unaware, dear Fa thers, of the need of
missionaries in your missions, nor tha t some of you wish to
retire to the College ; but I must describe to you the de
plorable condition in which the College finds itself. To-day
we are notmore than n ineteen priests in the house. In less
than three months, since the celebra tion of the last chapter,six priests and three lay
-brothers have severed their con
nection w ith the College.
’ Most of them were from Spa in .
God knows those who may yet ask to leave, and when itshall be possible to procure others from Spa in , supposing thatthe independence of Mexico is rea lized.
‘
“Under these circumstances, my dea r Fa thers and Brothers,Your Reverences will comprehend how impossible it is forme to con sole you by sending new laborers for the vineyardof the Lord in Ca lifornia . No other course is open to me,
my dea r Fa thers, than to ca ll upon the Lord of the v ineya rd, (and no more upon our Catholic monarch, as MostRev . Fr. Truxillo sa id in his and to exhort a ll
Your Reverences to rema in in the same Rule, and to wa rn
you tha t whithersoever you may go, when you leave yourforced exile, you will not improve your lot. I f you want toretire and come to the College, do not believe you will findit the quiet and silent retrea t which it wa s when you depa rted
‘ That is to say, had returned to their prov in ces a s they had
a right to do after ten years of service.
‘ The Father doubted tha t independence would be laSting.
5 He wa s Commissary-Genera l of the Indies in 1792 .
1 1 0 M issions and Missionaries of California
from here. Since the 2 7th of last month it has beentransformed into a barracks for the cava lry, whence you can
infer how we a re mortified by day and by n ight with the
noise of the soldiery, the horses, dogs, and trumpets. So itis at present ; wha t it w ill be la ter on we do not know .
I f you desire to return to Spa in , it will be nothing less thanleaving the smoke in order to leap into the flame.
“I sha ll in no way exaggerate, if I a ssure Your Reverences tha t the whole object of tha t governmen t is to put
an end to the religious sta te and to make it despicable beforethe world. The decrees of suppression of the conven ts, theprohibition of bestowing the habit, secula riza tion , deprivingthe religious of their prelates ga leral and provincia l, ex
termina tion of a ll monks and Jesuits, and lastly deprivingthe secular and regular clergy of their immun ities, pla in lyman ifest this ; and yet we a re only at the beginn ing. We
may foretell what will be the a id ; and we need not hesitateto afl‘irm tha t those religious who go back to Spa in willfind themselves the laughingstock and the objects of mockeryand scorn ; for so Fr. Ga rijo 1 ° told us when he returnedto the college three months ago, a fter he had observed duringhis six years’ stay in Spa in the impiety, the contempt, and theridicule w ith which the religious a re covered, and how infidelfreethinking has in fected the lower cla sses.
" l
“You may therefore believe, my dea r Fathers, that the
0On tha t day Iturbide’s troops en tered the city. They seem
to have stra ightway quartered themselves in the monasteries.
Under God- fea ring leaders such pla ces would ha ve been the la stto be molested . Under the domina tion of modern La tin kingsofficia ls had learn t, in a n emergency, to seize the property of
the Church before any other w ithout compen sa tion . They mighthave lea rned better from pagan na tions.
7 The Cortes of Spa in . One would think Fr. Gasol was a
prophet ; for he is describing the plan s of Cana leja s of Spa in .
° By forbidding the religious to be guided by them.
9 Monks were the Benedictines and other ancien t Orders in
con tradistinction to the mendican ts who were known a s fria rs.
1 ° Fr. Ga rrjo wa s gua rdia n of the College in 181 1 .
1 1 Tha t accoun ts for the freethinking C6rtes.
1 1 2 M issions and Missionaries of California
concern him and were regulated by roya l decrees. His attitude was the more ungrateful in v iew of the fact that themissionaries with their converts for yea rs had stra ined everynerve to feed and clothe the troops and the families whomthe government had aba ndoned to their fa te. The missionshad a lso supplied the weapons and ammun ition to a greatextent, and had furnished large sums of money, when in
order to do so the neophytes were forced to go in rags
and to be deprived of the rewards so dear to the childishhea rt of the Indian . The governor grew so persistent thatFr. Commissa ry Payera s found himself compelled to appea lto the viceroy through the College. In this precious document, which covers fiftea r folio pages, the Fr. ComisarioPrefecto writes that the governor insists : 1 .
“On doing
away with what he ca lls a ll a rbitrariness of the missionaries,and obliging them by a genera l law to furnish him withexact and punctua l accounts of the invoices, bills, and origina l lists, of the receipts and expenditures of the missions,their investments, and of wha tever their storerooms and
grana ries conta in , just like one who manages the property ofthe Indians as a pa id ofiicia l in strict justice and underforma l responsibility.
2 . He da nands tha t account should be given to him
of the funds in the cofiers of the mission .
3 .
“When he saw that the missions were not sur
rendered,“ nor even a pueblo established which might beunder his immedia te inspection , the governor planned takingfrom a ll the missions the most clever and useful Indians inorder to organ ize with tha n two pueblos, or to aggregatethem to white settlements a lready established .
“Such, my venerable Fa thers, is among others the plan of
reform propounded by H is Honor. By reason of the pro
found respect with which his humble habit inspires everyFranciscan religious for established authority, I have re
fra ined from replying to H is Honor officia lly ; but when Iwrote to him in a fria idly and confidentia l way, and sup
1 ‘ a s dema nded by the decree of the self- con stituted C6rtes of
Independence ; 8015 ; Splendid Defense 1 1 3
plicated him to exempt us from such a heavy burden ,H is
Honor insisted . I then travelled from Soledad to ra non
strate at Mon terey. After discussing the subject for fivehours, we agreed to awa it the decision of His Excellency,the viceroy, to whom the governor is to refer the question .
”
On thirteen pages Fr. Payeras then sta tes the position of the
friars from the beginn ing of their work in Ca liforn ia so
tha t the College might represent the case intelligently beforethe viceroy. We can give only the most sa lient argumentsof this ma sterly document.“Our College, Fr. Payeras says, entered Lower Ca li
forn ia and administered its missions in purely spiritua l matters. When it pleased His Ma jesty to entrust us a lso withthe tempora lities we submitted to the yoke 1“like sons of obedience. We came up to these new reductions and we continued the ancient plan ; but in order that the missions mightthrive the better, and the Fathers labor more cheerfully and
with less a nba rrassment, the Rev . Fr. Junipero Serra , thenpresidente, among the thirty-two points for which he petitioned the viceroy under number n ine a sked ‘That YourExcellency in form sa id officia l 1 ° and his soldiers that themanagement, educa tion, and chastisement of the baptized Indians and of those that desire to be baptized belong absolutelyto the missiona ry Fathers (except in ca se of capital crime) ;so that no chastisement nor ma ltrea tment may be inflictedupon any of tha n , by either officer or private soldier, without the consent of the missionary ; for such has been the cus
tom from time imma norial in the domin ion since its conquest,and quite con formable to the natura l law concern ing the edu
1 4 The Fr. Commissa ry wa s going a ltogether too fa r in self
aba semen t, sin ce he knew the law wa s on his side. Supplica tingunder such circumstances on ly confirmed the unjust aggressor.
It proves, however, to wha t length the fria rs wen t for the sakeof pea ce and their Indians .
1 5 As such the fria rs rega rded the care of the tempora lities.
This the preceding pages have proved beyond dispute, notwith
sta nding Bancroft’s, Hittell’
s, and the mission despoilers’ misrepresen ta tions.
1“Governor Pages. See vol. 1 1 , sect. i, chap. vi ii, p. 1 19.
1 1 4 M issions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
cation of children, and an essential circumstance for the instruction of the poor neophytes. This is wha t the illustriousinspector-genera l 1 " orda ined before he left Ca liforn ia a fter
he had weighed the sa id reasons and others whichmight be accumulated .
’
In reply His Excellency decided :‘With regard to Article Nine, tha t the ma intenance, government, chastisa nent, and education of the baptized Indiansshould belong absolutely to the missionary Fa thers, it is declared that so it must be executed in everything perta in ing
Signa ture of P r. Ma ria no Pa yera s.
to the management a fter the manner which a fa ther of a family observes with regard to the ca re of the house, educationand correction of his children .
’ 1 ‘
“This decision of the higher authorities which appea rs to be
genera lly observed in all the missions of America , has a lwaysbeen our shield. It has served a s a ba rrier between us and
the officials and their subordina tes. With it we have ma inta ined ourselves tranquilly without discord and in peace.
Under its auspices we have founded a ll these missions, and
under such sensible regula tions they have prospered. Owingto sa id decison every missionary, regarding himself as the
head of his grand family of 400, 800, 1000, and even
souls, added and un ited his stipends, donations for holyMasses, for sermons, a lms, and wha tever he received fromother sources to the common fund. He made of his labors
1 "Don José de Galvez.
1 0“A ma nera que un padre de familia se ma neja con cl cui
dado de su ca sa , educa cion y correccion de sus hijos.
”8015
probably thought he could sa fely override this pla in law in viewof the conditions in Spa in .
1 1 6 M issions and Missionaries of California
be any Father ready to shoulder such a yoke ? It has pleasedthe king to hirden us with the ca re of the temmralities
without demanding any other security than our well accreditedreligious conduct, and without more reward than tha t of
heaven . We therefore manage them out of pure, absolutelydisinterested charity. Annua lly we have furn ished sa tisfactoryreports to this governor, and tothe ecclesia stica l as well as roya lSuperiors. Nothing more was required. We might, indeed,surrender the tempora lities, but from experience we knowthe ev il consequences of an untimely surrender, and wisestatesmen frown upon it. The Indians themselves are not
disposed to manage them for themselves. To turn over the
management of the tempora lities to secula rs would be to
divide the control, and according to the Opin ion of oflicia ls
who know whereof they speak it would mean the breaking up
of the mission bond and final destruction . Hence it was thatDon José de Ga lvez had the managementof the mission tem
poralities restored to the religious.
“Many gentiles a re now coming in troops from the Tularesand from other regions, as the report of the year proves,in order to join the missions and become Christians . How
will the missionary keep them unless the goods of the com
mun ity which His Ma jesty has entrusted to him for thatvery purpose be at his disposal ? The Apostles baptized ra~
tiona l and cultured people ; we receive people so crude and
bruta lized that it is necessary to teach them to be humanbeings, whom bread in the one hand, clothing in the other,
coupled with exquisite patience, and above a ll the sweet yokeof the Gospel, a lone can domestieate and tame.
“Moreover, if the white people in the territory contributenothing because they have nothing or little (genera lly speaking) , since being free they live as they please, wha t may thegovernor expect for his troops if such liberty be practisedby detached Indians ? Much a ssistance, surely, would he re
ceive from them when they are removed from the missioncommun ity 1“
1 9 8015 proposed taking the best and most skillful neophytesand w ith them orga n ize pueblos, or to join them to white settle
I ndependence ; 8016 ; Splendid Defense 1 1 7
“These and other reflexions, which I omit, oblige us to
retain the control of the mission tempora lities for the present, notwithstanding that we missiona ries, most of whom are
old, infirm, and worn out, feel the burden heavily ; butwe areso little a ttached to them that at the slightest insinuation of
the viceroya l government we sha ll surrender the keys withpleasure and thanks.
”
“The governor tells me that the missions need nothing.
This is due not to their funds, for they have none, but to
careful management on the part of the Fa thers, to their
Franeisean self-denia l, and their firmness which a ssist themnot on ly to conserve butto increase the wealth of their spiritual children . However, in the beginning of this year HisHonor asked me for $3000 from the missions for his a rtillery.
In May he wanted 800 head of cattle to furnish the presidioof Sa n Francisco with meat. In June he ca lled for $6000‘ 1
for the relief of his troops. I apportioned this among the
missions, and they delivered their shares to the governor.
Like all the white people of the territory he appea rs to believe tha t the wea lth and money of the missions are withoutlimit. I have hea rd as much during all the twenty-sixyears of my min istry here. Yet which are the funds and
revenues of these missions with which to answer the governor
’s second demand for money ?
“The on ly assets a re the stipends of the friars, which for
me during the twenty-six yea rs of my min istry amounted tobutwhich I have never seen or touched, because the
mea ts. An unlawful and most insan e project. The result wouldbe just wha t Fr. Payera s predicted, and which was experiencedat the time of the confisca tion .
” “Estflmos ta n poco a pegados s ella s (bienes) , que a la menor
in sinuacion de la Superioridad en trega remos con gusto y gra cia slas lla ves.
‘ 1 5016, September 2 7th, 182 1 , reported tha t he had borrowedm from Fr. Prefecto Payeras to be repa id from future customduties.
“Cal. Presidios M iss ion s, M iscella nea . There
is no evidence tha t this money was ever refunded. Sola wa s
ha rdly ever able to do so.
1 1 8 M issions and M issiona ries of Ca lifornia
money wa s converted into goods for the mission by our
sindico in Mexico. The same is true of the other Fa thersaccording to the longer or shorter time of service. With thisinvestment, a ided by the industry of the missiona ries and
neophytes, the missions were improved and kept in repa ir,the fields were clea red and cultiva ted, live- stock ra ised, and
manufactures ea rried on . Of the product of the fa rms and
stock the governor annua lly receives the same exact reportsas the king and the College. That does not sa tisfy him ; hewants to know every other little revenue. At the memorablemeeting of five hours I asked him to whom the property of
the missions belonged ? To the Indians, he replied . Well,
then,sa id I, if the missiona ry w ith the Indians constitutes a
family, according to the declaration of the king, and neitherthe king, nor the viceroy, nor any one else demands of any
family to sta te how it invests what belongs to it, why thenshould the missiona ry, the head of the family, do so ? He
replied that it wa s necessary in order to know wha t con tributions to levy. I insisted tha t no corporate body for the
purpose of imposing contributions inquires of any man how'
muchmoney he has in his purse, or the amount of the funds inhis cofiers, but about his chattels, live- stock, and landed pr0perty, and levies the contribution according to his appraisement. Why then put such question to the Indian ? Thoughthere are in the territory about 4000white people, not counting the troops, who have more or less property, from no one
a s far as known , for the sake of levying contributions, hassuch in forma tion been exacted, but only of the Indian justbecause he is governed by a missionary Fa ther, and since theFather governs with order and economy the Indian is put ona level with the whites whenever they have need of anythingIndian ; but he is not considered whenever there is questionof anything perta in ing to the vaunting white man .
“Ina smuch as the property of the thousand and more neo
phytes is massed together, those who view it w ith other eyes
are filled w ith envy to see it so prosperous, because well
3 ’ Ra ther $4400 of this amoun t ; for the la st eleven yea rsneither be nor the other Fa thers received any goods.
1 2 0 Missions and Missiona ries of Ca lifornia
from the governor, I replied with feeling :‘
Sir, if YourHonor wants to organ ize pueblos according to law, there a re
a lready as many of them a s there are missions in the territory under your jurisdiction . You need butchange the name.
The missions do not have to continue forever ; they must en
dure on ly so long as is necessa ry to transform them with suc
cess into civilized pueblos . I f just now we do not surrenderthe missions, which we have crea ted and which we control,it is not because of a blind a ffection for them, much less fortheir property. It is due to prudent reasons which YourHonor has heard from us on va rious occasions but if YourHonor have another opin ion , you may propose it as you pleaseto the viceroy upon whose decision we depend . In proofof our apostolic indifierence, I may sta te, tha t in December1 8 1 8, by order of our College, I wrote to the Bishop of So
nora , that if it appeared to him evident tha t these missionswere in the desired condition ,
he would be plea sed to ap
point secula r priests as the law authorizes.
’ I have sa id thesame to H is Honor and asked him to bring it to the con
sideration of the viceroy.
“
“As men dead to the world we do not seek its goods ; only
through necessity do we live in the midst of them. We de
sire on ly the souls for Jesus Christ. On the day when com
petent authority sha ll declare these missions secularizedand formally civilized pueblos, this honorable body of mis
The chief rea son s were tha t the India ns could not be trustedto work un less compelled, and tha t they could not manage the
commun ity property.3 ‘ Notw ithstanding these pla in words Bancroft, vol. 1 1
, 43 5, 43 7,has the ha rdihood to declare tha t the Fa thers were not sincere,but held on to the property in order to keep in power! The
fa ct is they loa thed the position of ma n ager of tempora l afiairs ;
Bancroft’s a ssertion flies into the very face of the fa cts ; butwha t else ca n be expected of a man who regards the dollarma rk a s the sign of sa lva tion .
9“Tha t is to say, put in cha rge of secular priests rega rdingspiritua l a ffa irs, a nd the property in con trol of Indian officia lselected by the Indians. This wa s the mean ing of the Act of the
Cortes of 181 3 . The actwhich the la ter mission despoilers dubbed“Seculariza tion wa s confisca tion in the true sen se of the word.
Independence ; Sola ; Splendid Defense 1 2 1
siona ries of the Propaga tion of the Fa ith will withdraw from
their supervision , and will devote itself to fresh apostolicfields in the north and ea st, where Indians anxiously awa it us,in order to toil and suffer anew . Meanwhile, if the govcruor is awa re of any defect, excess, or abuse on our part,especia lly with regard to the tempora lities, he may notify theFr. Commissary Prefect ; the fault will then be immedia telycorrected.
”
“Thus argued the missionary chief, Bancroft rema rks,with an eloquence impossible to render in a rés umé, and
with an ea rnestness seemingly out of a ll proportion to the
importance of the question ra ised by Sola’s simple and not
oppressive demand .
” Bancroft, like a ll Libera ls and materialists, must hold that oppression is not oppression at a ll as
long as Ca tholic religions are the victims. We should liketo see wha t action he would take if some such officer like5015 had made the same demand upon the Bancroft businessconcern . The governor
’s three propositions attacked the re
lations of the missiona ries with the converts in their Vita ls,and a imed at reducing the Fa thers to the position of mere
clerks and overseers. They “could man ifest a cheerful
acquiescence in a project involving the tota l seculariza tionof their establishments,
”as the same historian correctly says,
but they refused to a llow themselves to be reduced to the
sta te of men ia ls among their converts . They stood in rela tionto their wards as parents towa rds their children , according tothe decrees of the Span ish Kings. As long as these roya llaws rema ined in force, so long the Fa thers insisted on theirobservance for the good of the neophytes.
Yet 5015. wa s rea lly a friend of the missiona ries ; but thetroubles during the last eleven years when no a id had come
from the government seemed to have caused him to go da ft.Payera s himself excuses the governor.
“I do not wish to
omit the rea sons why the governor proposed his a rticles, he
writes in his long memoria l .“We have in the territory at
present seven compan ies of troops without counting the bat
“Fr. Payera s, “Memoria l, June 18th, 182 1 . Sta . Ba rb. Arch.
’7 Bancroft, u, 43 5.
1 2 2 M issions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
tery of artillery and the arsena l . From Mexico since the year1 8 10 ahnost nothing has come for their support. The gov
ernor wants to procure it a ll from the missions a lone, beca usefrom the whites, who could give but little, only tithes are ex
acted . Hence the many projects to make ends meet .” 3“ In
his fretful mood 8015 fa iled to acknowledge tha t the missiona ries were making every efiort to assist him ; he erroneouslypresumed that they possessed un limited wea lth which theywere concea ling, whereas through industry and economy theycontrived to ba rely keep afloa t.”
2 " Fr. Payera s, Memoria l, ut supra .
2 ° The foolish notion tha t the Fa thers had un limited wea lth,nay, gold or silver mines which they concea led, wa s common
among the Mexica n s of those days, and it exists among theirdescendan ts to the presen t time. The on ly mines they possessedwere their conscien tiousness, industry, economy, abstemiousness.
I f the enemies of the Fa thers had possessed these qua lities , theytoo would have had something to susta in them in the days of
need.
1 2 4. M issions and M issionaries of California
Payera s wrote to the Fa thers, and concerns the whole nationand each individua l in the territory.
”
March 3 td Fr. M . Payeras asked the missiona ries to furn ishsixty Indian laborers and mechan ics to help rebuild the Mon
terey presidio.
‘
April 28th he issued a circula r for more laborers.
“
August 24th Fr. Payeras directed the Fathers of the four
southernmost missions to furn ish the presidio of San Diegowith ten mules and complete outfit .‘
October loth he asked for more a id in beha lf of Montereypresidio from the missions perta in ing to tha t jurisdiction "
In consequence of another circular da ted November 7thMission San José, for instance, sen t to the presidio of San
Francisco $400 worth of corn , $100 worth of beans, $105worth of blankets, $1 18 worth of shoes, $55 worth of serge,
and $43 worth of sundries. Other missions contributed sim
ila rly.
‘
Money contributions, labor of Indians, and other suppliesca lled for by circulars were regarded as donations for whichno dra fts were given . In rea lity they were forced taxeswhich often weighed heavily on the respective missions. In
return for supplies furn ished the troops at the request of thecommanders checks or dra fts were issued on the roya l trea sury.
’ Fr. Juan Cortés, the procura tor of the College, endeav“Archb. no. 1 191 . I n the previous yea r the mission
a ries of the twenty mission s could scrape together on ly m .
5016. to Fr. Payera s, December 1 6th,“Archb. no.
1 107;“Ca l. St. Pap., Sacramen to, xviii, 449-450. Fr. Pa
yeras to 5016, December 19th.
“Archb. no. 1 109. $016
to Fr. Pa yeras, December 2 8th, 1820.
“Ca l. St . Pap., Sac
ramen to, xviii, 452 -455.
“Archb. no. 1 205.
5 “Archb. no. 1 2 1 2 .
“‘Archb. Arch., no. 1 247.
7 8012 to Fr. Payeras, October 4th; Fr. Payera s, October loth,1 82 1 .
“Archb. nos. 1 2 49 ; 1 2 50.
8 “Archb. no. 1 2 52 .
to Fr. Payera s in M ay 182 1 says tha t the mission s to
da te had received in dra fts for supplies furn ished the
troops. Ca l. St. Pap., Sacramento, xvi ii, 482 -487.
Forced Contributions ; Indians Overtaxed 1 2 5
ored to ca sh these dra fts . In a letter to Fr. M . Payera s he re
la tes his experience.
“I have received, he says on September 2 7th, 1 820,
“a long with your letters of May 2 2nd and
June 2 5th the dra fts amounting to They are filedaway until God wills otherwise ; for the payment of money isas poor as ever, not for want of efforts on our part ; thereare enough made in va in . The government has repea tedlyordered tha t they should be pa id here or at Guada la jara ,and now at Zacateca s ; but nothing is pa id . The in ferenceis that these orders are issued merely to quiet us.
” 1 ° Aga inon July 27th, 182 1 , he writes to Fr. J . Sefian :
“The v iceroy
has given orders to the administrator of the Pious Fund to
pay us annua lly by insta llments what the revenues can bea r ;but a s the Pious Fund consists of planta tions which by reason
of the insurrection produce little, and the Span ish domin ion isin a critical state, the cry of independence being genera l,
nothing can be expected. He a lso directed the payment of$3000 every month to sa tisfy our cla im on stipends from the
yea r 18 1 1 on ; but the reply was that the Fund had nothing w ith which to pay. God remedy so many evils.
”
The on ly Fa ther who“protest as Bancroft puts it,
aga inst furn ishing so many supplies for mere dra fts wa s
Signa ture of Fr. Ma g ln ea ten .
Fr. José Viadér of Santa Clara , the compa n ion of the sa intlyFr. Magin Ca ta la. Writing to Fr. Payeras on December loth,
182 1 , Fr. José compla ined bitterly about the demands of the
governor. The chief reason appea rs to have been that thesoldiers, as he says, were inconsiderate and not content withthe necessaries of life, and often coupled their demands withthrea ts. No ma tter how much the Fathers exerted them
“Sta . Ba rb. Arch.
1 1 “Sta . Barb. Arch.
1 2 6 Missions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
selves, the ungra teful troops would a lways grumble1 ’ At
the beginn ing of the same yea r Fr. Viade’
r had set forth thestra itened circumsta nces of Santa Cla ra Mission by reporting,
“We have been unable to give Sergeant Pico more than$2 5 of the $1 50 a llotted by the Fr. Prefecto.
” 1 " Even in the
preceding yea r Fa thers Ca ta la and Viadér jointly had to re
monstra te with Governor 8016. Among other things theysa id : “At this mission there is a scarcity of ca ttle. Last year( 1 8 1 9 ) we had to appea l to Mission San Juan Bautista for analms in order that our neophytes might have food ; and thisyea r we sha ll probably have to do the same thing. This yea rthe providing of clothes for our neophytes was delayed untillast month, owing to the fact that we had to supply the troopssomuch, and notless the wretched colon ists.
“ We a ssure YourHonor tha t, on account of the present needs and the lack of
clothing, we have made and are making extraordinary sacrifices . I f now , at the time of sow ing, clean ing up, repa iringhouses and fences, making tiles, adobes, etc. , the Indians a re
to haul your cannon to the beach, to take out lumber and
shelter it at the mission ,
“ we sha ll be ruined . I f now, be
1 1'“Archb. Arch no. 1 2 55. To this lament Ba ncroft makes thebruta l rema rk, Eviden tly the fria rs were being ‘
squeezed’ fortheir desire to hold on to the tempora lities (vol. ii , It isthe Indians who were
“squeezed.” For their sake the fria rs
man aged the property when instea d they longed to be able to
pursue their true ca lling of messengers of the Gospel, otherwisethe India ns would ha ve been fleeced not on ly out of their tem
pora lities, but out of existen ce. Wha t fana tica l bigotry Ba ncroftdisplays l Where is the ev iden ce tha t the fria rs desired to holdon to the tempora lities ? It is a ll the other way. Neither the
secula r nor the ecclesia stica l authorities had a s yet a sked the
fria rs to relinquish their cha rge ; the fria rs had offered to retire,but their ofier wa s not a ccepted. Yet Bancroft boa sts of wri
ting history as he finds itl1“No hemos podido en trega r a l Sr. Pico ma s que 2 5 pesos
de los 1 50 que nos sefia lo el R. P. Prefecto.
”Fr. Viader to
8015, Ja nua ry 2 2 nd, 182 1 . Archb. no. 1 3 10.
1 ‘ at the town of Sa n José. The inhabita n ts were a shiftless set.1 5 This is wha t Sola had demanded, though the soldiers could
have done it themselves, or the colon ists could have been en listed.
1 2 8 M issions and M issionaries of California
many other things, but we snfier the want, because there ishere no human a id, and the necessities and evils are genera l.Therefore, Your Honor, we appea l to your well-known goodness and justice, and beseech you with a ll due respect, to freethis mission in our charge from sa id burdens and additiona lones . In case Your Honor should insist on having us per
form a ll those ta sks mentioned, we hope tha t you will not takeit ill tha t the command therefor should come through the Fr.
Prefect, our prela te ; in that case our conscience may resttranquil.” It is plea sant to note, that on receipt of this ap
pea l Governor 5015 wrote on the ma rgin tha t he was satis
fied.
”
The comma nders of the presidio sometimes made additiona l demands without consulting the governor. For in
stance, José Maria Estudillo of San Diego on June 1 5th,
1 82 1 , wanted Mission San Juan Capistrano to furn ish 500
fanegas of corn and 1 20 fanegas of beans ; Mission San
Luis Rey wa s to provide 652 fanegas of corn and 200 fanégas
of beans ; poor San Diego M ission was directed to forwa rd200 fanegas of corn and 44 fanegas of bean s.
“ In reply Fr.
Peiti of San Luis Rey wrote thus : In less than a monthEstudillo has a lready received $70 worth of corn and beans .
Nevertheless we sha ll not on ly comply, but we promise, thateven though there existed no other gra in at the mission thantha t which was demanded, we would give cheerfully to the
last gra in , so that the tr00ps might not suffer and the
pa triotism which we have a lways possessed appea r in
deed.
” 3 ° To the Fr. Commissary, however, Fathers Peiri andEscudé could not help revea ling that Estudillo
’
s request wa sheavily felt, as their mission wa s the most populous.
” Theythought tha t it should be left to the missiona ries to decide
1 3 Fa thers Ca ta la a nd Viadér to 8015, May 3 rd, 1820. Archb .
no. 1087.
1 ° “Archb. Arch. , no. 1 22 3 .
2 ° Fr. Peiri to Esta dillo, June 18th, 182 1 . Archb. Arch. , no.
1 22 6. no solo nos con formamos, sino da riamos gus
tosos ha sta cl ultimo grano.
”
3 1 San Luis Rey in 182 1 conta ined more than 2030 neophytes .
Forced Contributions ; Indians Overtaxed 1 2 9
wha t quantity they could spare. Besides the presidio oughtto at least send the pack-mules, as was done elsewhere.
”
Another Fa ther who seemed to be at his wits’ end byrea son of orders for supplies for which he received nothingbut dra fts, on which he could rea lize nothing to clothe hisneophytes, was Fr. Luis Gil y Taboada of Mission San taCruz. In a letter to Fr. Payera s he says : “There is littlewool on hand, and the Indians sufler very much from snowand cold . The ca ttle have no young. Last yea r the missionfurn ished fourteen saddles a s you directed . This yea r it
ga ve $51 worth of beans and 207 arroba s of fat. I have
given seventy pa irs of shoes ; there were no more. Now on
bended knees I beg Your Reverence through the Blood of
Jesus Christ and for the sake of the Blessed Virgin Maryto grant me permission to retire to the College.
” There isnothing new save that my leg begins to trouble me, but not
so as to prevent me from celebra ting holy Mass. The yea rhas proved one of the worst. For days we have been praying for ra in . For the la st fifteen days they have been irri
gating the soil to be able to plow it. but to littleSimila r conditions preva iled at most other missions , so tha tthe desire of those old missiona ries to be rid of the burdenof hav ing to worry about tempora l a ffa irs was quite intelligible, and certa inly sincere, Bancroft to the contrary not
withstanding.
Wha t then was the white population doing to render lifefor the missionaries so burdensome ? “
The whites in Ca lifornia were known a s the
‘
gente de razon’
or people of
intelligence. The expression indica ted, says H ittell,” “tha t
2 2 Fa thers Peiri and E scudé, June 22 nd, 182 1 . Archb. Archno. 1 2 27.
” “Ahora hincado de rodilla s pido a V. Reverencia , por la
Sangre de Jesu Cristo, por Maria San tisima , se dign e de da rmeel retiro para mi Colegio.
”H is petition could not be gran ted.
He died at San Luis Obispo, December 1 5th, 1 83 33 ‘ Fr. Gil to Fr. Payera s, November 24th, 1 82 1 . Archb. Arch.,
no. 1 253 .
3 5 “His tory of Ca liforn ia ,” 1 1 , 470-472 . H ittell makes up his
description from the various authorities mentioned in the text.5
1 3 0 M issions and Missiona ries of Ca lifornia
the red men were popula rly considered crea tures inferior torea son ing beings and more nearly on the level with brutes ;and its genera l use in this sense, sign ificant as it wa s not
on ly of the way in which the India ns were rega rded, but
a lso of the way in which they were trea ted , was no lessdegrading to the whites than to the Indians themselves . Of
the so-ca lled na tive Ca liforn ians, mean ing thereby the Ca lifornian descendants of Span ish and Mexican blood , therewere severa l distinct cla sses. The upper cla ss consistedmostly of those who were, or had been , in officia l sta tion .
There were on ly a few families of them ; but they werevery a ristocratic in their feelings and intermarried onlyamong themselves. They were therefore a ll more or lessclosely rela ted to one another. They prided themselves uponwha t they ca lled their Castilian blood and speech, and were,
in genera l, lighter in complexion , more intelligent and
better educated than the other classes. From the uppercla ss there were regula r grada tions downwa rd, tolerably wellindicated by color, growing more and more da rk and muddyuntil the dull black hue and Ta rtar features of the pureIndian were reached . Genera lly speaking, each person ’
s
caste wa s decided by the qua lity of the blood which he
ca rried, or wa s supposed to ca rry, in his veins . Pure bloodwa s exceedingly ra re ; most of even the proudest and
haughtiest families had Indian cha racteristics ; but a verysmall admixture of Span ish was sufficient to entitle an in
dividua l to ca ll himself “Espafiol”and to reach the upper
class, if he had the bra ins or the luck.
“
“With the exception of the upper class , the Ca liforn ianswere in genera l low , lazy, ignorant and addicted to intoxication . The so-ca lled Ca liforn ian colon ists were ha rdly ever
seen cultiva ting the ea rth or doing any kind of useful labor.
I f v isited upon their ranchos,they were sure to be found
lying in the shade, smoking cigarritos or drinkingagua rdiente. I f they had occasion to go any distance, however short, they never thought of wa lking, but mounted a
horse. Few of them could read or write. They were in
Dana , Two Yea rs Before the Mast, p. 87. Edition 1895.
1 3 2 Missions and M issionaries of Ca lifornia
lazy to make butter or cheese, and tha t even milk was
ra re. A sloth might as well be expected to leave a tree thathad an inch of bark left upon its trunk, as to expect one of
them to labor whilst a red! glistened in his pocket.” Wilkesnoticed tha t while there was a little good soap and lea theroccasiona lly found, the people were too indolent to makethem in any quantity, and tha t no other country in the
world consumed so much intoxica ting liquor in proportionto its
The charges of drunkenness we find corroborated in a
compla int which Fr. Francisco Sufier of Santa Barbaraaddressed to Governor 80151 on January 2 6th, 1 820.
“Everyday,
”he tells the governor,
“we see men drunk a s well from
among those who ca ll themselves people of intelligence as
from the Indians to whom intelligence is den ied, because inthis presidia l town and immediate neighborhood there are
six or seven taverns where brandy is sold, or to speak moreaccurately every one, who has a mind to, sells it in spite of
the orders which Your Honor ha s issued . When I com
pla ined to the temporary commander, whilst Moraga was
absent on an expedition , about the case of a drunken Indian ,
Signa ture of Fr. Fra ncisco Suffer.
he replied that he found things as they were and tha t hewould leave them so. The commander of San Diego, sa idI, would not return such an answer. During the seven or
eight yea rs in which I served at San Juan Capistrano and
San Luis Rey on ly one tavern wa s found there. The com
mander’s father- in- law assured me that when he had one or
two ba rrels left of the vintage the commander would not let
3 ° Robin son “Life in Ca liforn ia , 73 ; 1 42 ; 2 20.
‘ 1 Wilkes, Na rra tive, vol. v , 1 59.
Forced Contributions ; Indians Overtaxed 1 3 3
him sell the liquor in the neighborhood of the presidio. Of
what then sha ll those people that have brandy shops live ?the temporary commander here excla imed . To this unsea
sonable retort I did not want to reply, but I in turn ex
cla imed,
‘Whatl a re we a ll to perish that those brandysellers may live ! Cannot we live w ithout hav ing the presidiofull of drunkards ? I s it necessa ry, in order that thosebrandy dea lers have tempora l life, that the others should diespiritua lly ? tha t they should ruin and damn themselves ? I f
there were only one such tavern where a ll would have to gowho are determined to drink, it could be better known to
whom to give the liquor and to whom to deny it accordingto the chara cter of the person ; but w ith a den here and a
den there no one wants to take the blame for a case of in
toxica tion , for every one will cla im that he did not cause the
in toxication . From many little drinks, however, taken at so
many v isits to those many houses of hell, there is made of
the wise man a fool, of a human being a brute, and of a
Christian a scanda l. ’
The on ly sources, outside the mission s, from which the
governor might then expect any revenues were the diezmosand the custom duties . The former were ecclesia stica l tithesdue from the fa ithful to the bishop of the diocese. The
Bishop of Sonora ,for a consideration ,
had ceded these duesto the king, and itwas therefore in Ca liforn ia collected fromthe pueblos of Los Angeles, San José, and Branciforte bygovernment officia ls, but a s the settlers, especia lly those of
the two la st-named colon ies, consisted of a shiftless cla ss,little wa s derived from them. The income from the customhouses a lso proved wholly inadequate to satisfy the endless
demands of the idle tr00ps .
Indian missions under the laws of Spa in for a certa inperiod , which might be extended indefin itely, were exemptfrom paying taxes or custom duties, pa rticula rly for church
goods, which a lways entered free ; for it was deemed imprudentand un just to burden the convert aborigines, who volunta rilysubjected themselves to Span ish domina tion , until they had
3 ’ Fr. .Sufier to 8015, Janua ry 2 6th, Archb. no. 1 140.
1 34 M issions and Missiona ries of Ca lifornia
been judged ca pable of managing the property accumula tedunder the guidance of missionaries, and the latter had beensupplanted by secular priests. Nevertheless, the missions of
Ca liforn ia , though under another title, had been severelytaxed from the year 18 1 1 , inasmuch a s during that periodthey had home the weight of supporting the entire g overnment and the troops as well as their families by furn ishingproduce, live- stock and manufactured goods to the amountof nea rly In return for their unselfish efforts tora ise this exorbita nt tax,
for practica lly it wa s nothing else,the fria rs in cha rge of the missions were repa id with in
gra titude by the shiftless soldiers , and even accused of
secretly accumulating wea lth which they would not sha re
w ith the“needy and well-deserv ing defenders of the
country.
”
The governor himself was misled by the envious settlersand milita ry to take this absurd view . I f he had but studiedthe annua l mission reports and compared them w ith what hereceived from the missions through their stewa rds, the missiona ry Fathers, in ca sh and in mission products, 8016 wouldhave discovered the baselessness of such a cha rge. How
ever, the governor at this time, 1 82 1 , wa s about sixty-one
yea rs of age. Worry about the deplorable condition of the
territory had begun to a ffect his hea lth and caused him to
become irascible, unreasonable, and suspicious.
” Surroundeda s he was by indolent soldiers, worthless settlers, and un
reliable officia ls, who, know ing it wa s sa fe, and might beprofitable to do so, dinned it into Sola’s ca rs that the friarswere rolling in wea lth and fa red sumptuously, he bega n to
distrust even these most loya l friends . Thus on January1 6th, he wrote to José de la Guerra of Sa nta Barba ra tha the had hea rd of a rbitra ry acts on the pa rt of the Fathers,of their excesses in buying goods for speculation which
8' I n his pa ssion he w as known to ha ve used the ca ne, and
no one da red to resist him. (H ittell, n, October 1 6th, 182 1 ,
50 12 compla ined of the difficulty of finding honest men , who
were at the same time in telligen t enough to properly a ttend to
the collection s. Even Ba ndin i w ith his honeyed manner a nd ap
paren t honesty had been known to smuggle. Bancroft, ii, 43 9.
1 3 6 Missions and Missionaries of California
citizen s,“ and went to the verge of insult in that he cha rgedthem w ith a disposition to defraud the roya l treasury. He
then a nnounced that the ship Santa Rita was expected, and
tha t the missions would be required to pay $6m0 or
on her inward and outwa rd-bound ca rgo.
" Fr. Payera s ina dign ified reply quoted Article 3 3 9 of the Recopilacion
which demonstrated that Indian missions were exempt frompaying duties or furn ishing invoices .
“ As ea rly as January3oth, 1607, King Philip III . had indeed issued a decreewhich exempted newly-baptized Indians from paying ta xesfor a term of ten yea rs. In a letter of December 5th, 1608,
the King repea ted and emphasized the provision “that thoseIndia ns, who through the sole means of the preaching of
the Gospel submit to our holy Fa ith and obedience to me,sha ll not be held to pay taxes for tenAll the missions of Ca lifornia , except San Ra fael, hadbeen founded more than ten yea rs, and therefore it wouldseem tha t their neophytes had forfeited the priv ilege. Solorzano, the standard author on Indian afiia irs, however, pointsout that, though in many provinces the Indians could not
properly be ca lled neophytes, because they and their pa rentsa lready had been baptized for a longer period , yet, inasmucha s many of their kith and kin still rema ined unconverted , andin order to strengthen the converted in the Religion , it wasdeemed expedient to interpret the privilege of immun ity fromtaxes in their favor, a fter the example of St . Paul, whowrites,
“We have not used this power” (of accepting sup
port) ; but we bea r a ll things, lest we should give any
hindrance to the Gospel of that is to say, a s the
3 ° A remarkable proceeding, in a smuch a s no one had provedmore dutiful a nd law- abiding than the fria rs ; no one a s generousand unselfish.
3 " Bancroft, 1 1 , 43 8
3 ° Fr. Payera s to Sold, May l6th, 182 1 . Archb. Arch., no. 1 2 16.
89 “Que los Indios que se redujeran de nuevo a nuestra santaFe y obediencia mia , por solo el medio de la predicacion del
Eva ngelio, no paguen tributo por diez shos. Solorzano, “PoliticaIndian a ,” torn . i, lib. ii, cap. x
, no. 51 , p . 166.
‘ ° I Cor. ix, 1 2 .
1 3 8 M issions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
indolent and unwilling to apply itself to labor and agricul
ture, that during the sa id period it could not adapt itself tothe laws and customs of civilized societies,“ the Council ofthe Indies w ill kindly consult the king w ith a v iew to extendthe term. Our Catholic monarchs have given such man ifestev idence tha t they seek not earthly ga ins but souls,“ tha tthey will never hesitate to concede a ll the time deemednecessa ry, lestthe solid foundation for a Christian life, whichthey desire, be rendered impossible.
”
Nor wa s there any ev idence that even the Cortes of 1820
intended to include such Indians in the genera l law , becauseit was the rule to enact specia l laws in their favor. At anyrate, it was not the governor
’
s right to decide when such
Indians were in a condition to pay taxes.
“ I n the presentcase Sola’s action wa s the more inconsidera te a s the re
sources of the Indian missions had a lrea dy been dra ined to
uphold the government and the milita ry for the last tenyea rs, so that the missionaries were at a loss to know how to
furn ish more supplies without ruin to their neophytes. I n
view of the changes in Spa in and Mexico, however, the
governor found it quite sa fe to disregard such reflexions as
well a s roya l enactmen ts . For excuse he in formed the viceroy tha t he had read in some newspapers printed at the
capita l tha t the C6rtes, with the approva l of King FerdinandVII . , had resolved that in the Span ish mona rchy there shouldbe no person privileged not to pay the taxes and contribu
tions a ssigned or to be assigned for the support of the
Sta te ; and“tha t ina smuch a s in this territory under my
charge there is to the present day no tax nor contribution
‘ 3 Such wa s the ca se in Ca liforn ia where no term of yea rs wa sever urged by the Spa n ish rulers .
Un fortuna tely, it must be sa id tha t Fr. Pa rra s is too much
given to laud the Kings of Spa in . Moreover he w rote before1 783 . The la ter kings and their min isters hardly considered the
welfa re of souls when there wa s question of tempora l ga in or
politics.
‘ 5 I f the missions had received ca sh for the supplies furn ishedto the tr00ps in stea d of worthless dra fts they would have beenin a pos ition to pay any rea sonable tax.
Forced Contributions ; Indians Overtaxed 1 3 9
imposed upon the n ineteen missions and the Asistencia of
San Ra fael with their Indian s of both sexes, w ithwhom the religious of the College of San Fernando cultivatethe soil, ra ise live- stock, and weave cloth by mea ns of whichthe missionaries and their neophytes support themselves, andsupply the troops w ith provisions and other things, and at
the same time trade with the ships that arrive at theseports, and a lso send mission products to their sindico at
Tepic, who in turn procures for them the goods they desireI ha ve determined, until I receive instructions from YourExcellency as to whether or not these contributions shouldbe levied , tha t they sha ll pay duties equa lly with otherpersons, though it is true tha t they have so far furn ishedsupplies to the va lue of aboutThis was a ra ther high-handed proceeding in v iew of the
fact that the king forbade levying taxes upon Indians w ithout his permission . When Sola’s commun ica tion reachedMexico, the v iceroy had been supplanted by a regencywhich had declared Mexico independent of Spa in , so thatthe governor had nothing, but the Fa thers everything to
fea r. He therefore haughtily wrote to Fr. Payeras,"“L et
it be understood that every one of the n ineteen missionsunder my command must contribute to the support of the
poor soldiers,” a s though they had not exhausted themselvesfor that purpose since 1 81 1 . Capta in Argiiello of San
Francisco was instructed tha t the missions of his jurisdiction , the rancheros, and soldiers w ithout distinction may sell
to foreign ers who arrive at the port for the purpose of
trading, but the missions, as well a s those named, sha ll bebound to pay six per cent . on a ll goods procured until theannua l a llowances for the troops sha ll a rrive. The mis
sions sha ll be reimbursed if the viceroy should decla re the
missions exempt.
” I The right way would have been to
“ 5015 to the viceroy, no da te. Ca l. Arch., Prov. St. Pap.
xvu, 540- 544.
‘ 7 Sold to Fr. Payera s, December 29th, 182 1 . Ca l. Arch., Pres.
Mis. , Miscella nea , p . 52 1 .
4° Sola to Argiiello. Ca l. Arch. , Prov. St. Pap. xv u, 274.
140 M issions and Missionaries of California
awa it the decision of the viceroy before taxing the mission sin tha t manner.
The missionaries submitted in beha lf of their neophytes,and agreed to accept dra fts for the contributions thus lev ied.
Instea d of the Santa Rita the San Francisco Javier a rrivedin December w ith a much sma ller ca rgo, so tha t the amountlevied on the missions wa s
'
only $3000 instead of the $6000
5015 demanded . The poorer missions pa id their sha re in
ta llow . Fr. Sarria, however protested to the last aga in stthe levy on the ground that rt was aga inst the rights of the
neophytes.
"
The ex-commissa ry was undoubtedly right. As long a s the
laws favoring the Indians were not abrogated by the rightful lawgiver, be he king or Cortes or Congress, it was not
within the province of a subordinate officia l to set themaside at w ill. We have a similar situation under the UnitedStates Government. The Indians in their reservations a re
not taxed or requested to contribute towards the expensesof the Government, and no Sta te within whose limits an
Indian reserva tion is located would a ttempt to tax sa idIndians. They a re, a fter a century, still favored for reasons
which white citizens appreciate. In Ca lifornia the mission swere as many reservations on Indian land. Why then do
Bancroft, H ittell, and other traducers of the friars applaudin the subordinate 50151 a treatment which wa s entirely inopposition to the laws ? Well, the only rea son is tha t themission Indians were ruled by Ca tholic friars and not bysecula r agents. On ly those scribes lack the manhood to con
fess a s much frankly.
The situation in Ca liforn ia at the end of 182 1 was therefore this : The missions were obliged to deliver to the
governor one-half of the proceeds of everything they soldto traders, and in return to accept a note upon which theycould rea lize nothing. Of the other ha lf sold to traders themissions were ca lled upon to pay in addition six per cent. to
Ban croft, 1 1, 43 8.
CHAPTER IX .
Zea l of the Fa thers — Expedition of Fa thers Payera s a nd Sanchez.
— Expedition of Capta in Luis Argiiello.— Fr. Ordaz its Chron
icler.— The Regency in Mexico — Council at Mon terey.
— Oa thof Allegia nce — First Genera l Election — Sola Elected Delega teto Mexico — Arriva l of Comision ado Fernéndez .
— Council at
Mon terey.— Fernandez’s Five Proposition s — Fernandez and Fr.
Payera s Visit the Russian Fort— Expedition Described— Election of the First Legisla ture.
— Luis Argiiello Elected Tempora ry Governor.
— Fr. Payera s to Emperor Iturbide — Fernandezand Sold Depa rt— Iturbide Deposed a nd Shot.— Ban croft on
8016.
ARASSED as they were and a lmost dishea rtened in con
sequence of the difficulties tha t beset them, it would seemtha t themissiona ries must have lost a ll courage to establish newmissions . Yet the prospect of hav ing to surrender theirpresent cha rges only revived their hopes of accomplishingthat very object. For want of the necessa ry roya l authority,a s well as lack of means, during the la st fifteen yea rs theyhad been chafing to bring the Gospel to the savages on the
other side of the sierras and to those north and east of SanFrancisco Bay. This was the work for which especially Fr.
Payera s pined. At last, in September, 1 82 1 , while on a visitat M ission San Diego, he determined with the approva l of
the governor to make the a cqua intance of the pagans in the
southea st. H is object for the present was to ascerta in theirdisposition towards Christian ity and to discover sites suitablefor missions.
Accompan ied by Fr. José B . Sénchez, six guards, and the
two retired soldiers, Jose’ Manuel Silva s and Ma rcos Briones,
the Fr. Comisa rio set out from San Diego Mission on Sep
tember loth, 1 82 1 . After traveling five leagues towa rds theea st he reached Santa Mon ica or El Ca jon , a rancheria of
Mission San Diego. From there he went north over a zig
zag tra il through va lleys to the Cai'
iada de Santa Isabel or
Expeditions ; Comisionado Fernandez 1 43
Elcuanam, eleven leagues from Santa Mon ica .
1 Here on
September 1 5th Fr. M . Payeras solemn ly planted the cross in
the presence of six hundred Indians. Next day, Sunday, hesang High Ma ss and preached. On September 1 7th, leav ingFr. Sanchez behind on account of illness, the Fr. Comisa riocontinued northward four leagues and a ha lf to JacOpin or
Agua Ca liente in what is now ca lled Wa rner’
s Ra nch. He
v isited va rious rancheria s and loca lities and then returnedto Santa Isabel . “
The 18th,”Fr. Sénchez writes,
“we passed
pa rtly writing and partly giving instruction to a dying agedwoman . She pa ssed away the same day at the age of
appa rently n inety years. In the a fternoon thirteen old men
and women came to be in structed . The youngest countedsixty yea rs. Fr. Payéra s was in his element here. He in
structed the ca ndida tes with the v iew of baptizing them the
next day, which he did a fter having once more en lightenedthem on their obligations . Both Fathers then continued on
their journey towa rds the north and ea st . Within a distanceof six or seven leagues they discovered ten Indian rancheria swhich conta ined about four hundred and fifty inhabitants.
About two leagues and a ha lf from Santa Isabel, at a spotca lled Guada lupe, Fr. Payera s ra ised the cross to mark the
site of a proposed mission . All the Indians met on the way
expressed a desire to have the Fathers in their country .
On September 20th the little pa rty sta rted out at four
o’
clock in the morn ing and reached San Anton io de Pa la at
about four o’
clock in the a fternoon . This wa s a mission
sta tion belonging to Mission San Luis Rey. Fr. Sanchezdescribes the soil, trees, water courses a long the road whichit would be too tedious to repeat here, but which we intendto dwell upon in the loca l history. On the fea st of St .Ma tthew,
September 2 1 st, the Fr. Comisario held the canoni
1 The pla ces pa ssed were Cafiada del Arra stradero, Michegua ,Jueptahua , Pam6, Ca napui, and Egepam.
a Those n amed a re Sa n Felipe, Cafiada de San Dieguito, Gui
chapa , Geon at, Ta layoja i, Tamata ia or Jamata i, Mucucuiz, Gelono
pa i, Egen a l, Tegilque, Gecua r, Aja ta or L a s Llaga s , San JoséVa lley, and Buena Vista Springs.
144 M issions and M issionaries of Ca lifornia
ca l visitation of the chapel, a fter which four of the gua rdsreturned to the presidio of San Diego. Next day, Saturday,Fr. Payeras sang a High Mass in honor of the ImmaculateQueen , and then examined the surroundings to find a placefor a new mission . It wa s thought that Pa la could wellma inta in a la rge popula tion . After celebrating holy Massand preaching on Sunday morn ing, a number of Indians from
Signa ture of Fr. Jose Bernardo Stnchea .
San Gabriel and San Juan Capistrano consulted with the Fr.
Comisa rio, who w ith Fr. Sanchez set out for the north in
the a fternoon . Soon a fter leav ing Pa la , Fr. Sénchez remarks,“we found ourselves in a va lley where there was a rockwhich had served and still served as a stumbling block to
the poor natives. A mere glance at the many huge figuresand the adjoin ing thicket let us understand wha t it mightbe. The Fr. Comisa rio ordered Fr. Peiri of San Luis Reyto have it destroy At ha lf pa st five in the a fternoon a ll
reached Temecula , three leagues from Pa la .
Ea rly next morn ing the explorers went down the ca i'
iada
toward the setting of the sun . About a league from the
sta rting point they came to a spring which they namedSan Isidro, and a little beyond they discovered anotherspring which they ca lled Santa Gertrudis. Towa rds even ingthey reached Jagua ra or San Jacinto, a ca ttle ranch of M is
sion San Luis Rey. It wa s about eleven or twelve leaguesfrom Temecula . Here the expedition rested on the 2 5th on
account of ra in and the infirmity of Fr. Payéras . Next daythe march wa s resumed . After traveling n ine leagues the
wanderers came to the mission sta tion of San Bernardino,which the Indians ca lled Guachinga . This was attended fromSan Gabriel . During the next days they visited the rancheria s
1 46 M issions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
furn ished by the three northern missions . Missions SantaCla ra a nd San José sent horses and much of the provisionsdirectly to Carquines Stra it.The whole compa ny, joined by some Ululatos and Canu
caymos Indians, who wished to visit their pagan relatives,set sa il in the two launches of the presidio and the missionabout eleven o
’
clock on the morn ing of Thursday, October18th, 182 1 , and landed nea r the estero of San Ra fael, at
Ruyuta , in the vicin ity of wha t is now Point San Pedro,where they passed the n ight . Next day they continued thevoyage to Ca rquines Stra it where they were joined by twoother boa ts . On Sa turday the horses were ferried across
the stream. On Sunda y, the l t, Fr. Ordaz celebra ted holyMass, whereupon the troops and Indians pa ssed over to the
other side. The ma rch north bega n on Monday and con
tinned to October 30th up the va lley of the Sacramento,which the Span iards ca lled Jesus Ma ria . Un fortunately Fr.
Blas gives no dista nces nor latitudes, so tha t it is impossibleto locate the different Indian v illages and camping-places.
The natives in but a few ca ses showed hostility, but the
booming of the cannon would disperse them. On ly in one
case Sergeant Amador despite Argiiello’
s orders a imed lowand killed seven of the aggressors. The most serious mishapto the soldiers was the loss of a mule tha t fell into the
river w ith two thousand ca rtridges on its back. Until the30th Ra fa el found little difficulty to converse with the
Indians, but from tha t date the Span ia rds had to contentthemselves w ith the sign language.
On October 3 l st the expedition departed from its northwa rd course and turned to the west, according to Fr. Ordaz,until it came to the foot of a mounta in range fifteen leaguesfrom the Sierra Nevada , which range extended from northto south and terminated in the region of Bodéga , then in
the possession of the Russia ns. An Indian attack at n ightwa s repulsed by the explosion of a grenade. Next day a fter
holy Ma ss the return ma rch was begun and continued southwa rd over the mounta in s for n ine days. No distances are
given , so it is impossible to trace the route ; but the ex
Expeditions ; Comisionado Fernandez 1 47
plorers experienced grea t difficulties. Many horses died, andfour pack-mules fell down a precipice. On November loththey found the body of a neophyte from San Ra fael whohad been killed by savages. After Christian buria l had beenaccorded, the weary wanderers arrived at a spring whichthey named San Jorge. Next day, Sunday, Fr. Bla s cele
brated holy Ma ss for the la st time on the journey, a s at
about six p. m. they reached Olompa li, six leagues from San
Ra fael . Worn out, and the rations nea rly exhausted, theexplorers a rrived at San Ra fael towa rds noon of the 1 2th.
Here Fr. Bla s next morn ing sang a High Ma ss in thanksgiv ing. In the forenoon of the 1 5th a ll had aga in returnedto the presidio of San Francisco.
“
Bancroft thinks that the expedition may have reached thelatitude of Sha sta , or of Weaverville in Trin ity County, a ndtha t the Span ia rds struggled back through the mounta ins byway of Ukiah, Cloverda le, Hea ldsburg, Santa Rosa and Petaluma . He reached this conclusion by a llow ing n inety- six
hours travel for the n ine days at the ra te of two miles an
hour.
‘ One plea sant feature of the toilsome journey is
worthy of note. Besides a ttending holy Ma ss on the dayswhen Fr. Blas celebra ted the holy Sacrifice, which was everySunday and fea st day, the members of the expedition ap
pea r to have recited the Rosa ry of the Blessed Virgin withtheir n ight prayers in common before retiring for the n ight .’
Evidently Capta in Luis Arguello and his men were not yet
imbued w ith the irreligious notions of the Mexican milita ryof a later date, who in consequence signa lized themselves bytheir disrega rd of the mora l law .
News in those days traveled slowly, and Ca liforn ia was
fa r away from the Mexican capita l. That is why in Ca lifornia the establishment of the Iturbide regency 8 wa s not
5 Fr. Bla s Ordaz, “Dia rio,” “Sta . Ba rb . Arch. Deta ils belong toSa n Fra ncisco loca l an na ls.
0 Ban croft, 1 1 , 445-449.
7 “De5pues de haber rezado cl Sa n to Rosario,” Fr. B la s saysat the close of the first day.
9 See chapter vii.
Missions and Missionaries of California
announced until the end of 182 1 . The Ca liforn ians had theyea r before sworn to the Constitution framed by the C6rtesof 1 81 2 , and still rega rded themselves as subjects of KingFernando VII . Though Mexico had declared itself inde~pendent of the mother coun try, the Plan de Iguala
”
pro
vided for an empire governed by Ferdinand VII ., or, in case
he refused to reside in Mexico, by one of the roya l princes.
In this sense independence wa s considered acceptable by theSpan iards who still enterta ined some a ffection for Span ishrule, even by Governor 80151 . The la tter as la te as Janua ryloth, 182 2 , wrote to Governor Argiiello of Lower Ca lifornia ,tha t he had received from Mexico “
such documents as are
printed in a country of dreamers, since independence is a
dream. Day by day their presses will turn out absurditiesby the thousand ; but you and I, aware that the immorta l,incompa rable Spanish na tion has many and grea t resourceswith which to make herself respected, must look with con
tempt on such absurd v iews.
"
When , therefore, in March, 182 2 , despatches announcingthe regency a rrived atMonterey, $012 on the 16th requestedall the milita ry comma nders, as well as Fr. Prefecto Payerasand Fr. Presidente Sefian , to attend a council at Monterey.
The sessions opened on April 9th in the territoria l ha ll.Those participa ting were Governor 5015, Fr. Mariano Payéras, Fr. Vicente de Sarria, who represented Fr. José Sefian,Luis Anton io Argiiello of the San Francisco presidio, Joséde la Guerra of Santa Barba ra ga rrison , José Maria Estudillo, who represented Comandante Francisco Maria Ruiz of
San Diego,
"0 Pablo de la Portilla , commander of the troopsfrom Maza tlan , José Antonio Nava rete, commander of the
troops from Tepic, and Lieutenants José Ma ria Estrada and
Manuel Gomez of Monterey. All these members of the
council resolved to take the oath of independence and to
swear a llegiance to the Supreme Government. The care
mon ies took place in the meeting ha ll on April 1 lth ; thetroops took the oath in the public plaza . Religious services
Bancroft, n , 450.
1 ° Capta in Ruiz and Fr. Sefian were absen t on accoun t of illness.
1 50 Missions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
Under the provisiona l regulations of the Mexican RegencyCa liforn ia wa s entitled to be represented by a delega te at the
forthcoming Congress. At the meeting on April 1 2th it wasthen decided by the a foresa id council to choose four electors to represent the four presidia l jurisdictions and one for
Los Angeles. The delega te to be elected by these five repre
sentatives should receive $4000 to be ra ised by volunta rysubscriptions or by a tax.
“ The choice of the Indians of
Mission San ta Barbara was the neophyte Julian Tagatset,
who was elected on April 2 2 nd.
“ There is no record extantof any other loca l election , nor of the men chosen to repre
sen t the respective~
mission s or towns in the conven tions thatselected the representatives, but no military men could beelectors. The five electors selected were Francisco Ca strofor the towns of Branciforte and San José, and the missionsof San Francisco, Santa Clara , San Jose
'
, and Santa CruzJosé Aruz for Monterey and the missions of San Ca rlos,San Juan Bautista , Soledad, San Anton io, San Miguel, andSan Luis Obispo ; Francisco Ortega for the presidio of SantaBa rba ra, and the missions of Santa Ba rba ra , San Buenaventura , Purisima , Santa Inés, and San Fernando ; Jose
'
Pa lomares for L os Angeles ; a nd Ign acio Lopez for the
presidio of San Diego, and the missions of San Diego, San
Luis Rey, San Juan Capistrano, and San Gabriel. The five
representatives met at Monterey on May 2 1 st and chose
Governor Sold as delega te to the Mexican Congress . Thisoffered him the long-desired opportun ity to retire from Ca liforn is for which he had repeatedly petitioned the former
viceroy. Capta in Luis Argiiello was elected as substitute.
“
On April 1 3th 5015 issued an appea l for the payment ofthe $4000 a llowed him.
" Fr. Ma riano Payera s in a circular
1 4 Fr. Sa rria to Fr. Sehan , April 14th, 182 2 . Bancroft, 1 1 ,
453 -454.
1 5 This wa s the first genera l election in which the Indian s hada nomin a l voice.
1 6 “Ca l. L eg. Rec. i, 3 -7.
1 7 He wan ted un dona tivo gra cioso. $0 15 to Fr. Payera s, April1 3 th,
“Ca l. St. Pap., Sa cramen to, xv iii, 19.
Expeditions ; Comisionado Fernandez 1 5 1
of the 17th accompanying the appea l urged the Fa thers to dona te outright what it wa s possible to spare. Eleven missionsat once dona ted $1 560, and seven for lack of money offereddra fts of $100 each on the sindico at Tepic or the procuratorat the capita l. Mission San Francisco wa s the on ly one um
able, it seems, to furn ish anything in the way of money.
“
Though everything worked smoothly enough, the officers,
soldiers, missionaries, neophytes, and colon ists had forma llyrenounced their a llegiance to Spa in , and had become fa ithful subjects of the new Mexican empire, Ca liforn ia wa s
much distrusted in Mexico, where the man ifesta tions of
patriotism, owing to the grea t distance, had not as yet beenpublished . The Regency therefore thought it advisable to
send an agent in order to a scerta in the sentiments of the
Ca liforn ians, to foment a spirit of independence, to obta inan oa th of a llegiance, to ra ise the new na tiona l flag, and to
put in working order the new constitutiona l government.The Rev . Agustin Fernandez de San Vicente, a ca non of the
ca thedra l of Durango, was selected for this position and
sent first to Lower Ca liforn ia .
“ After he had accomplishedhis purpose in the pen insula , the Rev . Commissioner sa iledfor Monterey, and arrived there in the San Carlos aecom
pan ied by another priest on September 2 6th.
Some time before, the Fathers had received a circularfrom Fr. Gua rdian José Ga sol. It expressed the hOpe tha tall the fria rs had ta ken the oa th of a llegiance a s a ll had
done at the College on October 3 l st, 1 82 1 , because rumors
to the con trary were spread at the capita l which had causedhim to be summoned before the Regency to expla in ; tha the had declared his belief tha t the missiona ries had takenthe oath of independence ; that if there had been relucta nce
1 3 Fr. Payera s in the circula r a ssigned the amount each missionwa s to con tribute. Archb. no. 1 3 69. Also Fr. Payera sto the Diputacion , November 1 6th, 1 82 2 . Archb. no. 1 3 79.
1 9 Fr. Ga sol to Fr. Payera s, April 18th ; 8015 to Fr. Payera s,July 1 5th; J . B . Ma rtia rena to the Fa thers, Tepic, June 4th ; Rev .
Fernandez to Fr. Payera s, September 26th, 1 82 2 .
“Sta . Ba rb .
Arch.
"
See vol. i , 579-583 .
1 52 Missions and Missiona ries of Ca lifornia
heretofore he expected all to submit for the peace and tranquillity of the country ; and tha t they would receive the Rev .
Commissioner Fernandez w ith due respect, act in accordwith him,
furn ish him with everything needed, and in thisway refute the cha rges circulated in Mexico.
’0
Canon Fernandez began his activity by demanding a fullreport on the location , population , land, product, a nd livestock of each mission . In addition he wanted to know aboutthe gold and silver mines and the pearl fisheries, and the
means to make them paya ble. The last question ca lled forin formation on the places most exposed to Indian assaults,and the number of soldiers that defended them.
"
Fr. Payeras on October 5th promptly sent a copy of the
demands to the missions with the request to comply a ftera formula which he inclosed . Of interest here are on ly
questions five and six, as the others will be utilized in the
loca l history. In his reply the Fr. Commissary decla red on
beha lf of his own mission , which was typica l of the others,tha t no gold or silver mines had been discovered, thoughsome one whose heart was set upon them had dreamed thatthere were traces to be seen on a cliff a long the coast aboutfive leagues from Purisima Nor were there any pea rlfisheries in Upper Ca liforn ia .
The comisionado next turned his a ttention to the civil government of the territory. At a meeting on October 8th in
which eight officia ls and three Fa thers participated alongwith Rev . Fernandez, and at which Governor Sola presided,as Fr. Payeras reports, five subjects were broached by the
Fr. Gasol to Fr. Payera s, April 18th, 1 82 2 . Sta . Barb. Arch.
"
3 1 Rev. Fernandez to Fr. Payera s, October l st, 1 82 2 .
“Sta . Ba rb .
Arch.
”
‘ 3 Fr. Payera s, “Circular y Informe, October 5th, Sta .
Barb. Arch.
3 " Those presen t bes ides 8016 and Fernandez were Fa thersPayeras, Sa rria, and Tapis, Luis Argiiello, Nava rete, Estudillo,Estrada , Gomez and Haro. $0 12 to J. de la Guerra , October 9th,
“Ca l. Arch Prov . Rec. xi
, 3 1 6-3 19. Fr. Payera s gives no
n ames.
1 54 M issions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
is no enlightenment, and without this there a re no virtues .
“Nothing wa s left undone,”Fr. Com. Payera s reporting this
meeting says,“to make it clear to him how many obstacles
we have encountered thus far in order to establish schools
among us for the purpose of teaching to read and to
write ; but tha t would not sa tisfy him. Hence, until theImperia l Government sha ll send us the teachers promisedby H is Honor, he admon ished us, in order to comply as
much a s possible, to at least appoint one of the most suitable Indians to teach those who are capable to learn rea dingand writing.
5. Fina lly ( in ca se of an invasion ) it wa s unan imouslyresolved, tha t the neophytes might be a rmed w ith bows and
a rrows, la ssoes and lances, but not with fire- arms.
The imperia l commissioner, Rev . Agustin Fernandez de
San Vicente, now determined to v isit the Russian settlement at Fort Ross, which the Span ia rds from its founderca lled Coscoff , for the purpose of ga thering as much in
formation a s possible for his government. Fr. CommissaryPrefect Ma riano Payéra s, who consented to accompany him,
kept a journ a l of the expedition from which we extract themost interesting points. Leav ing Monterey on October1 1th, the two dignita ries with their a ttendants went by wayof the Rancho del Rey," through the Canada de Natividadnorthea st to Mission San Juan Bautista where they passedSunday October 1 3 th. Next day they a rrived at MissionSanta Cla ra , and in the even ing of the 1 5th they reachedMission San Francisco by way of San Francisquito,
Rancho
” “Porque, siguio, sin letra s no hay ilustra cion , y sin esta no
hay v irtudes. Tha t wa s a sserting too much. There ha ve beenmillion s of good Christia ns, hence v irtuous, w ithout knowing letters ; and there a re many more millions filled w ith tha t secularknow ledge who a re not virtuous at a ll.
2 ° Fr. Payera s, “Circula r, October 9th, Sta . Ba rb . Arch.
I n a letter to 5015 Fr. Payera s, M ay 2 nd, 1820, sa id it wa s haza rdousto a rm India n s, especia lly those from the sierras.
“Archb.
nos. 1086 ; 1 2 57.
2 7 Ra ncho Na ciona l, or Sa n Pedro, now Salina s .
Expeditions ; Comisionado Fernandez 1 55
de la s Pulgas, San Mateo, and El Portezuelo. On the
19th,”Fr. Payera s writes,
“we set out at seven in the mom
ing for the presidio, which is one good league distant. ThereCapta in Luis Arguello and Lieutenant Anton io del Va llewith some troops and servants joined us. At ten o
’
clockwe emba rked in the launch, but for want of wind we hadto row . We reached the Estero of San Ra fael, seven leaguesdistant, at three in the a fternoon . Fr. Juan Amoros, the
missiona ry, with the sergeant and the neophytes, receivedus amid the ringing of bells and extraordinary rejoicing.
The horses had been sent hither before.
On Sunday October 20th,Fr. Payera s celebra ted holy
Mass in honor of the angelic pa tron San Ra fael for the
success of the journey. Then “in the name of God
” theywen t five leagues north to the place ca lled Santa Lucia deOlompa li, thence northwestwardly two leagues to ArroyoSan Anton io. Leaving the arroyo to the left, they travelledlaboriously over hills without water or wood and through a
ca i'
iada for six leagues, until they a rrived at two springswhich were named San Vicente, probably in honor of the
comisionado. Next day the little party continued towardthe northwest over steep hills, rounded the Este
'
ro del Americano, and at noon descried the port of Bodega to the
south. Descending they stood at the bayshore eleven leaguesfrom San Vicente. Four leagues more of painful traveltowards the northwest brought them to Sa lmon Creek, whichthe comisionado for reasons of his own named ArroyoVerde. Two leagues farther on the travellers rea ched the
Russian River, which Ca pta in Arguello the yea r prev ioushad seen about thirteen leagues higher up, and had christened San Ignacio. One and a ha lf leagues beyond, theypa ssed Arroyo Santa Maria , and four leagues more of ha rdriding brought the imperia l comisionado and his followingto the Russian fort. The commander, Capta in Ca rlosSchmidt, received him cordia lly with a sa lute of four guns,
and trea ted a ll with the kindest hospita lity. The Span iardsrema ined there two days. Fr. Payeras drew up a very long
1 56 Missions and M issiona ries of Ca lifornia
description of the fort and vicin ity which it would be tediousto reproduce here. On October 24th the two Fa thers witha few a ttendants were rowed down to Bodega Bay, ten
leagues south, by fifteen oarsmen . After a lunch there the
comisionado and compan ions crossed over to the other sideand camped at the point. Next day they ma de their way
over the hills, came back to the so-ca lled Estero del Americano,
thence went for a league and a ha lf over hills to
another estéro which received the name Herrera , becauseSergeant Herrera had the misfortune to fa ll into it withoutmore harm to himself, however.
“We passed it,”
says Fr.
Payeras ,“and a fter two leagues of travel we came to a grand
estéro eleven leagues long and six hundred ya rds wide, whichthe Indians ca lled Tamales, but which the Span ia rds namedSa n Juan Francisco Regis. On the left bank were two
springs .
”
Leaving the estéro to the right, they went southeast threeleagues to the two springs of Fr. J. Amoros where they tookdinner. Continuing in the same direction they reached theArroyo of San Anton io, where they had been on the 20th,
and a fter having travelled six leagues they pitched camponce more on its left bank. October 26th saw them leave
the a rroyo to the left . They traversed the Sierra de SantaLucia , pa ssed through the Va lley of Loba to, and a fter eightleagues of wandering returned to San Ra fael. On Monday28th, a fter holy Mass, both priests with their a ttendantsemba rked ha lf a league from San Ra fael, crossed San Pedroand San Pablo Points, and a fter coursing over the wa tertowa rds the southeast for five leagues disembarked in the
Estero of San Pablo to camp for the n ight . Next day pa rtlyon horseba ck and partly in a ca rriage, passing the Ra nchos
of San Leandro and San Lorenzo, they made the eleven
leagues to Mission San José. On October Sl st, a fter holyMa ss, a ccompan ied by Fr. Duran of San José and Fr. Viader
of Santa Cla ra , the party proceeded in a carreta or ca rriageto Mission Santa Cla ra , five leagues to the west. All Sa intsDay was celebra ted with splendor at Mission Santa Clara ,
1 58 M issions and Missionaries of California
l l th, 182 2 ,“l he contrived to have the ma jority ca st theirvotes for Capta in Luis Argiil
ello, comandante as well as
native of San Francisco presidio, who thereupon was introduced into the ofiice and took up his headqua rters at
Monterey.
"
Though a ll the friars had a lready sworn a llegiance to
Mexica n independence and the constituted authorities, CanonFernandez persuaded Fr. Payéras to have them express theirloya lty in writing. Ow ing to the grea t distances of some
of the missions, the replies of a ll the Fa thers had not a r
rived by November 1 3th. Fr. Payeras, therefore, on the nextday, in the name of a ll the missionaries and their neophytes,addressed a long letter to Emperor Iturbide a ssuring him
of their loya lty and of their prayers for himself and his
family. He hoped that, though a ll the Indians a long the
coast now adored God in spirit and truth, His Ma jestywould not forget tha t there were still many pagans to be
converted in the,
north and ea st .“
The Rev . Fernandez had now accomplished his task ; hetherefore prepa red to depart in company of the ex-
governor.
During the month of October the Fr. Comisario-Prefecto once
more assessed the missions in favor of 5015 to the amountof $3000. Of this the ex-
governor on November 2 7th re
ceived from Fr. Payeras a dra ft for $1 500 on Sindico JuanMa rtia rena at Tepic. The rema inder was probably pa id incash. The three poorest missions, San Francisco, San An
ton io, and Soledad, were each directed to contribute $100.
The others found $1 50 or $200 opposite their names on
the list forwa rded to them.
“ 5015 and Fernandez sa iledfrom Monterey in the San Carlos on November 2 2 nd.
‘ 1 This is the da te Fr. Payera s gives in a letter to 5015, No
vemba r 1 5th.
“Archb Arch., 1 1 0. 1 3 78. Ba ncroft, ii, 467, ha s
“November 9 or 10.
1" Fr. Payeras to Sold,November 1 5th, 182 2 . Archb . Arch. ,
1 1 0 . 1 3 78.
3 0Fr. Payéra s to Iturbide, November 14th, 182 2 . Sta . Barb.Arch.
”
Fr. Payera s, Lista de Don a tivo, October 1 82 2 . Sta . Barb.Arch.
”Fr. Payera s to the Diputa cion , November 16th, 1 82 2 ; to
Expeditions ; Comisionado Fernéndez 1 59
When Canon Fernandez, who had ta rried in Upper Ca lifornia just two months, returned to Mexico, he learned that
grea t changes had taken place in the government . Iturbideon May 19th, 1 82 2 , had been elected and on July l t
crowned Emperor of Mexico ; but on Ma rch 19th, 182 3 , hewas compelled to abdica te. In April the Mexica n Congressvested the executive power in these three genera ls : NicolasBravo, Guada lupe Victoria , and Pedro Celestino Negrete.
Iturbide was ordered to leave the country. He returnd
secretly, but was ca ptured and sentenced to be shot on
July 19th 1824, five days a fter landing.
”
Of Sola we know nothing more than that he was a mem
ber w ith n ine others of a Boa rd or“Junta de Fomento de
Ca liforn ias.
” This body wa s to a id the Mexican Presidentconcern ing Ca liforn ia a ffa irs ; but it wa s dissolved in 1 827
According to Ba ncroft,“Sola’s inclina tions were to be a
gentleman , wise, public- spirited, libera l, brave, dign ified , buta ffable. Under favorable circumstances he might have madethose qua lities the prominent characteristics of his rule ; but
the first wave of adversity swept them away leav ing a peev
ish, despotic, egotistic, and ill- tempered old man . He was
fond of children and pa id much a ttention to the schoolboysin Monterey. He wa s, moreover, kindhea rted and honora
ble.
” Ca non Fernandez became v icar of the Bishop of
Durango and as such lived at Santa Fe, New Mexico, from1 82 5
Ma rtia ren a , November 24th, to the Diputa cion ,December
9th, 182 2 . Archb. Arch. , nos . 1 3 79 ; 1 3 86.
3“Alama n ,
“Historia de Mej ico, tom. v lib. 1 1 , capp. v, vrr,
viii, ix, x ; Ba n croft, “Mexico,
”iv, capp. xxxr-xxxiii .
3 ° Ba ncroft, iii, p . 3 .
Bancroft, 1 1 , 472 -473 .
3 3 H e wa s a worldling, a nd not averse to gambling, the rulingpa ssion of the Mexica ns and Ca liforn ia n s of tha t period ; but thecha rge of immora lity comes w ith a poor gra ce from the Va llejosand Alva rados. It is too much even for Bancroft. Nor didH ittell discover any ev idence in the a rchives, otherw ise he wouldnot have fa iled to a va il himself of the opportun ity for a tira dea ga inst priests a nd religious. Bancroft, iii, 73 7.
CHAPTER X .
Forfeiture of a Privilege— Decis ion of the Bishops of Mexico.
Discouraging Letter of the Fr. Gua rdian — The M issions Contribute a s Before — Fr. Payera s Counsels Submission — MoreCon tribution s Dema nded— Indolen t Tr00ps.
— Disgust of the
Fa thers — First Legisla ture Imposes Taxes — Prohibited Books.
— Argiiello’
s Proclama tion — Books Destroyed - Rea sons Therefor.
— Dea th of Fr. Payera s.- Bancroft’s Lavish Pra ise — Dea th
of Fr. Sefia n .— Bancroft’s View .
— Fr. Ser‘ ian to Have BeenHistorian .
E result of withdrawing from subjection to the KingSpa in was immediately felt in both Mexico and
Ca liforn ia . This was the forfeiture of the privileges whichthe Popes had granted to the Span ish monarchs through theBula Crusada .
‘ Among these was the permission to eat
fleshmeat on days prohibited, in considera tion of a sma ll
annua l contribution for a certifica te ca lled Bula , and
which entitled the holder to use such privilege. The moneywas collected and the
“Bulas” delivered to the donors by
government officia ls. The amount thus collected wa s turnedover to the government. Fr. Sarria at Monterey ca lled thea ttention of the soldiers to this fea ture of independence, as
the other Fa thers probably did elsewhere.
2 To quiet theconsciences of the m e in Mexico, and at the request of
1 See Appendix D .
2 Fr. Ramon Abella to Fr. M . Payera s, M ay 2 3 rd, Sta . Ba rb.Arch.
” “Ca l. St. Pap., Sacramen to, xv iii, 2 2 . Bancroft,
ii, 453 , on the authority of Va llejo says tha t $012 , in couse
quence, excused the soldiers from religious serv ice! Tha t showshow little Va llejo had studied his religious ca techism. Wha t5012 an swered Fr. Abella , a ccording to above letter, wa s , “Ellos(Soldados ) son Cristianos ; ha n de oir M isa .
” “The soldiers a re
Christia n s ; they must bea r Ma ss. The reader w ill plea se bea r inmind tha t Ma riano Va llejo wa s the Muenchhausen of ea rly Ca liforn ia , w ith this differen ce tha t Muenchhausen lied for diversion and
ha rmed no one, Va llejo lied through ma lice.
1 62 Missions and M issionaries of Ca lifornia
dente Sanchez on September 1 1th, The practice wasobserved in Ca liforn ia while Mexican rule lasted.
Meanwhile both Fr. Comisa rio Prefecto Payeras and Fr.
Presidente Sefian were afflicted with diseases which soon
ca rried them away. Fr. Senan had been a iling for yea rs, butcontinued in cha rge of San Buenaventura . There was no
help for it, because the College could send no relief. We
sha ll understa nd the situation better through an extract of
a letter addressed to Fr. Sef'ia n by Fr. Payéras on June 29th,1 82 2 , quoted on pages 89-91 , chapter v . Even Ex-Gov
ernor Sola promised “to represent to the Supreme Govern
ment the extreme need of more priests, a s most of those inthe territory were exhausted either from infirmity or old
age, so tha t they could not fulfill their duties ; nor could thefew young Fa thers attend to so many missions.
” 7 The prospeets of receiving a id from the College, however, were not
encouraging. A letter from Fr. Pr. Agustin Gartjo, who a fterthe dea th of Fr. Gua rdian José Gasol filled out the unex
Signa ture of Fr. Agustin Gut-110.
pired term under the title of presidente- in -capite, only deepened the gloom.
“I can do nothing more,”he writes to Fr.
Payeras,““than repea t what the late Fr. Guardian has at
va rious times sa id in reply to your petitions, because we
find ourselves in the same and even in a worse predicamen t.The College has not enough friars to perform the ordinaryduties. Severa l a re unfit for service by reason of advanced
° “Sta . Barb. Arch.
7 8016. to Fr. Escudé, September loth, 182 2 . Cal. Arch.,St.
Pap. , Sacramen to, xviii, 52 .
Fr. Garuo to Fr. Payera s, Ja nuary l st, 182 3 . Sta . Ba rb . Arch.
”
College ; Death of FF. Payeras and Seflan 1 63
age or infirmities, yet they find themselves under the neces
sity of having to toil as though they were youths in orderto susta in our good name. Nevertheless, their efforts fa ilto silence the cutting and dissolute tongues which un fortu
nately abound in public and private, and whose venom ap
pea rs also in public print. Only God knows the anguishand bitterness that weighs down our spirit. Your Reverencemust not think that I exaggerate ; on the contra ry, the
rea lity is far worse than I can say. The worst of it is tha twe can discover no nook in whole Christendom where wecould breathe freely, otherw ise you may take it for grantedtha t no one would stay at the College, even though it werenecessa ry to cross the sea s. We are a ll convinced tha t theleast oppressed a re those who reside in Upper Ca liforn ia .
The Church of God is facing the most furious storms moreor less everywhere according to the greater or sma ller num
ber of infidel philosophers and Libera ls, and the more or
less numerous sins which Almighty God is pun ishing.
“I am anxiously awa iting the arriva l of Vicente de 8015 ;perhaps he can obta in some help from Congress, which hasthus fa r not taken up the subject of missions. As to thosewho wish to retire, they are very much deceived if theyexpect to improve their lot at the College. In my opin ionthe College will soon come to an end, beca use it can hope
for no recruits from Spa in . I f God send no remedy the
same fate will befa ll the missions. Here we have no choicebutto suffer and awa it God’s good plea sure w ith resignation .
I f those Fa thers do not feel inclined to make the sacrificeswe a ll are making for the love of God, by rema in ing at
their post, as I beseech you for the sake of Christ, and for
the sake of the tender Christianity of the Indians, YourReverence may grant permission to retire as sha ll seem bestto you before God ; but let them understand tha t they willnot find tranquillity either at the College or anywhere else.
“The Government has asked me for a minute report with
rega rd to the number of religious in the missions and the
funds w ith which they ma inta in themselves. I have replied
1 64 Missions and M issionaries of Ca lifornia
to the emperor tha t the funds and capita l consist of annua lstipends and of dra fts for produce furn ished the soldiersin Ca liforn ia , but that the former have not been pa id sincethe yea r 18 1 1 , and the latter since 1810. I have reported a ll
that is to be said about the missions. Until now, a fter twomonths, nothing has come of it. I was a lso asked about thesta te of the College. Besides giving the number and condition and occupation of the friars, I expla ined that we haveno other funds than those of Divine Providence for our sub
sistence ; and that, owing to circumstances which are man ifest to every one, the a lms have decreased considerably, so
that we have come to such a pass that we must look forloans in order to procure food. This is true, my dear Fr.
Prefecto. Notwithstanding the strictest economy, the Collegeis mortgaged to such a degree that it may not be pa id, because the debt is increa sing from day to day. For thisrea son I was impelled to ask our Brethren in Ca liforn ia to
help us to food by accepting some‘ intention s’ for holy
Ma sses ; but knowing that by rea son of unpa id dra fts and
stipends you are yourselves distressed I refra ined from
soliciting the favor. So, because of the sca rcity of men and
means, a nd between eating little and toiling much, you can
guess wha t may happen to the College.
The change of governors in Ca lifornia brought no relieffor the missions from forced contributions to the milita ry.
“The duty of the padres to make up the deficiencies in
prov incial revenues, says Bancroft,” “had come to be te
ga rded largely as a ma tter of course. However, Argiiello’
s
demands were not clothed in the overbearing and sometimesoffensive terms which 5015 had employed. The missionswere still compelled to accept worthless dra fts for a ll sup
Ba ncroft and H ittéll persistently use the terms padres, friarsand missiona ries in this connection instead of stating tha t theIndian s were the rea l sufierers, because the rea l owners. But
tha t would not fit in the plan of those historians which is to
make it appear tha t the fria rs were landlords who managed fortheir own aggrandizemen t.Ca liforn ia , ii, 487; 479.
1 66 Missions and Missionaries of California
I llumina ti in accord w ith foreigners, whose purpose is disorgan ization and ana rchy in these bea utiful countries whichprobably are a lso in the scheme of the Sect. Time willtell .” 1 ’
Although the Fathers made light of their own discomforts,they keenly felt the helplessness of their neophytes, who hadto slave for the indolent troopers whilst these played the
lords of the land . Might was right w ith the Ca liforniansa nd Mexicans, as well as with the Span iards before them.
To save the ma in property, at least, for their Indians, Fr.
Payéras counseled submission to the inev itable.
“I believe,”
he writes in a circula r calling for corn and ma ntéca for the
Monterey presidio, “that we should sacrifice the less in orderto save the greater. I f on account of the sma ll harvest werefuse to give, they will impose on us tithes of a ll, and the
tr00ps will obta in in abundance wha t they now ask withsome moderation .
”
A month later Fr. Payeras wrote to the Fathers, At therequest of Governor Luis de Arguello I forwa rd to YourReverences the clamorous demands of the well-deservingtr00ps .
”As usua l the Fathers merely sign their names to
the circula r when it arrives at their missions, but Fr. Duranvolunteered the rema rk,
“if all tha t is demanded must be
furnished, the Indians will have to go hungry.
”
Here is a sample order for supplies from Comandante Joséde la Guerra of Santa Ba rba ra , which the five missions of his
jurisdiction were expected to provide : 1 100 fanega s of corn ;
1 8 Fr. Duran rea lly outlined the condition s of Spa in and Mexicofor more tha n ha lf a cen tury a fter, and in Ca liforn ia down to
the a rriva l of the America n s. The Sect” is still in con trol of
Mexico, France a nd Portuga l, and striv ing ha rd for the masteryin Ita ly a nd Spa in , never for the benefit of the ma sses, but a s in
Portuga l, to ven t its a theism and its ha tred for the Church.
1 4 Fr. Payera s, “Circula r,” December 4th, 182 2 .
“Archb. Arch.,
no. 1 3 82 . Argiiello to Fr. Payera s,December loth, 182 2 .
“Archb.
Arch. ; 11 0. 1 3 83 .
1 5 Fr. Payera s, “Circula r, January 4th, 1 82 3 . Archb. Arch. ,
no. 1416.
College ; Death of FF. Payeras and Scfian 1 67
207 fs. of beans ; 700 cufietes de manteca ; 1 3 00 p. of soap ;2 20 pa irs of shoes ; 100 blankets ; 20 knapsacks ; 20 sidearms ; 10 shields ; five lea ther jackets ; 60 pa irs of ga iters ;80 yards of serge, etc.
“ It will be observed that in thisand similar orders the military demanded many things whichthe missions could not produce, such as iron and a rticlesmade of iron or steel. The mission s had to purcha se thesefrom trading vessels at a high price, plus twelve per cent.duty, and then deliver them to the ga rrisons or to the gov
cruor ; in return they received unredeemable dra fts. The
Indian establishrnents would ha ve prospered to a wonderfuldegree in tempora l ma tters, and the Fathers could have foundleisure to devote themselves more to the Christian educa tionof their wa rds, had they received payment for what theyfurn ished to the presidios. As it was, the chief anxiety of
the missionaries was how to keep the Indians quiet at theirtoil in order to satisfy the soldiery and make ends meet atthe missions.
The troops might have helped themselves to a grea t extent ,at lea st, and thus ea sed the burden of the Fathers. Theypossessed ca ttle and might have had some land, and actua llysome occupied tracts of la nd sufficient for ga rden ing. Yet
the new governor, Luis dc Arguello, on Februa ry 1 3 th, 182 3 ,writes to Fr. Payeras,
“Since I have arrived here at thispresidio of Monterey in January, there have been nothingbut lamentations on account of the grea t sca rcity of soapfrom which every individua l of this company is suffering,
for the lowest figure at which the habilitado could furn ishtha t materia l to them was at two raffles, and the cheapestkind at one real . A sma ll matter, indeed , but necessary forthe clean liness of their numerous families .
” 1 7
A month a fter this pla int, and at the request of ‘
Argiiello,
Fr. Payéra s sent a list of goods and other a rticles which ea ch
mission , save that of San Ca rlos, dona ted outright. The
1 ° José de la Guerra to Fr. Payera s, Ja nuary 17th, 182 3 . Archb.
110. 142 3 .
1 7Argiiello to Fr. Payera s. Archb. Arch., 11 0 . 1428.
1 68 Missions andM issionaries of California
goods included clothing, shoes, ha ts, blankets, stockings,gra in , pea s, beans, soap, and mules with their saddles and
bridles. San Fernando instead donated Purisima , Fr.
Payéra s’
s own mission , gave
The Fathers, of course, had to be on the lookout for goodba rga ins with trading ships so as to dispose of some of the
mission produce and receive needed articles and ca sh in
retum . Iron wa s one of the a rticles desired most, but itcould be procured only at a la rge discount. Both the gov
ernor and the Fr. Prefect, says Bancroft, entered with some
enthusiasm in to the plans of some English traders from
Lima , and in July 182 2 an advantageous contract was con
cluded for three yea rs from January l st, 1 82 3 . A scale of
prices was arranged with Fr. Payeras a fter consulting withthe other fria rs. The Fr. Prefecto closely attended to the
interests of the missions because, as he sa id,“the times have
changed, and the day has long pa ssed when hides and ta llowcould be had for nothing.
” By the terms of the contractthe company, represented by Hugh McCulloch and WilliamE. P. Hartnell, were bound to send at least one vessel each
year to touch at each ha rbor and roadstea d, to take a ll the
hides offered and at least arrobas or 3 1 2 tons of ta l
low, and to pay either in money or in such goods as mightbe desired. Whilst Mcculloch returned to Lima , Hartnellrema ined to manage the business. He later became a Ca tholic and a prominent resident of the province.
“
From Fr. Sanchez’s letter mentioned on pp. 104- 105 we
can in fer how the missionaries must have loa thed a life whichcompelled them to assume the roles of fa rmers, clerks, storekeepers, and mechan ics . It was bad enough to have to do
1 3 Fr. Payera s to Arguello, Ma rch 1 3 th,182 3 .
“Archb. Arch. ,
no. 143 6.
1 9 The tariff prices were : Hides, $1 each, la rge or sma ll ; whea t,$3 per fa nega ; ta llow , $2 an a rroba ; suet, $3 ; man teca , $4; soap,$16 per cen ta l ; beef in pickle, including bone, $4 per cen ta l.Other a rticles for which no price is noted were horn s, hemp,w ine, bra ndy, sa ffron for dyeing skin s, etc. Bancroft, 1 1 , 475-476 ;
Hittell, 1 1 , 72 .
1 70 Missions and M issiona ries of California
the declara tion of Mexican independence this institution wa s
abolished, and in consequence the floodgates of immora l andanti-Christian press productions stood w ide Open . The dam
age became soon apparent ; but the rulers in neither Mexiconor Ca liforn ia had as yet become so de-Christia n ized as not
to ca re whether Religion and virtue thrived or suffered.
Emperor Iturbide, accordingly, on September 17th, 182 2 , directed the bishops to have the follow ing books prohibitedand confisca ted wherever found : The Wa r of the Gods ;The Origin of a ll Worship ; The Ruin s of Pa lmira ; ElCitador Sane Reason ; El Compadre Ma teo ; Familia r L etters ; Letter to the Pope, a nd The System of Na ture. Fr.
Presidente Sefian , as vica rio foraneo, published the order of
the Bishop of Sonora in Ca liforn ia during the month of
M ay, 1 82
I n the following yea r Governor Arguello felt it his dutyto issue a bando or proclamation on the same subject “
In
asmuch,”he a nnounced to the people of the territory, a s it
has come to my notice, tha t some individua ls of this province, native or foreign , are in possession of seditious papersand books, pa rticula rly such as a re aga inst the Ca tholic,Apostolic, Roman Fa ith and Religion , and aga inst the government; and ina smuch as this is a ma tter over which we
above a ll must wa tch, because we have inherited from our
fa thers this Fa ith which is the on ly one that leads to the
sa lva tion of our souls ; in accord with the Rev . Fr. Presidente Vicente Francisco de Sa rr1a , I hereby orda in that,without any exception as to the persons who may dwell inthis land, a ll deliver up sa id papers and books to the nearestpastor, so tha t he may examine whether they are forbiddenor not, in order tha t he may decide concern ing them wha tis most a greeable to our holy Religion , which we profess,etc.
” 3 "
On ly three months la ter, a s Fr. Sa rr1a wrote to the Bishop
2 3 B ishop Berna rdo to Fr. Sefian , October 3 l st, 1 822 ; Fr. Seflan ,
“Circula r,” May 1 2 th, 182 3 .
“Sta . Ba rb. Arch.
”See Appendix E.
sa “ca l. Arch., Dep. St . Pap., Sa n 1 056. iv, P 62
College ; Death of FF. Payeras and Sefian 1 7 1
of Sonora , it was discovered tha t in the house of an Englishman named Amel," who genera lly lived at Monterey, butwa s then travelling through the country, there were threevolumes of Volta ire, one of the v ilest of v ile French writers.
Fr. Sa rr1a on receiv ing them consign ed them to the flames.
”
Tha t much damage was done by such works is ev iden t fromthe conduct of the young men who composed the Ca liforn ialegislative a ssemblies, and a s governors un fortunately con
trolled the territory until driven out by the Americans.
Such a tota l disregard for Religion and its min isters and for
the rights of the Indians could never have actua ted men who
had lea rned even the rudiments of Religion thoroughly, and
had not been sa turated with the vile products of Frenchinfidels. That the mora ls of the readers of such anti-Christian works suffered correspondingly may be ga thered fromthe biographica l sketches furn ished by Bancroft. It willthere be seen , wha t we experience to the present day, tha tthe loudest decla imers aga inst the friars were likewise amongthe uncleanest as to priva te mora ls as well as the most nuscrupulous in the ma tter of mission tempora lities.
Ca liforn ia was now to lose two of her most noble men ,
Fr. Comisa rio-Prefecto Mariano Payeras and Fr. PresidenteJosé Sefian . The former, a fter receiv ing the Sacramen tsrepeatedly in his la st illness, died at Mission Purisima Concepcion on April 2 8th, 1 82 3 , at the age of on ly fifty- threeyears, seven months, and eighteen days. The rema ins were
3 4William Ha rtnell, doubtless. He la ter join ed the Ca tholicChurch, a s we have a lready sta ted elsewhere.
3 5 Fr. Sa rria to Bishop Berna rdo, April 19th, 1824. Sta . Ba rb.Arch.
”Fr. Sa rria to Argiiello, February 1 1th, 1824.
“Archb.
Arch. , no. 1 592 . This a ction ga ve H ittell a n opportun ity for a
dia tribe aga in st the “in tolerance” of the Ca tholic Church. Yet
she ha s a s much right a s the Sta te to sa fegua rd her childrenaga inst in tellectua l a nd mora l poison . The Un ited Sta tes Government, for in sta nce, w ill not ca rry immora l ma tter through the
ma il. It is on ly the in tolera n t “Libera ls” who ra ve at so wise a
mea sure. Yet none a re so in tolera n t a s those very “Libera ls”when they obta in con trol of the governmen t.
1 72 M issions and Missionaries of California
buried next day under the pulpit of the mission church.
“
There was no missiona ry with whose public life and character for the pa st eight years the reader is better acqua intedthan with tha t of Fr. Payeras,
”says Bancroft."
“There wasno fria r of better and more even ba lanced ability in the
province. He was persona lly a popula r man on account ofhis a ffable manners, kindness of hea rt, and unselfish devotion to the welfa re of al l. It was itnpossible to quarrel w ithhim, and even Governor Solé’s peevish and annoying oom
pla ints never ruffled his ternper. Yet he had extraordinarybusiness ability, wa s a clear and forcible as well as a
voluminous writer, and witha l a man of great strength of
mind and firmness of character. He wa s ca lled to rule the
friars during a trying period, when it would have requiredbut a trifle to involve the padres and soldiers in a quarrelfa ta l to the missions. With much of La suen
’
s suavity and
none of Serra’
s bigotry ( l) , he had a ll the sea l of the la tterand more than the shrewdness of the former. His death justat this time, in the prime of life, must be considered as a
grea t misfortune.
The office of comisario prefecto cea sed with the deathof the incumbent, but Fr. José Sefian as presidente now be
came the head of the missions.
“Fr. Payeras, he writes in
a circular announcing the death of the Fr. Prefect,“left us
edifying examples of his love of God, piety, attachment toReligion , con formity to the div ine will, and of a ll virtues.
H is dea th is therefore very much felt by all, especia lly byme, who for so long a time enjoyed so little hea lth. In
comprehensible a re the judgments of God, and unsearchable
H is ways . Just as I felt happy at the prospect of beingrelieved of the office of presidente by the coming chapter.
N Libro de Entierros of M ission Purisima .
3 ' Vol. 1 1 , 489-490. Though, ordina rily, extravagan t pra ise froman infidel for a religious is exceedingly suspicious, we reproduceBancroft’s view of Fr. Payeras because in the ma in it happen s toagree with the truth, barring the historian ’s unca lled-for fling at
Fr. Serra , whom he ha tes with the an imosity of a genuineVolta irian .
College ; Death of FF. Payeras and Scfian 1 73
and thus en joying somewhatmore tranquillity during the lastyea rs of my life, as I had supplicated, I see myself assaultedby tha t from which I tried to flee ; and wha t my soul wouldnot touch, now to my anguish has become my food. Be it sofor the love of God, and mayest Thou, O Lord, do as Thouwilt on ea rth as in heaven . I direct Your Reverencesa ll to apply the twenty holy Masses according to our compactfor the soul of the deceased .
”
Fr. Sefian survived Fr. Payéras (mly four months, for hetoo pa ssed to his rewa rd from his Mission San Buenaventuraon August 24th, 182 3 . He had reached the age of sixty- threeyea rs, five months, and twenty-one days. The body was la idto rest in the sanctuary of the mission church on the nextday.
” At the time of his death he was the on ly one of the
fria rs who had come to Ca liforn ia before 1790. Bancroftsays “he was a model missionary, resembling Payeras in manyof his excellencies, but un like the la tter shrinking from the
ca res and responsibilities of officia l life. He wa s the superiorof Payera s in schola rship, his equal in the qua lities thatmake a successful missionary, but inferior as a politicianand leader, and somewhat more of a religioso than was
Payera s. He disliked to issue orders or a ssume authority,but was a lways ready to respond to the frequent ca lls of hisconfreres for advice. He was sometimes n icknamed PadreCa lma .
‘n He was familiar with the language of the India nsabout San Buen aventura . During his first term a s presidentehe managed the interests of the missions with much
“Fr. J . Sefian ,
“Circula r, April 2 9th, 182 3 . Sta . Barb. Arch.
Fr. Sefian to Argiiello, April 29th, May 6th, 182 3 .
“Archb. Arch.,
nos. 1443 ; 1444.
3 ° Libro dc En tierros of M ission Sa n Buenaven tura . Fr. Sa r
ria to Argiiello, September 7th, 182 3 .
“Archb. no. 1466.
3 0Tha t is why Bancroft found such lavish pra ise for Fr. Pa
yéras ; but the historian misunderstood Fr. Payera s a ltogether.
Fr. Sefia n’s report describes Fr. Payéras
’s cha ra cter correctly.
3 1 for his even temper. Bancroft, ii, 491 . We have not foundthe appella tion a nywhere else.
3 2 During '
the second term Fr. Payera s ranked him a s comisarioand a ttended to the externa l governmen t of the missions.
1 74. M issions and M issionaries of California
Most Rev . Fr. Bestard, Commissa ry-Genera l of the Indies,in 1 8 18 directed Fr. Sefian to write a history of the Ca liforn iamission s, but it is not known wha t progress he made if any
on this ta sk.
“ We have discovered nothing tha t indicated a
beginn ing on the work. On August 1 4th just a fter receiv ingExtreme Unction , Fr. Sefian dictated a long letter to Fr.
Blas Ordaz, who a ttended the dying Fr. Presidente. The
document wa s addressed to Fr. Ex-Comisario-Prefecto Vicente de Sarr1a , and named him presidente ad interim.
“
8 3 Fr. J . B . Besta rd to Fr. Gua rdia n L 6pez, August 29th, 18 18 ; Fr.
L 6pez to Fr. Se ‘
r'
ia n, April 2 6th, 181 9.
“Sta . Ba rb. Arch.
3 4 Fr. Ser'
xa n to Argiiello, August 1 3 th; Fr. Sefian to Fr. Sa rr1 a ,August 14th, 1 82 3 .
“Archb. Arch. , nos . 1457, 1 458. Fr. Sa rria
to Arguello, September 7th, 182 3 .
“Archb. Arch., no. 1466.
Bancroft, ii, 49 1 , ha s things mixed w ith regard to the success ion .
Fr. Sa rrié wa s merely presiden te un til the College named a suc
cessor. The office could of right not belong to Fr. Ja ime, un less
he had been n amed vice- presiden te by the College. Of this thereis no eviden ce. Nor is it likely, for Fr. Ja ime wa s crippled w ithrheuma tism a nd a lways a iling.
1 76 M issions and M issionaries of Ca lifornia
Governor Arguello, Bancroft thinks, on Ma rch 23 rd, 1 82 3 ,drew up a memorial urging the transfer of Mission San
Francisco. It wa s presented to the first territorial legislatureat Monterey in April. 1
The diputacion or legisla tive assembly of six men , who
rea lly had nothing to do w ith the ma tter, on April 9th not
only voted in favor of the change, but decreed that themission sta tion of San Ra fael should a lso be removed and
with Mission San Francisco loca ted on a new site in the
coun try of the Peta luma s or of the Canica'
imos, in other
words, that both should be suppressed and a new missionsta rted. The diputa cion went further, and proposed the
suppression of the missions of Santa Cruz and San Ca rlos,but fa iled to agree.
’ These mea sures were a ll beyond the
province of the half dozen men who composed the a ssembly ;for the missions were ecclesiastica l institutions, under governmenta l protection , it is true, but not governmenta l establishments. At any rate, as Fr. Sarr1a rema rked the decrees hadno binding force until approved by the Mexican government,to which Arguello referred them next day.
When Fr. Amoros of San Ra fael hea rd of the resolutionto suppress his post, where he wa s feeding, clothing, and
instructing eight hundred Indian converts, he on May 1 7th
sent a protest to Governor Arguello aga inst the transferwhich he decla red unrea sonable and un just, in that the la teFr. Comisa rio-Prefecto, during his v isit on October 19th,
1 82 2 , had decreed tha t San Ra fael in everything should be
1 Fr. Altimira to Fr. S ,efia n July 10th, 182 3 .
“Archb. Arch. ,
no. 1463 . Ba ncroft thinks it not improbable tha t the rea l motiveof Argiiello and Canon Fernandez w a s to throw the few fertileran chos south of San Francisco in to the ha nds of settlers.
2 Fr. Sa rria to Fr. Sefla n , April 2 3 rd, 182 3 . Sta . Ba rb. Arch.
Those pa isano politicians began the work of reform quiteea rly. They had read their politica l ca techism thoroughly a nd
felt themselves above the Church a lready. Wha t follows are
only developments on the same line.
1 78 Missions and M issionaries of California
independen t of Mission San Francisco.
‘ Nevertheless, without wa iting for the approva l of the Fr. Presidente, now thatFr. Payera s had pa ssed away, Fr. Altimira with FranciscoCastro, one of the six deputies, and n ineteen men underEnsign José Sénchez, embarked on June 2 5th for the pur
pose oi establishing the proposed mission . They spent then ight at San Ra fael, and next day set out to explore the
country for a favorable site. They went by way of Olompa li, examined the va lleys of Peta luma , Sonoma , Napa , and
Suisun , and fina lly on July 3 rd returned to Sonoma . Herethey determined to loca te the new establishment, becausethey thought the place best adapted by rea son of its climate,abundance of timber, stone, and water. Fr. Altimira nextmorn ing ra ised and blessed the cross and site, celebrated holyMa ss, and thus on July 4th, a lbeit illega lly, la id the foundation for the new Mission of San Francisco.
“All the people
were told,”he writes highly elated to Fr. Sefian ,
“tha t infuture this place would be ca lled ‘
New San Francisco The
expedition then returned to Mission Dolores where on July1 6th the friar dated his dia ry and report.“
I f the Fr. Presidente was amazed at the summa ry and
illega l manner in which the legisla tive a ssembly had disposedof the subject of mission founding and mission suppressionw ithout con sulting the Supreme Government in Mexico, a s
he wrote to Fr. Sa rria, he was fa irly astounded at the
audacity of Fr. Altimira . While he lay dying at San Buenaventura , Fr. Sef'ian on August 14th dicta ted to Fr. BlasOrdaz a long letter full of minute instructions for Fr. Sarria.
The document may be ca lled his testamen t, for he died ten
Queda esta en todo independien te de la M ision de N . P. S.
Fra ncisco.
”Fr. Amor6s to Argiiello, M ay 1 7th, 182 3 . Archb.
no. 1 447. See a lso Fr. Amor6s to Argiiello, June 26th,182 3 . Archb. no. 1453 .
He cla imed tha t Argiiello had ordered him to proceed at once
to plan the mission , which, of course, wa s no excuse, a s in such
things he wa s not subject to the governor.
5 “Archb. Arch., no. 1463 . Altimira ,“Dia rio. Ca liforn ia M ss.
Bancroft Collection .
1 80 M issions and Missionaries of California
about the matter. My dea r Fa ther, no one perhaps will surpass me in zea l for extending the glory of the Holy Nameof the Lord by means of the light of His Holy Gospel ; butYour Reverence knows tha t this zeal must be secsmdm
scientism.
‘ I f it must be aga inst charity and its sweetfmit— peace, then let us put it aside or at least postpone it,the former for the sake of the latter 1 ° which is more
necessa ry.
” ‘ 1
Meanwhile at the end of July Arguello asked Fr. Altimira
why he had not effected the transfer of Mission Dolores.
He was told tha t it was impossible to begin operations withoutthe neophytes of San Ra fael, because the number of thoseat Mission San Francisco was not ha lf sufficien t. Fr. Al
timira a lso went to Monterey, ha rdly with the permission of
his prela te, to consult with the governor. Argiiello directedhim not to await the Superior’s orders, but to make a be
ginn ing at once. On August 4th Argiiello a lso sent corn
munications of simila r import to Fr. Presidente Sefian , to
Fr. Amoros of San Ra fael, and to the comandante of the pre
sidio of San Francisco. Strange to rela te, Fr. Altimira on
August 1 2th accompan ied Lieutena nt Ignacio Martinez across
the bay, took possession of the mission property by inventory,and returned to Mission Dolores. On the 2 3 rd he startedout for Sonoma with an escort of twelve men , who ca rriedfive hundred cartridges, an artilleryman who was to manage
a ca nnon of two pound calibre, and a force of neophyte laborers. They arrived at New San Francisco on the 2 5th of
August, and at once began work on a grana ry, irrigatingditch, corra l, and other necessary structures. Good progress
“according to wisdom.
’ glory for the Holy Name.
1 ° cha rity. “Non potest aedifica ri regnurn Dei super ruinam charita tis,” Pope Piux X . decla res . With this Fr. Sa rrifi
’
s coun sel is quitein a ccord.
1 1 Fr. Sa rria to Fr. Altimira , August 2 3d, 182 3 . Archb. Arch.,
no. 1461 .
Mission Solano ; Fr. Sarrié’s Protest 1 8 1
was made for a week, when on August 3 l st Fr. Sa rr1a 3letter just quoted changed the situation .
“
Bancroft des cribes Fr. Altimira’
s state of mind a fter the
receipt of Fr. Sa rria’
s letter as“furious.
”The terms and
tone of a long, wild commun ica tion which the self-willed
Signa ture of P r. Jose Altimira .
young fria r addressed to Governor Arguello on the same
day justifies the word. Recounting what had occurred, andtha t he was obliged to interrupt the work, he compla inedmost bitterly of the way in which he had been treated, andof the
“frivolous difficulties” put in the way by the mission
ary of an unprofitable asistencrb 1 ' through“underhand
efforts, and the a id of“con federa te padres . The Fr.
Presidente he goes on , had obstinately kept silent, thoughnot worse in hea lth than usua l and perfectly able 1“to con
firm the orders of his predecessor. The con federa tes wereall blind to the circumstances and had exerted themselves inthe office of Sa tan by throwing obstacles in the way of a
great enterprise, especia lly Fr. Duran .
“ The new presidente,too, seemed to be one of the plotters, inasmuch as he had
compla ined tha t his permission should have been awa ited,though a ll mighthave died before it came. The angry youngfriar then concluded in substance as follows : “I wish to
know whether the diputacion has any authority in this prov
1 ’ “Ca l. Arch., St. Pap. xi, 546 ; M ission s 1 1 , 2 69 ; Bancroft, 1 1 ,
500-501 .
1 3 H e wa s wrong ; Sa n Ra fael was a mission at this da te.
1 4 Ban croft ha s prefect." There was no prefect at the time.
1 5 When Fr. Altimira wrote Fr. Sefian had a lrea dy expired.1 ° He wa s the missiona ry of Miss ion San Jose.
1 82 M issions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
ince, and if these men ca n overthrow Your Honor’s wiseprovision .
" I came here to convert gentiles and to establish new missions . I f I cannot do it here, where as we a ll
agree is the best spot in Ca liforn ia for the purpose, I willleave the country.
” 1 °
In reply to his a ssumptions Fr. Sarn a from San Juan Bautista , where he had held a conference with Fr. Tapis and
other Fa thers, addressed a long letter of eight pages folioto the governor. The ma in points a re the follow ing. Afterexpla in ing tha t a s presidente ad interim he disliked to givepositive orders, he insists l st, tha t the New Constitution of
Mexico does not change the old laws and usages which intrusted the whole ma tter of founding, suppressing, or mov ingof missions and the appointment of missionaries to the re
spective prela te, and that therefore the diputacion had no
authority on the subject .— 2 nd. The origina l decree of the
diputacion provided that Mission San Francisco a long withSan Ra fael should be transferred to the country of the
Peta lumas or of the Canicaimos, wherea s now w ithout consulting the Superior of the mission s another loca lity is
selected at the word of one friar. What would Capta in Argiiello say if in milita ry matters at the dicta tes of a priva tesoldier, and he a visiona ry, the loca tion of a fortifica tionsettled by the milita ry authorities were changed — 3 rd.
Through the transfer a wrong is committed aga in st the neo
phytes of San Ra fael, who, now under the new order of
things being citizens and on a n equa lity with white men ,
1 " A right libera l v iew of Sta te authority. It would seem
from this, a nd the cha rges Fr. Altimira makes aga in st Fa thersDurén a nd Amor6s, tha t un tamed pa ssion and ba ffled van ity haddeprived the young man of his rea son temporarily. He showedtha t the “glory of the Holy Name
”had not been the prime motive
for wa n ting to start a mission .
1 ° Fr. Altimira to Argiiello, August 3 l st, 182 3 . We use Ban
croft’s version very much because Fr. Altimira’s commun ica tions
were written on the poorest pa per and in pla ces a lmost illegiblewhen we examined them. Archb. Arch., no. 1464; Bancroft,1 1 , 501 -502 .
1 84. M issions and Missionaries of California
pression of San Ra fael, and he seems to have consented
readi enough to a compromise suggested by the Fr. Presidente. By the terms of this arrangement the Fr. Presidentea llowed the new foundation to continue as a mission , thoughhe declared the action of the diputacion a
“grave in jury con
tra ry to the regu lar order.
” 3 ’ He a lso appointed Fr. Al
timira the regula r missiona ry of the new mission subject tothe approva l of the College ; but neither Old San Francisconor San Ra fael should be suppressed . Moreover Fr. Altimira
should continue a ssociate missiona ry of the former. Neo
phytes might volunta rily go from Old San Francisco to the
new establishment, and also from San José and San Ra fael,provided they had origina lly come from the Sonoma region ,
and prov ided a lso that in the case of San Ra fael the neo
phytes might return at any time w ithin a yea r. New con
verts might come from any direction and join the missionwhich they preferred .
"
Thereupon Fr. Altimira was permitted to take up his
qua rters at Sonoma ; but he was not entirely satisfied. To
his friend, the governor, he compla ined about the neighboringmissionaries (especia lly Fr. Duran whom he wanted silenced ) ,because they would not furn ish a ll the customary a id. He
wanted some show of milita ry power to inspire the gentileswith respect . Too much liberty, he a lso thought, was grantedto the neophytes in the matter of choosing their abode.
All this shows tha t the independence for which he appa rently had longed fa iled to bring the happiness which he hadexpected . Nor need we wonder that good Fr. Sa rria had toreport tha t Indians were runn ing away from Sonoma , because they disliked Fr. Altimira ’s ways.
“ Deta ils about this
” “grave injuria con tra el debido orden que la rige.
3 ’ Fr. Sa rria to Arguello, September 1 2 th; 3 0th, 182 3 . Archb.
nos. 1467; 1475.
3 4 He desired, it seems, wha t the fria rs had thus fa r dreadedto live a lone.
3 5 Fr. Sa rria to Argiiello, October 18th, 1 82 3 . Bancroft, n , 504.
Mission Solano ; Fr. Sa rrié’s Protest 1 85
last of the Ca lifornia missions will be found in the loca lanna ls, however.
Return ing to the civil a ffa irs of the territory we have torela te tha t, on the receiptof the news of Iturbide’s overthrowin Mexico, Governor Argiiello aga in assembled the diputacion at Monterey on Janua ry 7th, 1824. It was composedof the same deputies tha t had formed the legisla tive assemblyin the previous yea r, save tha t José Ca stro took the placeof Ortega , and that Secretary Haro was supplanted by JoséJoaquin de la Torre. The military commanders José de laGuerra , José Mariano Estrada , José Ramirez, and SantiagoArgiiello a lso took part ; but though Fr. Presidente Sarriawas stationed within six miles of Monterey he was not in
vited to the delibera tion a s on a former occa sion . Aftervoting down a proposition to join a federa tion which was toembrace Nueva Vizcaya , New Mexico, and both Ca liforn ias,the diputacion on January 8th adopted a kind of constitutionor plan for the government of the interna l afia irs of UpperCa liforn ia . This provisiona l constitution conta ined four titlesGovernment, M ilita ry Force, Revenues and Expenditures, andJudicia ry. It was accordingly resolved tha t in the future,besides the governor, the legislative assembly should be com
posed of the six deputies, two military officers, and the Superior of the missions.
" The governor was to receive a sa lary
of $2 500. The sa la ry of each capta in was fixed at and
the members of the assembly should be entitled to a
day while in attendance away from their homes. The secre
tary was a llowed $2 70 a yea r.
With regard to the revenues, besides the duties from im
ports and exports, the colon ists were taxed twelve per cent.as well a s the missions on a ll their produce and live-stock.
The settlers might pay in kind, but the missions had to payatthe rate of per head for all branded ca ttle ; per
” So the twen ty-one missions w ith their 251 1 10 neophytes, whofurn ished the bulk of the Ca liforn ia revenues, were a llowed justone representa tive! No wonder Fr. Sa rria wa s not permitted tohave a voice in the framing of this wonderful constitution ! The
missions en joyed the priv ilege of pa ying nea rly a ll the taxes.
1 86 M issions and Missionaries of California
fanega of whea t ; per fanega of corn ; per fanega
of bean s ; per ba rrel of wine ; and $3 5 per ba rrel ofbrandy. The assembly graciously condescended to exemptfrom taxa tion church goods and the persona l effects of the
Fathers.
" As the latter possessed absolutely nothing but
their brevia ries, the coarse habits which they wore, and theirrosa ries, the assembly could hardly act otherwise in thisrespect.
The missionaries and their Indian wa rds might have en
joyed life somewha t, if those in power had been satisfiedwith taxing the missions like themselves or other inhabitantsof the territory. Now that the Span ish laws, which privileged the missions as ecclesia stica l or semi-ecclesiastica l institutions for the spread of Religion , seemed to have losttheir force, the Fa thers were content to be trea ted like thewhite settlers on the subject of ta xes ; but such happinesswa s not to be theirs The reader may judge for himself,“Wha t I supplica te is, writes Fr. Abella of San Ca rlos tothe diputacion ,
“that upon this mission the same burden beplaced a s upon the white people and nothing more ; that the
fl are-n o va "
Sign a ture of Fr. Ramdn Abella .
same liberty of managing it be left to me as any other settlerdesires for himself. He is permitted to control what is his.
‘ 7 “E l vecinda rio podra paga rlo en la propia especie, pero la s
misiones han dc sa tisfa cer por cada res 1 2 rea les ; por fa nega detrigo 2 pesos ; por fanega de ma iz 1 2 rea les ; por fanega de frijol20 r1. ; por ba rril de vino, 8 pesos ; por barril de aguardien te, 3 5pesos ; advirtiendo que queda exen to de todo derecho lo que . cor
responde a l bien eclesiastico por razon de la imun idad, tan to losefectos que se dediquen a la iglesia como los que sean destinadospara la existencia de los Padres M in istros de ellas.
” “Acta de laDiputa cion ,
”Sesion de 8 Enero, 1 824.
“Ca l. Arch.
, Dept. St.Pap., Sa n J03 6, iv, 41 -44.
“Sta . Barb. Arch.
”
1 88 Missions and Missiona ries of Ca lifornia
with regard to the bad spirit of the new regulations. Thereare others who ask for permission to retire, and who wantto renounce a service which they cannot exercise withoutsubjecting the neophytes to ha rd slavery, or to a conditioneven worse than tha t ; for slavery does notdeny the necessaryfood at lea st to human beings who by nature and by law are
free, such as are the Indians. In consequence of sa id legislation we see them deprived of the first means of living, inasmuch as they are compelled to give it to others. Fr. Sarriacontinues in the same stra in through nine octavo pages, andfollows up his remonstrance with a disquisition on human
rights according to mora l law.
“
The following is a specimen demand which drove the
missiona ries nearly to distraction , and which made them feelthemselves rega rded as merely so many plantation overseers
serving for the benefit of insolent troops and inconsidera tewould-be sta tesmen , rather than as messengers of the Gospeland spiritua l fa thers of their converts.
“In sa id yea r,
”Fr.
Duran on Dmember l st, 1824, wrote toFr. Sarria,‘ o“the
mission (San José) has delivered to the governor’
s storehouse a lone soap, shoes, mantéca , corn , and wheat to the
va lue of This does not include the rations to the
mission gua rds and other expenses which amount to quitea sum. Yet we are accused of obstinately refusing to pay
the ta xes and duties imposed in April of the past year, 1 82 3 !The tax of one real per hea d for five hundred cattle whichwe slaughtered since April to the end of the yea r amounted
to Hence the mission is heavily burdened .
”
How little the exertions of the friars touched the gov
ernor and the deputies, who found themselves clothed witha little brief authority, may be ga thered from the irnpression
Kotzebue received during his second visit to San Francisco,
2 9 Fr. Sa rria to Arguello, Ma rch 22 nd, 1824. Archb. Arch. , no.
1 598.
“Archb. Arch. , 1 10. 1614.
‘ 1 “L a mision en dicho afio en trego a la habilitacion cl va lor de
mil trescientos pesos largos en 3 010 jab6n , zapa tos, man teca ,ma iz, y trigo.
”
M ission Solano ; Fr. Sarrié’s Protest 1 89
October 8th to December 6th, 1824. For the institutions of
the country and the mission system in particular he has
nothing but condemna tion . The missionaries had no goodqua lity but hospita lity. The neophytes were simply slaves,captured in their homes with the lasso and dragged into themissions to toil, until relieved by dea th, under tyrannicalmasters who trea ted them worse than ca ttle. Natura lly thelowest race on the face of the earth, the Indians were stillfurther degraded by the in iquities of the mission system underthe hypocritica l pretense of conversion to Christian ity.
“Kotzebue’s exaggera tion and prejudice,”
even Bancroft isconstra ined to say,
“on these points a re apparent but
when we learn tha t on his trip to Fort Ross, Kotzebue wa s
accompan ied by Lieutenant José Ma ria Estudillo,
“a bitter for
of the padres,” “3
a s Bancroft remarks , the nav igator’
s wilddescription is expla ined. Estudillo a lso accused the friarsto the Russian Kotzebue “
of consulting on ly their own in
terest, and of employing their proselytes as a means of layingup wea lth for themselves, with which, when acquired, theyreturn to Spa in .
” Kotzebue on his own account, however,makes this statement : “The Span iards ‘ 5 a re an ignorant, indolent, good- for-nothing people.
”
The insolence of the Ca lifornia oflicia ls fina lly threatenedto drive the missionaries out of the country, so tha t Fr.
8 2 Bancroft, n , 524. It is likely tha t many writers obta inedtheir know ledge of the mission system from this muddy foun ta in .
" “Who seems to have given the traveler some absurdly inaccura te informa tion about the prov ince, a nd a lso led our authorfar a stray respecting the politica l situa tion .
” Bancroft, ii, 52 3 -52 5.
Ba ncroft, ii, 517. This infamous charge, for which there is
not a shred of evidence, sufliciently cha racterizes Estudillo. The
traducers began early to ca st their covetous eyes on the propertyof the Christia n India ns.
85 He mean s shiftless Mexican soldiers a nd settlers, wi th whomthe rea l Span iards had little in common but the langua ge. As
for this Estudillo, Bancroft (vol. 1 1 , 794) says, Estudillo had some
disagreeable qua lities— nota bly tha t of vanity— which made him
hea rtily disliked by his brother cmccta.
”
3 ° Ba ncroft, ii, 524.
1 90 M issions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
Sarr1a , at the end of the yea r, respectfully yet firmly repre
sented the intolerable situa tion to Governor Argiiello as fol
lows :“The Fathers of San Diego,
”he wrote,
“have shown
themselves very willing 3 " to contribute in beha lf of theirmissions whatever is necessa ry for the troops ; but they haveunan imously protested tha t it is impossible to do so w ith a ll
the notoriously exorbitant taxes demanded during this year,besides others which it is intended to impose, contrary to thewill of the Mexican Government. The diputacion in open
session has heard the remonstrance made on this subjecton the part of Mission San Ga briel. Hence, in the face
of the feeling thus aroused by such taxation I do not promisemyself the bare subsistence for the Fathers of those missions,who considering it impossible to ra ise such taxes w ill seekw ith more success to retire to some part outside the ter
ritory where they can exercise their min istry in peace. Not
long ago I received forma l compla ints from the Fathers of
both missions on the subject of such forced contributionswhich were then demanded by the habilitado of San Diego.
At the same time I wa s informed of their determ ina tion to
leave the service. Those of San Gabriel were especia lly em
pha tic in expressing their resolution , because they could not
perform their duty w ith a ll the exactions of the territorial
government.“I a lso draw your a ttention to the misapprehension con
ta ined in your commun ica tion rega rding the abundance of
the crops. As fa r a s Mission San Juan Capistrano is con
cerned, it may be sa id that it has had no whea t crop, as Imyself can testify because I was there for some time. In
the yea r before, 1 82 3 , they ha rvested on ly twenty- fourfanega s of tha t gra in . Of a ll other kinds of gra in theyha rvested on ly a quantity which if distributed would a llow
‘ 7 Fr. Viadér of San ta Cla ra a lso wrote to Fr. Sarria on De
cember l st, 1 824:“Esta mision nunca ha rehusado absolutamen te
6 tota lmen te paga r dichos derechos.
” “Archb. Arch., no. 161 3 .
3 3 H e in tima tes tha t he will not preven t their depa rture, a s theylong had served out their term. They on ly
'
sta id for the sake of
the India ns .
1 92 M issions and M issionaries of Ca lifornia
possess ranchos which may compete with whole missions.
“
Now I ask, has the whole pueblo and have the ranchos
contributed the lea st sha re towards defraying the cost of
ma inta in ing the troops of San Diego ? It is quite likely thatthey have not even taken the trouble to molest the inhabitants of tha t pueblo in the lea st for the support of the
milita ry.
“The very same observa tion is made throughout the juris
diction of the other presidios. At a ll these missions of the
north, notwithstanding the extraordinarily exorbitant taxes,ta riff duties, and tithes which must be pa id in ca sh,
‘ 1a ll has
been pa id, or will likely be pa id, if not a lready pa id ; yeta fter all this, tha t is to say a fter the sacrifice of the veryskin , is it the determina tion as a sacrifice to squeeze the
very sap or ma rrow out of the substance ? ‘ 3 Such it seemsis the intention . Some missions north of here have pa idnoton ly what wa s imposed upon them, but they have a lreadyexperienced increased necessities by reason of wha t has thusbeen extorted from them in the present yea r. Nevertheless,from wha t I understand it is the intention to extort even
more of that which is considered indispensable for feedingthe neophytes. Where in a ll this is . there consideration for
the sacredness of each citizen ’
s property ? Where is thereconsidera tion for the very rights of the people?“I am very fa r from believing that a ll this will meet the
approva l of the Mexica n Government, if ma tters are ex
pla ined a s they a re ! N ay, on the contra ry, it will adoptmea sures which every system of moderation dictates in order
Yet the pa isanos compla ined tha t the missions had too much
la nd ! It certa in ly belonged to the India n s, a nd even the Un itedSta tes Governmen t respects these rights ; it purcha ses the la nd
from them, but does not stea l it.‘ 1 “Derechos, diezmos impuestos en metalico. Colon ists could
pay in kind. This wa s a nother unjust discrimina tion .
4’ “M a s aun despues de todo ello, esto es, despues de
sacrificada la piel, se querra sa car en sa crificio todo el jugo 6
medula in terior de su substancia ?”40North of San Carlos.
Mission Solano ; Fr. Sa rrra s Protest
to prevent the trampling upon the rights of each one, lest akind of slavery be introduced which scarcely would find itsequa l .“I f, however, it is your intention for this purpose to use
means tha t are v iolent and opposed to every law of modern
tion , I sha ll not susta in them, for the Mexica n system of
government does not uphold them. Surely not one of the
Fathers will meet violence with violence, because such is not
their Spirit nor tha t of their Institute ; but you run the ri sktha t the missions and a lso the terri tory may be withoutpriests, which in truth would be to me the most indescribablesorrow . I shall implore the Lord tha t it may not come to
pass as I fea r.
”
Whatever may have been the intent of the tempora ry
governor and his ha lf dozen legisla tors, they at a ll eventsnow knew with what men they were dea ling, and that itwas wise to make haste slowly. Thus at every stage the
missiona ries proved themselves the true friends of the In
dian and shielded him at the cost of grea t ha rdship to
themselves . Nor were the natives so dull as not to perceiveas much. Hence their a ffection for the fria rs who a lone
could induce the neophytes to persevere and submit to op
pression from the settlers and soldiers in the hope of a
change for the better.
“Fr. Sarr1 a to Arguello, December 3 l st, 1824. Archb. Arch,1 1 0. 1615.
CHAPTER XII .
India n Revolt— Immedia te Cause — Happen ings at Santa Inés and
Purisima — Revolt Spreads to Sa n ta Barbara — Fr. Ripoll.The Soldiers Atta ck the Indian s — India ns Retreat— Bruta lityof the Soldiers — Governor Sends Troops to Purisima — Exe
cution of Some Indians — San ta Ba rba ra Indian s Flee to the
Tula res.— Efiorts to Bring Them Ba ck— Fr. Ripoll Distracted.
— Fr. Sa rria Ofiers to Persuade Them.- Succeeds.
-Change of
Superiors in Mexico and Ca liforn ia — Junta de Fomento.
M in ister Alaman to Fr. Guardian .-“God and Liberty.
”— Fr.
Gua rdia n ’
s Reply to Alaman .
HE heartless ca lcula tion of the governor, his officers and
the ha lf-dozen legisla tors, and the exaspera ting insolenceof the soldiers, not on ly oppressed the hea rts of the missionaries, who w ith truly materna l solicitude looked a fter the
wants of their Indian converts, but at last a roused the nativesto turn upon their tormentors. Fr. Sarria
’
s pathetic proteston ly voiced the sentimen ts of the chafing neophytes . Earlyin the year 1824 the most w idespread revolt in the historyof the missions occurred, and might have ea sily put an end
to white tyranny, had a leader been found to direct themovements of the enraged Indians, or had they receivedany encouragement from the fria rs .
1 Governor Arguello, as
well a s other Ca liforn ians , indeed, a ttributed the rebellion to
an a ttempt to free the country from the power of the whitesand to reintroduce paga n liberty,’ but the missiona ries tookthe ground tha t the rea l cause was the ever-growing dis
1 “S i no les hubiera dado cl golpe, yo creo positivamen te que
in Ca liforn ia en cl dia ya hubiera experimen tado la s mayoresdesgra cia s y los causa n tes Indios triun fan tes.
” Arguello to Gov
ernment, Monterey, April l t, 1 82 4.
“Ca l. Dep. St. Pap.
i, 578.
2 “Por que su plan se ha averiguado no es otro que acabar con
todos nosotros, esto es, con la gen te de ra zon , y quedarse a su
libertad a n tigua de su gen tilismo.
”Argr
'
iello to the Government,Monterey, April l t, 1824.
“Ca l. Dep. St. Pap. i , 578.
1 96 M issions and M issionaries of Ca lifornia
from hearsay tha t he had been included in the proposedmassacre.
On the same Sa turday a fternoon the Indians of Purisimaa ided by the fugitives of Santa Inés surrounded the mis
sion into which the soldiers and their families had takenrefuge with Fr. Anton io Rodriguez and Fr. Bla s Ordaz.
Corpora l Tibr’
rrcio Tapia with his four or five men kept therebels at bay through the n ight. On ly one Indian was
killed, and of the besieged a woman was wounded. Un
fortuna tely the ammun ition of the soldiers gave out, but,
ow ing probably to the intercession of the Fathers, Tapiawith his men and their families were promised immun ityif they surrendered . Fr. Ordaz on the following day, Sunday,accompan ied the Span iards with their wives and children to
Santa Inés, under instructions from the Indians to wa rn
Carrillo not to come to Purisima . Fr. Rodriguez rema inedwith the neophytes as a nomina l prisoner, but he was trea tedwith the usua l respect .“ While the excitement lasted, fourother men were killed who unaware of the revolt arrived at
the mission on their way to Los Angeles. They were DoloresSepulveda , Ramon Sotélo, Simon Colima , and Mansisidor de
Loreto.
‘ The Indians now prepa red to defend themselvesby erecting pa lisade fortifica tions, cutting loop-holes in the
adobe wa lls of the church and other buildings, mountingtwo swivel guns which had been used to make appropriatenoise on the feast days, and to send messages to gentilesand neophytes elsewhere, but it was nea rly a month beforean enemy appeared .
4 The story wa s circula ted, a nd is believed at San ta In és and
San ta Barbara to this day, tha t on retrea ting Fr. Uria wa s fol
lowed by a n Indian who tried to kill the Fa ther ; tha t Fr. Uriaturned a nd shot his aggressor dead ; tha t for this deed, thoughcommitted in self- defense, he wa s suspended for a whole year at
San Buenaven tura . There is no documen ta ry evidence. Fr. Uriawa s stationed at Soledad in November of the same yea r a s mis
siona ry in charge.
5 Bancroft, ii, 52 7- 529 .
0 Libro de Entierros, Purisima .
Indian Revolt; B attle at Santa Ba rba ra 1 97
Meanwhile the rebels of Santa Inés had sent a messengerto San ta Barba ra ea rly on Sunday morn ing.
7 The Indianin formed the neophyte a lca lde Andre' s of the mission thatSanta Inés Mission and the guardhouse had been burneddown , the soldiers killed, and Fr. Uria with the survivorslocked in their rooms ; that a courier had brought the news
to Purisima , and tha t the result there was probably the
same, a s the Indians of both places acted in harmony ; tha the should notify the Indians of San Buenaventura and directthem to ta ke up a rms as well as those at Santa Barba ra ,because the soldiers would come and avenge the death of
their comra des ; and that, if the Indians at Santa Barbaradid not heed, those of Santa Ines would come and pun ishthem. Andrés indeed hurried a messenger to San Buenaventura , butthe Indian a lca lde there was loya l. He apprisedthe corpora l of the guard who imprisoned the bea rer of the
news, and thus that mission was spared the bloody scenes
enacted at the other missions.
When Fr. Ripoll learned what had happened he endeav
ored to quiet his people. He sa id he must go down to the
presidio to celebrate holy Mass and would speak to the
comandante so that no soldiers might come up. He madethem promise to do nothing wrong, and then proceeded on
his way. While in the ga rrison he lea rned that the neo
phytes were a rming themselves. He therefore sent his Indianboy servant with the request that the three head Indiansshould come down and ta lk the matter over with De la
Guerra . They refused under the pretext that they fea redharm would come to them there ; they should rather see the
comandante come up with the Father. This De la Guerra
7 Ban croft ha s Monday morn ing, and tha t the revolt sta rted on
Sunday a fternoon . This is un in telligible. Februa ry l t pla in lywa s a Sa turday. Fr. Ripoll would not likely have gone downto the presidio for holy Ma ss on a Monday, un less it were a
fea st day, which it wa s not. M rs. Ord a lso ha s correct da te.
“E! tumulto fué cl 2 2 de Febrero,
zoo M issions and Missiona ries of Ca lifornia
months a fter.
‘I “At a ll events the soldiers did not reappea runtil la te in the a fternoon . Meanwhile the neophytes hadthe mayordomo open the wa rehouse and other rooms to takeout a ll the clothing they could ca rry. Some entered the
Signa ture of P r. Antonio Ja yme.
wine cella r, but left the casks untouched. They locked thechurch and vestry w ithout disa rranging anything or troublingthe people who had come for holy Mass, and then broughtthe keys to Fr. Anton io Jayme who lay sick abed. Eventhe little w ine cruet which had a lready been filled for the
next holy Mass they brought to the Father. They moreover begged him to come with them ; that they would ca rryhim and take ca re of him. With his customa ry smile,however, he replied tha t he wa s hungry and would go downto the presidio to take a bite. It must have been aboutthree or four o
’
clock in the a fternoon when I sent him myIndian boy with a gentle horse. The rebel Indians themselves lifted him upon the horse, and the boy seizing the
ha lter led the anima l with the infirm Fr. Anton io to the
presidio.
”M rs . Ord rela tes tha t two Indians brought the
sick friar to her father’s house, and that in spite of the
tumult the Indians had not forgotten to a ttend to his mea ls.
“
As to the neophytes, they left their dwellings with a ll their
3 Bancroft and Hittéll on the authority of Osio rela te tha t whenthe hour of noon came De la Guerra took off his hat, sa id the
Angelus, a nd a nnounced tha t the fight would be resumed a fterdinner.
9 “Esa misma ta rde (Febrero 2 2 ) v in ieron dos I ndios trayentes
a i P. An ton io Jayme a ca sa de mi padre. Aunque los Indios lotuvieron todo cl dia en la mision , no se olvidaron de da rle su
a limen to. L os sa cerdotes queda ron v iviendo en nuestra ca sa .
”Ord,
“Ocurrencia s.
”
Indian Revolt; B attle at Santa Ba rbara 2 0 1
little belongings, and retired to the hills where they pitchedtheir camp.
When De la Guerra learned that the rebels had fled hesent ten soldiers to the mission . They found in the houses
on ly a ha lf-witted Indian besides four or five women , whom
they kept imprisoned for two or three months. A little beyond the v illage nea r the threshing floor they met an Indianon a mule who was ca rrying away some whea t in a blanket.He begged them notto take him to the presidio as he fearedthey would kill him there. Well, then ,
” they replied,“we
w ill kill you right here.
” With this they shot him dead .
“
After this glorious achievement they returned to the ga rrison .
On the following day, Monday, De la Guerra sent anotherpa rty. When they reached the inclosure they discovered fourold India ns from the distan t village of Dos Pueblos. Thesecla imed they had heard tha t there wa s some trouble, and
had come to lea rn the truth about it. Without mercy the
ruflia n soldiers shot ' them down . One of the poor men in
his fright climbed an oak and excla imed “Seuel,
” which in
their language means,“I have done nothing.
”He was an
swered with a bullet. A few others without weapons, and
one with on ly a bow and a rrows to shoot squirrels, wereun ceremon iously shot dead for no other rea son , says Fr.
Ripoll, than that of runn ing four steps and moun ting a tree“You can imagine, dea r Father,
”he writes to Fr. Sa rr1a ,
how I felt at hea ring these deeds which before the coman
dante were described as grea t feats. On Tuesday anothersquad was sent w ith Ensign Maytorena . This man gave
the soldiers leave to sack the houses of the Indians. Theyaccordingly burst open the doors, broke open the boxes, andca rried away the seeds, etc. , and what they could not ca rryaway they scattered on the road . Not sa tisfied with thisfea t, they entered the storehouse a nd my room a nd stole
1 ° This shocking bruta lity shows how little even José de la
Guerra ’s soldiers va lued the life of a n India n . The whole a ffa iris a blot on the garrison from the commander down . Theycould not have trea ted a dog or wild an ima l w ith less rega rd.
COLD-BLOODED MURDER OF AN INDIAN.
2 04 M issions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
De la Guerra , who with his troops from Santa Barbara hadfa iled to arrive until a fter the a ffray, and Estrada underorders from the governor, now examined the prisoners.
Seven of the Indians were condemned to dea th for complicityin the murder of Sepr
'
rlveda and his compan ions on February2 1 st. The sentence was executed on the 26th of March.
All received the Sacraments of Pena nce and Holy Eucha ristcontritely before being shot, Fr. Rodriguez says in the mis
sion records.
” The four ring- leaders of the revolt, Ma riano,Pacomio, Benito, and Bernabé, were sentenced to ten yearsin the presidio and perpetua l ban ishment from the province ;eight others were pun ished with eight yea rs
’
irnprisonment
at the presidio.
“
In the meantime the fugitive neophytes of Santa Barba rawith a few refugees from other missions, owing to the bru
ta lities and vanda lism committed by the Santa Barbaratroops, retrea ted to the region of the Tula res. Fr. Ordazof Santa Inés even reported tha t the rebels were at San
Emigdio Ra ncho, where a Russia n wa s instructing them in
the use of firea rms, and that the neophytes of San Buenaventura a nd San Gabriel showed a la rming signs of discontent.“ Arguello disrega rded the warn ing ; butDe la Guerradespa tched Lieutenant Fabregat with eighty men from SantaBarba ra a fter the fugitives . Fr. Ripoll was invited to ac
company the troops, but he declined on the ground tha t hedid not want to appea r before his Indian children w ith hostile soldiers. The soldiers encountered the rebels with whomsome gentiles made common cause, and had a skirmish withthem on April 9th at Buena Vista Lake. On April 1 1th a
body of troops under Sergeant Carlos Carrillo had a fight ator near San Emigdio. Four Indians were killed and threeof his company were wounded . Heavy winds and dust
1 3 Libro de Entierros, M ission Purisima .
1 4 Bancroft, ii, 53 2 .
1 5 Fr. Orda z to Argiiello, March 2 1 st, Archb. Archno. 1 597.
Indian Revolt; Battle at Santa Barbara 2 05
made operations difficult, wherefore Fabregat led his men
back to Santa Barbara .
“
Argiiello then set to work organ izing another expeditionto bring back the neophytes . It was not that the Ca lifornians of those times ca red much whether the Indians weresaved spiritua lly or not, but indolent as they were they couldnot exist without the labor of the neophytes whom heretofore they had ill-trea ted and despised. Argiiello wa s therefore determined to compel them to return . Fr. Sarria, however, opposed this plan . He urged the governor in consid
cra tion of the bruta lities perpetra ted at Santa Ba rbara to
grant a full pa rdon . This would bring them back. Forcewould only embitter them. Argiiello granted the request onMay 16th. Immedia tely the good Father sent two neophytesfrom Mission San Miguel with a kindly letter to the fugi
tivas, urging them to ava il themselves of the pardon , a copyof which he enclosed.
“
The expedition , composed of sixty- three soldiers undercommand of Capta in Pablo de la Portilla , nevertheless set out
with one field-piece from Santa Barba ra on June 2 nd. Theywent by way of San Buenaventura up the Santa Cla ra River.
At the same time fifty men from Monterey under Lieutena nt An ton io del Va lle w ith another cannon sta rted out
from San M iguel. The two divisions un ited on the 8th at
San Emigdio, fa r out in the pla in of the Tulares. Fr.
Ripoll had aga in been requested to join the tr00ps as chap
la in , but he seems to have lost his wits through worry and
excitement . In a letter of the 7th of May he decla red hewould ra ther die than be seen w ith soldiers “
whom the In
dians because of their na rrow comprehension regard as ene
mies.
” They had seen the mayordomo of the mission withthe troops before, and had at once blamed him and sa id :“Do you a lso come aga inst us, a fter we served you so manyyears and supported you in the mission ?” Wha t would
1 ° Fr. Ripoll, “Levan tamien to, May 5th,“Archb. Arch.,
no. 1 599. Ba ncroft, 1 1, 53 3 - 53 4.
1 7 Fr. Sa rrifi to Argiiello, M ay 18th; June 28th, 1824. Archb.
nos. 1602 ; 1604.
2 06 M issions and Missiona ries of California
they say if the priest appea red with the soldiers who came
to pun ish or force them? 1 ‘
Fr. Sarr1a then determined to go in person , probably ac
compan ied by the troops from San Miguel. Fr. Ripoll, a ftera ll, la ter came up with the troops from Santa Barbara . The
fugi tives were encamped at San Emigdio. They professedto be heartily repenta nt and w illing to return , but they werea fra id lest they be pun ished should they give up their weapons.
“Only the high esteem,
”says Osio, who in this in
stance may be believed,“in which the Ca liforn ia inhabitants
in general held the Rev . Fr. Vicente de Sarr1a , and likewise
A7 0 1/
Sign a ture of Fr. Anton io Ripoll.
the veneration of the Indians for him on accoun t of his
many virtues, dispelled their fea r when be rea ssured them.
The commander a lso assured the Indians all should be for
gotten .
” Thereupon the fugitives set out with the Fa thersand troops on June 1 6th for Santa Ba rba ra . The IndianAlca lde Andres of Santa Ba rba ra Mission was left behind tocollect about forty refugees who had not yet been found.
All at la st rea ched the mission by the 2 1 st of June, and thusthe revolt of 1 824 came to an end.
’0
Ra fael Gonzalez, a soldier of the expedition , rela tes the
1 3 Fr. Ant. Ripoll to Fr. Sa rria, May 7th; Fr. Sa rrii to Arguello,April 30th, 1824.
“Archb. Arch., nos. 1600; 1709.
“E1 Padre
Ripoll amaba a sus neofitos como madre amorosa ; su sen timientofue ta n grande que se en fermo, aunque no de gravedad.” 0rd,“Ocurrencia s.
1 °Ant. M . Osio, “Historia ,” Mss., cap. iv, p. 85. L a estima cion
que se hacia en genera l de los habita ntes de Ca liforn ia del R. P.
Fr. Vicen te de Sa rrii , a ! mismo tiempo que lo veneraban por
sus mucha s virtudes. etc.
1 ° Fr. Sa rria to Arguello, June 28th, 1824. Archb. Arch. , no.
1604.
“Ca l. Dep. St. Pap. i, 1 51 - 1 52 .
2 08 M issions and M issiona ries of Ca lifornia
own election to the commissa riat on November 1 1th,
Fr. Gua rdian Lopez a lso commun ica ted a new governmenta lregulation according to which the missionaries herea fterwould have to pay postage, because the new authoritiesneeded a ll the revenues they could secure in order to pay
the tr00ps and ma inta in themselves.
”
Although the government pa id slight a ttention to distantCa lifornia ,
in 182 5 a specia l Board, or Junta de Fomento
de !as Ca lifomr'
a s,wa s organ ized in Mexico to a id the Presi
dent ln taking proper mea sures for the benefit of Ca liforn ia .
It was composed of ten members, among whom Ex-Governor$015 is mentioned.
" It wa s dissolved in 1 827. While itexisted, the members, who seemed to have been entirely ignoran t of Ca liforn ia a ffa irs, wanted the Fr. Presidente of the
missions to furn ish reports, etc. Min ister of Foreign and
Interna l Rela tions Luca s Alaman on June 2 5th, 182 5,
accordingly notified the Fr. Guardian that it was necessa ryto give the names of a ll the sindicos anywhere in Mexico,
a nd to reporton the ma nagement of the mission tempora lities.
It is pleasant to note tha t Alaman still closes his com
mun ication a fter the old Christian fa shion ,
“God keep you
many years .
” “After the change in the system of govem
men t, however, Alaman writes,“they endea vored to adopt
the dating, style of address, and other usages a fter the manner introduced during the French Revolution . I n giving the
da tes , besides the corresponding number of the Christian yea rthe custom was introduced of adding
‘
of the Independence,‘
of Liberty,’ or‘
of the Federa tion .
’
In place of‘
Don ’ theywould say
‘Citizen .
’For the polite and religious greeting
‘
God keep you many years,’
w ith which officia l communica
3 5 “Archb. Arch. , no. 161 1 .
”0Fr. Lopez to Fr. Sa rrié, December 1 5th, Sta . Ba rb.
Arch.
”
3 " Fr. L 6pez to Fr. Sa rria, July 7th, 1824. Sta . Ba rb. Arch.
”
Ba ncroft, iii, 3 .
3 9 He is the author of the oft-men tioned Historia de Mej rco.
l
” “Dios le gua rde muchos afios !” Alaman to Fr. Guardian,
June 20th,“Archb. no. 1 73 9.
Indian Revolt; Battle at Santa Barbara 2 09
tions usua lly closed, they substituted the Volta irian phrase‘
God and Liberty 3 ° In the course of time the designationof the epochs was suppressed, the address ‘
citizen ’
soon he
came a term of ridicule, and the same is happen ing to the
strange close given to written commun ications.
” ‘ 1 As yet,
however, the government had not turned infidel. The firstPresident, like Alaman himself, even rev ived somewhat thehopes that Mexico would in a slight mea sure at least be
governed according to Christian principles, but the expectations were soon bla sted, and have not been rea lized a fternea rly a century.
In reply to M in ister Alaman’
s order the Fr. Guardianamong other things reported “that the missions had but twosindicos in Mexico : one atTepic, Don Juan Bautista de M ar
tia ren a , who was a deputy to the Nationa l Congress, the otherat the capita l, Don Estevan Velez de Esca lante. Both were
appointed by the College of San Fernando. These sindicos
were empowered.
to defend the rights of the Indians and
missions in court, though no case had thus far occurred .
The sindico at Tcpic was only employed in receiving the
produce which the missions sent for sa le, and with the pro
coeds he purchased the a rticles which the missionaries indicated without the interference of the Fr. Procurator at the
College. He thus simply acted as commission merchant forthe missiona ry establishments. The sindico at the capita lon ly received the sinodos or annua l a llowances from the
Pious Fund for the missiona ries, and the money obta inedfrom the nationa l treasury for the dra fts sent from Ca liforn ia . With the sinodos the Fr. Procurator purcha sed the
3 ° “Dios y Libertad ! Alaman here rela tes the origin of the
phra se.
“Whilst Volta ire, he says, “among his followers held
a kind of philosophica l pa triarcha te, Prince Pon ia towski, the son
of the King of Pola nd, wa s one day in troduced to him. Vol
ta ire sa luted him, and pla cing his ha nds on the youth’s head, hesa id ‘Dieu et la Liberte.
’ This is the not very commendableorigin of our officia l phra se.
” Alaman ,
“Historia de Mej ico,
”
tom. v , lib. ri, cap. xi, 81 3 .
‘ 1 Alaman , loco cita to.
2 1 0 M issions and Missiona ries of Ca lifornia
goods which the missiona ries desired for themselves and
their churches. Since 1 8 10 the payment of the sinodos from!
the Pious Fund had cea sed, and therefore the purchase of
the goods for the Fa thers had a lso stopped . The last lnvoice was procured in 18 10. This remained packed up,
owing to the wa r, until 18 1 5, when a part of the goods wassent by way of Acapulco. The rema inder it was not possibleto forward until 1824 by way of San Blas.
“The sinodos or annua l stipends, at the rate of $400 for
each missiona ry, which rema in unpa id down to September3oth, 1824, amount to and seven rea les. The dra ftsrema in ing unpa id for cattle, gra in , and other produce furn ished the troops at grea t ha rdship to the mission Indians,amount to and eight and one-ha lf granos . The
correctn ess of these dra fts are sworn to with the approva lof the governor by the habilitados at the respective presidios.
They a re due for payment by the Na tiona l Treasury. The
goods were furn ished to the governor and his soldiers. In
order tha t the soldiers might not suffer for want of food,the missiona ries were compelled to prefer them to their poorneophytes lest the troops rebel for lack of provisions .
“ We
can therefore truly say tha t the missions a lone, or the toilof the unhappy neophytes, have supported the troops since18 10. In consequence the Indians comfla in bitterly for having to work hard in order that the soldiers might eat, and
for receiving no pay for their toil and their pa ins which isa ll represented by the dra fts unpa id since 1 8 10.
The dissa tisfaction , notw ithsta nding the many means and
dev ices employed by the fri ars to mitiga te the ha rdships of
the Indian s, resulted in the revolt of la st yea r.
” After brieflyrecounting wha t we a lready know on this point, and how bymeans of sweetness and mildness the Fa thers succeeded in
3 3 Governor 8012 had a lready reported to the viceroy tha t thedra fts amoun ted to more than
‘ 3 On the other hand it wa s to be fea red tha t the Indian swould rebel, a s they did, so tha t the poor missiona ries stoodbetween two fires.
2 1 2 M issions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
fornia , even under the most provoking circumstances, ev incesa spirit of politeness, cordia lity, cha rity, modera tion , and sin
cerity. Witha l these documents give evidence of no mean
degree of lea rn ing and ability.
CHAPTER XIII .
New Mexica n Con stitution .— Oa th Demanded— Fr. Sarria Re
fuses — The Legisla tors Meet.— They Take the Oa th — Fr.
Estén aga’
s Action .— Proposition of the Legisla tors .
— Argiiello’
s
Decision — Fr. Sa rria Justifies His Refusa l to Fr. Duri n a nd
Argiiello.— Fr. Tapis to Fr. Da rin — Action of the Mexica n
Presiden t Concern ing Fr. Sa rr1a— Fr. Durén Changes H is
M ind— Demands for Supplies Con tinue — Fr. Duran AngersComandan te Ma rtinez.
— Fr. Viader Unterrified.— Arriva l of
Governor Echeandia — Wan ts to Reform Things — H is Ah
surd Report— Fr. Arroyo to Herrera — Numerous Baptisms.
Correspondence of Fr. Ibérra with De la Guerra a nd Ca rrillo.
— Situa tion at M ission San Fernando.
system of government in Mexico natura lly cal lednew constitution . This the Mexica n Congress
adopted a nd promulga ted on October 4th, 182 4. It provided for a republican form of government similar to thatof the Un ited States. Under its regula tions Guada lupe Victoria was chosen president and assumed the office on October10th.
1 The provisiona l executive power on October 4th a lsodecreed as follows : “
The individua l or individua ls comprehended in the a rticles of this decree who in any manner sha llrefuse to take the prescribed oa th on the constitution , w illbe ban ished from the territory of the republic, if, a fter theyhave been once ca lled upon by the government or corre
sponding authority, they shall persist in theirOn October 6th Victoria directed tha t in the prov inces theoa th should be taken within n ine days after the reception and
publication of the Constitution and a ccompanying decrees .
‘
1 Alaman , Historia de Mej ico,
”tom. v, lib. ir
, cap. xi, p . 81 1 .
” E l indiv iduo 6 individuos comprendidos en los a rticulos deeste decreto, que de a lguna ma nera se resistieren a presta r cl
juramen to preven ido, seran estrafiados del territorio de la
republics, si requeridos una vez por cl gobierno, 6 autoridadcorrespondien te, perma necieren en su proposito.
” Art. 1 2 .
“Decreto del Supremo Poder Ejecutivo.
” “Sta . Barb Arch.
”
‘ Art. 4. Bando del Pred. Victoria .
“Sta . Barb. Arch.
2 1 4 M issions and Missiona ries of Ca lifornia
Governor Arguello received the documents ea rly in Feb
ruary 182 5. He at once summoned the legislative assemblyto meet atMonterey, and atthe same time notified Fr. Sa rriathat he was expected to comply with the provisions rega rding the oath of a llegiance on Sunday February 1 3 th . Aftercon sulting w ith Fr. Estéva n Tapis at San Jua n Bautista , the
Fr. Prefect on Februa ry l lth replied : “Hav ing reflected on
the oa th which is demanded of us, I have concluded tha t Icannot take it without v iolating prior obliga tions of justiceand fidelity. I therefore in form you accordingly, albeit withmuch and ea rnest regret, ina smuch a s in a ll things possibleI should wish to give an example of submission a s I havedone heretofore ; yet I am now unable, beca use my con
science forbids . For the same rea son I w ill not influencethe other Fathers to take sa id oa th, or to sanction it bycelebra ting holy Ma ss and singing the Te Deum as is orderedin your commun ica tion of the 3 rd instan t. I am aware tha twe a re threatened with exile, but I will undergo a ll, a longw ith the crushing sorrow and many tea rs which the abandonment of the much beloved flock entrusted to my ca re willca use me, and will bear it for God’s sake. I w ill lea vewhenever it must be for the sake of the same God, whom
I have more than once implored to ma ke me suffer wha teveris useful for H is Holy and Adorable Name.
” Though he
would not direct the Fathers to swea r a llegiance, Fr. Sarrii.
writes to Arguello on Ma rch 3oth,“I a ssure you tha t as
far a s my subjects are concerned I have left them entirelyat liberty to do in this particular wha t they may judge properbefore God ; nor did I in the circula r to them give the mo
tives of my refusa l .”
4 Fr. Sarria to Arguello,Februa ry l lth, Archb. Arch,
no. 1 724.
5 “Asegurandole por lo que toca {1 mis sr'
rbditos los he dejadoen en tera liberta d pa ra hacer en el pa rticula r lo que juzga ronsegr
'
rn Dios, como se lo a dverti a todos, ui aun les expresé en
la circular que dirigi 1a s ca usa s motiva s de mi renuncia .
”Fr.
Sa rria to Arguello, March 3oth,“Archb. Arch., no.
2 1 6 M issions and M issiona ries of Ca lifornia
lery sa lutes were fired . At the close of the Mass a solemn
Te Deum was intoned.
” 7 At San Diego, on the other hand,the missionaries refused to pa rticipa te in the ratifica tion and
swea ring of a llegiance.
‘ Wha t took place at Santa Barbara ,where José de la Guerra was in command of the presidio,is not on record.
On April 7th, 1 82 5, the . two Ca stros, Francisco and Carlos,and the substitutes Antonio and José Ca stro with GovernorArguello a ssembled in extraordinary session for the purposeof discussing the refusa l of Comisario-Prefecto Fr. Sarrié. to
take the oath. Francisco Castro “set forth the necessity of
ascerta in ing whether all the missionaries of the provinceagreed w ith their prela te Fr. Francisco de Sa rria rega rdingthe oa th on the Constitution of the Un ited Sta tes of Mexico ;tha t it wa s for the welfare of the prov ince tha t those who
were of this opin ion should be entirely relieved of the man
agement of the property belonging to the neophytes of the
missions, and be restricted to the spiritua l ca re ; and that forthe man agement of sa id property of sa id neophytes an uprightindividua l should be designated for their admin istration .
‘
Ca rlos and José Ca stro agreed w ith the speaker ; but, a ftera long discussion , the honorable presiding officer, Argiiello,
spoke on the motion at some length. He wa s of the opin ionthat on no account was it expedient to ta ke away the
tempora lities from the religious who managed them, becausein the first place a ll would depart and leave their belovedflock without the spiritua l food ; and in the second place beca use in the prov ince it would be very difficult to find a
person who could discha rge the duty of managing the prop
7 “Ca l. Arch. ,Prov . St . P a p. xiv , p. 688. On September 2ud
M in ister Llave directed the governor to express the grea t sa tisfa ction of the governmen t at this pa triotic a ction of Fr. Esténa ga . Ba ncroft, iii, 19.
“Ca l. Arch., Sup. Gov . St. Pap. iii, 3 53 - 3 55.
9 It seems very clea r tha t this proposition wa s not made without a good mea sure of self- in terest. The property of the In
dia n s, now guarded by the friars, became the bone of con ten tionearly.
Oath Demanded ; Fathers Refuse ;Want 2 1 7
erty.
1 ° Many other reasons were set forth by the governorwhich it would be too tedious to relate.
“Francisco Ca stro aga in rose to speak on the subject. He
held tha t in order to insure the property of the missions,in ca se his proposition were not practicable, another planshould be devised, un less the governor intended to be respon
sible for the bad results that might follow. The governor
replied tha t he was ready to be responsible, because itwas mora lly impossible to accede to the proposition on ac
count of the many difficulties tha t would arise as he had
expla ined . Anton io Castro decla red that the plans a s set
forth by his compan ions appeared to him good ; but that ifthe consequences would enta il damage to the Ca tholic, Apostolic, Roman Religion , he would not in any way supporttheir v iews, because their in forma tion on the subject wasnecessarily meagre.
” With this the session closed, butArgiiello reported to the President of Mexico for instructions.
I n a long letter covering twenty- four pages, abounding inlea rned citation s and reasoning, and addressed to Fr. Presiden te Duran , Fr. Sarria expla ined and justified his a ttitudew ith regard to the oath of a llegiance. He objected to it onthe following grounds — 1 . Prev ious obliga tion to the Kingof Spa in until the latter acknowledged the independence of
Mexico and relea sed them of their fea lty.— 2 . The new Con
stitution required him to take up a rms aga inst the King of
Spa in if he should appea r at the head of an army in the
province which in justice is his — 3 .
“It is true tha t I havealready sworn to the independence of Mexico ; but Spa in wasthen notunder legitima te government, the king was deprivedof his liberty, and Religion wa s threa tened . On the otherhand according to the
‘Plan de Igua la’ Fernando VII . or
1 ° This must have a cted like a cold shower ba th on the a spirations to confisca te the mission property. Argiiello wa s not eu
tirely gone ; besides, he knew the men who made the proposition.
1 1 “Ca l. Arch. , L eg. Records i, 67-68 . We have reproduced theminutes of this rema rkable session in order to expose the truespirit of the Ca stros and other Ca liforn ians who a re about toexhibit themselves.
2 1 8 M issions and Missionaries of California
one of his heirs was to occupy the throne of Mexico w ithsome chance of approval from Spa in . After a ll, that oa thwa s ordered by the Bishop of the Diocese and a fter the
ma jority of the missionaries, and especia lly the Fr. Prefecto,had voted to take it.”— 4. Fear tha t the new M er ican Re
public was only a duplicate of the French Revolution ,inas
much as it began like the French insurrection by expellingthe religious , and deposing and killing its ruler.
“ Fr. Sarriit
wen t on to enumerate the a trocities of the French republicwhere Mirabeau had publicly decla red tha t, in order to establish a commonwea lth, it was necessary to remove from theirmidst the Ca tholic Religion , and tha t it was therefore proscribed — 5. In any ca se, Religion took no sides, and there
fore its min isters should be left out of the wranglings ; forthough she does not favor rebellions, she ma intains herselfunder a ny form of government compatible with justice and
the happiness of the people.
“ She is conten t to crea te no
disturbance or interna l strifes, and does not resist the estab
lished authorities, but shows fidelity in everything that is not
contra ry to the Gospel and holy Religion . Thus she has
continued even under the rule of the Turks , Sa racens,Chinese, etc. Her children observed the civil obliga tions, butwould not swea r to peculia r constitutions which like the
Koran were mixed with infidelity and superstitions.
“I havenot the courage to take more oaths, not out of discontentwith the independence, nor for any other disagreeable motive, but because I am of the opin ion tha t oaths have become mere playthings .
”
Addressing Governor Argiiello in a simila r stra in ,Fr. Sar
ria closes with these words which would have been sa tis
Iturbide, who wa s the rea l libera tor of Mexico.
1 ‘ “Aunque jama s esta Religion Catolica fa voreci6 la rebeldia ,sabe con todo man tenerse firme é pesa r de toda s varia ciones dclos estados, y ba jo toda suerte de gobiernos compa tibles con la
justicia y felicidad de los pueblos.
1 ‘ Fr. Sa rrié to Fr. Durén , April 2 3 rd, Sta . Ba rb. Arch.
”
Fr. Durén seems to have favored ta king the oa th. Others were
likewise w illing.
2 2 0 M issions and Missiona ries of Ca lifornia
I assure Your Reverence, he writes to Fr. PresidenteDuran ,
“that I am most content to be able to rest quietly,
notwithstanding the strong contrary winds of opin ion betweenthe two columns of these missions 1 ‘ with rega rd to the oath
on the Mexican Constitution . I f,however, the necessity
should a rise of hav ing to follow one of the opposing guides,which one would I follow ? The Rev . Fr. Prefecto.
“ Thishas a lways been my intention , because in following this roadno thorns will be found, which would certa in ly perfora te myconscience if I took the oa th. I am more decided now , a fterreading the interesting letter which Fr. Abella has com
mun icated,“ and which Your Reverence will read . I am
ready to embark, even though it be on a vessel withoutsa ils or rudder.
“ In this case I sha ll ta ke as pa trons thetwo holy sisters,“ with St. Ma rcella , and St. Maximin , for
a sa fe voyage whithersoever God wills. What happiness itwould be for me, if I deserved to suffer a little or much
for not wanting to adore the Beast,or its forerunner, Fa lse
Philosophy !“ I am not competent to instruct Your Rever
1 ‘ Tha t is to say, the Fr. Prefecto Vicen te dc Sa rrié a nd the
Fr. Presiden te Narciso Duran who differed on the subject of
the oa th.
1 " Fr. Durén thus learn ed tha t in this ma tter he could not
coun t on Fr. Tépis who had been presiden te himself duringthree terms. Fr. Duri n had just entered on the first term.
1 8 Fr. Ram6n Abella wa s sta tioned at San Ca rlos and a ttendedMon terey presidio, the hea dqua rters of the new politicia ns.
He therefore understood the an imus of the Mexican Governmen t through the territoria l represen ta tives.
1 9 This certa in ly does not show tha t the fria rs were anxious
to hold on to the mission property or to the power it gavethem, a s Bancroft, Hittell, a nd the young Ca liforn ian s a sserted.The fria rs had no persona l in terest in the tempora lities ; hencethey could leave them without a pang.
3 ° St. Mary Magda lene a nd St. Ma rtha whom w ith the othertwo men tioned the Jews a re sa id to ha ve put on a ship withoutsa il or rudder in order to destroy them, but who sa fely landedin France.
3 1 “L a Bestia , 6 su precusora , la fa lsa Filosofia . The in
fidels a nd persecutors of the Church in Fra nce loved to pose a s
Oath Demanded ; Fathers Refuse ;Want 2 2 1
ence on this point, nor on others. I only say that I shouldrejoice exceedingly if you and a ll the brethren were of myopin ion , provided you could come to tha t conclusion in con
science. I live in the confidence of not erring when Ifollow the judgment of my prela te by whose mouth, itseems, I hea r the voice of God. L et us recommend thismatter to the Lord, and He will susta in us.
”Two weeks
la ter Fr. Tapis sighed :“Every day mora l blows of grief and
perturba tion are received . Everything quickens my desireof going to San M a rzal,
“or rather to heaven whither the
ma lice of the bea st reaches not.” H is desire was gratified .
After a lingering and pa in ful disease good Fr. Tapis diedat Mission San Juan Bautista on November 3 rd, on ly six
months later.
“
In the meantime the report of Fr. Sarr1 a s refusa l to ta kethe oa th had rea ched Mexico. In June an order of President Victoria wa s despatched to Ca liforn ia for the arrest ofthe reca lcitrant Fr. Prefecto and for his transporta tion to
Mexico on the first ship. Instructions were a lso given to
trea t the person and character of the venerable prisoner
philosophers. I n Mexico they ca ll themselves Cientificos. Botha re misnomers. True philosophy never stops short of the ul
tima te cause of a ll things. Hence it ca n never be a godlessscien ce. It implies the a pplica tion of rea son a nd thoroughinvestiga tion . No one who studies the history of these men w illconcede tha t they were guided by rea son . Unrea son ing pa ssiona nd in fern a l ha tred for God a nd everything tha t reminds of
H im a re the eviden t motives of such“philosophers and scien
tista. This makes it clea r why the Fa thers refused to swea r
a llegia nce to the Mexica n Republic. They fea red tha t it wa srea red in the interest of Volta irian ism, the embodimen t of
everything a n ti -Christian . The history of Mexico demon stra testha t their judgmen t w a s quite correct.2 ’ Fr. Durén wa s the immedia te prela te ; above him stood Fr.
Sa rria.
‘ 3 Fr. Tépis to Fr. Durén , April 29th, 1825. Sta . Barb. Arch.
San M a rza l, meta phorica l for “dea th, a Span ish saying.
3 ‘ Fr. Ti pis to Fr. Duran , May 9th,“Sta . Ba rb . Arch.
3 ‘ Libro de Entierros, Mission San Juan Bautista .
2 2 2 Missions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
w ith due respect.” The first part of the order was carriedout in October, but the arrest at Monterey seems to have
been only nomina l. It may be tha t he was forbidden to
ofliciate in public, for his name does not appea r in the missionregister of San Ca rlos for about a yea r, but he suffered no
interference with his persona l liberty ; for on March l t,
1 826, we find him writing to Fr. Duran from Mission San
Anton io.
“
The trea tment of his prela te, and an order of José M . de
Echea ndia , the new governor,” to lea ve his mission of San
José and to come a ll the way down to San Diego, about sixhundred miles, merely to take the oath of a llegiance, Openedthe eyes of Fr. Duran , if perchance he had still any doubtsa s to the cha racter of the men who constituted themselvesthe Mexican Republic. H is reply to Echeandia
’
s inconsid
erate demand wa s dign ified and to the poin t. The letter isnot extant, but its tenor may be in ferred from another com
munication addressed to J . M . Herrera ,"o who had precededthe new governor and held the office of commissa ry.
“Iin form you,
”he wrote under date of October 1 2th, a few
days a fter Fr. Sarria’
s a rrest,“tha t the governor by letter
of October 3 rd directs me to proceed to San Diego for thepurpose of taking the oa th on the Constitution . I reply toH is Honor that I am a lone at this mission and cannot leaveit w ithout a priest ; a nd, moreover, being tired of so manyoa ths, I am not inclined to take more oa ths, not from dis
afiection for the independence, nor for any other odiouspassion , for I am of the politica l opin ion tha t independence
2 7 “Ca l. Arch. , Sup. Gov . St Pap. iii, 472 .
2 3 “Sa nta Ba rba ra Archives.
3 9 H e had been appoin ted February l st, a nd wa s then on
his w ay from Loreto to San Diego. See vol. i, this work, pt.iv , cap. ix.
3 ° H e wa s appoin ted February 1 st, a nd sen t to Ca liforn iaa s comisario to take cha rge of the territoria l fina nces . The
habilitados at the four presidios therea fter served a s his sub
ordina tes for collecting the revenues, so tha t loca lly there wa s
no cha nge. H ittell, ii, 107; Ba ncroft, ii, 607; 6 1 4.
2 2 4 Missions and M issiona ries of Ca lifornia
Martinez, and he asked the governor for permission to takethe supplies by force ; but Fr. Viader of San ta Cla ra couldnot be terrified that way any more than his neighbor of
Mission San José. He wrote that his mission had to buy
wheat for its neophytes, whilst the pueblo of San José hadplenty of gra in to sell to the presidios. The moment thekeys are taken from us by force,
”he declared,
“we will not
take them back, nor attend to the tempora l admin istration .
”
At San Diego, too, the soldiers continued destitute beeauseof their abject indolence, and because the new Mexican gov
crament fa iled to pay them, so tha t they with their familiessimply made the usua l demands upon the mission . The com
mander was honest enough to acknowledge, wha t wa s ev ident,tha t the Fa thers ga ve a ll they could.
“
The new governor was not touched by such sacrifices.
Echeandia came to Upper Ca liforn ia w ith hostility for the
religious habit, and he was determined to relegate it to the
interior of the church and house as soon a s practicable, thatis to say, he intended to remove the friars from the administration of the tempora lities of the neophytes. Meanwhilehe resolved to make the religious feel his superiority. AfterArgiiello in October 182 5 had delivered the reins of gov
ernment to the governor at San Diego, and had resumedhis former position of comandante of the presidio on San
Francisco Bay, Echeandia set to work “reforming
” thingsin the territory. One of his ea rliest acts, which showed hisan imus, wa s to forbid the missiona ries to trade with any
vessel outside the four presidio ports. Governor 8015 hadpermitted them to exchange produce for goods nea r theirmissions, and to pay the duties at the presidios. Now the
missions had to forego this conven ience. For instance, Mission San Luis Obispo wa s obliged to transport its produceon the backs of mules at grea t expense to distant Montereyor Santa Ba rbara , and likewise make its purcha ses there.
“
Two weeks later he issued a proclamation requiring a ll, the
3 ‘ Ba n croft, iii, 20.
‘ 5 Echea ndia , Prohibicion de todo comércio, etc. , December
1 5th,“Archb. no. 18 15.
Oath Demanded ; Fathers Refuse ;Want 2 2 5
missions included, to pay ten per cent . tax of their income forthe benefit of the “
well-deserving troops who con serve the
peace of the territory.
”
This, it must be remembered, was in addition to the forcedcontributions which the missions a lone were ca lled upon to
make time and aga in . The Fa thers in the name of theirneophytes would not have compla ined of paying taxes likeothers, if that was a ll that was demanded ; but such was
not the case. For instance, in the following June Fr. Da rrin
found himself compelled to protest aga inst furn ishing ten
per cent. of the newly-branded cattle for the na tional rancho,
beca use a much larger percentage had a lready been dclivered during the year.
“ Echeandia writing to the Min ister of
War on April 2 6th, justified his order with regard to
the missions on the ground tha t he wa s in formed that someof them had from to in their coffers.
“ Itmay be sa fely a sserted tha t there was not so much moneyin the whole territory at sa id period . Yet such extravaga ntcharges aga inst the missions were freely circula ted amongthe indolent populace and rea dily believed, because the mis
siona ries, owing to their thrift, economy, and abstern iousness,
somehow a lways managed to meet most of the exorbitantdemands from the relentless and useless milita ry . It wasactua lly believed tha t the fria rs secretly possessed grea t treasures and even gold mines. The stupid ta le has not yet diedout among the Ca liforn ians .
In rea lity the missions were a lready in a sad plight, so
much so that a ll the Fa thers longed for the day that wouldrelieve them of the burden which was so uncongen ia l totheir ta stes and voca tion . Thus Fr. Felipe Arroyo wrote toHerrera from San Juan Bautista : “I see your applica tionfor supplies of a ll kinds for the troops. Some of the articles a re not on hand . There a re difficulties a ll a round, and
3 ‘ Echeandia , Bando, Janua ry l st, Archb. Arch. , no.
1942 . Renewed in a n order to Herrera , August 2 5th, September6th, 1827.
“Archb. no. 1943 .
‘ 7 Bancroft, iii, 88.
‘ 3 Bancroft, iii, 88. See Appendix F.
2 2 6 Missions and M issiona ries of California
I am overburdened with cares which render life wearisome.
There is hardly anything of the religious in me, and Isca rcely know wha t to do in these troublous times. I madethe vows of a Fria r M inor ; instead, I must manage tem
pora lities, sow gra in , ra ise sheep, horses, and cows, preach,
Sign a ture of Fr. Felipe Arroyo de la . Cuesta .
baptize, bury the dead, v isit the sick, direct ca rts, haul stones,lime, etc. These things a re a s disagreeable a s thorns, bitter,ha rd, unbea rable, and they rob me of time, tranquillity, and
hea lth of both soul and body. I desire with lively anxietyto devote myself to my sacred ca lling a nd to serve the
Lord .
” We can well appreciate the poor Fa ther’s predicament when we bear in mind tha t since Fr. Tapis’s death hestood a lone with 1 200neophytes, and with no hope of obta ining either an assista nt or a substitute. We may fancy that thespiritua l condition of the people must have suffered in con
sequence of the burden of having to look a fter the tempora la ffa irs of so many souls. Yet a ll through the decade a grea tmany gentiles from ea stern rancherias joined the mission .
Fr. Arroyo frequently baptized from twenty to thirty con
verts in one day.
‘ 0 This involved much spiritua l work of
which only a missionary ca n form any conception , and everyadditiona l convert meant another mouth to fill and a bodyto clothe with no other income than wha t the land producedunder the superv ision of the missiona ry. Notwithstandingtha t he had to prov ide for such a large family, Fr. Arroyolike the other missionaries wa s ca lled upon to pay ten per
8 9 Fr. Arroyo de la Cuesta to Herrera , August loth,Archb. no. 1853 .
4° Libro de Bautismos, M ission Sa n Jua n Bautista .
2 2 8 M issions and Missiona ries of Ca lifornia
three months ; but a s they pay nothing, it ma tters nothingto them to demand them every day. The same is truewith rega rd to manteca . I am not saying this throughpeev ishness, much less to reproach, but bemuse I hold, andit is a fact, tha t a stewa rd ca nnot dispose at w ill of the
property which he manages, as he is not the owner or
master.
“ Moreover, one of the sins that cry to hea ven
for vengeance is the Oppression of the poor, orphans and
widows. This does not mea n tha t I am unwilling to con
tribute to the support of the military, but, as far as lies inme, I am not w illing to be bound to suffer in the nextlife for the damage which through my negligence may re
sult to these un fortuna te orphans, ina smuch a s I find myselfbound to act a s a father and pa stor. I do not see
tha t even by driving them like slaves is it possible to meet
the demands. It is the cause of no little grief not to be
able to trea t them differently on account of such dema nds.
”
“The Indian , Fr. Ibarra writes on July 2 6th, 1 82 1 ,
“has
nothing more than a blanket and a pa ir of pants. It seemsto me, therefore, that wanting to prevent such evils and
damage is not passion , but good sense.
”
“The fria rs thus one a nd a ll rega rded themselves a s mere
stewa rds or gua rdian s of the India n s who had so fa r provedthemselves inca pable of mana ging their property.
44 “pues, veo n i aun trata ndoles como esclavos es posibletraba jar pa ra tan tos ga stos ; y no me es poco descon suelo no
poderlos tra ta r de otra manera .
”Fr. Ibarra to De la Guerra ,
April 14th, 182 1 . De la Guerra Collection .
”
““Pues me parece, que el querer impedir estos ma los yperjuicios no ser pa sion , sino razon . Fr. Iba rra to De la
Guerra . De la Guerra Collection .
”
CHAPTER XIV
Fr. Ibarra’
s Pla in La ngua ge Concern ing the Soldiers.— Indignan t
Fr. Martinez Takes Steps to Protect H imself.— H ittell’
s
Misrepresen ta tion .-Alvarado’
s Silly S tory.-Fr. Ma rtinez
Caustic.— In tolerable Condition s — Fr. Peiri Disgusted — Eche
a ndia Equa lizes M ission Taxes — His Sen timen ts Rega rdingthe M issionaries — M ission s Mulcted .
— Cause of M ilitary Destitution .
-Oa th of Allegia nce — M ission Lands Coveted .
Echea ndia Emancipa tes Some Indian s.—Results.
— MissionsDecay.
— Echea ndia Orders Schools Opened.
AVING to ma inta in the whole government and the
military of Ca liforn ia a lmost alone was bad enough,
but this wa s not the worst grievance of the missiona ries.
Fr. Ibarra more fully than other Fa thers revea ls this pha se of .
missiona ry troubles. We therefore let him speak in order tosecure a good view of this period . That we should serve
and respect him who is of benefit,”he writes,
“is very proper
and just ; but tha t we should feed him who not only not
protects us but utterly destroys, to bea r this a stout hea rtis needed. In truth, wha t benefit does this mission receiveor ha s it received from the Santa Ba rba ra Presidio ? None ;but wha t damage ha s it suffered ? Inca lculable damage.
Indeed, were it not for the presidio, I could figure on mylabor and toil. I would not then mind the Tula res or
Sierra s, the refuge of wicked men . The second sierraor bawdry is the presidio, which annoys us most . I f a low
man should behave in a low manner, one need not be sur
prised ; but that men who think themselves to be honorable,should act thus, this is wha t stuns.
” 1 In the same letterto Ca rrillo Fr. Ibarra decla red that the soldiers should goto work, ra ise gra in , and not live on the toil of the Indians
l “porque el que nu hombre ba jo obre ba jera s no es de
ma rav illa r ; pero el que los hombres que se tienen por honor la s
executen es lo que pa sma .
”Fr. Ibarra to Carlos Ca rrillo,
Aprill lth, 182 5.
“De la Guerra Collection .
”
2 3 0 M issions and Missionaries of California
whom they robbed and deceived with their ta lk aboutliberty, while in rea lity they trea ted them like slaves . This,instea d of relief, brought out a sha rp reply from De la
Guerra , who wa rned the intrepid fria r that he might sufferfrom such criticism.
’
“Every demand for contributions, Fr. Ibarra continuesnevertheless,
“implies a contract between both parties, so tha tif one fa ils the other is obliged to nothing. Now, considerwha t your presidio has contributed to the welfare of thismission since I am here, and you will be able to infer thatthis mission is under no obliga tion to your presidio. The
government, you say, demands a id for the presidio from the
pueblo and mission . This is a sacred duty, a s you ca ll it.Well, from this obligation of the mission to support thepresidio follows the duty of the presidio to a id the missionso tha t it can advance spiritua lly and tempora lly ; but the
very opposite obta ins, so much so that the mission is now in
a worse condition than at the beginn ing, beca use at thattime troops would follow runaway Indians and bring themback. The soldiers do this no more, nor do they a llow
it ; but with the greater apparent liberty, and the better op
portunities for gratifying themselves at the presidio or in
the mounta ins, the Indians go away whenever they plea se, sothat we have come to such a pass that we have not the men
to do the necessary work at the mission . The holy virtueof justice, I thought, consisted in pun ishing the gu ilty and
rewarding the innocent ; I see tha t such is not the case, but
tha t it consists in self- interest and in ha ra ssing the innocentthe more.
”
Fr. Ibarra on another occas ion decla red that, thoughthe troops here a re few, if it were in my power, I wouldtake them to Simi,‘ nay, even a little fa rther, perhaps to
Mon terey. I am tired of telling them in va in that there is
Bancroft, n , 570.
Fr. Ibarra to De la Guerra , May 2ud, 1 82 5. De la GuerraCollection .
”
4 Simi, wa s a ranch west of San Fernando in wha t is now
Ven tura County. He would put them to work far away.
2 3 2 M issions and M issionaries of California
unsophisticated na tives think tha t the priest was subject toevery petty milita ry in ma tters of mission management.What he did, Fr. Martinez fearlessly reported to GovernorL. Arguello.
“The insults,
”he wrote,
“which this officer and
the soldiers on two occa sions heaped upon me, when he
not only insulted me in words, but moved aga inst me withdisgusting gestures and set the guards upon me, have com
pelled me to close the doors of the holy church upon them,
in order to make them understa nd what a priest is and wha trespect and a tten tion is due to him.
”
Ignorance, if nothing worse, makes H ittell spea k of thisoccurrence a s a
“specimen of missiona ry excommun ica tion ,
”
as though that pun ishment, and the manner in which he
recounts it, had been employed quite frequently. It is wellfor the reader to know tha t no forma l sentence of ex
commun ica tion wa s launched aga inst any one by any of the
missionaries during the whole mission period. Even Capta inRivera was
,merely notified tha t he had incurred excom
mun ication for in fringing on the Right of Sanctua ry. Fr.
Martinez, though filled with indigna tion , seems to have
made the same announcement to the impudent corpora l, andthen forbade him to en ter the church building during divineservice. I f wha t the missiona ry intimates took place, thesoldier certa inly had incurred excommun ica tion or expul
sion from the Church. Therefore no ceremony with “bell,book, and candle” wa s necessa ry ; least of a ll were curses
employed, as H ittell relates on the authority of the bibulousAlva rado. The story is of a piece with another from the
same source. Alvarado cla ims tha t he himself wa s once ex
commun ica ted for being caught reading Archbishop Fenelon’
s
Telemaque ! As this French cla ssic is used in our colleges,
the reader may in fer the va lue of the ex-
governor’
s statements .
Still indignant at the outrage suffered, but which he fa ilsto specify, Fr. Martinez aga in wrote to Arguello on the
" Fr. Ma rtin ez to Arguello, Ja nua ry 2 3 rd, 182 5. Archb.
Arch. , 1722 . Avila , the corpora !, wa s removed by the governorsoon a fter.
Fr. Ibarra ; Fr. Ma rtinez ; Emancipation 2 3 3
day a fter the occurrence mentioned : The viola tion of the
sacred cha racter which distingu ishes me as a servant of
Jesus Christ has led me to close the door of the church on
these insolent soldiers, whom I consider to have incurredthis pun ishment by their action . It is not the first timetha t the ignoran t soldiery has opposed me with insolence.
Two individua ls have passed through here towa rds the
north, an Indian and a white man , it is sa id, stea ling and
killing and causing as much damage a s they could . Thusthey gra tify themselves by destroying the fruit of the laborsof the min ister of Christ . Another kind of
‘
missiona ry’, Picoby name, goes around creating drunka rds. He a lso reapedhis little ha rvest here, inasmuch a s some have become drunk.
Such occurrences make me believe tha t the soldiers of the
gu ard serve no other purpose than destruction . Yet I muststay here a v ictim of the Gospel, and must suffer holyReligion to be in jured which through the efforts of Catholicancestors ha s been brought here.
” 8 Perhaps it wa s a fter thescene with the corpora l tha t Fr. Martinez wrote to De la
Guerra ,“Out w ith the unbroken young mules, and let men
of behav ior come ; for ma ny of those in the service wouldbe more useful elsewhere.
”
It is no wonder that the Fa thers felt like throwing downthe burden of admin istering the mission tempora lities, and
tha t, for instance, Fr. Uria of Soledad wrote to Herrera :“Would tha t God willed tha t my desire, for which I prayedH im these fourteen yea rs through the Poor Souls, mightbe rea lized. It is tha t these missions might be secularized,so tha t we Fa thers might not be the stumbling block.
” 1 °
3 Fr. Martinez to Arguello, Ja nua ry 24th, 182 5. Archb. Arch. ,
no. 1 72 3 .
9 Fr. Martinez to De la Guerra . No da te . De la GuerraCollection .
”
1 ° “Que se seculariza ren esta s misiones para que no seamos
los padres piedra y toque.
”Fr. Fran cisco X . Uria to Herrera , June
18th, 1 82 6.
“Archb. Arch. , no. 1905. By this secula riza tion Fr.
Uria of course on ly mean t the tra n sfer of the mission s to the
bishop and of the property to the India n s . Confisca tion , a s the
Ca liforn ians planned, wa s out of the question .
2 34. Missions and Missionaries of California
Even Fr. Anton io Peiri of San Luis Rey, who had beenenthusiastic for independence and the republic, tired of his
beloved mission and sought to be relea sed. “I enclose, he
writes to Governor Echeandia ,“the accommnying petition
which I address to the Most Excellent President of the
Mexican people. By this means I ask of his well known
generosity tha t he take from me the heavy burden of ad
min istering this mission , and grant me the en joyment of theannua l stipend, so tha t I may procure the necessary sub
sistence for my la st days wherever I may most conven ientlylocate myself. I hope from your kindness that you willbring it to the notice of the President.” ‘ 1 WhetherEcheandia complied or not, we do not know ; but Fr. Peiri
’
s
request was not granted.
About two mon ths a fter his arriva l Echeandia , doubtlessupon compla int of the missionaries, made a pretense of wanting to lighten the burden of the missions. In a Bandoor proclamation of January l st, 1 826, he addressed the inhabitants a s follows : “
The Citizen José Ma ria de Echeandia , coma ndante-genera l and principa l politica l chief of
both Ca liforn ias. Hav ing before me the contributions of themissions agreed upon by the Territoria l Diputacion in the
session of January 8th, 182 4, and published a s a decree bymy predecessor Luis A. Arguello on the 1 7th of the same
month, and thinking tha t some modification in the matterwould be the most reasonable thing for the genera l interestof the territory and for the Missions in pa rticula r, I havedecided in accord with the Rev . Fr. Prefecto, Fr. Vicente deSarria tha t from the first of the present month the con
tributions of the Missions of this territory should be reduced
to make them conform with what is contributed by the rest
of the white inhabitants, with the understanding that the
1 1 Fr. Ant. Peiri to Echea ndia , September 26th, 1826. Archb.
no. 183 8 .
1 3 The Mexicans, it will be seen , closely followed the Frenchrevolution ists in the ma tter of titles, a s in ma ny other thingsnot so ha rmless.
1 ° “Jefe Superior Politico took the pla ce of Gobernador.
2 3 6 Missions a nd Missionaries of California
posed to the Mexican Government tha t the expen se of
ma inta in ing friendly relations w ith the pagan Indians shouldbe deducted from the sums due to the nea rest missions .
“r So
the m issions which had no trouble with the Indians were to
be mulcted out of wha t was due them because the soldiersincurred expenses for not being on friendly terms with thena tives ! Any other sense is not appa rent in the order. On
October 7th, 1 828, Echeandia asked Fr. Narciso Duran to
deliver to Lieutenant Ig. Ma rtinez of San FranciscoTo Ma rtinez he wrote on October 7th, 1 828 , tha t on receiptof the order he should at once proceed to Mission San Joséwhere $500 would be given him.
“ On October 2 2 nd, 1 828,Echeandia notified the missionaries of San Diego M issiontha t Ensign José Fernan dez, who had just disembarked withthirty artillerymen , would with his men take up his quartersatthe mission .
’0 On December 6th, 1829, Fr. Narciso Duranof Mission San José compla ined tha t his mission had to pay
$200 under threat tha t force would be used, unless he com
plied.
m So there wa s no end to the blood- letting.
Fr. Duran , writing to Herrera , revea ls the cause of the
everlasting destitution among the soldiery, just as Fr. Ibarrahad done before.
“In spite of the receipts from the ta riff ,
from forced contributions, and in spite of our retrenching
se le en trega ran pa ra el efecto, bien en tendido que cua lquieraresistencia se ha de con sidera r como nu atentato con tra la
Na cion .
” Echea ndia to Iba rra , Februa ry 2 7th, 182 7.
“Ca l.
Dept. Rec. v, 69-70. Whether the Indians had anythingto eat did not concern Echeandia . We see no other conclusion .
1 7 Echea ndia to the M in istro de Ha cienda .
“Ca l. Dept.
Rec. vi,1 3 2 - 1 3 4. I t seems the government took no a ction .
1 ° “En trega r s Ten ien te Ma rtinez $800. Echeandia to Fr.
Duran “Ca l. Arch Dep. Rec. vi, 485-486.
Que luego que reciba el ma ndo ocurra s M ision San Josédonde se le da ran Echeandia to Ignacio Martinez.
“Ca l.
Arch. , Dep. Rec. vi, 485.
Que a Alferez José Fernandez, que acaba de desembarca r,10 ha destinado s a lojarse en la mision con los 3 0 artilleros quele a compafian .
”Ca l. Dep. Rec. vi, 505-506.
3 1 Bancroft, iii, 89.
Fr. Ibarra ; Fr. Martinez ; Emancipation 2 3 7
ourselves for the support of the military, he says, in myopin ion there will a lways be a notable deficit, because the
soldiers a re too numerous and not at a ll economica l in theirexpenditures .
” “i The reason for this was that they lookedupon the mission as upon the cow which could be milkedwithout feeding her ; or a s upon the goose tha t la id the
golden eggs, which their indolence and greed fina lly killed .
Notwithstanding tha t the missiona ries and their neophytesworked over time to meet the endless demands of the
milita ry for supplies, the new government of Mexico showedthe fria rs no considera tion or gra titude. On the contra ry,their loya lty was questioned, and mea ns devised to maketheir stay in the territory, which they had built up, un
plea sa nt, ii not impossible. No sooner had José M . Bebean
dia , the first Mexica n governor, in October 182 5 fixed his
headquarters at San Diego, than he summoned the Fathersof the southern missions to meet him in con ference. On
April 28th, 182 6, the Fathers José sanchez, José Ma ria deZa lvidea , Anton io Peiri, and Fernando Martin with the a lca lde
of Los Angeles a ssembled at the residence of the governor.
After some prelimina ry discussions Echea ndia requested themissionaries to state their decision concern ing the oa th of
a llegiance to the Mexican Republic. In reply they in formedthe governor tha t they had no hesita tion of taking the oath
a s long a s they were not bound to take up a rms aga inst thoseof other politica l opin ion s . They offered to swea r in the
affirmative to this formula : “Do you swea r to God and on
the Holy Gospels that you will observe the ConstitucionFedera l and the Acta Constitutiva of the Un ited States of
Mexico as adopted October 4th, 1824 w ith the addition“a s fa r a s is compa tible with our min istry and religious
The governor in turn sa id tha t he had no
3 ’ Fr. Duran to Herrera , October 1 3 th, 1826. Archb. Arch. ,
no. 192 2 .
3 3 “Jura is a Dios y los Sa n tos Eva ngelios guarda r la Con
stitucion Federa l y Acta Con stitutiva de los Estados Un idosMejicanos sancionada en Méjico s cua tro de Octubre deafiadiendo
“en cuan to sea compa tible con nuestro ministeriol 6
2 3 8 Missions and Missionaries of California
authority to accept the modifying clause, and would shortlyissue a circular ca lling upon ea ch missionary to express hisdetermina tion on the subject in writing.
“
The most important problem, however, which faced Echeandia was the
“secula riza tion” of the missions . The new
governor, a s well a s the admin istra tion which had appointedhim, desired to remove the Francisca ns from the control ofthe Indians and their property ; but
“the difficulties which
surrounded Echeandia ,”says Bancroft,
“were insurmountable.
Had the territoria l finances been in a sound condition , had the
military force been thoroughly organ ized and promptly pa id,had there been fifty cura tes at hand to take cha rge of new
parishes, had the territory been to some extent independent ofthe mission s -even with these favorable conditions, none
of which existed, seculariza tion would have been a difficulttask if not a risky experiment,“ requiring for success at
lea st the hearty (no-opera tion of the friars. Under existingcircumstances, however, aga inst the will of the padres,"
who, with their influence over the neophytes and their threa tsto retire en masse, were largely masters of the situa tion ,
any radica l change in the mission sta tus would bring ruin to
the territory. The governor recognized the impossibility of
religiosa profesion . As the fria rs could not be comba ta n ts,any rea sonable governmen t would have been sa tisfied with thisa ttitude of men whose business is to prea ch the Gospel of
Christ, a nd who had given no rea son to suspect tha t they wouldbe disloya l ; but, then , the Mexica n Governmen t ha s ever sincedemonstra ted tha t it is not a ctua ted by either rea son or justicew ith regard to the min isters of the Ca tholic Church, notablythe members of religious orders.
2 ‘ “Ca l. Arch., Dept. St. Pap. i, 475-477.
Tha t is to say, the mission s were supporting it a lmost entirely. One should think tha t in return the beneficiaries wouldha ve let the mission s a lone. Tha t is a ll tha t the missions sighedfor.
Why not then let them a lone? It is a lways risky for the
thief to appropria te wha t does not belong to him.
3 7 As we sha ll see presen tly, the Fa thers ofiered to surrenderthe managemen t of the tempora lities. Bancroft missta tes the
ca se.
2 40 Missions and Missionaries of California
and the missionary of San Fernando should act as the
pa stor.
”
Although, according to Beechey,
” the Fa thers warned thegovernor to go slow ly, and to make experiments w ith a few
neophytes at the sa id pueblo, Echea ndia on July 2 5th, 182 6,issued a circular emancipa ting from mission tutelage all such
Indians within the milita ry command of San Diego, San taBa rba ra , a nd Monterey a s might be found qua lified to be
come Mexican citizens. In v irtue of this decree the neo
phyte who w ished to leave the missions might apply to the
commander of the presidio of his jurisdiction . I f the ap
plica nt had been a Christian from childhood, or for fifteen
yea rs, wa s ma rried, or at lea st not a minor, and had some
mea ns of ga ining a livelihood, and if the respective missiona ry’s report wa s favorable, the commander wa s to issue a
written permit through the missionary. This entitled the
neophyte and his family to go whithersoever he pleased likeother Mexican citizens, and his name wa s then erased fromthe mission padron or list. The provis ions of this decreewere in 1828 extended a lso to the San Francisco presidia ldistrict exclusive of San Ra fael and San Francisco Sola no.
With regard to the neophytes who rema ined at the missionsthe same decree restricted pun ishing to the mere corree
tion ” a llowed to natura l fa thers in the case of their children .
Unma rried ma les under age were to receive no more thanfifteen blows in a week, and faults requiring severer pena lties were to be referred to the milita ry officia ls.
"
“The na tura l result of these movemen ts in beha lf of the
Indians,”Hittell acknowledges,
“was to make them restive
and more or less disorderly,”
in other words, the planproved a fa ilure from the sta rt . The neophytes, Beechey te
ports,” a s might have been expected, soon fell into excesses,gambled away a ll their property, and were compelled to beg
3 1 “Ca l. Arch. ,Dept St. Pap. i, 475-477.
8 2 Beechey,“Voya ge, ii, 1 2 - 1 3 .
8 3 “Ca l. St. Pap. x, 380- 3 83 .
3 4 “History of Ca liforn ia ,” ii, 92 ; Ba ncroft, iii, 104.
so“Voyage,” ii, 3 20.
Fr. Ibarra ; Fr. Ma rtinez ; Emancipation
or to stea l . Only one month a fter Echeandia had publishedhis circula r, an Indian of San Luis Rey in a fitof drunkenness at Los Angeles man ifested the spirit of independencetha t wa s springing up among his people by publicly abusingthe a lcalde, the governor, and the na tion , and decla ring tha tthe whites were only fit to be killed .
" In April of the
follow ing year many of the neophytes of San Luis Rey and
San Juan Capistrano refused to work in the fields, and the
guards had to be increa sed to prevent outbreaks.
" Thoughthe experiments seemed to have been dropped, the ideasinstilled into the Indians by Echea ndia ’s impracticable eman
cipation scheme made such a grea t change in the neophytesthat they never were as contented and submissive a s before,and the missions seriously suffered both in spiritua l and
tempora l ma tters . I n truth, the decay of these establishments, for want of laborers, began with Echeandia
’
s interference. More than tha t, he had the ha rdihood of reportingto the Mexican Government tha t the fria rs monopolized all
the land, labor, and products of the territory !After such legislation and consequent neophyte unw illing
ness, to blame the missiona ries for not keeping the buildingsin repa ir, for not cultiva ting the fields and not caring for
the live stock as of old, on the ground of indifierence or for
worse motives as the mission despoilers asserted, is folly.
Nevertheless, be it remembered tha t during this whole periodof antagon ism to the missionaries the friars, with the Indianconverts who rema ined fa ithful, had to support the hostileterritoria l governmen t, in addition to paying the taxes lev iedon their produce.
Meanwhile Echeandia had collected a list of a ll the Indians
3 ° “Ca l. Arch., Dep. St. Pap., Ben icia , lviii, 441 -470.
‘ 7 “Ca l. Arch., Dep. St. Pap. ii, 20-2 5.
3 9 Ba ncroft, iii, 104. On October 7th, 1 827, to show more of
their solicitude the territoria l deputies issued a decree in twen tyarticles, signed by Echea ndia a nd coun tersigned by A. V. Za
morano, obliging the mission a ries to send to the territoria lgovernment a deta iled inven tory of their lands, the boundariesthereof, the slaughter and bra nding of ca ttle, the round-ups,corra ls, titles to la nds, etc. Ca l. Arch., Dep. St. Pap. , Mon terey n .
2 42 M issions and Missiona ries of California
who could read and write. They were compa ra tively so few
tha t he on July 3 rd, 1 827 addressed a communica tion on the
subject to Fr. Prefecto Sa rria. In reply Fr. Sa rria wrote“I have received your letter of the 3 rd instant in which youdeem it well to order me to arrange in a manner mostexpedient tha t in a ll and at ea ch of the .missions of thisterritory prima ry schools be established, notably at San Francisco, Santa Cla ra , San Juan Bautista , San Ca rlos, San LuisObispo, Santa Barba ra , San Buenaventura , San Fernando,San Gabriel, and San Juan Capistrano ; and tha t of course
ea ch mission give the teacher a sufficient sa lary, who sha lltake care to give suitable instruction and teach the bestmora lity.
“Although I should desire to be a punctua l observer of your
orders, as fa r as I can , and a lso for the reason tha t it mightnot be sa id or thought that I look upon them with indiiference, nevertheless, from my persona l knowledge of the missions in their present circumstances, I do not consider it ata ll feasible to carry out exactly wha t is commanded by yourletter, at lea st not in every particula r. However, I shallassist, as is just, so tha t in the manner most expedient, (touse the term employed in your letter) and in the way possible, the schools may be established as directed by the sa idletter. I sha ll to that effect notify a ll and every one of the
missions by means of a circula r of this same date. God
keep your Honor many yea rs. San Ca rlos, July 9th,1827.
Fr. Vicente Francisco de Sa rria.
” La ter on the governor
directed that where no tea chers could be procured thoseneophytes who could read and write should act a s teachers,one for ea ch ten pupils .
“
3 ° “Archb. Arch. , no. 1 941 . The reader w ill note the te
spectful tone here man ifested, notwithsta nding the overbea ringma nner of the governor towa rds Fr. Sa rrifi and the missionariesin genera l. The Fa thers un iformly a cted a s gen tlemen even
though their enemies conducted themselves a s boors and worse
towa rds the priests .
4° “Ca l. Dept. Records Vi: 397°
2 44 Missions and Missiona ries of California
acter.
’ The venerable Fr. Magin Cata la, who wa s esteemeda s a sa int, a s July 6th, 1 82 6, wrote :
“I respond tha t Ica nnot and consequently will not take sa id oa th. I n the
thirty- three yea rs during which I served at this mission I havenever meddled with politics. I f now I am to be distrusted,who with my sixty- six yea rs and infirmities hope or believeto be nea r my end, then I swea r to observe fidelity and
obedience to the government and established authorities.
”
Five of the Fa thers offered to ta ke the oa th with the clause“as fa r as is compa tible w ith my min istry or religious profession , or
“in everything not contra ry to my conscience.
“
Fr. Peiri enthusiastica lly declared tha t he would swea r to the
Constitucion Federa l, etc., without clause. Fr. Sufier a lsowanted to swea r w ithout reserve because of the authenticpromise in Articles 3 and 4 that the Ca tholic, Apostolic,Roman Religion is and will be the on ly and permanent
1” Dice : No jura ; que por Dios v ino a la tierra y por Diosse iré si lo echan ; que serv iré. en lo espiritua l y tempora l con lafidelidad correspondien te a su ca racter.
” —“Archb. no.
1 82 1 .
8 “Respondo que no puedo y por consiguien te no quiero hacer
el dicho Juramento. En los 3 3 afios que estoy en esta M isionnunca me he metido en a sun tos politicos ; y si ahora se quieredesconfia r de mi, que con la edad de 66 afios y en fermedadesespero 6 juzgo esta r cerca mi fin , juro guarda r fidelidad yobediencia a l Govierno y Autoridades constituida s.
“Archb.
no. 182 1 . The n ineteen friars, who like Abella a nd
Ca ta la refused to swea r a llegiance, were : Altimira , Amoros,Arroyo,
Cabot Juan , Cabot Pedro, Duran , Esténaga , Fortun i,
Gil y Taboada , Ja ime, Martinez, Oliva , Ordaz, Ripoll, Sancho,Uria , Viader, a nd Victor ia . I n truth the oa th wa s absolutelysuperfluous. The Ca tholic, and especia lly the religious, is loyalin v irtue of his Religion . The Mexica n officia ls, if they were
Ca tholic in a ny degree, must have known this. Therefore the
demand for a n extra oa th wa s nothing but chicanery.
4These five mission a ries were Boscan a , Ibarra , Martin , Sin
chez, a nd Za lvidea , to whom must be added Ba rona , though hisreply does not appea r in the officia l reports.
l” Archb. Arch. , nos. 18m; 1 82 3 ; 1824; 1827; 1828 ; 1830; 183 8 ;1840. Fr. Durén in his reply rema rked, “A law should be the
expression of the whole people who a re to obey it. Such is not
Friars to be Exiled ; Flightof Two Fathers 245
This simple-hea rted Father fa iled to see tha t sa id clausein the Mexican Constitution was ha rdly more than a cloak tocover the an imus of the framers of that document. As a
rule, the men who governed in Mexico ever since had littleregard for the Ca tholic Religion or any other.
Fr. Sa rria, the comisario prefecto, was the only friar not
asked on this occa sion to take the oa th, because, as L ieutenant J . M . Estudillo expla ined,‘ this Fa ther, then a lready undernomina l arrest, wa s not regula rly stationed at any particula rmission . Besides, the Fr. Prefect’s views were so well knownthat he had been singled out for expulsion , though his sen
timents on the subject were identica l with those of Fr. Ca ta la.
The Mexica n officia ls endea vored to make him appea r disloya l, but fa iled . In a long circular da ted August 7th, 1 82 6,
Fr. Sa rria defends his a ttitude, and at the same time remindsthe friars of their duty in matters politica l . The whole ex
horta tion cuhn inates in the sentence,“Subjecti estote omni
huma na e creaturae propter Deum.
”In other words, obey
the government under which you live because Almighty Godso directs . Notwithsta nding this thoroughly Catholic and
loya l principle, the powers that misruled Mexico, and whichdecla red tha t they were of the
“Apostolic, Roman Catholic”
conviction , insisted tha t Fr. Sa rria should be expelled as a
dangerous man ! The good Fr. Prefect offered to lea ve the
country volun tarily, and to proceed to the Sandw ich Islandsin order to prea ch the Fa ith there. The government rejectedthe proposition , and ordered him to be sent out of the coun
try unconditiona lly.
“
the ca se with the sa id Constitucion Federa l. Now a s then the
a nti- religious, ra ther a n ti- Christian , Leyes de la Reforma a re not
the expression of the ma jority. A handful of an ti-Christiandemagogues foisted them upon the unhappy Mexica n people.
° Estudillo to Echeandia , July 7th, 1 82 6. Archb. Arch., no.
182 1 .
7 “Be ye subject to every huma n crea ture for God’s sake. IPet. ii, 1 3 .
8 “Ca l. Arch. , Sup. Gov . St. Pap. xix, 497-498.
2 46 Missions and Missionaries of California
About the middle of the following yea r, 1 82 8, Echeandiawrote tha t he had repea tedly received orders for the Fr.
Prefect’s ban ishment, and tha t he would execute them at the
first opportun ity ; but in November he excused himself tothe government for not complying because other missiona rieswould follow their Superior if he were sent away, and the
result could on ly be disastrous to the mission s and the territory in genera l.
“ For this rea son a ll the missiona ries save
one were a llowed to continue devoting themselves to the In
dian s, and to the dista steful ta sk of providing subsistence and
clothing for the idle tr00ps and their families who otherwisemust have starved . Indeed, Echeandia saw clea rly that hemust leave the fria rs in charge for the sole purpose of sup
porting the milita ry. There were no others honest and capable enough to take the place of the fa ithful missionaries,otherwise the governor would sca rcely have permitted the
missions to reta in their old gu a rdians.
Ea rly in 1 827 however, rumors bega n to floa t about tha tsome of the missiona ries were prepa ring to leave the countrysecretly. A certa in illitera te sa ilor, Vicente Cané by name,
who had come from Monterey in 182 5 rela ted to Capta inMiguel Gonzalez tha t Fr. Luis Martinez of San Luis Obispohad placed $6000 consigned to Agustin Sénchez of Guaymas or Mazatlan on board the ship Santa Apolonia ,
and tha the and Francisco Fernandez had been present Gonzalez ,
who was very violent aga inst the missiona ries, accordingto Bancroft,n reported the absurd story to the governor withthe additiona l cha rge that Ca né had a lso stated tha t Fr.
Martinez, Fr. Juan Cabot, and Fr. A. Ripoll were not onlyplann ing to leave the country, but to destroy the missionsby slaughtering the greater number of the ca ttle. Gonzalezhimself volunteered the sta tement that “those Fa thers are
nothing else than our enemies, and a s Cane’ says, they a re
9 “Ca l. Arch., Dept. Rec. vi, 1 58.
1 ° “Ca l. Dept. Rec. vi, 2 1 5-2 16.
1 1 “History of Ca liforn ia ,” iii, 93 .
2 48 Missions and M issionaries of Ca lifornia
Don Enrique Virrnond, who had offered to pay for anythingthe College wished to send to the missionary establishments.
Fr. Cortés also rela ted that the triennia l chapter had beenheld on M ay 5th ; that Fr. Jua n Ca lzada had been elected
Signa ture of Fr. Jua n Ca lza da .
gua rdian ; a nd that the presidente would be appointed as
soon as they should receive word from the government.“
Another welcome news the Fr. Procurator commun ica tedin a circula r dated June 2 7th. It was to the effect that theadmin istrator of the Pious Fund had pa id the annua l stipendsdue the missiona ries for the three years 1 820- 1 82 2 . Pay
ment had a lso been made for the yea r 1 8 19, but the moneyhad fa llen into the hands of Sindico Esca lante who had
proved fa ithless .
" For this rea son steps had been taken to
place the funds w ith a person of trust,“because at the
present day money is the worst enemy which men can have
in their houses,”Fr. Cortés rema rks. The amount turned
over from the Pious Fund and which covered the three yea rsfrom October l st
,18 19, to September 3oth, 182 2 , reached
the sum of On the adv ice of the Fr. Gua rdianand the discretos it was a ll on June 29th forwarded to the
sindico at Tepic, Juan de Martia rena , who had it in cha rge
subject to the dispositions of the missiona ries . Of this sum
there wa s due to twelve missions, which at that period stillhad two missiona ries, each $2400. The other missions whichhad been in charge of on ly one fria r, or of two only for a
time, a lso received their sha re at the ra te of $40) a yea r
1 ° “Sta . Ba rb. Arch.
1 " He wa s a layma n who had cha rge of the a lms dona ted to
the fria rs of the College. Of course he wa s discha rged, butwhether he restored the money is not known .
Friars to be Exiled ; Flightof Two Fathers 2 49
for ea ch Father. San Ra fael’s portion , for instance, wa sonly $1 200, because only one Fa ther was sta tioned there during tha t period . In his circula r Fr. Cortés points out the
amount due each mission down to half a real, or six and
one- fourth cents. This shows tha t the College, despite its
la rge outlay for the missions, reta ined not as much as a
penny of the allowance coming to the Ca liforn ia fria rs fromthe Pious Fund . The stipends not pa id for the period be
ginn ing with October l st, 18 1 1 , and ending with September3oth, 18 18, Fr. Cortés says must be rega rded as lost . “Itwould be useless to make applica tion for them.
” 1 ‘
On July 1 3th Sindico Martiarena himself notified the
Fa thers that the were in his hands, and tha t themoney was at their disposa l." He was probably directedto convert it into merchandise and church goods, or to pay
debts incurred for such goods. There a re no a llusions madein the records concern ing the transaction , except that in one
case Martia rena was asked to pay the cost of forwardingthe holy Oils from Guada la jara .
’o
Fr. Duran ’
s term of office as presidente of the missionswas drawing to a close ; but the government probably oh
jected to his reappointment for the rea son tha t he was
persona non grata and marked for expulsion ,though he was
one of the ablest missiona ries, and second only to Fr. Sa rriafor lea rn ing, business ability, and adherence to duty. The
College on June 9th, 182 7, therefore, appointed Fr. JoséSanchez of Mission San Gabriel." This missionary was a
good, zea lous, and simple-minded religious, who had no
thought of aspiring to aught but to do his duty to the
Indians fa ithfully. No wonder the news of his appointmentthrew him into the deepest consternation . In two lettersto Fr. Duran he gave way to his grief, and decla red tha t
1 9 Fr. Cortés, Circula r, June 2 7th, 1827. Sta . Ba rb. Arch.
1 ° “Sta . Ba rb . Arch.
”
” Fr. Duran to Fr. Si nchez, September 30th, 1827. Sta .
Barb. Arch.
”
3 1 Fr. Gua rdian Ca lzada to Fr. Sinchez, June 9th, 182 7. Sta .
Barb. Arch.
”
2 50 M issions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
he would renounce the office and resign it into the hand
of Fr. Prefect Sa rria. Fr. Duran , who had a lso receivedthe in forma tion tha t he had been superseded by Fr. JoséSanchez, replied to the la tter’s lamen ta tions : “
Dura nt est
contra stimula nt calcitrare.
” Your Reverence is the presidente canon ica lly elected, and the Fr. Prefect ha s absolutelyno power to accept your renuncia tion under pa in of nullity.
That is the privilege of the discretory. Hence you may con
clude that Your Reverence will have to bea r the cross untilthe discretory relieves you, which I doubt it will do becauseit seems the government intervened. I well understand tha tYour Reverence finds yourself enveloped as though in a
dark cloud without finding the door or the window throughwhich to escape. This also happened to me ; and even the
Rev . Fr. Prefecto con fessed to me tha t he had experienceda like feeling while in office ; but there is no reason to be
terrified. The exercise of the office will open doors and
windows to you, and a fter a little while in office Your Reverence will find yourself in condition for the regula r discha rge of the duties. In this way the Rev . Fr. Prefecto con
soled me in simila r troubles, and such was the result lndeed .
” ”3
From the same letter we learn that some changes had
taken place in making the mission reports since the Spanishkings had been elimina ted.
“Three copies of the difierent
reports on the Genera l Sta te of the Missions, on the Spiritua lConditions, of the Bienn ia l Report, and of the Report on
the Compliance with Ea ster Duty must be drawn up, Fr.
Duran instructs his crestfallen successor. One copy is sentto the College, one to the Fr. Prefecto, and the third is
intended for the a rchives . Of the origina l reports made out
annua lly by the individua l missionary of ea ch mission one
copy is used to compile the Genera l Report and then filedaway in the a rchives, and one copy goes to the governor.
”
3 3 “It is hard to kick aga inst the goad . (Acts of the Apostles,ix,
3 ‘ Fr. Duran to Fr. Sanchez, November 24th, 182 7. Sta .
Ba rb . Arch.
”
2 52 Missions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
on September 19th. These w ith the regularly elected repre
sentatives composed the diputacion . Juan B . Alva rado hadbeen appointed secreta ry of the legislative body on June2 6th.
” The delibera tions la cked interest as far as the mis
sions were concerned, except that on July 7th Echeandiaproposed to change the name Ca liforn ia to that of Moctezuma . The resolution wa s adopted on the 1 3th, but tha tis as far as the matter went."
In obedience to a proclama tion of Governor Echeandia ,
issued July 3oth, 1828, an electora l committee assembled at
San Diego on October 6th. This body reorga n ized the
assembly by choosing the four new members, Ca rlos A. Car
rillo, Pio Pico,” Vicente Sanchez, and Tibr'
rrcio Castro. The
hold-overs were Juan Bandin i, Anastasio Ca rrillo, and Anton ioBuelna . The substitutes were
'Manuel Dominguez, Sa lvioPacheco, and Ca rlos Castro. No regula r sessions were heldin tha t year, nor in the next. On October 5th, LieutenantJosé Joaquin Ma itorena was chosen delega te to Congresswith Santiago Argiiello as substitute. I n December 1829
Echeandia aga in started for the north. At Monterey hesucceeded with some difficulty in securing the presence of
Buelna and José T. Castro, w ith the substitutes Sa lvio Pacheco and Carlos Castro, to meet in regular session on
July loth, 1830. Alva rado acted as secretary.
” The pro
ceedings of this assembly will be rela ted in the proper place.
Meanwhile, 1 828- 183 1 , politica l conflicts, revolutions and
counter- revolutions for the supremacy had already begunto exercise selfish schemers in Mexico, and to disturb the
‘ 0This wa s the first public appea ra nce of the two worthiesMa riano Va llejo a nd Alvarado at the age of 19 and 18 te
spectively.
3 " Hittell, 1 1 , 90-91 ; Bancroft, iii, 3 6-3 8 ; Fr. Sarria to Echean
dia , July 8th, 182 7. Archb. Arch., no. 1940.
3 8 H is first appea ra nce in politics at the age of 2 7 years.
” Hittell, ii, 96 ; Bancroft, iii, 41 -45.
Guerrero wa s duly insta lled a s President of Mexico on April1 st, 1829, but sen tenced to dea th and then shot on Februa ry 14th,
183 1 .
Fria rs to be Exiled ; Flightof Two Fathers 2 53
people of the republic which wa s such on ly in name. The
welfa re of a ll classes, lea st of a ll of the religious, was not
on the program of the office chasers. The respective con
gress would signa lize its existence by adopting laws of whichsome seemed intended merely to prov ide positions for certa inindividua ls. Thus for Cal iforn ia an assistant- inspector of
the milita ry was sent to a id Echeandia , though the territoryhad had no use for such an officia l since the days of Fages
and Soler. The person named was Lieutenant-Colonel JoséMaria ‘ 1 Padres, who came up from Loreto to San Diego on
July lst, 1 830.
“To supply another need of the territory,
”
Bancroft rema rks, “where there were as yet no lawyers, theLicenciado Ra fael Gomez wa s sent to Cal iforn ia as lega ladviser.
”He a rrived about the same tituc as Padres .
”
A mea sure of the genera l governmen t which aroused muchindigna tion on the coa st was the a ttempt to utilize Ca liforn iaas a pena l colony for Mexica n crimina ls. As ea rly a s 1 82 5
the milita ry rein forcement despatched to Monterey conta inedeighteen convicts. I n 1 82 8 a s many a s fifty persons weresen tenced for va rious offenses to terms in the Ca liforn iapresidios.
” Bancroft men tions a list of eighty convictsbrought to the coa st, and they were followed by sixty crimina ls before December 1 829 . The Ca liforn ians protested,but in February 1 830 eighty convict colon ists in charge of a
sergeant and twelve soldiers a rrived from Acapulco at San
Diego, and reported tha t more were coming. Thirty of the
worst men were taken over to Santa Cruz Island, oppositeSanta Ba rbara , with a supply of ca ttle and fish-hooks to
make a living a s well as they could . The rest with fiftymore a rriva ls in July were distributed among private em
Beautiful religious n ames in Mexica n ofiicia ldom by no
means indica te a pious spirit in the bearers. The credit belongsto the mothers. It wa s thus in the ca se of Padres a nd Ca lifornia officia ls genera lly.Ban croft, iii, 46 -47. Manuel Jimeno Ca sa rin , brother of
the Jimeno Fa thers, came up a s accoun ta n t for the customhouse ;Francisco Pérez Pacheco a rrived a s comanda n te de resgua rdo.
3 ' “Ca l. Arch., St. Pap. x, 3 3 8- 3 3 9 ; Xi. 167
2 54 M issions and Missionaries of California
ployers.
“ The efiect of this class of immigrants on the
neophytes of Ca liforn ia , which a lready abounded in worthlesscharacters, can be imagined. That the missiona ries lostcourage, and longed da ily more and more to be relieved of
their burden by ban ishment or death, will scarcely cause
surprise.
Ea rly in 1 82 8 a sensation wa s caused by the flight of
two missionaries. Fathers Antonio Ripoll of Santa Barba raand José Altimira of San Buenaventura , thoroughly dis
couraged, and probably expecting expulsion any way, on
January 2 3 rd went aboa rd the American brig H arbinger,
and bade farewell to Ca lifornia in whose missions irreligiousauthorities would not let them labor in peace. Under the
regula tions of the College Fr. Ripoll was en titled to retire,as he had served far more than ten yea rs. Fr. Altimira
had been connected w ith the College only n ine yea rs.
Though the government intended to ban ish the missiona riesfor no other reason than tha t their cradles had stood in
Spa in , and though the friars were under no obligations to
the politicians at the head of the Sta te a ffa irs, the flightannoyed the Mexican Government not a little. Agreeablyto their own mercenary character, the so-ca lled Ca lifornians,tha t is to say the poison-as, notably Ma riano Va llejo and
Alva rado, expressed suspicions that the fugitives had ca r
ried away the wea lth of the missions .
“
Governor Echeandia , who happened to be at Santa Ba rbara , instituted an investigation , and on January 2 5th issuedorders for the seizure of the H arbinger should the vessel
land at a ny Ca liforn ia port. Capta in Steele of the ship,
3 ‘ Bancroft, iii, 48-49 ; K ittell, n , 88.
3 5 As we sha ll lea rn in the course of time, these two worthiesw ith others rega rded carrying away the wea lth of the mission sa s a right reserved to Ca liforn ia n s. It is s ign ifica n t tha t Ba ncroft usua lly disda in s to utilize their sta temen ts in the text.H e crowds them in to footnotes fa r more often . The rea son he
gives is tha t “none of the writings of this cla ss, i . e., Osio’
s,
Va llejo’
s, Alvarado’s, Bandin i’
s, and let us add Pico’
s,“nor
a ll combined , would be a sa fe guide in the absence of the
origina l records.
”(Vol. iv,
2 56 M issions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
however, took no chances, and thus the two fria rs esca pedto their native land.
“ At the judicia l examination on Feb
ruary l st nothing more was elicited from Mayordomo Vicente Pino of San Buenaventura , Alférez Rodrigo del Pliego,a nd George Coleman ,
an Englishman whom Fr. Altimira
had baptized but four days previous to his flight, and to
whom he had entrusted the keys of the mission , than tha tsome days before his departure Fr. Altimira had sent toSanta Barba ra two ba rrels of w ine, one ba rrel of soap, oneba rrel of olives, a keg of v inega r, a chest, and two small
boxes of chocola te. Furthermore, it was found tha t theFather had ta ken a long, a fter telling Coleman tha t he wentaway for treatment of his hea lth, a sma ll box of ciga rs and
some books .
"
From the H a rbinger, while still at anchor before SantaBa rbara , Fr. Altimira on January 2 3 rd addressed a longand a ffectiona te letter to George Coleman. In it he saysthat “on accoun t of happen ings which neither you nor the
poor Indians, my dea r neophytes, have caused, I emba rkedand am resolved to make the long voyage to Spa in , mymother country in this world . You will not deliverthe keys nor anything else tha t I left in your cha rge to
any one without the express order of the governor, whom
I am notifying of my departure. The key to my room is
in the keeping of Fr. Anton io Ja ime and Fr. FranciscoSufier at Santa Ba rbara . In the drawer of the ta ble in
my room a re the papers which show the actua l state of the
mission . I doubt not that God w ill bless and console the
poor neophytes ; for it is certa in that the Fr. Prefect, towhom I send word of my going away, will soon provide a
missiona ry for the mission .
” 3 °
When the report of the flight of the two friars rea chedMexico, the government proposed making the College suffer
“0 “Ca l. Arch. , Dept. Rec. vi, 72 1 -722 ; 730; Sup. Gov . , St. Pap.,
Decrees a nd Despa tches, iv, 1 84- 186.
3 7 “Ca l. Prov . St. Pap.,Ben icia , lxvn ,
2 19-2 2 1 ; Ban
croft, iii, 93 -94.
3 9 “Ca l. Arch., Prov. St. Pap. , Ben icia , lxvn , 2 2 2 - 2 2 5.
Friars to be Exiled ; Flightof Two Fathers 2 57
for the chagrin . The Min ister of Justice demanded to knowof the Fr. Superior whether the two fri ars had left theirmissions by order of the College. Fr. Arreguin fortunatelycould reply that he had no knowledge of the afl
'
a ir. The
Min ister then wanted him to obta in the pa rticulars from
the Fr. Prefect. As Fr. Sarr1a could report similarly, the
government dropped the ma tter.
“
“Though Alvarado and Va llejo, says Bancroft,““accuse
the padres of having stolen large sums, and their methodsof flight favored the suspicion , I suppose that a few thousand dollars was probably a ll they took, and that they hadbut little difficulty in justifying the act to their own sa tisfaction , in view of the past stipends, either unpa id or in
vested in supplies for the Indians. I n their own letters thepadres sa id they had left the mission property intact,“ and
Mrs. M . Ord declares tha t they took no money a long, but
only some prov isions, which is doubtless true. Her fatherwas the sindico of the Franciscans in Ca liforn ia . With himthe donations or a lms for the Fathers, whenever they re
ceived them and had no immediate use for them, were deposited. Out of this fund, a fter the Mexican independence,De la Guerra provided for the personal needs of the fria rs.
Even in ca se the Mexica n Government a llowed the missiona ries to en joy the stipends coming to them from the PiousFund, which was not probable, such money had to be usedaccording to the intention of the origina l benefactors or
founders of the Pious Fund, tha t is to say, for the actual
3 ° Fr. Arreguin to Fr. Sa rriai, Ma rch 2 6th, 1 82 8. Sta . Barb . Arch.
“History of Ca liforn ia ,” iii, 94.
‘ 1 Bancroft is generous, but he qua lifies his generosity w ithan ungen erous insinua tion quite in keeping with his genera l plan .
43 The books were in perfect order a nd nothing wa s missingat either Sa n Buen aven tura or Sa n ta Ba rba ra .
‘ 3 “No lleva ron n inguna ca n tidad de dinero, y si solo a lgunosviveres pa ra el viage. Todo el dinero que ten ia la mision se quedoen ella .
” “Ocurrencia s,” 2 2 - 2 3 . M rs . Ma ria Ord wa s the daughterof José de la Guerra , and therefore well able to know the fa cts.
She a lso rela tes tha t Fr. Ripoll wept a s he took lea ve of some In
dia ns.
0
2 58 M issions and M issiona ries of Ca lifornia
needs of the missionaries on the spot and for the Indians.
This was scrupulously observed by the Francisca ns from the
beginn ing, as we have had occasion to show at va rious times.
Personal dona tions to the Fathers heretofore had a lso beenapplied to the same end.
Now that the mission aries were expecting to be ban ishedat any moment, and had to provide for themselves, theyseem to have deposited a ll persona l a lms with De la Guerra ,who disposed of them for the needs of the respective Fa therssubject to the approva l of the Fr. Presidente or Fr . Prefect.It was out of such deposits doubtless tha t De la Guerra pa idthe cost of the voyage to Spa in , and tha t is a ll they couldaccept ; for in their na tive country they would have to liveaccording to their vows in poverty just as well. “Stea linglarge sums,
”as Va llejo and Alvarado cha rged, would have
been to no purpose. Those two worthies, however, triedto ea se their own conscience and to cover their own mis
deeds by making people believe tha t the fria rs had beendishonest. There is no documenta ry evidence that a fria rappropriated a s much as a dolla r for himself, rela tives, College, or the Church ; but there is abundant evidence tha t thetraducers of the missiona ries were not nea rly as scrupulousin money ma tters as their victims. All will appear in due
time.
2 60 M issions and Missiona ries of Ca lifornia
tually happened may be ga thered from a letter addressedto the Fr. Presidente José San chez of San Gabriel“Puerto do San Pedro, June 3 rd, 1828 . Rev . Father— As
soon as I arrived at the pueblo from the mission ,
“I hadsca rcely got seated before I received orders to go to the
a lca lde,“who questioned me as to my business atthe mission .
Sign ature of Fr. Gerbn lmo Bosca na .
I told him tha t I went to see about the things for the
Padres at the islands. He asked me when the ca rt was
going to the beach. I told him, in the morn ing. When I
arrived at the rancho I found five soldiers, headed by Antonio Maria Lugo, wa iting, as I supposed, for the cartwhichpassed whilst they were at the rancho ; but they were ap
prised of it by somebody, and they instantly set 06 in pur
suit. In about three-qua rters of an hour one soldier returnedto the rancho and told me to follow him. I wen t w ith himand found they had stopped the cart at the river, and hadtaken everything out. They examined minutely everythingin the ca rt, even sea rched in the corn , and sa id they werelooking for dollars which, they supposed belonged to the
Padre and were hidden . They a lso took the letters fromthe Indian and those directed to me. They opened and
perused them and of the others they copied the directions.
I am very sorry they have such a bad opin ion of us, Padre,but perhaps it may be for the better, as it may be the meansof our distinguishing our friends from our enemies. We
L os Angeles.
5 San Gabriel.° José An ton io Ezequiel Carrillo. Echeandia on Ma rch 2 1 3 t had
warned him tha t Fa thers Sanchez and Geron imo Boscana of
Sa n Gabriel were secretly exporting money and other a rticlesfrom San Pedro! I n the sea rch nothing wa s discovered . Ca l.
Arch., Dep. Rec. viii,M iscella nea , 402 .
Many Converts ; Friars Indispensable 2 6 1
received in the ca rt the whole of the things specified inyour letter for which I am obliged to you, etc. BrigKarinroko. John Lawlor by John Wilkinson .
”
On the receipt of this commun ica tion , Fr. Sanchez, thenpresidente of the missions, at once indignantly protested tothe governor, and demanded his pa ssport . “
As presidenteof the missions,
”he wrote, I cannot behold with indiffer
ence the in famous in jury which has been inflicted uponme. I therefore ask for my pa ssport in order to
leave the province. I want to emba rk on the frigate Princesa .
I want to leave, or rather I want to fly away from San Ga
briel ; for I sha ll take nothing a long but my Brev iary.
”
Later, August 18th, 1828 , he aga in protested aga inst spyinginto his papers and a ffa irs . In reply Echeandia endeavoredto pacify the justly indignant Fr. Presidente.
“With regardto the cha rges made aga inst Your Reverence on account ofwhich you demand your passport to leave the country,” hesa id, I have to sta te that they a re un founded. I have or
dered the a lca lde of Los Angeles to appea r before me withwitnesses in order to expla in his action , and I invite you
to a ttend or to name some person to represent you.
” Thissounds strange in view of the fact tha t it was Echeandiahimself who had caused Ca rrillo to proceed aga inst the
missionary. It seems Fr. Si nchez a llowed himself to be
persuaded to drop the matter, and for the sake of the poorneophytes to stay at his post. At a ll events, he never leftit except for the world where unselfish zea l receives fullcompen sa tion .
Severa l other fria rs demanded their passports. Amongthem was the famous Fr. Luis Martinez of San Luis Obispo.
When Echeandia noticed the growing dissatisfaction among
7 “Archb. Arch., no. 2 12 5. The letter wa s written in English.
0“LO ma s pron to quiero ma rcha r, mejor dire volar, de San
Gabriel ; pues solamen te lleva re conmigo mi breviario.
”Fr.
Sanchez to Echea ndia , June 8th, 1 828.
“Archb. Arch no 203 1 .
0Fr. sanchez to Echeandia , August 18th, 1 828. “Archb. Arch.,
no. 203 1 ; Echea ndia to Fr. Si nchez, August l t, 1828 .
“Ca l.
Dep. Rec. vi, 3 93 - 3 95.
2 62 Missions and Missionaries of California
the missiona ries he advised the government to grant passports to all who wanted them.
1 0 This wa s deemed hazardous ; for it was pla in that probably the most of them wouldava il themselves of the opportun ity to leave the countrywhich repa id past and present devotion to the cause of Ca liforn is w ith indign ities . As yet the government needed the
poor friars, if for nothing else than to prevent the neophytes
from runn ing away. This, of course, would have compelled
the soldiers and colon ists to perform the labor for which theyrelied upon the Indians. Wha t the result would be was set
forth by Beechey) L1“The missions,
”he wrote at the time,
“have hitherto been of the highest importance to Ca liforn ia ,and the government ca nnot be too ca reful to promote their
welfa re, as the prosperity of the country in a grea t measureis dependen t upon them, and must continue to be so untilsettlers from the mother country can be induced to resortthither. The neglect of the missions would not long precedethe ruin of the presidios, and of the whole of the district;thus, while the missions furn ish the means of subsistence tothe presidios, the body of men they conta in keeps the wildIndians in check, and prevents their making incursions on
the settlers.
This view seems to have been adopted by the government,and hence it was that no permits to leave were granted tothe Franciscan friars. In the case of Fr. Martinez, whomin a letter to the Min ister of Wa r
1 ’ Echeandia describeda s
“one of the most furious enemies of our system,
”the
governor took it upon himself to issue the pa ssport demanded a s ea rly as 182 6. His principa l reason , however,
was“that, having in formation that Fr. Luis Ant. Ma rtinez in
tended to depart on the friga te, he would give him the
passport so tha t he might emba rk without causing‘
scanda l’
1 ° Echeandia to M in ister of Justice, June 3oth, 182 8. Ca l.
Dep. Rec. vi, 2 2 1 .
1 1 “Na rra tive of a Voyage,” ii, 14- 1 5.
1 ’ Echea ndia to M in ister of Wa r, July 26th, 1827. Ca l.
Dep. Rec. vi, 90-91 .
2 64 Missions and M issionaries of California
decrea sing. Whereas Fr. Pres . Duran for the yea r 1 826 wasable to report neophytes at the twenty-one missions,Fr. Sanchez, his successor, could report only The
highest number, ma les and 9620 females, or
Indian neophytes, was reached at the close of The
fa lling-off began with the year 1 82 2 .
The English navigator Fred . W. Beechey deserves a briefnotice here. He anchored at San Francisco from November 6th to December 28th, 1 826, and aga in in December 1827.
He visited the missions of Santa Clara and San José, and
a lso stopped at Monterey. H is descriptions on the wholeare fa ir. Even tha t which sounds unfavorable, if inter
preted by the circumstances of Mexican misrule and settlers’
misrepresenta tions, will be found to speak well for the rnis
siona ries and their efforts. While the habitations and char
acter of the Indians atMission San Francisco displeased him,
Beechey says of Mission San José : “All wa s neatness,
clean liness, and comfort. The genera l character of
the padres is kind and benevolent, and in some missions theconverts are so attached to them tha t I have hea rd themdeclare they would go with them, if they were obliged toquit the country. The Indians are in genera l wellclothed and fed ; they have houses of their own , and if they
are not comfortable, it is, in a grea t mea sure, their own
fault.“ Their mea ls are given them three times a day, and
consist of thick gruel made of wheat, Indian corn , and
sometimes acorns, to which at noon is genera lly added mea t.Clothing of a better kind than that worn by the Indians is
given to the oflicers of the missions, both as a reward fortheir services, and to crea te an emulation in others.
”
1 ° “In forme B iena l for 1 826- 1 828. Sta . Ba rb . Arch.
1 " “In forme Genera l for 182 1 .
“Sta . Ba rb. Arch.
”See fa csimile
report at end of the volume.
1 0Tha t wa s doubtless the rea son why the neophytes at Mis
sion Dolores offered such a poor appea rance ; but then La ngsdorlf himself “terms the neophytes of San Fra ncisco pigmiescompa red w ith them”
( i . e., w ith those of San José, Fr. Durin’
s
mission ) . Beechey, u, 2 1 .
1 ’ Beechey,“Narra tive,” ii, 2 1 - 2 2 .
Many Converts ; Friars Indispensable 2 65
As yet Spa in had not acknowledged the independence of
Mexico. The men in power therefore resolved to vent theiranger at the refusa l on the inhabitants of Span ish birth. In
May, 1827, Congress began by decreeing tha t no person of
Span ish na tiv ity should hold any public, civil or milita ryoflice. On December 20th a decree was issued which corn
manded all Spania rds to leave the country w ithin six months.
On ly those were exempt who were sixty yea rs of age, thosewho had married Mexican wives, and some others, a fterthey took the oa th of a llegiance.
” This law had a disastrous effect on the College of San Femando because the
community was almost entirely composed of Span ish fria rs.
The Fr. Guardian and the discretos at first resolved to disband and to a llow every member to go wheresoever he foundaccommoda tions. Later they reconsidered this sweepingmeasure. They elected a vica r from among the few MexicanFathers who might govern the remnant a s well a s he could.
Fr. Ildefonso Maria Arreguin , the friar chosen for the position , endeavored to obta in a dispensa tion from the law of
expulsion in favor of the Span ia rds in his monastery ; buthis petition was rejected. All tha t the government would
grant wa s that Fathers Lull, Danti, Suso, and Cortés mightstay.
2 1 These friars, however, declined to accept the conces
sion den ied their countrymen , and rather followed them intoexile. The result was that only Fr. Arreguin , three Mex
ican Fa thers, two inva lid Span ish friars, six lay-brothers,
and a few Tertiary brothers rema ined to attend to the grandchurch “3 and monastery of San Fernando and continue the
religious exercises as long as the politicians might toleratethem.
”
To prevent certa in extinction Fr. Arreguin petitioned theHoly See to grant to the sma ll commun ity the same facul
“Alaman ,H istory of Mexico, torn . v, lib. n
, cap. xi, 82 8-830.
3 1 Fa thers Lull, Dan ti , a nd Cortes had labored in Ca liforn ia .
2 ’ The church of San Fernando is even now the la rgest churchedifice in the City of Mexico next to the famous ca thedra l.
Fr. Arreguin to Fr. Sarrii , Ma rch 26th, 1828 ; Don FranciscoGonzélez, August N th, 182 8.
“Sta . Ba rb. Arch.
”
2 66 M issions and Missiona ries of Ca lifornia
ties possessed by the Apostolic College with regard to elections and the reception of applica nts from other colleges or
provinces, and to en joy the same graces, indults, and facul
ties conceded to missionary colleges . Pope Leo XII . on
December 7th, 1 828 , graciously confirmed Fr. Arreguin’
s
election to the ofl‘ice of vica r, and granted a ll tha t the sa idFr. Ildefonso and his a ssocia tes a sked for in the petition ,
the Constitutions of the Holy See a nd of the Order issuedon the subject to the contra ry notw ithstanding.
”
“My on ly desire is,”Fr. Arreguin concludes a letter com
mun icating the foregoing in formation to Fr. Sa rria ,
“to pre
serve the College, even at the cost of many ha rdships . I
Signa ture of Fr. I ldefonso Arreguin .
beseech Your Reverence and a ll the Fa thers to rema in un itedwith this College, well a ssured tha t you have brethren herewho wish to co-operate w ith Your Reverences for the welfa re and spiritua l progress of souls, for such is the objectof our Apostolic Institute.
”Fr. Sa rria replied on October
2 5th, 1 828 . He quietly acknowledged the jurisdiction of
Fr. Arreguin by sending a list of the Ca liforn ia Fa thers,and a sked tha t the new Superior procure a quan tity of
holy Oils.
”
Don Francisco Cortina Gonzalez, the successor of the
fa ithless Esca lante in the office of sindico, a lso in formedFr. Sa rria that Fr. Juan Cortés, who had for many yea rsbeen procurator of the Ca liforn ia missions, on his forced
3 4 “Peticion 5 Su San tidad. Sta . Ba rb . Arch.
2 5 Fr. Arreguin to Fr. Sa rr1 a , March 2 6th, 182 8 ; Fr. Sarria to
Fr. Arreguin .
“Sta . Ba rb . Arch.
2 68 Missions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
The Fr. Prefect quite properly ignored the impertinent manda te, because it was beyond the jurisdiction of the governor
to take or con fer a purely religious ofice. As to Fr. Duran ,
he fla tly refused to leave his Mission of San José for the
long, useless journey to San Diego. He could not intrudehimself into the place of his prelate at the behest of a secu
lar oflicia l anyway.
In efiect, the friars were requested to swea r a llegian ce to
the fa ithless politicians who had managed to plow their wayto power, and then styled themselves the Republic of the
Un ited Sta tes of Mexico. They were not truly representative of the whole people. To-morrow another clique mightoverthrow them and demand another oa th of a llegia nce to
themselves . Such changes indeed came to pass, so tha t on lyfifteen years la ter Fr. Soria , a Zacatecan Fran ciscan , couldwrite : “
To-day Peter governs, to-morrow John rules, and
everything is confusion . We change our constitutions likeour coats , and our government min isters like our ha ts .
”
The governor saw no way to en force Arizpe’
s demand,and therefore allowed the ma tter to rest; but to the M in
ister of Justice he excused himself for not executing the
order of expulsion on the ground tha t if the Fr. Prefect
were cornpelled to leave Ca liforn ia the rest of the dissa tisfiedreligious, who formed the ma jority, would also depa rt.“This in my judgment, he wrote,
“would cause much dis
turbance in the territory, and the absence of missiona rieswould bring disorder into the neophyte establishmen ts. Ihave in consequence not urged the immedia te retiremen t ofFr. Sarria, until a sufficient number of other missiona riescan take the places of those who are to lea ve the republic,and of those who by reason of old age and infirmity deserveto be relieved of their cha rges.
” ‘ 1
Fr. Sa rria offered to leave the country for the Sandw ich
3 ° Fr. Soria to Fr. Gonzalez Rubio, September 1 7th, 1843 . Sta .
Ba rb. Arch.
”
u Echeandia to Arizpe, November 4ih, 1828. Ca l. Dep.
Rec. vi, 2 1 5- 2 1 6 ; August 1 1 th, 182 9.
“Ca l. S t. Pap., Sac
ramen to, x, 449-456.
Many Converts ; Friars Indispensable 2 69
Islands in order to preach the Gospel to the Kanaks and
thus relieve the governor of his embarrassment ; but thesefar-ofl
'
isla nds were too nea r Ca liforn ia to sa tisfy the wouldbe sta tesmen of Mexico . The government rejected the
proposition , and instea d directed Echeandia to give the pro
scribed Fa ther his passport for Europe.
" The governor
assured the M in ister of Justice tha t the Fr. Prefect shouldbe put on board the first ship bound for Europe or the
Un ited Sta tes.
“ On June 7th, 1 829 , however, Echeandiaaga in defended his inaction in this matter by showing thata ll the missiona ries save three were Span ia rds, and that itwa s man ifestly impossible to expel the friars as long a s no
others were substituted . At the same time he forwardeda list of the Fathers show ing the condition and age of eachone. First he gave the names of a ll the Span ia rds in the
terri tory subject to expulsion in v irtue of the law of De
cember N th, 182 7, a lready mentioned . Altogether, accor
ding to the returns, there were on ly seventeen ma les of
Span ish birth in Lower Ca liforn ia and fewer than fortyamong the military in Upper Ca liforn ia The governor
then gives the names of the Span ish fria rs as follows
Fr. Geron imo Boscana ; age fifty- three yea rs and disposedto swea r a llegiance.
Fr. Vicente Oliva ; forty-n ine yea rs and ten months old ;
robust hea lth ; refused to take oath in 1 826.
Fr. Anton io Peiri ; infirm ; seven ty years of age ; took theoa th in 1 82 6 w illingly ; his attachment for our institutionsand the good condition of his mission recommend this re
ligious.
Fr. Jose’ Barona ; age sixty- six years ; broken in hea lth ;decided to take the oa th in 182 6 a s fa r a s is compatible with
3 3 “Ca l. Arch., Sup. Gov. St. Pap. xix, 497-498 ; Dep. Rec. vi,
1 58 ; 2 1 5- 2 16.a
3 8 Echeandia to Min ister of Justice, June 3oth, 182 8. Ca l. Arch.,
Dep. Rec. vi, 2 2 1 .
1“Echea ndia to the M in ister of Justice, August l 1 th, 1829. Ca l.
St. Pap., Sa cramento, x, 449-456 ; Dep. Rec. vi, 2 3 5- 241
vii, 1 49- 1 56 ; 191 - 196.
2 70 M issions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
his religious profession ,and as long as he rema ined in the
Mexica n Republic.
Fr. José Ma ri a de Za lvidea ; forty-nine yea rs of age ; brokenin hea lth ; in 1 82 6 he made the same avowa l as Fr. Barona .
Fr. José Bernardo Sanchez ; fifty-one yea rs ; of the same
opin ion w ith Fr. Za lvidea .
Fr. Francisco Iba rra ; forty- eight years of age ; he sha res
the sentiments of Fr. Sanchez.
Fr. Francisco Sufier ; seventy-one yea rs old ; blind ; tookthe oa th in 1 82 6.
Fr. Bla s Ordaz ; thirty-eight years of age and in goodhea lth ; in 1826 he first agreed to swea r, but then refused,and rega rds it an honor tha t he would not take an oath to
the prejudice of his sovereign .
Fr. Ma rcos de Vitoria ; aged sixty-n ine yea rs ; in brokenhealth ; in 182 6 at first agreed to swea r, but then retracted,yet he is willing to obey the authorities . It is to an exces
sive respect for his prelates, one can say, tha t he changedhis mind. H is orderly life and exemplary v irtue recom
mend him ; his illness and advanced age should be takeninto consideration so tha t he may rema in here.
Fr. Anton io Ja ime ; seventy-two yea rs of age ; ill hea lth.
In 1 827 he took the oath with the restrictive clause likeother Franciscans .
Fr. Felipe Arroyo de la Cuesta ; forty-nine yea rs old ; he
took the oath in 1 826, but now cla ims loya lty to the Kingof Spa in .
Fr. Buenaventura Fortun i ; age fifty- six yea rs ; broken in
hea lth ; declined to swear in 182 6, but decla red he wouldobey the authorities.
Fr. Ramon Abella ; sixty-five yea rs old ; infirm ; thinks likeFr. Fortuni.
Fr. Francisco Xavier Uria ; fifty-n ine years of age ; fa irhealth ; declined to swear in 1 826, and is consequently sub
jcet to the pena lty ; but his good services recommend him.
Fr. Pedro Cabot ; forty-n ine yea rs old ; good hea lth and of
strict religious conduct ; refused to take the oa th because he
2 72 M issions and M issionaries of California
had sworn fidelity to Fernando VII ., but he will obey the au
thorities.
Fr. Juan Bautista Sancho ; fifty-seven years of age ; heal thnotgood ; agrees with Fr. Cabot.Fr. Juan Cabot; forty-n ine yea rs and n ine mon ths old ;
poor hea lth ; would not swea r in 1826.
Fr. Juan Amoros ; age fifty- six yea rs ; good health ; protoises to obey any government under which he lives .
Fr. Tomas Esténaga ; forty-five years of age ; poor hea lthin 1 826 he positively declared tha t he could not ta ke the oa thin conscience, but would obey the government.Fr. Magin Ca ta la ; sixty- eight yea rs old ; in poor hea lth ;declined to take the oa th, butpromises to obey the authorities.
Fr. Jose Viader ; age sixty- four yea rs and eight months ;broken hea lth ; of strict religious observance ; would not takethe oa th, but promises obedience.
Fr. Narcis0 Duran , age fifty-two years and eleven months
good hea lth ; he declined to swea r a llegiance.
Fr. Juan Moreno ; thirty yea rs old ; good hea lth ; arrivedin 182 7 ; he has given no reason to be suspected of enmityto the governmen t.“
Fr. Vicente de Sarn a , sixty-two years old, does not appea ron Echeandia
’
s list, probably because he was marked for
expulsion . Fr. Luis Anton io Martinez, fifty-eight yea rs of
age, Fr. Fernando Martin , fifty-n ine yea rs old, and Fr. Luis
Gil y Taboada , fifty- six yea rs of age and infirm, were a lso
omitted. They all had refused to take an unconditiona l oa th.
Besides these twenty-eight Span ish fria rs, there were two
young Mexican Fa thers in the territory, Fr. Jose’ JoaquinJimeno and Fr. Anton io Jimeno, who had a rrived inThree weeks a fter sending his list to Mexico, Echea ndia
a sked the Mexican Min ister of Foreign and Interna l Rela
‘ 5 Echeandia to M in istro de Rela ciones, June 7th, 1829. Ca l.
Dep. Rec. vii, 149- 1 55 ; 665-666.
“Archb. Arch., nos. 182 1
1824; 182 7.
Fr. Moreno, for having entered the Order in Mexico, wa sa lso regarded a s a Mexica n . Fr. Cortes to Fr. Duri n , M ay 3 lst,
1 82 7; Fr. Si nchez,“In forme B iena l,” Ma rch N th, 182 8
Many Converts ; Friars Indispensable 2 73
tions to permit all the missionaries enumera ted to stay at
their post except Fathers Arroyo, Ordaz, the two Cabotbrothers, Sancho, Ibarra , Oliva , Duran , Esténaga , Abella ,and Uria . These should be given the passports for whichthey clamored . At the same time he wrote“By a ll means Fa thers Peiri, Jayme, Ba rona , and Suffer
should stay a long with the others for whom I ask this permission on account of their age, infirrnities, and virtue ; for
Sig nature of P r. Jose Ba rona .
of those in beha lf of whom I ask the permit to stay onlytwo or three w ill be able to manage the mission tempora litiesfor some time to come. The rest are not able, or w ill serveon ly if they cannot avoid it. Thus they will be of use at
their missions only in spiritua l matters .
”
In the same report Echeandia a lso sta tes the reasons whythe sa id Span ish Fa thers should not be expelled : “There are
twenty-one missions, but only three Mexican fria rs ; the oth
ers are Span ia rds, who by their industry have placed the
missions in a sta te of actua l wea lth. I f unhappily the missions should be deprived of these Fa thers we should see the
population in a lamentable condition for want of subsistence.
The neophytes would give themselves to idleness and pillageand other
,disorders which would ruin the missions, and they
would resume the savage life from which the grea ter num
ber or nearly a ll have come ; then , a fter they have settleddown in the mounta ins, a ll agricultura l and mechan ica l industry would cease, and the rest of the inhabitants and
troops would perish.
” Echeandia goes on to show tha t
‘ 7 “Que si por desgra cia ahora queda ria n la s misiones sin pa dres,se veria un estado lamen table de poblacion y medios de subsis
teueia ; que los neofitos entrarian en ociosidad y pilla je y otras
2 74 M issions and Missiona ries of California
the territory would be without spiritua l food over a stretchof country more than two hundred leagues in length for
which the three Mexican Fathers would not suffice. He ex
presses his belief tha t the decadence of Lower Ca liforn iaresulted from the lack of religious who could manage the
tempora l and spiritua l a ffa irs of the missions, and tha t inUpper Ca liforn ia decay is a lready noticed on account of theinfirm ities of the missiona ries . He therefore urges the gov
ernment not to insist on expulsion until Mexica n Fatherscould take the pla ces of the Span ish Fathers. For the same
rea son Fr. Luis Martinez should not have his pa ssport.”
Before the governor’
s appea l reached the capita l the federa l
government more strongly man ifested its bitterness aga instthe mother country by decreeing, on March 20th, 1 829, tha ta ll Spania rds residing in Ca liforn ia , New Mexico, and othernorthern territories should leave the country within one
month and the republic within three months a fter the publication of the law .
” Governor Echea ndia published the
in iquitous mea sure on July 6th “but, in accordance with
his prev iously expressed Opin ion , says H ittell,“he had
little expecta tion that it could be, or in fact ought to be,
any more rigidly en forced than the other. There was in
fact, among the people, a very strong opposition to it in so
fa r a s it a ffected the missiona ries, and especia lly those thathad taken the oa th. In the pueblo of San José this feelingwa s appa ren tly unanirnous . The ayuntamiento or town coun
cil Of tha t place met on August 2 5th, 1 829, and in the name
desgra cia s que arruina rian 1a s misiones, y se volveria n a la v idasa lva je de donde la mayor pa rte 6 ca si todos tienen su principio ;y que remon tados en la s sierra s se a caba ria toda industria agricola y fabril, y pereceria la dema s gen te y tropa .
”For once
Echea ndia spoke justly about the va lue of the mission s for the
commonwea lth.
" 3 Echea ndia a l Min istro de Rela ciones, June 3oth, 1829 . Cal .
Dep. Rec vii, 1 55- 1 67.
3 9 “Ca l. Arch. , Dep. S t. Pap.
,Sa n José, 1 1 , 149- 1 50.
4° “Ca l. Arch., Dep. St . Pap. ii, 3 34- 3 3 6 ; Dep. St. Pap., San
José, ii, 149- 1 50; Argiiello to Echea ndia , August 6th, 1829.
“Archb
no. 2062 .
2 76 Missions and Missionaries Of California
the missionary Fa thers of these missions. There are twentyone situated along a stretch of more than two hundredleagues, and there are twenty-eight missiona ries of whom
twenty-five are Span iards. Besides the missions, they a re
in cha rge of the souls in four presidios with their adjoiningsettlers, of three pueblos and a considerable number of
ranchos sca ttered throughout the territory. I f the govern
ment should fully execute a foresa id law, in this vast territoryonly three religious would rema in to a ttend to the spiritua lneeds of its inhabitants . This ayuntamiento shudders when it contempla tes the bereavemen t in which the
inhabitants would be left without the meritorious laborers Of
the Gospel, who tuitil now have broken to them the wordof God and a ssisted them in a ll their spiritua l needs w ith a
truly apostolic zea l, in case they should be sepa ra ted fromtheir flock. This ayuntamiento cannot convince itselftha t the Supreme Governmen t, which watches so much over
the happiness of its subjects, should overlook the foundation ,
which is the preserva tion of our beloved Religion , and should
leave this country without a proportionate number of priests.
“This ayuntamiento fa ithfully observes our wise Constitution and punctua lly obeys the laws, but it believes tha t itwould fa il Of its duty, if it passed over in silence the eminentmerit won by the Span ish religious and missionaries who are
at present in the territory and discha rge their Obliga tions.
As men , truly apostolic, they have continua lly given us an
example of most eminent virtues ; and ina smuch a s theircivil conduct has been so peaceful, and they are the first inobedience to the laws,“ it is but right tha t this ayuntamien toshould rega rd itself bound to beseech the Supreme Government to urge congress to make an exception in favor of sa idreligious.
‘ 3 Ra ther thirty, though one died three mon ths la ter.
“Hombres verdaderamen te apostOlicos, nos han dado con
tinuos exemplos de la s ma s eminen tes v irtudes ; y como por otrapa rte su conducta politica ha sido ta n pa cifica , siendo los primeros en da r obediencia a la s leyes, etc.
”
Many Converts ; Friars Indispensable 2 77
There a lso dwell among us a sma ll number of marriedSpan ia rds, honorable neighbors, good husban ds and kindfathers, who have merited consideration through their peaceful conduct. It would be very pa in ful to this ayuntamientoto see their innocent and large families abandoned to miseryand subjected to hardships on account Of the misdeeds whichsome waywa rd Span ia rds in diflerent pa rts of the republicmay have committed, etc. Port of Monterey, September2 2 nd, 182 9. José Tibr’rrcio Castro, Francisco Soria , FelicianoSoberanes, Santiago Moreno, and José Anton io Ga j iola ,secretary.
”
N0 action seems to have been taken on this and similarpetitions ; but Henry Virmond, a German merchant who dida thriv ing trade with Ca lifornia , wrote from Mexico on
October 1 2th, 1 82 9, tha t the President had not the slightestintention of expelling the friars from Californ ia .
“ Nevertheless, the government had endea vored to find Mexican sub
stitutes a fter it had received the report of the hasty departureof Fathers Altimira and Ripoll ; for on the same day on
which the decree of expulsion was issued, March 20th, 1829,Minister Canedo wrote to Echeandia “tha t the ApostolicCollege of Zaca tecas would replace the fugitives with other
friars.
” ‘ 7
One of the proscribed missionaries, good Fr. An ton io Jaime,who for years had been crippled from rheumatism and Old
age, passed beyond the reach of scheming politicians by dyinga peaceful dea th at San ta Ba rbara on December 2 nd,Other Fathers, like Boscana and Sanchez of San Gabriel,a fter the publication Of the decree promptly demanded their
4° “Ca l. Arch. , St. Pap., M issions and Colon .,1 1,1 5- 18.
Bancroft, iii, 97; Fr. Cortes,“Carta , May 3 l st, 1 827. Sta .
Ba rb. Arch.
”
‘ 7 “El Colegio Apostolico de Zaca teca s proveerfis reemplaza rlos.
Ca nedo to Echeandia , Ma rch N th, 1829.
“Ca l. Sup. Gov .
St. Pap. , Deer. and Desp., iv, 184- 186.
‘ 3 San ta Barbara Mission Record .
2 78 M issions and Missiona ries of Ca lifornia
pa ssports from the governor only to be refused .
“ Fr. Peiri,
who besides the blind Fr. Sufier, was the on ly missiona rywho had enthusiastically sworn allegiance to the unstable
government, and who had even adopted the oflicial phraseDios y L ibertad in sign ing his letters, felt so deeply chagrinedtha t he wan ted to leave without delay before he becameincapacitated for the long voyage to Spa in by reason of his
advanced age. The governor replied tha t he had asked the
federa l government to make an exception in his favor, and
therefore could not issue a pa ssport. The next day Fr. Peiri
aga in ca lled for his passport, because he wanted to end his
days in his na tive country. Echea ndia decla red tha t he wouldnot grant a permit for the departure until a substitute hada rrived .
"0 Yet, at this very time, the governor was delibera ting how he could remove from the territory the venerableFr. Luis Martinez Of San Luis Obispo without wa iting for
a substitute, a s we sha ll see in the next chapter.
Before proceeding we have yet to note tha t the governor,ea rly in October 1 829, Oflicia lly notified Fr. Presiden te Sénchez tha t a new Pope had been elected on Ma rch 3 l st, andhad taken the name Pius VIII . Fr. Sanchez on October1 1th replied tha t a High Mass and Te Deum would be sung
in honor of the event, and the usua l solemn ities would beobserved which Bishop Ronset had prescribed “1 on occasionof the election of Pius VII . , and which had a lso ta ken placeon the eleva tion Of Pope L eo XII ." Fr. Tomas Mansilla ,Superior of the Domin ican Missions in Lower Ca liforn ia ,
49 Fr. Bosca n a to Echeandia , July 1 2 th; Fr. Sanchez to Echea n
dia , July 2 2 nd, 1 829.
“Archb. nos. 2061 ; N 64. Eviden tly
the friars were not clinging to the mission property, a s Ban
croft, H ittell, a nd C0. , insist, otherwise they would ha ve keptsilen t.
5° Fr. Peiti to Echeandia , August 29th; Echea ndia to Fr. Peiri,September 2 2 nd ; Fr. Peiri to Echea ndia , September 2 5th ; Echea ndia to Fr. Peiri, September 26th, 1829.
“Ca l. Dep. Rec .
vii, 783 ; 786 ;“Archb. nos . N GS; N 7O.
5 1 B ishop Ronset to Fr. L a suen , September 19th,“Libro
de Pa ten tes of the various missions.
“3 Fr. Si nchez to Echeandia . Archb. no. 2072 .
CHAPTER XVII .
Fr. Luis Ma rtinez.—Offends Echea ndia and the Pa isanos.
— The So
lis Revolt— “Bravery ”of the Pa isanos.
— Bancroft on Fr. Ma r
tinez.— Echeandia in Sea rch of a Pretext. —Fr. Martinez Ar
rested. — Imprisoned. - Echeandla’
s Motives — Fr. Sa rrifi’
s De
fen se of Fr. Ma rtinez.— Sad Sta te of the M issions.
— Echeandia’
s
Hypocrisy.— H is Impertinence.
— Rebuked.— Shameless Trea tmen t of Fr. Ma rtinez.
— Mrs. Ord's Na rra tive.
R . LUIS MARTINEZ, since June 1798 missionary atSanLuis Obispo, athis request had received his passport, but
on the advice of Fr. Sa rria he delayed the depa rture for thesa ke of the poor neophyte Indians.
1 He was a most energeticmanager of the mission tempora lities as well as a zea lous missionary. At the same time he was noted a s a confirmed wag,
whose practica l jokes caused much merriment among the
frequently dishea rtened missiona ries and the Span iards genera lly. NO one was surprised or offended at anything the
jovia l friar of San Luis Obispo was pleased to say or do, if
we except the pompous young Californ ians ; for the goodFather in his merriest mood would never overstep the boundsof priestly dign ity. Even Bancroft acknowledges that Fr.
Ma rtinez “never scanda lized his Order by irregula r or immora lconduct."
He was on especia lly intima te terms with Capta in José dela Guerra of Santa Ba rba ra , the sindico of the Ca liforniafria rs since the declara tion of Mexican independence. In the
De la Guerra Collection there a re still found one hundredand nineteen letters addressed to his milita ry friend.
‘ In
nea rly a ll he fa irly bubbles over with humor and wit. Some
1 Echea ndia to the governmen t, December 6th,1 828. Ca l.
Dep. Rec. vi, 2 3 5-241 .
“History of Ca liforn ia ," ii, 619.
3 Ma ny of his oflicia l letters, more lengthy and orderly, and a lso
da ted properly, a re preserved in the Sa n ta Ba rba ra and the Archbishop’s archives.
Fr. L uis Ma rtinez ; Arrested ; Illtreated 2 81
times he would branch outon the atheistic movements of the
Mexican politicians. H is sa rcasm then was in imitable. It isOften difficult to say wha t predomina ted, whether he was giving way to indign ation or just poking fun because of the
irreligious proceedings in both Mexico and Ca liforn ia . Yet
Fr. Ma rtinez would wa ste no paper, nor burden the ma ilca rrier ; for his missives were mostly scrawled on scraps not
wider than two or three and not longer than seven inches.
Da tes with him were superfluous. Hence it is diflicult to fixthe mon th or yea r except in connection w ith some a llusion to
a contemporary episode. His signature, too, seemed to him a
waste Of time for a ll tha t we find to indicate his name is Fr.
Luis Mrnz or Fr. Mrnz. on ly.
Such was the missionary of San Luis Obispo during the
first three decades of the n ineteenth century. Unfortuna telyfor himself, considering the troublous period, Fr. Martinezspoke as candidly as he wrote or thought ; nor did it seem to
make any difference to him who was present. Thus it wastha t ev il-minded persons reported his ca ustic remarks aboutthe schoolboy a ttempts at government on the pa rt of such
overgrown youths as Va llejo, Alvarado, and others. Thistouched the young paisanos in a sore spot. Most probablythe ta lebea rers, who had no respect for age or dign ity, wouldexaggera te or manufacture wha t they reported. The resultwas tha t the guileless Fa ther incurred the wrath of the con
ceited would-be sta tesmen , sca rcely out of their teens, and
they in turn would in form the governor. The latter, whoseems to have inaugurated a regula r spy system aga inst theFathers,‘ on ly wa ited for an opportun ity to make the Obnox
ious fria r feel his power.
4 “Nos ha resulta do cl peligro inminente de ser tra tados con la
ma ior a rbitra riedad y vilipendio por parte de dicho Schor Comandan te Genera l (Echea ndia ) 5: la menor pa labra descuidada , aunquemuy verdadera , reporta da por a lgun ingra to de los muchos que
diariamen te disfruta n de nuestra hospita lidad .
”— “We are in imminen t danger of being trea ted most a rbitra rily and disda in fully bythe governor for the lea st ungua rded word, a lthough it be very true,reported by some ingra te among ma ny who da ily enjoy our hos
pita lity. Fr. Duran to the Mexica n Presiden t, M ay 10th, 1830.
“Sta . Barb. Arch.
”
2 82 Missions and M issionaries of California
Wha t steps Echeandia took may be lea rned from a letteraddressed to him by Lieutenant José Fernandez del Campoof Monterey on October 2 2 nd, 1829 .
“I have made some
investigations in the matter which Your Honor en trusted to
me in your oflicia l commun ication Of September 9th, and
which was ma rked ‘
confidentia l,’among persons capable of
keeping a secret, and they a ll suspect Fr. Luis Ma rtinez, missiona ry of San Luis Obispo ; but they give not a single con
vincing proof tha t could be of weight in court, as a ll decla retha t they had hea rd it sa id, but not to whom or how . As
far as I am concerned, I can say to Your Honor that whenI wa s leaving your presidio for this one, I suffered from the
sa id Father a serious grievance, ina smuch as in his conver
sations he in very sa rca stic terms boldly ridiculed our inde
pendence and liberty, and fin ished his insults by lodging mein a room in the ceiling of which could be read this inscription : V. F. I made some efforts to erase it with the pointof my sword, but it was impossible on account Of the height.I regret .tha t to all this there is no other witness tha n myself.
”6
Some other dreamer must have hoaxed the w illing gov
ernor ; for he on October 7th, 1 829, reported to the Min isterof Justice “that he had given orders to the presidio com
manders to find out who the missiona ries were one of whomkept two candles burning every day before the portra it ofFernando VII . , and the other preached that the same Fernando would return and aga in rule over Mexico, and wouldbe received with open a rms.
”7 Of course the investiga tionbrought out nothing or Echeandia would not have rema inedsilent.An abortive revolt which occurred a few weeks la ter a i
forded the angry governor a wretched excuse to proceed
“Viva Fernando VII. I a s they in terpreted it, if it wa s there at
a ll. An investiga tion on the spot might ha ve verified or disprovedthe a ccusa tion . Campo might have ca lled in others to examine thea lleged writing. Neither a ction was taken .
0“Ca l. Arch., S t. Pap. x, 3 94- 397. The ita lics are ours.
7 “Ca l. Arch., Dep. Rec. vii, 243
2 84 M issions and M issiona ries of Ca lifornia
along w ith Herrera whom the governor cordia lly ha ted. The
government set the prisoners free and returned Herrera to
occupy his former ofiice of commissa ry.
" Thus the “battle”
in which for the first time Ca liforn ians were pitted aga instCa liforn ians so-ca lled, was fought. Rea l bravery ev identlywas not one of the qua lities Of those paisanos, though theywould look fierce in the presence of women and children , and
though they would put on martia l a irs when there was question of overawing defenceless priests and una rmed Indians.
Their appearance and conduct in rea l action must have excitedthe ridicule of others, but they w isely held their tongue. This,it seems, the honest Fr. Ma rtinez forgot to do, and so he
occasiona lly man ifested his disda in . For that rea son the
vindictive Echeandia and his young adherents utilized thisvery Solis fiasco to remove the missiona ry from the countryof which he had deserved so well.
“I have sa id,” Bancroft informs us, that Echeandia deemed
it desirable to get rid of certa in padres. Persona l feelingwa s his motive in part ; moreover, it wa s important to remove
certa in Obstacles likely to interfere with his policy of secu
larization . Prejudice aga inst a ll that was Span ish was the
strongest feeling in Mexico, and there was no better way
for the governor to keep himself in good standing with the
power tha t appointed him than to go w ith the current. Ita lso favored Echeandia ’s plans to show the existence of a
strong revolutionary spirit in favor of Spa in . There was ,
however, but a slight founda tion on which to build. The
padres were Spa n iards, and as a rule disapproved the new
form of government ; but it is not likely that any of them had
a definite hope of overthrowing the republic, or of restoringCa liforn ia to the old system, and the most serious cha rge tha tcould be justly brought aga inst them was an occa siona l in judicious use of the tongue.
“Of a ll the padres Fr. Ma rtinez of San Luis Obispo was
the most outspoken and independent in politica l ma tters.
Echeandia deemed his absence desirable, and it was thought
1 ’ Bancroft, iii, 68-85. For Solrs s Ma nifiesto of November1 5th, 1829, see
“Ca l. Arch., Dep. St. Pap. ii, 3 84-390.
Fr. L uis Martinez ; Arrested ; I lltreated 2 85
best on genera l principles to make an exarnple. It was pa rticula rly desirable to give a politica l significance to the Solisrevolt, and Padre Ma rtinez was ban ished on a cha rge Of com
plicity in tha t revolt in the interest of Spa in . The evidence
against him was not very strong ;1 ’ but there was little risk,
since a s a Span iard the accused might at any time be lega lly
Some excuse was necessa ry for proceeding aga inst the Oldmissiona ry. Trusted officers and privates, therefore, seem to
have been instructed to unearth some plea under which an
arrest might be justified before the public. Lieutenant Romua ldo Pacheco, for instance, on January 2 7th, 183 0, gra tifiedthe governor w ith this report from San Luis Obispo : “
On
my a rriva l here the missiona ry Fa ther Of this mission com
municated to me that two or three days before he had re
ceived from Joaquin Solis a letter, a long with another whichhe had forwarded to the missiona ry Fa thers of Purisima and
Santa Inés ; tha t therein he wa s asked to instruct the neo
phytes Of his mission in the use of fire- arms in order thatthey might assist in upholding the Span ish flag, which wouldbe unfurled as soon as he a rrived at the Rancho Naciona lnea r Monterey ; tha t he had returned sa id letter, together withothers, through Ma rtin Olivera , mayordomo of Mission SanMiguel ; tha t he had replied as he was bound to reply and
that he knew that a similar proposa l had been made to the
Fa ther of sa id mission (San Miguel) , Fr. Juan Ca bot .”m
Here wa s something Echeandia pretended to believe indicated complicity, beca use it showed that Solis and Fr. Mar
tinez must be on friendly terms, though the Fa ther had re
fused to a ssist the rebel . Unfortuna tely for the governor,
two other missionaries had received simila r undesirable miselves and proposa ls. All three could not be arrested . He
1 ' Bancroft should ha ve sa id wa s very flimsy, especia lly a s he
himself show s tha t some of the items rested on the sta temen t ofa single soldier, and others were founded on hearsay.1 ‘ Bancroft, iii, 97-98. The ita lics a re ours.
1 ' Tha t is to say, he had to decline a nd therefore declined .
1 " “Ca l. St. Pap., M ission s 1 1 , 91 -93 .
2 86 M issions and M issionaries of California
merely wanted to reach Fr. Ma rtinez. For the time beingEcheandia accordingly suspended aggressive action . A few
days la ter, February l st, Corpora l Berna rdo Curie!, a Mexican youth of eighteen yea rs, at la st supplied the desired pretext by cha rging Fr. Ma rtinez with having offered to a ssistSolis with money, and with having excla imed,
“Go to, with
your republic” 1 " when some had shouted,“Viva la Repub
lica l” 1 8
This story of the henchmen supplied the unscrupulous
governor with the pretext he had sought for taking actionaga inst the venerable missiona ry of San Luis Obispo. Aftera ll there wa s no court in the territory to issue an in junctionand examine into the merits of the case. As for the Mexican Governmen t, Echeandia knew very well it would not
favor a Span ish priest.Another motive seems to have urged the w ily officia l to
ha sten proceedings, as it was doubtful that a better oppor
tunity would a rise to rid himself of the fearless fria r.
Echeandia even then , a s will appea r later, wa s big w ith a
scheme which a imed at nothing less than the remova l of themissiona ries from the administra tion of the mission tem
pora lities. Fr. Ma rtinez’s violent a rrest and subsequent banishment from the country would strike such terror into the
hea rts Of the fria rs and their friends tha t they would ha rdlyda re oppose his plans. At all events, he would make the
a ttempt, and so began by venting his spleen on the aged Fr.
Ma rtinez. On February 3 rd he issued the wa rrant for theapprehension of the missiona ry on the ground Of hav ing insti
ga ted a proclama tion in beha lf of Spa in ,
"and three days
la ter he commanded Lieutenant Miguel Ga rcia Lobato to pro
“Ren iego de tu Republica .
1 ° “Solis Proceso.— “Ca l. Arch. , Prov . S t. Pap. , Ben icia , Mili
tary, lxxrr.1 9 “Se ponga en seguridad it P. Luis Ma rtinez por in stiga r 6 pro
nun ciamento por Espafia .
”—“Solis Proceso.
”
2 88 Missions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
ceed to San Luis Obispo with a body of men and to bringFr. Martinez to Santa Barba ra as a prisoner.
’0
This proceeding was a ltogether unnecessa ry, as a simplenotice that he was wanted atthe presidio would have broughtthe worthy missiona ry to the presence of the governor. Thusa most distressing scene and public scanda l would have beenavoided ; but tha t was just wha t Echeandia wanted. He in
tended to impress the Indians with his superiority and powerover the missiona ry. Loba to knew his master’s mind, and
therefore ca rried out his orders with a ll the milita ry bustleand bruta lity of which unscrupulous officials and sycophantsare capable.
" Natura lly the poor Indians gasped atthe sacrilegious seizure and remova l of their spiritua l guide. Theywere overawed indeed ; but not so the fria rs. I f they sta idat their post, instead of leaving the country forthwith, it wa sbecause the fate of their neophytes deta ined them, a s w illbecome evident shortly.
Loba to wa s instructed notto permit Fr. Martinez to issueany protest lest public tranquillity be disturbed, because the
prestige which a ll the missionaries en joyed is wellAt Santa Ba rba ra the venerable friar was lodged in the mis
sion where Fr. Anton io Jimeno treated him w ith a ll the re
spect due him, and moreover a llowed him to exercise hismin istry as though he were a visitor and not a prisoner.
”
When Fr. Commissary Vicente de Sa rr1a lea rned what hadoccurred he at once addressed Echeandia in his usua l gentleand courteous manner, though a vigorous protest and con
certed action on the pa rt of all the Fathers would certa inlyhave impressed the overbearing oflicia l more effectively.
“As
3 ° “Con an terioridad ha torn ado providencia para el a seguramien todel P. Ma rtinez ; estrechara sus ordines sobre cl a sun to.
”— “SolisProceso.
”
3 1 Fr. Durén to the Presiden t of Mexico, M ay loth, 1830. Sta .
Ba rb . Arch.
”
” “No tome decla racion a l P. Ma rtinez, pa ra no a ltera r la tran
quilidad publica ; por que es sabido el prestigio que gozan todoslos misioneros.
” “Solis Proceso.
”
3 ' Fr. An ton io to Echea ndia , Februa ry 2 5th, 1 830. Archb. Arch. ,
no. 2086.
Fr. L uis Martinez ; Arrested ; I lltreated 2 89
Your Honor may well understand my life has been reducedto making compromises . So it is a lso w ith rega rd to what isnow taking place. At present I find myself in the most eritica l dilemma of spirit on account Of the a ttention the a ff a irdema nds and the difliculties to which it subjects me. Eversince Lieutenant Romua ldo Pacheco 3 ‘
compla ined to me Ihad a presentiment of Fr. Martinez’s retirement.” I spokeat some length with him about the sa id Father, and more
over wrote to Monterey to him from this mission 2 °on the
same subject. I beg Your Honor not to take it ill if I nowplace before your superior consideration some things involvedin the case.
“Passing over wha t may have been reported aga inst theFa ther, which ta lk I from experience know is of no va lue
especia lly in this country, wha t I ca n say is tha t Fr. LuisMa rtinez gave positive proof tha t he had strongly opposedthe Solis revolt . I myself ca n solemn ly aflirm this. One of
the soldiers whom the sa id Solis could not induce to join himwas Corpora l José Ma ria Villa . When the latter was w ithme at this mission , he a ssured me that Fr. Ma rtinez had en
couraged him in his sentiments not to go over to Solis.
2 1
When Solis wa s on his way from San Luis Obispo to SantaBa rba ra he wrote to Fr. Ma rtinez to allow his mission to
favor him w ith some horses and mules, and to contribute
$200. The Fa ther refused .
” Romua ldo Pacheco compla inedto me tha t Fr. Ma rtinez wa s somewha t remiss in a iding the
troops when he passed through the mission but I under
sta nd tha t Fr. Ma rtinez was then so ill tha t on the following
3 ‘ See note 29 this chapter.
3 5 Very gen tly expressed for “the predetermined exile of Fr.
Ma rtinez, a s he might have written .
3 ° Soledad, where Fr. Sa rria resided.2 " “
que le habia a poyado y con tinuado en aquellos sen timien tosde no rendirse s Solis el P. Martinez.
"
3 3 “E l Padre se lo nego.
”
3 9 This Pacheco had come to Ca liforn ia w ith Echea ndia . As a ct
ing coma ndan te he was among those who distinguished themselves
in the famous “ba ttle” w ith Solis described before.
1 0
2 90 M issions and M issionaries of California
Sunday or holyday he could not celebrate holy Ma ss, and the
neophytes were left to themselves.
"0
“The condition in which we missionaries find ourselves is
deplorable a lready and it is turn ing into desola tion . Fr. JuanBautista Sancho has died,u and Fr. Magin Ca ta la, missiona ryof Santa Clara , has received Extreme Unction .
" AtMissionSan Juan Bautista the missionary Father is so incapacitatedtha t, when there is necessity of hea ring a con fession or of
admin istering Extreme Unction in the Indian v illage, he hasto be borne there on a stretcher.
" Even so he cannot visitthe outside ranchos, so that I have at times a ttended his
The good Fa ther Comisario-Prefecto might as well have
left his vindica tion of Fr. Ma rtinez and his touching appea lunwritten , if he expected to move a man who had a lreadymade up his mind . In reply Echea ndia wrote from SantaBa rbara hypocritica lly : “I assure you I am deeply afflictedtha t Fr. Luis Martinez should prove an accomplice, at least,in a crime aga inst the whole na tion .
“ Respecting him as Ido every priest, I have merely deported him from the place
3 ° “Se ha llo e! Padre a lgo en fermo por en tonces, n i aun duo la
M isa por lo mismo, segun he Oido, el Domingo 6 Fiesta siguiente,y dejados por si los neofitos.
”
01 February 8th, 1830, atSan An ton io ; Fr. Ja ime had pa ssed awayon ly two mon ths earlier at Sa n ta Ba rbara .
“3 3 H e lingered on till November 2 2 nd ; but Fr. F. X . Uria of San
Buenaven tura wa s on Februa ry 6th decla red in a critica l conditionby Dr. Anderson . Fa thers Bosca na , Sufier, and Baron a died in the
next yea r, and no substitutes could be expected from anywhere!3 3 “
que si se ofrece con fesar 6 da r Extrema Uncion en la ranch
eria de eu mision , le ha n de lleva r en a lgun a rtificio ; pero ni aun
asi esti pa ra ir it admin istra r s fuera a los ran chos.
" This wa s Fr.
Arroyo.
From Sodedadl Fr. Sarrii himself wa s an old man ! Fr. Sa r
rié to Echeandia , Februa ry 9th, 1 830. Archb. no. 2083 .
3 5 The Mexica n Governmen t did not think so in the ca se of Solis,the ringleader, for it relea sed him a nd soon ga ve Echea ndia a suc
cessor. The revolt had been a ga inst Echeandia a lone. Much lessthen could Fr. Martinez have committed a crime aga inst the na tion.
2 92 Missions and M issionaries of Ca lifornia
the neophytes . He might have left Fr. Martinez at his own
mission of San Luis Obispo for the same rea son . The dam
age done there was a ll due to the spite of Echeandia , a s tha tmission for a long time a fter could not be supplied with a
priest. Then to a ssert tha t the Fa ther would be gu ilty of
treason unless he obeyed Echeandia ’
s whims in ma tters tha tdid not concern the governor, shows wha t an overween ingopin ion he had of himself a nd wha t a low estimate he placedupon the priestly cha racter. He deserved a rebuke, and Fr.
Jimeno admin istered it . “The mission ,
”he wrote in reply to
the impertinent missive of Echea ndia ,“ha s not been aban
doued, as Your Honor would make me believe. With rega rd
Signa ture of Fr. Anton io Jimeno.
to spiritua l things Fr. Luis has taken my place, and he is as
much a priest a s I am wherever he may be. As to tempora la ffa irs, the mayordomo and the a lca ldes have been instructedin wha t they have to do? “l
Fr. Ma rtinez was accordingly removed, imprisoned in the
house of Capta in José de la Guerra , a nd put in cha rge of
Lobato who certa in ly fa iled to trea t the missiona ry “w ith therespect coming to him,
”a s Echeandia a sserted . M rs. ord
in her“Ocurrencia s” relates tha t “Fr. Luis Ma rtinez wa s
trea ted w ith no respect or considera tion whatever, for whenapprehended he was not given sufficient time to take a handkerchief a long.
" He wa s placed in a room of the coman
da noia where Echeandia and coma ndante Pacheco had theirqua rters, and kept incomunicado.
“ The only person w ith
‘ 1 Fr. An ton io Jimeno to Echeandia , Februa ry 2 5th, 1830.
“Archb.
no. 2 (B6. Fr. An ton io wa s a na tive of the City of Mexico.
43 M rs. Ord wa s the daughter of José de la Guerra .
43 “no se le permiti6 ni tiempo suficiente para toma r un pafiuelo.
in close confinemen t a nd forbidden to converse w ith a ny one.
Fr. L uis Martinez ; Arrested ; I lltreated 2 93
whom he exchanged any words was Ramona Ca rrillo,w ife of
the sa id Pacheco, who wa ited upon him in person . My fatherwas a countryman and intimate friend of Fr. Martinez, butby the strictest kind of regula tions it was made impossiblefor him to see the Father.
“One day,
”Mrs . Ord continues her simple na rrative, my
father sa id he w ished to write Fr. Martinez a note ( for it wa snot permitted to speak to him) , and to send him some clothing with other things for his comfort. I told him I would
go where the Father was confined, and would try to deliverthe note. My fa ther consented, and then gave me the note.
I was about fifteen years of age when he entrusted me withthis commission . A boy who ca rried the clothing went withme, and I brought a handkerchief a s a gift of my own to the
Fa ther. I met the officer of the guard, Alferez Miguel Lobato. I a sked him how Fr. Martinez wa s, and he answeredthat he was well. Then I a sked him whether I could sa lutethe Fa ther for I had a lways felt much a ffection for him. He
replied that I might see him. I in formed him that I w ishedto cheer the Father with a little handkerchief which I showed .
Whilst I gave the Father the handkerchief I touched him
with the thumb of my hand and passed the note to him. He
quickly understood and putthe note in the sleeve of his habit.This took place in the very presence of the officia l who en
tered the room with me ; but he did not notice it.“La ter the Fa ther wa s permitted to write a note to my
father when he needed anything, but the note had to passOpen through the hands of the Officer. This Officer, Lobato.
was extremely ha rsh with Fr. Ma rtinez I do not knowhow long the Father was kept imprisoned , butwhat is certa inis they never a llowed him to be at liberty for even a few
hours until he left the room to be taken on board the ship.
He wa s led from his prison into a ca rriage which belonged tomy fa ther. When the ca rriage drove up with Fr. Martinez,my fa ther went to the door to bid a la st fa rewell. As he didso, Fr. Ma rtinez sa id to him :
‘Countryman , Don MiguelLoba to stays to take my place w ith you. What you would
‘ 5 “Loba to fue el oficia l ma s duro con el P. Ma rtinez.
2 94 M issions and Missionaries of California
have done for me, do it for Lobato was inside the
ca rriage with the prisoner. This was the revenge of the priestwhom Loba to had trea ted so ha rshly. Then my fa ther sa idto Loba to,
‘You have hea rd with wha t my countryman
cha rges me. From this moment I am atyour service for anything I can do for
4° “Pa isano, queda en mi luga r Don M iguel Loba to. Todo lo
que pudiera Vd. hacer por mi, haga lo por el.” A truly Christian
return for the indign ities heaped upon him by Loba to.
‘ 7 “Ya oye Vd. lo que mi pa isano encarga , y desde este momentoestoy 6 h e ordernes de Vd. para todo aquello en que le puedaservir. M rs. Ord,
“Ocurrencias.
”
2 96 Missions and M issiona ries of Ca lifornia
with such things. I f the king wants to reconquer America ,he must know how to do it himself .
”Fr. Cabot says tha t he
so reported to Solis, and had added on his own account tha the himself wa s of the same opin ion .
‘
Fr. Pedro Cabot of Mission San Anton io wrote to Echeandia on Februa ry 2 7th : “
The n ight before Solis left thismission for Soledad on his retrea t from the south, I saw a
letter of Fr. Luis Martinez to Solis. In this he wrote noth
Signa ture of P r. Pedro Ca bot.
ing more nor less than the following :‘DO not count on me
in what you sa id about the flag. The duties of my apostolicmin istry do not permit the ca rrying out of such plans. I f the
King of Spa in wants to reconquer America , he must knowhow and when to do it himself. ’ ” 5
The venerable prisoner meanwhile was growing restlessunder the indign ities . In order to bring the matter to a de
cision , he on Ma rch 4th addressed the follow ing protest anddefence to the governor : Like a sheep led to slaughter Ihave to this day in Obedience to your orders not even openedmy lips in just defence aga inst the outrages committed aga instmy person and priestly cha racter ; but ina smuch as I observethat un fortunately my religious silence may cause ev ils of
grea ter consequence, I believe myself forced to break the
silence though not without sorrow , because I would scruplevery much if my depositions should occa sion you any diflicul
ties ; for I am fa r from having any intention of repaying ev ilwith ev il.“Like a crimina l, or one guilty of high treason , I was
snatched from my peaceful habita tion , and dragged hither
Fr. Jua n Cabot to Echea ndia . Solis Proceso.
5 “Solis Proceso.
Court-Martial ; Fr. Martinez Banished 2 97
under a strong gua rd of soldiers by command of Your Honor.
The noisy demonstra tions indicated to me, as wa s to be ex
pected, tha t the most crimina l accusa tion must have beenlodged aga inst my conduct. When I therefore a roused myfortitude to suffer for God the ev ils which the ca lumny mightbring upon me, a new surprise came to me when I foundmyself living a nd eating with Your Honor a good numberof days without being in any manner examined a s to whatI had done.
“NO one must be deta ined w ithout a semi-clea r proof or
indica tion tha t one is guilty, the Constitution of the MexicanRepublic orda ins in the Genera l Rules on the Admin istra tionof Justice, Article 1 10 and in the follow ing Article it iscommanded tha t he who is deta ined for suspicion only sha llnot be held for more than sixty hours . What then must thena ture of my crime be which justifies Your Honor to giveorders for entering by force without wa rrant into the house
in which I lived, despite the laws of ecclesiastica l immun ity,and which empowers you to v iola te the a foresa id Articles ?The laws assign to each citizen his respective duties. To
depart from them, as in the present case, in order to vex
those who live under the protection of the laws, seems to be
an offense of unutterable enormity.
Your Honor knows very well tha t I am a Spania rd ; Ido not deny it ; but tha t, without swea ring off a llegiance to
my country or my sovereign ,I have rema ined in the republic
through obedience to my Superior from the time of the decla
ration of independence until the preceding month performingthe sublime functions peculia r to my sacred min istry with thesame zea l and exactitude of which I have given proof formore than thirty- four years during which I have been in the
territory. When in all justice for such rea sons I rega rdedmyself well-deserving of a governmen t which I ha ve servedin its subjects 7 without the incentive of self- interest ; couldI have expected, a s a rewa rd, that I should be overwhelmed
0Tha t is to say, under the same roof atDe la Guerra ’s house.
7 Tha t is to say, having served the Indians and Mexicans I haveserved their governmen t.
2 98 Missions and M issionaries of California
w ith insults, and that in pla ce of the passport I had a sked for,and for which I in va in appea led to Your Honor, I shouldhave to prepare to proceed to Mexico for the purpose whichYour Honor has in view ? No, Genera l, I ea rnestly begYour Honor to a llow rea son to triumph in this ma tter, ifnot in considera tion of my services, at least out Of rega rd formy age of sixty- four yea rs and my well-known serious a il
ment. I am firmly persuaded that neither my civil nor myreligious conduct has given Your Honor any right for yourproceedings. Hence it is that, if I were stronger in hea lth,it would please me to give Your Honor one more evidence ofmy Obedience by making the journey which Your Honor intends for me. In that ca se, however, I should perhaps findmyself compelled, for the sake of refuting chirnerica l reports,to manifest to the Government and to the public by meansOf the press some things which in rea lity would not pleaseme to publish.
“I have hea rd it sa id that Your Honor has tried to persuade yourself, because it suits you, tha t the revolt at Mon
tetey had not been caused for the rea sons made public in the
Solis Plan , but tha t this was on ly a pretext to unfurl the
Span ish Flag, and that for this rea son Your Honor, and perhaps some one else through ignorance or ma lice thought thatI and some other Fa thers would go over to 8011 3 with a id of
every kind, induced thereto by tha t specious cause. Indeed,Genera l, I am not disposed to persuade myself tha t the goodjudgment of Your Honor would yield to such a chirnerica l
illusion a s would be the lea st assent given to such a ridiculousstory. I f Your Honor desired to be guided by the principles of rectitude and justice, you would be the first panegyrist of the loya lty of the Fathers in Ca liforn ia
,who though
they decline to oblige themselves to acknowledge the Republican Government, have nevertheless been fa ithful observers of
its governmenta l enactments, and have contributed effectivelyto the support of this territory. In doing this we, I amongthem,
have dra ined the resources of the missions which havebeen confided to us, so that their respective neophytes suffered
quite noticeable damage. Even though we had given less
3 00 Missions and Missiona ries of California
Oflicial nor a Mexica n , could not act a s a ttorney. The prisoner then named Domingo Ca rrillo, ensign of the presidio.
When a sked why he was held a prisoner, Fr. Ma rtinez re
plied,‘
On account of a ca lumny, according to the in forma tionreceived atthe time of arrest. ’ Sa id ca lumny is that he triedto induce soldiers to join Solis whom he knows, and who
was athis mission while on the way to atta ck Santa Barba ra .
He knows through Solis and Piiia that they were plann ing tosta rt a revolt in favor of Spa in when they had taken possession of the territory. Fr. Martinez says he tried to dissuadethem from this, and from doing wrong by sacrificing the territory in order to avenge an offence aga inst the comisario,“
for so he believed . The prisoner named a s w itnesses JoséM . Villa and José de los Santos Avila , whom he had per
suaded and who hea rd the advice given by him to Ra irnundo
de la Torre.
n He visited the qua rters of Solis, but does not
remember having sa id that he would betray them to Francisquito, their ma ster, if they fa iled in the underta king. He
lmows nothing of a paper with ‘Viva Fernando writtenwith the three in itia ls . He would make no further declara tionuntil he had the permission of his prela te. He wa s urged, butin
Ma riano G. Va llejo, on the same day, Ma rch 6th, testifiedtha t Fr. Martinez had refused necessa ry prov isions to the
soldiers of the government.“ The examina tion was then sus
came to Ca liforn ia a bout 1 81 5 to live w ith the missiona ries . He
died in 1 83 1 , and wa s buried at San Juan Ca pistra no by Fr. Za l
videa , who in the record spoke in high terms of his piety. Ban
croft, v, 745.
Herrera , whom Echeandia ha ted and who wa s behind Solis.
n A corpora l implica ted w ith Solis. H e wa s sen t to Mexico.
“Solis Proceso.
”
1 ‘ Va llejo sa id the same thing of Fr. Viader. They were refused,because no prov ision s were left, the soldiers ha v ing fleeced a ll themissions out of the most necessa ry things so tha t the neophyteswere suffering. Va llejo says nothing of this. The precedingpages, however, furn ish abunda n t evidence. He was bitterly hostile to the Fa thers, and scrupled not to inven t things if the factscould not be made to corrobora te his a ccusa tion s. It is not plea sant to repea t this, but such wa s Va llejo. See pp . 2 57-2 58.
Court-Martia l ; Fr. M artinez Banished 3 0 1
pended because some persons comprised in the trial were1 4
Va llejo.
tells us, Bancroft rema rks in a footnote, thatthere were documen ts proving conclusively tha t Fr. Ma rtinezwas plotting aga inst the republic and ca rrying on secret cor
respondence with the rebels in Mexico ; but nothing of thiskind was shown in the recorded evidence, and the same maybe sa id of a letter Of encouragement from Fr. Martinez foundon the person of Solis at his capture mentioned by Alva
Echeandia had a lready intima ted wha t he determined to dowith his victim it therefore ma ttered notwhat the witnessesfor the defense would testify, or that the ev idence for the
prosecution was fl imsy. The whole proceeding was intendedto supply some lega l color to the prea rranged fina l action .
The governor accordingly convened the so-ca lled court-martia lon Ma rch 9th. It was composed of Echea ndia as presidingjudge, Juan José Rocha ," Domingo Ca rrillo, Lieutenant JuanM . Iba rra , Miguel Garcia Loba to,“ Mariano G. Va llejo,“
and Capta in Agustin V. Zamorano.
” On this occasion the
governor expla ined tha t the court was ca lled to conclude thetria l interrupted on Februa ry 2 6th ; that Fr. Luis Martinez on
account of his advanced age and infirmities could not makethe journey overland to receive his sentence at the hands of
u “Solis Proceso.
1“Ban croft, iii, 98 . Va llejo a nd Alva rado, it appea rs, could dreamatwill, a nd they never seem to have hesita ted to procla im a s fa ctsthe dreams which merely demon stra ted the exten t of the ma lice of
these two un scrupulous youths, pa rticularly in the ca se Of fria rs .
1 ° See note 3 8, preceding chapter.
1 7 H e had come to Ca liforn ia with Echea ndia under sen tence of
exile for two years. Ba ncroft, v, 699.
1 3 Fr. Martinez’s in solen t ja iler.
1 9 Then on ly twen ty-two yea rs old, but a lready sa tura ted w ithVolta iria n ism, a nd therefore imbued w ith the notion tha t it wa sgood form to trea t priests w ith a rroga n ce.
2 ° H e a lso had come w ith Echea ndia . The members were, w ithone exception , very much birds of the same fea ther.
3 02 Missions and Missiona ries of California
the Genera l Government that if he were compelled to proceed to Mexico nevertheless, the other missiona ries woulddemand their pa ssports, or take to flight, abandon the mis
sions, and thus throw the whole territory into disorder, or
they might start a new conspiracy. It had become appa ren tduring the tria l tha t Fr. Ma rtinez had given a id to the Solisrevolt,” and tha t he had as fa r back as June 2 6th, 1826,demanded his passport because he was not in sympa thy withthe new form of government. On the other hand FathersJuan and Pedro Cabot had testified in favor of Fr. Ma r
tinez.
”
After this un favorable instruction to the jury a discussionfollowed. The result was that by a vote of five to one it wasdecided tha t Fr. Martinez should be ban ished, and should beplaced on boa rd the first ship ava ilable. From the minutes itis impossible to determine which of the six oflicers bravedthe anger of Echeandia and voted for the venerable friar, asno names a re given . However, as Domingo Carrillo is mentioned as a ttorney for the friar, we may presume that it washe who saved his name from in famy by refusing to share
in the disgraceful verdict . Fr. Martinez himself had to
swea r on the word and honor of a priest tha t he wouldnot leave the ship at any port of the Philippine or the Sandwich Islands, but tha t he would continue the voyage in the
friga te as fa r a s it sa iled, and then take the first vessel forEurope.
” Stephen Anderson , owner of the brig Thomas
3 1 The proper thing would then have been to report to the government and awa it its decision . As it relea sed the lea der of the
revolt, Solis, the result could not have been differen t in the ca se of
the innocen t fria r ; but the v indictive governon wa s ben t on intimida ting the missionaries and their friends.
Which, a s the reader sees, wa s not true.
3 ' Fr. Sarris had a lso testified in his favor. The minutes heredo not mention this fact, probably because Echeandia omitted it.
“Solis Proceso” in “Ca l. Arch., Prov. St. Pap. , Ben . Milita ry
3““in verbo sa cerdotis de no desemba rca r en n ingun puerto de
Ma n ila , oi de las Isla s Sandwich, sino que ira ha sta donde vaya lafraga ta ,
y de a lli toma rfi el primer buque 6 Europa .
“Solis Proceso.
”
3 04 Missions and Missiona ries of Ca lifornia
exiled missiona ry as fa r as Europe. The expenses of the
voyage had therefore to be pa id by the governor, and the
capta in of the vessel doubtless exacted payment in advance.
As a fria r Fr. Martinez could take nothing away from his
mission , even if it had been possible to do so, save his per
sona l effects. Even these, a s we have seen ,he had not had
time to take a long when apprehended . Such were the regu
lations of his College a s well a s Of his Order ; and to thesea ll the fria rs adhered , a ll cha rges to the contra ry notwith
standing. M rs. Ord, the daughter of José de la Guerra , inwhose house Lobato had closely gua rded the Fa ther, declaredtha t Fr. Ma rtinez took no money a long.
“
Echeandia announced the sentence of Fr. Ma rtinez’s exileto Fr. Prefect Sarr1a on the same 9th of Ma rch.
‘ 0 The peaceloving and sa intly old missiona ry seems to have received theinforma tion in silent resigna tion ; there was nothing else for
him to do, because for the time being might took the place of
right in Ca liforn ia . As for the Fa thers, they were a ccus
tomed to suffer persona l grievances in silence. It would plea seus more could we record tha t a ll had risen in protest, and
shaken the dust from their feet, previously to leav ing the now
inhospitable and ungra teful land . Doubtless they would havetaken some such steps if substitutes could have been found.
As it was, they felt tha t they must not leave their neophytewa rds exposed to the rapacity of those in control of the territory. SO, for the time being, they stifled their just indignation , a nd prepa red to battle for the rights of their poor Indianconverts. When the wa r is decla red on the missions theirattitude w ill be different.
" L
Un fortuna tely the bad example of the white people fromthe governor down ,
and their trea tment of the missionaries,were not lost on the Indians of the various missions . Echeandia and his covetous following had belittled the Fa thers,
3 ° M rs. Ord, Ocurrencia s, in Ba ncroft’s Collection.
“Ca l. Arch. , Dep. Rec. viii, 1 24- 1 2 5.
‘ 1 On ly Fr. Duri n , a s presiden te of the mission s, la ter on gaveven t to his indign a tion , a nd a dded some pa rticula rs in a letter tothe Presiden t of Mexico, a s we sha ll lea rn presen tly.
Court-Martia l ; Fr. Ma rtinez Banished 3 05
and had ha rangued the neophytes with lofty ta lk on libertyand equa lity with such effect,“ tha t the seed thus plantedcould not fa il to ta ke root and produce a crop which was
not at a ll to the liking of the would- be reformers. Disturbanecs occurred at severa l missions, notably in the south at San
Luis Rey a nd San Juan Capistrano. The incessant milita ryexactions increased the genera l discontent ; for the missionsnow as before had to support the troops . In the spring Of
1 829 Estan islao, the Indian a lca lde Of Mission San José, induced a number of neophytes to w ithdraw w ith him a nd to
fortify themselves near the pagan rancheria s on the Rio San
Joaquin . Fr. Duran notified Comandante Ma rtinez of San
Francisco who ordered Sergeant Anton io Soto with fifteenmen to destroy the fortifica tions and to bring back the fugifives. In the skirmish which ensued Soto was morta llywounded, and severa l of the soldiers received more or lessdangerous wounds. This caused the little ba nd of men to
retrea t to San José where Soto soon a fter died .
Very much ela ted at this first victory over soldiers, theIndia ns celebrated their triumph with feasting and dancing.
Other rancheria s joined the rebels . It wa s fea red tha t theuprising might become general. Ensign José Sénchez withforty men wa s therefore sent to take the fortifications. One
attempt convinced him tha t his force was too wea k to stormthe works . The comandante of Monterey wa s then ca lled
upon for assistance. He accordingly ordered Ensign Maria noVa llejo w ith one hundred men a nd a rtillery to join Sanchezand to drive the rebels out of their stronghold . The Indian s,a rmed only with bows and a rrows, could not resist the fire
1”“Lieutenan t Romua ldo Pacheco, ha ving some trouble with Fr.
Bosca n a at Sa n Juan Ca pistra no,” Ba ncroft rela tes (iii, wen tso fa r a s to a ssemble the neophytes a nd make a politica l speech,in which he told the Indian s of a new chief (Echea ndia ) who hadcome to the coun try to be their friend, a nd give them equa l rightsw ith Span ia rds .
” M rs. ord in Bancroft, iii, 104, says, “The idea sin stilled in to the minds of the neophytes by the gefe politico (Echeandia ) made a grea t cha nge in the Indian s. They were not a s
con ten ted nor a s obedien t a s before.
” Osio (ibidem ) , though not
friendly to the fria rs, takes the same view .
306 Missions and Missiona ries of California
of the muskets and ca nnon . Many were killed and otherswere captured. The troops a lso lost some of their number.
Estan islao escaped and took refuge with Fr. Duran , who con
cea led the pen itent neophyte and later procured his pa rdon .
After the ba ttle the worst kind of ba rba rities were committed by the soldiers. Both Bancroft and H ittell relate tha t byorder or consent of Ma riano Va llejo severa l captives, including three women , were putto dea th. Fr. Duran made corn
pla int about Va llejo’
s cruelties, but the ensign den ied havingsanctioned them. Echeandia ordered an investiga tion into thecharge tha t three men and three women , not ta ken in battle,had been shot or hanged. The evidence showed that onlyone man and one woman had been shot by Joaquin Alva rado,one of Va llejo’
s soldiers. For this bruta lity Alvarado was
sentenced to five years’ pena l servitude on the southern fron“There is no doubt,
”says Bancroft, “that in those, as
Signa ture of Fr. J ose Ma ria. Guzman .
in la ter times, to the Spania rds,“ as to other so-ca lled civilizedraces, the life of an Indian was a slight a ffa ir, and in nea rlyall the expeditions outrages wereMeanwhile Fr. Presidente José Berna rdo Sanchez, weary of
strife and responsibility, had repeatedly irnportuned the Col
3 3 I n this ca se the culprits were Mexicans or Ca liforn iansu Bancroft, iii, 109- 1 14; H ittell, ii, 1 16- 1 18. See chapter x1 1 . De
ta ils will be found in the loca l history of ea ch mission .
SECTION ll
FR. NARCISO DURAN1830— 183 6 )
PRESIDENTE
3 1 2 Missions and M issiona ries of Ca lifornia
a s could be cultivated advantageously wa s set apart in order
to give occupation to the neophytes, and to ra ise the produceand live- stock required for the support of a la rge missionpopula tion . Whatever was accumula ted by the combined ci
forts of the missionaries and converts was rega rded as the
common property of the neophytes, and it wa s intended to
be turned over to them a s soon as they had lea rned to governthemselves, and had proved capable Of managing such pr0p
erty. The missionaries never cla imed any pa rt of the wea lthcrea ted and collected under their direction . They consideredthemselves stewa rds or gua rdians of the Indians in theircha rge until the la tter should have reached ma jori ty and
proved their ability to sta nd a lone. This might be a fter ten ,
twenty or more yea rs. In tha t ca se the friars would withdraw in order to give place to priests sent by the bishop of
the diocese, who would, a s in the pa rishes of white people,a ttend on ly to the spiritua l needs of their pa rishioners, whilstthe neophytes thus emancipa ted or libera ted from pa renta ltutelage managed their lands and other property in common
or in severa lty by themselves, w ithout interference from any
white Ofl'
icia ls . This meant secularizing the missions, tha t isto say, substituting secular for regula r priests, and placingthe Indians on a level with white citizens to control their ownproperty. Un fortunately, in Ca liforn ia the Indians seemed torequire centuries instead of deca des, just a s wa s the case withthe tribes tha t inhabited Europe, before they acquired habitsof industry and could be judged competent of administeringtheir tempora l a ffa irs without assistance.
In return for pacifying the savages and for transformingthem into pea ceful subjects the Span ish Government agreed toprotect the lives of the missiona ries and of their converts, aswell a s the property of the establishments they erected, bystation ing three or five guards, genera lly fewer, at each mission . As a ma tter of good policy the secula r authoritiesshould have subsidized and in every way encouraged the missiona ry enterprise, since the Fa thers were peacefully, efiect
ively, and inexpensively securing the object of the conquest.The mission aries, however, desired nothing more than liberty
Summary ; the Pa isanos ; Decree of 1 8 1 3 3 1 3
to teach Religion and civiliza tion to their Indians withoutinterference. During the forty yea rs while the Span ish Government, for the most pa rt grudgingly, complied with its
agreement, the missiona ry Fathers contrived to establish nine
teen Christian izing and civilizing centers known a s missions.
In the meantime, despite un favorable conditions and much
opposition , they achieved a success which surpassed tha t ofany similar effort anywhere in the limits of the Un ited Sta testhey ga thered, instructed, and baptized Indians whobut for the labors of the missiona ries would most probablynever have known the Crea tor, nor the end for which theyexisted on ea rth. At the same time they weaned their con
verts from a life of abject idleness, taught them how to sup
port themselves, and put them on the road to become useful
citizens. This goa l they would eventua lly a tta in if nothurriedand if granted sufl‘icient opportun ities . All this cost the govcrament nothing, since the fria rs, in keeping w ith the rules
of their Order, served without compensa tion . The a llowancefrom the Pious Fund, while it la sted, was used for embellishing the churches or turned into the genera l mission fund . In
like manner were a lms or donations used which were givento the missiona ries persona lly.
Things might have continued this way indefin itely, or untilthe Indians had a tta ined the degree of self- reliance and civ ilization desired. Un fortunately the cry for independence inMexico a fter the yea r 181 1 cutoff the supplies of the soldieryas well as the scant a llowance of the missiona ries. Both werethen thrown on their own resources. Nevertheless, instead ofbecoming a burden to the governments of either Mexico or
Ca liforn ia , or lessen ing their own activ ity, the missions for thenext twenty yea rs proved the sa lva tion of the territory inthat they furn ished subsistence for the military from the gov
cruor down to the la st soldier in the ranks, who but for themanaging fria rs and their neophytes must have sta rved or
abandoned the country. The consequence wa s tha t, notcounting the dona tions, taxes, and money contributions receivedfrom the missions at grea t ha rdship to the Indians and theirmissiona ry guides, the governors and their troops a fter twenty
3 1 4 M issions and M issionaries of California
yea rs were in arrea rs to the missionary establishmen ts to the
amount of nea rly for supplies, and this has never
been pa id !Instead of acknowledging this grea t assistance from the
missions ; instead of giving due credit to the miss ionaries fortheir unselfish endeavors to relieve the want which largelyresulted from the irnprovidence of the troops ; these benefitsso generously bestowed on soldiers and settlers on ly whettedthe greed of those who were succored, and of others whoexpected to advance their own interests by obta in ing controlof the mission property which had been rendered va luablethrough the exertions of the unsa la ried religious. In orderto ga in their point, these ingrates and the covetous, with no
heart for the Indians, had recourse to ca lumny. They wouldcha rge the fria rs with cruelty, though no ca se could be provedand the missionaries admin istered no grea ter pena lties for
misdeeds than fathers apply to their children , or the mildestpolice authorities inflict on transgressors of the law . Nextthey would accuse the Franciscans of accumulating wea lthat the expense of the neophytes, and of sending such wea lthout of the country, or of intending to forwa rd it to Spa in or
anywhere, though not one insta nce could be cited in proof ofsuch transa ction , and though the slanderers well knew tha t thefria rs by their vows were bound not to reta in a dolla r forthemselves or for any one else from the mission funds or
from any fund belonging to the convert Indians. Thereuponthe relentless critics cla imed the missions occupied too muchland, when every one had to concede tha t this land of rightbelonged to the Indians and was secured to them by justlaws. Furthermore it wa s charged that the missions wereexcessively wea lthy and tha t the fria rs were living sumptu
ously like independent landlords, whereas the ofiicial reportsdemonstrated tha t the missiona ry establishments barely managed to feed and clothe the neophytes and could not, byreason of the incessant demands of the milita ry, do morethan hold their own . Even if the missions had been as richas represented, it was property accumula ted by ha rd work,and the owners were entitled to en joy it. Had the soldiers
3 1 6 M issions and M issionaries of California
will appea r in the course Of the na rra tive, and ha s a lreadycome to light to some extent. Meanwhile the Fathers werehappy enough, despite all obsta cles, to add Indians tothe list of their converts, so that by the yea r 1830 the baptisma l registers showed the names of baptized na tives,most of whom had passed out of the rea ch of rapaciousadventurers by dying the dea th Of Christians.
We now enter upon the saddest period of the mission history : the destruction of the missionary establishments by thecovetous Ca liforn ians under the guidance, a s we have seen ,
of Echeandia and his ev il gen ius Padres . It will help the
reader very much to comprehend what follows if he will takeinto consideration the spiritua l condition of the pa isanos and
others at the close of 1830. Most of the missiona ries hadbecome feeble with old age or infirmities, yet they toiled on ,
a lone in nearly a ll ca ses, while their hearts were heavy with
grief at sight of the irnpiety creeping in to their flocks. As
usua l they made their annual reports to the Fr. Presidente.
Only a few drop an expression here and there from which thediscouraging circumsta nces of the respective missions a s wellas the religious sta te of the white popula tion may be in ferred .
Fr. Viader’
s description of the situation at Santa Cla ra maybe rega rded as typica l.Severa l times, he tells Fr. Presidente Sinchez, I have
wanted to write to you about those who la st Lent fa iled to
comply w ith the annua l obligation of receiv ing the Sacramentsof Penance and Holy Eucharist ; but, ina smuch as I on the
other hand thought that there is no other remedy than to
recommend the ma tter to God, I have hesita ted to troubleyou and to trouble myself . I have told them from the footof the alta r that if any one died without confession he
could not be buried in the cemetery ; a lso that if any one fellsick and ca lled for me, I would nothear his confession unlesshe first publicly a sked pa rdon for his bad example in not
1 Probably at the town of Sa n J0 3 6, which wa s a ttended fromSa n ta Cla ra . The town people a lso frequen ted the mission cha pel,a nd may ha ve been told there. See Engelha rdt, “The Holy M an of
San ta Clara ,” 99 ; 1 50; 1 67- 168.
Summary ; the Pa isanos ; Decree of 1 8 1 3 3 1 7
having complied with his Easter Duty ; for if the scanda l ispublic, as in effect it is, public must be the satisfaction .
Every year, a fter growing tired wa iting, I sent a list to the
a lca lde, but as he is a fra id to pun ish them, he is content withthrea ten ing, wa rn ing, and advising them. This is in va in , for
they laugh at everything.
2 The new a lca lde is himself one of
them,
‘and I fea r some trouble. I hope Your Reverence w ill
tell me wha t is to be done in this pa rticular. I further re
Signa ture of Fr. Jose Viader.
ma rk that, if nothing is done soon , this will be a common
wea lth of Protestants.
“
From this it is clea r that Catholic Fa ith, at lea st among thema le portion ,
had waxed exceedingly cold with the settlersaround Santa Cla ra , since they cea sed to receive the Sacraments . I f such was the case where a sa int,“had labored and
preached for thirty- six yea rs, and where he had died buttwomonths before, we may imagine the situation elsewhere, no
tably at Monterey, the hotbed of politica l intrigue and loose
life. We need not then be surprised at the reckless cupidityand wan t of ordin a ry justice displayed by the pa isanos or
na tive sons, as the Ca liforn ia ns loved to style themselves , leta lone the cold bruta lity of the Mexican instiga tors Padres and
Echeandia . When the Ca tholic cea ses the reception of the
Sacraments, the test of membership in the Church, he discontinnes being a practica l Catholic, and his motives genera llyare ambition , greed, or concupiscence of the flesh. Abjectignorance in religious ma tters infla ted by rea ding irreligious
2 “Ellos de todo se rien .
3 Ma ria no Dua rte. See Bancroft, iii, 195.
‘ This term w ith him included a ll non - Ca tholics. Fr. Viadér to
Fr. Si nchez, Ja nua ry 1 8th, 183 1 .
“Sta . Barb. Arch.
5 Fr. Magin Ca ta la, the process for whose beatification ha s beentaken up in Rome but la tely. See
“The Holy M an of Sa n ta Cla ra ,”
Sa n Fra ncisco,1909.
3 1 8 Missions and M issionaries of Ca lifornia
works, such as those Of Voltaire and other French infidels,must be added in the ca se of the Ca lifornians and Mexicansof tha t period. Hence it was that they not on ly declaredthemselves independent of Spa in , which of itself was no
crime, but they a lso emancipated themselves from the Ten
Commandments of God and the Precepts of their Church.
Hence the outrages aga inst the benevolent institutions in
Mexico, aga inst the Indian missions and their directors, theFranciscan fria rs, in Ca liforn ia . We have instances of thissame conduct and its causes on the pa rt of the same class of
men, and for the same motives, in France and Portuga l atthis writing. It was not that any just and serious faultcould be found with the missiona ries or their missions ; butbruta l pa ssions had seized the hea rts and blinded the reason
ing powers. From such as these, na tura lly, the defencelessand helpless Indians, much less their religious guides, couldexpect no pity. Hav ing thus clea red the vision we mayproceed with the prospect of better understanding the suc
ceeding events.
During all these yea rs, a s we have already sa id, the missions continued to feed and clothe not on ly the neophytesbut a lso the troops of the whole territory. Frequently theFa thers and their wards deprived themselves of the verynecessa ries in order to sa tisfy the endless requests of theiroppressors. Nevertheless, Echeandia and the paisanos couldnot rest ea sy. Had these men been sincere Christians theywould have rejoiced atthe work which the missionaries wereaccomplishing with the rude natives, and they would havedeprived themselves of necessa ries in order tha t the convertsmight not suffer want. Such is the practice among trueCa tholics the world over. At the very least they would havelet these ecclesiastica l institutions severely a lone, and wouldhave a ttended to their own a ffa irs as scrupulously as the missiona ries were a ttending to those that concerned themselvesand their wards. It was bad enough that the civil and milita ry oflicials and the Ca liforn ians genera lly refused to lendtheir mora l assistance for transforming the savages into fa ithful Christians and industrious citizens. It was worse that the
3 2 0 M issions and Missionaries of California
a re, rather than to take the lesson from the unselfish men be
fore their very eyes . Greed had taken possession of the mis
sion enemies, and no considera tion of gra titude or justicewould stop them in their wa rfa re on the missiona ries a s the
only obstruction ba rring their in iquitous course.
Hence it was that on July 20th,1 830, Echeandia la id be
fore the territoria l assembly his plan for the confisca tion of
the missions w ithout wa iting for the action of the SupremeGovernment. He did not, of course, broach the subject under tha t term, but like a ll scheming politicians he dea lt inca tchwords for the purpose of clothing w icked measures ina respectable ga rb in order to deceive the unwa ry. The
governor ca lled his plan “secula riza tion . We sha ll apply
the right term throughout : confiscation . It was nothingless. Bancroft, a lways ready to excuse anything anti-Ca tholic, endeavors to defend the act on the ground that Echeandia wa s proposing nothing more than what the Span ishC6rtes had decreed in 1 8 1 3 . As both Mexico and Ca liforn iahad thrown Off Span ish rule, and both were governed according to Mexican laws, the force of the a rgument is not appa rent, even if the Span ish rump congress
7 had decreed any
thing like the project which the mission despoilers proposed .
Dwinelle holds that the decree never atta ined the force of
law as fa r as the Ca liforn ia missions were concerned. Ata ll events, neither the Span ish Government at home, nor theviceroya l government in Mexico, hurried to execute the
decree. They both took the sane v iew that the Ca liforn ianeophytes had not advanced fa r enough to come under the
provisions of sa id decree, which a fter a ll had been passedby a usurping power. Nor was the Mexican RepublicanGovernment eager to make a change in the status of the
missions. The whole scheme wa s engineered by Echea ndia ,
irSee cha pter vi, section i, this volume. This self- constitutedc6rtes w a s not recogn ized by the king, a nd not till seven yearsla ter were some Of its decrees forced on the coun try by a notherc6rtes of a simila r composition .
3 “Colon ia l H istory, Na rra tive, p. 39, parag. 53 .
3 2 2 M issions and Missionaries of California
mova l of the missiona ries, their rea l motive was not thatthe decree of the c6rtes, or the desire of the bishop, or thewishes of the neophytes should be carried out; in none of
these cases could the Ca liforn ians hope to ga in any advan
tage for themselves. Their a im was not the benefit of theconvert Indians, for these lived contented until Echeandiaroused some of them by his specious ta lk on liberty and
equa lity ; nor decrease of cost to the government or to the
missions, for the fria rs served without pay and the missionscost the government nothing, ra ther they supported the ter
ritoria l governmen t ; much less the welfare of Religion in
which Echeandia and the Ca liforn ians took no interest, butwhich they were damaging beyond repa ir. Least of all couldgrea ter progress of the mission tempora lities be the motiveof demanding a change ; for, whereas the fria rs had rea redand made them prosperous and thus proved their ability toma inta in them, the adversa ries were sucking the life out of
them and causing decay. Hence, nothing but greed and dis
regard for Religion prompted the clique led by the governorto demand the confisca tion Of the missions under the deceptive term of secula rization .
Echeandia’
s plan was discussed in the sessions of the
assembly, composed of on ly four members besides the govcruor and the secreta ry, from July 20th to August 3 rd, 1830,and then adopted on the last-named date. The twenty-onea rticles of this document provided for the gradua l transforma tion of the missions into pueblos, beginn ing, signifi
ca ntly enough, with those nea rest the presidios and whitesettlements . The tempora lities of one or two were to be
ta ken from the missiona ries, tha t is to say, confisca ted, and
put in cha rge of sa la ried comisionados, within a yea r, and
the rest should be simila rly transformed as rapidly as expe
rience might show it to be practicable. What the Indiansmight have to say on the subject was not considered. Eachneophyte was to have a sha re of the mission lands and otherproperty. The friars might rema in as curates, or es tablisha new line of missions among the savages if they wished.
The document was signed by José M . Echeandia , Antonio
Summary ; the Paisanos ; Decree of 1 8 1 3 3 2 3
Buelna , José Tibr'
rrcio Castro, Si lv io Pacheco, Ca rlos Castro,
and J . B . Alva rado, who acted as secreta ry to the“respeta
ble diputacion .
” Ha ving received the endorsement of thefive men who constituted the legislative assembly, Echeandiathought the general government would not hesitate to issueorders for the en forcement of the plan . He therefore sentit for approva l to Mexico on September 7th, Bythe time the document reached the capital another adminis
tration had come into power, and this by no means sanc
tioned the governor’
s proceedings. Moreover, another governor had a lready been appointed and wa s on his way to
Ca liforn ia , a fact of which Echeandia was well aware, and
this circumstance renders his action the more odious.
Meanwhile the governor and his abettors in the scheme
of spoliation desired to appea r solicitous for the spiritua lwelfare of the territory, and therefore concocted another planwhich showed how little they knew of Religion and much
less of the subject about which they presumed to legisla te.
On August 1 3th the same legislative assembly passed the
following decree, which it is worth the while to perpetuateas a curiosity.
“1 . Two Francisca n mona steries sha ll be
established in Upper Ca liforn ia , one at Mission San Gabrieland the other atM ission Santa Cla ra . For this purpose the
government will without delay take steps to have twenty or
more religions of the Order go there. It sha ll provide fromthe Pious Fund for the expenses of the voyage and for
transporta tion , and sha ll assign the ma in building, the church,
and the ga rden of sa id missions for tha t purpose. 2 . Eachmonastery sha ll have at least a guardian , a ma ster of novices,
1 1 Buelna a nd Jose Ca stro composed the committee on Trea suryand M issions . Carlos Ca stro wa s in charge of Education .
“Ca l.
L eg. Rec. i, 29 1 ; 3 40-3 45.1 ’ Bancroft, iii, 107. Echeandia undertook to ca rry in to efiect
the neglected a ct of the c6rtes of 18 1 3 for the secula riza tion of the
mission s. The deva sta tion of the missions now commenced . The
India ns were encouraged in their refusa l to labor; their ema ncipation they thought mea n t freedom from work, and the license to
indulge in every form of vice ; but the evil day wa s postponed bythe arriva l of a successor to Echeandia .
” Tuthill, “Ca liforn ia ,” 1 3 1 .
3 2 4 M issions and M issionaries of Ca lifornia
and an assista nt for the la tter, who sha ll a lso occupy the
cha ir of grammar, and a vica r. 3 . When the clerics are rea dyfor ordina tion , they sha ll for tha t purpose pa ss over the
wa ter or la nd to the nearest diocese. The expenses of the
journey sha ll be pa id from the revenues of the existing missions, and from other a lms on which the monastery w illsubsist according to the regula tions of their Order. 4. The
missions tha t sha ll be vacated, those tha t may be turned intopueblos, and those that may be newly founded, shall be
respectively attended by the religious tra ined in sa id monasferies . In addition , this cla ss of missiona ries may a lso serve
as pastors or chapla ins in the pueblos and presidios ; and theysha ll receive a fixed compensa tion if the commun ity have any
funds to pay it , or from the taxes to be imposed accordingto the needs of each individua l . 5. The government sha llregula te the method which must be observed in new missionswith rega rd to ca techetica l instruction , the management anddomestic corrections, and to what point they must recognize
the secular authority in the sa id interior admin istra tion of
sa id missions, and under wha t circumstances and conditionsthese must be transformed into pueblos. 6. The Span ishmissiona ries in charge at present, and who favor the inde
pendence and our system of government, sha ll be enabledto occupy any office in sa id monasteries ; and these as wellas the rest tha t sha ll profess fidelity to the government sha llcontinue to admin ister the missions in their ca re, or any
other Oflice in the territory, and sha ll therefore be exemptfrom the L aw of March 20th, 1 ‘
This bit of ridiculous legislation , which speaks volumes forthe ignorance, audacity, impertinence and conceit of its per
petrators, was signed by the same individua ls that appended
1 ' “Ca l. Arch., L eg. Rec. i, 3 2 1 -3 2 2 . The young Ca liforn ia libera ls were quick to lea rn from their Mexica n a nd European prototypes wha t estima te to put on Religion and religious Orders. It
is stra nge tha t men who would resen t interference with their ownpriva te afia irs displa y such fondness for improv ing the works of
God a nd H is Church, instead of simply bringing their own con
duct in line w ith His Commandmen ts.
3 2 6 Missions and Missiona ries of Ca lifornia
getwhat they have learned in four.
” 1 ‘ What the result waselsewhere is not known , but the chief trouble was the dearthof teachers. Then the neophytes had already grown restlessand intractable, owing to the example of the white people
fl a x?“5 amd o.
Signa ture of Fr. J ua n B. San cho.
from the governor down , who belittled the missiona ries, andha rangued the Indians with loose ta lk on liberty and equa lity, so that the seed thus planted could not fa il to take rootand produce the fruit which was not at a ll to the liking of
the Ca lifornians. Had the governor and the pa isanos a llowedthe missiona ries to manage the Indians a s in the beginn ing,
and had the milita ry a ided the Fa thers by their example, ifin no other way, and had the missiona ries not been compelledto devote so much time to satisfy the demands of the gov
cruor and his subordina tes, there is no doubt that the Indians would have received the book learn ing suitable to the
surroundings in which they had to live. As it was the cfiect
of outside interference da ily beeame man ifest in the turbu
lence of the natives.
The a rrogance of Echeandia was imita ted by his subordi
nates and this caused more disorder. An instance is reportedfrom Mission San José. Writing to the governor under da teof November 29th, 1 83 0, Fr. Duran compla ins : “Some neo
phytes whom I had sent to the gua rdhouse in pun ishmentfor domestic transgressions were taken to the presidio. Ihave discovered that this was done in v irtue of the following
1 3 “H ay a lgunos mucha chos que principian a conocer las letra s,como tambien é pin ta rla s ; ma s como la gen te se esca sea , ten iendoque hechar ma no de ellos se ve, que lo que en cua tro dias apren
den , en seis se les olv ida n .
”Fr. Sinchez to Echeandia , August
26th, 1828 . Archb. no. 203 3 .
Summary ; the Paisanos ; Decree of 1 8 1 3 3 2 7
order of Comandante Ignacio Ma rtinez to the corpora ls of
the guards :‘ I cha rge you tha t every Indian locked in the
gua rdhouse should be immediately sent to this presidio (SanFrancisco) , a lthough they are held for only slight faults.
This I hope will be done as I command?“From this order it follows tha t every Indian who is locked
up, even though it be for correction on account of slight
faults only, is sentenced to the presidio. Your Honor mustsee in this wha t I see in it, and tha t is the most oflensivedespotism and the trampling under foot of the pa terna l anddomestic authority of the missionaries . I supplica te YourHonor to be plea sed to remedy this as speedily as possible,as I cannot consent that an order continue in force which isso Oppressive to the un fortuna te Indians, (who by their laborfeed their oppressors ) , without trying every means withinmy reach. The first step is having recourse to the fa irnessand authority of Your Honor w ith the confidence that youwill not be dea f to the cries of the Oppressed .
” 1 ° The nextstep would have been an appea l to the Federa l Government.Happily Echeandia was soon a fter relieved of his position ,and the new governor doubtless removed the cause of con
tention , though we have no record of the action taken .
Before the close of the year 1 83 0 a new diputa cion or leg
islative assembly was chosen . The electors of Ca liforn ia on
October 3 rd met at Monterey and first named a delegate to
represent the territory in the Mexica n Congress during the
yea rs 183 1 and 183 2 . Ca rlos Anton io Ca rrillo received the
ma jority of the votes . Juan Bandin i was designa ted as sub
stitute. Next day the electors chose Mariano G. Va llejo,Joa quin Ortega , and Anton io M . Osio to take the places of
three retiring members of the territoria l a ssembly. The new
substitutes were Francisco de Ha ro, Tomas Yorba , and Santiago Arguello.
”
1 ° “Archb. Arch., no. 2090. The ita lics a re Fr. Duran ’
s.
zo“Ca l. Dep. Rec. viii, 506-507; Bancroft, iii, 50; Kittell,1 1 , 1 22 - 12 3 .
CHAPTER II .
President Bustama n te to Fr. Durin .— Reply.— The Missiona ries I ll
trea ted— Indians Oppressed by the Tr00ps.— Insecurity of the
Territory — Missiona ries Threa tened.— Fr. Ma rtinez ShamelesslyArrested at San Luis Obispo.
-Outrageously Trea ted at San taBarba ra — Fa rcica l Court-Ma rtia l.— Echeandia ’s Despotism.
M issionaries Fa lsely Accused .— Appea l for Protection to the
President— Another Letter from Bustaman te.
— Lengthy Reply.-Stipends not Wa n ted Un less the Troops Are First Pa id.
Neophytes Still Ba ckwa rd — A Way out of the Difi culty .
Commerce.- Proposition s.
— Good Will of the Bustama n te Admin istra tion.
examination to which the prisoner Solis and theHerrera 1 were subjected in Mexico the Sn
preme Government most probably received the impressiontha t Echeandia must be the rea l ca use of the wide- spreaddissatisfaction in Ca liforn ia ; for not only was Solis set free
and Herrera returned to his post, but President Ana stasioBustamante addressed a letter to Fr. Narciso Duran ca llingfor in formation on the conditions in the territory . The factis noteworthy for the reason tha t Fr. Duran ,
like Fr. Sa rria,was marked for expulsion by the despotic governor. The
reply, though lengthy, is here reproduced a lmost entire, because it throws much light on certa in occurrences which otherw ise would rema in very obscure. Fr. Presidente Duran writesas follows :“Most Excellent President : By the brig M aria Ester I
have received a letter which is well worthy of the noble and
good hea rt of Your Excellency. I n it you begin by inform
1 See chapter xvn , section 1 , this volume.
2 Presiden t Guerrero had been deposed a nd wa s la ter executed.Bustaman te on Janua ry l st, 1 83 0, a ssumed the rein s of governmen t, a nd soon a fter despa tched his letter to Fr. Duran.
“In his
priva te life he wa s exempla ry,” says Bancroft (Mexico v ,
Tha t speaks well for him and expla ins his conserva tism in publiclife.
3 3 0 Missions and Missiona ries of California
our ability to persevere in bea ring the burden of so heavy a
cross.
“Your Excellency will at once conclude tha t I feel a loa thing to persevere in my position . Far from w ishing to deceiveyou, I frankly confess that on ly for the sake of my con
science, and on account of the extreme spiritua l need of the
people, due to the lack of priests, I do not now insist thatmy passport be given to me. I am fully entitled to it as theforeigner I now am,
“though I do not desire it in order toreturn to my na tive land— something I have never wished nor
w ish— but to leave a land in which, by reason of the origina lsin brought on with birth, hatred for this religious body of
missiona ries is not on ly open ly professed, but their v irtuesand disinterestedness, so well known among the foreign merchants,‘ receive not the slightest respect, considera tion , or ac
knowledgment from the territoria l government. On accountof the remoteness of this territory, and above all on accountof our helpless and defenceless position , we are w ith im
punity hara ssed, threatened, watched, and even insulted forno other rea son than tha t we refuse to meddle with politics,as such meddling would on ly tend to the great dishonor of
our sacred character and religious ca lling, to the most grievous affliction of our souls, a nd to the ha rdships of our bodiesalready worn out by long and wea risome service, by age, andby infirmities.
Your Excellency will rea dily be persuaded of the vexations which we suffer, if you w ill keep in mind that it isonly the missions which support the military ga rrisons of the
territory. The number of the soldiers is so excessive tha tnothing is sa ved from our resources. It is worse in the
present year which ha s been one not only of dea rth but of
un iversa l hunger for lack of ra in , and on account of the
I‘ That is wha t the Ca liforn ia ingra tes ca lled the self- sa crificing
mission a ries without whose presence and efforts sta rva tion wouldha ve driven the lazy na tiv ists from the territory.0 English and American traders a nd colon ists, who genera lly
were imbued w ith a spirit of fa irness a nd therefore friendly to the
fria rs.
Fr. Duran to the Presidente of Mexico 3 3 1
locust plague that did away with what was planted. Yet,
under these sad circumstances our missions are filled withsoldiers ; demands are made upon us in a bellicose manner,and we are threa tened as though we were guilty of trea sonaga inst the na tion , and, wherea s other cla sses of the popula
tion are a llowed to en joy the fruit of their labor, we are
forced to take the morsel from the hungry mouths of our
unhappy neophytes ! How shocking to take away the neces
sary food for their subsistence, making us veritable instrumen ts of their oppression in place of spiritual and domesticpa rents, merely to gra tify the endless needs of the presidios !“I f in the midst of such grea t sa crifices there only were
genera l content ; if only there existed personal security, protection for the weak and helpless ; if there were but a sa tisfactory applica tion of the public income of the treasury and
a right admin istra tion of justice, which would shield us from
so many a rasca l who suddenly appea rs and throws the
whole territory into consterna tion ; (this would require nothingmore than a simple order and corresponding chastisementif a ll this existed, I say, one could live ; but, Your Excelleney, it is certa in tha t the genera l spirit of the territory isapposed to it. Hence we observe nothing more than indolence, immora lity, public scanda ls, depreda tions, and inse
curity of person and property. As a proof of this the revoltof last November is in evidence. To be sure, it was not
directed aga inst the Federa l Government, but solely aga instthe person of the comandante-
genera l and his government.Though it was happily put down , it has cost immense sacrifices, hardship, and dissa tisfaction , especially to the missionsand missionaries.
“Nevertheless, who should believe itl though the mission
“Se nos hacen pedidos militarmen te y amenazandonos con re
spon sibilidades como reos de lesa na cion , y cuando a la s demascla ses se les deja goza r el ta n to de sus traba jos, a nosotros se nos
fuerza a quita r de la s boca s hambrienta s de nuestros in felicesneéfitos el a limen to.
‘ The rebellion of the convict Solis.
9 Governor Echea ndia .
3 3 2 Missions and Missionaries of California
a ries took no pa rt or knew nothing of the plotting aga instthe person of the comandante-
general and his government,a fter infin ite labor and sacrifices for the defense of the com
mand of the sa id governor himself, and a fter having bornein every sense the most disagreeable share, because we werecalled upon and moles ted by both contending parties, we as
the result have ea rned the imminent danger of being trea tedwith the greatest caprice and contemw on the pa rt of sa idcomandante at the least unguarded word (though it may betrue) , reported by some ingrate from among the many whoda ily en joy our hospita lity . There is ta lk a lrea dy of resortingto force in this inquisitoria l manner aga inst one missionary.
“
At any rate, wha t is not doubtful are the insults, the out
rages, in justice, violence, sacrilege, and scanda ls committedat Mission San Luis Obispo, and later at the presidio of
Santa Barbara aga inst the venerable person of the Rev . Fr.
Luis Ma rtinez then at the age of sixty- four yea rs.
n Thirtyfour of these yea rs he spent in the service of the missions.
With military bustle and in the most degrading manner,directed or ca rried out by a lieutenant named Lobato, Fr.
Ma rtinez was seized and led away as a prisoner, thus tramplingon canon and civil laws which prescribe the formal ities to
be observed with rega rd to church a sylum, and thus viola tingin a sacrilegious manner the immun ity of the pa rochia l residence of the missionary religious adjoin ing the church, and
the persona l immun ity of a missiona ry priest and the pa storof the town , despite the public scanda l, especia lly to thesetender plants of Religion . There wa s absolutely no necessityfor such arrest, since the sa id Father and we a ll are as lambswithout a mouth 1 3
to compla in and may be led to the
slaughterhouse with impun ity by merely giving the simple
1 ° Probably Fr. Sa rria or Fr. Duran himself.
1 1 Others hav’e it tha t Fr. Martinez wa s born in 1771 . Fr. Ma r
tin ez himself ga ve his age a s sixty- four yea rs.
1 ’ It is a fa ct tha t even a fter his ba n ishmen t in his letters Fr.
Martinez never compla ined of his revengeful a nd un just persecutors .
3 34 M issions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
Father should emba rk on the friga te Thomas N
just wha t he had a lways w ished ; for notw ithsta nding tha tthe governor had granted to Fr. Martinez the passportmore than a yea r before, he had been un able to use it ona ccoun t of the prohibition of his prela te.
“
“All these facts, Your Excellency, of which I have in
my possession a deta iled a ccoun t drawn up by the veryones who were presen t, a re notorious. Though it is not
and ca nnot be my in tention to give it the merit of lega lev idence for judicia l procedure aga inst the caprice, des
potism, a nd in fraction of a ll divine, canon ica l, civ il, and
constitutiona l laws of which this comandan te-
genera l has
been guilty aga inst the venerable person of the Rev . Fr.
Luis Ma rtinez ; nevertheless, Your Excellency, it seems
to me sufficien t for you to understand in wha t man ner our
habit and cha racter are despised, and to infer the pressingneed for the Supreme Government to take us under its
powerful protection ,supposing tha t we must con tinue in
the sacred min istry here, which seems necessary lest thesesheep be left w ithout a shepherd .
“I do not know wha t strong motives the governor has
had for such unheard-oi in fractions. The latter have beenpublic, but the former a re unknown . Yet I should not be
surprised if he would persuade himself tha t the uprisingatMon terey la st November was not so much aga in st himself a s aga inst the na tion because of some connection w iththe Spa n ish flag,
"so tha t under this specious pretext he
could insinuate tha t we Missionary Fathers had providedthe revolution ists w ith every a ssista nce ; but apa rt fromthe fact tha t the contra ry is man ifest from the very ca ll to
the revolt, a ll the missionaries refused to assist, and wha t wasreceived was on ly obta ined by means of force and violence,
1 ° Fr. Prefecto Sa rr1 a , who thus unw ittingly gave Echea ndia the
opportun ity to ven t his spite on the Fa ther.
1 7 It had been cla imed tha t Solis rebelled in the in terest of Spa inin order to receive a id from the fria rs . I f so, he wa s disabused.
for they refused either direct or indirect a ssistance, a s wa s poin tedout before.
Fr. Duran to the Presidente of Mexico 3 3 5
as ha s happened to me. Who, a fter a ll, could be capable of
such an illusion of thinking us guilty of disloya lty when we
have a lways given proofs of the greatest fidelity to the territoria l government ? When the rebellion first broke out, and
we knew not wha t its a im was, it was asserted tha t its ob
jcet wa s a wholesale looting of a ll the missions perhaps withbloodshed. Ca n it be tha t the governor should want to makesuch dolts of us missionaries tha t we could not see how im
politic, how dangerous, and how impossible it was to ma kethe least gesture in favor of Spa in ? At a time, too, when
the ma jority of us a re between fifty and seventy yea rs of
age, consequently near the grave, and hav ing no more ardentwish tha n to arrive at this goa l in peace and tranquillity ?After hav ing for so many yea rs proved the contra ry, is itnot inflicting the grea test wrong on us to assert tha t we a re
in the mood of going about rebelling in favor of a powerwhich can ba rely en joy peacefully wha t it has before its
eyes, much less a territory so distant that for many yea rs,perhaps for centuries, it must necessarily be dependen t uponMexico? I f on this point it is the intention to manufacture
Signa ture of Fr . N a rciso Durkn .
anything aga inst the good opin ion we en joy, it seems itwould be necessa ry to seize the most insipid and ridiculouscha rge imagin able. I should rather believe some one of the
pa rticipators in the tumult either ha s tried to dimin ish his
guilt by introducing some innocent person , or ra ther tha t the
governor would want to persuade himself tha t he could thusdiscover the cause of the trouble where it is not, give a de
cent appea rance to so many of his in fractions of every law ,
and thus divert judicia l a ttention from his own person . Be
a ll this as it may, everything would be well if it had beendone with due respect to the laws.
“I am very well aware, Most Excellent Sir, tha t this letter
3 3 6 M issions and Missionaries of California
is not a direct reply to the important commun ication of
Your Excellency. I a lso see that in some way it is puttingmyself in the place of the prela te and head of the missiona rybody which at first sight does not seem becoming to a sub
ject of less worth than a ny other.
“ All this is true, I ac
knowledge it herewith ; but with your kind letter Your Excellency has opened the door so tha t I da red unbosom myself. You have given me the courage necessa ry to placebefore you our afflictions, and the danger of being trea tedwith the same caprice and contempt inflicted upon our ven
crable brother, Fr. Luis , so tha t you may see tha t it is impossible that strength should not fa int in seconding your ideasof public happiness, when on the border of life, and sufferingfrom infirmities which for days render me useless.
“I then beg Your Excellency that, whilst you make yourself our judge and the kind protector of our helpless and de
fenceless state, you deign to be conv inced that we cannot inhonor continue to fulfill our sacred duties when , without anyknown rea son , our habit, cha racter, and sacred office have
been treated w ith scorn . Such a procedure could not be
expected from a Ca tholic government and nation . I f YourExcellency, like an amiable fa ther of the poor and helpless,for such indeed are we missiona ries of Upper Ca liforn ia ,does not shield us with your powerful protection , (supposing tha t as heretofore w ithout the least persona l interest,solely out of pure cha rity for our neighbor, and in ordernot to abandon this poor flock, we continue to serve the Sn
preme Government in the persons of its subjects ; and supposingtha t we should have to continue suffering so many vexa tionsand exposed to a ll the insults of a military despotism withoutrega rd to the laws of justice) , then I right now beg YourExcellency in your goodness to be pleased to supply a priestfor my relief and a passport so that I may seek security insome other place, since we cannot promise it to ourselves
1 9 Fr. Si nchez wa s the presiden te at the time, but a s he wa s not
w illing, and scarcely capable, to furn ish a clea r a nd complete v iewof the situa tion , the College probably advised the Presiden t ofMexico to honor Fr. Duran with the request for a full report.
3 3 8 M issions and Missiona ries of California
at present have no need of this assista nce.
" They havefood and clothing of their own production . The missionsand your admin istra tion would be the objects of supremeha tred here if you would send the lea st remittance beforeproviding for the troops which for twenty yea rs have lackedthe necessa ries and clothing for themselves and their families.
” I t is almost a miracle,Your Excellency, to meet a
soldier who wea rs a uniform.
“ They a re to an incredible de
gree disgusted with the service on account of the many yea rsof suffering ; and wha t torments them more is the suspicion ,
which they believe to be founded, tha t the little money whichcomes to the trea sury is misapplied and squandered. The
missions have not experienced such dea rth. They have the
necessa ry food and clothing as the fruit of their own har
vests, and through the produce sold to the ships they supplythe other necessa ries. Hence Your Excellency must be con
vinced tha t the firstfoundation which Your Excellency shouldlay for building up this territory is to pay the troops . To
tha t end you should try to find out the annua l public incomeof the territory, and then forward what more is neededfrom Mexico. I f Your Excellency does on ly this much, restassured you w ill then have secured the love of this territory.
“On the second point, rega rding the improvemen t of the
neophytes, I have to say tha t, if at a ll times this has beenthe rock which has shipwrecked the best politica l ta lents and
those most desirous of promoting the happiness of thesepoor people in whole America , it is more so in these missions
n This wa s ma gnan imous, for it mean t declin ing the stipends dueto the Fa thers but which were a lways turn ed over to the missionfund. It does not refer to the ha lf million dolla rs due from the
governmen t to the missions for supplies furn ished the troops since1 81 1 . The Fa thers merely relinquished their own stipends of $400
a year for the sake of not rousing the jea lousy of the neglectedsoldiery.ss During tha t period the troops and their families had subsisted,
and they still subsisted, on wha t could be exacted from the mission s.
3 0“For milagro en cuen tra V. E . un solda do que tenga un iforme,”i . e., they had no un iform for wa n t of mean s to procure one. The
ita lics are Fr. Duran ’
s.
Fr. Duran to the Presidente of Mexico 3 3 9
by reason of the invincible repugnance of the natives for
civ iliza tion and the abandonment of their hea then notions.
They are the children of an ancient inbred and absoluteliberty which recogn izes no authority or law . Hence theirinv incible inclina tion to a savage mode of life, notwithsta nding the efforts of the missionaries, which on account of theirintercourse with neighboring pagans they a lways have beforetheir mind and cannot forget. This, I repea t, is a rock so
formidable tha t it makes my hand tremble when I dwell onthe subject of improv ing Indians on this line. Though Isuppose tha t the intentions of Your Excellency’s admin istration are to plant w ithout rooting up and to build withoutdestroying, I am a lmost thoroughly convinced that in thispa rticula r it is impossible to plant without rooting up and to
build w ithout tea ring down . The Hon . Echeandia has at
tempted to make this improvement by emancipa ting a certa inclass of neophytes, so tha t they might work for themselves,become holders of persona l property, and en joy the fullrights of citizens ; but I believe he ha s been set a right inthis attempt. Any way, neither politics nor mora lity have derived any advantage therefrom. It is in ev idence tha t theseemancipa ted neophytes pass the greater part of their life inindolence and drunkenness. Unfortunately his attempt hasaroused a spirit of insubordination among those who rema inedin subjection . This spirit the missiona ries can not remove
either by means of a fa therly love, because it no more suf
fices, or by means of honorable ambition , because this to theIndians ha s no sign ificance, or by means of excessive severity,because this does not become the len iency of an ecclesia stic.
The neophytes are almost without exception and during theirwhole life like school children , who if left to themselves w illquite certa in ly not profit thereby. I f this is true in civilizedcountries, I leave it to the superior comprehension of YourExcellency wha t it must be with rega rd to these poor peoplewhom the w inn ing of honors does not impress, the advantageof ga in from their persona l labors does not interest, and whohave no inclination save for an absolute independence withoutra tiona l limits .
340 M issions and Missiona ries of California
It is true, the neophytes cultiva te land, and do so in two
ways : in og mon or each one for himself. It is a fact tha tin those who cultiva te their fields individua lly there is oh
served a little more application and interest ; but this is so
because they are still attached to the mission commun ityfrom which they receive the aid of oxen , plows, hoes, and
wha tever their work demands. However, if any one shouldwish to know wha t they would do if the mission communitywere dissolved, and the property and lands apportioned so
tha t the Indians might become private owners like other citizens, I will say wha t appea rs eviden t to me and to all who
have no eye on a share in the spoliation . It is this : Comparing the new mode of life, with its conventiona l needs inthe ma tter of food and clothing according to civilized cus
toms at the cost of labor, with their former pagan sta te inwhich they had no such conventiona l needs, and where without work na ture spontaneously provided the little they needed ; and compa ring the immense difference between the po
litica l and rationa l liberty with the liberty en joyed in the
nomadic or savage life, we should conclude that in a shorttime they would eagerly return to their former unrestrictedhabits.
From this Your Excellency might in fer tha t the sta te of
civiliza tion and tutelage in missions and in commun ities is a
forced and stra ined condition for the neophytes. It is such
in some sense. Though the Indians receive Baptism volun
ta rily, yet, since their cha racter is as changeable as it ischildish, they easily weary and change so that for their perseverance paterna l awe is necessary and sometimes imperative. This is a defect of their natura l character which YourExcellency knows requires patience, time, and miracles to
correct. This mission under my cha rge at present counts onehundred runaways, who a re scattered a long the rivers and
in the Tulares . They have no other reason than their atfec
tion for their na tive districts. Only God can bring it abouttha t they return to the Christian fold and rational life. One
mission has four hundred such fugitives for the same rea
son . Your Excellency may gather from this what we should
342 Missions and Missionaries of California
phytes or prospective citizens would be prevented from te
lapsing into savagery and pagan ism, because the missions tothe east would ga ther in the rest of the pagans, and the neo
phytes would be constra ined either to lead a civ ilized life intheir pueblos or be returned to the tutelage of the new cha inof missions, since there would be no room for a nomadic life.
From a ll this Your Excellency can infer wha t I wouldhave to say on the third point, i. e.
, sending neophytes to
Mexico to learn arts or sciences . I find in them no ambitionor interest tha t would stimula te them. Moreover the dis
pleasure and anxiety of the rela tives would have to be grea tlyfea red ; for the change of clima te would in some of the ap
prentices bring about death, or deep melancholy to which theyare inclined would set in and would embitter them for beingso far away from their rela tives .
“With rega rd to commerce, the fourth point about whichYour Excellency requests in formation , I must say tha t Iknow very little about it . In order to obey I venture to
propose, tha t for the encouragement of commerce it appea rstha t one should begin by remov ing the obstacles and incon
ven iences tha t frighten away foreign ships. As it is theysometimes run up and down the coast for two yea rs beforethey can dispose of their goods.
“The products exported from this territory at present are
but two : ta llow and hides. The former has much declinedand is taken only in order to obta in the hides for which thereis a good sa le. This branch is capable of an increa se of fiftyper cent. , and will be rea lized if the plan of a new cha in of
missions and the a llotment of lands is carried out. Besidesthis there is nothing of moment exported except a little soap.
I f whea t were more extensively cultivated, mills established,and machinery introduced as they have in the Sta tes of
Northern Mexico, the territory could have the exclusive tradein flour a long the whole Pacific coast.
more than ha lf way to concilia te the covetous pa isanos ; but theywere not open to rea son . They wa n ted absolute con trol of thewhole mission property. To tha t end the missiona ries must firstbe removed. Hence the sla nders aga inst the fria rs.
Fr. Durin to the Presidente of Mexico 343
Fr. Duran then advoca tes the separa tion of the govern
ment of Lower Ca liforn ia from tha t of Upper Ca liforn ia .
He attributes the Solis revolt to the fact tha t the governorwas too far away from Monterey.
” In reply to the questionof the Mexican President a s to wha t would contribute to
the peace of the territory, Fr. Duran writes : “Two things
seem to me to lea d directly to this end. The first is tha tthe governors should be en joined not to undertake any innova tion of importance until they have gone over the wholeterritory under their command and have seen it w ith theirown eyes . To do otherwise is to act like a blind man w iththe risk of ha ving to regret it a fterwards, as wa s the case
with the premature ema ncipation of a certa in class of Indianswhich ha s produced nothing but disorder and v ice among the
so privileged, and insubordina tion among the rest.The other thing is that prov ision should be made for a
semina ry for the educa tion of young men who feel inclinedtowards the ecclesia stica l sta te. The ca ndidates should berecruited from the native youths of the territory, so that therebe no need of hav ing them come from abroad which is alwaysaccompan ied with much ha rdship and little success.
" Onlyin this manner, it seems to me, ca n these settlemen ts be provided w ith spiritua l nourishment. It is pla in ,
however, tha tsuch a semina ry cannot prosper save under the eye of one
who is clothed with episcopa l dignity . Therefore I think it
3 7 Echea ndia had jurisdiction over both Ca liforn ia s, but residedat Sa n Diego a s a rule. Fr. Duran is kindly a ttributing the revoltto this circumsta nce ; but it wa s notthe on ly on e, nor the chief one.
Tha t is to say, it wa s costly and few responded . Fr. Durén
erred through kindness by a ttributing more religiousness to the
Ca liforn ia ns tha n they possessed . Voca tions to the priesthood ca nnot be looked for in sufficien t numbers save where well instructedpractica l Ca tholicity flourishes. Hence it wa s tha t on ly two na tiveCaliforn ian s w ere orda ined down to the yea r 1860 and much la ter,despite the presence of a bishop : Rev . José Ign a cio Argiiello, son
of Governor JoseDa rio Argiiello, born at Sa n Gabriel in 1 781 , andRev . 1 03 6 de los Sa n tos Avila , born at Mon terey about twen tyyears la ter. The Rev . Avila died at San ta Clara in 1846, the n ightbefore he wa s to celebra te his first holy Ma ss. Libro de En tierros,San ta Clara .
3 44 M issions and Missiona ries of California
is time to petition for the erection of this territory into a
diocese and the appointmen t of a bishop to govern it. Thenwith the new cha in of missions, and with the prov isionsmade for the ma intenance of the troops, the spiritua l andtempora l prosperity of the territory would be insured . Mis
sion San José, September 2 3 rd. 1830. Fr. Narciso Duran .
”
This correspondence between the President of Mexico and
Fr. Na rciso Duran clearly shows : first, the good will of theFrancisca ns to sa tisfy the mission enemies as fa r as was pos
sible without prejudice to the rights of the neophytes ; secondly, the absolute disinterestedness of the friars in that theywere willing to surrender their places to any legitimate sub
stitutes, and to undertake anew the burdensome task of
Christian izing and civilizing the savages ea st of the mounta ins w ith the prospect of aga in being driven out; thirdly,the friendly disposition of the Bustamante admin istra tion in
tha t it sought a means to do justice to the neophytes and the
missiona ries ; and fourthly, the confidence placed in the friarsby the Mexican President rather than in the obstreperousEchea ndia and pa isano clique. This la tter point is especia llynoteworthy for the fact that the previous admin istra tion hadopposed Fr. Duran ’
s reappoin tment, and that Echeandia haddetermined to ban ish him, as was well known at the capita l.We may furthermore conclude that between themselvesBustamante and Fr. Duran would have dev ised a means of
ta king from the Ca liforn ians every reasonable excuse for theirviolent opposition to the missions, and the latter might havebeen saved, though with less acreage, a fter the manner perhaps observed by the United States in dea ling with the In
dians under its jurisdiction . Indian tribes which possessedmore land than they could cultivate or utilize were and are
induced to sell a portion of their doma in in order to makeroom for white settlers. It is not probable that this just ar~rangement would have silenced the pa isanos ; for they wantedto en rich themselves without going through the trouble of
clea ring, irriga ting and cultivating numerous stretches of un
used land outside the missions. Hence they insisted ou con
3 9 “Sta . Ba rba ra Archives.
CHAPTER III .
Echeandia Removed— Manuel Victoria Appoin ted— Echeandia ’sTrickery.
— He Procla ims the“Secula riza tion” of the M issions.
Bancroft on the Young Ca liforn ians a nd on Echea ndia’s Action .
— Efforts of the Ca liforn ia n s to Seduce the Indians — Bancrofton Echea ndia
'
s Scheme — Victoria Revokes Echeandia 's Decree.
-Victoria and Padres .— Victoria Exonera tes the M ission a ries.
Religious Principles of the X oung Ca liforn ia n s — Victoria Accuses Padres of Trea son .
—Rage of Padres and His Young Pa rtism s — Victoria Endea vors to Restore Order.
— Sends Padresout of the Coun try. - H ittell and Ba ncroft on Governor Victoria .
HE remova l of Echeandia from the office of governor
had been contempla ted in Mexico for some time. Onlythree years a fter his arriva l in Ca liforn ia he was notified thatLieutenant José Maria Padrés, who had come with him to
Lower Ca liforn ia in 182 5 and was then ayudante inspectoron the pen insula , would take his place as governor. Ow ingto the disorders at the capita l the change had not been ef
fected. Padrés arrived at San Diego in July 1 830, but in
the meantime President Bustamante of Mexico sepa rated thetwo Ca lifornia s. On March 8th be appointed Lieutena ntColonel Ma nuel Victoria governor of Upper Ca liforn ia and
Mariano Monterde governor of the pen insula . Padres re
ma ined in Upper Ca liforn ia as ayudante inspector.
1
After his appea rance at San Diego,“the new inspector,
José Ma ria Padres,” says Robinson , an eyew itness,“pretend
ing to take much interest in bettering the condition of the
natives, soon commenced a work of destruction under the
name of reform. The act of secula rization of the missions
A. Fa cio, M in ister of Wa r, to Echeandia , Ma rch 8th, 1830Avisa que cl dia 8 de Ma rzo nombré el Presiden te a l Ten . CoronelMa nuel Victoria geie politico de Alta Ca liforn ia .
" —“Ca l.
Sup. Gov . St. Pap. vi, 1 52 . Alaman to Echeandia, Ma rch l lth, 1830.writes tha t Victoria is named gefe politico, and tha t he shouldturn over the office to the appoin tee. Ibidem 1 62 . Ba ncroft, iii,54; H ittell, ii, 1 2 2 . See a lso vol. i, this work, 590; 624.
Echeandi a s Trickery ; Gov . Victoria 347
was now put in force. The result was tha t in some of the
missions the Indians abandoned their labor, and, when cha s
tised, insulted the priests. These flourishing institutions, as
they had been , were in danger of immediate subversion and
ruin . Through the encouragement of Echeandia , vice of all
kinds became prevalent, and the poor misguided Indians saw
in the terms libre and independente a sort of license for theindulgence of every passion .
”To remove the blame from
himself, Padres compla ined to the Mexican Governmen t tha tthe recent troubles in Ca liforn ia resulted from the bad ex
ample and the bad teachings of the Spa n ia rds and Spanishmissionaries ; tha t an attempt had been made to remedy theevil in part by ordering the Fr. Prefect Sa rria, who had re
fused to take the oa ths, to leave the country ; that the peopleand the troops had opposed the measure ; and that the lawsfor the expulsion of the Span iards had not been ca rried out,
etc. The new governor, in addition to the genera l instruc
tions, received orders from the Mexican Government, datedOctober 6th, 1 830, to investigate these cha rges .
‘
Victoria from Loreto wrote to Echeandia tha t he desired tomeet him at San Diego , and then proceeded on his journeyto the north. Arriv ing in December or possibly la te in November, he was much disappointed at not finding Echeandiathere nor a message from him. He therefore despatched a
courier to the territoria l capita l who elicited the reply tha tthe incumbent would transfer his office at Monterey.
‘ Ala ter despa tch named Santa Barbara . Evidently the wilyofi cia l was spa rring for delay. The rea son became knownas soon as Victoria had reached Santa Ba rbara . Instead of
Echeandia , to his amazement, a proclamation arrived whichdecla red a ll the missions of Ca liforn ia “
secularized.
” It hadbeen issued atMonterey on Janua ry 6th, 183 1 , long a fter thenotifica tion to turn the ofice over to his successor who was
3 “Life in Ca liforn ia , San Fra ncisco,1 891 , p. 108.
“Ca l. Sup. Govt. St. Pap. vi, 242 -244.
4 “Ca 1. Arch. , Dep. Rec. vi ii, 555. Echeandia to Victoria , Nov .
2 2nd, 1 830. Victoria to Echeandia , from Sa n ta Ba rba ra , Janua ry14th, 183 1 .
“Ca l. M ia. and Colon . ii, 1 18- 1 1 9.
3 48 M issions and M issionaries of California
within the territory. The author prefaced his decree w ithsome high- sounding remarks on the rights of man in genera l
and of the Indian in particula r, and justified his action es
pecia lly with the much abused decree of the Spanish C6rtesof September 1 3th, 18 1 3 , which had no binding force in the
republic, and which a fter a ll, as we have seen , never con
templated a nything like the cha nge which the proclama tionannounced. Echea ndia furthermore declared that the plan of
emancipa tion in pa rticuler cases, which had been tried, hadresulted in grea t evils, as well to the individua ls emancipatedas to the commun ity at large.
“ The neophytes, however,were very much discontented,“and therefore the missiona rysystem ought notto last longer. Consequently, and in view of
the action of the legisla tive assembly which had approved it,‘
he decreed and ordered his plan of“seculariza tion” to be
ca rried into efiect.‘
Signature of Jose M . de Echea ndia .
Echeandia would not rest sa tisfied with issuing a proclamation enforcing his decree of confisca tion , but six days la ter,January loth, instructed Lieutenant Zamorano to aid in con
5 Nevertheless he would now eman cipa te them a ll !
0This wa s un true w ith the large majority, a s will appear la ter;and where it applied it wa s due to the ma china tions of Echeandiaand Padres.
' Subject to the consent of the Genera l Governmen t, which so
far had not sanctioned the pla n , a nd la ter rejected it.“Sta . Ba rb. “
Ca l. Arch., M ia. and Colon . n , 1 1 1- 1 28
191 -Z1 ) ; Dep. Rec. ix, 1 50- 168.
3 50 Missions and Missionaries of California
he a lso held up before the eyes of the Carrillos, Osios, Va llejos, Picos, Alvarados, Bandinis, and others bright visions ofrich esta tes to be admin istered by them or their friends,their young enthusiasm should by no means he termed hypocrisy or a desire for plunder ! Yet events in Mexico seemedto favor the friars, and were not encouraging to the views ofPadre' s and his disciples ; butwhen the day of Victoria
’
s arriva ldrew nea r, and no approva l of the plan came from Mexico,
”
Echeandia was persuaded, probably without much difficulty,to essay a golpe de estado. He accordingly on January 6th,1 83 1 , issued a decree of secula riza tion , which he took immedia te steps to carry into execution before turn ing over the
command to his successor. Victoria was known to be more
of a soldier than a politician, and it was hoped with the a id
of the diputa cion in some way to susta in the decrees and
reach a result favorable to the anti-mission party. Echean
dia’
s act was wholly illegal, uncalled for, a nd unwise. I t
wa s simply a trick and an absurd one.
“ The opponents of
Victoria were thus in the wrong atthe beginn ing of the quarrel
In the north the proclama tion was more or less fully published. The document with the proper instructions and re
quests was sent not only to loca l officia ls, but to the padreprefecto and the bishop, who were urged to instruct and
prepa re the friars for the change.
“ The ayuntamiento or
town council of Monterey on the 8th of January chose a
comisionado for each of the seven missions of the district .“
1 ’ The ma jority in Congress had rejected it. I n the next clauseBancroft pla in ly expresses his belief tha t Echeandia merely exe
cuted the will of the young Ca liforn ia clique. We are very stronglyof the same opin ion .
1 ‘ The ita lics a re ours.
1 ‘ Bancroft, iii, 184- 185.
1 5 The bishop on March 2 2 nd, 183 1 , replied tha t he had no cura testo spa re. Ba ncroft, iii, 308.
1 °Wha t jurisdiction the town council of Mon terey had over the
seven missions is ha rd to see. Those chosen were J . B . Alva radofor San Luis Obispo, J096 Ca stro for Sa n M iguel, An ton io Ca stro
Echeandi a s Trickery ; Gov . Victoria 3 5 1
José Castro and J . B . Alvarado were sent to San Miguel andSan Luis Obispo respectively, where they rea d the decree and
made speeches to the a ssembled neophytes. At San LuisObispo, and probably at a ll the missions of the district, thecomisarios were elected ; but at San Miguel, a fter listen ing tothe orators, the neophytes expressed a very decided preferencefor the padre and the old system. The Indians sa id they re
spected the government and the decree, but by rea son of theirpoverty and ignorance they desired no change.
“ Alvarado,
as he himself na rra tes, here mounted a cart in the missioncourtya rd, where he vividly pictured the advantages of free
dom to the Indians. Then he requested those who wished torema in under the padre to stand on the left, and those preferring freedom to go to the right. Nea rly a ll went to the
left at first, where they were soon joined by the sma llminority. Alvarado a lso says tha t the Indians at San LuisObispo and San Anton io expressed the same views.
” 1 °
On account of Governor Victoria ’s a rriva l the matter went nofurther.
Thus it is clea r that Echeandia with Padres and a cliqueof young Ca liforn ia ns had determined to ca rry out the con
fiscation of the missions aga inst the wishes of the Indians,without the consent of the Federa l Government, and despitethe presence of the newly- appointed governor. One of the
reasons for his ha ste in the ma tter Echeandia revea led to
Figueroa two yea rs later. It was that he knew the Zacatecan
Franciscans, a ll Mexicans, were coming by order of the gov
emment, and tha t it wa s a s importa nt to prevent their suc
cession to the tempora l admin istration as to secure their sue
for San An ton io, Tibrircio Ca stro for Soledad, Juan Higuera forSan Jua n Bautista , Seba stian Rodriguez for Sa n ta Cruz, a nd M an
uel Crespo for Sa n Ca rlos . Ba ncroft, iii, 307.
1 1 “Ca l. Dept. S t. Pap. iii, 1 5- 16 ; 1 9 ; Dep. Rec. ix, 194.
1 ‘ Ba ncroft, iii , 307- 308. The India n s then must ha ve receivedkind trea tmen t from the fria rs, and the cha rges of cruelty mustbe fa lse, otherw ise the neophytes would have seized the opportu
nity to“free
”or
“emancipa te” themselves. The India ns had good
rea son to distrust the tempters.
3 54 M issions and Missiona ries of California
there on January 3 l st took the oa th and assumed control ofthe territoria l governmen t.
” In a proclamation issued the
next day he adv ised the people of his purpose to promotethe public welfa re, and expressed the hope of receiving the
cordia l support of a ll the inhabitants . The laws, he sa id,must be executed, the government obeyed, and the institutionsof the country respected .
"
Victoria ’s first admin istra tive act was a proclamation , pub
lished on the same Februa ry l st, 183 1 , decla ring tha t he sus
pended the execution of Echeandia’
s decree of“seculariza
tion” because it was not in accordance w ith the will of the
Supreme Government." To the a lca lde of San José, ap
pa rently Ma riano Dua rte, who seems to have shown signsof disrega rd, he wrote on the same da te : “
The proclama tionof the 6th of January last, converting the missions in topueblos, not being in conformity with the wish of the Su
prerne Government, I warn you to suspend operations untilI sha ll determine what is best.” Robinson , an eye
-witness,a lso notes Victoria ’s efforts to undo the mischief of the ex
governor.
“As soon as he received the command from
Echeandia ,
”he writes,
“his first step wa s to counteract the
ruinous effects of the irnprudence of his predecessor, and to
restore the missions to their former state.
”
Victoria next wrote to the Centra l Government that he hadfound the a ffa irs of the territory in a worse condition thanhe had anticipated ; and tha t, for the purpose of preventingfuture machina tions of Padres, he had despatched tha t officialto San Francisco w ith the v iew of sending him out of the
3 ’ “Ca l. Arch. , Dep. Rec. ix,m8.
3 ‘ “Ca l. Arch., Dep. St. Pap., San J03 6 iv, 407.
‘ 4 “Ca l. Arch Dep. St. Pap., San José iv, 406.
‘ 5 “Ca l. Arch., Dep. St. Pap. , San José iv, 408. On Ma rch 7th,183 1 , Victoria sen t out a circula r to the commanders of the pre
sidios, tha t in considera tion of the sca rcity of supplies at the mis
sions, the la tter will furn ish on ly wha t they ca n .
”— “Que a ten
dido 6. la esca sez de la s misiones solo sumin istran lo que puedan .
”
Ca l. Dep. Rec. ix, 1 2 .
Robinson ,
“Life in Ca liforn ia ,” 108.
Echeandia’s Trickery ; Gov. Victoria 3 55
country at the first opportun ity. He a lso reported that theterritoria l deputa tion had been reduced, and that for thisreason he would not ca ll that body together until he had te
ceived instructions to that effect."
The repeated demands of some legisla tors for a ca ll of theterritoria l assembly brought out from the governor an ad
dress to the public in which Victoria in a stra ightforwardmanner defined his position , a lluded to the crimina l motives andseditious plans of the opposing faction , whom he accused of
being moved by persona l interests disguised in the habiliments of philanthropy, and decla red his intention of thwarting the schemes of Echeandia . He further sta ted tha t a
ma jority of the diputados had been illega lly elected, and thathe had reported everything to the Nationa l Government,without whose orders he would not convoke the assembly.
”
Under the circumstances this a ttitude of the new governor
was quite correct, and even impera tive for his own sa fety as
for the peace of the inhabitants. There wa s nothing ca llingfor urgent action on the pa rt of the assembly anyway. H ittell
and others, like their young Ca liforn ia clients, protest tha tthe law demanded such meeting of the legisla tors. True, but,
‘
the deputies were bent on emba rrassing the governor and
causing disturbance among the people. To report the situation to the Supreme Government for instructions, was therefore a wise move. I f imbued with pa triotic motives, themembers of the assembly could well a fford to awa it the decision from Mexico ; but tha t is just what they desired to
avoid, since they felt that their in iquitous designs would not
be sanctioned. Hence their subsequent turbulence, and theirclamors for obedience to the law . Yet it was not the execu
tion of the laws which concerned the Ca liforn ians and theiradvisers, Echeandia and Padres, but the remova l of the oh
stacles to a tta in ing the success of their plots aga inst themissions ; for there were a number of laws which protectedthe Indian ’
s property rights which the schemers determinedto overthrow . This is the conclusion which Bancroft himself
3 " “Ca l. Sup. Gov. St. Pap. v iii, 2 29-23 2 .
Victoria , “Manifiesto,” September 2 1 st, 183 1 .
3 56 M issions and M issiona ries of Ca lifornia
draws from the acts of the plotters. I have no doubt, he
says,“the plan wa s in some manner to insist, with the a id of
the diputacion , on the carrying-out of the secula riza tionscheme.
” 2 °
That the new governor honestly strove to promote the welfa re of the territory, and that he desired to be guided in hisefforts by the Supreme Government, his anxiety to keep thePresident of the republic in formed of every step he tookclea rly demonstra tes. Thus on September l t, 183 1 , Vic
toria reported tha t he had prevented the execution of the
plan of“secula rization” and so foiled the ambitious projects
of its authors, but tha t Echeandia , Padrés, and their friendswere still actively intriguing to accomplish their in famouspurposes . They were secretly corresponding with one an
other w ith a view to bring the territoria l deputa tion to
gether, and by its means to drive him from office in order toca rry out their plans. So fa r he had been able to thwarttheir schemes, but they were seducing the people and even the
neophyte Indians of the missions. He knew tha t Ma rianoVa llejo, José Sanchez, J . V . Alva rado, and José Castro werein accord on the subject, and that the confederates wouldst0p at nothing to effect their ma licious designs . Victoriaa lso compla ined that there were few , if any, persons in Ca liforn ia fit to be a lca ldes, and that the oflices were soughtma in ly for purposes of persona l ga in or revenge.
’o
Long before this date, February 7th, the governor had investigated Padrés
’
s cha rges aga inst the missiona ries. The re
sult wa s that he in formed the Supreme Government that hehad seen Fr. Vicente de Sa rr1a , the comisa rio-prefecto of the
friars ; that he had received from him a n exposition of the
prelate’s sentiments and the rea son for his conduct, and that
”9 Ban croft, Ca liforn ia ,” iii, 1 87.
3 ° “Ca l. Arch., Dep. Rec. ix, 3 73 —3 75. All Victoria ’s officia lpapers read well. H e handled the pen with ability,” says H ittell,
ii, 1 34.
“All this officer
’
s commun ica tions were brief a nd to the
poin t, showing the writer to be more of a soldier tha n a politician ,
a nd la cking of the usua l Mexica n bomba st," Bancroft tells us in
vol. iii, p. 1 85.
3 58 Missions and Missiona ries of Ca lifornia
consequences . Padres had pictured to the Russian coman
da nte the condition of the Ca liforn ians as wretched and hor
rible. He had represented the writer (Victoria ) as a despot,and the priests in cha rge of the missions as fana tics and
tyrants, who oppressed the Indians with the most cruel andga lling slavery ; and he had not hesita ted to accuse the
Supreme Government itself, so that he (the governor) feltsatisfied tha t the Russians, through Padrés
’
s trea sonable disclosures, had learned much about the interna l affa irs of the
territory.
“
The rage of Padrés and his confedera tes at finding thera
selves bafiled in their designs on the mission tempora litiesmay be imagined. Echeandia , who instead of leav ing the
territory had remained at San Diego, decla red tha t the devilhad prompted Victoria to prevent the publica tion of the de
cree in the south and a fterwards to nullify it in the north.
“
Wha t added fuel to the ha tred which the Padres conspiratorshad enkindled among the pa isanos aga inst the governor wasVictoria ’s strict ideas of discipline and the severe pun ishmentshe inflicted. He was sa id to have boasted tha t before longhe would make it sa fe for any man to leave his ha ndkerchiefor his wa tch lying in the plaza of Monterey until he mightchoose to come for it."
Hittell especia lly tries hard to make Victoria appea r cruel
and a rbitra ry in the few executions ordered during his shortterm. That of course was the cla im of Padres and his fol
lowing ; but, inasmuch as the victims had been found guilty
3 ‘ Here we have a nother source of the bruta l and unwarran teda ccusa tions repea ted aga inst the friars in ma ny so-ca lled histories,notably H ittell’s.
‘ 5 “Ca l. Dep. Rec. ix, 3 73 - 3 75. This action of Padres isnot surprising. The Benedict Arnolds and simila r tra itors a re in
va riably found among those who decry priests and religious as
disloya l. H istory everywhere is in evidence.
‘ 0 Bancroft, iii, 307 Echea ndia being still milita ry comma nder,retired to San Diego, a nd Padres went to San Francisco where herema ined sowing seeds of discord and discon ten t among the inhabitants. Robinson ,
“Life in Ca liforn ia ,” 109.
1" Bancroft, iii, 1 89- 190.
Echeandra s Trickery ; Gov . Victoria 3 59
a fter a searching tria l, and Assessor Ra fael Gomez recorn
mended capita l pun ishment, it is difiicult to see where the
governor fa iled in his duty to society if order was to be re
stored and respect for the law inculca ted. The truth is, ifVictoria had on ly permitted the spolia tion of the missions,his enemies would have been perfectly satisfied.
The governor, who justly rega rded José M . Padrés as the
leading spirit in the opposition , and whom in a ll his commun
ication s to the government he named as the cause of the
country’s present troubles, at last resolved to rid Ca liforn iaof the fomenter of discontent. The order for his ban ishmentwas issued in October, and ea rly in November he was put
on boa rd a vessel for San Bla s.
” This action aga inst thearch-conspira tor only hastened the determina tion of the otherplotters to proceed aga inst the missions and aga inst theirprotector. Tha t Victoria described his enemies correctlywhen he reported them to the government as capable of
stopping at nothing in order to d rive him out of the territory, is evident from their proceedings a fter they had discovered tha t he '
could not be utilized to further covetousplans. Hittell, who, as an enemy of the missiona ries on gen
era l principles, takes up the defence of the Picos, Bandin is,Va llejos, and especia lly of his client Alva rado, cannot helpacknowledging that Victoria was firmly persuaded that wha the did wa s right.
“He was active and energetic. He was
firm and reliable. He was courageous and brave. His
ofiences were the fault ra ther of a na rrow and bad educa tionthan of a perverse hea rt.” Not one of the good qua litiesenumera ted can be a ttributed to his young Californ ia opponeuts, least of a ll tha t of not having a perverse hea rt.Bancroft, who went deeper into the records, and who knew
the most of the prominent mission despoilers, makes littleefl’ortto concea l his contempt for their genera l character and
particularly for their veracity. With rega rd to the governor,however, he writes :
“Victoria was persona lly brave, honest,energetic, stra ightforward, and devoted to what he deemed
Bancroft, iii, 197; Robinson, 109.
Kittell, ii, 142 .
3 60 M issions and Missionaries of California
the best interest of the territory butthe trick thatwas attempted by Padres and Echea ndia , and form idable op
position , forced him to a more arbitrary policy than he
would otherwise have shown , and which wa s not to be de
fended even by the promptness and frankness with which hesubmitted a ll to the na tiona l authorities. Under othercircumstances Victoria might have been one of Ca liforn ia ’
s
best rulers. The Cal iforn ians have weakened theircause by their unfounded ’
and exaggera ted a ttacks on Vic
totia ’
s persona l cha racter. As to“the foreign resi
dents,‘ 1 they were silent . David Spence merely says tha tVictoria was energetic and made every one respect order and
law, which did not plea se a certa in class ; but I suspect thattheir views were more favorable to the governor than theyca red to admit genera lly to the strong element opposinghim.
”
I f Victoria a cted with full know ledge of the Cen tra l Governmen t, a s Ban croft concedes, it is strange tha t his acts should betermed a rbitra ry a nd indefensible. The lawless condition of the
territory brought about by the unscrupulous Echeandia demandedstem and repressive mea sures. All but the lea ding pa isanos seemto have been sa tisfied .
‘ 1 Mostly English a nd American traders. With regard to Victoria
’
s trea tmen t of Abel Stea rns we refer the rea der to Ba n croft,iii
,193 - 1 94, a s the ca se ha s no bea ring on our subject and Ba ncroft
endeavors to be fa ir.
43 He wa s a highly respected Scotch residen t of Mon terey, whobecame prominen t in public life, and wa s noted for his con serva
4' Bancroft, iii, 198 2 1 2 .
3 62 Missions and Missionaries of California
and Juan Bandin i,‘ resolved on rebellion .
‘ At their requestthe irrepressible Echeandia put himself at the head of the
movemen t. The soldiers of the presidio readily joined him,
but the officers, especia lly Pablo de la Portilla and SantiagoArgiiello, showed considerable reluctance. All fina lly prornised active co-operation aga inst their chief oflicer, the gov
cruor of Ca lifornia . The three a rch-plotters on November2 9th, 1 83 1 , drew up a Pronunciamento or insurrectionaryaddress to the
“Mexican Citizens Residing in Upper Ca lifornia .
” It was signed by Pio Pico, Juan Bandin i, and JoséAntonio Ca rrillo. On December l st a supplement wa s ad
ded to justify the conduct of the San Diego troops, and signedby José Echeandia , Capta in Pablo de la Portilla , SantiagoArgiiello, José Maria Ramirez, Ignacio del Va lle, Juan JoséRocha , and, as comandante of the artillery detachment, Ser
geant Andrés Cervantes, besides the three principa ls a lreadymentioned.
“
In the Pronunciamento pr0per,° which is of a piece w ithsimila r eflusions of revolters in Latin America to the presentday, the three leading conspirators assure the people tha t“the Supreme Being,’ who possesses our hea rts, knows the
Born atLima , Peru, in 1800; lived in Ca liforn ia since about 1820.
Bancroft, iii, 200; Kittell, ii, 1 3 8.
5 “Ca l. Arch., L eg. Rec. i, 523 - 566 ; Ba ncroft, iii, zoo- 204; H ittell,u, 1 39.
“Ciuda danos Mejrca nos situados en el Alto Territorio de las
Ca lifornia s contra nu tira no que seguramen te ba jo el a s
pecto de la hipocrisia ha engafiado in los Supremos Poderes, etc.
”
“The reader who may have the pa tience to examine this sta tepaper,” Bancroft con temptuously remarks, “w ill find in it a goodmany words. It wa s appa ren tly the production of Bandin i.” Ban
croft, iii, 203 - 204. As it is but bomba st, worthy of the overgrownboys who concocted it, we think it sufficien t to touch only twopoin ts to show the an imus.
7 This expression a lone stamps the leaders a s disciples of the
French infidel notion s fa thered by the un speakable Volta ire. The
Crea tor, to these disturbers, wa s on ly a superior or supreme beingamon g a ll beings, to whom they need not hold themselves se
coun table. No wonder they displayed such remarkable principlesof mora lity in their priva te lives, not to speak of their public ca
Pico Revolt; Pompous Californians 3 63
pure sentiments with which we setout.”
As no va lid cause
for a revolution existed, in view of the fact that the governorhad left everything to the decision of the Supreme Government, and the revolters could have appea led to the same
government for redress and awa ited a reply, the taking of
Almighty God to witness was nothing less than blasphemyand hypocrisy. They had compla ined that Victoria disobeyedthe law, in that he would not convene the territoria l assemblyuntil the Supreme Governmen t so directed, and now theythemselves brea k a more importa nt law, in tha t they haverecourse to arms aga inst their legitimate ruler for no otherreason than persona l spite and hatred. The conspirators,indeed, felt tha t their pa st conduct justified grave suspicionsof their sincerity, and therefore they expressly disavow any
design on the missions, beeause“to the Supreme Government
belongs exclusively the power to dictate what it may deemproper on the subject, and they promise the Fathers to
observe respect, decorum, and security of the propertyintrusted to their ea re.
”I f it perta ined to the Supreme
Government to decide what should be done with the missions,why then did Echeandia and these same revolters pass thedecree of confisca tion , misca lled secularization , without thesanction of the Supreme Government ? By this simple statement the conspira tors unwittingly remove every excuse fortheir turbulence and fina l rebellion . Had they practiced a
year before wha t they now lay down as the right and privilege of the Supreme Government, their present protestationswould have had some va lue, and Victoria would not havefound hirnself compelled to countermand their decree of
reer. H ittell tries to veil the spiri t of his clien ts by translating“Omn ipotence,” but the origina l is Ser Supremo,” an infidel expression never used by fa ithful Christians, lea st of a ll by Ca tholics.
3 I f God had possessed their hearts they would ha ve obeyed Hisdicta tes, and then there would ha ve been no revolt. The readerw ill observe tha t the young rebels had learned the ba se a rt of
hoodw inking to perfection . Yet they accused Victoria of“hipo
crisis”!
3 64 Missions and Missionaries of California
Meanwhile the governor had been wa rned by letters fromfriends in the south that a plot was brewing aga inst him.
For the purpose of quelling a ny disturbance he therefore set
out from Monterey with Ensign Rodrigo del Pliego and onlyten or twenty men . At Santa Barbara with difficulty José dela Guerra and Capta in Romua ldo Pacheco persuaded the fea rless Victoria to increa se his little force. Pacheco and a
dozen soldiers were at la st permitted to join him, so that hisentire command consisted of notmore tha n thirty men . Thiswas a grave error ; but the governor, knowing the character
of the conspirators, expected no fight, or more probablycounted on the a id of Comandante Portilla of Sa n Diego, of
whose treachery he had a s yet hea rd nothing.
’ Portilla withone hundred and fifty or more rebels left Los Angeles on
December 5th, and met the governor’
s little troop a few milesoutside the town . Not heeding the overwhelming numbers,Victoria , followed by Pacheco and his men , rushed upon the
opposing forces. In the encounter which ensued Pacheco waskilled, and the governor received severa l dangerous woundswhich disabled him. On the side of the rebels José M . Avilawas killed and a few men were wounded. Portilla and his
va liant -men thereupon ran away. Pico, Echeandia , and Bandini had rema ined behind. Victoria ’s men bore the wounded
governor to Mission San Gabriel . Had it not been for his
wounds, Ba ncroft says, the governor would have retaken LosAngeles w ithout difliculty ; and it is by no means un likelythat he would have crushed the rebellion a ltogether. As it
wa s, Victoria lay at San Gabriel in danger of death attendedby Surgeon Joseph Chapman , whilst with two or three excep
tions his men deserted him. There was then no possibilityof further resistance. When out of danger he sent forEcheandia , and, a fter an interv iew w ith him on December9th, resigned the command to his adversa ry. About December 20th, sufficiently restored to make the trip, he depa rted
Bancroft thinks tha t Portilla wa s compelled to join the rebelsunder threa ts, a nd tha t he did no fighting.
3 66 Missions and Missionaries of California
bly as civil governor. For about twenty days the a rch-plotterPico was recogn ized by four or five members of the legislature, but a fter Februa ry l6th he la id no cla ims to the ofice
and performed no oflicia l acts. Captain Agustin V. Zamorano of Monterey, as ranking officer, then pretended to rep
resent the Supreme Government in Ca liforn ia and so inaugu
ra ted another revolt. To avoid bloodshed Echeandia was
a llowed to rule from San Gabriel south,1 1 and Zamorano wasrecogn ized in the north until the new governor to be ap
pointed in Mexico should a rrive.
“
Before sepa rating, the five members who constituted thenotorious legisla tive assembly once more made a display of
wha t rea lly agitated their minds. At the la st session , Febru
ary 17th, 1 83 2 , Pio Pico, Va llejo, Joaquin Ortega , Anton ioM . Osio, and Santiago Arguello agreed upon the text of anaddress to the Supreme Government, a nd then wen t to signit at San Diego on the 24th.
“Such governors, they decla reamong other wild assertions,“ “
a s have hitherto been sent tothis country have been absolutely subject to the influence of
the Span ish missionaries.
“ These missiona ries, owing to pre
“Echeandia , retrea ting to Sa n Juan Capistrano, ga thered abouthim ma ny Indians, whom his promises en ticed from their work atthe missions, and inaugura ted a series of robberies a nd murders.
Other Indians at distan t poin ts, especia lly in the south, revolted.The India n wa s free, a nd he felt tha t his freedom en titled him to
do a ny v iolence tha t might be conven ien t. Ana rchy ruled throughout the province, a nd con fusion covered the whole coun try.” Tut
hill, “Ca liforn ia ,” 1 3 4.
1 ’ “Memoria l,” sign ed by Pio Pico, Ma riano Va llejo, Anton ioOsio, and Joaquin Ortega , M ay 1 5th, 183 2 .
“Ca l. L eg. Rec.
i, 404-441 ; 469-476 ; 477-488. Hittell, ii, 148- 1 50; Bancroft, i ii, 2 16- 2 3 2 .
1 ' H ittell’
s tra nsla tion is here used for the rea son tha t he is a
pa rtisa n of the mission enemies. The extra ct is on ly a sma ll por
tion of the origina l. H ittell probably thought it better for the
reputa tion of his clients to suppress the other pa rts which readlike the campa ign speech of a ra n ting Socia list or cra zy Ana rchist.1 ‘ “Se ven absolutamen te sujetos a l influjo de los Padres M is
ioneros Espa iioles.
" Fa ncy Echeandia under the absolute influenceof the fria rs ! These young would-be sta tesmen were imbued withsilly na tivism, and therefore a lready hin ted at the necessity of
a ppoin ting a pa isa no, from their own gang. of course.
Pico Revolt; Pompous Californians 3 67
possessions in their favor and to genera l fana ticism,
“ haveacquired and en joy a certa in amount of accepta nce among the
la rger portion of the population . This they have managed
grea tly to augment by means of the wea lth of the territory,which has been placed in their hands 1 °
and which they haveadmin istered to the prejudice of the wretched neophytes, whohave been compelled to labor incessantly and w ithout derivingany advantages wha tever either to themselves or their childrenfrom their labor. Up to date, consequently, these unfortu
na tes have rema ined in the same unhappy circumstances as at
the beginn ing of the conquest, with the exception of a veryfew who have acquired some knowledge of their na tura lrights, but in genera l they have languished in oppression .
They have been ground down by stripes, inflicted with the
object of suppressing in their minds the inborn tendency toseek relief from tyranny in the liberty, which man ifests itselfin republican idea s. During the entire history of the country,the missiona ries have never lost an opportun ity of seducingthe hea rts of the governors and eradica ting from their bosomsevery sentiment of philanthropy in favor of the Indians. Itis on this account tha t the governors ha ve so frequently vio
lated the laws and rendered themselves obnoxious to the people of intelligence, who have detested the sin ister views whichhave thus been instilled into them by the enemies of the
country, and which have been the origin and the cause of all
1 5 Like parrots the Pico ca ba l merely repea t wha t it had imbibedfrom a theistic foreigners with whom fidelity to the Commandmen ts of God is fana ticism. These overgrown boys, who had
esca ped the schoolma ster’s rod too ea rly, scarcely knew the force
of the terms they used. Needless to say, they had never receiveda thorough Christian instruction , notwithstanding tha t Pieo cla imedhe had learned the ca techism from cover to cover. One is at a
loss to see on wha t grounds they insisted on being regarded as
Ca tholics.
1 ° not by these pa isanos, surely. The missionaries by their persona l labors, abstemiousness, and economy had crea ted the wea lthof the missions with the a ssistance of the Indians. The la ttera lone would ha ve produced nothing. The same fria rs, too, were
making it possible for the milita ry, including the traducers, to liveat a ll. However, the argumen ts adduced refute themselves.
3 68 M issions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
evils tha t have afflicted the territory. It is under such influ
ences tha t Victoria shaped his course, every step being directed by the missionaries and other Span iards," who a re dis
a ffected to government, and whose very presence in the coun
try is a v iola tion of the laws. To them a nd their guidancehe ha s ceded his conscience. He has treated the citizens withcontempt,In a memoria l to the Genera l Government the disgrun tledPico, Va llejo, Osio, and Joa quin Ortega on M ay 1 5th,
1 83 2 ,
a fter another long diatribe, revert to the same subject a s follows : “
The chief causes of the grievous ev ils under whichthe country ha s suffered are : first, the presence in the territory of the Span ish missiona ries secondly, the condition of
slavish oppression in which the neophytes a re held under thedetestable mission system and thirdly, the un ion of the milita ry and politica l commands in one and the same person . On
account of this union the missiona ries, who exercise grea t influence and power over the milita ry chief, wield the same over
the politica l chief and thus manage, despotic a s they natura lly
1 7 Na tura lly. Because the governor would not be influenced bythe turbulen t pa isa nos, he must necessarily be led by the fria rs !Queer logic ; but then the Pico crowd wa s decla iming for eflect.
1 ° “Ca l. Arch., L eg. Rec. i, 477488. No, good rea der, in thisand the next lengthy quota tion you do not hear a ran ting Socia listor a wild Ana rchist, but on ly a number of unruly schoolboys practicing at bomba st. It is reproduced to show the chief source of
the ca lumn ies heaped upon the devoted missiona ries ever since.
1 9 Most of the fria rs then living had toiled in the territory beforeany of the pa isano memoria lists were born . It certa in ly wa s not
the merit of the Picos, Va llejos, etc. , tha t their cradle stood inCa liforn ia , nor were they more respectable for it tha n their pa ren ts. Their charge wa s silly na tivism. A little modesty wouldhave been in order. Wha t native or foreign birth, a fter a ll, had
to do w ith effective prea ching of the Gospel is a mystery. The
Apostles were foreigners to nea rly a ll the countries in which theya nnounced the Glad Tidings. The Pico rabble wa s certa inly not
moved by the spirit of Christian ity.
Well, these unchristian na tivists la ter inaugura ted a nother sys
tem, and we sha ll have the pa inful ta sk of describing the frightfulconsequen ces.
3 70 Missions and Missionaries of California
most inflated, and most untruthful blusterer among them to
unbosom himself . In this way we sha ll obta in a correct judgment of them “
out of their own Only one yea ra fter the preceding rema rkable papers had been issued, Februa ry 24th, 183 2 , Mariano G. Va llejo addressed the sen iormember of the notorious legislative assembly as follows“Most Excellen t Sir,“ an organ ic constitution for our territory would be the most advantageous means for its prosperity.
The introduction of industrious people would increa se the
wea lth of our lands. En lightened tea chers would lay the
founda tion for the benefit of the republica n form of govern
ment, and by means of educa ting the youth they would makethe brightest ta lents natura lly found in the na tive children
(hijos del pa ls ) shine forth, and thus industry would spread.
Rulers of integrity would execute the wise laws that governus, foster libera l a rts, concern themselves about the publicwelfa re, and seek the happiness of a ll.“For many years the country has suffered for being en
veloped in doubts and disputes which have benumbed the mostprecious strides for its en lightenment. Entirely demora lizedand swamped by the ancient maxirns and customs of our
Oppressors, even now there is observed in the inhabitants genera lly a disinclination for our republican ideas, and there isnoticed an utter contempt for our institutions,” so that thepeople are inclined atevery step to act under the influence of
3 3 “Ex ore tuo judico te, serve nequam.
”L uk. xix, 22 .
The young upsta rts felt big and importan t, hence the extrava
gan ce in applying titles. Va llejo himself la ter on loved to paradeas
“genera l,” though he never had a command of more tha n threehundred men .
3 5 “Se ve en los habitan tes en genera l un desa fecto 6 la s idea srepublica nas ; se advierte nu completo desprecio 5 nuestra s instituciones.
”The people could hardly be blamed, for the dish of republi
ca n ism served by the Pico crowd could not but produce nausea
with those who think. Va llejo’s admission is most va luable, intha t it correctly pictures the sta te of mind of the inhabitan ts a s a
whole. They would have nothing to do with tha t kind of republicanism. Surely then the missiona ries could not be expected to
approve it.
Pico Revolt; Pompous Californians 3 71
the considerable number of Span ia rds, public enemies of our
system, who abound in this terri tory.
“ Favoring ignorancein the citizens, they toil incessantly to stupefy them, and co
opera te in the destruction of the sciences and of the enlightenment which is the fundamenta l, advantageous basis of coun
tries for the preserva tion of society and the source of the
wealth of na tions.
“The governors, who down to this da te have come to this
territory, a re seen to be absolutely subject to the influence of
the Span ish Missiona ry Fathers," who un fortuna tely enjoy a
certa in popularity among the grea ter pa rt of the inhabitantsthrough the prejudices and the fana ticism which they con
siderably augment by means of the wea lth of the land whichis in their hands, and of which they dispose as they pleaseto the prejudice of the unhappy neophytes, who labor inecesantly and neither they themselves nor their children en joyanything of it,” inasmuch as to da te they are in the same cir
cumstances of stupidity in which they were at the beginn ingof the conquest,‘ 0 w ith the exception of some portion of themwho, though they well understand their na tura l rights, are
La ter Va llejo and his kind insisted on being regarded as Spa niards, and they looked w ith disda in on Mexicans, even though theywere na tives of Ca liforn ia .
The preceding cha pters show how ridiculous wa s this cha rge.
‘ 3 Tha t is, Religion , of course. Yes, good reader, Va llejo’s name,like those of his fellow conspira tors, appea rs in the baptisma l register ; but like them he had
“emancipa ted” himself from the obli
gations con tra cted in Ba ptism, a nd, a s he boa sts, from every influence of God’s accredited min isters. Instead he had blindly sur
rendered himself to the guidance of so-ca lled “Freethinkers who
do not think, a nd w ill not let others use the men ta l fa culties ac
cording to the rules of sound rea son . Tha t must be born e in
mind, otherwise the an tics of these ea rly pa isano chiefs will te
ma in inexplicable puzzles.
This nonsense is refuted by every reputa ble historian . How
ever, in the n ext volume we sha ll see how the Indians fa red in the
serv ice of this same“Don Ma riano.
”
Well, were the rav ing conspira tors capable of improving thecondition of the Indian s ? When they took charge, the result wasjust wha t could be foreseen : Degrada tion or ann ihila tion .
3 72 Missions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
destroyed a nd flogged to make them abandon those happyideas with which their natura l ta lents invest them to seekliberty independent of tyranny and oppression thereby man ifesting their republican idea s.
“The a foresa id missionaries overlook no opportun ity to win
over the hearts of those in power in order to lead them awayfrom the sentiments of philanthropy with which their patriotic love ought to be adorned. Thus it happens that they
(the governors) frequently break the laws and consequentlybecome odious to the citizens of enlightenment n who avoidtheir sin ister purposes which result from the seduction of our
enemies . These evils in our opin ion are the causes of the
ca lamities in Upper Ca lifornia .
“It wa s these principles that actuated Comandante-Genera land Governor Don Manuel Victoria , who made a ll his stepsunder the direction of the Mission a ry Fa thers and otherSpan iards, who in v irtue of the laws a nd on account of
their disa ffection with our system should not rema in in
our territory. He exercised his a ffection absolutely for
their protection , despised the citizens and admin istered justice according to his caprice which inclined more to the preservation of his friendships. He absolutely benumbed the
liberty of speaking and writing as though he were empow
ered to trample upon the laws that protect it. He frequentlyspoke of the ample powers which he possessed, but never
exhibited them. Fina lly, ow ing to his disrega rd, he becamea tyrant in the sight of enlightened men ,
“and made room
for the ca lamities which our territory snfiers.
“Your Excellency 3 ‘ may make of this our representation
3 1 Such a s this infla ted Vallejo blusterer.
3 ’ “Our” territory, indeed ! Va llejo wa s well termed the “Wind
bag.
1”“hombres de ilustra cion !” Of course, Va llejo means his pom
pous self and con federa tes . He was then a n experienced youth of
twenty- four; Alva rado coun ted one w in ter less .
3 ‘ Pico wa s the sen ior deputy. The title w a s not even due to
the governors whom the Fa thers gen era lly addressed as“Su
Schorin.
”— Your Honor.
3 74 Missions and Missionaries of California
requested Fr. Duran to ascerta in the views of the mission
a ries on a change in the missionary conditions of Ca lifornia .
The Fr. Presidente accordingly issued a circula r on August1 3 th. In this document he invited the Fa thers to expresstheir opin ions on a plan which provided for the “
emancipation
”of the neophytes and the distribution of the mission
esta tes on a basis which insured the continuance of DivineWorship at each establishmen t, the support of the missionaries, and the permanence of a certain amount of commun ityproperty with which to found new missions in the north and
east." This a rrangement, though it would have received the
approva l of the Fathers if the Indians could manage theirproperty, would not have satisfied the Picos, Vallej03 , and
others who wanted control of both the property and the
Indians. The missions would have been of no va lue to the
enemies un less there were hands to work the fields and ca re
for the stock ; for they themselves disda ined to labor. Moreover, they wanted positions which provided a sa la ry. It isfor these rea sons that the enemies of the fria rs demandedthe remova l of the unsa laried missionaries .
The replies of on ly three friars a re extant, but they disclose the sentiments of all the missiona ries, and of them
selves will serve to refute the cha rges and insinuations of
mercenariness and selfishness launched aga inst them by theea rly Ca liforn ians.
“The time has come,
”Fr. Juan Cabot
writes from Mission San Fernando,“which is so much de
sired for throwing from my weak shoulders such a heavyburden ; but the more I study and discuss the subject, themore nothing but difficulties present themselves which Ida re not even face lest I precipita te myself into them.
Therefore, in order to escape the ruin my pen might produce, I keep silent. I will on ly say to Your Reverence thatI think it will be difficult for the neophytes to manage their
3 7 Fr. Duran ,
“Circula r, a s per letter of Fr. Juan Ca bot. See
note 3 9.
Tha t is to say, the admin istra tion of the mission property andcon trol of the Indian s.
Pico Revolt; Pompous Californians 3 75
own interests . I am rather of the opin ion tha t they will bevery prodiga l with their property when they a re given the
control thereof. Furthermore I w ill say that, on account ofthe na ture of the soil and the sca rcity of water, they willhave to retire at lea st six leagues away from the mission ifthey are to ra ise crops, as is done now while they live to
gether in commun ity. My fifty-one yea rs together with mya ilments oblige me to protest tha t I sha ll not be able to
answer to God and the nation for the mora l instruction and
the admin istration of the Sacramen ts to the Indians when
they a re so fa r away. I sha ll therefore consider myselfD
ex
cused. Concern ing the third point, as to wha t may be set
apa rt for the ma intenance of Divine Worship, I am underthe impression that nothing will be left to my ca re. I sha llbe content with wha t the cha rity of the na tion and of the
Indians may a llow me for my support.”
Fr. José Joaquin Jimeno of Santa Cruz had this to say
With regard to the change in the mission system whichthe Supreme Government proposes, I observe many and
immense difficulties on all sides. I n order to sa tisfy the
wishes of the Government and of Your Reverence that we
give our opin ion and desires in this pa rticular, I will say tha t,in considera tion of the very weighty rea sons set forth bythe Governmen t that the Indians ought not to continue sub
jcet to the mission Fa thers, but tha t they should be set
free, and knowing at the same time that we can no longer
bea r the burden overwhelmed as we a re with this pa infultask, which every day grows more insupportable, I am of
the Opin ion that the tempora lities should be distributed to
their legitimate owners, the I ndians, and that the neophytes
should be given their liberty, but tha t they should be obligedto work and to preserve their a llotment by preventing themfrom becoming vagrants runn ing up and down as they desire,
“Solo esta ré con ten to con lo que me dé la caridad de la
Nacion , 6 la de los Indios para mi manutencion .
”Fr. Cabot to
Fr. Durin, August 24th, 1 83 1 .
“Sta . Barb . Arch.
”
3 76 M issions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
because they are very inconstan t and fickle. Above a ll, the
three reserva tions should be made.
”
Fr. Ex-Presidente José Sénchez of San Gabriel Missionwrote : “Though I have not sufficient lcnowledge to ofier a
comprehensive opin ion on the subject, I will expla in in a few
words what Ithink. Of course I submit to everything the Supreme Government disposes. I f Your Reverence wants to bethe chief cause of the destruction of the missions which havecost our predecessors and us so much labor, there is nothingleft but to accede to what is proposed . Indeed, Father, thefirst who in the public papers broached the ruin of the ter
ritory, or let us say of the missions, are the very ones who
so much desire to have the sa id project executed. Let us
cast a glance atthe missions of the Jesuit Fathers in PimeriaAlta and Ba ja
‘ 1and those of Lower Ca liforn ia .
“ The suc
cess which our government met there will be an object lesson . In v iew of a ll this I will say w ithout passion tha tDiv ine Worship, the support of the missionaries, and per
manency of a sma ll fund for new missions will in a few
days he in the same condition as rema ined the missions Ijust mentioned.
“I protest that this little to which I have given expressionis what my con science dicta tes to me for the benefit of theneophytes, and more so for the tranquillity of the territory.For a long time I have been hea ring of this plan . As far
as I am concerned, for my peace of mind, would to God
tha t it would be to-morrow , so tha t I might retire withinthe four wa lls of a cell and bewa il the time which I havewasted for the welfa re of these unfortunates.
”
‘ 0Ma in tena nce of Divine Worship, support of the mission aries,a nd funds for founding new mission s. Fr. Jimeno to Fr. Duran ,
October 2 nd, 183 1 .
“Sta . Ba rb. Arch.
”
‘ 1 Lower Arizona and Upper Sonora . See“The Franciscans in
Arizona .
”
See vol. i, this work, parts ir and iii.““Digo por que a mi toca , que para mi sosiego, Oja la! sea cl
dia de mafia na , para recogerme en tre las cua tro paredes de una
3 78 Missions and Missionaries of California
is evident from everything they wrote on the subject. On
the other hand, the turbulent leaders cared nothing for thewelfare of the Indians, otherwise they would have applaudedthe efiorts of the missiona ries instead of hampering them in
every way possible. From selfish motives they wanted to
take the places of the friars, and this they fina lly aecom
plished to the degradation and ruin of the neophytes and
the destruction of the once flourishing establishments, as
we sha ll see in the course of the na rrative.
When Fr. Duran had ascerta ined the sentiments of the
missionaries on the subject, he prepared a long and ex
haustive exposition of the whole case in the shape of com
menta ries on Echeandia’
s decree of Janua ry 6th. It doubtless caused the Government to hesitate committing itself toany scheme that even remotely seemed to favor the enemiesof the missions. Bancroft says of this paper,
“It was one of
the ablest documents tha t wa s ever wri tten by a fria r in
Ca liforn ia . On the decree, article by article, Padre Narcisoexpends the full force of his ta lent and lea rn ing, with not
infrequent volleys of wit, sarca sm, ridicule, and bitter denunciation . Not a weak spot, and there were many, isoverlooked, and not a wea pon is neglected.
”The sincere
friend of truth w ill therefore be gra tified if we reproducethe precious document entire in the next chapter.
‘ 5 Bancroft, iii, 309.
CHAPTER V.
Fr. Duran’s Magn ificen t Exposure of the Confisca tion Scheme.
Neophytes in the Position of Children Under Age - EcheandiaMisconstrues L aw of September 1 3 th, 181 3 .
— Fa ilure of Ema ncipation .
— Neophytes Not Forced in to Subjection ; Not Disconten ted.— M issionaries Loya l — L aw of September 181 3 Abused.Indians Not Freed— Un just Distribution of La nds in Spite of
L aw of January 4th, 181 3 .— Neophytes Robbed— At the Mercy
of Specula tors.
CHEANDIA’
S Decree of Mission Confiscation , as we
have seen in its place,‘ was illegally issued on January6th, 1 83 1 , and signed by both the author and J. M . Padres.
It conta ins thirty-three Articles with a preamble of four
Wherea ses The synopsis of each is here followed by therespective Nota” of Fr. Presidente Duran .
1 .
“Whereas all men, except the mission Indians, are
free and en joy civil liberty with the right to do anything not
opposed to the esta blished laws, etc.
”
Note 1 .
“The children of the family, are they free or
not? I f they a re, then are a lso the converts at the missionsfree, because they owe nothing more than filia l and domesticsubjection to the missionary. I f the children of the familyare not free, how then is it sa id in this article that on ly theIndians of the missions a re not free among the rest of
human society ? The truth is, subjection of the pupil to histeacher, and more so that of the minor to his guardian , is
not opposed to na tura l or civil liberty rightly understood, asit agrees well with the ( idea of ) master of a ll the thingstha t belong to him through inheritance and other legitimatetitles. St. Paul himself tells us that the heir while he is a
child sub tutoribus et actoribus est cum sit dominus am
1 See chapter iii, this section . Echeandia , Secula riza tion De
cree,” January 6th, 183 1 .
“Ca l. Arch. , M ia. and Colon ., ii, 1 20- 1 2a
3 80 M issions and Missionaries of Ca liforn ia
nium.
2 Thus the neophytes a re the masters and heirs of
their property ; but they are children and minors, and conse
quently they need some one to direct and defend them, and
for this they must necessa rily be in subjection , which by fardoes not reach tha t of the children of the family ; for beyond the hours of commun ity work, which are well moderated, they dispose of their time and persona l liberty a s theyplease. I f nevertheless pretexts are sought for greater libef fy to the neophytes, why are they not at once emancipatedand transferred from the cha rge of the missionaries to the
control of the town councils, admin istrators, etc.
2 . Wherea s the law of September 1 3th, 181 3 , expresslyprovides tha t the missions should be formed into town s.
”
Note 2 .
“The law of which this Whereas speaks in the
first a rticle directs the surrender of the spiritua l admin istration to the bishops . Why does not the Echeandia Proclamation sta rt where the law begins ? The Proclamation on lyspeaks of the tempora l administration , whereas the law
touches this point in the sixth and last a rticle, where it sayswith much clea rness and distinctness that the estates or tem
pora l property of the neophytes should be managed, not bywhite admin istrators as the Proclama tion has it, but by theneophytes themselves, by those namely who should have moreability for managing. Consult the a foresa id law of Sep
tember 1 3 th, Article 6, and mark the wrong that is done tothe neophytes by taking the management of their propertyfrom them and passing it to the control of strangers.
”
3 .
“Whereas to continue the granting of licen ses to neo
phytes for establishing themselves away from the missionsw ill result in grea t evils.
”
Note 3 .
“Why then have such licenses been given in the
terms in which they were granted ? Echeandia himself hereacknowledges tha t this resulted in grave evils to the ema n
cipated and to the towns . It wa s not owing to the motivesexpressed in the text, but pla inly because the most insubor
’ Ga l. iv, 1 -2 , rs under tutors a nd governors though he be lordof a ll.
”
3 82 M issions and Missionaries of California
the fact tha t school children grumble because they must goto school ?“Although the ma jority of the missionaries, as is wellknown to the Supreme Government, have refused to take theoath on the Mexican Constitution for reasons of conscience,which must a lways be heeded, we have nevertheless proinised fidelity and submission and we have observed both withhonor. The governor would be glad if those who haveta ken the oa th had acted in like manner. Under these cir
cumstances the Supreme Government itself has tolerated us
and recogn ized our min istry. As it is a ma tter which ha s
gone to a higher tribuna l, H is Honor Echeandia is a veryincompetent judge. Some years have gone by since, and Ido not see tha t the missions have decayed. On the con
trary, notwithstanding that these missions are situa ted in the
farthest corner of the civilized world, they have a ttracted thecommerce of some thousands of leagues distant. It will notbe surprising if in the future decay should set in ; for the
neophytes have been insubordina te since the yea r Icould here go into pa rticulars, in order to contradict thesupposed decline of the missions, on the subject of agricul
ture, mechan ica l arts, and industry of poor neophytes whobut yesterday were savages, and compare them with the
Indians serving at the four presidios, three pueblos, and
numberless ranches of the whites, who a fter so many yearshave lea rned nothing beyond caring for ca ttle and horses,
and who know no other art than that of the cowboy.
Article 1 .
“San Gabriel and San Carlos should be organ
ized as town s, but the la tter should reta in its name Ca r
melo.
”
Note 5. In this article the titular name of Mission SanCa rlos is changed. After all, the improvement is sma ll, ifthe politica l change is considered ; but it would be anotherthing if it is intended to include the ecclesiastica l or ca non ica ltitle. As it is, at the very beginn ing of the article it is
3 from the time Echeandia appea red in the territory. He wa s the
rea l cause of Indian in subordina tion .
Fr. Duran Exposes Scheme of Robbery 3 83
necessary to advert to the incompetence of the authors,whether it is His Honor Echeandia or the Most ExcellentDeputa tion ; for the system of the missions ha s been the
work of the former Supreme Government in accord withthe College of San Fern ando. To a lter it the authority of
the present Supreme Government is necessary and it mustbe commun ica ted to us by the same College. One cannot understand how subordinate authorities without being expresslyauthorized (and this is not mentioned ) , can meddle w ithsuch an ordinance of the supreme authority. Now that themissions of San Gabriel and San Ca rlos are turned intotowns through this article, why are they not granted theirown independent town councils like any other town
Art. 2 .
“At San Gabriel four police cornmissaries sha llbe elected. They sha ll be dependent in everything upon the
town council of Los Angeles.
”
Note 6. Here we see Mission San Gabriel a lready sub
jected to the town council of the neighboring white settlement. This means that neophytes, who but yesterday gaveup paganism, are drawn away from the pa terna l and do
mestic cha rge of the missionary and surrendered to the
hands of those whom they ha rdly know, and of whom one
does not know wha t interest they can take in the true and
persona l welfare of the neophytes. Now that the missionsof San Gabriel and San Carlos are considered to be changedinto pueblos, why do they not begin to give them their 0
town council, instead of subjecting them to one that isstrange to them ? This is contra ry to the a foresa id law of
September 1 3th, 18 1 3 , which says that the Indians musthave their own ayuntamientos, and through these everythingmust be disposed rela tive to the admin istration of their property. Though the intervention of the governor is required,it is one thing to intervene and another (thing) to disposelike a master. The intervention which this law concedes tosa id authority is merely tha t he should see tha t persons
from among the same I ndians, and no others, are named tomanage the estates. It does not a llow this officia l to decree
3 84 M issions and Missionaries of California
that other admin istrators from a race not Indian should beappointed. Inasmuch as it is pretended to give the Indians
grea ter liberty, the question ari ses : What liberty do the
Indians ga in by being passed from one hand to another ?
Here it may a lso be sa id tha t an ev il a lready known is of
more use than a good that is still to be lea rned. I f theyhad begun with the emancipation of the Indians, and withthe a llotting of the estates and property to the neophytes, atsome of the older missions whose neophytes were all bornthere, then I should believe tha t they were looking for the
grea ter welfa re of the Indians. Wha t need, anyway, has HisHonor Echeandia of more exact information about the M ission San Gabriel popula tion when every year an officia l reportof the same has been sent to him?”
Art. 4. The ranches belonging to the said mrssrons sha ll
have a sub-commissa ry if the number of inhabitants be con
siderable.
”
Note 7. The ranches which the missions possess generallyare la rge centers, especia lly for ca ttle and sheep. Now we see
that they a re to be under a sub-commissary ; he is subject tothe police cornmissa ries of the mission , and they aga in a re to
be under the town council of the whites who look upon the
Indian ’
s intellect as in ferior to theirs. It seems they are tending to this : the estates which a re the sole property of Indianssha ll pass over to the control of the people ca lled and
recogn ized here as the people of rea son . Why this, inasmuch a s it is contrary to the law of September 1 3th, 1 81 3 ?
Art. 5. Farming and grazing lands, which by constantuse down to the date of swea ring to the independence, or
by approva l of the territoria l government, they have cul
tivated and occupied , are to rema in the property of the
pueblos, which will be composed of their neophytes and of
such other Mexicans as may wish to settle in them.
”
Note 8 . In this article the right of ownership of the
Indians over their lands is ign ored, and no other right isrecogn ized tha n tha t which is ba sed on
‘
the con sta nt use’
or on‘
the approba tion’
of the territoria l government, where
Fr. Duran Exposes Scheme of Robbery 3 85
as it is certa in and man ifest tha t before all use and all
government approba tion the Indians were a lready the lordsand absolute masters of Ca liforn ia . This article wants theselands to be the property of the Indians and of whomsoever ofanother race that settles in their neighborhood . It wouldbe well, even for other reasons, first to consider what ad
vantage the unhappy Indians derive from associa tion withother races ; for if now, when they have some one to defendthem and advoca te their cause, they suffer so many vexa tions,contempt, and insults from the other race, how will it bewhen they will be left without protection in the hands of
those to whom they are surrendered by the Proclamation ? ”
Art. 6. To neophytes, including those absent with leave,and to other servants of the missions wishing to rema in , willbe distributed, to each family a house-lot seventy-five va ras
squa re and a field two hundred varas square, the lots in
blocks of four, one hundred and fifty vara s square withsuitable streets and pla zas.
”
Note 9.
“This article gives equal rights to acquire lots and
fields to the neophytes, who a re the owners, and to the
servants of the missions, who are white people working forwages and sa la ries and having no ownership of anything.
That is to say, the servants a re given equa l rights to the
property with their masters. This, indeed is a strange law,
through which the servant obta ins as much right as the master in the latter’s own home, and with the danger of makingthe master still less, considering the character of both classes ;
for it is much to be fea red tha t in a short time the formerservants will absorb the whole substance of the masters, andthe masters will become servants.
”
Art. 7. All inhabitants of the two missions more thantwenty-five years old, or eighteen if ma rried, are entitled
‘ Wha t Fr. Da rin feared actua lly came to pa ss : the Indian s weredriven from their property, the mission land, and were glad to sus
ta in life by laboring for these former mission servan ts, the adminiettatore.
3 86 M issions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
to full ownership of lands, but such lands must not be sub
jected to any encumbrances nor ever pa ss to mortrnain .
”
Note 10. I n Article 5 it has been sa id that the pueblosof San Gabriel and of Carmelo sha ll be composed not on lyof the neophytes actua lly liv ing there, but also of a ll of the
other classes who may join them; and a ll a re equa l at the
distribution of the lots and fields according to Art. 6 , that isto say, of all the land belonging to sa id pueblos. Now Art.
7 is no more sa tisfied w ith this prov ision , but includes a ll
new -comers who have become inhabitants of these pueblos,and they a re to have equa l rights in the property at the
distribution of the lands of the natives, who hold them bythe law of nature, by possession , and by use. Why do the
framers of the decree not speak of deserted and abandonedlands, but on ly of cultiva ted a nd irrigated la nds which the
I ndia ns by constant usage or with the approbation of the
territoria l governmenthave cultivated and occupied with their
property?”I s this just ? Ca n a lower authority thus dispose
of wha t has been recogn ized by na ture, or let us say by usage,if you will, a s the property of others ? I should like to knowwhether the framers of the decree would do likew ise with theboundless lands possessed by white ranchers ? 5 It is verycerta in tha t they would not, because the ranchers wouldknow how to defend them. Well, is it not taking advantageof the helpless and defenceless condition of the neophytes torob them of their lands and give them to their riva ls ? The
Government of the Un ited States in the north, in order toobta in possession of the Indian land, purcha ses it from them,
a s we know ; but here, taking a more direct road, not the
Supreme Government, however, but a much in ferior govern
5 I n spite of the loud cha rges of the mission enemies tha t themission s occupied a ll land from one mission to a nother, there weremany la rge ranchos , a s we sha ll see la ter. Besides there were
ma ny uncultiva ted stretches which might have been taken up ; but
the covetous whites would not go through the trouble of recla iming them a s the fria rs had don e w ith the a id of the neophytes.
They w an ted the a lready cultiva ted neophyte land . See Appendix G.
3 88 M issions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
out work they have acorns and seeds, which nature aflords
them and which they relish more than our seeds. From thisit can be inferred with certa inty wha t ca re they will bestowon the implements ; it is best not to make the tria l.”
Art. 1 1 . Unmarried neophytes of twenty-five years and
more sha ll have on ly one-ha lf of the lot and of the field
granted in Art. 6 ; and they sha ll a lso have a sma ller share
in the live stock, implements , etc.
Note 1 2 .
“In this article to the neophytes of more than
twenty-five yea rs of age are conceded one-ha lf of a lot and of
a field which to outsiders, such as the white servants, are
granted entire, with the additiona l right of increasing themif the land a llows it, wherea s this right is den ied the a fore
sa id neophytes . Who can find out the just or lega l principleupon which such a strange division of land is based ? landto which no one has a right except the neophytes ? Sha llthe unma rried neophyte receive on ly one-ha lf of wha t belongsto him, of what he has cultiva ted or acquired, whilst thestranger obta ins an entire portion even with the right toincrea se it? Wha t if the single man marries a fter some timeand has a numerous family ? Sha ll he be bound to live instra itened circumstances whilst he sees strangers en joyingthemselves with what was his own ? Verily, a full sha reindeed ! Yet this is not the worst. It seems no attentionis pa id to the distribution of lands for the married neophytesunder eighteen yea rs, or for the single neophytes undertwenty-five yea rs. How a re these to support themselves ?Does not everything belong to the neophytes under tha t ageas well as to those who are respectively eighteen and twentyfive yea rs old? Have they not labored for it ? Have theynot swea ted for it ? Why are they not ca lled in to have a
sha re in the division ? What fault of theirs is it tha t theyshould be excluded from what belonged to their fa thers and
ancestors, and that strangers should take it ? Will it, forsooth, be sa id tha t they a re included in the shares whichtheir parents receive ? but then it is something common to
be orphaned before one is of age. Then , wha t of the women
Fr. Duran Exposes Scheme of Robbery 3 89
under age and those not ma rried ? Why is there no men
tion made of them? Why are they not considered whenstrangers are prov ided for ? Verily, I do not comprehendhow Schor Echeandia could make such arrangements. I cansay with certa inty tha t he would not have decreed the div ision of the lands of the white people in the manner in
which he made decrees regarding the land of the Indians .
This much is certa in : there will be no one who w ill not compassionate the unhappiness of the poor Indians.
”
Art. 1 2 .
“To other families that wish to settle in the new
pueblos sha ll be given lots and fields in proportion .
”
Note 1 3 .
“Herein is confirmed what has been sa id in the
preceding note, that is to say, any immigrant has as muchright to the lots and fields of the Indians as the neophytesthemselves and even more ; for on the Indians the condition isplaced tha t they must be over eighteen yea rs, even if they arema rried, but not on the white new-corners. It is not even
asked whether the latter a re ma rried. Consequently herelega l equa lity disappea rs, even suppose it were granted thata ll have a right to a share in the div ision of the Indianlands .
”
Art. 1 3 . All property thus distributed sha ll be indivisible and ina lienable for five years.
”
Note 14.
“This article open s the door so tha t a fter fiveyears the neophytes w ill be without property or lands, if youtake into considera tion the dullness of the Indians and the
shrewdness of the people ca lled de razon . See Note 9 on
Art. 6. It seems tha t the object of this article and of some
others is to ama lgamate and to fuse the two riva l cla sses,tha t is to say, the Indian with the white race by means of
lega l reunion and equa lity. I see, however, tha t na ture doesnot obey men . On the contrary they must obey nature.
”
Art. 14.
“The names of the white individua ls and the
a llotment made to each family of these new pueblos sha ll be
7 except, of course, the covetous Ca liforn ian s so ca lled. Es biensegnro : Quien no se compadeceré de la infelicidad de los pobresIndios?
3 90 M issions and Missionaries of California
recorded as well as the lands and property reserved for the
genera l goodNote 1 5. This a rticle orders the enrollmen t of a ll the
inhabitants of the new pueblos, as well a s the noting of a ll the
property assigned to each family ; but a s these families and
outsiders necessa rily consist not only of neophytes, but of a llthe Mexicans who w ish to settle in sa id pueblos, accordingto Articles 5 and 1 2 , it seems to be a ssumed as certa in thatthose outsiders will sha re not on ly in the distribution of the
lots and fields and lands occupied through constant use
by the property of the Indians, but a lso that such outsiderswill sha re in that very property which can be nothing else
than the movable goods. I f such is not the ca se, why is itcommanded that a ll the goods a llotted to each family sha llbe listed ? What property can it be a fter the distribution of
the lots and fields and lands has been made by the precedingarticles if not the movable goods that a re left ? I s this just ?What the Indian s a lone have labored for, acquired and toiledfor? I s it just that the outsiders, who have contributednothing to the labor or its product should nevertheless be
given a share of it on the ground that they live there ? I s
there any law which lets an outsider make himself masterof another’s property on the ground of hav ing settled in the
neighborhood ? Would such a decision be made if such propetty belonged to the whites, who a re able to defend it, as itis done in the ca se of poor defenceless neophytes, whoseweakness, it seems, is nothing but an incentive for anotherclass to give free reins to oppression ?
”
Art. 1 7.
“The rema in ing live- stock, etc. , a fter the distribu
tion , sha ll be put in pa stures to the extent of four squa releagues for each 1000head of ca ttle, and three square leaguesfor sma ll stock.
”
Note 1 6.
“As to the rema in ing live- stock, a fter the slender
distribution of three cows and two sheep, about which the
article speaks, it w ill be discovered gradua lly what will bedone with them. For the present I sha ll not say it ; I wishthe readers to divine wha t I mean .
3 92 M issions and Missionaries of California
an outsider, but one of their own number, an I ndian, an
I ndia n, who sha ll have charge. The Proclama tion , however,makes no mention wha tever that the Indians sha ll have theirown councils. Instead they are made subject to those whomthey do not know . A condition is made which the law doesnot impose, that is to say, the Indians must know how to
write, in order to curta il the liberty which the law leavesthem. They are pla in ly told tha t they themselves ca nnot beadmin istrators of wha t belongs to them, so that there is a
certa in kind of necessity of appointing some of the white peo
ple, who desire to benefit themselves. Among these there are
more than enough aspirants for such a morsel w ithout a bone,for such it appears to them, which will fatten them in a few
days ; but a fter two or three years, what then ? We have
before our eyes what happened in Sonora , where in two
yea rs the honorable white admin istrators brought the missions to such a state of ruin tha t in this year 1 83 1 , whenthe missiona ries were aga in given charge of the Indian tem
poralities, they were compelled to go begging for eattle,
horses and even kitchen utensils. This is known and noto
rions throughout this Ca liforn ia . The worst of it is that theChristian commun ities a re sca ttered forever.
”
Art. 19.
“The admin istrator sha ll have charge of all the
rema in ing ca ttle, of the buildings, mills, v ineyards, lands,ga rdens, implements, and everything else which he sha ll receive by inventory. Tithes will be collected .
”
Note 18 .
“Here aga in it is presupposed tha t the movableproperty as well as live-stock must be distributed among the
new-comers or immigrants, since it presumes tha t the dis
tribution has been made among the neighbors. As by neighbors a re understood every Mexican settler in these new
pueblos, it seems tha t we can in fer that every Mexica n hasa right to the division tha t is presupposed to have been madebefore surrendering the rema in ing stock to the admin istrator.
1 Fr. Duran is describing wha t actua lly befell the mission s whosewan ton confisca tion and ruin he is resisting. See pp. 95-97 for thelaw of September 1 3 th, 181 3 .
Fr. Duran Exposes me M ission Enemies 3 93
See Note 1 5 to Article 14. In this same a rticle a lso the
burden of tithes is imposed on the fields and stock of the
Indians ; on the other hand in Article 2 3 their property isaga in taxed for the decent support of the min isters of the
Church ; that means that they must twice pay tithes or twice
pay for the support of the priests, whereas everywhere elsethey have a lways proceeded w ith the greatest caution in
this tithing of Indians, as Solorzano has it in his Politico
I ndia na , Lib. 2 , cap. 2 3 . This was observed even amongIndians who in their paga n sta te had some kind of public0
‘ der and some form of government. Yet these poor Ca li»rnian Indians, who in their savage sta te had no trace of
tublic order or any form of government, and who have no
century of reduction back of them like those of whom sa idSolorzano speaks, but who have just been reduced, a re theybound to pay double tithes ? Wha t a shame ! What injustice !
Art. 20. The citizens interested (white council) will appoint the necessa ry mayordomos who sha ll look a fter the
rema in ing live-stock and other property.
”
Note 19. With a ll the admin istrators, mayordomos, cornmissa ries, sub-commissaries, and I know not what more, it isea sy to foretell where the substance of the missions will go.
There is no need of reminding of wha t has just happenedin Sonora and ha s happened before in other places.
Art. 2 1 .
“They will a lso propose to the cornmissa ry wha tsa laries the admin istra tors and mayordomos sha ll enjoy.
”
Note 20.
“Stop ! The missionaries have always managedthings w ithout sa la ry ; nay they have a lways added theirown , tha t is to say, the sinodos or annua l a llowances and
even the a lms received for holy Masses, to the Indian missionfunds, as is clear from the account books of a ll the missions.
The former Memorias or goods were procured with saidsinodos. I f it had not been for these the missions wouldnever have lifted their heads. What need was there of put
ting a new load of sa lary for admin istra tors on the propertyof the Indians, when till now this property has been man
3 94 M issions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
aged without this additiona l tax ? I s not this fatten ing on
the goods of the poor?”
Art. 2 2 . From the rema inder of the capita l, rent of surplus lands, the yield of v ineya rds, etc., will be pa id the wagesof the schoohna ster, hospita l expenses, and of other institutions of asylum, correction and instruction .
Note 2 1 . All the revenues w ill go for the most part tomake up the admin istrator’s sa lary during the short timewhile the ca pita l lasts ; but the rest of wages and expensesfor servants, schools, hospita ls, etc., is nothing but prattlefull of folly to us who a re eye
-witnesses and understandthe secret and the register of the orga n , though it is wellconcocted to deceive those who are far away. Here the
saying of the fox fits in quite .well. When cornered by thehounds, and stumbling over a guita r, he excla imed,
‘
The
fox is good for a feast.’ Excellent a re the conditions at
the mission s for such expenses,especia lly at that of San
Ca rlos, where at times the Missionary Father has not had
any bread to eat.”
Art. 2 3 .
“The missionary will be a llowed $1000 sa la ry at
San Gabriel and $600 at San Ca rlos.
Note 2 2 . Formerly the missiona ries a ttended to the
spiritua l needs without any sa la ry whatever, and since the
year 1 81 1 w ithout their sinodos (with the exception of threeyea rs) which were never pa id from the property of the
Indians, but from the Pious Fund destined for that purpose. Here we find another burden placed upon the propetty of the Indians which it never had before ; and yet theProclamation pretends to desire the welfare of the Indians !Here it must be rema rked tha t the mission or pueblo of San
Gabriel as well as that of San Ca rlos ha s numerous settlements and ranches of white people who need spiritua l attention . Yet the Proclamation says nothing tha t they should
contribute to the support of the priest, but only disposes thathis decent ma intenance sha ll be pa id from the fund of the
goods of the Indians. I now a sk, is it just that when the
“cuando eu P. Min istro 6. veces no he ten ido pan que comer.
3 96 Missions and Missionaries of California
tria l was being made atSan Gabriel and San Carlos, in orderto lea rn what might be the result of the distribution of lands,goods, etc.
”
Art. 2 5. The admin istrators will furn ish the missionariesof these missions with subsistence and servants in additionto their sinodos until a proper allowance for their spiritualservices is determined.”
Note 24.
“I confess tha t, according to the style of the
world, the missiona ries ought to be content with the arrange
ments proposed by this article, if wha t is sa id on paper wouldon ly come into practice, inasmuch as they would improvetheir condition, speaking in a worldly manner ; for there
would be annua l a llowances and food, whereas now thereare no stipends, and the missiona ries must ea rn their foodby their own labor and that of the poor Indians. I doubtnotthe good fa ith of the author,“but what I doubt, and thatnot a little, is that there could be such food, or such muttonas the refra in has it, because the Indians would be sca ttered,and more so their property, as has happened in Sonora . The
encumbrances of the property of the Indians a lso come to
mind. It is not they, but the Pious Fund which ought to
pay the stipends of the Fathers.
”
Article 26.
“At the missions of Santa Cruz, San LuisObispo, Purisima , Santa Barba ra , and San Luis Rey onlycommissa ries and mayordomos sha ll be chosen ; the adminis
tration for the present sha ll rema in with the Fathers.
”
Note 2 5. I should wish to know why in the missionsmentioned in this article the Indians are left in cha rge of
the missiona ries. I should wish to know, I say, the rea son
for this partia lity. Wha t! Do these neophytes a lready enjoyliberty! Or is it for lack of a sufficient number suitableto be admin istra tors ? The article would seem to suppose as
5 Fr. Da rin may put a kind construction on Echeandia’
s actionwith regard to this point, but it is sca rcely to be supposed thatsa id officia l or his confedera tes scrupled very much about how the
missiona ries fa red, when they a re seen to worry so little about thefa te of the Indians.
Fr. Durin Exposes the M ission Enemies 3 97
much. Yet, the truth is, tha t admin istrators of the same
cast and ca libre as those assigned in pectore for the othermissions there are more than enough.
”
Art. 27.
“In the future Mission San Francisco will de
pend upon the port of the same name ; the missions of San
José and Santa Clara will be subject to the town council ofSan José ; Santa Cruz, San Juan Bautista , Soleda d, SanAnton io, San Miguel, and San Luis Obispo will be subjectto tha t of Monterey ; Purisima , Santa Barbara , and San
Buenaventura will perta in to the presidio of Santa Barbara ;San Fernando and San Juan Capistrano will belong to the
town council of Los Angeles ; and San Luis Rey and San
Diego to the presidio of San Diego.
Note 26.
“This entire article from the first to last word isarbitra ry and unconstitutiona l, because the law of September1 3th, 18 1 3 , presupposes tha t all Indian pueblos sha ll have
their own town council or ayuntamiento. I f they have, theycannot be subject to pueblos of white people, as the two
classes rega rd each other in the spirit of jea lousy, and itmeans to put the Indians in worse slavery than in the timeof the Alca ldes Mayores.
”
Art. 28. With all possible haste schools shall be opened,one at San Gabriel and one at Carmelo, in which reading,writing, and arithmetic as well as the best mora ls and politicssha ll be taught.
Note 2 7 “Much noise is made about schooling in California , but it is on ly to hoodwink those far away. This territory has seven settlements of people who are ca lled ‘peopleof intelligence
’
to distinguish them from the aborigines. Theyare the four presidios and three pueblos w ith many ranches.
Well, how many wretched apologies for schools w ill peoplewho live far away think a re in these seven white settlements ? I f those at a distance guess tha t there are three, let
0Tha t is to say, a lready had in view, but not published.7 During the first ha lf of the 18th cen tury in Mexico ; they op
pressed the people.
L os Angeles, Branciforte near San ta Cruz, and San José.
3 98 Missions and Missiona ries of California
them know that there are no more. This is partly due tothelack of sufficient support, but especia lly to the la ck of suitable subjects . Now I ask, ca n there be anything tha t willexcite more laughter in one who beholds the situa tion herethan this prating about schools for the Indians, when not
even ignorant schoolmasters a re to be found for the otherrace ? N0 one here can dissimulate the specific disease of
this territory which is the cause of its insignificance. It isthis : To begin anything of advantage or to effect any improvement no one ever knows how to plan anything exceptwith the a id of the Indian s, whereas the white people shouldbe the ones to coax and lead by word and example
,but that
is a labor unhea rd of in Ca liforn ia . I f there is anything to
be done, the Indian has to do it ; if he fa ils to do it, nothing will be done. I s anything to be planted ? the Indian mustdo it. Is the whea t to be ha rvested ? L et the Indian come.
Are adobes or tiles to be made, a house to be erected, a
corra l to be built, wood to be hauled, water to be broughtfor the kitchen , etc. ? L et the Indian do it. You wish to
speak about arts, industry, manufactures, schooling and everything ia the world ? Do not count on any one except theIndian , just as though on ly the Indian were the son of Adamand the rest had no hands ; but what about the other cla sswhich ca lls itself ‘people of intelligence
’
? Nothing. Withthem it is wa lk about, play the gentleman , eat, be idle, etc. ,
genera lly at the cost of the Indian ’
s ha rd labor, so that inrea lity it seems as if na ture had destined the Indian to be
the slave of the‘people of intelligence.
’ This is so certa inand such a genera l rule tha t it has but exceedingly few ex
ceptions.
“The proof is conta ined in this very article. No one till
now has thought of schools for the educa tion of the manywhite children in the presidios, pueblos and ranches, the ma
jority of whom grow up with on ly the educa tion which naturea ffords.
“ Far from beginn ing with them to give a good
9 “Na die ha sta ahora ha pen sa do en pupilage pa ra educa r s ta n tomuchacho de ra zon como hay en presidios, pueblos y ra nchos de loscuales la mayor pa rte crecen , con la sola educa cion de la na tura leza .
”
400 M issions and Missionaries of California
Note 29 . Where are the funds for such sa laries and
premiums of which this article speaks ? They might havebeen pointed out on paper since this costs little ; but even on
paper we do not see them.
”
Epilogue.
It would be better not to make so much noise, nor to
introduce such a great innova tion among the Indians, without first beginn ing with the cla ss ca lled ‘people oi intelli
gence.
’
L et these begin the work of establishing schools,etc., to introduce arts, factories, industries, etc., then it w illbe time to discuss how to induce the Indians to follow their
good example ; but a ll this scheming to extract the ma rrowout of the Indians, who but yesterday were savages, a fterhaving squeezed so much out of them at va rious periods,“
so that to this date it is ca lculated tha t the amount reachesvery nea rly a million dollars, which in military fashion havebeen taken from the missions for the support of the soldieryduring the last twenty yea rs ; a ll this scheming, I say, to ex
tract more marrow out of poor people who but yesterdaywere savages,
"and to leave in their endemic sloth the others
who as a genera l rule know nothing more than horse- racing,in truth, I do not comprehend from what spirit this can
proceed, or I should rather say that I understand it but toowell, and that benea th the specious plan but why shouldI go about merely contemplating a matter which is notoriousthroughout Ca liforn ia ? Why should I notwrite what a ll say?Why speak in whispers, when a ll say it a loud ? I shouldnot merely give my persona l impression , but voice the gen
era l Opinion . I should not only say what I believe, butwhat a ll believe. Now what all believe is, tha t, under the
1 1 “Pero tan to proyectar para saca r jugo de los Indios, que ayereran sa lvages, despues de haberlos exprimidos ta n to en diversa sepocas.
”
1 ’ Compara tively, of course ; but many were indeed very recen tconverts, for sa vages from the other side of the moun ta in s werecontinua lly join ing the missions.
Fr. Duran Exposes the M ission Enemies 40 1
specious pretext of this Pla n , there was a secret project of a
genera l plunder of the mission property in return for the
sa id enormous sacrifice of about a million dollars in dra ftsaga inst the nation , by selling and converting into cash everything possible. This the lea ders intended to ta ke a longout of the country in order to en joy it in foreignlands.
“ God, however, so willed that when this Proclamation was issued Lieutenant-Colonel Manuel Victoria shouldarrive to assume the military and civil command of thisterritory.
“Seeing the irregularity of the Proclama tion , and how itopposed the ideas and instructions of the Supreme Government, he ordered its suspen sion until orders should be re
ceived from the Supreme Authority. Those interested, amongwhom were some of the deputies of the territoria l assembly,who a lready counted on the spoils, were disappointed . Fromdisappointment they pa ssed to ha tred of the just Victoria .
They never have been able to forgive the honest governorfor having snatched away the prey which they thought a lready in their clutches. They bega n to plot, to meet, and
correspond secretly, and for the period of ten months in 183 1symptoms of sedition were observed which kept the illustrious governor in continua l anxiety. They wanted to forcehim to ca ll together the territoria l deputies in order to see
whether they could not accomplish their desires in some
apparently lega l manner, either by making the governor whohad put obstacles in their way yield to them, or by deposinghim from his oflice and ejecting him from the territory underother pretenses so that they could remove the oppositionwhich they had encountered, ungrateful for the sa id sacrificesof the poor Indians . Inasmuch as this wa s known to the
sa id governor he could never decide in favor of such assem
bly meeting until the la st days of November of a foresa id
1 °“Que todos creen es : que ba jo cl pretexto especioso de este
plan habia otro secreto de nu saqueo genera l de los bienes de lasmis iones, vendiendo, reduciendo s dinero todo cuan to se
pudiese, y saliendo los principa les i disfrutarlo en territorios es
tranceros.
”
402 Missions and M issiona ries of Ca lifornia
yea r 1 83 1 , when the plotters at the port of San Diego procla imed a plan of attack aga inst the person of GovernorVictoria . They ca rried it out on December 5th of the same
yea r in the neighborhood of the Pueblo of Our Lady of the
Angels, where one was killed and one wounded of eitherpa rty, Governor Victoria himself being the one seriouslywounded on his side. The result of this wounding of the
representative of the Supreme Government by armed enemieswas tha t the territory rema ined in a sta te of ana rchy. Thesefacts a re notorious and public to a ll the inhabitants of AltaCa liforn ia . It confirms the public opin ion a s to the resentment tha t arose from the obstacle to the plunder of the property of the poor Indians. The revolters have clea rly demonstrated what low ideas they have of the Genera l Government of the Mexican Federation , inasmuch as they thoughtthat they could commit so many excesses with impun ity.
They would not awa it the decision of the Supreme Government, and thereby decla red that they had no other motivesto impeach the politica l conduct of Don Victoria than that hewanted to save the property of the poor neophytes whichwas continua lly in danger of fa lling into the claws of the
covetous. Mission San Jose' , December 3 l st, 183 1 . Fr.
Narciso Duran .
” 1 ‘
1 ‘ Fr. Duran , Nota s.
”— “San ta Barba ra Archives.”
404 Missions and Missionaries of California
the piety of di a rious persons who made dona tions of theirwea lth or pa rt of it for the exclusive purpose of ma inta in ingmissions for the propaga tion of the Ca tholic Fa ith and the
conversion of the ba rba rous tribes of Ca lifornia . These dona tion s, which partly consisted of rea l estate and partly of
money ultimately converted into real esta te, constituted the
so-ea lled Pious Fund.
‘ From its revenues the stipends of
the missionaries had been pa id until 1810; and, though sincethat date little or nothing had reached Upper Ca liforn ia , the
missionary Fa thers had continued their apostolic labors withsuch success tha t, wha tever might be asserted, to them was
due the prosperous condition of the territory which little morethan sixty years before was an uncultivated waste inhabitedby savages.
‘ The civiliza tion of Ca liforn ia , such as it was,its agriculture, its numerous herds of every kind, its mechanica l arts, its commerce, the subjuga tion and conversion of
thousands of vaga bond savages, and their willingness to tillthe soil, engage in mechanica l pursuits, and become usefulmembers of society, was a ll exclusively due to the missionaries .
o
Ca rrillo’s address developed into a veritable panegyricwhich, though richly deserved, must have appeared a strangenovelty where, as among the bawling young Ca liforn ians,denunciation of friars had been the fashion . The missionaries, accustomed to be slandered and vilified, must have dishelieved their eyes when they first read the report of theircourageous defender
’
s memoria l. No one but an enemy of
the missions could have begrudged the venerable old men
For the history and vicissitudes of the Pious Fund see Volume I .5 “A los misioneros se debe (diga se lo que se quiera ) cl estado
en que se ha lla aquel territorio, que poco ma s hace de sesenta afios
era una tierra inculta , habitada por sa lvages.
”
0“Su civiliza cion , ta l cua l es, su agricultura y multiplicacibna sombrosa de gana dos de toda cla ses, sus a rtes, cl comercio, la
reduccién de muchos milla res de gen tiles vagabundos y erran tes,y convertirlos en hombres capaces del tra to socia l ; todo
'
es debidoesclusivamen te a los misioneros.
”
Unexpected Defense ; Fr. Peiti Departs 405
whatever consolation this vindica tion conveyed a fter yearsof cheerless toil and un just persecution .
The Congressman spoke the truth, though not the wholetruth, for he wisely addressed Congress from the standpointof a sta tesman only. Leav ing the question of Religion aside,as that would not have ca rried weight with men who for
the most part sought on ly what was earthly, he sa id that,“Even if the missions had been of no more benefit to the
public than to prepare those savage tribes for the civilizationof which they a re capable, they would have caused them to
make great strides ; for the difierence between the savage of
the interior and the mission neophyte is remarkable. Only thepersistent pa tience of the missiona ries, who by their Instituteare absolutely devoted to such hardships, could efiect such
progress in that line.
’ At a ll even ts, no others but such as
they could give themselves up to the pa inful occupation of
taking hundreds of people from ba rba rism, and overcome the
obsta cles which Indian na ture and stupidity oppose to renderthem useful to themselves and to society. Such work is one
of a meri t whose va lue can on ly be judged by approachingthose establishments and witnessing their activity“During the troubles of the past twenty years, Carrillowent on ,
“the missions have not on ly been self-supporting,
but have contributed to the amount of ha lf a million dollarsfor the ma intenance of the tr00ps. In addition they ofiered
the only encouragemen t to a growing and profitable com
merce. In other words, Ca liforn ia has been susta ined and
saved for Mexico by the ea rn ings of the Indians under themission system ; and but for the missions the territory to-daywould be in possession of savages or of a foreign power.
Carrillo insisted tha t only by ma inta in ing the missions, and
by founding new ones in savage regions, could the country hesaved from aggression . Nor would this involve any expenseto the nationa l trea sury. The Pious Fund existed for thatpurpose ; by applying it to the missions the territory itself
7 “Solo la pa ciencia con stan te de los misioneros, como que por
eu insituto estan dedicados esclusivamente a estos traba jos, puedeha cer ta les progresos en esta linea .
406 M issions and M issionaries of California
would be benefited . Policy as well as duty dictated thatMexico make the Pious Fund Esta tes productive, and applythe revenues to the support and extension of the Ca liforn iamissions.
‘
Don Ca rlos Ca rrillo won the victory ; for his propositions,embodied in thirteen a rticles and attached to his Exposicion ,
were a lmost litera lly incorpora ted into the L aw of May 2 5th,
1 83 2 , by which the Pious Fund Esta tes were ordered rentedfor terms not exceeding seven years and the product devotedexclusively to the mission s.
“ Un fortuna tely, the v ictory wasa ba rren one, a s far a s Upper Ca liforn ia was concerned.
Succeeding admin istrations were not disposed to see the
missions benefited in any way whilst they were controlled byunselfish religious ;
“nor could they under any system have
obta ined their dues while Mexican revolutiona ry troublescontinued, Bancroft correctly rema rks .
1 °
We have a lready a lluded to the action of the MexicanGovernment which ea rly endeavored to replace the Span ishbom fria rs w ith na tive Franciscans from the College of Our
Lady of Guada lupe, Zaca teca s. The Mexican politicians, whorega rded themselves as the State, of course ca red nothingfor the ga in or loss of Religion among the Indians. Had
their conception of Religion been thoroughly Christian , theywould not have inquired where the cradle of a Gospel-messenger might have stood, a s long a s he wa s recogn ized bythe proper ecclesia stica l authority ; for they would have knownto a certa inty tha t such messengers of the Gospel teachobedience to the established civil or milita ry authority everywhere. As it was, the Mexican politicians had emancipa tedthemselves from the Law of Christ. In addition they werefilled w ith na rrow na tiv ism, and therefore they den ied the
messenger of Christ the right to exercise his min istry if hehappened to be born under other, notably Span ish, sides .
0 Carlos Ca rrillo, Exposicion .
” “Sa nta Ba rba ra Archives.
° “Appendix I I, Foreign Rela tion s of the Un ited Sta tes, 1902 .
United Sta tes vs Mexico.
” Wa shington , 1903 .
1 ° Ba n croft, rrr. 3 1 3 ; Gleeson ,
“Ca tholic Church, 1 1 , 1 3 6.
408 Missions and M issionaries of Ca lifornia
whom was José Manuel, a Yuma Indian eighteen years of
age.
“ The Fathers must have a rrived and presented thernselves to Fr. Presidente Sanchez at San Gabriel during the
month of April, for the baptisma l records show tha t Fr.
Cuculla baptized there on April 28th.
“
Fr. Presidente José San chez reported the a rriva l of thefour Zaca tecas Fa thers to the Fr. Superior of Sa n Fer
nando College. At the same time he expressed his surprisethat Fr. Sosa came with the title of vica rio foraneo and
cla imed to possess the faculty of giving Confirmation . In
asmuch as the presidente of the missions by gra nt of theBishops of Sonora was a lways v ica rio foraneo of Upper Ca liforn ia , it seemed strange .
tha t another should be sent withthe same authority. In reply Fr. Arreguin , by order of
Fr. Guardian José Ma ria Guzman, urged peace, and in
formed the Fr. Presidente that as vice-comisa rio prefectoFr. Sosa undoubtedly was authorized by Papa! Bulls, grantedthe apostolic colleges, to confirm in the regions under the
jurisdiction of his own College. As to the appointmen t ofvica rio foraneo, this was a matter which perta ined to the
Bishop of the diocese.
“
Meanwhile Fr. Sanchez’s term of omoe expired, as statedelsewhere, and Fr. Na rciso Duran ’
s appointment arrived inJune Fr. Sosa thereupon resigned the office of
1 ‘ Baptisma l Record of M ission Roshrio, now at the Domin ica nMona stery, Ben icia , Ca l. He signed himself “Vice-Comisario yVica rio Foraneo.
”
1 5 Libro de Bautismos, San Gabriel.1 ° Fr. Arreguin to Fr. Sanchez, July 2ud, 183 1 . Sta . Ba rb.Arch.
”The Very Rev . Camilo Orranea , admin istra tor of the Dio
cese of Sonora , apparen tly knew not tha t the Fa thers Presiden tein Ca liforn ia were ex ofiicio vica rios foraneos, and for tha t rea soncon ferred the title on Fr. Sosa . V. R. Ortanca to Fr. Duran , No
vember l t, 183 1“Sta . Barb. Arch.
1 ’ See cha pter xva i, section i, this volume. Fr. Da rin, June 16th,183 1 , notified Gov . Victoria tha t he had received from the Fr.
Guardian his appoin tmen t to the oflice of presiden te. and tha t bydirections of the Bishop of Sonora the offices of vicario foraneo and
ecclesia stica l judge were a tta ched to the office of presiden te of the
Ca lifornia missions.
“Archb. no. 2 101 .
Unexpected Defense ; Fr. Poiri Departs 409
vicario foraneo, which was then , as had been the custom,
con ferred upon the new Fr. Presidente by the admin istratorof the Diocese of Sonora .
“ Fr. Duran , however, permittedFr. Sosa to exercise his privilege of confirming. Accordinglywe find him admin istering the Sacrament of Confirma tion at
San Ga briel and Los Angeles from November 3 rd to 17th,1 83 1 , to a s many as seven hundred and four persons. The
first one on the list was William Edward Ha rtnell, an English convert, who became prominent in the subsequent history of the missions.
“ Fr. Sosa a lso confirmed atSan Diego,and probably at San Luis Rey.
"0 His compan ions during all
these months assisted the aged Fernandinos in the four southern missions and at Los Angeles. Fr. Cuculla , however, ison record as baptizing once on July 2 4mat San Buenaven
tura , and Fr. Sosa ’s name appears as officia ting at a Baptismon August 29th at San Luis Obispo.
" This is a ll so far
discovered on the movements of these Fathers north of San
Gabriel. While Fr. Anza r was definitely sta tioned at San
Luis Rey to take the place of Fr. Anton io Peiri, Fr. Sosawith his other two compan ions returned to his College, probably ou the same vessel which bore away the unfortunateex-
governor, Manuel Victoria , in January 1 83 2 . The resultof his report to the College of Guadalupe will be rela ted inits place.
In the meantime the spirit of insubordina tion a rousedamong the neophytes, and the incessant slanders heaped uponthe missionaries by Echeandia and the irreligious caba l ofyoung Ca liforn ians, had rendered conditions at the missionary establishments well-n igh insufierable. Since the Picos,Bandinis, Va llejos and other confederates blamed the Fathersfor a ll the ills of the coun try, in revenge for not being free
1 3 V. R. Orranea to Fr. Duran , ut supra .
1 9 Libro de Confirmaciones, San Gabriel and L os Angeles. Not
sin ce Fr. L asuén’s term, twen ty-eight years before, had Confirma
tion been admin istered in Upper Ca liforn ia .
The records of San Luis Rey thus fa r have not been loca ted.3 ‘ Libro de Bautismos of San Buenaven tura a nd San Luis Obispo.
41 0 M issions and M issionaries of Ca lifornia
to loot the missions, Fr. Duran resolved to take steps whichwould withdraw him and his brethren from cea seless insults,and remove the excuse for hostility to the missions.
“On
account of the misfortunes which have occurred,”he wrote
to Fr. Antonio Peiri, the v ice-presidente,“in order to prevent
the ruin and desola tion which the missions are going to
sufier, and because of the horrible oppression exercisedupon the missionaries, I have been thinking of persona lly
going to the College, or of commission ing another religions,
in order to present what might contribute to procure us our
pa ssports and bring priests hither to receive the missions.
As I cannot myself go, I have thought of Your Reverence.
You might surrender your mission to a Fa ther of San
Diego or to one of the Zacatecanos, without giv ing any
reason save that of a journey, and then proceed by way of
Lower Ca liforn ia .
“I f for some unforeseen circumstance it seem better to
emba rk with Don Victoria ," and there be no time to awa itmy in structions, you may go in v irtue of this letter. You
w ill represent to the College and to the Government our
intolerable oppression and peril from our cruel enemies, andour inability to continue in the service of the missions on
account of our old age, physica l maladies, and exhaustion .
You will urge that priests should be sent hither to take themissions from us, and that we be given our passports to
retire to the College, if the Government should permit, orto Europe.
" In this case the Government should commandtha t the expenses of our voyage to Europe be pa id from
2 3 “horrible opresi6n .
3 " the ex-governor, who at Sa n Luis Rey wa s recovering from his
wounds and wa iting for an opportun ity to embark for Mexico.
““ha cer presente nuestra insoportable opresi6n y peligro por
pa rte de enemigos crueles ; nuestra imposibilidad de continuar en cl
serv icio de la s misiones por nuestra vejez, achaques y fa tiga s : yque vengan Sacerdotes a recibir esta Christiandad, etc. How itwa s possible for the mission enemies still to insist tha t the friarsclung to the mission property ca n be expla ined on ly on the groundof ma lice.
41 2 Missions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
noticed the trend of politics in Mexico. He asked to be te
lieved of the managemen t of the mission tempora lities as
early a s 182 6 but no sooner had the decree of expulsion of
the Span iards been published, than the disillusioned friardemanded his passports . Echeandia refused them, and in
formed Fr. Peiri tha t the Supreme Government had beenasked to exempt him from the decree of expulsion . Fr.
Peiri nevertheless demanded his pa ssports ‘ 7 which it seemshad not been delivered . So he went w ithout them. As
there was a substitute in the person of Fr. Anzar, the govcruor could hardly deta in him. According to Bancroft , theGovernment of Mexico had granted the request to retire withfull payment of the past stipends. For thirty-five yea rs at
$400 a yea r this sum would amount to but, according to Bancroft himself, the good fria r took a long on ly$3000, which he thought necessa ry to cover the expenses forhimself and two na tive youths to Mexico, and thence to Romewhere he intended to place the two Indians in a college forhigher studies. After tha t he would sca rcely have enough
to make the voyage to his native Spa in .
”
It was more owing to considera tion for his beloved Indians that Fr. Peiri chose to leave the mission secretly, asthey would probably have prevented his departure had theybeen awa re of his intention s. The tradition is that when the
Fr. Peiri to Echeandia , August 29th; Echeandia to Fr. Peiri,
September l lth ; Fr. Peiri to Echea ndia , September 2 5th, 1829.
“Archb. Arch., nos. 2068 ; N 7O. Fr. Duran about the same timedemanded his pa ssport for Habana on the ground tha t he sufiered
so much from gout tha t his feet were crippled. Echeandia agreedif Fr. Duran ’
s prela te would furn ish a substitute for M ission San1 03 6. Fr. Duran to Echea ndia , January 1 3 th, 1 83 1 . “Archb.
no. 2 100; Echeandia to Fr. Duran , January 2 3 rd, 183 1 . “Ca l. Arch.,
M iss ions 8: Colon . ii, 194- 195. Another proof of many tha t themission enemies misrepresen ted the Fra nciscans when they ever
la stingly cha rged tha t the fria rs from selfish motives refused tosurrender the managemen t of the mission property. The fria rswould not cede their trust to robbers, but only to the rightful owners or to lawful governmen t. This is the truth.
to“Ca liforn ia ,” ii i, 62 1 .
41 4 M issions and M issionaries of Ca lifornia
neophytes discovered the absence of their fa therly protector,suspecting the truth, five hundred of them hurried to San
Diego to intercept him and bring him back ; but they ba relycame in time to receive his blessing from the vessel as itsa iled out of the ha rbor.
”
It is sca rcely credible, but the pa isa no chiefs, who had
forced themselves to the front by means of the unscrupulousness and bluster in keepingwith their cha racter, hesita ted nottobesmirch the good name of this noble priest and venerableold missiona ry who had deserved so well of the country ,and whom the very Governmen t of Mexico and even Echeandia held in esteem. Here follow specimens of which the
mission enemies were capable. Pio Pico a sserted that hehad it from Juan Ma riner, a Ca ta lon ian , whom Fr. Peitihad befriended and trusted, that the San Luis Rey missiona ry took a long thirty-two barrels of olives, each conta in ingmoney. Ma riano Va llejo made it fourteen ba rrels of flour,and sa id tha t the San Blas customs oflicer refused to landthe suspicious ca rgo. Leandro Serrano, sometime mayordomo of San Luis Rey Mission , ta lked of ten kegs of silverdollars, pa ssed off as brandy.
’n The enemies of Victoriaa lso accuse Fr. Peiri of hav ing contributed la rge sums of
monev to support Victoria ’s cause. All these stories are too
strong for even a Bancroft, for he closes the enumerationw ith the remark,
“I suppose a ll this to be un founded .
”
Alexander Forbes, an English Protesta nt then residing at
3 9 Bancroft, iii, 2 10; 62 1 -62 2 .
3 ° Va llejo proves even worse than a pagan Indian in tha t his w ildstories ema na te from pure ma lice, not like the India n ’
s from a
desire to plea se or to say something. To the Picos, Va llejos, andother such ea rly Ca liforn ia n s the words of a well known writera pply w ith treble force: “A ma n is a lways capable himself of a sin
which he thinks another is ca pable of, or which he himself is ca pable of imputing to another.
”Fr. Faber, “Con ferences,” p. 46.
3 1 We suspect tha t Mariner and Serrano had lea rned the Indianway of hoaxing people to the full exten t of their demands. Theyknew tha t Pico wa n ted to hea r just such a story ; he wa s a ecom
modated. See vol. i, Appendix G.
3 ’ Bancroft, iii, 62 2 .
41 6 M issions and Missionaries of California
suming the government had been wholly unca lled for, and
that many of the statements in his pronunciamento were fa lse.
They more than hinted that his movement had been in the
interest of Spa in . At the end of December they voted to
send a protest to Zamorano for violating the law by preven ting an election , and then adjourned because the term of
severa l members expired .
In the south Echea ndia lorded it over the four unhappymissions under his sway with his usua l high-handedness.
"
In order to susta in himself aga inst a possible attack fromZamorano, he in the beginn ing ca lled to his standard and
armed the neophytes that flocked to him from the four mis
sions. A few from San Fernando a lso joined him. Pro
tests from a ll sides at la st opened his eyes to the danger of
assaults from the Indians.
“ After his truce with Zamoranohe therefore sent them back to their missions, but with thewarn ing to the missionaries tha t the truants should not be
pun ished.
”
Fr. Iba rra of Mission San Fernando, reporting the situation to Fr. Presidente Duran , described the results of Echeandia ’s acts as follows : “
Fr. Sanchez of San Gabriel foundhimself without hands to perform the work at the mission ,
for the neophytes are now va lorous soldiers between San JuanCapistrano and San Diego ; but he wa s a lso rid of his ene
mies, if we may ca ll them such, until the 14th of June whenan oficer arrived here on his way to San Ga briel . He es
cotted fifteen of our Indian s, who had run away to Echeandia , persuaded tha t sa id gentleman would be the protector
1”Ba ncroft, iii, 2 2 8 2 29. See Hittell, u, 1 50- 1 54.
“Echea ndia and his party were dra in ing San Juan Capistranoand the splendid M ission of San Luis Rey of their possess ions.
”
Robinson, 1 3 5.
3 3 “Da ily reports were received of robberies and murders com
mitted by Indians at San Diego. Stabbings were frequen t at SanJuan Capistra no and San Luis Rey ; and the drunken India n , a s hestaggered a long from the scene of debauch ejacula ted, ‘
Soy libre l’
‘ I am free l’ Robinson , 1 3 5.
3 ° Bancroft, iii, 2 27; Kittell, u, 1 51 .
Unexpected Defense ; Fr. Peiri Depa rts 41 7
of their v ices. Two or three days later Echea ndia sent mea letter with orders not to pun ish them. I n the same letterhe holds me responsible in ca se I should chastise them, and
on the same occa sion he told me to reply without loss of
time by mea ns of the officer. I did so immediately, whereupon the cfl‘icer retired . From the letter of J . M ancisidor
Your Reverence will be enabled to in fer what must be the discouragement of the poor Fa thers who see themselves com
pelled to live in such slavery .
”
The Mexican Government at la st came to a decision , and
on M ay 9th, 1 83 2 , appointed Jose' Figueroa , since 1820
comandante-
genera l of Sonora , governor of Ca liforn ia . Al
though the news arrived in July, and Echeandia on the 2 8th
in an address expressed his sa tisfaction ,he audaciously at
tempted to force action aga inst the missions on the part ofthe new governor by resorting to an artifice simila r to the
one employed in the ca se of Victoria . Echeandia ,”
saysBancroft, “had the a ssurance to meditate the enforcement ofhis decree ‘ 1 by prepa ring on November 1 8th, 1 83 2 , a sup
plementa ry reglamento, a s if the even ts of the past monthshad been a mere temporary interruption of his plans. The
document was intended to apply on ly to the four southernmost missions.
" It did not go so far in some respects as
wa s provided by the decree of Janua ry 6th, 1 83 1 , but introduced some new fea tures not authorized by that decree. Itwas prefaced with an argument on the necessity of secular
““A 103 mismos que mandé a los dos 6 tres dia s con una ca rta
pa ra que no les ca stiga se, y en ella me ha cia responsable en ca so
de ca stigarlos, y jun tamen te que sin pérdida de tiempo respondiesea la suya por medio del oficia l, lo que verifiqué inmedia tamen te yse retiro dicho oficia l. Podra Su Reveren cia in ferir cua l
sera cl descon suelo de los pobres Padres que se ven precisa dos aviv ir en semeja nte escla vitud .
”Fr. Iba rra to Fr. Duran , June 2 2 nd,
183 2 .
“Sta . Ba rb . Arch.
”
‘ 1 January 6th, 183 1 .‘ 3 Echeandia , Bando y Reglamen to, November 1 8th, 1 83 2 . Sta .
Barb. Arch.
”Ca l. M issions 8: Colon iza tion ii, 1 68 1 78 .
Echea ndia wa s not recogn ized north of San Gabriel, a s w ill beremembered.1 4
41 8 Missions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
ization under superior laws, 3 statement of the enthusiasmwith which the Indians had welcomed the author
’
s efiorts,
a presentmen t of their compla ints of in justice and genera ldisconten t under the padres’ management which threatenedserious consequences, a mention of good results at San
Juan Capistrano, where the padres were sa id to have vol
unta rily given up the tempora lities, and a plea to the mis
siona ries to accept their duties as pa rish priests .
”
This Bando and Reglamento Echea ndia addressed to the
missionaries of San Diego, San Luis Rey, San Juan Capistrano, and San Gabriel, and apparently to the Fr. Presidenteat San José in the north. A copy was a lso sent to the Minister of Foreign and Interior Relations, Mexico, and anotherwent to Governor Figueroa , who as yet had not a rrived inthe territory. The intent of the mischief-maker was pla inenough. H is authority had van ished, but before leaving Ca liforn ia forever he would make one more effort to break up
the mission system which stood in the way of the schemers
aga in st the Indian property. Probably the fria rs had not yet
learned tha t the new governor was on his way, otherwisethey might have trea ted Echeandia
’s la st effusion with silent
disrega rd. As it was, four of them did him the honor to
reply. These answers throw some light on the state of the
southern missions at the time, and give such additiona l proofof the utter detachment of the Fathers, that they deserve tobe reproduced entire.
After reading a ttentively the Bando and Reglamento,which under da te of the 1 8th of this month you placed inour hands,
” Fathers Martin and Oliva of San Diego writeon November 24th, “and a fter reflecting what we should doin such a delica te ma tter, we have decided to reta in a copyand to forward the origina l to our Fr. Presidente, withoutwhose knowledge or permission we cannot meddle with politica l subjects, for we are mere subordina tes of our prela testhrough whose hands orders of this kind must come. We
‘ 0For these good results see notes 3 7 and 3 8 this chapter.
4‘ Ba ncroft, iii, 3 14-3 1 5.
42 0 Missions and M issiona ries of Ca lifornia
a lly.
“ I served and managed the tempora l and spiritua la ffa irs of Mission San Gabriel for twenty-one years. Yet
a fter putting in a ll the stipends, and the money received as
a lms for the celebra tion of holy Masses, I left everything forthe benefit of tha t commun ity, and have not taken away as
much a s ha lf a real .“ We a re sons of obedience, and, as
we have been instructed by our Superiors tha t all ordersand regulations of the civil and politica l government shouldcome to us through the Superiors, I forwarded the Planwhich Your Honor had the kindness to commun ica te to meto the Rev . Fr. Presidente.
” 5°
Fr. Sénchez of San Gabriel made no reply or more probably sent the Reglamento to Fr. Duran ; but Fr. José Anton io de“1 Anza r of San Luis Rey, the only Zacatecan in
the missions, replied under da te of Februa ry 2 7th, 183 3 ,
when his brethren with Figueroa had a lready reached Mon
terey :“I have made myself acqua inted with the a rticles of
the.
Reglamento, which I find to be in order and very fa ir.
“
I will cooperate w ith plea sure, a s I have told Your Honoron another occasion ; but for this I must take a very neces
sary step, and that is to in form the Fr. Presidente,“ as the
Superior of the missions which are directly under his ca re,
both in virtue of Apostolic Bulls and the direction of the
Government. After the Superior ha s been informed, I ca n
act freely, because he will tell me what I am to do. Sei'
ior,
4° In sofa r a s it relieved them of the worry about the tempora lities.
4° Six a nd one- fourth cen ts. All the Fa thers could have sa id thesame.
5° Fa ther Za lvidea to Echeandia , November 1 2th 183 2 .
Va llejo Collection ,
”xxxi, no. 2 5, in Un iversity of Ca liforn ia .
5 1 H e la ter on drops the “de.
5 3 It would have been fa ir enough for civilized white people, butfor the childish India ns it wa s most unwise and v icious ; but see
note 55.
58 Fr. Anzar knew tha t his own Superior, Fr. Garcia Diego, had
arrived at Monterey, but he wa s holding a mission subject to Fr.
Presiden te Duran .
Unexpected Defense ; Fr. Peiti Departs 42 1
I have been in many missions ; at no time has either thesecular or ecclesia stica l government dea lt with the Fathersdirectly, butwith the Fr. Presidente and the College. Therefore I entrea t Your Honor to relieve me of the respon sibility,ina smuch as I like to do only _
what is commanded me.
“ Iam a Mexican , yet as independent a s any one that cla imsto be so.
” 5°
All this threw the burden of disproving the cha rges and
a ssertions of the ex-
governor and mischief-maker, and of
showing the impracticability of the project a s devised byEcheandia , upon Fr. Presidente Duran . We can forgive theex-
governor much for having caused the issuance of thisprecious document. Ow ing to the utter detachment of thefriars, and to their love of silence, we should never have
discovered the lea rn ing, virtue, and fortitude which the
coa rse habit and cowl, especia lly of the presidente, con
cea led, had not persecutors from Pages down to Echeandiaforced it to the surface in brilliant papers such a s the one
which Fr. Duran now composed to squelch the irrepressibleEchea ndia and his covetous clique. He went to work quietly,and with his customa ry thoroughness mercilessly unma skedthe rea l an imus of the plotter and his con federa tes. Ban
croft himself con fesses tha t this criticism is one to which itis impossible to do justice en résumé.
” “7 We sha ll therefore reproduce it en tire in the next chapter.
5 ‘ In Mexico, for he had arrived on ly the yea r before.
5° Fr. Anza r wa s diploma tic. With Echeandia near it wa s sa fer
to speak thus.
1”Tha t is to say, he might hold politica l Opin ions a s freely a s
any one, a s long as they did not milita te aga inst Religion . Fr.
An zar to Echeandia , Februa ry 27th, 1 83 3 .
“Va llejo Collection ,
”
xxxi, 2 5.
“7 Bancroft, ii i, 3 1 5- 3 16. The historian erroneously a ttributes theauthorship to Fr. sanchez ; but this Fa ther atmost on ly urged Fr.
Duran to take up the cudgel. The San ta Ba rba ra Archives con ta inthe origina l dra ft a nd a complete transcript in Fr. Duran '
s hand.
It was da ted December 1 2 th, 183 2 . Another copy by another handshows some imma teria l a ltera tions.
CHAPTER VIII.
The M ission System— The Wealth of the M iss ions the Result.Indian Liberty.— The Fria rs not Parish Priests .
— Filia l Subjeetion not Slavery — A Generous Proposi tion .
— The Friars Willnot Stultify Themselves to Aid Echeandia .
— Neophytes Seducedby Echeandia .
— Neophytes not Slaves — Fa lse Charges of the
Ex-Governor.— The Key to Echeandia
’
s M isrepresenta tions.
Neophytes Rega rded a s Children or Appren tices — Con sequencesof Echea ndia
’s Machination s .
— The Fria rs and the Tempora lities.
—Willing to Surrender Them to Lawful Authority.—Conclusion .
“Notes on the Circula r or Bando of Don I osé M aria Eche
andia Addressed to the M issiona ries of the Four
M issions in the South on N ovember
1 8th,
OTE 1 . On the words,‘ I find no ancient or modern
laws which give the Rev . Missionaries the permissionto dispose at discretion of the liberty, occupa tions and goodsof the converts, etc.
’ 1
“To the Rev . Missionary Fathers the favor and justice
must be accorded of believ ing tha t they have the necessarylicense from ancient and modern authorities, inasmuch as theyhave done nothing w ithout their knowledge, consent and
approbation , in order to dispose, not at despotic discretion ,
but with paterna l and conscientious judgment, of the liberty,occupa tions and goods of the neophytes in their respective
1 I n his dra ft of the Notes, the paper which Bancroft seems tohave seen , this is Note 2 . Note 1 reads : “
On the words, ‘ tha t hemust subject himself to the laws, etc.
’— Senor Echeandia mighthave saved himself the trouble of men tioning subjection to the
laws, for two yea rs have elapsed s ince his rule termina ted . Moreover, he could have subjected himself to the laws whilst in office.
”
Echeandia should have known tha t it wa s da ngerous to cha llengea missiona ry to a deba te on the subject of missions. I f he wa s
thoroughly worsted, he at lea st lea rned tha t sophistry could not
withstand the sound a rgumen ts of the fearless Fr. Duran .
42 4 M issions and M issiona ries of Ca lifornia
remark tha t so much wea lth, as the license (authorized byancient and modern supreme authority ) to dispose of the
liberty and occupa tions of the na tives in sa id manner ha sproduced, was notthe whole and only cause of the prosperitywhich is in sight of a ll. Something must a lso be a ttributedto the toil, the disinterestedness, the stipends and other a lms
which during more than sixty yea rs the Missionary Fathershave con tributed, and which stipends a lone amount to manythousands of dolla rs, by mean s of which the missions havebeen reared and fostered ; for a ll has been used for the
common benefit of the Indians, as is evident from the rec
ords of the Memoria s which exist at the missions, and
which, if we must not be Franciscan religious missionaries,‘
we have a lega l right to have reimbursed to us, especia llyin these philosophic times in which, it seems, it is the determination to reduce us to beg a lms for the necessa ry sub
sistence, though w ithout hope of obta in ing it. Those who
compla in of the monopolized labor of the neophytes shouldexamine wha t the notmonopolized labor of the sepa ra ted or
independent Indians produces, when they will see that wha tthey produce a re grave evils to thems elves as well as to the
town s, a s in the same words Don Echeandia con fesses in
the bando of Janua ry 6th, 1 83 1 , in the third ‘Wherea s.
’
“What if the Seiior finds in the Laws of the Indies regu
lations for the liberty, good trea tment, and free use of the
fruits of the property and labor of the neophytes ? No mis
siona ry den ies this ; rather is it certa in tha t no one ha s de
fended this better than they.
‘ It must be borne in mind tha tthough the free admin istra tion had to be den ied to the neo
phytes, they being minors as indeed they are with rega rdto their cha racter, this has not prevented them from en joyingthe whole fruit of their labor and even tha t of the missiona ries. This is a fact so indisputable that even Echea ndia
3 List of goods purcha sed in Mexico with the stipends of the
fria rs. See Appendix H .
Tha t is to say, if the fria rs are to be mere pa rish cura tes.
5 The a dmon ition came w ith bad gra ce from the ex-governor.
Fr. Duran s BrilliantNotes
himself cannot ga insay it ; for it is they who en joy the
produce in the ba rns ; it is they to whom the clothing,the
product of their manufacture and a ll other products are dis
tributed . Nor does the decree of the Span ish Cortes of
September 1 3 th, 1 81 3 , on the tran sfer of the spiritua l andtempora l a ffa irs of the missions make any difference, even
though it were in corporated in the collection of its laws bythe Mexican Congress. I f in the n ineteen years that haveelapsed no executive power has directed us to put it intoeffect, it is an evident sign of the untimeliness of the law
a s to the letter and its construction . Yet let us be com
manded,“and it w ill be seen tha t we obey . I decla re we
sha ll obey in so far as the transfer of the spiritua l and
tempora l a ffa irs of the missions is concerned. We sha ll deliver them to whomsoever is pointed out to us ; but withrega rd to tha t which the proposed law adds,
‘
tha t the mis
siona ries shall serve as parish priests or sha ll be curates’
(even if it be without the honor of a sa lary) ,‘
and the rest,or unoccupied missiona ries, sha ll proceed to the mounta insin order to spread the Gospel,
’
a fter pra ising God for the
great zea l which, a s is known , consumes the authors 7 of
the proposed law , we a re free to put a little pepper and
sa lt into this dish in favor of those of us, at lea st, who havepassed twenty and thirty yea rs in the missions, and who
now find ourselves old and infirm. It is this : we have a law
issued by the Roman Pontifi, approved by the Span ish and
Mexican authorities, and which forms a pa rt of our monasticregulations. In virtue of this Pontifica l law we may retireto our convents.
“ In this pa rticula r, then , I believe that no
0 By the Supreme Governmen t which a lone had authority to givesuch commands or make such laws.
7 Echeandia and young Ca liforn ians. Fr. Duran speaks sa rca s
tica lly.
I3 The regula tion wa s tha t, when the tempora l affa irs had beentra n sferred to the convert Indian s and the spiritua l afia irs to secu
lar priests, the fria rs must retire to their mona stery, or undertakenew missions elsewhere. Tha t mean t secula rizing a mission . Wha tEchea ndia proposed mean t confisca tion pure and simple. This theFa thers strenuously resisted, not the former.
42 6 Missions and M issionaries of California
one will show himself ready to obey any command, un lessit be tha t the liberty which is conceded to the most wretchedof the citizens does not extend to the missiona ries. Concerning the laws which Echeandia adduces in favor of his plan ,
it appea rs tha t they in no manner favor him. He mighttherefore have saved himself this trouble, inasmuch as two
years have passed by since his power to execute them ha s
termina ted, even if they had favored him.
”
Note 2 .
“On the words,
‘
The laws of the present federa lsystem have for their basis the protection of the liberty and
property, etc.
’
“It is quite just tha t the ra tiona l liberty and the propertyof the citizen s be protected ; but this is not peculiar to the
federa l system a lone ; it belongs to every form of govern
ment. Applying this to our subject, are the neophytes inthe missions forsooth not protected in their liberty and pos
sessions ? I s filia l subjection , to which a wea kness of char
acter recogn ized by a ll laws that speak of Indians obligesthem, and which condition is for that reason tolerated byancient and modern governments, forsooth opposed to it ?I s it Opposed, I repea t, to the protection of their liberty and
property ? St . Paul assures us tha t it agrees well for the
heir to be under tutors and governors and yetbe the lord ofall, as long as he is a child.
’ Such is the condition of the
neophytes in the missions. They a re children and sons of
the family under the pa terna l and domestic authority of the
missionary. They a re incapable of apprecia ting complete and
untimely liberty ; and they a re considered and must be re
garded, not on ly in religious but a lso in civil ma tters, likethose converts whom St. Paul susta ined on milk because theycould not digest other more nutritious and substantia l food ;for they were still carna l .“ This, neither more nor less, is
the cha racter of our neophytes. They a re carna l in body and
soul and in every line. Why then , under the pretext of
liberty, by regulation disapprove the very same that St. Paul
42 8 Missions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
the old Christians should not rema in dependent on the M is
siona ry Fa thers save in the character of parishioners, etc.
’
“Here it may be asked, Why did he a llow so many yearsto pass without putting sa id instructions into practice ? Bythe bando of January 6th, 1 83 1 , which is now reca lled and
lauded, liberty and the property of the neophytes ga inednothing, because it provided for nothing more than pa ssingsome of the neophytes from the paterna l cha rge of the mis
siona ries to salaried secula r administra tors.
“ Was that a lsoin the instructions of the Government ? I f it wa s, why didhe delay publishing it until his successor was a lrea dy in the
territory ? Why did he not give the name and authority of
the Supreme Government ? I f it was not in the instructionsfrom this Government, why does he bring it out now ? In
a smuch a s I am a missiona ry, and a fter twenty- six yea rssomewhat versed in the matter, if the Supreme Governmentshould deign to consult me, which would not be the firsttime," in view of what is transpiring and of what is pretended, I should say, w ith the most profound respect, if it isintended to risk an experiment for improv ing the conditionof the neophytes, contrary to the opin ion of some who be
lieve tha t whatever may be orda ined or a rranged in theirfavor and for their advancemen t seems to turn to their
grea ter in jury and prejudice, among whom is even the Ven .
Gregorio Lopez, who, on being questioned and consulted forthe benefit of this poor people, a lways replied ‘
Dejdllos,’ ‘
L et
them a lone’
: so in our ca se I should say tha t my opin ionis to try the experimen t of emancipa tion and the distribution of
lands and property, not in a ll the mission s at once, but onlyin four or six of the oldest,“ in which a ll or nea rly a ll the
1 ° unmindful of wha t the neophytes might have to say. It w illbe observed throughout tha t the w ishes of the n eophytes were not
con sulted, otherw ise the missions would never have been confis
cated.
1 7 See chapter 1 1 , this section .
1 3 The ofier demon stra tes tha t, if the Ca liforn ian s with their master Echeandia had been sincere in their protesta tion s of only de
Fr. Duran s BrilliantNotes
neophytes were born and opened their eyes .
“ In this manner no danger would be incurred, at lea st not so much, tha tthey would fa ll back into pagan ism and thus undo the workof so many yea rs. This would serve as an incentive for theother missions, and the (territoria l ) government would havea practica l and in fa llible lesson which it could utilize in the
north and be sure of its future ordinances better than bymeans of all the artificial beauty of theories. TO do this,however, in a ll the missions at once, without taking into con
sideration that most of the neophytes in some of them wereborn and Opened their eyes in hea then ism, in truth, to thisproposition I would reply to the gang of politica l prophetsin the words of the Ven . Gregorio Lopez,
‘
Dejdllos,’ ‘
L et
them alone
Note 4. On the words addressed to the missiona ries of
the four southern missions persona lly,‘ tha t they ought to be
engaged in spiritua l things like pa rish priests, but in tem
poral a ffa irs they should a ssist Echeandia in effecting the
changes, etc.
’
“To begin w ith spiritua l things, it is to be observed that,
according to the doctrine of the Most Rev . Montenegro(L. tr. 1 , sect. the obligations of a pa rish priest are
very difierent from those of one who is not a parish priest.The former must serve under the title of justice ; but a
priest not a cura te, such as we missiona ries, has no such
obliga tion , because we serve under the title of cha ritywithout salary or emoluments. As there are no curates canon
siring the benefit of the Indians, they could have agreed w ith Fr.
Durén on some fea sible plan , subject to approva l of the governmen t a s well as of the Indians concerned.
1 9 This would have mean t an experimen t a long the lines pro
,posed by the law of September 1 3 th, 181 3 : secula riza tion a s pra eticed by the Span ish Governmen t in the Indian missions of Mex
ico. It left the property en tirely in the hands of the Indian s ; buttha t was notwha t the young Ca liforn ia freebooters desired. Theyw an ted absolute con trol at a sa la ry and the Indian s a s so manyservan ts. To this Fr. Durén empha tica lly replied, “Dejallos,” “L etthem a lone.
”
43 0 Missions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
ica lly insta lled by the bishop, we a re min isters on ly fromnecessity. In this sense we have not that grea t obliga tionin justice to perform what is demanded of us as would bethe case if we were parish priests Officia lly. Now I ask,
which missiona ry could be compelled to consent to be a parishpriest with conditions attached tha t frighten any one who
has the least dread of the account which must be given ?Neither the Superior could command,’o nor the subject consent. Moreover a decree of the politica l authority is not
sufficient to transform a missiona ry priest into a cura te and
to make the mission a parish. Not even the Mexican nationwill ever sanction the so-ca lled civil constitution Of the clergyOf France, which in this na tion was a campa ign of aposta sy.
There is necessary a decree of the higher ecclesia stical au
thority addressed to our Superiors and approved by the Supreme Government . Without this the missionary will not
be a curate, nor the mission a parish, save in name.
"
“With regard to the active assista nce which this planexpressly demands, the missionaries know very well tha tthey cannot give it, un less ordered by the Supreme Government through our Superiors. Doing so would be to sub
scribe to their disgrace and to so many in juries whichEcheandia sprea ds out in his plan aga inst them and aga insta ll missionaries in genera l. They would make themselves
guilty and responsible before God and the world for a ll the
damage, and this the miss ionaries must necessarily refuse
to do. They know that they cannot and must not do morethan conduct themselves merely passive, leaving to others
what they desire, and leav ing to time to tell who erred.
”
It would be charming, indeed, if the missionaries themselvesactively acquiesced in an undertaking for which most in
jurious reasons are proposed aga inst their persons. I donot know how Echeandia could have expected as much.
According to the rules of the Apostolic College.
1 1 The Pico crowd la ter decreed just this thing, but tha t couldnot a lter the situa tion . It wa s beyond their jurisdiction .
3 ‘ Time ha s told tha t those who erred were not the miss ionaries.
43 2 Missions and M issionaries of Ca lifornia
the Oppressed neophytes would crea te about their snfierings,
etc
“Whether his not having proceeded from San Gabriel tothe north wa s because he did not want to or because hecould not is a ma tter of opin ion which I shall not decide.
“
Wha t demands a ttention here is the con fession which the
Schor makes tha t his going from the south to the northwould expose the other missions to tumultuous disorder.
How is it that tumultuous disorders in the four missions of
the San Diego Depa rtment ha ve not merited from him
equal considera tion to those to which the missions of the
north would be exposed ? The truth is tha t Schor Echeandiashifts the fault from himself and a ttributes it to the vexations and sufferings of the neophytes. He makes the charges
vaguely and without proof . They a re a lready answered inthis paper. It is not lawful nor logica l to make the odiumfa ll upon the slavery which he desires to fasten upon the
condition of the Indians. Here it might well be asked : I s
it possible that the condition of the neophytes ca nnot beimproved w ithout these tumultuous disorders which are so
openly con fessed ? This is indeed hitting the gang of politica l prophets and making them confess to the necessity of the‘
L et them a lone.
’
Note 8 . On the a ssertion ‘
that the neophytes of San
Diego have tumultuously clamored tha t they did not wantthe missiona ries to rule them nor admin ister their ternpor
a lities .
’
“Here it will be well to sea rch juridica lly and to ask the
neophytes what the Lord asked Pilate : ‘
Sayest thou this ofthyself or have others spoken it to thee of me?
”” 3 °
Fr. Duran might have quoted the fable of the fox a nd the
gra pes. Echeandia dared not go farther north from fear of Za
mora no. It wa s less dangerous to vex the helpless missiona riesin the south. Persecutors of religious the world over a re usua llyjust a s brave in danger.
1 5 This milita ry depa rtmen t comprised the southern missions.
3 ° John xviii, 34.
Fr. Durén ’s BrilliantNotes
Note 9. On the words of the Plan ‘ tha t there a re con
tinuous compla ints, now from the Fa thers then from the
mayordomos tha t the neophytes haughtily refuse to work,and a re insubordina te, etc.
’
“In truth, it ca lls forth surprise tha t Echeandia makes
such a public confession of a ll these disorders . Who thenwould not say : I f the liberty which ha s been granted in the
four missions of my department has this effect, it will benecessa ry to take it away and return the Indians to school a sbefore ? but no ; in order not to have to con fess tha t mecessity, other causes a re broached a rbitra rily, for example,
‘
That
they do not enjoy all the fruits of the labor which they
perform’
outside the exigencies of the presidio, which, as
has been sa id, amounts to more tha n one million dolla rs in
the la st twen ty-two yea rs. ( I acknowledge I do not knowthe exact amount. ) Who then en joys these (unpa id ) fruitsof their labor ? ‘
That they are not given the necessary cloth
ing for themselves and their families .
’
TO whom then is
given what is in the wa rehouses ? Why is this not stated ?Yes, why must a point be made of such vague, genera l, and
un founded propositions of deeds without proofs in order tohave a pretext for un justified changes by in ferior authorities,"
so tha t sensible people might rega rd them a s hera lds of
peace and tranquillity in Ca liforn ia ? ‘
That silver money and
drafts a re reserved exclusively for the knowledge of the
missionary.
’ Well, no one, not even competent authority,such as the Supreme Governmen t, has commanded the
contra ry ! Let it give comma nd, and it will be obeyed w ithout hesitation or fea r, for such is the Obedience with whichour honored office inspires us.
” ‘
That the neophytes labor for
the Father and for such persons whom they want to favor .
’
I f Sefior Echeandia had sa id that the missionary Father isthe one who toils for the Indians w ithout obta ining more
1 " “autoridades suba lterna s, tha t is to say, Echeandia .
The managemen t of the mission s necessarily involved the a c
cepta nce a nd disbursemen ts of money and dra fts by the missionaries a lone, a s fa r a s the mission popula tion is concerned.
434 M issions and M issionaries of Ca lifornia
than a morsel genera lly badly prepa red, even to ceding hisstipends to them to which the neophytes never had even a
shadow of right, as a lso the a lms for holy Ma sses, and thata time may come in which this will prove a serious drawback to the missionaries according to the scheme now beingconcocted aga inst them ; if the Sefior had sa id a ll this (whichbe well knows) , he would have spoken more truthfully thanhe did . The missionary is a single person who needs littleand who is content with little. He has no other brothers,children , or rela tives than the neophytes.
” Even tha t whichis placed on the table for him, those who eat it are the
neophytes, except wha t is consumed by guests and strangers,among some of whom it is very much the fa shion to repayour hospita lity badly.
Although with repugnance, I find myself obliged to takethe key tha t opens the doors and windows in order to exposethe hidden and obscured truth a long w ith the enormous ia
juries which Sefior Echeandia heaps upon the honest administration of the missiona ry Fathers with which, I am assured,the Supreme Government is well satisfied ; I must, I repeatit, tell the truth about the transaction which is public a ll
over this territory, and from which I would absta in wereit not necessa ry to remove the outrages heaped up aga instthe honor of our min istry. Schor Echeandia has knownhow to un ite and identify his position as comandante of the
territory, even a fter it had termina ted, with the indefin iteliberty and the absolute emancipa tion of big schoolboys, tha tis to say the neophytes, but without providing aga inst themost deplorable consequences which this whole territory isabout to experience, the sma ller of which is the ruin of the
missions and of the neophytes themselves. Through an
illusion , common and na tura l to their character as minorsbefore the law , these neophytes have tasted and have ern
braced with a rdor the promised liberty. They have un ited
” “El P. M isionero es una sola persona , que poco necesita ycon poco se con ten ta . No tiene mas hermanos, ni hijos, ni pa
rien tes, que los solos neOfitos.
”
43 6 M issions and Missionaries of California
licentiousness and savagery in which they were born . To
enter into the society of Religion is a gift from God ; perhapsthey do not deserve to be ca lled. As to the rest, it hasa lready been sa id and proved tha t filia l subjection and slaverya re not synonymous terms and tha t, on the contrary, it issubjection to God in a commun ity of rationa l beings.
“The most that can be sa id is tha t, owing to their na tura l
cha ra cter, they must pa ss through a school of apprenticeshipbefore graduating as master Christians. Well, what of that ?Before becoming a master shoemaker it is necessa ry to be an
apprentice for some yea rs ; and to become a master Christian , which is much more difficult, there should forsooth beno apprenticeship ? This apprenticeship it should forsoothbe possible to atta in without keeping the apprentices togetherunder the eyes of the missionary Forsooth it could bepossible to have them together if there is no one to give
them food and clothing ? Forsooth all that would be at
hand, even if they do not work under his directions ?Furthermore it is demanded that those who are baptizedshould immedia tely return to their haunts ! Are they thenrea lly men who had a lready been civilized enough in theirpagan state, and under government and laws, that theyshould be able at once, without risk of fa lling back into
pagan ism and barbarity, to appreciate the fullness of the
en joyment of civilized men and Christians ? The supremeauthorities, whether ancient or modern ,
‘u who have consentedto this apprenticeship of the Ca liforn ia Indians, certa in ly havenot been of this Opin ion . Nevertheless, this apprenticeshipneed not last a lways, but only until the time appointed by
the father who is the Supreme Government a lone. May
the hour when it is ordered be the right one ; but a sub
ordina te authority not empowered for that purpose willa lways be incompetent to effect it.
The fact a lone that Seiior de Echeandia misled the
neophytes and put weapons into the hands of the natives ,
‘ 1 Tha t is to say, Span ish and Mexican rulers.
‘ 3 Such a s Echeandia .
Fr. Duriu’s BrilliantNotes 43 7
who according to his confession are five times more numer
ous than the white people, not counting the vast number of
gentiles who a re in sight, (and the two classes— Indians and
whites— being such riva ls that they never will cling to each
other no matter what the libera l evangelists may preach) ,this a lone (which in other times would have cost him his
head ) excites fea r for the future, and furn ishes groundsto prophesy the most gloomy and melancholy things for Ca lifornia . Come up, come up hither,” Sefior, and you will seewith your own eyes that one part of these melancholy idea shave a lready passed the stage of prophecy to tha t of very
lamentable history. Come up and hear the lamenta tions of
a ll the white people in the pueblos and ranchos which a re
a lmost on the verge of ruin by rea son of the incessantrobberies of horses committed by apostate Christian Indiansin league with gen tiles, and which robberies, according to
the number given by some, from the beginning of your rule
till now exceed 3000 head. Come and hea r the insolencewith which those enemies a lready announce their plan to
the riva l class ‘ 5 that they will leave them without a horse fordefense and then a ttack persons. Their unpun ished insolence constrain s us to foretell tha t, before many yea rs, wesha ll see ourselves obliged to abandon our posts and reun iteat one point for common defense.
” I f in the face of thesethrea ts the overgrown Indian boys are freed absolutely, and
gradua te a s ma sters on the ground of the rights of ma n,
"
to which they have a lready given proofs of hav ing servedan appren ticeship, in truth the blood freezes and ha irs stand
3 3 M ission San Josewhere Fr. Durén penned his telling Notes.
3 4 Echea ndia’s.
3“The white people.
It is certa in tha t, if the turbulen t Indians had found an ableleader, the massa cres which have occurred east of the Coloradowould ha ve been ena cted in Ca liforn ia . It is due to the con trol ofthe missiona ries tha t such disa sters were averted many a time.
3 7 I n their “M anifiestos”the young Ca liforn ians w ith Echeandia
put much stress on this refuge of rogues. The Indian s were beginn ing to putthe lessons in to practice. On ly a leader wa s wan ted .
43 8 Missions and Missionaries of California
on ends at the bare thought of the eterna l memory whichwill rema in of the Schor in this unhappy land . The Sefior
says in his Plan, and it is a truth which our posterity willdeplore, tha t San Diego was the cradle of Ca liforn ia liberty,but a liberty which a lready has produced fruits of such
bitter prospects that it ought to terrify the humane and
sensitive heart of even the Seiior. Much guilt is due to some
of the territoria l deputies who permitted the Sefior to joinhis cause with that of the neophytes, because a ll beingCa liforn ians they should have foreseen tha t thus they furnished rea sons for the shedding of tears of their nativeland.
”
Note 10. On the words ‘ tha t the missiona ries liveengulfed in tempora l aflairs.
’
“It is public and notorious tha t we have to dea l withchildren who understa nd nothing but
‘
Padre dame,’
and
who on the other hand are very little friends of work tomerit the gift. This is not strange, ina smuch as in theirhea then state they have wha t is necessa ry without work, andthey have not the artificia l wants peculiar to ra tiona l society.
Hence, a ll tha t now perta ins to food and clothing a fter
ra tiona l methods must emanate from the hea d of the mis
siona ry and the hands of his children ; but these hands a re
so clumsy that without sa id head there would be nothing.
Therefore, this being absorbed in tempora l things is a neces
sa ry means to conserve the spiritua l, and in a certa in sense
it is indispensable, tha t is to say a diligent though modera teactivity, in order to procure food and clothing for theseunfortunates without leaving out of sight the spiritua l partChristian Doctrine and the Sacraments .
However, if by cha rging engulfment it is intended to
crea te the impression of anything odious aga inst the purityand honor of our sta te of life, then it is a vague proposi
‘ 3 It is most probable tha t, if Echeandia and the young Ca lifornian s had obta ined full control, anarchy would have reigned as in
Mexico. The Americans in 1 846 came none too ea rly.
“Fa ther, give me.
"
440 Missions and M issionaries of Ca lifornia
their absurdities and injustice. As the decree was never
enacted into a law, it is not necessa ry to quote them, but
in the preceding pages we find the chief source of a ll the
slanders published aga inst the devoted missionaries long a fterthe la st fria r had died at his post. Every honest studentof mission history w ill regard the refuta tion furn ished by Fr.
Duran as complete. Wha t he w ill marvel at is that mencould be so ma licious as to invent such cha rges aga inst missiona ries who wore out their life for the benefit of the
India ns, and tha t too without any temporal compensationwhatsoever. However, we must let the able and fea rless Fr.
Presidente conclude the unma sking of Echea ndia and his Californ ia friends in politics . He closes with these modest words
It seems to me that in this document I have given some
convincing proofs, I sha ll not say of the absurdity of wha tSchor De Echeandia broached ; I sha ll not venture to say
as much a s that ; but I only say they demonstrate that hisscheme is fraught w ith serious difficulties and impossibilities .
So it appea rs to me atfirst rea ding. I do notw ish to engage
in a prolonged dispute with the Set‘
ior. Let him do whatmay seem best to him. I have expressed my v iews, not so
much for the purpose of drawing his attention to them, as
for the instruction and advice of the missionary Fathers,tha t in no manner can they lend themselves to the cooperation which the Schor may request of them ; for tha t wouldbe subscribing to the ruin of the missions, and to the igno
miny of a ll the in juries, suspicions, and distrust expressed inthe Plan , which were by no means necessa ry if the grea terwelfa re Of the Indians a lone wa s intended . L et Schor Echeandia , then , do wha t he plea ses in the missions which hedominates ; ‘ 1 but let him not count on the cooperation of the
Fa thers. It is impossible that he himself should not perceivethe absurdity of such coopera tion . The missionary Fathersw ill serve as such, and in no other capacity, until the ecclesia stica l authority, in accord with the Supreme Governmentcommunicating to us through our Superiors, may see fit to
41 The four southern missions.
Fr. Durén’s BrilliantNotes
make the competent change, and while they are a llowed thenecessary food to support life.
" When this fa ils them theyhave the na tura l and divine right to shake the dust from theirsanda ls, and to go to labor wherever food is given them.
”
Fortuna tely Echeandia’
s intrigues were cut short by the
a rriva l of a new governor, as we sha ll see in the followingchapter. For a little while longer, then , the missions weresomewha t unmolested .
Yet the mission despoilers cla imed tha t these fria rs hoa rded upwea lth, a nd would not cede the ma nagemen t of the property inorder to live like lords ! The Rules forbade them to look beyondwha t wa s necessary to susta in life or to trouble for the morrow .
““M ien tra s se les den los a limen tos necesarios para subsistir ;y en fa ltfrndoles estén en el derecho na tura l y divino de sa cudir e1
polvo de su ca lzado é irse a traba ja r donde se los den . Fr. Duran“Nota s a un a Circula r 6 Bando In timado por el Sefior José M.
Echea ndia . M ision del Schor Sa n José, s 1 2 de Diciembre de
183“Sta . Barb. Arch.
CHAPTER IX .
New Governor.-Za ca teca n Francisca ns for Ca liforn ia .
—Mutiny.
Fr. Garcia Diego to Figueroa — The New Governor Arrives at
Mon terey.— Dea th of Fr. J03 6 Si nchez.— Fr. Duran Compla in s
to Figueroa .— Distribution of the Friars.
— Fr. Ga rcia Diego’sCircula r on Flogging — Fr. Gutierrez on the Same Subject.Va llejo Compla ins of the Zaca teca n Fria rs — Replies of Fr. Ga r
cia Diego and Fr. Rr‘
ibio.—Va llejo Slanders Fr. Mercado.
—The
La tter Suspended .— Investiga tion .
—Fr. Mercado Decla red I n
nocent— Va llejo H imself Accused.
ERAL Jose’ Figueroa , the newly- appointed governorUpper Ca liforn ia , on July 1 7th, 183 2 , sa iled from
Aca p q for San Blas, Ja lisco, in order to take aboard tenFranciscan friars. They were sent by the Missionary Collegeof Guadalupe, Zaca tecas , at the request of the Mexican Government for the purpose of taking charge of missions in the
northern part of Ca liforn ia which the Fernandinos had cededto them. These Fathers, a ll na tive Mexicans, were FranciscoGa rcia Diego y Moreno, as cornmissa ry, Ra fael Moreno, as
presidente, Berna rdino Pérez, José Maria Gutierrez, J. M .
Mercado, José Maria Gonzalez Rr'
rbio, Lorenzo Qurj as,Anton io Real, and José Maria Real .’ “These friars, says
Forbes,‘“were for some time deta ined atTepic, a town near
San Bla s, wa iting for a vessel, where I had an opportun ity ofseeing them. They were fresh from a convent of Zacateeas,where the rules were very strict. They all wore a habit ofthe coa rsest grey woolen cloth, their crown shaven , and san
1 Forbes, Ca liforn ia , 1 3 8, a nd Robinson , Life, 147, followedby H ittell, speak of eleven fria rs, which is an error.
Sotomayor, Colegio de Guada lupe, 273 ; 51 5; 52 3 ; Records of
the missions from Sa n M iguel north.
“Ca liforn ia ,” 1 3 8- 1 39.
This color preva iled a ll over the Spanish-speaking coun tries.
Some in Mexico wore a bluish habit, wherefore they were ca lledL os Fra iles Azules. The regula tion color, since Pope L eo XI II .,is brown .
444 Missions and Missiona ries of California
The distance by land is four hundred and fifty-six leagues,
an enormous distance to overcome even for those who havethe means. How then ought it not to terrify poor fria rswithout money, w ithout provisions, without servants, and
without an ima ls ? How should we not fear to make the
journey through un inhabited regions with the prospect of
perishing from hunger in these deserts ? All this, Genera l,may induce me to take the resolution of abandoning the
underta king and return ing to my College. In order that itbe clea r to the Supreme Government tha t we have obeyeda s fa r as we could, a nd even farther, and tha t it has not
been in our power to fulfill its wishes, I desire and supplica teYour Honor to give me the certifica te which I ask, inasmuchas you are awa re of our sufferings. We cannot continuehere any longer, because the bad clima te is threa ten ing our
hea lth. May it please etc. Fr. Francisco Ga rcia Diego.
“
It seems tha t Figueroa provided some means and per
sueded the fria rs to continue the journey. A month la ter,however, Fr. Ga rcia Diego aga in appea led to the genera lfrom a place which he ca lls Casita s. He compla ined tha tthey were runn ing short of funds because they were obligedto pay twelve rea les a day for the use of each mule.
’ Whatthe trouble was we can con jecture from wha t followed.
Figueroa from the Puerto de la Paz had meanwhile, September 24th, reported his plight to the government repre
sentative at Guaymas.
“I have aga in ,
”he writes,
“collected
the scattered troops to the number of thirty men , one a id-de
camp, two capta ins, two lieutenants, one surgeon , two treasury officia ls, and ten religious, a ll without provisions and
0Fr. Garcia to Figueroa , September 5th, 183 2 . Archb. Arch. ,
no. 2 106. The letter demon stra tes tha t these Mexican fria rs werenot en thus ia stic volun teers, but tha t they only yielded to pressurefrom the Mexica n Governmen t.7 The Mexica ns in Lower Ca liforn ia , it seems, tried to make a ll
they could out of the n ecessities of the poor friars. The instancestands not a lone. Fr. Ga rcia to Figueroa , October 6th, 183 2 .
“Archb. no. 2 107.
Gov . Figueroa ; the Zacatecan Fria rs 445
without any means wha tever.
” Eviden tly the governor hadreca lled the fria rs. With them and the troops he then tookthe ship at L a Paz about the end of November, or the forepart of December, for we have no deta ils of the emba rka tionor the voyage. Certa in it is tha t Figueroa w ith his retinueand the missiona ries landed at Monterey Tuesday, Janua ry1 5th, 1 83 3 . The Zacatecans were hea rtily welcomed by Fr.
Abella of San Ca rlos, and on the following Sunday, Janua ry20th, by direction of the new governor a Solemn High Masswa s offered up in thanksgiving for his sa fe a rriva l . Par
ticulars of this incident are a lso wanting in the variousa rchives.
On the 1 9th Figueroa ofl‘icially announced his appointmentto the offices of governor and milita ry inspector-genera l ofCa liforn ia to Fr. Presidente Duran . At the same time, incompliance w ith orders from the Mexican Government, herequested both Fa thers Duran and Garcia Diego to use theirinfluence over the inhabitants so that they might aga in takeup an orderly life, which goes to show tha t he expected some
resistance. They were a lso to in form the people tha t pasterrors were pa rdoned . Enclosing the genera l amnesty gra ntedby the Supreme Government , Figueroa concluded his com
mun ication thus : “I beg and charge Your Reverences to
have the amnesty and the proclamation which accompa niesit read on some festiva l day a fter holy Ma ss, so that thepeople may be informed and may be consoled by the exhor
tation which Your Reverences may see fit to give them.
”
The conciliatory tone of the letter ra ised the hopes of Fr.
I" ‘
Reuni los dispersos en numero de 30 hombres de tropa , nu
primer ayudan te, dos capitanes, dos ten ien tes, un ciruja no, dos em
pleados de Hacienda , y 10 religiosos, todos sin equipages y sin
recurso a lguno.
” Figueroa a ! Admin istrador de Guayrn a s, Septemher 2 4th, 183 2 . Ca l. Dep. St. Pap., Ben icia , Custom Housei, 3 5.
9 “Ca l. Arch. , Dep. St. Pap. iii, 2 57- 2 59 ; H ittell, u, 1 68 ; Bancroft,iii, 240. Figueroa , Janua ry 18th, a lso notified Echea ndia tha t he hadcome a s governor and comandan te milita r.
“Ca l. Arch. , Dep. St.
Pap. iii, 2 51 - 2 52 . This left the arch-plotter w ithout an occupationand w ithout an excuse for ta rrying in Ca liforn ia .
448 M issions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
will at once notice the anxious voice of our College, whichis in a dying condition , and the hopes it has placed in us
tha t we come to help continue its existence by means of
some who may be spared a fter the surrender of the northernmissions is effected. As far as I am concerned, no time willbe lost in this ma tter, and therefore I have written to the
Rev . Fr. Commissary Prefect of Zaca teca s 1“tha t he mightimmedia tely begin to select his religious, so tha t they maygradua lly lea rn the routine and the management of the missions, and tha t w ith the help of God we sha ll forthwith agree
a s to the best and quickest way of making the transfer. Isay that you w ill observe from the letters which I transmitto you the yearn ing voice of our beloved Fathers of the
College so tha t those of you, who a re able, may go to succor
them in their sad solitude while they are dwindling away ;for w ithout doubt it would be a breach of charity, and perhaps aga inst Religion a lso, if a fter this there should rema inthe least trace of bias or distrust of the well-known chari tyof those our venerable brethren .
“
“With much con fusion I con fess that on this point 1 " I feelsome weakness, which I acknowledge publicly, as I am doingnow to Your Reverences, but it is owing to the tyranny and
despotism of the newspapers, which, according to their cus
tom and in keeping with their priva te interests, monopolizethe control of public Opin ion , and fa lsely make the publicappear in furiated aga inst us, wherea s we have so many proofstha t this is a ba ld ca lumny by mea ns of which they haveendeavored to degrade the ma sses of the na tion which reta insthe best sentiments of benevolence and hospita lity towa rdsus.
”
1 5 Fr. Ga rcia Diego. Some letters must have passed betweenthem ; unfortun a tely none is preserved .
1 ° These fria rs were a ll Mexica n s. Fr. Duran strives ma n fully,a s wa s his duty, to stifle every feeling of na rrow na tiona lism.
1 7 Aversion on the ground of n a tiona lity resulting from the per
secution s endured at the ha nds of Mexicans, a s he poin ts out.1 3 “Yellow” editors a s well a s un scrupulous politica l demagogues
seem to have been in evidence then just as now.
Gov . Figueroa ; the Zacatecan Friars 449
Under this supposition , filled with deep gra titude towardsthe mass of the Mexican na tion , especia lly towards the Fathers of our College, and wishing to coopera te for their con
solation as well as I am able to do, I say to Your Reverences tha t no one of those who survive and intend to departfrom this territory may hope to obta in from me permissionto proceed to any other place than to the College of San
Fernando. I would bewa il it a ll my life if I should cooperate to take away a single living stone from the mystica ledifice of that house, because it would appear to me enormous
ingra titude if, wherea s tha t commun ity has a lways sacrificeditself in order to assist and con sole the Fa thers of Ca liforn iaas far as it could,“ we should not be mindful of repaying itwith the same coin and not come to its a id in its extreme need.
I f any one, then , desires to return to Spa in , he must not dea lw ith me for that purpose ; he will first have to go to the College if Div ine Providence ha s prepa red this lot for him.
There he can weigh his intention , and take steps to carry itout if there should be any hope of accomplishing it. I am
conv inced, however, that such a one would have sufficientrea son for regret and tea rs during his whole life.
’0
“I am sorry tha t I have not at hand from Fr. Parrasa precious pa ragraph which is to the point ; but I remember
1 ’ It wa s the College which from 1 767 to this da te had tra inedand sen t a ll the missionaries to Ca liforn ia without receiving any
compensa tion from either the governmen t or the mission s . Moretha n tha t, the exhausted fria rs return ing from the mission s penn iless in every ca se were ma in ta ined at the College. All tha t theCollege ever received from its subjects in the missions wa s tha tsometimes it wa s a llowed to reta in dona tions ma de for holyMa sses to the Fa thers persona lly. As a rule, even this wen t in tothe Indian mission fund of the respective mission ary. Thus the
College was indeed the grea test benefa ctor of the Ca liforn ia miss ions and the most un selfish one. All the stories to the con tra ryfrom the a rch- preva rica tor Ma ria no Va llejo a re fabrica tions . The
College now had a right to expect tha t some of the men it hadtra ined, when substitutes were found, should return a nd preven tits extinction .
3 ° He would meet w ith disa ppoin tmen t in his mother coun try, a sFr. Durin now tries to show.
1 6
450 Missions and Missiona ries of Ca lifornia
that he closes the subject by telling the prela tes tha t theyneed never scruple to refuse permission to any religious,who, a fter spending severa l years in America , wan ts to returnto Spa in .
" However, I cannot help copying a pa ragraphfrom a letter of Don Anton io Cot, who writes from Limaunder da te of June l st, 1 83 2 , as follows :
‘
The day beforeyesterday I received a letter from Fr. Luis Ma rtinez da tedMadrid, October 8th, 183 1 . He relates to me tha t fromGenoa he passed over the sea to Ba rcelona , and tha t he con
tinued his journey to Madrid by way of Va lencia . He saystha t he cannot accustom himself either to the climate, lan
guage or manners, and tha t he finds it very strange to be
lacking the satisfaction of conversing with his friends . He
adds in the end that he does not know Madrid ; tha t, a fter
a man has spent thirty yea rs in America , he should never
think of returning to Europe.
’
“The other a rden t wish you find expressed in the appea l is
tha t some India n boys should be induced to go to Mexicofor the purposes pointed out.
" I believe that in time it willbe very wise to exhort the parents of white children to
think of sending their boys to be educated at some college ;I mean well-bred and ta lented boys, of course ; but theyshould first consult the College of San Fernando, and for
the transporta tion the Supreme Government. I expect tosend immediately four boys of this mission with the Fathers
who may have to depa rt. I hope that some of Your Rev
It is paragraph 568, tom. 1 1 , p . 171 , of the Gobierno de LosRegula res,” Madrid, 1 783 .
“Que jamas formen eserr
'
rpulo de habernegado la licencia i un religioso, que quiere volverse de las Pro
vincia s de India s. Yo he visto derramar a muchos de ellos ir
remediables ligrima s, y lo mismo ha de succeder 6. cua n tos venga nha sta el dia del Juicio.
”
Fr. Martinez could not blame himself ; he had not gone fromchoice.
3 3 Higher educa tion .
3 4There was no question about Indian boys who Fr. Duri n knew,
though in Mexico they seemed not yet to know, were unsuitablefor the time being. The Indians in Mexico differed en tirely fromthe Ca lifornians.
452 M issions and Missiona ries of California
received from the venerable decea sed themselves . May theyenjoy the vision of God. As for ourselves, my most belovedFa thers , let us think more of death than of life.
The transfer of the respective missions, according to the
records, was effected as follows
San Francisco Solano. Fr. Buenaventura Fortuni retiredto San Luis Rey, and Fr. José de Jesus Maria Gutiérreztook his place.
San Rafael. Fr. Tomas Eleuterio Esténaga removed to
San Ga briel ; Fr. Jesus Ma ria Vésquez del Mercado suc
San Francisco de Asis . Fr. Estén aga , who a lso had at
tended this mission , was replaced by Fr. Jose' Lorenzo de laConcepcion Quija s.
San José M ission . Fr. Na rciso Duran , the presidente and
v ice-comisario of the Fernandinos, took up his qua rters at
Santa Ba rbara , where Fr. Anton io Jimeno,however, na
ta ined charge. Fr. José Maria de Jesus Gonzalez Rt'
rbio
took his place.
Santa Clara . Fr. Jose' Viader withdrew to San JuanCapistrano and thus ga ve way to Fr. Garcia Diego, the com
isa rio-prefecto of the Zacatecans, with Fr. José Berna rdinoPérez a s secreta ry.
San Juan Bautista . Fr. Felipe Arroyo de la Cuesta wentto San Miguel, and Fr; Juan Moreno retired to PurisimaConcepcion . Fr. Anton io Anza r then took charge.
Santa Cruz. Fr. José Joaquin Jimeno was transferred toSanta Inés, whereupon Fr. Anton io Suarez del Rea l beeameresident missionary.
5 an Carlos. Fr. Ramon Abella was sta tioned at San LuisObispo, and Fr. Ra fael de Jesus Moreno, the pres idente of
the Zacatecans, took his place.
In a ssigning his subjects to the different missions , Fr.
Ga rcia Diego on February 1 3 th, 183 3 , made the following
” “Sta . Ba rb. Arch. ut supra note 26. All the Fa thers in sign
ing the circula r expressed their assen t to Fr. Durfin’
s views.
Gov . Figueroa ; the Zacatecan Friars 453
statement : Inasmuch as the Supreme Government of theMexican republic ha s intrusted to our College some of the
missions of Upper Ca lifornia , which hitherto the worthy sons
Of the College of San Fernando have admin istered with such
honor ; and it having been agreed between the venerable discretories of both Colleges that there should be delivered tous the missions of the north, as appea rs from orders whichI have shown to the Very Rev . Father Presidente Fr. Na r
ciso Duran , therefore, etc.
”
Having heard of the agreement made between the Fernandinos and Domin icans obliging ea ch missionary to celebra tetwenty holy Ma sses for the repose of the soul of any Fatherwho died in the missions, Fr. Garcia Diego in a circular proposed tha t his brethren form a like union with both the
Fernandinos and Domin icans. This, he expla ined, would re
sult in four hundred and twenty holy Masses for each one
who‘died at his post. He ca lled for an expression of Opin
ion ou the pa rt of the Zacatecanos. The plan was probablyadopted, though there is no reference to it in the records .
‘ 1
Though,including Fr. Anton io Anzar, who had come to
Ca liforn ia ea rlier, but now joined his brethren in the north,there were ten Zacatecan fria rs in the territory, they wouldnot accept more than the eight missions just enumera ted.
“I have received an order from my College,”Fr. Duran
writes to Governor Figueroa more than a yea r a fter theirarriva l,
“to transfer ten missions to the Rev . Brethren of
Zaca tecas, but they would not take more than eight." It
seems to me tha t the hour has a rrived for Your Honor toact as media tor, so that they may accept the missions of
Soledad and San Anton io ; for they have three religious whomight serve them w ithout ca using a vaca ncy anywhere.
“ I
Fr. Garcia Diego, Circula r,” June 1 2 th July 4th, 183 3 . Libro de Pa tentes de la M ision de San José.” See vol. i, p. 482 .
” “YO recibi orden de mi Colegio de en trega r diez misiones i
los RR. Herma‘ nos Zacatecanos, y no ha n querido recibir, sinoocho.
”
I n tha t ca se there must have been eleven Za ca tecanos in the
territory. We have discovered no trace of this eleven th friar. See
note 8.
454 Missions and Missiona ries of Ca lifornia
say nothing to our friend the Rev . Comisario,“ because Ihave done so many times, but he takes no action . Not on ly,it seems to me, ought the Guada lupe Brethren prepa re to
accept the missions mentioned, but others a s well." Thensome of the Fernandinos could retire ; for they have had
their permit for years.
” Governor Figueroa probably diduse his influence ; for we find that Fr. Mercado occasional lybaptized at Soledad from September 1 6th, and at San An
ton io regula rly from December 9th,The Zacatecan friars soon discovered tha t their lines had
not fa llen in plea san t places. Their inexperience, a certa indegree of prejudice felt by the neophytes a s well as the Ca liforn ians, and other difficulties caused no little vexation . The
worst trouble a rose from the now almost unmanageable char
acter of the Indians, many of whom had not been slow to
grasp the mean ing of Echeandia’
s machina tions. Neverthe
less the new missionaries, as well as the Fernandinos at the
southern missions, were expected to furn ish supplies to the
soldiery at the presidios just as they had done for twentyyears, w ithout receiving any other payment for the goodsdelivered than worthless dra fts on Mexico. Some of the
missionaries found themselves compelled to permit the mayordomos to use the la sh in order to make the Indians feeltha t, even if Echea ndia and his pupils had procla imed the
neophytes free, this could not deliver them from the neces
sity of work. Mariano Va llejo, who a s we sha ll see wa s theloudest in compla ining that his troops received no suppliesfrom the missions, was a lso the loudest in accusing the new
3 4Fr. Ga rcia Diego of the Zaca tecan a.
“The Span ish Fa thers, a lso ca lled Fern andinos, were eager to
leave the terri tory, Va llejo and his clique to the con tra ry notwithstandin g. They on ly wa ited for substitutes.
3 ° Fr. DurAn to Figueroa , San ta Ba rba ra , July 2 2 nd, 1834. Archb.
no. 2 182 .
3 7 The venerable Fr. Sa rria refused to leave the few India ns sur
viving, though through infirmity sca rcely able to a ttend to theirwa n ts.
‘ 3 Registers of Soledad and Sa n An ton io.
456 Missions and Missiona ries of Ca lifornia
tion to use the la sh in pun ishing the neophytes. I f to cor
rect them,
”he wrote,
“the means of sweetness and sweet
measures, which must a lways be preferred, are not sufficient,Your Reverences may employ another kind of chastisementfrom among those that are not prohibited, like the lock-upand others tha t are not so defaming and hurtful as thisone.
”The Fr. Prefectof the Zacatecans took high ground,
but the reasons adduced show tha t he wa s very much of a
theorist, who had no experience with Indian missiona ry work,in asmuch as he held that, since the Apostles always treatedthe converts with gentleness, the same means would be quitesufficient to produce the same effect with the rude natives of
Ca lifornia . The subjects in both cases were so entirely different tha t Fr. Garcia must have consulted theories rather
than experience and the advice of those who had been in
the min istry for a genera tion . The venerable founder of the
mission s in Lower Ca liforn ia and his Jesuit colaborers
the gentle Fr. Serra and his band of compassiona te fria rs ;the tender Fr. L a suen , and others down to the wise and
sympathetic Fr. Duran , never would have introduced or con
tinned the lash for stubborn culprits, if sweetness could haveinduced the lazy Ca liforn ian savages to ea rn their living bymeans of labor ; or if any amount of rea son ing, as Fr. Diegosuggested, could have made them dress decen tly and refra infrom mora l disorders. At a ll even ts, the circular wa s ill
advised and unkindly besides, in that without thorough ex
amination it practica lly condemned the time-honored and
on ly effective methods of the Jesuits, Franciscans, and DO
min icans. Had the Indians appea led for such a change in
the system of pun ishments, and had they been amen able to
other means, or promised to profit by them, we should un
hesita tingly approve the circular ; but the Indians themselvesnever compla ined about the rigor of corpora l pun ishment,
“This wa s folly. The India n courted such a mea sure in orderto be relieved from work . He wa s not deprived of his mea ls in
the lock-up. Anything else he could therefore dispen se with.
‘ 0Fr. Ga rcia , “Circular,” July 4th, 1 83 3 .
“Archb. no. 2 147.
‘ 7 See vol. i, pt. i, p . 1 3 8 ; 196 ; 2 62 .
Gov . Figueroa ; the Zacatecan Friars 457
which in their eyes did not degrade any more than other
pena lties, until the Echeandia s, the Picos, the Va llejos, etc.,
not from sympa thy with the neophytes but out of spite forthe missionaries, bega n to disseminate their insincere notionson equa lity among the na tives.
A letter written on the subject by one of Fr. Ga rcia Diego
’
s own friars puts the ma tter in such a clea r light that itis given here entire.
“1 must say,
”Fr. José Gutierrez re
plies from San Francisco Solano to the governor’
s despa tchof May 1 3 th, 183 3 ,
“tha t in keeping w ith my cha racter myway of proceeding with the neophytes is ra ther too indul
gent . I now see tha t it ha s brought down upon this mission
Signa ture of Fr. Jose Gutierrez.
some disorders which formerly had not occurred . The In
dians stay away from holy Mass. They do not come to be
instructed in their Christian duties . They do not attend totheir work though there is so much to be done. They run
away to the mounta ins and stay there fifteen , n ineteen , and
more days without letting me know . I f we do away withflogging, with wha t pun ishment does Your Honor wishthese transgressions to be chastised ? Will it suffice to pun
ish them w ith a mere reprimand ? It is pla in to me thatthey despise this, and so it is useless, for a fterwa rds theyridicule the Fa ther and return to their evil habits . Theseresults, I am sure, were not reported to Your Honor by theone who elicited your officia l note to which I am now replying. It is true that I do order some flogging, but veryseldom and with modera tion , a fter I have overlooked manythings in the one who deserves the pun ishment .“It is not the same thing to contend with uncivilized as
with civilized people. Law directs the latter ; rea son en
458 Missions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
lightens them ; shame curbs them ; and not unfrequently thepoin t of honor stimula tes them. It is not thus, however, withthose who recogn ize no law, whom reason does not influ
ence, whom neither the poin t Of honor nor shame, nor a ny
thing else holds in check, except fea r. This it is which flogging effects. TO this the Indians have been accustomed fromthe founding of the mission s. As they a re deficient in un
derstanding, they comprehend as good on ly that which in
them is not cha stised, and as evil that which is prohibitedunder pa in of sa id castigation .
“ Nevertheless, Your Honoron this account must not think that I desire to fill the position of flogger ; that is perhaps the last in which I wouldtake delight ; but I want to make it ev ident to you tha t itdoes this mission in my charge no good to deprive it of
said pena lty, unless another is substituted. By a ll means,
let it be moderated ; and this, a s far a s I am awa re, I havea lready done.
“The decree of August 17th, 183 3 , and the government
order of August 1 2th, 182 2 , which Your Honor quotes, hold
good and speak on ly in connection w ith civilized m ph in
the towns of our Mexica n Republic who possess abundantintelligence for correcting and improving themselves ; butthey do not concern these neophytes, who lacking the menta llight in which the former abound are but just beginn ing to
emerge from their politica l and religious infancy in which,
a s is evident, they still are.
From a ll that ha s been sa id Your Honor will understandmy method and my sentiments on the subject, and you willatthe same time be convinced that my manner of proceedingis regulated by the compassion which anirnates me for thesepoor people upon whom I look as upon my little children ,
and likewise as upon Mexicans like myself .
“In conclusion ,
if Your Honor, a fter due consideration ,
“Como esca sos de luces, solo aprehenden por bueno lo que no
se les ca stiga ; y por ma lo lo que se les prohibe median te del dichocastigo.
” This wa s the experience of the missiona ries from the
beginn ing, and according to this fa ct they had to choose theirmethods.
460 M issions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
deeply tha t this ensign sends such bad reports to YourHonor.
”Ten days later the Fr. Comisa rio aga in wrote
“With rega rd to the troops, I sha ll furn ish wha t a id I can ,
but they will see for themselves tha t if anything is lackingit is because the missions do not have it.”
Fr. Gonzalez Rr'rbio was next pestered by the irrepressibleVa llejo. The Father from Mission San José, as per receiptof Va llejo, forwa rded sixty fanega s of corn , ten fanegas of
horsebea ns, two fanegas of lentils, two fanega s Of ga rbanzos,ha lf a fanega of pea s, and twenty dolla rs’ worth of soap.
The supplies probably were not sa tisfactory, for the goodFa ther found it necessa ry to tell Figueroa :
“This, Sir, isthe sma ll remittance which I was able to make to the pre
sidio of San Francisco. Let not their exaggerated declamations disturb you. There will be no lack of some one to
picture a misery to Your Honor which he perhaps does not
suffer ;“5 but even though it be so, I am not the cause of it
a fter I did what I could ; nor does it seem to me a demeritfor which with ma lignant pen I should be indirectly blackened.
”
The situation closer to the headqua rters of the governor,
at Mission San Ca rlos, was even more deplorable.
“YourHonor knows,
”Fr. Ra fael Moreno writes to Figueroa ,
“how
very few Indians this mission conta ins, and ha lf of these
are inva lids through age or from infirmity. Moreover some
5’ Va llejo a ga in . Such wa s his rank .
5 ' Fr. Ga rcia to Figueroa , June 1 5th, 183 3 . Archb. Arch. , no.
2 1 3 9.
5 ‘ Fr. Garcia to Figueroa , June 2 5th, 183 3 . Archb. Arch. , no.
2 144.
55 I n three months Fr. Rubio had a lready pen etra ted the w indyVa llejo.
5° Fr. Rirbio to Figueroa , June 2 2 nd, 183 3 . Archb. Arch. , no.
2 141 .
57 Perha ps 1 50 souls a ltogether, if tha t many. Reports cea sedwith 1 83 1 .
Gov . Figueroa ; the Zacatecan Friars 46 1
have run away, and others, the ma jority, will not work even
if they are cha stised.
” 5°
“Va llejo was a lso prominently concerned as compla inantin the troubles with Padre Mercado of San Ra fael,
” thusBancroft introduces the story of an outrage aga inst anotherZacateean fria r. Va llejo and his troops must have behavedthemselves with little consideration , if, as he cla ims, the missionary ca lled him and his men
“a pack of thieves.
”In turn
Va llejo cha rged the fri ar with fa lsehood, which from the
lips of the ensign sounds ra ther awkwa rd. It is pla in thatlittle love was lost between them, and Va llejo seems to have
determined to revenge himself on the fria r who da red to
resist his encroachments. On November 20th, 183 3 , by orderof Fr. Merca do it was asserted an unprovoked a ttack hadbeen made on a band of friendly gen tiles, twenty-one of
whom were killed, many wounded and twenty eaptured.
Va llejo reported to the governor, who on December 9th indignantly demanded that Fr. Ga rcia should investiga te and
pun ish the missiona ry. He then sent Va llejo to liberate thecaptives and to pacify the savages of the district . In doingthis Va llejo dila ted much on the wickedness of the missiona ry and the goodness of the governor.
“
Fr. Prefect Ga rcia without further examina tion suspendedFr. Merendo, summoned him to San ta Clara , and announced
his intention of sending the accused to the College for tria l,which wa s a very hasty proceeding indeed . The accusedmissionary seems to have silently acquiesced, but probablysuggested an investiga tion . At a ll events Fr. Garcia des
patched Fr. Bernardino Pérez and Fr. Lorenzo Quij as to
San Ra fael in order to ascerta in the facts on the spot. The
result was tha t the Fr. Comisa rio-Prefecto seven monthslater reported to Figueroa a s follows : “
Fr. Pérez ca lledfourteen witnesses, who, a fter swea ring to tell the truth in
“9 “otros, que son mi s, no quieren traba ja r aunque se les ca stigue .
Fr. Moreno to Figueroa , June 14th, 183 3 .
“Archb. no. 2 1 3 8.
59 Ba ncroft, iii , 3 2 2 -3 24.
462 Missions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
wha t should be asked, declared that Fr. Mercado was innocent, and that he had taken no part whatever in the unfor
tunate disaster which caused the dea ths in the v icinity of
the mission . Having hea rd this I relea sed the friar from
the arrest in which I held him at this Mission Of SantaClara . I ra ised the suspension to celebra te holy Mass, andsha ll decla re him worthy of continuing in the min istry.
”
Signa ture of Pr. J . l l . Mercado.
Thus another dia tribe aga inst priests and monks, ofH ittell is so fond, as usua l, proved to have no basis.
“ Whatamends the prevarica tor Mariano Va llejo made to his innocent victim, is not on record . He wa s not scrupulous on
tha t line even in his old age, as we sha ll have occasion to
show in time. The loud-mouthed Va llejo should himselfhave employed a little kindness to his own men , instead of
fa lsely accusing devoted missionaries of cruelty ; for he washeld in so little esteem by his subordina tes that the soldiersatthe presidio of San Francisco, for instance, sta rted a sma llrevolt for the purpose of ridding themselves of their pom
“Declara ron que dicho Pa dre Mercado estir inocen te, y no tuvopa rte a lgun a en la s desgracia s de la s muertes, etc. LO cua l vistopor mi le quité a l arresto en que lo tuve en esta M ision de San taCla ra ; le leva n té la suspension de celebra r, y lo decla re capa zpa ra con tinua r en cl min isterio, etc.
”Fr. Ga rcia to Figueroa , June
l 6th, 1834.
“Archb. 1 1 0. 2 1 72 .
‘ 1 See H ittell, ii, 1 73 - 178.
CHAPTER X .
Cha nges at San Fernando College— Fr. Durén Vice-Prefecto.
Dea th and Departure of Some M issiona ries.— Governor Figueroa .
— Echea ndia’s Specia l Pleading — M in ister Alaman Repudia tes
Echeandia’
s Decree.- Figueroa ’s Genera l In struction s.
— He I s
not Friendly.— Ca liforn ia Rid of Echea ndia .
— Figueroa ’s ColoredReport— H is Emancipa tion Reglamen to.
—Ba ndini’
s Scheme.
Fr. Duran ’
s Distressing Report.— Ema ncipa ted India ns Veritable Slaves — H is Second Report— H is Reflections on the Reglaman ta — His Circula r.
— The Fria rs not Absolute Ma sters.
EFORE we continue to clea r up the dense obscurity whichthe Ca liforn ians have succeeded in throwing around their
assaults on the missions and missiona ries, it will be naces
sa ry to take note of some changes at the College of San
Fernando which a ffected the friars on the Pacific Coast .Unfortunately, persona l correspondence and other documentsconcerning them grow more sca rce a s the yea rs pass by.
The dishea rtened and aged fria rs, never fond of dilating on
wha t rela ted to themselves, write less than ever, so tha t itis at times diflicult to even fix the da tes with certa inty.
Fr. Vicente de Sarr1a , who had been elected comisa rio
prefecto on May 2 4th, 1824, for a term of six years,‘ hadno successor in Ca liforn ia . In June 1830 a comisario-
pre
fecto was, indeed, chosen in the person of Fr. IldefonsoArreguin , but he continued to reside at the College. As his
representative, or vice-comisa rio in the missions, Fr. Arreguinappointed Fr. Narciso Duran , probably about June 1 83 1 . Ithad been the intention to name Fr. Ex-Presiden te Jose Simchez, but, a s the la tter had frequently expressed his loathingfor a ny office, the appointment went to the Fr. Presidente.
’
The news fa iled to reach Ca liforn ia till ea rly in September
1 “San ta Barba ra Archives.
3 Fr. Arreguin to Fr. Si nchez, July 2ud, 183 1 . Sta . Barb . Arch.
Figueroa “Emancipates” Neophytes 465
1 83 2 . It is from the 1 8th of this month tha t Fr. Duransigns himself Presidente y Vice-Prefecto
At the College of San Fernando, in the first chapter heldin June 1 829 under the new regula tions prov ided by the
Pope to meet the conditions inaugurated by the revolution istsof Mexico, Fr. José Maria Guzman , ex-
guardian of the
College of Guada lupe, Zaca tecas, was elected gua rdian . Threeyea rs la ter, June 1 6th, 1 83 2 , the six surviving Fa thers, theVery Rev . José Maria Ca lderon of the Province of the HolyGospel presiding, reelected Fr. Guzman . The discretos or
councillors chosen were Fathers José Hida lgo, Juan Amoros,An ton io Peiri, and José Viader, a ll but the first-named re
siding in Ca liforn ia .
“ Evidently the commun ity struggledha rd to preserve the institute and organ iza tion . During hissecond term Fr. Guzma
'
m visited Rome in order to press theca use of the Bea tification of Fr. Anton io Ma rgil, Apostleof Texa s and Guatema la .
“ In his absence Fr. Jose’ Hida lgoacted as presidente of the College until the next chapterwhich could not be convened until December 3 rd, 183 6. On
this occasion Fr. Hida lgo was elected guardian . The dis
eretos named were Fathers Ildefon so Arreguin , Pedro Cabot,Marcos Anton io de Victoria , and Joaquin Taboada . Fr.
Cabot and Fr. Victoria lived in Ca liforn ia .
“ In 1 83 7 Fr.
Guzman returned from Europe and the Holy Land, and on
July 1 8th, 1840, became guardian of the College of Guadalupe, Zaca tecas "
During the forepa rt of the decade Fr. Duran fortunatelycontinued atthe head of the San Fernando missionaries . He
was the .man most capable to cope with the difl‘iculties whichnow approached thick and fast. The office of comisa rio
“San ta Barba ra Archives.
”
‘ Tabula Capituli, June 1 6th, 183 2 . Sta . Barb. Arch5 Fr. Arreguin to Fr. Duran , October 8th, 183 7. Sta . Ba rb.
Arch.
”
Tabula Capituli, December 3 rd, 1836. Sta . Barb. Arch. BothFa thers died in tha t same yea r.
Sotomayor, “Historia del Colegio de Guada lupe, p. 644.
466 Missions and Missionaries of California
prefecto was revived, probably at the chapter of 1 836, and
Fr. Duran appointed to fill the ' position . At a ll events, wefind tha t Fr. Arreguin on October 8th, 183 7, addresses himas such in reply to questions concerning the duties of a
prefecto.
“
Two missiona ries by dying at this period passed beyondthe reach of gra sping politicians and military chicanery. Fr.
Luis Gil y Taboada died at Mission San Luis Obispo on
December 1 5th, 183 3 ; and Fr. F. X . Uria of San Buenaventura followed him at San ta Barba ra on November 5th,
The ranks of the Femandinos were further weakened by the depa rture of Fr. José Viader. 1 11 hea lth and
the inevitable ruin of the missions sta ring in his face determined him to retire to the College with the approba tion of
Fr. Duran .
“_
He was the only one besides Fr. Juan Cabot 1 ‘
who ava iled himself of the invita tion to go to the assistanceof the dying College. The others, fifteen in all, died at theirpost ; but this is a ma tter perta in ing to the loeal record.
Return ing to the new governor, we find that when JoséFigueroa in Janua ry, 1 83 3 , landed at Monterey, he expectedto encounter difficulties in obta in ing possession of the govern
men t ; but Capta in Agustin Zamorano, who had been recog
nized as the legitimate tempora ry ruler from San Fernandoto Sonoma , that is to say, by three out of the four presidia ldistricts, promptly yielded to the regular appointee. UnlikeEcheandia and his young Ca liforn ian adherents, the capta inhad given sa tisfaction to the missiona ries, as well as to the
Span iards and numerous English and American residents. AtMonterey the foreigners had actua lly organ ized a volunteermilitary company in order to susta in Zamorano aga inst therevolters headed by Pico and Echeandia . Figueroa showed
0Fr. Arreguin to Fr. Duran , October 8th, 183 7. Sta . Barb.
Arch.
”
“Dea th Registers of M ission s San Luis Obispo and Sa n ta Barba ra .
1 ° Fr. Viader to Figueroa , July 9th, 183 3 . Archb. no. 2 149.
1 1 He retired in 1 83 5.
468 Missions and Missionaries of California
ingly harped as their excuse for attacking the mission sys
tem.
“
“The enclosed document, which I transmit to Your Honor
by order of the Vice- President,” 1“wrote Min ister of Rela
tions L r'rca s Alaman to Figueroa , is a copy Of the bando published by Lieutenant-Colonel José Ma ria de Echea ndia in hiscapacity of jefe politico of Upper Ca liforn ia . Although itsobject is sa id to intend putting into eflect the decrees of the
Span ish C6rtes of September 1 3 th, 1 81 3 , relative to the mis
sions which existed ten yea rs, and which should immediatelybe surrendered to the respective bishops, it is to be notedthat Echeandia did not only notproceed in a matter so deli
cate in obedience to the law on the subject, but, taking a
course opposite and contrary to the decree of September I 3 th,
he established agents, of whom the law knows nothing,in
order that they might interfere with the administration ofthe temporalities, notwithstanding that the law requires that
the I ndians should themselves designate those who a re to
manage their haciendas, and that the la nds should be divided
among them.
“ This right, without consulting the SupremeGovernment, Echeandia in sa id bando has taken away in such
a flagrant manner as even to determ ine the persons who sha ll
possess the right, and among whom the apportionment shouldbe made, and to a llot the live- stock of ca ttle and sheep,
byappointing an admin istra tor in whose charge the buildings,
1 5 Despite the ev idence, Bancroft a nd H ittell in sist tha t the decree of the C6rtes justified the “
secula riza tion” of the missions inthe ma nner it wa s pla nned and ca rried out. Alamfm’
s letter toFigueroa must forever silence such w ild a ssertions, and brand theperpetra tors a s robbers pure and simple.
1 ‘ Acting Presiden te Bustama n te.
1 7 “Desde luego se adv ierte que Echeandia no solo no ha pro
cedido en a sun to tan delicado con sujecion it la ley de la ma teria .
sino que, toma ndo nu rumbo opuesto y con tra rio que desconoce el
decreto de 1 3 de Setiembre, establece agentes pa ra que in tervenga nen la admin istra cion de los bienes, siendo a si que la ley quiere quelos Indios sea n los que habia n de nombra r los que admin istren sus
hacienda s, y que se distribuyan los terrenos en tre 3 1 etc.
”
Figueroa “Emancipates” Neophytes 469
the live stock, and a ll the rest mentioned in the bando shouldbe. Besides this, he assigned the subsistence which the M ission Father is to receive ; but the most remarkable thing is
that he has drawn up these regu la tions w ithout consultingthe Supreme Government, a s he was obliged to do by rea son
of the direct dependence in which the territory of Ca liforn iais ; nor is there any obstacle for taking the proper steps withthe bishop.
”The min ister then ordered Figueroa to restore
the missions to the position they had held before Echeandia ’sdecree was published, in case it had to any extent beenobeyed . He was nevertheless to study the question , to ascer
ta in which missions might be in condition for secula rizationaccording to the law of 181 3 , and to report the most ex
pedient plan .
“
Figueroa received his genera l instructions from anotherCabinet M in ister, Ortiz Mona sterio. They a lso bea r da te of
May 17th, 183 2 . Article 4 of these instructions rea ds as fol
lows : “It being a ma tter of the grea test necessity tha t theneophytes rise from the state of aba sement to which theyfind themselves reduced,” you w ill cause to be distributedto such as a re fitted for it such fields of the mission landsas they may be capable of cultivating, in order tha t they maythus become fond of labor and may go on acquiring property ; but there must be kept undistributed the lands neces
sary for the support of Divine Worship, schools , and otherobjects of common utility. By this mea ns, for the missionsystem another may be gradua lly substituted more adaptedto the interests of the territory, the influence of the mis
sionaries may be lessened “1 until they reta in on ly the spiritua l admin istration , and thus in fact the missions may be
1“Alamén to Figueroa , M ay 17th, 1 83 2 . Archb. Arch. , no.
2 1 54;“Ca l. Arch. Missions Colon . i i, 1 1 5- 1 1 7.
1 ’ Ortiz here shows tha t he understood the situa tion poorly.
Galvez in Lower Ca liforn ia had en terta ined the same Utopianv iew , but wra thfully a cknow ledged his error before leaving the
pen in sula .
‘ 1 This wa s the rea l object of a ll schemers. However, the fria rshad no Objections if the India ns suflered nothing.
470 Missions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
secula rized. Yet for a ll this, it is necessa ry to act with
prudence and tact, so as to cause no discontent among the
missiona ries, with whom ca re is to be taken to preserve the
grea test ha rmony.
” TO tha t end are enclosed private letterswritten by the v ice-president to some of the most influentia lfria rs.
” 2“ Article 5 directs tha t Indian youths should be
selected and sent to Mexico for educa tion in order to tra inthem for the priesthood .
“
From these two documents we may infer tha t, if the fa irminded policy of the Bustamante admin istra tion had con
tinned in Mexico, most probably in time, to the intense reliefof the fria rs, a secularization of the missions would have
gradua lly taken place on the ba sis marked out so pla in lyby the decree of September 1 3 th, 1 81 3 . The lands wouldhave been secured to the neophytes, and this was a ll for
which the missionaries contended ; but a confisca tion as con
templated by Echeandia and the covetous Ca liforn ians, and
as was eventua lly inflicted upon the Indians, ,would never havedisgraced its authors. Un fortuna tely, sound and honest judgment regarding matters of Religion and justice ra rely preva iled for a long period in the government circles of the so
ca lled republic. Sca rcely had Min ister Alaman ’
s cornmuni
cation reached its destina tion , when rabidly irreligious and
unscrupulous elements seized control of the government, andthey soon granted full power for the devastation of the mis
This at lea st showed good w ill on the part of the a dmin istration . I f Figueroa a nd the Ca liforn ian s had been simila rly disposed, and if the Ca liforn ians especia lly had been disin terested, anunderstanding w ith the fria rs could have been reached, since theseFa thers wen t more tha n ha lf way to meet their enemies on eon
ciliatory terms.
1”Figueroa ’s Instrucciones Genera les.
"— “Ca l. Arch., M ission s
Colon . 1 1 , 1 1 3 - 1 14. For the letters see chap. ii, this section .
3 ‘ Ortiz evidently knew nothing about the Ca liforn ia India n char
acter. It wa s possible to make priests of Mexica n Indian s, and
ma ny there became priests ; but a fter more tha n a cen tury of workamong the Ca liforn ia na tives, there is little hope of succeeding onthis poin t. It was more hopeless at Figueroa ’s time.
472 M issions and Missionaries of California
dishonor sown by him will never be extirpa ted so long as
there rema ins a mission to rob, or a treasury to plunder.
”
Meanwhile, in obedience to his instructions, Figueroa prepa red to investiga te the situa tion at the missions, first inthe south where Echeandia had en joyed full sway. He
sta rted out in the la tter pa rt of June, 183 3 . Wha t he saw
and hea rd convinced him tha t any genera l measure of secu
larization would be ruinous, and that a change of system mustbe brought about very gradua lly. In reporting his conclu
sions to the Minister of Relations on July 20th, Figueroadescribed the neophytes as children , with a natura l predilection for the customs of their ancestors and for a savage lifewithout work. During their existence at the missions theyhad lea rned to cultivate the soil imperfectly, to practice some
rude industries, and to manage horses, besides receiving a
slight and superficia l religious instruction .
” They had beenkept intentiona lly in the most abject ignorance,“ as the mis
siona ries had a lways opposed their educa tion .
“ I f freed at
once from their degrading servitude ‘ 1 they would soon from
proprietors become beggars, a fter having ba ttered their pos
’7 “Life in Ca liforn ia ,” 149.
‘ 3 A ra ther sweeping and ha sty judgmen t. Figueroa had but juststa rted out to investiga te. Then it would be in teresting to kn owwha t he expected of the neophytes. We ha ve a lready shown (vol.
i, 99) tha t the Doctrina Cristian a , which the converts lea rnedthroughout Upper and Lower Ca liforn ia , which wa s recited every
day, a nd which wa s expounded more or less deeply every Sunday,
comprised much more tha n modern critics know of Religion , and
much more than Figueroa or his Ca liforn ia advisers Observed. The
possibly superior religious knowledge possessed by them was not
in evidence in their respect for the mora l law . From the conductof the mission enemies the Indian s certa in ly could not lea rn wha tChristian ity is. For this the reader may consult Bancroft’s biographica l sketches.
A pa lpa ble ca lumny. It shows the a n imus of Figueroa .
W The preceding chapters abundan tly prove this another ca lumny.‘ 1 Figueroa seems to have blindly relied upon Echeandia
’s ta les .
No wonder Bancroft admits tha t Figueroa ’s views were for the
most pa rt iden tica l w ith those of Echea ndia .
” iii, 3 2 7.
Figueroa “Emancipates” Neophytes 473
sessions for liquor and gewgaws. They would then returnto the wilderness and join the wild Indians in stea ling ca ttleand horses for sa le to New Mexica ns and foreigners.
“
A few days previous, July 1 5th, the governor neverthelessin formed Fr. Presidente Duran , and on July 2 7th Fr. Pre
feet Garcia Diego, tha t a ll qua lified neophytes must be freedfrom missionary control, though the partition of lands atMission San Diego would be on ly pa rtia l and provisiona l. He
then requested the two Fa thers to express their views on the
subject of “emancipation butwithout awa iting their replies,nay, on the same day, July 1 5th, Figueroa issued his Prevenciones Provisiona les, or regula tions for the gradua l
“ernan
cipation”
Of the mission Indians. They were to go intoeffect provisiona lly un til approved by the legisla tive assemblyand the Supreme Government, thus following the tactics of
Neve of yore, instead of first having them discussed and ap
proved . As w ill be seen , these regula tions were a ll good
enough in theory, but unsuited for the class of people whomit was pretended to benefit. It wa s like making a dress foran in fant from the measure of a giant, and therefore rankfolly. It thrust a degree of civiliza tion upon the half- savage
and childish na tives which it required centuries for even our
European ancestors to reach. The measure was thereforedoomed to fa ilure, even if the welfa re of the neophytes hadbeen its chief motive, which may be emphatica lly den ied .
However, let the reader judge for himself, whilst keeping inmind the cha racter of the Indians. The substance of the
twenty- four articles is accordingly reproduced as transla ted byBancroft.“l . The gefe
-politico will determine the number to be
emancipated in each mission , and the time atwhich it is to bedone, appointing the comisionados deemed necessa ry to ca rryout these Prevenciones . 2 . Those emancipa ted will be thosewho have been more than twelve yea rs Christians marriedor w idowers with children , know ing how to cultiva te the
soil or hav ing some trade, and hav ing‘application to work.
’
‘ 3 Ba ncroft, iii, 3 28.
474 Missions and Missiona ries of Ca lifornia
The selection is to be made by the comisionados in con
junction w ith the misiona rics of eachmission . 3 . The eman
cipated are to rema in subordinate to the respective authorities,and to the Padres of the mission who w ill exercise over
them the functions of pa rish priest in a ll that concerns thespiritua l admin istra tion . 4. The emancipated will receiveseed for their first sowing, and for a yea r the customa rymission ra tions ; but during tha t time they must assist themission during planting and ha rvest, and at other times as
they may be summoned— not all at a time— by the mis
sionary and the a lca lde acting in concert and so arrangingthe tasks that neither the mission work nor that of privateindividua ls sha ll sufier. 5. The comisionados in accord withthe missionaries will select a fitting spot as nea r the coastas possible, and between the missions on the highway, wherethe emancipa ted may form a pueblo if there be a suflicient
number of families. There they will be given lots of a sizecorresponding to the amount of land atthe place, where theymay build their houses so as to form streets and plaza sym
metrica lly as provided by ancient and modern laws. Landswill likewise be assigned for egidos of the pueblo. 6 . The
newly- founded pueblos— according to decree of May 2 3 rd,
181 2 ,— will rema in for the present a ttached to the nea restmun icipa lity of milita ry command, which, in accordance w ithlaws and regulations in force and with these Prevenciones,will care for the police, embellishment, order, and otherobjects of economica l government in the pueblos intrusted totheir care. 7. As the emancipated cea se to be minors and
enter upon the en joyment of citizens’ rights, the authoritieswill see that they a re considered on terms of equa lity withothers in elections and hold mun icipa l oflices according to
fitness and good conduct. Still in order that they may beaccustomed and taught to govern according to the federa lsystem, there a re to be appointed annua lly from their numberan a lca lde, two regidores, and a sindico procurador, to beintrusted with the economical government of their pueblo,
" “Commons or vaca n t suburbs. Dwinelle, no. 14.
476 Missions and Missiona ries of Ca lifornia
life. 18 . They will enjoy in common the use of water, gra ss ,wood, etc. , on the lands assigned for egidos and pasturage .
19. The land to be the property of the individual to whom
it is assigned , and to his heirs ; but it cannot be dividednor transferred. 20. No mortgage, lien ,
or mortrnain titleca n be imposed on the land, under pena lty of confiscation .
2 1 . The emancipated must a id in the common work of the
pueblo on ditches, dams, corra ls, rodeos, constructing church
and other public buildings. They must ma rk the bounda riesof their fields with useful trees. 2 2 . Land left vaeant bythe dea th of the owner without heirs reverts to the na tion .
2 3 . The emancipated who may neglect their work and stock,or dissipa te them, or aba ndon their homes to give themselves up to vagabondage, idleness and vice, will be sub
mitted anew to the mission by decision of the a lca lde and
priest, who must, however, give two prev ious warn ings, withtime to reform. 24. The authorities will a ttend to the exacten forcement of these regulations, and will be responsible forinfractions if known and not prevented.
”
Juan Bandin i, one of the chief instiga tors of the revoltaga inst Governor Victoria , was likewise big with a scheme
for mission “seculariza tion . It is especially notable for its
verbosity, dea rth Of idea s, and an overween ing conceit. Aspecimen is the following sentence : “
The law of secularization is good, because to say that it is bad would be to
Oppose my principles.
”He lays down his imma ture
notions in twenty articles . The very first regula tion dis
closes the a ims of the author and of his fellow-conspir
ators :“There sha ll be in each mission a superintendent,
who sha ll have a just a nd economical sala ry paid by the
mission Like vultures the mission enemies on ly wa ited
Figueroa , Prevenciones Provisiona les para la Emancipa cionde Indios Reducidos," July 1 5th, 1 83 3 . Bancroft, iii, 32 8 -3 29. Copyof the origina l in the Santa Barbara Archives .
“7 “L a ley de la seculariza cion es buena ; porque decir que es
ma la seria con tra ria r mis principios.
”
‘ 3 “Ca l. St. Pap., M issions Colon . u, 563 -570. How thiscould lighten the burdens of the neophytes, is a mystery. Where
Figueroa“Emancipates” Neophytes 477
to be free to feast on the tempora lities which the m issiona ries w ith their converts and amid untold hardships had
crea ted and accumulated. Thus men , who cared nothingfor either the souls or the bodies of the Indians, and who
could have found ample employmen t for their peculiarta lents at their own homes, tinkered with the unselfish workof the missionaries.
Before the governor set out on his tour of investigation , Fr. Presidente Duran himself made an officia l visitto the missions of the south. On July 3 rd he commun icated his observations to Figueroa .
“May God w ill,
”he
wrote from San Diego,“tha t a ll the ideas rela ting to the
welfare of those poor Indians find a happy issue, and maythey contribute to their improvemen t, which is a ma tterI much doubt on account of wha t I have seen , and of
wha t I have been told concern ing the Indians who liveat the pueblo of Los Angeles. It distressed me indeed. In
asmuch as the desires and the object of the SupremeGovernment are tha t the Indians should be proprietors and
laborers, I have seen with the grea test amazement tha t inand about sa id town there are two or three hundred Indian squatters. Beyond comparison they live far more
wretched and oppressed than those in the missions. Thereis not one who has a ga rden of his own , or a yoke of oxen ,
a horse, or a house fit for a rationa l being.
” The equalitywith the white people, which is preached to them, con sists inthis that these India ns a re subject to a white comisionado,but they a re the on ly ones who do the men ia l work. I sawwith mine eyes on Corpus Christi Day the poor Indianssweeping the street through which the procession wended itsway ; and I was told they do the same for their livelihood.
the money wa s to come from a fter the neophytes had been eman
cipated,”is a deeper mystery. The fria rs were doing the work for
nothing ; but then they were men who sought not their own , therefore they must surrender their cha rge.
These were“ema ncipa ted” Indians, and such was the result.
La ter observers, not friars, corrobora te the sad description and
give it a much da rker hue.
478 M issions and M issiona ries of Ca lifornia
For offences which the white people consider sma ll, or a s
nothing among themselves;those Indians a re placed over a
cannon and given one hundred blows on the naked body,“
as the Very Rev . Alexis Bachelot assured me, who wit
nessed it on St. John ’
s Day.
“ All in rea lity a re slaves, or
servants of white men who know well the manner of secur
ing their services by binding them a whole yea r for an ad
vanced trifle. This abuse the na tura l fra ilty of the Indianmakes possible, because he looks not beyond the present .“
I f he wants to free himself from future servitude by flight,or in any other way, he experiences the full rigor of the
law.
“
“I have seen these things, and I have heard them from
men more experienced in this pa rticular than myself. I have,of course, a sked myself, what will be the result of a genera lor partia l division of their lands and goods, and of a partia lor genera l emancipation of the individua l ? Such is myopin ion , and such is the Opin ion of these men . Hence the
benevolent ideas Of the Government, w ith rega rd to the plantha t the poor Indians should be proprietors and independentof white people, will never be rea lized, because the Indianevinces no other ambition than to possess a little more savage
license, even though it involved a thousand oppressions of
Under the regula tions in the missions no more than twen tyfive could be applied . Rarely even tha t ma ny were inflicted . Yet
we do not hea r tha t Va llejo, or Pico, or Ba ndin i protested aga instthe bruta lity exercised at L os Angeles, a nd simila rly elsewhere.
under secula r ma sters.
Prefect Apostolic Jean Alexis Ba chelot, who w ith Rev . Pa trickShort had been ba n ished from the Sandw ich Islands through the
ma china tions of Protestan t Prea chers. See Appendix I .43 June 24th. A holyday in the missions, like Corpus Christi Day.
44 Hence it wa s cha rity to protect the Indian aga inst himself aswell as aga inst white greed by pla cing the neophytes under the
pa terna l care of men who looked to their welfare, and not to per
sona l profit.‘ 5 Here the mission enemies would have found ample opportu
n ity to exercise their boa sted solicitude in beha lf of the helplessIndian .
480 M issions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
cumstances ; for the whole yea r round, from Indian and
non - Indian it is : ‘Padre, dame ! Padre dame’
; but to find
the Indian not willing and no one able of forcing him to
work for want of a suitable a nd pa terna l cha stisement, isnothing but a sta te of things which is apt to consume the
hea lth and patience of a saint.” Fr. Duran , furthermore,
notified the governor tha t he had advised Fr. Vicente to
Signa ture of Fr. Vicente Pu cunl Oliva .
in form Don José Figueroa ; and, if no improvement followed,to turn the management of the tempora lities over to the
governor.
“
When , instead of some promise of relief from these in
tolerable conditions, the Fr. Presidente received Figueroa’
s
Prevenciones Genemies reproduced a few pages back, hedeemed it useless to offer any opposition to their execution ,
but confined himself “to present some reflexions which,”he
says,“occurred to me as making this most serious ma tter
more clea r and specific,”inasmuch a s the governor had ca lled
for this expression of his views. He then closed his “Notes”
on the va rious a rticles w ith this suggestion :“I f a fter
three or four yea rs it sha ll be observed that the emancipa tedIndians depend upon wild fruits for subsistence ; tha t theya llow their live- stock to decrease ; tha t they neglect theirplanting and other work in a spirit of vagabondage or thatthey man ifest no zea l or liking for a ra tiona l and civilizedlife ; and if, being severa l times warned, they do not mend,then let them be returned to their missions.
”“1 Tha t this
49 “Fa ther, give me! Fa ther, give me.
5° Fr. Duran to Figueroa , July 19th, 183 3 . Archb. Arch.,no.
2 1 51 .
“1 Fr. Duran to Figueroa , San Diego, July 16th, 183 3 . Archb.
no. 2 1 50. See a lso Fr. Duran to Figueroa , August 6th.1 83 3 ,
“Ca l. Arch., Dept . St. Pap., Ben icia , Mem. 8: Rep., 146 -147.
Figueroa “Emancipates” Neophytes 48 1
would be the outcome of Figueroa’
s ill-advised venture was
pla in to everybody. The proof could be seen at Los‘
An
geles, San Diego, and in the missions of the south generally.
Nevertheless, Fr. Duran issued a circula r to the missionaries on the subject, and accompan ied it with a copy of Figueroa
’
s Reglamento on emancipation .
”He a lso transmitted
a copy of his circula r to the governor with these rema rks :“I enclose the circula r which accompan ied the Reglamentoand the documents on the emancipa tion of the neophytes of
these missions, so tha t Your Honor may sa tisfy yourself of
the good disposition of the Rev . Missionary Fathers for ex
ecuting the orders promulgated by you on this subject . I
beseech you to return it at your conven ience, in order thatthere may be for a ll time to come lega l proof of our sub
mission .
“ May God grant H is blessing, which is so neces
sa ry, because the ideas of the Indians and of those who are
not Indians and those of the Government a re very different.The la tter wants the Indians to be priva te owners of landsand of other property ; this is just. The Indians, however,want the freedom of vagabonds. The others want theabsolute liberation and emancipa tion of the neophytes without the command to form civilized towns, in order that
they may avail themselves of their lands and other propertyas well as of their persons. I do not see how these opposing interests can be ha rmon ized .
”
Fr. Duran in the first paper men tion s the in teresting inciden t tha the had admin istered the Sacramen t of Confirma tion at San LuisRey in his capa city of vice-comisa rio prefecto.
5 ’ Fr. Duran w isely a ccumula ted ma ny such evidences, but themission enemies like H ittell suppressed them in order to make out
a ca se aga in st the fria rs.
5 3 Fr. Durin here exposes the true inwa rdness of the hostility ofthe Ca liforn ians headed by Pico, Bandin i, Va llejo, a nd others.
54Tha t is to say, w ithout these regula tion s of Figueroa which ina way reserved some of the property for the India n s . These “others
”la ter succeeded in their schemes a nd then did obta in the la nd
of the India ns a s well as their persons ; but we a re an ticipa ting.“Fr. Duran to Figueroa , San Gabriel, August 6th, 183 3 .
“Ca l.
Dep. St. Pap., Ben icia , Mem. 8: Rep., 146 - 1 47.
1 3
482 M issions and Missiona ries of Ca lifornia
In the same commun ica tion Fr. Duran touches anotherma tter which is in marked contra st to the a ssertion of the
Ca liforn ians and their attorney H ittell tha t the missiona rieswere absolute masters in the territory.
“I have a favor to
ask concern ing a ban ished Spania rd, Pablo Sobradilla by
name,“
a person whom I do not know, save that I hear heis devoted to the exercise of virtue. He lives in the San dw ich Islands. He merely wishes to make his confession and
then immedia tely to return .
" Since it is quite na tural tha tno ship capta in will take him as a passenger without a pa ssfrom Your Honor, I beseech you, if it can in any way be
done conven iently, and no harm w ill result, that you be so
kind as to grant the favor to this poor man , and a llow him
a pa ss on the terms under which he desires it, that is to
say, for a ma tter of conscience, and limiting the days during which he may stay in the territory.
” “3
5° He had been ban ished in 1829- 1 830, for being a Spa n ia rd. See
Ba ncroft, iii, 51 - 52 ; vi, 726, who spells it Sobradella s.
“7 As a ll Ca tholic priests had been driven from these isla n dsthrough the bigotry of the Protestan t prea chers, there wa s no way
of receiving the Sa cramen ts save by coming to Ca liforn ia . Wha tFigueroa ’s reply wa s we have not been able to a scerta in . See
Appendix I .5° Fr. Duri n , ut supra , note 55.
Missions and M issionaries of Ca lifornia
new pueblo ; though they received lands, managed theirproperty, and became citizens .
”
The truth is that, a s Arguello reported in September, offifty
-n ine heads of families at San Diego only two w ishedfor
“emancipa tion , unless they could have the property to
do with it what they plea sed . At San Luis Rey he was
even less successful ; for out of one hundred and eight families none desired “
emancipation ,
” though four ma rried menwere somewha t non -committa l on the subject.
’ This makesit evident tha t, at any ra te, the Indians had not been cruellytrea ted by the missionaries, otherwise they must have ha iledthe opportun ity of
“freeing
" themselves from missiona rycontrol, particula rly in this very district where Echeandiahad belabored the neophytes for the last six yea rs to dis
rega rd the Fathers. He himself had a lready appoin tedcomisionados as follows : Capta in Portilla at San Luis Rey ;Ensign Ramirez for Mission San Diego ; Ensign Rocha at
San Juan Capistrano ; and Ensign Va lle at San Gabriel . The
result was tha t as early as February loth, 183 2 , the comisionado of San Luis Rey had to ca ll for reen forcements to
check disorders among the Indians in consequence of the
distribution of lands.
‘ “At San Juan Capistrano,
” Bancroftcla ims,
“the experiment wa s tried on a la rger sca le. All
seem to have been ema ncipated , and lands were assigned at
the mission , which thus v irtua lly became a pueblo in October. I find no ev idence tha t any neophytes at a ll were
emancipated this year north of San Juan .
”The reason
was, Figueroa had found little encouragement in the resultsthus far.
From one source, however, the governor did receive some
encouragement, and he must have made a wry face on the
occa sion , considering the person who addressed him, and his
own observations which he was just then reporting to the
1 Bancroft, iii, 3 3 1 .2 Bancroft, iii, 3 3 2 .
Bancroft, ii i, 3x.
Bancroft, iii, 3 3 2 .
Fr. Duran and Gov . Figueroa 485
Supreme Government. Writing to Figueroa from San Francisco, October 3 rd, 1 83 3 , the spectacular Mariano Guada lupeVa llejo relieves himself of this piece of ha tred for the
poor fria rs, who had at no time given the va ingloriousupstart any m sau for such hostility : “Thanks be to God !The missions or their owners begin to enjoy their civilrights ! When I received your letter I rejoiced exceedingly,for the beginn ing is made which ordina rily is the most difiicult. The tyrants, the missionaries, w ill now see the difference there is between being free and being slaves or littlemore. Very much I have celebrated in my hea rt the freedom which liberates those people out of the clutches of the
missionaries. The source of men and dollars, though late,will now run dry for those friars.
”All who know Va llejo’
s
history a re awa re tha t he ca red naught for the welfare of
the neophytes. In this instance the doughty ensign , more
over, wrote aga inst his better knowledge ; but he felt big inbeing able to use the infidel ja rgon of French and other
anti-Ca tholic writers, somewha t a fter the manner of thoughtless boys in our day who have their unsophistica ted mindsinflamed by the lurid descriptions of the blood and thunderdime novel fabricator. Don Mariano would have made a
capita l leader for anti-Christian Socia lism. Had he been a
well in structed and honest Catholic, instead of an insufl‘era
ble and unscrupulous windbag,he would have known the
Eighth Cornmandrnent of God which forbids bearing fa lsewitness aga inst any one. Then such w icked stories as were
circulated about the missionaries at this period, and later inao-ca lled histories, and which are la rgely, if notmostly, traceable to him, would never have disgraced the name of MarianoVa llejo. Another reason for his absurd cha rges is to be
" ‘
Ca l. S t. Pap., M is. 8: Col. u, 505- 509. Va llejo uncon
sciously discloses wha t agita ted the minds of the plotters aga instthe missions : they coveted the dollars, the men to serve, the herdsand the lands to lord over. For the presen t these were safely andeconomica lly gua rded by the friars for the benefit of the owners,
the Indians. Hence the senseless rage. Hence the pha risa ica lcharges.
486 M issions and M issionaries of California
found in himself, in that he judged the venerable men , thelatchet of whose sanda ls he was not worthy to loosen , a fterhis own manner of dea ling with others, particularly the Indians. This will a ll appea r in evidence as the years go by .
Figueroa had sca rcely put his regula tions for the‘
-eman
cipation”of the neophytes into practice, when he bethought
himself of the government instructions to report a plan for
a genera l secularization of the mission s. This time he deemedit w iser to take the Superiors of the missionaries into his
counsel . On August 2 nd, 1 83 3 , therefore, he ca lled uponFa thers Duran and Garcia Diego to sta te what mission s werein condition to be secula rized under the law of September1 3th, 1 8 1 3 what objections to secula riza tion existed ; andwhat would be the best means to be employed .
‘ This law,
as we know, but must repeat so as to make the facts stand
out clear, contempla ted nothing more than the substitution of
secula r priests for the priests wea ring a religious habit, andthe delivery of a ll the lands and property to the Indians ex
clusive of white domination . It meant no confisca tion , suchas the Ca liforn ians demanded and eventua lly enacted . Be itremembered tha t the Franciscans were ready at a ll times toyield to secula r priests, and to surrender the control of theproperty, though accumulated by their efforts, to the lawfulowners, the Indians ; but they refused to cede either the
neophytes or the Indian mission lands to the covetous Ca liforn ians, for that would have involved a betrayed of a
sa cred trust.Fr. Ga rcia Diego, the comisa rio prefecto of the Zacatecan
Fa thers in the north, replied under da te of September 24th
0The Sa n ta Ba rba ra people of his time a nd la ter would con temptuously recite
Quien rob6
Ha sta v iejo?Va llejo!”
Which in English mea n s, Who robbed un til he grew old? Va llejo!See chapter vi
, section i, this volume, for the text of the law .
a “Archb. Arch., no. 2 1 54; Ca l. Al‘ Ch» St P 3 P" M is. Col. n ,
ISO- 182 .
Missions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
would nevertheless be ruined, and this I say in order to berelieved of every responsibility ; for the missions are com
munities which are conserved by the labor of those who belong to them. By them the land must be cultivated. mechanica l arts fostered, and the herds guarded. I f the hands are
missing, a ll must go to ruin . After a ll, I must remark tha tthis law was not executed in much older miss ions of Mexico,
like those of Tarahuma ra and Sonora , probably because the
Governmen t saw what would he the result. Indeed, a law
that ceases to be useful and beneficia l to the community,ceases to have binding force. This is the idea of the legislators themselves, for they do not intend that a law should
be enforced when it produces ha rm and no good. In myopinion the a foresa id law of September 1 3th, 181 3 , is one of
these as far a s the missions under my charge a re concerned.
“With rega rd to the question as to wha t measures should
be taken to ra ise these wretched people from their low con
dition , I have to say tha t the means which have been em
ployed by the Fa thers will do this in time. I would omitflogging, and would permit the neophytes to cultivate some
fields for themselves.
”
Fr. Duran ’
s reply, like a ll of this friar’s papers, wa s moreexhaustive. After some preliminary rema rks he set forth
his idea s methodica lly and dispa ssionately as was his custom.
I sha ll div ide this reply, he writes to the governor,“in
the following manner — 1 . The missions which can be secu
la rized in con formity w ith the law of September 1 3th, 18 1 3 .
2 . The obstacles, difficulties, and dangers which will be en
countered — 3 . The ways and means which seem to me more
adequate to accomplish a genera l seculariza tion happily.
“
“With regard to the first point it may forthwith be set
9 “Sta . Barb. Arch. Ca l. Arch., St. Pap., M is . 8: Colon n .
191 - 200.
1 ° It cannot be too strongly empha sized tha t Fr. Duran , a s well
a s Fr. Ga rcia Diego, a rgued on ly on the execution of the law of
181 3 , which the mission enemies w ilfully distorted in order to justify their wholesa le robberies of mission property. This law , even
such a s it wa s, secured the property to the India n neophytes.
M issions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
to them. The rest of the property could be reserved in
order tha t there might a lways be a fund or capita l belongingto the commun ity, and admin istered by themselves through
mayordomos of their own choice and race, for expenses of
DivineWorship, spiritua l admin istra tion and others that mightoccur. In the beginn ing it would be well tha t the missiona ryhave some kind of authority over sa id fund, but without anycoercion of the mayordomos and a lca ldes , because these a re
to bea r a ll the responsibility before the government for thelosses thatmay result for not apprecia ting the fa therly adviceof the missionary . All this should be ca rried out w ith the
wa rn ing to the neophytes tha t they will be put back to theold conditions under the missionaries, whenever it should bediscovered that through sloth, preference for wild fruits, oran inclina tion to vagrancy or other vices, they neglect theirproperty and frustra te the advance of civiliza tion and agriculture which the government expects oi them. At the same
time, the government should see that similar results are oh
served in the white people, so tha t the na tives may receive
practica l lessons through the eyes, which is the shortest road
to progress. With these precautions the difficulties and
drawbacks following the secularization of the missions maypa rtly be overcome.
“However, a s soon a s the experimenta l secula riza tion of
the sa id eight missions ha s been decreed , two difficulties willpresent themselves to the government. The one is the in
different and slothful disposition of the neophytes, the other
is the necessity of supporting a hundred burdens which cir
cumstances have rendered inev itable, namely, the ma intenance of the troops who for twenty—three yea rs have beensubsisting upon the toil of the un fortunate Indians to the
not little hardship and worry of the missionaries ; for the
la tter a re compelled to regard themselves as executioners, asit were, of these poor neophytes, inasmuch as they a re
forced to increa se the amount of work to satisfy the demandsof the soldiery, and a lso ow ing to the lack of considerationon the part of the military storekeepers (habilitados) in theirdemands and sometimes in the manner in which they make
Fr. Duran and Gov . Figueroa 49 1
their requests . The indolen t and slothful disposition of the
neophytes is surely notorious and evident, since any one can
observe with wha t little eagerness they do a ll that perta insto the commun ity, notw ithstanding that they know they a re
working for themselves .
u Nor is their activity much morelively and steady when working at some private ta sk, or
when they cultivate a piece of land a llotted to themselves,inasmuch a s for the sake of a diversion or some festivityin a neighboring mission they w ill abandon everything to
damage from an ima ls, and in one day with indifferencea llow the hopes of a whole year to be destroyed . It wason ly by mean s of the ha rd work and care of the missiona riestha t, under God, the great miracle of supporting these com
mun ities ha s been accomplished. It is true that their indifference and indolence is not quite so rema rkable in keepingtheir own fields and ga rdens ; but when they sha ll have to
supply their own implements and tools, as w ill have to be theca se when they become emancipated proprietors, it is muchto be fea red that they will not plant nor achieve much. I f
they ev ince some interest in having a ga rden , it is becausesome exemptions from community work are a llowed them,
and some liberty to roam about, which they would not have
if they did no priva te planting.
“As yet the missionaries have not the pleasure of seeing
their neophytes devote themselves to agriculture for love of
work ; for this is aga inst their natura lly wild dispositionand habits, which they inherited from their pagan sta te, so
that it costs them much to lay aside the freedom natura l towild bea sts, in which condition rude nature in a manner
provided the necessa ries without persona l labor. This is theliberty they still crave. They a re ba rely able to apprecia tethat which is proper to human beings, except for the fa inthope, founded or un founded, of being able to en joy in some
degree their former liberty of roving about. The truth is ,tha t the labor of the missionaries to make men of them is
1 1 in so far a s each one sha res in wha t wa s stored for the benefitof a ll in the commun ity warehouses. It was socia lism ba sed on
Christian principles.
492 M issions and Missionaries of Ca liforn ia
the most laborious in the world, because wha t ha s been sa id
about the cha racter of thes e Ca lifornia Indians is so common
to a ll that there is scarcely known a single exception . For
this I appea l to the testimony of a ll, Your Honor’
s included,
as well as to tha t of all those who have come into closeconta ct w ith them. Inasmuch, however, as it would not be
strange that any one should think tha t I or the missionarieshave an interest in undervaluing the Indians, and emphasiz
ing their inaptitude and immaturity for emancipation for the
rea son that we find ourselves well fixed in the management
of their a ffa irs,“ in my name a s well as in the name of
a ll the missionaries of San Fernando College I protestaga inst such a supposition . I moreover sincerely and urgentlybeseech the Supreme Government and Your Honor to grantus the favor of relieving us from the burden and to pla ceother persons in cha rge. We sha ll be satisfied to zea lously
attend to spiritua l matters for only the necessa ry subsistenceuntil other missionaries arrive to take our places.
" I assure
you, and I protest to Your Honor, that though the bandoof José Maria de Echeandia of the 6th of January, 183 1 ,provided it had been feasible and issued in good fa ith, wasfor us incompa rably more advantageous than the system pro
posed, we nevertheless would have reason to deplore it.The other obstacle to secula riza tion is the necessity for
these conununities to support the troops whom the govern
ment does notpay in such a ma nner tha t w ith their pay theycan procure subsistence wherever they find it. It is now
twenty- three yea rs tha t these poor soldiers know nothing
about their sa la ries. Had it not been for the communities
of Indians under the managemen t of the missionaries, therewould not have been any soldiers for the interna l peace and
the externa l defense, because they would have perished
from hunger. Consequently, a fter the missions have been
1 ’ Such wa s the venomous cha rge of the enemies who accusedthe Fa thers of holding to the property and their position for tha trea son .
1 ' Nothing could have been more generous. They had repeat
edly made the same offer yea rs before.
494 M issions and Missionaries of Ca liforn ia
happy results from a genera l secula rization . Unless theseexits a re shut off
, some think a dispersion is much to be
fea red without any hOpe of ever recovering the runaways .
There would then be imminen t danger for the sa fety of the
country, especia lly if, some day when a llied to the savages
of the frontier, they should acquire firea rms from foreignersin return for skins. In this there is rea l danger for UpperCa lifornia ; but as neither the trea sury nor the missionariesa re in condition to take this road, I desist from enla rgingon the proposition , and am satisfied to have pointed it out;until God grants us more favorable times.
“The other less rapid road to the end, though sa fe and
in expensive for the government, is to found a bishopric inUpper Ca liforn ia a lone and leaving the tithes absolutely tothe admin istra tion of the bishop. With this help alone he
would establish a semina ry for the ecclesiastica l educa tion of
the sufiiciently numerous sons of decent and honorable families, who have no goa l or suitable career in this limitedsociety. There is hope that many of these might have a voca
tion for the sacred min istry. These a lone would furn ish a
native and select clergy to serve the Church with honor.
From this same nursery in a short time would emerge a
surplus of priests for the founding of a second missionarycollege, of either the secular or regular clergy, and in thisway a lone provisions could be made for new missions and
old pueblos.
“ One man can effect this, a bishop, as long as
he does not come to rest, but to work, and by means of
the tithes a lone," provided they a re controlled by the Church
1 5 The Ferna ndinos were too old and infirm ; for the Zacatecan sunder Fr. Garcia Diego he could not speak, of course, but they hadnot labored among paga n s before, and were too few a nyway.
1 ° Fr. Durén en terta ined a lofty opin ion of the inhabitan ts whichun fortuna tely their conduct fa iled to confirm.
1 7 The worthy Fr. Presiden te trusted too much to the good w illof the Ca liforn ian s. How much of it existed, at lea st among thosewho ma n aged to come to the surface, ca n be in ferred from the
bluster of the Picos, Ba ndin is, Va llejos, etc. However, Fr. Durfin
enjoys the honor of hav ing first urged the appoin tmen t of a bishopfor Ca liforn ia , prema ture though it wa s.
Fr. Duran and Gov . Figueroa
a lone. Ecclesiastica l property a llowed to operate freelyworks wonders for the benefit of all. This is a fact whichis ev ident, of da ily experience, and proved by a ll nations.
The Church in her orga n iza tion is economica l, and her handsseem to be those that multiplied the bread in the deserts.
L et the governor but protect her, when it may be takenfor certa in that in a few yea rs she will have her seminaryfor eccles ia stica l educa tion , the college for missiona ries, a
cathedra l, the rest of the min istry in runn ing order, and
the old pueblos supplied with select laborers.
“ Then a
genera l secula riza tion of a ll the missions can be efiected
without the risk of sca ttering the newly-made Christians ;then with giant strides will the na tives advance in civilization ; and among the white people will a lso be ban ishedvagrancy which is the rea l pest of Ca liforn ia society.
“These ideas which I have the honor of expla in ing to
Your Honor in obedience to your orders have come to me
during the twenty- seven yea rs which I have spent in the
service of these missions, and they a re a lmost as old as myofice of missionary. I express myself thus in proof of myimpa rtia lity, and I protest tha t I only a im to help as well asI can , in order tha t the government may be en lightened tochoose w ith understanding among so many projects and
plans which are offered to benefit Ca liforn ia those that seemmore suitable to this end, and in order that in a momentmay not be destroyed wha t has been rea red during morethan ha lf a century at the cost of so much expense and
toil.” 1 ’
1 ‘ The en thusia stic Fr. Duran must ha ve mixed very little w iththe La tin settlers of Ca liforn ia who monopolized the term Ca liforn ia ns, otherwise he could not have even dreamed of such re
sults a s he pictures to the governor
1 ° Fr. Durén ,
“Respuesta y Pa recer, San ta Ba rba ra , October 3 rd,183 3 . Ca l. St. Pap., M is . Col. ii, 201 - 206. See a lso Ba n
croft, iii, 3 3 3 - 3 3 5. It is cha racteristic of Hittell tha t he suppressedthe able papers of Fa thers Duri n a nd Garcia Diego, a s well a s
many others con ta ined in the“Ca liforn ia Archives.
”He wa n ted
nothing commenda tory of fria rs ! The sincere historia n utilizesevery scrap, no ma tter whence it origina ted, in order to reach the
truth.
496 M issions and M issionaries of Ca lifornia
H is own observations, and the representations of FathersDuran and Ga rcia Diego, now convinced Governor Figueroathat any general measure of secula riza tion would be pro
ductive of great injury to the interests of Ca lifornia . Whenhe therefore lea rned tha t a bill for the secula rization of the
missions had been introduced into Congress, he hastened tolay before the Supreme Government the results of his ex
perience in the following letter to the President of the
Republic“In compliance with the orders communicated to me, and
desirous of putting into effect the benevolen t intentions of
the Supreme Government concern ing the secularization of
the mission s for the relief of a fflicted human ity, I have byevery means possible endeavored to acqua int myself withthe state of civ iliza tion reached by the neophytes . For
this purpose I have consulted with men of standing who are
capable of passing an opin ion on the subject, and thuscollected a ll the facts obta inable. These I transmit for thedelibera tion of the Supreme Government. Meanwhile, however, the news has reached me that in Congress a projectis under discussion for the tota l secularization of thesemissions, and for the distribution of their lands and property. This constra ins me to despa tch to Your Excellencythe replies of the Rev . Fr. Na rciso Durfin , presidente and
comisa rio prefecto of the missionaries of the College of
San Fernando, and of the Rev . Francisco Garcia Diego,
comisario prefecto of the missionaries of the College of
Guada lupe, Zaca teca s. The Opin ion of these prelates will
expla in to Your Excellency the difficulties which stand inthe way of the execution of sa id proposed law, and of the
disagreeable consequences which may result therefrom.
“While not agreeing entirely with a ll their views, I believetha t the measure for a genera l secula riza tion is premature.
It must be efi'ected by degrees, partia lly, and with some
tact. For the mission system another system adapted to
the cha racter and circumstances of our natives should be
” As the mission system wa s adapted to the character and err.
cumstances of the na tives, in fa ct grew out of these circumsta nces
498 M issions and Missionaries of California
them from the control of the mission aries," and to foundseparate pueblos. I a llotted lands to them with wa ter fromthe mission supply itself, also live- stock and everythingnecessa ry for establishing themselves . I collected them and
accompan ied them to their new habita tions . I expla ined to
them the adva ntages they were about to acquire and the
liberty they were to en joy ; yet I had the grief to hea r themrefuse everything for the sake of rema in ing in the servitudein which they had lived,” and no a rgumen ts were powerful
enough to convince them. The result is that of them all
only ten families from San Diego Mission and four from
San Luis Rey rema ined emancipated . However, I ga ve
orders that my regulations should be ca rried out in the hopetha t the others may change their minds ; but much patienceand perseverance is necessa ry. The sa id incident is the
most convincing proof of their ignorance and little disposition for self-govemment. As there a re hopes of emancipating a ll the neophytes of Mission San Juan Capistra no,
because they appea r more civ ilized, I sha ll in due time
report the outcome of this measure.
In the same manner, and under certa in conditions indispensable for the conservation of the land and property whicha re to be a llotted, the eight missions proposed by Fr. NarcisoDuran and some other missions might be secularized, inas
A high-handed proceeding. The Indian s were not a llowed the
liberty to sta y w ith the Fathers l A stra nge kind of freedom.
”
““Tuve el sen timien to de oirlos renuncia r de todo, por per
manecer en la servidumbre en que vivian .
”This “servitude” must
have been very light, then , a nd the Indians must have felt conten ted under the ca re of the Fa thers, verily a s much a s children inthe ca re of solicitous pa ren ts. Why not leave them there? The
whole rea son was, the gua rdian s wore a religious habit, ca red nothing for tempora l ga in , and could not therefore be bribed to pa rticipa te in a ny nefa rious scheme.
3 ° Through the ma china tions of Echeandia , a s we have seen , the
neophytes of San Juan had become the most unruly and dangerous .
Figueroa might well ba nk hopes on them. Yet even these were
relucta n t.
Fr. Duran and Gov . Figueroa
much as they are about as equa lly advanced . Such is myOpin ion .
“It rema ins for me to make a few reflections on the pro
posed law touching the mission property. It commands tha tthe property should be divided among the Indians, the troops,and the inhabitants, natives as well as foreigners. I ca llthe a ttention of your Excellency to this point in order that
you may bea r in mind tha t the movable as well a s the
immovable property are the exclusive fruit of the labor of
Bltna ture of Governor Jose Figueroa .
the neophytes . They a lone sacrificed themselves for the
acquisition of such property. From this property everypasser-by has been succored and a ided. From it in pa rt
and for many years the troops of the territory have beensupported. From it the expenses for Divine Worship and
its min isters a re pa id, churches erected, vestments purcha sed,and a ll manner of buildings a re constructed. From it, inshort, the inhabitants of Ca lifornia in va rious ways are ma inta ined. Many, Sir, a re the exactions made upon this missionproperty which belongs solely to the neophytes through whoselabor it has accumula ted and has been preserved.
" It wouldbe much to the point to find out for what reason theyshould be despoiled of it, or by what right it should beenjoyed by other people whom it cost nothing.
“
" “Son mucha s, Seilor, 1a s exa cciones, que sufren los bienes detempora lidad propios un icamen te de los neofitos por cuyo traba jose ha n adquirido y con servan .
” It wa s ungenerous in Figueroanot to give credit here to the missiona ries. Without them the I n
dian s would have produced absolutely nothing.
3 .For this rea son common justice dema nded tha t the n eophytesshould enjoy this property. Figueroa unw ittingly, perhaps, adopts
500 M issions and Missionaries of California
Furthermore, I supplicate Your Excellency to bear in
mind tha t the sa id law concedes to foreigners, in preferenceto Mexicans, the privilege of acquiring lands and rights .
Whilst the soldiers, who with their blood uphold the rightsof their na tive country, cannot make option on a piece of
land un less they have a title, to the foreigners, merely forcoming to live among us, lands a re granted which have
been redeemed and cultivated at the cost of the labor and
lives of Mexicans and to their detriment. This it seems
to me is unjust. There a re extensive tracts which needsettlers. There the foreigners may obta in for cultivationthe land which they lack in their own coun try on account ofthe density of popula tion . Certa in it is, too, that there are
thousands of Mexicans who would occupy them and who
need them, etc. All this I have the honor etc.
”
This closing argument of Figueroa the friends of the
Indians used aga inst the covetous Mexicans and Ca lifor
nians. As the governor points out, there were many tractsof untilled land a ll over the territory. Those crying for
land and more la nd could have had these tracts . Theycould have made them productive a s the missiona ries hadmade thousands of acres productive with the a id of the
neophytes . That, however, meant labor and the sacrificeof case, which was just what the Picos, Bandinis, Va llejos,etc. , wanted to avoid by simply appropriating the cultiva tedmission la nds. It wa s for this purpose tha t they untrulycha rged the missionaries w ith appropriating a ll the land inorder to keep out settlers.
the position of the fria rs. Wha t a pity he did not keep to it ayear la ter! Perha ps we sha ll lea rn the rea son for the change a s
we proceed.
Mexica n subjects, i . e. , Indians ; for the Mexicans proper, or
the Ca liforn ian s so ca lled, had done compa ra tively very little in thisline.
Figueroa to the Presiden t of Mexico, October 5th, 183 3 .“Ca l.
M is. 8: Col. ii, 183 - 190. Though addressed to the Min isterof Rela tion s, the conclusion shows tha t the letter was directed tothe Mexican Presiden t.
502 Missions and Missionaries of Ca liforn ia
croft says,‘“was one of Padres s northern disciples, and who
lost no time in identifying himself with the new schemes” of
colonizing Ca liforn ia . The members chosen for the territoria lassembly on December 2 nd were Ca rlos Anton io Ca rrillo, PioPico, Francisco de Haro, Joaquin Ortega , José Anton io Ca rrillo, Jose
’ Antonio Estudillo, and José Castro y Alvarez .
The substitutes were Santiago Estrada , Ca rlos Castro and
José Pérez.
‘
These newly elected members of the legislative assemblyheld their first meeting at the governor
’
s house, Monterey ,
on M ay l st, 183 3 . The governor presided. He opened the
sessions with an address in which in high-flown languagehe predicted great prosperity, now that Span ish tyrannywa s a thing of the past. On reaching the subject of themissions he excla imed : Behold here one of the grandestobjects entrusted to our zea l.“ These missions, where for
many yea rs monastic despotism ha s intrenched itself behindthe twofold title of spiritua l and tempora l admin istration ,
his influen ce aga in st the mission s a nd missiona ries. Figueroa seems
to have decla red the election illega l. At a ll even ts he ordered newelections w ith the result tha t Bandin i, the enemy of the mission s,wa s reelected a s sta ted above. Bancroft, iii, 246.
“Ca liforn ia ,” iii, 260.
” Ca l. Arch. , Dep. St. Pap., L os Angeles i, 700; Sa n José iv,
561 ; S74; L eg. Rec. ii, 3 2 .5 Ra ther, Figueroa ’s zea l a nd those of his politica l persua sion ar
roga ted to themselves the ta sk of absolute con trol of the missionswhich did not concern them, a s those establishmen ts were ecclesi
a stica l in stitutions for the conversion a nd civiliza tion of the na tives.
More than tha t, the mission s con tributed most to the support ofthe milita ry governmen t of the territory.0 Figueroa must have known wha t despotism is, but to connectit w ith mona sticism showed tha t he knew nothing about mona sticlife. Order is observed in mon a stic commun ities a s in every decen tsociety or commun ity. Regula rity, industry, and piety a re fea tures.
Figueroa proved how mea gre must have been the religious in struction of even the ao-ca lled educa ted Mexican s, otherw ise he a nd theywould have known better than to apply to the va porings of infidelsand Volta iria n libertines for informa tion about mona sticism.
A Sly Scheme and How I tWas Foiled 503
sternly ca ll for a sa luta ry reform which corresponds withour present system.
‘ The Supreme Government, desirousof reforming the lot of our wretched natives, committed to
my predecessors the necessa ry authority to gradua lly change
their condition , so that they might enjoy the advantages of
our independence.
’ However, I know not through wha tfata lity they have continued in the same way as they wereatthe beginn ing of their founding.
“ No one ha s ca rried o ut
the in structions of the Supreme Government . Sei'
ior Echean
dia , who intended to execute them, dea lt with them on ly ina nomina l manner so tha t, far from producing favorable
results, there appeared sign s of disorgan iza tion owing to the
little prudence w ith which he impressed upon the neophytesthe idea of liberty w ithout putting it into effect . For thisrea son , and in order to pa rtia lly relieve a fflicted human ity.
I have projected and put into execution a plan of emanei
patian , which, whilst it conciliates the va rious heterogeneousin terests, a fter a few yea rs ought to produce a politica lchange, which w ill restore tha t portion of un fortunates to
the en joyment of their ina lienable rights. In fact, three new
pueblos have been formed, San Dieguito, L a s Flores, and
7 The on ly reform stern ly demanded for the welfare of the I n
dia ns a nd the territory wa s tha t the politician s let the mission sca rry out the object for which they had been founded . I nsubordi
na tion , drunkenn ess, a nd other white v ices among the neophytesbega n w ith the in terference of greedy white men who needed toreform themselves first .
‘ The mission system in its essen tia l fea tures ha s been found tobe quite in keeping w ith the republica n system of the Un itedSta tes ; for it is continued in the India n reserva tions.
9 The neophytes would have en joyed every advan tage, includingthe fruits of their labor, if they had not been for the la st thirtyyea rs compelled to support shiftless troops w ithout receiving anything in return from the governmen t, a nd if the missionaries and
their neophytes could have brea thed a s freely a s other people.
1 ° This wa s ma n ifestly un true, a s a ll sincere historian s, the earlytravellers, a nd the Un ited Sta tes Governmen t reports a ttest. Wha tdisorder there existed at Figueroa ’s time wa s due to the interfer
ence of Echeandia and other mission enemies .
504. Missions and Missiona ries of Ca lifornia
San Juan Capistrano, which all are advancing in a regula r
manner.
n I n a very short time a grea t difierence is notice
able between the emancipa ted and the neophytes.
“ I da repredict not only their elevation to the dign ity of free men ,
but their better preserva tion without the ann ihila tion whichis palpable in the missions.
”
Figueroa’
s recommenda tions were referred to a committee.
The assembly was in session until August 2ud, when it seemsto have adjourned . In October and November an extrasession took place.
“ The members frequently discussed themissions which, characteristic of the men who composed theassembly, seem to have not found a single champion . Thesewould-be sta tesmen were therefore equa lly guilty in the
transactions which gradua lly destroyed the work of the mis
siona ries. For this rea son we have taken pa ins to reportthe names accurately, and their efforts a long this line w illbe closely followed. For the present we must leave themin order to give our attention to another ma tter which is
intima tely connected with the confiscation of the missions.
It will be remembered that José Maria Padres, the instiga tor of Echeandia
’
s“seculariza tion” decree, and the evil
spirit of the young Ca lifornians, had in 1 83 1 been expelledby Governor Victoria . He vowed to return with full powersto ca rry out his designs on the Indian establishments. In
Mexico he enlisted José Ma ria Hija r, a man of property,
influence, and reputation , for his plan . To begin with, earlyin 183 3 the two worthies dev ised a project for organizing a
colony in Ca liforn ia . Politica l changes in the so-ca lledrepublic favored the plotting pa ir ; for in April Va lentinGomez Farias , a warm persona l friend of Padres, was electedvice-president and became acting president upon the retirement of President Santa Ana . With him a spirit a ltogetherdifferent from that which had preva iled under the Busta
1 1 The preceding cha pter refutes this in Figueroa ’s own words .
1 ’ There wa s a grea t difierence, but it favored the neophytes .
1 ‘ “Ca l. L eg. Rec. n , 404 1 .
"
4 Bancroft, iii, 248 -2 51 .
506 M issions and M issionaries of Ca lifornia
manner the revenues of the Pious Fund to furn ish resources
for the commission and the families now in this capita l boundfor that territory.
’ I may add tha t, besides the vice-president, the diputa do from Ca liforn ia (Bandin i ) , the territoria lgefe
-politico (Hija r) and the prospective comandante genera l, Padres numbered among the adherents of his plan our
old friends José Ma ria Herrera , now reappointed sub-comisa rio of revenues, and Angel Ramirez, who was sent to takecharge of the Monterey custom-house. Truly, the ayudanteinspector’s star was in the ascendan t, a ll obstacles to the
success of his schemes being apparently removed.
” 1 "
As soon as the new appointments were announced, theprojectors lost no time in commencing opera tions . Hijar
immediately made arrangemen ts to have a portion of his
salary pa id to his family, which rema ined at Guada la ja ra ,and then proceeded to collect colonists. His first propositionwas to take with him for a start six school tea chers and
six families of five persons each ; but, a s the Governmentundertook to give the colon ists a free pa ssage, ma intenanceduring the voyage and ha lf a dolla r per day until theira rriva l in Ca liforn ia , the number soon swelled to about a
hundred and thirty. They consisted a lmost exclusively of
the vagabond class ; were idle, thriftless and vicious ; not
much, if any, superior to the convicts with which Ca liforn iahad a lrea dy been repea tedly cursed. At the same time Padrescollected another body of colon ists of much the same cla ss
1 ‘ A rema rkable way of executing the la st w ill of the founders of
tha t fund. It wa s established for the spread of Religion , not for
the conven ience of freebooters ; but then we have lea rned ere thistha t to “Libera l" politicia ns nothing is sacred tha t sa vors of Re
ligia n . On this subject they stand fa r benea th the hea then of
every period and clime. How else expla in tha t with such anti
Christia n politicia ns church property is less sacred tha n merchandisc? a nd tha t when they obta in con trol they ha sten to confisca teand desecra te wha t is dearest to the people, because dedica ted toAlmighty God, whilst the property of the merchan ts and of worldlycorpora tion s is not molested ? Na tura lly to such insa tiable and
fa ithless politicia ns mission property wa s but a sa vory morsel.1 ° Ba ncroft, in , 260-261 .
A Sly Scheme and How I tWas Foiled 507
and character and about the same in number as those of
Hijar. In getting up their scheme they had published itunder the name of Compaiifa Cosmopolitan ; and theyinduced their followers to believe that they were about to beled to assured and ea sy prosperity ; but those who were
most intima tely in itia ted into the enterprise, well knew tha tit contempla ted the confiscation of a ll the missions, and the
admin istration of their properties as the only field in whichprofit wa s to be made and fortunes won ; and that these and
not colon ization , were the rea l objects at which both Hija rand Padres were a iming.
”
Hijar and Padres with their deluded three hundred colonists in July, 1 83 4, sa iled from San Blas on the two shipsN atalia and M en tor. The former arrived at San Diego on
September l st, 183 4. The other vessel, with Padres and
pa rt of the immigrants, reached Monterey on September 2 5th,
on ly to find tha t the finely- spun project had miscarried .
It came about in this way. Santa Ana had meanwhileaga in seized the reins of government, and promptly revokedthe politica l and milita ry appointments bestowed upon Hijarand Padres respectively by the v ice-president . As the schemers
had a lready sa iled away, Santa Ana despatched a courier byland to Monterey w ith orders for Governor Figueroa not
to surrender his oflice to Hijar, but to stay at his post. The
courier was promised a rewa rd of three thousand dollarsif he reached his destina tion in time to prevent the transfer.
The courier was a man of determination . Despite some
mishaps and hardships, he accomplished the ta sk of ridingfrom the capita l of Mexico to the capita l of Ca liforn ia in
forty-five days and there placed the documents in Figueroa’
s
hands on September 1 1th. It was much the quickest trip on
record over the same route.
"
Figueroa had received no oflicia l notice respecting the
colon ists, but he thought it well to make preparations for
3 ° H ittell, 1 1 , 191 - 192 ; Bancroft, iii, 261 - 264.
3 1 Bancroft, iii, 2 62 - 2 71 ; H ittell, 1 1 , 191 - 193 ; Forbes, 1 42 - 144; Rob
inson , 167- 168.
508 M issions and Missiona ries of Ca lifornia
their coming. With that object in view he v isited SantaRosa Va lley, and there selected a site for the new town .
On his return he sent to Santa Cruz and other places forsupplies, and then awa ited the arriva l of the immigrants .
When Padres on September 2 5th reached Monterey w ith hispart of the colon ists, he cla imed the position of milita rycommander ; but in va in . He then presented his appointmenta s assistant director of colonization and oflicially demandeda id for the people he had brought along. Figueroa had
received no instructions to that effect, and therefore had
no authority for expending the public funds for benefit ofthe colon ists. On October 1 4th Hija r came
Diego by land with the rema inder of the immigrants . Whenthe governor showed him the order forbidding the transferof the civ il authority, Hijar felt bitterly disappointed, butthen fell back upon his commission as director of colon ization . This Figueroa consented to recogn ize. Two days
later, October 16th, Hija r demanded to be put in possessionof the mission property in accordance w ith the first article
of his instructions.
The instructions were dated Mexico, April 2 3 rd,1 834, and
consisted of the fifteen articles reproduced here in sub
stance. He will begin by taking possession of a ll the
property belonging to the missions of both Ca lifornias.
" The
milita ry commander is to furn ish all the a id required.
2 . For a yea r from their arriva l each colon ist is to receivefifty cents a day, or twenty-five cents if under four yearsof age. 3 . The traveling expenses a re to be pa id by the
government, and the colon ists are to receive the equipmentsbought for their transporta tion . 4. This a rticle trea ts of theselection of favorable sites for the new settlements. S. The
frontier is to be settled as soon as possible. 6. Thisarticle dea ls with the plan of the new towns. 7. Specia l
Tha t wa s the shortest w ay to put an end to the missions.
Being governor he could have it a ll his own way.
Padres a s milita ry commander would send the soldiers, if opposition ensued. It wa s a ll planned very n icely. On ly for SantaAna it would ha ve succeeded .
5 1 0 M issions and M issiona ries of Ca lifornia
assembly convened for the purpose on the next day, October17th. What the result would be can well be guessed.
The members of that body,” Bancroft rela tes,
“had but a
few years ea rlier been pa rtisans of Padres, or at lea st werelargely under the influence of those pa rtisans, such as Ban
din i, Va llejo, and Osio ; but, though we may be sure the
ayudante inspector exerted a ll his eloquence and influenceto reta in the favor of his old friends, his power over them
seems to have been lost. Va llejo and Alvarado admit ca ndidly tha t the chief reason for this defection wa s the fact
that Padres had brought with him twenty-one Mexicans tobecome admin istra tors of the missions ; whereas, under the
old plans, the Ca liforn ians were to have those places . Figu
croa’
s mission policy was substantia lly identica l w ith tha t ofEcheandia and Padres in the past, to which the Ca liforn ianshad committed themselves. He had actua lly made a beginn ing of seculariza tion ; a ll wa s going well, and the Ca lifornian s were filling the desirable places . Why should theyfavor a change in beha lf of strangers ?
” “Vallejo, Osio,Alvarado, and other Ca liforn ians denounced the whole colon ization plan of Hijar and Padres a s a deliberately concoctedplan to plunder the missions under the protection of the
highest politica l and milita ry authorities .
”
The legisla tive assembly referred the question to a com
mittee consisting of José A . Ca rrillo, Pio Pico, and JoaquinOrtega , and fina lly rejected the cla ims of Hijar and Padres .
During the follow ing December and later a ma jority of the
colon ists were gradua lly brought together at San FranciscoSolano, which mission wa s a lready in charge of Ma rianoVa llejo a s comision ado for the confisca tion , or secula riza
The Ca liforn ia ns, of course, cla imed the missions a s booty forthemselves.
3 ° Ban croft, iii, 274; 264. The same is true of their own p lan ca r
ried out shortly a fter under the name of“secula riza tion . I n the
former ca se the would-be plunderers were Mexican s, in the la tterca se the plunderers were the son s of Mexicans who preferred topa ss a s Ca liforn ian s. Tha t wa s the whole difl
’erence. Rea lly, the
Va llejos, Osios, a nd Alvarados in denouncing Hija r were condemn
ing themselves.
A Sly Scheme and How I tWas Foiled 5xl
tion as the covetous mission enemies chose to ca ll the transaction which w ill be described ere long. Fina lly the ideaof establishing a new town was abandoned, and each settlerwas permitted to select his own place of residence and em
ployment. Thus the colony was disorgan ized and the mem
bers were sca ttered over the territory . Hija r and Padreswere in the end ban ished from the country, and on March2 6th, 1 83 5, sa iled away from San Francisco on boa rd the
In this connection it will contribute materia lly towa rdsunderstanding the true inwardness of the war on the mis
sions, if we dwell a little on the actions and vicissitudes of
the third chief plotter, Juan Bandin i, the congressman from
Ca liforn ia in Mexico, and vice- presiden t of the Padres colon
ization sw indle. I f, like his worthy predecessor Ca rlos Anton io Ca rrillo,
“ Juan Bandin i had man fully stood up for the
rights of the mission Indians and insisted that the missionproperty, which had been accumulated for the neophytes bythe missiona ry Fa thers and the Indians a lone, and whichfor more than thirty years had made it possible for the
territoria l government and its troops to continue in Ca lifomia , be held intact for the neophytes, the so-ca lled secu
la rization” decree of August 1 7th, 1 83 3 , might have been
deferred indefin itely, or the neophytes would have receivedwhat was coming to them of right and in v irtue of the law
of 18 1 3 ; but insatiable cupidity had stifled every feeling of
gra titude as it had smothered the conscience of Bandin i andhis con federates at home. Hence it was tha t he betrayedhis trust, and labored for the in iquitous measures whichwere intended to deprive the neophytes of their property as
well as of their fatherly guides and'
gua rdians ; but as in the
ca se of Hij ar and Padres, his treachery only ended in dis
graceful defea t and bitter disappointment. The account willcome more appropria tely from Bancroft. We sha ll therefore let tha t historian and partisan expose the shady transactions of one of the worst enemies of the friars. It fur
Ba ncroft, iii, 275-2 80; 3 8.
5 1 2 M issions and M issionaries of Ca lifornia
nishes another proof tha t the loudest bawlers aga inst Ca tholic religious anywhere are usua lly dyed- ia -the-wool rascalsthemselves.
“Bandin i was, as we have seen , the leading spirit in the
grand scheme of Hijar and Padres, and in the Cornpar‘
iia
Cosmopolitana . Though not able to close the port of Mon
terey in favor of San Diego as he wished,
" he did obta in an
appointmen t as Visitador, or inspector of the Ca liforn ia cus
tom-houses .
“ He started for home with the Padres colonyin 183 4, filled w ith the most enthusiastic hopes. Member of
a great commercia l company without investing one cent ofca pita l, in a sense the representa tive of the company in California , having at his disposa l a stanch vessel, Hijar a nd
Padres in full possession of the politica l and milita ry power,the mission wea lth virtua lly under the control of his asso
cia tes, and last, but far from least, himself provided with a
commission by virtue of which he could remove such obsta
cles to his interests as might arise in the revenue depa rtment, the road to a princely fortune seemed broad and open
before the ambitious ex-congressman .
“The fa ilure of the genera l (colon iza tion ) scheme, in its
politica l, milita ry, and even commercia l aspects , has been suf
ficiently noticed. He was notmore successful than Hijar insecuring recogn ition of his authority. In the autumn of
1834, soon a fter his arrival , he presented his credentia ls to
Ramirez, the admin istrator, and announced his purpose to be
gin by inspecting the Monterey custom-house. Ramirez wa sa man a lways disposed to look out for his own interests ; and,
though supposed to be a partisan of the colony clique, heforesaw the triumph of Figueroa , and deemed it wiser to
sa ve something from the genera l wreck for himself than forBandin i . He accordingly declined to permit any interferencein his oflice until orders to that effect should come from his
superior oflicer, the director de renta s in Mexico. In va in
3 ’ I n October 183 3 he had in troduced a bill to tha t efiect, butfa iled.as Pla ced in cha rge of Angel Ramirez, a s we ha ve seen earlier inthis cha pter.
5 1 4 Missions and Missiona ries of Ca lifornia
Bandini’
s disappointment and indignation at this disa strous ending of a ll his brilliant hopes for wea lth and powermay be more adequa tely imagined than described . He lostno opportun ity during the next few yea rs of reporting in
writing upon his wrongs, and even tried to collect his sala ry ;
but he received no atten tion whatever from the Mexican a rr
thorities, etc.
”
3“Bancroft, iii, 369- 3 73 .
CHAPTER XIII .
Decree aga inst Monks a nd Nuns.— Stupid Ignorance of the Au
thors.— Fr. Duran ’
s Expressive Note — The Mexican CongressEna cts a Secula riza tion Decree — Not Sa tisfactory to the Ca lifornia n s — The Rea son .
- Spirit of the M exican Government.Assault on the Pious Fund— Another Seculariza tion Decree.
Figueroa and the Ca liforn ians — Trick of the Governor.— H is
Own“Secula riza tion” Project.— Sa tisfactory to the Ca liforn ian s.
- Adopted.— Text of the Decree— A Supplemen ta ry Decree.
E have now to go into deta il on the crime of the nine
teenth century. The mission despoilers and their abettors chose to ca ll it secula riza tion , but it was nothing lessthan bruta l confiscation which resulted in the ann ihilation or
dispersion of the Indian converts. Chiefly through the machinations of the in famous pa ir, Hijar and Padres, and theirunscrupulous tool Juan Bandin i who misrepresen ted California atthe Mexican capita l, the first law on the subject by wayof introducing the scheme pa ssed Congress on August 17th,183 3 . Ere this decree reached Governor Figueroa , the same
body enacted another law, and it received the approva l of
President Santa Ana . This brings into pla in view the truecharacter of the men who controlled the destin ies of the un
happy republic.
“Until then ,
”says Alaman , the first a rticle procla imed by
a ll successive revolutions had been the preservation of Re
ligion . Now three different a ttacks were directed aga inst herdiscipline and institutions . The third of these was leveled at
monastic Orders under the belief that thereby these would been tirely suppressed .
”1 A copy of the insidious measure, w itha proclamation of the Mexica n Presiden t promulga ting it, wastransmitted to Governor Figueroa by the Min ister of Justiceand Ecclesiastica l Affa irs . Figueroa in turn forwarded both
1 Alaman , Historia de Mej ico, v , 860. The other two mea sures
were a imed at the liberty of the Church and the ma in tena nce of
the clergy .
5 1 6 Missions and M issionaries of Ca lifornia
documents to Fr. Presidente Duran under da te of January17th, 1 834. Fr. Ga rcia Diego of the Zacatecan Fa thers doubtless a lso received a copy.
The message read as follows : The President of the
Un ited Mexican Sta tes to the inhabitants of the Republic .
Know ye tha t the Congress has decreed the following :‘
The
civil laws which irnpose any kind of coercion for the fulfill
ment of mona stic vows sha ll be abolished.
" José Maria Berriel, President of the House of Deputies . Manuel Aguillera ,
Vice- President of the Sena te. Vicente Prieto, Secreta ry of
the House of Deputies . Vicente Madero Emoidas, Secreta ryof the Senate. I therefore command that this be published,
circulated, and due observance be given to it. Pa lace of the
Federa l Government in Mexico, November 6th, 1 83 3 . Anton ioLopez de Santa Ana .
— By order, Andrés Quintana Roo.
“In order tha t what has been decreed might be the better
observed, His Excellency, the President, was plea sed to ca ll
attention to the following articles : 1 . The religious of bothsexes, as far as the civ il authority is concerned, a re absolutelyfree to live or notto live in the cloister and under the obedience of their prelates. 2 . Those who resolved to continue inthe commun ity of their respective convents and monasteriesmust observe the regula tions of their institute, and must subject themselves to the authority of the prelates in office, or of
those whom they may elect anew . 3 . The Government,though it will protect the just liberty of the religious of bothsexes who volunta rily desire to aba ndon the cloister, in con
formity w ith wha t is decreed in this law , will a lso a id the
prelates in those cases when their subjects , who resolve to
continue to live in commun ity, should fa il in the respect theyowe them, or should not acknowledge their authority and the
ordinances directed towa rds the fulfillmen t of their duties andthe observance of their institute. I commun ica te this to Your
1 Under Span ish laws the religious, who wan ted to live a s such
in his conven t, could be forced by the governmen t to observe hisvows.
5 1 8 M issions and M issionaries of Ca lifornia
The Vice-President of the Un ited Mexican Sta tes in the
exercise of the Supreme Executive Power to the inhabitan tsof the Republic. Know ye that the Congress Genera l ha sdecreed as follows“Article 1 . The govermn ent sha ll proceed to secularize
the missions of Upper Ca lifornia .
“Art. 2 . In each of sa id missions a pa rish sha ll be estab
lished, served by a priest of the secula r clergy, with a stipendof from $2000 to $2 500 a yea r, as the government may decide.
‘
“Art. 3 . These parish cura tes sha ll not recover or receive
any fees for ma rriages, Baptisms, or under any other name .
As regards fees for pomp, they sha ll be entitled to receivesuch a s may be specifica lly named in the list to be made out
for tha t purpose with the least possible delay by the Bishopof the Diocese, and approved by the Supreme Governmen t.“Art. 4. To the parishes shall be given the churches w ith
the sacred vessels, vestments, and other articles now possessedby each ; and a lso such rooms adjoin ing the church as in the
judgment of the government may be deemed necessary for thedecent service of the pa rish.
“Art. 5. The government sha ll cause a buria l ground to
be la id out for each pa rish but away from the popula tion .
“Art. 6 . Five hundred dollars a year a re appropria ted for
public worship and for the sacrista n of each pa rish.
“Art. 7. Of the buildings belonging to each mission , the
most suitable sha ll be a ssigned a s residence for the cura te ,
w ith land not exceeding two hundred va ra s squa re ; and theother buildings sha ll be used for a town -house, prima ryschools, public establishments
, and workshops.
Art. 8 . In order to provide,promptly and effectively for
the spiritua l needs of both Ca liforn ias, a vica r-genera l sha ll
7 Va len tin Gomez Fa ria s, the friend of Hija r a nd Pa dres, in the
absence of Presiden t Sa n ta Ana , who at tha t time wa s aga in on
the wa r- pa th.
8 The Fra ncisca n s had during sixty yea rs a nd more done the
work for nothing.
The Crime of the Nineteenth Century 5 1 9
be appointed, who shall reside at the capita l of Upper California but w ith jurisdiction over both territories ; and the
bishop sha ll con fer upon him the corresponding faculties a s
complete as possible.
“Art. 9. As a compensa tion the v icar-
genera l sha ll receiveannua lly $3000, andhe sha ll perform his duties free of cha rge,
demanding nothing under any pretext whatsoever, not even
for paper.
“Art. 10. I f for any reason whatever the cura te of the
capita l or of any other parish in the territory sha ll act as
v ica r, he sha ll receive $1 500 in addition to his stipend as
cura te.
“Art. 1 1 . No custom sha ll be introduced which obliges the
inhabitants of Ca liforn ia to make ofierings, however piousthey may be, or however necessa ry they may be declared ;neither time nor the consent of the sa id inhabitants sha ll givethem any force or weight whatsoever.
’
Art. 1 2 . The government sha ll effectua lly ca re tha t thebishop do his pa rt, as far as he is concerned, to ca rry out theobjects of this law .
“Art. 1 3 . The Supreme Government sha ll provide for the
gratuitous transporta tion by sea of the new curates that maybe appointed as well as for their household ; and in addition itmay give to each one for the journey by land from $400 to
according to the distance and the number of persons inhis household which he brings a long.
Art. 14. The government will pay the traveling expen sesof the missiona ry religious leaving the missions ; and in ordertha t they may comfortably return by land to their colleges or
conven ts, there may be a llowed to each one from $20) to
$300; and, at discretion , whatever may be necessa ry in ordertha t those who have not sworn to support the independence,may leave the republic.
°The freebooters would prevent even the widow’s mite if they
could ! Strange Ca tholics ! Ra ther, they were not Christians at
a ll, otherwise they would not ha ve endeavored to reduce to a
min imum the serv ice rendered to the Crea tor.
52 0 M issions and M issionaries of Ca lifornia
Art. 1 5. The Supreme Government w ill meet the expensesa rising under this law out of the products of the estates,
capita l, and revenues atpresentknown as the Pious Fund ofthe Ca lifornia M issions ? “
This decree of August 17th, 183 3 , in line with the law of
1 8 1 3 substituted secula r for regular priests , confined them to
the ca re of the spiritua l wants of the neophytes, and left theproperty in the hands of the Indians as the law of 1 8 1 3 ex
pressly prov ided . Although the mea sure was ill- timed and
unsuitable, like a dress made for a woman but to be worn byan in fant, the old missionaries would under other circumsta nces ha ve ha iled it with rejoicing as a relief from an intol
erable burden ; for a fter a ll the decree secured the Fa ith an d
property of the neophytes aga inst aggressors.
n The covetous
Ca liforn ians, on the other hand, would have suffered bitterdisappointment, inasmuch a s through the decree of the Mexican Congress a ll their machinations to obta in possession of
the Indian land and property as well a s the cheap service of
the neophytes, and the consequent life of ease and pleasure,would have come to naught. Un fortuna tely for the neophytes,outside the circle of the devoted missionaries little or no
sympathy for the spiritua l or tempora l welfa re of the Indiansexisted in either Mexico or Ca liforn ia . Cupidity, unrestra inedby religious principles which had been thrown overboa rd lestthey interfere with liberty a s the politicians chose to understand it, had seized especia lly the govern ing cla sses. Henceit wa s tha t, doubtless at Padrés
’
s and H ijar'
s instiga tion , on lythree months later, November 2 6th, the Mexican Congress
1 ° “Ca l. Arch., St. Pap., M is . Col. 1 1 , 2 3 5- 2 3 6 ; Dep. St. Pap.
Mon terey ii, 1 84; Dwinelle, Colon ia l History,” Addenda no. xv ;
Ba ncroft, iii, 3 3 6—3 3 7; H ittell, ii, 181 - 182 .
1 1 How eager the Fa thers were for the execution of the decreewe lea rn from a letter which Fr. Duran wrote to Figueroa July2 2 nd, 1 834.
“Soon it w ill be a yea r since the law wa s given , but
a s yet we do not see a beginn ing made to put it in to practice.
”
“Luego ha ra nu afio que esta dada la ley, y toda v ia no vemos
prin cipio de ponerla en practica .—“Archb. no. 2 182 . Nev
ertheless, in the same letter he warn s the governor aga inst settingthe Indian s entirely free.
52 2 M issions and Missionaries of California
the other, not prompted by Religion at a ll events, Santa Anaat this period exhibited little hostility to the missionaries .
As a lready sta ted, Governor Figueroa submitted the law
of August 1 7th, which the Mexican Congress had passedw ithout awa iting his report of October 5th,
183 3 , to the legis
la tive a ssembly with a request for advice as to its en force
ment. After much discussion it was resolved on June 3 rd,
1834, that the governor had no authority to execute the law ,
but tha t the Supreme Government should be urged not to
delay secula riza tion even in the absence of regular parishpriests, since the fria rs could act a s such tempora rily .
“
Though still doubtful a s to his powers in the ma tter, Figueroa later resolved to proceed without awa iting special instruction s from the Supreme Government. “
The reason al
leged,”says Bancroft,
“was that in the long interva l between
the passage and en forcement of the secula riza tion law, the
mission property was in danger of being wa sted by mal- administration— a rea son notwholly without force.
" In rea lity,
however, the position of Figueroa in 1 83 4 did not differ muchfrom that of Echeandia in 1 83 1 . Each desired to adva ncethe scheme of secula rization , each had in structions to thateffect, each founded his action on a national law— of Spa inin the one ca se and of Mexico in the other— ea ch expectedthe early arriva l of a successor
, each preferred from motivesof persona l pride and for the persona l interests of friendsand supporters tha t the change should be inaugurated by
himself rather than by his successor, and each had the sup
port of the diputacion . Both knew perfectly well that they1 ° Figueroa a nd the a ssembly saw tha t the decree, ba sed a s it
wa s on the law of 1 81 3 , merely secula rized a fter the old style, tha tis to say, it left the property w ith the Indians whilst it substi tutedsecula r for regula r priests. Otherwise they need not have hesita ted to en force it, if the law of 18 1 3 mean t a ll tha t the Ca liforn ian scla imed . The decree of August 1 7th simply went not fa r enoughto sa tisfy the cupidity of young Ca liforn ia n s .
“Secula riza tion ,
"
a s
Ba ncroft himself admits ( iii, “included a s an essen tia l ele
ment, by the whole spirit of Spa n ish laws, distribution of missionlands a nd property to the India n s.
”See a lso Ba ncroft
,iii
, 340.
1 7 This is nothing less than a libel on the friars.
The Crime of the Nineteenth Century 52 3
had strictly no lega l right to act in the matter, and tha t themotives a lleged, though of some weight,“ were not urgentfor immedia te action ; yet both chose to assume the responsibility of such action . Figueroa
’
s act, if somewhat less arbitra ry and unca lled for than tha t of Echeandia , was none the
less a trick.
” 1 ’
Figueroa’
s provisiona l regula tions for the secularizationand admin istra tion of the missions were proposed to the diputa cion on July 1 9th by the Carrillos. Don Ca rlos was forsome rea son , doubtless sa tisfactory to himself, less radica llyopposed to secula riza tion than he had been a few yea rs ea r
lier.
’0 After a full discussion they were approved a rticle bya rticle in the secret sessions of July 30th and 3 l st, re-rea dand finally approved on August 2ud, and officia lly promul
ga ted in a printed bando by the governor on August 9th.
” ‘ 1
This Reglamento Provisiona l, a s it wa s ca lled,reads as fol
lows“Article 1 . The governor, in accordance with the spirit of
the law of August 1 7th, 183 3 , and with his instructions re
ceived from the Supreme Government, and acting in accordwith the prela tes of the missionary religious,” will pa rtia llyconvert into pueblos the missions of the territory beginn ingat once in this month of August 2 ‘ with ten missions and
continuing with the rest in succession .
N This, too, is only a slur on the pa rt of Bancroft.1 ° Bancroft, iii, 341 . The ita lics a re ours .
3 ° As w ill be remembered he had defended the missiona ries incongress.
Ba ncroft, iii, 342 .
1 3 A bold a ssertion . Fr. Duran a nd Fr. Garcia Diego merely hadadvised making a n experimen t w ith some of the older missions, ifFigueroa determined at a ll ha za rds to secula rize them under the lawof 181 3 ; but they a lso wa rned him tha t, though under the law of
18 1 3 n ea rly a ll were “ready” a s far a s yea rs of existence were con
cerned , the neophytes themselves were by no mea ns ready for such
a n advanced sta te of citizen ship, and tha t disa ster would be the
inev itable result. Figueroa himself had in efiect reported the same
v iew to the Supreme Governmen t. See chapter xi.“proximo mes de Agosto,” next August, according to the orig
ina l, for the discussion occurred in July.
52 4 Missions and M issionaries of Ca lifornia
Art. 2 . The missionary religious will be relieved of the
admin istra tion of the tempora lities, and will exercise the
functions of their min istry only in what perta ins to spiritua lma tters until the forma l div ision of pa rishes is made, and
the Supreme Governmen t with the bishop provide pa rishpriests .
“Art. 3 . The territoria l government will reassume the
admin istra tion of the tempora lities, directively, on the fol
lowing basis .
“Art. 4. The Supreme Government w ill, by the quickest
route, be requested to approve this Prov isiona l Reglamento.
”
Distribution of Property and Lands .
Art. 5. To ea ch individua l head of a family, and to all
who a re over twenty yea rs of age, a lthough they have no
family, will be given from the mission lands, whether irri
gable or not, a plot of land notmore than four hundred and
not less than one hundred varas square. In common enough
land will be assigned them to pa sture their live- stock. Com
mun ity lands sha ll be a llotted to ea ch pueblo, and at the
proper time mun icipa l lands a lso.
“Art. 6. Among the same individuals there sha ll be divided
in proportiona te and equitable sha res, according to the judgment of the governor, one-ha lf of the live- stock, taking as a
ba sis the la test reports on a ll kinds of stock as presented bythe missionaries.
“Art. 7. There will a lso be distributed to them propor
tionately, one-ha lf or less of the chattels, implemen ts, and
seeds on hand which a re indispensable for cultivating the soil.
“A missta temen t. Assume is the right term,for the tempora li
ties, hav ing been crea ted a nd man aged by the missiona ries, hadn ever been admin istered by the governmen t.
3“Figueroa a nd the a ssembly should then ha ve postponed the
execution of their resolution un til it wa s approved by the SupremeGovernmen t. Cupidity on the one hand a nd pride on the other
made them disrega rd both justice a nd propriety, and, a s there wa sno court to a ppea l to, the missiona ries with their wa rds stoodhelpless.
52 6 Missions and M issionaries of Ca lifornia
belong to the town council ; but as far a s regards the ad
min istra tion of justice in contentions, they sha ll be subject tothe prima ry judges constitutiona lly established in the nea rest
places.
“Art. 1 6 . The emancipated India ns w ill be obliged to
take pa rt in the indispensable community work which in the
judgment of the governor may be deemed necessa ry for cul
tivating the vineyards, orcha rds, and fields which for the
present rema in undistributed until the Supreme Governmentdirects otherwise.
“Art. 1 7. The emancipa ted Indians will render to the mis
siona ry Father the persona l service necessa ry.
Restrictions .
“Art. 1 8 . They cannot sell, burden nor a liena te under any
pretext the lands which may be given them ; nor ca n theysell their live-stock. The contracts made aga inst these orderssha ll be of no va lue ; the government will recla im the property a s belonging to the na tion , and the buyers sha ll losetheir money.
“Art. 19 . The lands, the owners of which die without
heirs, sha ll revert to the power of the na tion .
General Rules .
Art. 20. The governor will name the comisionados whomhe may judge necessa ry for the execution of this plan and
its incidents .
Art. 2 1 . The governor is authorized to settle any doubtor matter which may a rise with rega rd to the execution of
this reglamento.
“Art. 2 2 . Until this reglamento is put into force the Rev .
Missiona ry Fathers a re prohibited from slaughtering ca ttlein considerable quantities, except the usua l number which iscustoma ry for the subsistence of the neophytes, and w ithoutwa ste.
“Art. 2 3 . The debts of the missions sha ll be pa id in pref
The Crime of the Nineteenth Century 52 7
erence out of the common ma ss of property at the time and
in the manner as the governor may determine.
“In order that this law may be exactly carried out the fol
lowing rules sha ll be observed
1 . As soon as the comisionados receive their appointmentand orders they sha ll proceed to the respective missions and
sha ll begin to execute the plan , conducting themselves in
everything according to its tenor and in keeping w ith theserules. They sha ll present their respective credentia ls to the
friar in whose cha rge the mission may be, and w ith whom
they a re to preserve ha rmony, politeness, and whom theysha ll trea t with due respect .“2 . The Fa thers w ill immediately deliver and the comis
ionados will receive the books of accounts and the other documents rela ting to credits and debts. The genera l inventorieswill then be drawn up in accord with Article 1 3 of this reg
lamento, of a ll property, including houses, churches, workshops , and other loca lities, sta ting what belongs to each de
pa rtment, tha t is to say, utensils, furn iture, implements, or
other articles which perta in to each. After the enumera tionof wha t belongs to the house follows that which perta ins tothe field, tha t is to say, things productive, such as vineya rds, orcha rds with the number of trees if it be possible,mills, etc. ; a fter tha t the live stock and whatever perta ins toit; but as it will be difficult to count them as well on accountof the multitude as on accoun t of the lack of horses, an estimate sha ll be given by two intelligent and honest personswho sha ll ca lcula te approxima tely the number of each spe
cies, and this sha ll be entered in the inventory. When a ll
ha s been en tered in the inventory in regula r form, it sha ll be
kept from the knowledge of the fria rs”7
and be in charge of
the comisionado or mayordomo ; no innova tion sha ll be madein the system of the labor and servants until experience
3 ° Such unscrupulous libera l lawmakers were grea t in devisingminute rules for others ra ther tha n for themselves. We ha ve
lea rned a s much fa r ba ck from Felipe de Neve .
” “queda ra inhibido del conocimien to de los religiosos . Were
the authors a fra id of being exposed ?
52 8 Missions and M issionaries of Ca lifornia
proves it to be necessary, except in those common
which ordinarily change whenever it is conven ient.3 . In ha rmony with the mayordomo the comisionado
sha ll see tha t a ll superfluous expenses cea se by establishingrigid economy in a ll that merits reform.
“
“4. Before making an inventory of field property the
comisionado will let the natives understa nd by expla in ingw ith sweetness and patience that the missions are to be con
verted into pueblos ; that they are subordinate to the Fa thersonly in wha t perta ins to the spiritua l admin istra tion ; thatthe land and property is to be distributed to them so thateach may labor for himself, ma inta in and govern himself independently of any one ; that the houses in which they livea re to be adjudged to them a s their property ; tha t for thisthey have to subject themselves to what is ordered in thisreglamento and these regu la tions, which will be expla inedto them in the best manner possible.
” Likewise there willbe a ssigned to them immedia tely the lots which they are to
cultivate a s prov ided in Article 5 of the reglamento. The
comisionado, the missionary and the mayordomo will selectthe loca lity where they sha ll choose the best place most convenient to the population , and they w ill give to each so much
ground as he ca n cultivate according to his aptitude and the
size of his family without exceeding the maximum of landestablished . They will a lso see that each one ma rks his landin the manner which suits him most.“5. The debts sha ll be pa id from the common mass of
property existing, but neither the comisionado nor the mayordomo sha ll pay such debts without an express order fromthe government to which a report must first be made on
3 3 This wa s in tended a s a slur on the Fa thers, but is ra ther amusing con sidering the qua rter whence it comes : the young Ca liforn ian s.
3 ° The neophytes may have wondered at the degree of libertyobta ined . Thus fa r they had subjected themselves to solicitousa nd fa therly priests ; now they were to subject themselves to hired.sa laried, indifferen t stra ngers ! The Fa thers had sha red their iacome w ith them ; would the new ma sters do a s much?
53 0 Missions and M issionaries of Ca lifornia
ber of town employees, and cause the elections to be held.
This will be done, as far as possible, in con formity with the
law of June 1 2th, 1830.
1 1 . The comisionados sha ll adopt a ll executive mea sures,which the condition of things demands, giv ing an account tothe government and consulting it in doubtful and serious
matters.
“1 2 . In everything else the comisionados, the missiona ry,
the mayordomos, and natives w ill act as is prescribed in the
reglamento.
Monterey, August 9th, 1834. José Figueroa . AgustinV. Zamorano, Secretary.
” ‘ 1
After the legislative a ssembly with Governor Figueroa hadperpetrated this in iquity it seems to have adjourned on Au
gust 2 nd, but reconvened in extra session on October 17th.
"
On November 3 rd they aga in adjourned a fter completing the
decrees authorizing confisca tion by enacting the followingregula tions commun ica ted to the friars by Governor Figueroaon November 4th, 1834 :
Art. 1 . In con formity w ith the 2ud a rticle of the law
of the 17th of August, 1 83 3 , the amount of $1 500 a year isa ssign ed to the fria rs who exercise the functions of pa rishpriests in the curacies of the first class, and to thoseof the second class.
“
“Art. 2 . As curacies of the first class sha ll be rega rded
1" “Sta . Ba rb. Arch. Dwinelle, Addenda , no. xix; Ba ncroft,iii, 342 - 3 44; H ittell, ii, 186 - 188. The w ise politica l ta ilors had eu
la rged the dress to be worn by the in fan t so a s to fit a gian t.3 ’ Alva rado a cted a s secreta ry un til July l st, when I . M . Ma l
don ado took his pla ce. Pio P ico wa s not sworn in till October1 7th, but of course he a cquiesced in wha t had been done, and
joined in formula ting the decree of November 3 rd. See Bancroft,iii, 249- 2 50. The n ames of the other worthies a re found in chapter xii, this section .
3 3 The amoun t wa s reduced because nothing could be expectedfrom the Pious Fund, a nd the missions were supposed to producethe sa la ry. Figueroa to Fr. Ga rcia Diego, November 4th, 1 834.
“Sta . Ba rb. Arch.
”
The Crime of the Nineteenth Century 53 !
the two un ited settlements of San Diego and San Dieguito ;San Luis Rey with L a s Flores and annexed settlements ;San Gabriel with Los Angeles ; Santa Ba rbara Mission and
presidio San Ca rlos w ith Monterey ; Santa Clara with SanJosé de Guada lupe ; the missions of San José, San FranciscoSolano, Sa n Ra fael and the colony combined .
“ San JuanCapistrano, San Fernando, San Buenaventura , Santa Inésw ith Purisima , San Luis Obispo, San Miguel, San Anton iow ith Soledad, San Juan Bautista with Santa Cruz, and San
Francisco de Asis with the presidio, sha ll be rega rded as
curacies of the second cla ss. I n the curacies composed of
two or more pueblos the one named first sha ll be the chiefplace where the cura te will reside, as for instance at the ex
tinguished missions of San Diego and Santa Ba rba ra .
“Art. 3 . Agreeably to a rticles 8 and 9 of sa id law, the
Rev . Fr. Comisario Francisco Ga rcia Diego sha ll establishhis residence at the capita l, and the governor sha ll ask the
Rev . Diocesan to bestow upon sa id prela te the necessaryfaculties of a vica rio foraneo. He sha ll en joy the sa la ry of
$3000 which is set apa rt by the same law .
“
“Art. 4. The vica rio foraneo a nd the curates will conform
themselves in everything else to the sa id law of August 1 7th,1 83 3 .
“Art. 5. Until the Government may provide regular pa rish
priests, the respective prelates of the religious will do so
tempora rily in accord w ith the governor.
“Art. 6. In accordance with Article 6 of sa id law , $500
sha ll be pa id annua lly for the expenses of worship and of
servers in each parish.
“Seven in a ll.
‘ 5 The in sufferable conceit a nd impertinence of the young Ca lifornians displayed in these regula tions is remarkable. Fr. GarciaDiego pa id no a tten tion to this pa rticular one ; besides, Fr. Durinwas vica rio fora neo a lready.
We do not w ish to be ca ptious, but it is to be oh
served tha t w ith Christians the term is“Culto Divino,” “Divine
Worship .
”The emancipa ted young Ca liforn ia n s a ppea r to be fond
of copying a nd even surpa ssing their infidel mon itors . Nowhere
53 2 Missions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
Art. 7. From the common mass of the property of the
extinguished missions the sa laries of the vica rio foraneo and
the curates, as well as the expenses for worship simll be pa ideither in money, if there be any, or in produce or other arti
cles at current prices. The governor w ill give the necessaryorders to that effect.“Art. 8. Article 17 of the
.
Reglamento Prov isiona l on sec
ula rization which obliges the Indians to render persona lvice to the missionary is abroga ted.
"
“Art. 9. I n conformity w ith Article 7 of sa id law,
" the
governor w ill a ssign the qua rters for the habitation of the
cura tes, town house, primary schools, public establishmentsand workshops.
“
“Art. 10. The other poin ts to which the observations of
the Rev . Fr. Na rciso extend, because of easy solution , will besettled by the governor, who is authorized by Article 2 1 of
the Reglamento Provisional.‘ o
“Art. 1 1 . This resolution , including the decision , sha ll be
commun ica ted to the prelates in order tha t they may bringit to the knowledge of their subjects.
” ‘ 1
is Divine” a llowed a place . Dwinelle feels the absence of the ad
jective and therefore kindly tran sla tes “Divine Worship”; but theorigina l is simply “culto.
”
‘ 7 Cha racteristic of the trea tmen t priests received at the hands
of libera l” legisla tors and from these “hijos del pa is.
”
3 ° L aw of August 17th, 1 83 3 .
3 ° Figueroa ’s Reglamen to a llowed the missionary to select hisqua rters. It wa s but just a nd courteous. The Pico crowd thoughtthis too considera te.
It would seem tha t Fr. Duran had presen ted some objections.
I f so, the documen t is lost. It may refer to his sta tement reproduced in cha pter xi, however.
‘ 1 Figueroa to Fr. Ga rcia , November 4th, 1834;“Sta . Barb.
Arch.
” Dwinelle,“Addenda , no. xx ; Bancroft, iii, 3 47-3 48 ; Hittell.
i i, 188- 189.
534 Missions and M issiona ries of Ca lifornia
he therefore ordered them to be kept in a sort of qua lifiedtutelage under the ca re and superv ision of the mayordomos ;and he directed that in the meanwhile they should be in
structed in the duties of citizenship.
”
Soon a fter the act of confisca tion had been publishedcomisionados were appointed to take up an inventory at each
mission in company with the respective missionary. This wasdone during the months of November and December 1 83 4.
San Ca rlos Mission was one of the last. Its inventory is da tedDecember loth, and signed by Fr. Jose
' Ma ria del Rea l , the missiona ry in charge, and José Joaquin Gomez, the comisionado.
The whole property of the mission , including the live- stock,wa s va lued at 7 rea les, 10 granos. In this amount
the church building is appra ised at the church fur
n iture, sacred vessels, vestments, etc. , a nd the library, whichwere likew ise put on the list, were va lued 7 rls . ,
4
grs .
‘ So the church property, too, was confisca ted and put
in the cha rge of secular officia ls ! Such was and is the fashionunder godless
“libera l” control in La tin countries. The priestis merely tolera ted and subjectto the good plea sure or whimsof those who happen to possess civil power ; but we a re
anticipa ting.
From the cha racter of the men who composed the territoria l legisla ture, which passed the measure remov ing the
missionaries from the ternpora l charge of the neophytes and
of the mission property, we ca n easily infer tha t they werenot slow to retrieve their dw indling fortunes by securing the
positions crea ted by their legislative acts . Pio Pico, for instance, took charge of Mission San Luis Rey. Carlos A. Ca r
rillo secured San Buenaventura . Joaquin A . Ortega“admin
istered”San Diego Mission . José Tiburcio Castro a ssumed
the management of Mission San Juan Bautista . Juan Bandin i, who had been vice-president of the Hijar and Padre
'
s
H ittell now uses softer words. Under the unsa la ried missiona ries the Indians were “slaves” ; under the hireling admin istra torsthey a re in tutelage!l‘ H ittell, u, 189.
0“Inven tario de la M ision de San Carlos.
” “Sta . Barb . Arch.
Results ; Fr. Duran s Instructions
mission robbery scheme, was consoled with the managementof Mission San Gabriel . The loud-mouthed ca lumn iator of
the friars, Ma riano Guada lupe Va llejo, took into his keepingthe whole country of which M ission Solano was the centre.
Deta ils on the subject regarding these and other missionsmust be reserved for the loca l history.
“Meanwhile the work of seculariza tion was going on , Hittell tells us .
’ “It furn ished a rich harvest for those engagedin it. No cha rge of corruption or unlaw ful ga in was madeor could have been susta ined aga inst Figueroa himself ; andthere may have been a few others engaged in the workequa lly clea r of offense ; but the grea t mass of the commissioners and other officia ls, whose duty it became to admin isterthe properties of the missions, and especia lly their grea t numbers of horses, ca ttle, sheep andother an ima ls, thought of littleelse and accomplished little else than enriching themselves.
It cannot be sa id that the spolia tion was immedia te ; but itwas certa in ly very rapid. A few yea rs sufficed to strip theestablishments of everything of va lue and lea ve the Indians,who were in contempla tion of law the beneficia ries of secu
la rization , a shivering crowd of naked and, so to speak, homeless wanderers upon the face of the
L et us see how the new system worked at the la rgest andmost prosperous mission under the old system of the friars,San Luis Rey. Pablo de la Portilla , the comisionado of San
Luis Rey, on December 20th, wrote an ac'
count of theen franchised Indians of that place, which furnished a fa irexhibit of their condition throughout the territory, H ittell
in forms us .
“They had absolutely refused to obey orders .
The season for sowing wheat had come on and he had pre
pa red the necessa ry plows ; but nothing had been done for the
We prefer to a llow the virulen t enemy of the fria rs, who gen
era lly voices the sentimen ts of Alva rado a nd his con federa tes, todescribe the result of “
seculariza tion .
”H is description is a con
fession of fa ilure.
0 Hittell, 1 1 , 206-207.
‘ On ly a few weeks a fter secula riza tion had been put intopra ctice !
53 6 M issions and Missiona ries of Ca lifornia
rea son that the Indians had been unw illing to work. Theysa id they had at length become a free nation ; and to prove itthey left their houses and wandered ofi‘ , abandon ing the mission . He had sent various a lca ldes to the sierra to endeavorby persuasion to induce them to return , but a ll in vain .
“
They would listen to no rea son , it was impossible to makethem understa nd or apprecia te the advantages of industry andobedience ;1 1 nothing could change their obstinacy. They a ll
with one voice cried out:‘We are free. It is not our plea s
ure to obey. We do not choose to work.
’ It was pla in ,
Portilla continued, tha t this sta te of a ffa irs would have to beremedied and the India ns reduced to subordina tion ; but hehad no troops to do it w ith. The liberty which had been
given to the young women had been a specia l cause of dis
order ; for they had gone off into the mounta ins, and the menspent their time in following them.
“ They had taken nea rlya ll the horses and mules, not leav ing enough even for urgen trequirements . The pastures were covered with the carcasses
of ca ttle, which had been killed to stea l their hides. In fin e
everything indicated the ruin of the country. From his know ledge of the Indians, ga ined by a residence and experience of
fifteen yea rs, he could foresee nothing butthe most disastrousresults from the policy adopted. The intentions of the gov
ernment were doubtless pra iseworthy.
‘Liberty throughoutthe world’ ought to be the cry of every good citizen ; butthe Indians of Ca liforn ia did not possess the qualifica tions forliberty ; and it wa s necessary for their preserva tion that something should be done to protect them aga inst themselves.
”
Such was the lament of a n officia l before he had been able
1 ° Echea ndia and the Ca liforn ian s had pra ised the neophytes forsuch rebellious a cts when the fria rs were in charge. They werenow hav ing a ta ste of their own medicine.
1 1 Well, the neophytes had not become Christians in order to
subject themselves to secular hirelings for the benefit of the la tter.1 ’ This goes to show tha t the monjério wa s a necessity, andtha t the methods of the Fa thers were inspired by prudence as well
a s pa terna l love.
1 ' “Ca l. M issions xi, 658-661 ; H ittell, 189
53 8 Missions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
to put the new plan into practice ; the freebooters were onlyreaping what they had sown . Mission San Luis Rey wa s thevery place, besides San Juan Capistrano, where Echeandia and
Pico had succeeded in filling the minds of the neophytesunder the fria rs w ith insincere ta lk on liberty and equa lity.
The condition of a ffa irs became so intolerable tha t Fr. Oliva ,
the missiona ry in charge, fell into despondency and Fr. Duranhad to remove him to San Diego in charge of Fr. FernandoMa rtin . Indeed, the fria rs had a lready deliberated whether itmight not be advisable to abandon the tempora l managementto their enemies, as the following commun ication of Fr. Du
ran to Governor Figueroa demonstratesIt seemed good to me, he writes on ly two weeks before
the act of confisca tion of August 9th, 1 83 4, had been pub
lished,“to direct Fr. Buenaventura Fortuni to take Mission
San Luis Rey, and to beg him to make the sacrifice for God ’ssake, and out of necessity. I have besought Don Pablo,
“a s
the one in cha rge, to keep public order, but not to make a
sensa tiona l show at the a rriva l and the departure of the re
spective Fathers.
“ This I deemed it well to commun ica te to
Signa ture of P r. Buena ventura Fortuni .
Your Honor for the in formation that is due to you, and for
the grea ter ha rmony a s regards public order.
“Wha t worries me is the fea r tha t Fr. Buena ventura mightlose courage at sight of the grea t disorder which reigns intha t mission . I am advising him beforehand to come to an
understanding with Don Pablo, so tha t they may in harmonyand with delibera tion and prudence apply a suitable remedy
N Portilla , coma nda n te of San Diego, the same who complainsa bout the rebellious spiri t of the San Luis Rey neophytes.
1“Fa thers Buenaven tura Fortun i and Vicen te Oliva .
Results ; Fr. Duran’s Instructions 53 9
to what may still be remedied, and tha t, if he should find out
tha t he cannot bea r the burden of the tempora lities, he should
inform me, as I would askYour Honor tha t a secular administrator be placed there to take charge of them and that theFa ther, receiving his support, should mind only the spiritua la ffairs. This is to be understood thus in case a long time isto elapsebefore the seculariza tion of the missions,“ becausein case of a speedy seculariza tion we must get a long a s wellas we can . I do not know what to think. Soon it w ill be a
year that the law 1 ' was passed, and yetwe do not see a startmade for putting it into practice.
“
“I think Your Honor has seen Fr. Za lvidea’
s remarks madein the circular ca lling for a id.
“ It has a ttracted my attention very much. Your Honor thinks, a s you have written to
me some time past, tha t the tempora l desertion of the missionby that religious is the principa l cause for the decay of the
mission .
’0 I thought as much when I went down last yea r,and I remonstrated with the Father about the disorder I saw .
He replied tha t he could not help it ; that, fa r from findingsupport in the comandante of San Diego,
u the latter was a l
ways ou the side of the Indians ; tha t if the Indian s did not
want a certa in mayordomo this was sufficient for the coman
dante for taking him away on his own authority ; and tha teverything he wanted to put into some kind of order wouldcause a tumult. I myself met an Indian a lca lde who insisted
1 ° rea l secula riza tion under the law of 18 1 3 , not confisca tion .
1 " L aw of August 1 7th, 183 3 , which wen t no fa rther tha n tha t of18 1 3 , and merely substituted secular priests for the friars.
This indica tes how eagerly the Fa thers looked for relief fromthe ma nagemen t of the tempora lities, a nd con tradicts the everla st
ing slander of the young Ca liforn ian s a nd their defending closethistorian s, tha t the fria rs clung to the managemen t of the missionsfor the purpose of enriching themselves, or for the sake of an ea sylife.
1 9 Figueroa ’s usua l dema nd for supplies.
3 ° San Juan Ca pistrano. We ha ve frequen tly noticed who wa s
to blame.
’1 Pablo de la Portilla .
3 ’ Fr. Za lvidea .
Missions and Missiona ries of Ca lifornia
that I should remove a mayordomo without giving me any
other reason than tha t ‘
he was the magistrate a nd wanted
no mayordomos .
’
The Indians must be either en tirely in sub
jection or entirely free ; to w ish to leave them midway seems
to be impossible. Nor is any Fa ther able to manage them.
”
I am satisfied tha t Fr. Za lvidea does not view this with indifference, because he is very exact in spiritua l matters .
” I cannot persuade myself that the fault lies w ith him ; on the con
tra ry, the insubordina tion of the Indians is to HencePortilla had good rea son to accuse himself for much of the
disorder that preva iled, and for the rebellious spirit which heencountered in the neophytes. For the rest, Echea ndia a nd
his gang must shoulder the responsibility. Before his ap
pea rance in Ca lifornia the Indians were contented, and wouldhave been exceedingly happy had not the necessity of supplying the tr00ps deprived them of many advantages and pleasures which the kindly mission system enabled them to enjoy.
The in iquity, however, of the system evolved by Figueroaand his covetous Ca liforn ia counselors, who composed the territoria l a ssembly, will stand outmore clearly as we describethe loca l conditions of each mission in subsequent volumes .
For the present it may suffice to quote but one American eye
witness whose testimony agrees with that of other conternpo
raries . R H . Dana in his “Two Yea rs Before the Mast,”
writes : A law was passed stripping the missions of a ll theirpossessions, and confin ing the priests to their spiritua l duties,atthe same time decla ring all the Indians free and independ
ent rancheros . The change in the condition of the India nswas, as may be supposed,
only nomina l ; they a re v irtually
Presiden te Narciso Duran .
Indian a lca lde. The ita lics a re Fr. Duri n ’s.
Indian s of Sa n Jua n Capistra no under the new condition s.
Za lvidea wa s one of the most scrupulously fa i thful fria rs .
according to Ba ncroft, v ,62 2 , rega rded him a s a sa int.
Duran to Figueroa , July 2 2nd, 1 83 4. Archb. no .
2 1 82 .
3 ° pp. 1 94- 195; 1 99.
542 Missions and M issiona ries of Ca lifornia
domestic duty among them, I have frequently known an
Indian to bring his w ife down to the beach, and ca rry herback aga in ,
dividing with her the money which she had got
from the sa ilors. I f any of the girls were discovered by the
a lca lde to be open evil doers, they were whipped,” and keptat work sweeping the square of the presidio, and ca rryingmud and bricks for the buildings . Intemperance, too,
is a
common v ice among the Indians.
”
The question na tura lly arises, how did the missionaries bea rthemselves during this trying period in the face of all the ad
verse legisla tion perpetra ted in both Mexico and Ca liforn iaJust a s might be expected of men so en tirely detached fromworldly things. The Fathers,” Bancroft says, “have not leftthemselves on record a s having made any serious a ttempt toarrest en forcement of Figueroa
’
s Prov isional Regula tions. Itis unfortuna te that even the views of the Fa thers are not
extant. Here and there a fria r had a persona l qua rrel withthe new administration about the assignment of rooms or
servants, or presented a compla int that the ex-neophytes wereill- treated, but for the most pa rt they were silent.From the Fernandinos we hearDoubtless they suffered many vexations and were not spared
occasiona l insults ; nor could they be insensible to the in juryinflicted upon the neophytes, whom they had ever regardedas their children ; but they shut their sorrows up withinthemselves so much so that they appea r to have concea ledtheir privations and troubles from the very Fr. Presidente.
At a ll events, Fr. Duran in a confidentia l circula r a ffectionately chides the fria rs for their lack of filial trust. “I believe,
”he writes,
“tha t there will always be some mortifica
3 ’ Much ado wa s made about the mild kind of whipping as one
of the pun ishmen ts employed at the missions when nothing else
would a va il. Under the admin istradores a nd civi l ofiicers floggingseems to have been rega rded a s quite in order, even if a pplied without discretion .
This is in stra nge con tra st w ith Ba n croft’s a nd Hittell’
s asser
tion s tha t the fria rs from mercen ary motives firmly held on to the
tempora lities, and opposed every a ttempt to wrest the propertyfrom them. Ban croft, iii, 346- 347; 3 52 ; 3 54.
Results ; Fr. Duran’s Instructions
tions to suffer ; but Your Reverences should be assured thatI w ill regard them as my own if you in form me about them,
and I will seek the remedy from whomsoever a remedy maybe obta ined . I found it not a little strange tha t you have
commun ica ted to me so little of your sufferings, and tha t youhave deprived me of the pleasure which I should en joy inseeking an a llevia tion for you a s well as I might, providedthat the compla ints be not vague and indetermina te, but sup
ported by facts and expla ined by theIn the same circular Fr. Duran took occa sion to instruct the
friars concern ing their duties under the new condition of a f
fa irs . Though a lengthy document it is well worth reproducing in the ma in at lea st. “
May the Lord give us peace !”
he writes.
“As min isters of the Ca tholic Church, and as
pastors of the souls which Divine Providence ha s placed inour charge, we must consider ourselves bound not only to
feed them with wholesome food of doctrine and the Sacraments, butwe a re a lso bound by the same principles to keepfrom them poisonous foods which, couched in seductive, eloquent and appa rently brilliant terms, a re conta ined in manyof the modern books. Under the fa lse preten ses of wantingto impa rt to the youth and children an en lightened educa tion ,
they instill dangerous maxims which not only despoil theyouths of the very first Christian idea s received in tenderinfancy, but transform them into monsters of inhuman ity and
fierceness which in time must result in revolutions, blood, andmurders. From such principles origina ted the widespreadperversion of the French people, whose childhood and youthwere poisoned through the reading of so-ca lled philosophica lworks which had been distributed lavishly in the most insignifica nt v illages, so tha t by mea ns of them the unwa ry youthmight drink in the venom which teachers of schools selectedfor tha t purpose held out to them, and which in due timeproduced the results of which we a re eye
-witnesses .
“
3 ‘ Fr. Duran ,
“Circular, San ta Ba rbara , January 20th, 183 5. Sta .
Barb . Arch.
”
“There is no doubt tha t the young Ca liforn ia ns, such as the
Va llejos, Bandin is, P icos, and Alva rados, acquired their bluster and
544. Missions and M issionaries of Ca lifornia
I am fa r from saying that the schoolmasters or teachers,who have just been sent to this territory, belong to this class
and have the same purpose as those of France ; atthe presentdate I have no rea son or foundation to be positive on thispoin t ; nevertheless I have been informed tha t some one has
brought his assortment of bad books which a re corruptive of
youth. Some one has told me that he brought the“Emilio"
of Rousseau a long.
” All this gives reason to fear tha t thesenew teachers, or one of them intends to impress upon his
pupils some of the maxims, which a re not in con formity withthose of the Gospel, under the pretext that they do not go
beyond the sphere of politics, and have no rela tion to Re
ligion , two things which in practice it is very difficult to keepapart in our times. I direct Your Reverences to use a ll pos
sible v igilance to find out what manner of doctrina l food and
maxims is given to the youth in the new schools, so tha t wemay do our pa rt as Ca tholic min isters and as shepherds of thesouls entrusted to our keeping. Without it we could never
render a good account to the Chief Shepherd, Christ Jesus.
Hence, if Your Reverences should discover anything ev il demanding a remedy, do not delay to notify me w ith the neces
sary prudence and evidence so tha t I may be able to takenecessa ry steps before the governor, who a s a Christia n maybe able to issue adequate orders in view of the political and
religious damage that may arise from the corruption of the
young through the spread of contra ry maxims.
Pa ssing from the zea l which we must possess for the souls
under our ca re to the perfection for which we must strive invirtue of our voca tion as Francisca ns, even in the new rela
tions and circumstances in which the governor ha s seen fit to
place us, I will here reproduce some of the declarations which
their contemptuous trea tmen t of the missiona ries from the readingof Fren ch infidel works, which had been early in troduced or fromthose who had been corrupted by such works.
One of the vilest of French books. The author himself wa s a
mora l leper. H is works could hardly have any but corruptiveresults. Infidelity a nd mora l corruption go hand in hand, a s is
evidenced especia lly in the Fra nce of Rousseau and Volta ire.
546 M issions and M issionaries of California
of San Ferna ndo and the Bishop of Sonora sha ll canonica llyauthorize such titles and their canonica l significa tion . The
religious a re aware of this, and consequently they rema in mis
siona ries , and the churches rema in missions as much a s before,un til the competent ecclesiastica l sanction is given by whom it
concerns. For this rea son it is meet tha t in our rela tions withthe government the names of curates and curacies be avoided
until due time, a practice which I sha ll observe. Hence I amof the opin ion tha t, a fter the decla ra tion has been once made,that the assignments sha ll be bestowed and received as were
the former stipends in the sense of a lms , we sha ll leave itthus until necessity or other rea sons dicta te otherwise ; but Ido a sk this much and ea rnestly supplica te tha t, in con formitywith the genera l law of secula riza tion which allots the most
suitable quarters a s the dwelling for the cura tes , and in con
formity with the Provisiona l Reglamento which lea ves it tothe choice of the religious, Your Honor by no mea ns shouldpermit tha t the missiona ries be forced to leave the apa rtmentsand reception rooms which they have occupied until now,
as
was attempted atSan Luis Rey ; for this would be a degrade
tion full of partia lity, and something which would not be ven
tured in the ca se of secula r curates, that is to say, drive thereligious out of their own homes which they or their brethrenhave built as loca lities most adapted for their commun ica tionwith the churches .
’
“The governor has agreed to a ll this, and he has directed
and commanded the gentlemen entrusted with the admin istration of the missions tha t no innovations be made with regard
to the ma il, that is to say that, besides the monthly corre
spondence, we can correspond with one another by extra ma ilwhen an urgent need demands it, and we ask for it with the
politeness becoming religious. I f there occur any refusa l ordisrespect from the sa id gentlemen when you a sk in that manner, you will notify me with as much ev idence as possible, sotha t we may not appea r to be acting for the sake of etiquetteor from riva lry.
“I think it possible that, owing to the diversity of dispositions, one or the other among us may not be able to lead a
Results ; Fr. Duran 3 Instructions
pea ceful and harmon ious life w ith some comisionado or mayordomo in tha t ca se there is no remedy but to live apart inabsolute independence of him. This independence we mayen joy by subsisting either according to the Reglamento or se
cording to the Assignment.” I f we accept the la tter, it isclea r enough, ina smuch as its very nature renders us more
independent ; for then we live according to our own account,though subject to our Franciscan Rules a s sa id before. I f we
accept the Reglamento, it amounts a lmost to the same thing,
because even in that ca se we a re under no obligations, nor
would I ever consent tha t we should be servile dependents, tothe gentlemen who have come to enjoy the fruits of our laborand hardships, and who have come to direct and manage
certa in advantages the creating of which has caused them no
troubles,but, on the contra ry, whose principa l and perhaps
entire business is to exclusively en joy as well the fruit of ourpersona l labor as the va lue of the volunta ry dona tion whichwe have made of our stipends in favor of the Indian com
mun ities.
” For these reasons Your Reverences must in no
way debase yourselves, nor cea se to insist upon receiving wha tis just and in con formity w ith liberty and religious inde
pendence from any officia l who, perchance, may think that hehas it in his power to mortify and oppress the sacred personsof Your Reverences like one who is dependent upon him for
food and attendance,“ for I am certa in that the governor will
See Figueroa ’s Reglamen to Provisiona l of August 9th, 1834, a ndthe subsequen t regula tion s of the territoria l a ssembly of November3 rd, 183 4.
‘ 9 Thus the Ca liforn ia freebooters enjoyed not on ly the fruit ofthe labor of the India n s and mission aries, but a lso the stipends,a lms
,and dona tion s which the Fa thers had received since the yea r
1770, a nd added to the mission revenues. Clea rly the Fa thers hadrea son to feel outraged when they found themselves begrudged sufficient qua rters and food at the mission s which they had crea tedand ma in ta ined a s happened in pla ces .
4° The fria rs had a lways showed themselves too submissive to thewhims of their enemies. This is the one fault to be found from Fr.
Serra down . Fr. Durén tries to have them a ssert their rights.
They should ha ve refused to serve un less trea ted wi th deference.
548 Missions and M issiona ries of Ca lifornia
remedy everything if the ma tter is placed before him in due
form and with proofs . I f, contra ry to wha t is expected,
it
should not be remedied, then Your Reverences may consideryourselves relieved of religious obedience, as it cannot obligesave where there is a refectory and necessary assistance.
u
Wha t I have sa id concern ing the dependence of YourReverences upon the comisionados for food and attendance,(even those who do not make use of or do not accept theassignmen t, but surrender themselves to the charity of sa id
gen tlemen ) , I mean it to refer to the hours a nd places wherethe mea ls must be furn ished you , that is to say, tha t YourReverences a re free to arra nge this ; but in no way must yousubject yourselves to the time and place which another mayset apa rt for you. On the contrary, in this each one sha ll be
free and unhampered to follow the same custom which he oh
served during the time of his domestic independence, if thissuits him, so that no one else should change the div ision of
time a nd the method of life to which he wasTwo months later Fr. Duran in a Latin circula r issued
additiona l in struction s for the conduct of the friars under thepeculiar conditions thrust upon them by the confiscation of the
missions. It furn ishes more ev idence of the absolute detachment from worldly goods and a ims a s scrupulously observedby the Franciscans to the very la st. Although the commun iestion was ma rked confidentia l, it is reproduced here as evidenceof the disinterestedness observed in the fria rs throughout themissiona ry period .
“Inasmuch as by the secula rization of the
missions, Fr. Duran writes,“a rea l sepa ration of the tern
pora l goods which we use from those that belong to the com
‘ 1 Tha t is to say, obedience is not binding aga in st the laws of
n a ture. The necessa ry food a nd ra imen t must be provided, or thesubject is free to prov ide for himself.
Fr. Duran ,
“Circula r,” Sa n ta Ba rba ra , Ja nua ry 20th, 183 5. Sta .
Ba rb. Arch.
”
“All commun ica tion s were in Spa n ish, a s a rule. For obviousrea son s this circula r wa s written in La tin , lest the hostile Ca lifornian s take occas ion to slander the Fa thers if it fell in to their hands.
Fr. Duran wrote a cla ssica l La tin .
550 Missions and M issiona ries of Ca lifornia
to be found, the friar in cha rge will see tha t it is deliveredto Don José de la Guerra whom I have appointed temporarysindico until he is lawfully elected by the College, to which
like to the provincia ls, according to our sta tutes, perta ins theexclusive right of such appointment, though the necessity ofthe better observing our Rule forced me to make it tempora rily. Hence it is more conformable and more Franciscanlike, so to speak, to have the notable amount of money ( if weshould have it collected for some la rge expenditure, as for a
voyage, which I consider not deposited w ith the
said sindico for our common necessities, ra ther than in our
own keeping or that of other strangers, lest perhaps over
taken by sudden death we be found provided with money,wherea s we should be devoid of it.““As all this, however, should be done cautiously and pru
dently, so that those who a re aga inst us may be put to shame
for having nothing evil to say about us, it may perhaps bewell, if those things which most excite the cupidity of men beimmedia tely locked in a case addressed to the prelate, and thesurviving associa te sha ll forward them at the sa fest opportunity, in order that from there they may be delivered to the
Hence, far from regretting their remova l from the manage
ment of the tempora l a ffa irs of the missions, Fr. Duran and
his fria rs appear to have submitted quite philosophica lly to theconfiscation of the movable and immovable property. Though
De la Guerra had a cted a s sindico or deposita ry, who prov idedfor the tempora l needs of the friars, since about the yea r 182 1 . The
same pra ctice is still observed, because the individua l fria r ca n haveno money or property of his own . His needs are provided fromthe funds deposited for him or the commun ity w ith the sindico bythe benefa ctors.
47 This shows tha t Fr. Duran expected to be relea sed a long w iththe other friars, possibly through the substitution of secula r priests.
“There wa s little likelihood tha t any of the friars would accu
mulate a la rge amoun t of money, but Fr. Durén thought it well toremind them of their Rules in view of the extraordina ry circumsta nces surrounding them
‘ 9 Fr. Durén ,
“Circula r, Ma rch 9th, 1 83 5. Sta . Barb . Arch.
Results ; Fr. Durén’
s Instructions
they clearly foresaw tha t the cha nge would be productive of
grave evils, and though they keenly felt the spiritua l and
tempora l damage which the Indians must necessa rily sufier inconsequence, they a lso were convinced tha t they had done a ll
they could to ward off such disaster from their neophytes .
They could look back upon their efiorts with no sma ll degreeof sa tisfaction , inasmuch as they had accomplished, as far as
lay in them, the ta sk which they had been sent to undertake,and tha t, too, despite the Opposing forces of one kind or the
other which from the inception of the work in 1769 to the end
of 1834 had incessantly obstructed their endeavors for the
Christian iza tion and civilization of the savages. The fria rshad brought the truths of the Gospel and the means of sa lvation to as many as natives, of whom about bydea th had a lready gone beyond the reach of perversion ,
“ leaving still about neophytes under the spiritua l care of the
twenty-seven surviving missiona ries . They had at the same
time induced the indolent natives to acquire a knowledge of
many mechan ica l arts, besides cultivating the soil and ra isinglive- stock. In the meantime, with one solita ry exception ,
thesereligious had not forgotten their sanctification which wa s
rea lly their persona l a im whilst they attended to the Master’swork.
In truth, Fr. Duran and the other fri ars rather rejoiced at
the prospect of relief from the burden which wa s so foreignto their tastes and persona l aspira tions, and which they hadon ly shouldered for the sake of the poor natives ; nay theyawa ited the execution of the decrees with a certa in degree of
impa tience, as is ev ident from Fr. Duran ’
s letter to the gov
cruor of July 2 2 nd, 1834, a lready quoted, in which he says,“I do not know wha t to think about it. It will soon be a
5° Exa ct figures w ill be found in the loca l history. See Appendix J .Seven teen Ferna ndinos a nd ten Zacateca nos. Most of the for
mer were old and infirm.
“I am beginn ing to feel a scarcity of ablebodied religious, and now I sha ll have no one at my disposa l.From among the aged, lame and crippled there is little use to makea selection .
”Fr. Durén to Governor Figueroa , July 2 2 nd, 183 4.
“Archb. Arch. , no. 2 182 .
552 Missions and M issiona ries of California
yea r since the law passed, and a s yetwe do not see a
n ing made of putting it intoSimilarly the Zacatecan Fathers under Fr. Ga rcia Diego in
the northern Ca lifornia mission s displayed a tota l absence of
attachment to the control of the tempora lities, though the evi
dence is not so pa tent as in the case of the Ferna ndinos underFr. Duran . This is owing to the lack of documents, whichbecome sca rcer with every yea r. The Fr. Gua rdian of the
Zaca tecas College, however, when forwarding a copy of the
Mexican secula riza tion law of August 17th, 1 83 3 , congratu
la ted Fr. Ga rcia Diego and his n ine compan ions. He directedthem to comply with the regulations concern ing the transferof the missions to secula r priests, and at their arriva l to retireto the College.
"
We should find it strange if the bibulous Alva rado had not
dreamed something in this connection and given it out as a
solemn fact. He accordingly tells us tha t the Zacatecanoswere in a fury ; tha t they prepa red a protest to the MexicanPresident aga in st the plundering policy of Governor Figueroa ,and asked for the tria l and remova l of the governor ; that,backed by Zamorano and Sénchez, they sent the protest southfor the signatures of the Ferna ndinos ; tha t not one of themwould sign the document, and that some even ta lked wa rmlyin favor of Figueroa
’
s Reglamento confiscating the missions,ma in ly to annoy the Za catecanos, whom they despised a s in
truders . All this is addition a l proof of Alva rado’
s ma levo
lence. Bancroft himself rema rks,“I believe there is no reason
to creditAlvarado’
s statements on this and like
5 2 “Archb. Arch. , no. 2 182 .
5 ' Fr. Ga rcia Diego,
“Circula rs, May 2 3 rd, June 20th, 1834.
Libro de Pa ten tes, M ission Sa n José.5 ‘ Bancroft, iii, 347. Ita lics a re ours .
554 Missions and M issionaries of California
of the troops, who have not received any pay for the lasttwenty yea rs, compels me to take steps which I would otherwise gladly avoid. They a re having a wretched and exa s
pera ting existence, and even this has to be made possible bybegging from the missions because the revenues do not cover
the fourth part of the expenses.
’ Here you have the rea son
why I so often must appea l to the missions. In order to
regulate the matter so that you may know in advance what
you a re to contribute, I have formed an estima te of whatis indispensable for the tr00ps of Santa Barba ra and San
Diego, and I forwa rd it to you so that you may tax the mis
sions proportionately. Please, Your Reverence, make an heroicefiort for the common good, and for the tranquillity of the
territory, until the Supreme Government is enabled to remedythis, as I so often have supplicated.
‘
“You will observe tha t I beg for a loan of cattle and irn
plements. This is for the purpose of establishing nationa lra nchos,
“which are to help defray the expenses, and to te
lieve the missions of such a burden .
“ I ask for hides, rifle
So the missions a ctua lly supplied three- fourths of the amountneeded, not coun ting their sha re of the taxes and custom duties !
For twen ty- three years the Fa thers were making heroic efforts ,
and they taxed their respective mission s in order to tra nquillizethe soldiers, who were rea lly the on ly ones tha t caused disturba nce either through their outrages on the na tives or through theirbad example.
Tha t wa s the usua l title under which the missions had suppliednea rly a million dolla rs’ worth of provision s and goods. Nothingwa s refunded. Wha t wonder if the mission buildings, etc. , were
doomed to decay ?5 Such ra n ches had been pla nned and begun since the la st decade
of the eighteen th cen tury. All fa iled. This fa ct is additional prooftha t the fria rs ma naged in a business- like manner and con scien
tiously, for even in a ma teria l sen se the mission s succeeded wonderfully, a nd the territory wa s a ctua lly liv ing upon them. Whencethen the persecution of the mission a ries ? They wore a religioushabit, a nd solicitously defended the rights of their Indian wardsaga in st white cupidity.
Nevertheless, at this very period the ungra teful Figueroa was
devising mean s to make the mission s bea r the addition al load of
sa la ries for hired admin istra tors who were to supplan t the unsala
ried a nd fa ithful mission a ries !
Ca lumnies ; Figueroa’s Fanaticism
cases, trappings, horses, etc., articles of which the troops
stand in need, and without which it is impossible to undertakeany expeditions, so as not to stay at home as now they a re
bound to do. Hence occur the insolence of the savages and
the frequent robberies to the detriment of the missions a s
well a s of the white settlements . Likew ise I ask for fiftyloads of flour to make certa in kinds of biscuits needed on the
expeditions. Fina lly, I ask for oxen and implements for cultivation in order to ra ise something for the support of the
Of course, Fr. Durén urged the Fathers to com
ply as well as possible, though this meant subjecting the poorneophytes to additiona l ha rdship for which they received littleor no acknowledgmen t from the troops, who rega rded the
missions as their milch cow, so to speak, and as their legitima te prey.
Here from the Ca lifornia Archives are some specimen or
ders for helping the troops in the prev ious year of 183 3 . On
Februa ry l t Fr. Narciso Durin is requested to commandthe missions of the San Francisco jurisdiction to furn ish forfour or six months a ll the gra in which the garrison of Mon
terey consumes, ca lculating fifty fanegas of corn and twentyfanegas of bea ns, besides forty-five a rr6ba s of manteca a
month? “ I n reply Fr. Duran , March 2 nd, wrote that thefollowing supplies had been forwarded : One hundred fanegasof ma ize, fifty-two fanégas of horse-beans in the pod, fifteenfane
'
ga s of peas, ten fanegas of beans, and for H is Honor, theGovernor, one fanéga of bean s, three fanéga s of ga rbanzos orchick-pea s, two hundred and twenty-five lbs. of fancy flour
,
and six strings of chile.
n
7 Figueroa to Fr. Duran , April 3oth, 1834. Archb. Arch., no.
2 169.
0Mission s San Francisco, San ta Cla ra , Sa n Jose, San Ra fael,Sola no.
° An a rr6ba wa s equa l to twen ty-five lbs . ; a fanega equa led a
hundredweight, or a s Forbes ca lcula tes, two and one-ha lf Englishbushels.
1 ° “Ca l. Arch. , Prov . St. Pap. , Ben icia lxxix, p . 49.
1 1 “Ca l. Arch., Prov . St. Pap., Ben icia lxxix, p. 50.
556 M issions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
In the fa r south, omitting simila r demands elsewhere, wefind Comandante Santiago Argiiello of San Diego, March 2udand 9th 183 3 , requesting Fr. Anton io Anza r of San Luis Reyto furnish more supplies. We sha ll not wonder at the te
sponse, if we bea r in mind that Echeandia and his band hadafflicted this mission previously for many yea rs. Fr. Anza r,
Ma rch 3 rd, wrote :“Muleteer Joaquin leaves here to take
gra in from the mission to the presidio of San Diego. He
brings sixteen fanega s of whea t, but no beans, for there are
none even for planting, nor any pea s, manteca , soap, or ta llow . There is not even an ounce of
Notwithsta nding that the missionaries and their neophytes
labored ha rd to sa tisfy the governor and his troops, they wereat this very time slandered unmercifully by the pa isano chiefs,who fea red lest even a part of the coveted booty might escapetheir gra sp. They accused the aged fria rs, some of whom
could ba rely keep on their feet on account of their infirmities,of wilfully neglecting, nay, wanton ly destroying the mission
property as soon a s they lea rned that the management wouldbe taken from them.
“ When we remember that, besides holding themselves accountable to Almighty God for the culpablewaste of anything belonging to the missions, the Fa thers hadsunk into the mission fund a ll their persona l ea rn ings, such as
stipends and a lms, in order to rear and ma intain the Indianmission establishments , we can imagine how this wickedcha rge must have a ffected the venerable old men , and what
must have been the cha racter of the creatures who daredbroach such an accusa tion . The truth is, in trying to blacken
1 2 “No hay ui nu ada rme de n ada . Ca l. Arch., Prov . St. Pap. ,
Ben icia , lxxix, 88-94. Fr. Oliva , who succeeded Fr. Anza r, on
April 16th,183 3 , notified Argiiello tha t he had on ly one hundred
fanega s of whea t at L a s Flores in stead of 1000, a nd tha t he couldnot furn ish the supplies demanded. Ibidem,
p . 2 60. Figueroahimself, M ay 10th,
1 83 3 , a sked Fr. Ga rcia Diego for more pro
vision s. Ibidem, 52 - 55. See a lso chapter ix, this section .
‘ 3 Of course their lying clamors were on ly ra ised to ofler excuses
for the con templa ted wholesa le robbery. Un fortuna tely, mostwriters a llowed themselves to be deceived, and they have reta iledthe ca lumn ies a s unden iable fa cts ever since .
558 Missions and M issionaries of Ca lifornia
the fria rs of inaugura ting a wholesa le slaughter of ca ttle inorder to spite their enemies.
“Such is the cha rge,”says Ban
croft,“and though exaggerated in deta il, I have no doubt it
is well founded. It would have been more honorable forBancroft if he had brought to hea r some substantia l proof thatthe charge wa s well founded ; for a few lines further down heacknowledges that
“the documentary evidence on this subject
is slight”
; but, he says,“so fa r as I know, the padres have
left in the records no den ia l of its Strange argu
ment ! One should think tha t the enemies could have adducedsuch abundant proof of the wholesa le slaughter
”that Ban
croft would not have been compelled to ca ll it slight. I f the
Ca liforn ians fa iled to prove their accusa tions, why should theFathers feel ca lled upon to deny it, when from experiencethey knew that den ia ls were of no ava il with their greedya dversa ries ? There is conclusive testimony in the officia l report of the status of every mission for every yea r of missiona ry control. From them it is clea r that no such wholesaleslaughter could have taken place without the knowledge of
the governor. Yet the governor found no evidence outsidethe cha rges of the covetous enemies. Moreover, the Fa therscould point to their whole history a s managers of the propertyfrom the time of Fr. Serra . Abuse of property, such a s the
mission enemies were guilty of when they obta ined control,was something that could not be sa id of the scrupulouslyfa ithful friars. To this day the account books and their an
nua l reports show how minutely they noted everything downin the way of loss or ga in . Na tura lly such ma lign ity on the
pa rt of the pa isano ingrates broke the spirits of the aged
fria rs, who were conscious of having served and slaved for
the tempora l and spiritua l sa lvation of the Indians with abso
lute forgetfulness of their own necessities and comfort.’0 It
1 ’ Ba ncroft, iii, 349. See Appendix K.
3 ° Agreeably to their Rule, not one so fa r had la id away any
thing for a“ra iny day . H ad they been ordered out of the ter
ritory, they could not ha ve pa id their pa ssage even a s fa r a s
Mexico. Even Fa thers Peiti and Cabot had to a sk the governorfor means to pay their travelling expen ses, and they took away nomore than he a llowed them.
Calumnies ; Figueroa’s Fanaticism 559
was with a sense of relief, then , tha t the missiona ries yieldedthe management of the missions to the hirelings appointedby the governor at the behest of his mercena ry counselors.
Hence, too, it is, as Bancroft compla ins, tha t the documentsextant rela te so little of wha t occurred at the time of the con
fiscation .
La ter, when blamed for the genera l ruin of the missionproperty a fter the confiscation , Pio Pico cla imed that thepriests had permitted the ruin to seize the missions long before tha t act; and tha t atthe time the missions were deliveredto the admin istrators the inventories and witnesses showedtha t the ca ttle were few and sca ttered, the fences down , the
gardens destroyed, the shops and machinery useless and cov
ered with dust and cobwebs.
”l This was partia lly true, butthe wily Pico suppressed the causes of this decay. He shouldhave con fessed tha t it was the result first of the extortionspracticed by the milita ry upon the missionaries, who were thuscompelled to neglect improvements in order to produce the
a rticles and provisions incessantly demanded. Another cause
wa s the insubordina tion of the neophytes which came aboutthrough the interference of Echeandia , Pico, and their con fedcrates since the yea r 182 6. These worthies had belabored theIndians for being fa ithful to the missiona ries, and for not
using the liberty which the Mexican Republic and its repre
sentatives in Ca liforn ia oflered them. Able-bodied neophytesin large numbers had thereupon run away or refused to do
the work tha t was necessary to keep the missions in a flour
ishing condition . The consequences could be seen atMissionLuis Obispo, for instance. As ea rly as December 3 l st, 1830,good Fr. Gil reported : “
The mission is in a bad sta te. The
hospita l and part of the rancheria a re in ruins ; the rest ofthe rancheria is threa tened w ith ruin . The ranch and buildings of San Miguelito are destroyed. The front of the mission church is threaten ing to fa ll . Only the granary, thedwelling of the missiona ry, two or three Indian houses, and
91 “Ca l. Arch. , St. Pap., Missions xi.
See note 3 2 , chapter xviii, section i, this volume.
‘ 3 The v illage of the neophytes near the church.
560 Missions and M issiona ries of Californ ia
the wa lls most in danger of fa lling have been repa ired. As
there are so few ha nds (many, not to say most, old peopleand the infirm look w ith coldness on work ) , I do not da re to
gua rantee any rebuilding, nor even any repa iring of buildings,because even for planting and ha rvesting, which is most necessa ry, we see ourselves in want ofThis sta te of things then wa s the direct result of the in
trigues of the mission enemies who had ca st covetous eyes onthe property of the Indians since the a rriva l of Echeandia .
Meanwhile, by submitting to hea vy discounts, some of the
fria rs seem to have succeeded in recovering a portion of the
stipends due them from the Pious Fund for the yea r 1 834.
This was a ccomplished through the German merchant HenryVirmond (Wehrmund) , who for approved missionary dra ftson the Pious Fund obta ined others on the na tiona l treasurywhich were pa id in custom-house orders negotiable at twentyfive or thirty per cent. discount for cash. As usua l, at thisperiod the accounts are incomplete, says Bancroft, and it isimpossible to sta te exa ctly what sums were obta ined ; but at
one time, according to Figueroa , $7,Z(I ) were pa id to the
Fa thers of six missions ;“and the College of San Fernando
seems to have had a bill accepted for the stipends of n ine missiona ries from the beginn ing of 1830 to the respective da tesof their Two or more missions suffered the lossof the stipends through the insolvency of Sindico Martiarenaa t Tepic. On October 1 4th, 1 834, the directors of the PiousFund in Mexico ca lled for certified accounts of sums due the
individua l missiona ries . The College returned a list of Ca lifomia Fa thers which showed the sums due for stipends at
$400 a yea r from 1 8 1 1 to December 3 l st, 1834, to be $248 ,
000. The amount received from 181 1 to 1 830 by missiona ries
’4 Fr. Gil y Taboada , In forme, December 3 l st, 1830. Sta . Ba rb.
Arch.
” Further ev idence of this kind w ill be found in the loca l
history .
‘ 5 “Ca l. Arch. , St. Pap. ,M is. 8: Col. u,
453 -454; Bancroft, iii, 3 50.
Bancroft, iii , 3 50. These Fa thers were, Cata lé, Sufier, Boscana ,Ba rona , Amoros, Séuchez, Gil, Uria , and Sa rrii . The la st- namedw a s a lso the la st of the number to pa ss away. He died in 1 83 5.
562 Missions and Missiona ries of Ca lifornia
own way and had plenty of resources. In case of actua l
necessity the stipend could be pa id from the mission prodnets," and the whole considered a s a loan to the Government.”
Wa iving Bancroft’
s rema rk that, m v iew of the secula rization laws a lready en forced or to be en forced, the meaningand force of Figueroa
’
s argumen t a re not apparent,”
why
should the high- sa la ried governor begrudge the aged missiona ries a little pin -money, so to speak, with which to procuresundry gifts for the Indians ? Why should he want to deprive them of the church goods and other articles, whichwere procured with such extra funds, without hav ing to fa ll
back upon the resources of the missions in Ca liforn ia sufier
ing too much a lready from the everlasting demands of the
same governor and his shiftless troops ? These stipends weredue the missionaries in v irtue of former roya l and presentMexican governmental dispositions in accord w ith the inten
tions of the donors of the Pious Fund whence the sa id a llowance was derived . How , a fter a ll, did it concern the gov
cruor if the fria rs received what wa s coming to them? Theywere not his slaves nor his servan ts that he, w ith a sa laryof should grudge them the pittance of nomina lly$400 in merchandise, minus the freight charges a ll the way
from Mexico, or in cash minus the discount of twenty-fiveor more per cent. For lea rn ing and executive ability thosevenerable men were not one whit in ferior to him, even
though for a higher motive they chose to wea r a poor religious ga rb instea d of a glittering un iform. Bancroft is rightin saying tha t the force of Figueroa
’
s a rgument is not ap
pa rent . The historian , however, forgets tha t these fria rs happened to be Span iards and members of a monastic Order,
‘ 1 But these did not suffice to sa tisfy the demands of the troops !” A forced con tribution ra ther, for no such loan s were ever re
funded . Figueroa to Secreta ry of Sta te, May 2ud,183 5.
“Ca l.
Arch., St. Pap. , M is . 8: Colon . ii, 453 4 54; Bancroft, iii, 3 50-3 51 .
Figueroa at tha t time stood on the brink of the gra ve. He diedon ly three mon ths la ter.
3 3 Bancroft,iii, 3 50-3 51 .
Ca lumnies ; Figueroa’s Fanaticism
which Figueroa ,though he a ffected a diluted Ca tholicity, or
because of it, despised . Hence the churlishness of the gov
cruor.
Lest the reader suppose that we misjudge Figueroa , weherewith reproduce a letter which he in January 1 834 ad
dressed to the Secreta ry of State in reply to a request forin formation rega rding Fathers Durén and Sarr1a , who had
been singled out for expulsion because their cradles had happened to stand in Spa in .
“It is evident, the governor wrote,“tha t the private and religious conduct of these priests is
exemplary; tha t they have v irtues which a re not common ,
and ta lent and learn ing for the discha rge of their sacred ministry. They a re on this account worthy of esteem and re
spect, and they do enjoy an honorable reputation ; but withrega rd to their politica l conduct I must say with regret thatit is not befitting the na tiona l interests . These two religioushave discharged the office of Superior, so tha t their politica lOpin ions have influenced a ll from their College ; hence, Ispeak of them a ll in genera l.
“They publicly refused to take the oath on the Federa lConstitution , a lthough they protested that they would obey it .It is true that some took the Oath of Independence, butthey a re not in accord w ith it ; for they believe tha t theymust in conscience not be untrue to their fidelity to the Kingof Spa in . Consequently they w ill never acknowledge our in
dependence to be of right, and so they constantly refuse any
sign of approbation . For tha t rea son they celebrate none of
our nationa l festiv ities, nor do they take pa rt in them when
they a re invited by the authorities .
“ For tha t rea son they
“E s eviden te que la conducta privada y religiosa , que han oh
servado estos sacerdotes es ejempla r ; que tienen virtudes no com
unes, ta len to é in struccion pa ra cl desemper‘
io de su min isteriosagrado. Son por este motivo dignos de aprecio y respecto, y gozande una reputacion honrosa .
”
" 5All swore to the independence. See cha p. ix, sect. 1 , this vol
ume.
Figueroa expected the fria rs to rejoice over their own ann ihilation , for this wa s decreed by the Mexica n politicians when
they determined to dissolve religious commun ities a nd expel a ll
Spa n ish religious .
564 Missions and M issionaries of California
disapprove the a llotment of public lands,“ and every action
ema nating from the exercise of the Supreme Authority. Theyhave been unguarded in preaching aga inst this politica ldogma , inasmuch as they deny tha t the supreme power re
sides in the people.
‘ They contend aga inst the liberty of
the press, and firmly attribute to it the relaxa tion of mora ls.
“
They advoca te the re-wtablisM ent of the Inquisition , be
cause they say tha t it is ow ing to its absence tha t impietyhas been propagated.
‘ l
“This, it seems to me, is a schism which directly attackssome of the groundworks of our Constitution , and, if you will,
3 7 They opposed the a llotmen t of Indian lands to shiftless settlersa nd white adven turers ; and they disa pproved the distribution of
mission lands in severa lty to neophytes a s prema ture a nd destruc
tive. I n both ca ses they were right. See Appendix G.
‘ 8 Figueroa in his illness grew ca ptious . The fria rs obeyed everya ction of either the territoria l or Genera l Governmen t when such
action demanded nothing con tra ry to God’s law . With tha t everyrea son able governmen t would be sa tisfied.3 ' This politica l dogma may be a ppropria tely styled a n invantion of dema gogues, who prea ch it not to promote the welfa re of
the people, but to adva nce their own selfish in terests. Even undera well orga n ized and represen ta tive governmen t, which the Mexican was not, the people ha ve no other power in the ma tter tha nto designa te the persons who sha ll exercise authority . Those so
design a ted must then be obeyed in their sphere a s representa tivesof God; for
“there is no power except from God, and those tha ta re, a re orda ined by God. (Rom. xiii, This wa s the doctrinewhich the missiona ries prea ched when they touched the subject ata ll. Such doctrine displea ses un scrupulous politicia ns on ly, because they do not wa n t to feel themselves accoun table to God.
“A licen tious press being understood, the Fa thers were right.for the dissemina tion of v ile litera ture did then , a s it does now .
corrupt mora ls a nd destroy Religion . The pa isa no chiefs of tha ttime were liv ing evidences.
41 The Inquisition in Ca liforn ia confined itself to preventing thespread of v ile a nd irreligious litera ture. On beholding the damagewrought, the Fa thers na tura lly w ished tha t some such policeauthority existed . The U . S. Posta l authorities a re a ttending to
this ma tter w ith wholesome effect among us . See Appendix E.
566 Missions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
As usua l in La tin countries, so a lso the great mass of the
people in Ca liforn ia , a s well a s the English and American set
tlers, were with the missionaries. Only a handful of loudmouthed demagogues, inexperienced youths at tha t,“ wantedthe religious driven outof the territory. The rea son has beensta ted elsewhere, and it lay at the bottom of the scheme for
the confiscation of the missions. This devotion of the law
abiding people for the friars“libera l” politicians like Figueroa ,
Echeandia , and the young Ca liforn ia chiefs, ca lled fanaticism,
wherea s it wa s but the grateful recogn ition of honesty, sin
cerity, and a ll-round virtue. On the other hand, it was rea l,unreason ing fanaticism to in sist on removing the priests , a fterconfessing that they were men of true virtue, who obey the
government, and help to conserve peace and order, and to
insist on the remova l for no other reason than tha t these vic
tims of such fanaticism were members of an approved Catholic religious Order, and natives of another though kindredland. We should wonder how the Apostles would have faredwith these politica l fana tics . Certa inly no better than the
fria r-priests who established the missions of Ca liforn ia . It isplea sant to note that, a fter a ll, Figueroa
’
s recommendationswere not executed. He himself soon stood before his EternalJudge, whilst the friars, whom he wanted to ban ish, rema inedat their post.
47 Youth itself, of course, is no dispa ragemen t if coupled withmodest reserve ; but when it signa lizes itself by conceit, arroga nce,and impudence, then it is a n importan t circumsta nce in judgingan a ct. It is therefore a ma tter of con sequence to know tha t theruin of Ca liforn ia ’s most benevolen t in stitutions was not broughtabout through the ma ture judgmen t of sta id, industrious experi
enced and God- fea ring men , butwas the deed of conceited, indolen t,insolen t and irreligious youths. This throws a volume of clear
light on the subject which it is necessary to keep in v iew, in order
to understand the situa tion thoroughly at every pha se of the periodbeginn ing with the a rriva l of Echeandia .
CHAPTER XVI .
Depa rture of Fr. Jua n Cabot— Dea th of Fa thers F. X . Uria and
Vicen te de Sa rria.— Ban croft on Fr. Sa n k — Ma nufa cture of
Wine — Ah Amusing Episode — Fr. Duran ’s Indigna tion .— Fr.
Bla s Ordaz Involved— Fr. B la s Astray. - Explana tion .— Politi
cian s to Blame — Fr. Garcia Diego’s Petition .— Humilia tion of
the M issionaries — Figueroa and Div ine Worship — Result of
the Comisionado System — Fr. Quija s’
s Terrible Indictmen t ofMa riano Va llejo a nd Henchman An ton io Ortega — ShockingSta te of Things at M ission Sa n Fra ncisco Solano.
M Figueroa’
s own description the Mexican Government seems to have concluded that the accused friars
could not be very dangerous to the peace of the territory .
At all events, it took no action . The missiona ries were permitted to depart on their own account, or to die at their post,because it was found impossible to prov ide substitutes fromthe secula r clergy. Only one of the Fernandinos, Fr. JuanCabot, chose the former a lterna tive. With the perm ission of
the Fr. Presidente and the consent of thegovernor he sa iledaway in the fa ll of 183 5. He had served at Mission San
Miguel, w ith one interruption ,1 8 19- 1824, for twenty-one
yea rs. Like other Fa thers he had saved nothing for himself ,and therefore encountered difficulties in his efforts to secure
enough money for the voyage to Spa in . Some time prev iousWilliam Hartnell, a merchant, had pa id $808 for goods purchased from Mission San Miguel. For this amount Fr. Cabotpetitioned the governor in consideration of his thirty years of
gratuitous service in the Ca liforn ia mission s . According to
Bancroft Figueroa a llowed him one-ha lf of the sum men
tioned. This money, which equa led the stipends accordedthe missiona ries for one yea r’s service, was a ll tha t the ven
erable missiona ry ca rried away from the mission . As itwould hardly pay his passage to his native country, Sindico
568 M issions and M issionaries of Ca lifornia
José de la Guerra of Santa Ba rbara may have supplied thedeficiency from the a lms in his charge.
’
Two missiona ries, Fr. Francisco Xavier Uria of San
Buenaven tura and the sa intly Ex- Prefecto Fr. Vicente Fraucisco de Sa rria of Soledad, were ca lled to their eternal te
ward a short time before the departure of Fr. Cabot. Fr.
Uria died at the home of José de la Guerra , Santa Barbara ,
on November 5th, 1834, when sixty- four yea rs of age. Of
these he had passed thirty- seven years in the missions of the
territory.
’ Fr. Sarria brea thed his last atpoor Soledad in the
a fternoon of Sunday, M ay 24th, 1 83 5, at the age of sixtyeight yea rs, of which he spent twenty- six yea rs in the Ca liforn ia missions. He wa s the first comisa rio prefecto, heldthe office tw ice, and was w itha l
“one of the ablest, best, and
most prominent of the Fernandinos, a s Bancroft acknowledges.
’ It is therefore proper to devote some space righthere to the memory of this remarkable fria r rather than wa itfor the loca l anna ls. Bancroft’s notes will a nswer the pur
pose for the present. Fr. Sa rria, says tha t historian ,
“provedhimself a s prela te the worthy successor of Serra , L asuen , and
Tapis. He wa s a scholarly, dign ified, a nd amiable man ; notprone to controversy, yet strong in a rgument, clea r and cam
est in the expression of his opin ions ; less disposed to asceti
cism and bigotry 5 than some of the ea rlier Femandinos, yet
1 “Archivo de la s M isiones, Papeles Origin a les, tom. n,8 19
82 7-828, Bancroft Collection ; Records of M ission San Miguel ; Ba ncroft, “Ca liforn ia ,” iii, 684.
Libro de En tierros, M ission Sa n ta Barba ra .
Vol. v , 71 2 .
‘ Therein Ba ncroft errs. I f any one of the fria rs was devoted toa sceticism, of which tha t historian ha s no conception , it wa s Fr.
Sa rrié . Without it the decea sed could not ha ve been the sa in tlyreligious a ll knew him to be.
5 “Unreason ing ” and obstin a te a tta chmen t to one’s belief! On ly
a n unrea son ing a nd obstina te ma teria list like Bancroft could predica te it of any Ca tholic religious or any Ca tholic ; nor did in toleran ceenter into the make-up of the ea rly fria rs, tha t is to say, in toleranceof any but the v icious. The fria rs were just then suffering fromthe in tolerance of ao-ca lled “Libera ls” in Mexico, even a s now in
France a nd Portuga l.
570 Missions and M issiona ries of Ca lifornia
given at times to fasting and mortification of the flesh ; devoted to his Fa ith and to his Order ; strict in the observanceand en forcement of Franciscan Rules , and conscientious inthe performance of every duty ; yet libera l in his views on
ordina ry ma tters, clea r-headed in business afia irs, and wellliked by a ll who came in contact w ith him.
‘ As prefect. noCa liforn ia fria r could have done better, since in the misfor
tunes of his cloth he never lost either temper or courage.
Declin ing a s a loya l Span iard to accept republicanism,
’ P .
Sa rr1a was a rrested in 1 82 5, and his exile ordered ; but hisarrest, which la sted about five yea rs, wa s merely nominal,‘
and the order of exile, though never w ithdrawn and several
times renewed, was never en forced. He lived quietly at
Soledad, which he declined to leave in 1 834 when the northern missions were given up to the Zacatecanos, especially as
no resident missionary wa s assigned to this mission . Thushe wa s the last of the Fernandinos in the north, dying justbefore the secularization which put an end to the Franciscanrégime. He died sudden ly without receiv ing the fina l Sacraments.
’ Padre Mercado decla red that his v iolent dea th was
due to the want of food, and the tradition became somewhatpreva lent tha t he died through neglect of the admin istra tor.
I do not credit Mercado’
s cha rges, or believe tha t there wasa n admin istrator in Ca liforn ia who would have ma ltrea ted a
missiona ry so w idely known and loved.
1 ° H is booy was ca r
0 “To ha ve known the old Padre Sa rr1 a wa s a happiness indeed.Robinson ,
“Ca liforn ia , 90.
the kind presen ted by the Mexica n Libera ls . This wa s not te
publican ism at a ll, but despotism.
3 It preven ted him from lea ving Mon terey and making the ca non
ica l v isita tions w ith evil con sequences in one ca se, a s we sha ll see
presen tly.Fr. Mercado of Sa n An ton io came too la te.
1 ° Mission a ries did receive simila r trea tmen t at the ha nds of ad
min istrators , as Bancroft well knows and we sha ll prove in time.
It would be singu la r if in this connection the doughty Mariano Va llejo had not ven ted his ma lice in some day-dream. Accordingly, hecha rges tha t Fr. Sa rrié
’
s dea th wa s caused by n eglect on the part ofthe Mexica n fria rs ! (Ba ncroft, iii, Wha t the Mexica n or
Fr. Sa rrra s Death ; Awful Indictment 57 1
ried to San Anton io and buried in the mission church, on the
epistle side of the presbytery,
” 1 1
Those interested in growing grapes and manufacturingwine will appreciate the follow ing correspondence whichspeaks for itself. Fr. Presidente Duran , who but four
months prev ious, on the a rriva l of Figueroa with the Zaca tecan Fathers, had removed his headquarters from Mission SanJosé to Santa Ba rba ra , writing to the governor from San
Gabriel says : “I have received your petition asking me
about the ma nner of making cla ret, brandy, etc. , which I amthinking of manufacturing at Santa Barbara .
” There I expeet to have more time and quiet than I en joy in this Babylon , San Gabriel, where for wan t of a retired room I hardlyfind sufficient privacy to say my prayers.
“I have to rema rk in reply that I can say little or nothingcerta in about the muscatel, because there is none of it at
Mission San José ; nor do 1 know it . The wine of San LuisRey in my opin ion is not the best, nor the best suited to
place before a friend . I think there are on ly two kinds : thered wine and the white wine. The la tter, which is used foraltar purposes, is rather unplea sant, because it has no sweetness whatever, but is very dry.
“The best wines which I have found in the various mis
sions a re those of San Gabriel . There are two kinds of red
wine. One is dry, but very good for the table ; the other is
sweet, resembling the juice pressed from blackberries and so
Za catecan fria rs had to do w ith Fr. Sa rrib at Soledad is a puzzlewhich Don Mariano a lone could solve, of course by mean s of an
other ca lumny. It is wonderful to wha t an tics the Ca liforn ia comision ados take refuge in order to cover their own w ickedness.
1 1 Bancroft, iii, 689-690; Libro de En tierros de San Anton io.
1 ’ It would, therefore, seem tha t before 183 3 no brandy had beenmanufa ctured at Mission San ta Ba rbara , a nd most probably at no
mission north of Sa n Gabriel. As w ill a ppea r at the close of Fr.
Duran ’s letter, brandy was used to fortify the wine. (For other
uses of the liquor see vol. u, 576 According to Roma n decision s it is permissible to add brandy to poor, unadultera ted a lta rwine, but such brandy must itself be the product of gra pes, and thea lcohol in the wine a fter the addition must not exceed twelve percen t. , in extreme ca ses by a ll means notmore than eighteen per cen t.
572 Missions and M issionaries of Ca lifornia
rather unplea sant. There a re a lso two kinds of white wine.
One of them is from pure grapes w ithout fermenting, I mean
from pure grape juice w ithout fermenting it with the skinsof the pressed grapes. This produces the white wine. The
other of the same juice is fermented with a quantity of
grape brandy. These two make a most delicious drink forthe dessert . The wine from the pure grape juice is for thea lta r ; the other for any use whatever.
” 1 ’
An amusing episode, a s Bancroft styles it, in which a friarhad an unenviable share, must be noted here. The charge
of conspiracy wa s ra ised aga inst“those irreconcilable foes of
the country, Capta in José de la Guerra Fr. Na rciso Duran.
Fr. Tomas Esténaga , a nd Sergea nt Jose Anton io Pico. A
special messenger on May 2 6th, 1834, brought letters of ia
forma tion to the governor from Angel Ramirez ,
“ AntonioM . Lugo, and Fr. Blas Ordaz, the latter then stationed at
San Buenaventura . Figueroa was notified that Fr. Durén
and Don José de la Guerra had often ridiculed the federalgovernment system, that mysterious papers had been signed,
that a large amount of money had been transferred from San
Gabriel to San ta Barba ra , and that a soldier, José Romero,
had been ordered by Pico to sign a paper without knowingits purport. The governor ha stened to convene the legislative assembly in secret session in order to consider the momenton s news. All the members were in favor of decisivemea sures. José Anton io and Ca rlos Carrillo were first sentsouth in order to use their influence to check an outbreakwhich might result from
“ignorance and blind confidence in
the Span ish fria rs. Numerous orders were despatched south
to milita ry oflicers, and troops were ordered from place to
place. The governor determined to ma inta in the republicanintegrity of Ca liforn ia , and Capta in Gutie
'
rrez was instructedto a rrest the conspirators. I n five days José A . Ca rrillo forwarded the soothing in forma tion that the charges were un
founded . Capta in Gutierrez somewhat la ter reported to the
1 ’ Fr. Durén to Figueroa , June 17th, 1 83 3 .
“Archb. no.
2 140.
1 4 Ramirez wa s a n aposta te friar of the Order of Our Lady ofRa nsom or Mercéd, Mexico. Ba ncroft, iii, 587-588.
574. Missions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
been conv inced of it juridica lly. Letthe whole pa st lie buriedin the depths of the sea , as it were. I f the Supreme Government, with which I must preserve agreeable relations,
may have received un favorable impression s of my incorrupti
ble fidelity, I cannot but beg Your Honor to make some
effort to dispel any such wrong impression , which it mayhave received to the loss of my reputation , to which, Ithink, I have a public rightDifferent was the ca se with one of the informers
,Fr. Blas
Ordaz. By accusing his ecclesiastica l Superior before a secu
la r tribuna l he had incurred the severest censures. Gov
ernor Figueroa in his letter of July 7th seems to have interceded for the culprit, but the Fr. Presidente insisted tha t the
guilty friar make the apology himself.“In this peace, he
writes to the governor,“I include Fr. Blas ; but in order
tha t I may extend it externa lly, it is necessa ry tha t he shouldask it of me humbly and sincerely. He will then find in methe mercy of a father. I f, a fterwards, I should be bound toreprimand him for his public conduct, I sha ll do so through
Your Honor, ina smuch a s your mediation , which commandsrespect, will be more effective than my authority ; for the
one a im, which I have a lways had in view , is his amendWhen by July 2 2 nd the gu ilty man had not of
fered the required satisfaction , the Fr. Presidente in formedthe governor tha t, un less it wa s forthcoming, he would dohis duty according to the rules of Canon L aw , because the
culprit had incurred excommun ication . I f the governor
pleased, he might avert the execution by using his influencewith Fr. Ordaz.
” The refusa l of Fr. Anton io Jimeno of
Santa Ba rbara to hea r his confession , a s Fr. Duran notes inthe sa id letter to Figueroa , probably brought the stubbornfria r to his senses ; for on July 2 5th, Fr. Duran informedthe governor that Fr. Blas had expressed his regret in wri
ting, a nd tha t, in considera tion of the promise to live a s a
1 ° Fr. Durén to Figueroa , July 1 2th, 183 4. Archb. Arch. ,no.
2 176.
1 7 Ibidem.
1 ° Fr. Duran to Figueroa , July 2 2 nd, 1 834. Archb . Arch. , no.
2 182 .
Fr. Sarr1 a s Death ; Awful Indictment 575
religious should, the matter would now be regarded as deadand buried.
”
Sad to rela te, the motive for Fr. Bla s’s w icked actionaga inst his Superior wa s nothing less than a desire for re
venge. Aided by the governor, the Fr. Presidente had re
moved him for misconduct from Mission Santa Inés to
Mission San Buenaventura , as soon as the arriva l of the
Zacatecan Fa thers, ea rly in 1 83 3 , had made it possible to
sta tion Fr. Joaquin Jimeno at Santa Inés . It wa s a yea r a fterhis forced transfer to San Buenaventura that Fr. Ordaz displayed his resentment in the wicked manner just related . I n
the following year, 183 5, he once more proved how one nu
tamed pa ssion w ill in fa llibly develop another, despite the
religious habit or the priestly character. The Fr. Presidentedesired Fr. Blas to take cha rge of Mission San Gabriel andSan Fernando in order to relieve the two infirm and aged
Signa ture of n . Bla s Ordaz.
Fa thers Ibarra and Esténaga . In a flippant and highly insulting note Fr. Blas replied tha t he wa s tired of beingcuffed, and should not be counted upon in a ffa irs of that
1 ' Fr. Durfrn to Figueroa . Archb. Arch., no. 2 184.
There is no direct documen ta ry proof. Evidence rests on
hea rsay, but this sufficed to make Fr. Dorlin ta ke a ction a fter duewa rn ing. A Fria r M inor must a void even the suspicion of ev il, St.Francis commanded . Aside from some genera l terms of caution ina circula r, and some ambiguous rema rks in a letter of Fr. Duran to
Figueroa , Fr. Bla s’s own flippant tone in replying to his Superiorlen t the most color to the accusa tion . Fr. Duran ,
“Circula r,” September 1 8th, 1 83 1 , in Libro de Pa ten tes ; Fr. Bla s to Fr. Durén , July18th, 183 5 ; Fr. Durén to Figueroa , July 20th, 183 5.
“Archb. Arch. ,
nos. 2 198 A B .
576 Missions and M issionaries of Ca lifornia
nature.
” This wa s rank disobedience, a thing unknownamong the Ca liforn ia missionaries . Aga in the Fr. Presidentewas compelled to
.have recourse to the governor. The latter
accordingly lectured the disobedient fria r on his duty, and
threatened to use force if he fa iled to respect and obey hisSuperior. This brought Fr. Bla s to terms. He apologized.
and a lthough he pleaded ill-hea lth, he expressed himself inthe most humble manner.
” For this reason Fr. Durén a l
lowed him to continue at San Buenaventura until the springof 1 83 7, when he removed to M ission San Fema ndo.
”
We need not go far in order to discover an explanationfor this poor fria r’s temporary aberra tion . No canonical
visita tion had been held since the yea r 182 1 , when Fr. Com
missa ry-Prefect Ma riano Payéras made the rounds of the
missions . Illness prevented the prescribed visit in 1 82 3 , and
in the following yea r he pa ssed away. When at length Fr.
Sa rrié in 1 82 5 received his appointment to the office of
comisa rio-
prefecto, the hostile Echeandia appea red, and soon
a rrested him for refusing to swea r a llegiance to the antiChristian Mexican republic. Although not confined in a
dungeon , and notexpelled as was intended, the nomina l arrestprevented Fr. Sa rria from making the necessary visita tionswhich he had introduced during his first term of six yea rs.
"
When at last free to perform this chief duty of a comisa rioprefecto, his term had expired and the Fathers had dwindledto one at each mission ,
in a few cases to two aged and ex
hansted missiona ries . This circumstance, which a lone im
3 1 “E l P. B las ito esta can sado dc sufrir golpes, y no hay que con
ta r con cl pa ra a sun tos de esa na tura leza . Fr. B la s to Fr. Duran ,
July 18th, 183 5.
“Archb. no. 2 1 98A.
Fr. Duri n to Figueroa , July 20th ' Figueroa to Fr. B la s, August7th, 183 5.
“Archb . no. 2 198 ; Ca l. Dep. St. Pap. iii,
603 -6 1 5 ' L eg. Rec. ii, 483 -484. Fr. Bla s to Fr. Duran , April 2 7th,
1 83 6. Ca l. Arch., Dep. St. Pap. , L os Angeles, City, p. 1 55.
2 3 Records of M ission San Fernando.
The presiden tes before him had made regula r v isits, but hewa s the first to have such visita tions forma lly en tered in the mis
sion books. The en tries were sign ed by himself and coun tersignedby his secreta ry, a Fa ther chosen to a ccompa ny him for tha t purpose. Thus we know he v isited his cha rges in 18 1 3 , 18 16, a nd 1818
578 Missions and Missiona ries of Ca lifornia
teca n Fa thers encountered many humilia ting difliculties,
which at length grew so intolerable tha t Fr. Ga rcia Diego,the comisa rio -prefecto, went from Santa Cla ra to Santa Barbara in order to consult with Fr. Duran of the Fernandinos.
The conference took place on May 27th, 183 5, the eve of
Ascension Day. The result was a memorial to the governor
in which Fr. Garcia Diego proposed certa in changes in the
management of the missions which were ca lcula ted to remove
a ll cause for rea sonable compla int. The suggestions are
herewith reproduced in substance. 1 . The qua rters occupiedby the missionary and his servants should be sepa ra ted fromthe qua rters of the admin istra tors by a dividing wa ll. 2 .
The neophytes should be obliged to render to the missionarysuch persona l service a s might be necessa ry ; and the mis
sionary should be empowered not on ly to support, but a lso
to correct his servants w ithout interference from the administrator. 3 . In v iew of the disorders resulting from the lib
cration of the single women and girls,” they should be re
stored to the exclusive supervision of the missionary who
sha ll appoint an a lca lde, whom he can trust, and who sha ll
wa tch over them and render an account to the missiona ry ofwha tever he may observe. The a lca lde sha ll be changed
whenever the missionary deems it expedient . I n case the
missionary makes compla int of disorders the comisionado shall
correct and chastise the guilty, except the very young girlsover whom on ly the missiona ry and his alca lde shall haveauthority. 4. The $500 a ssigned for the expenses of DivineWorship sha ll be delivered to the missionary at the beginn ing of every yea r, because from this sum he must pay thesacristan ,
acolytes, bell- ringers, a nd musicians, besides payingfor wax candles, a lta r wine, wa shing the a ltar linen , etc.
”
1 5 This result was foreseen by the missiona ries. Nevertheless,Figueroa and his blind advisers in sisted tha t a ll should be set
“free,
”
ra ther set adrift. On ly libertines could be plea sed.2 ° Figueroa in a circula r to the admin istra tors, da ted December
2 7th, 183 4, had decla red this meagre a llowa nce for church purposesexcessive! “
Que convencido el gobierno que es exces iva la can tidadde $500 sefia lada pa ra el culto, como el maximum que se puede dedica r a dicho fin , y que los Padres la reciben invirtiendo 6 no, ha
Fr. Sa rr1 a 3 Death ; Awful Indictment 579
It would be too humiliating for the priest to have to approachthe comisionado for every little thing. The missionary w illkeep an account book which is to be inspected by the prela teat the usua l visitation . 5. The missiona ry should have some
authority to en force attendance at Div ine Worship and the
annua l reception of the Sacraments. This was observed formerly, and such externa l coercion , as w ith children , is noces
sary w ith Indians, ina smuch as rea son ing and persuasionas w ith white people would have no effect . 6 . The administrators should be obliged to provide the means for travelingwhen the prela te must make his visits to the various missions ; likew ise for those Fa thers who travel by order of theirSuperior. 7. The admin istrators should a lso furn ish cou
riers for carrying the necessa ry ma il ."
This petition throws much light on the humilia ting positionoccupied by the missiona ries a fter the confiscation of the establishments, which they or their predecessors had rea red w iththeir own means and labor and the labor of the neophytes .
The situa tion must have grea tly lowered the esteem of the
Indian s not only for the priesthood but for Religion itself .
Fr. Ga rcia Diego felt a s much, and he tried to impress the
governor with this in jurious result to society itself ; for hecloses the document a s follows : In all this, Sir, no other
resuelto, que no se les en tregue en lo succesivo sino aquello que lescon ste que debe invertirse precisamen te en este objeto.
”(“Ca l.
St. Pap., M issions ix, 94 Tha t shows wha t little religion he possessed. Genuine Christian s never find expenses for Divine Worship excessive. Their love a nd reverence for the Div ineMa jesty discovers ways to cut down , if necessa ry, other expenseslest Divine Worship sufier or those who ma in ta in it. Figueroa and
his kind could have lea rned some wholesome lesson s from the pa
ga n s of old, let a lone the example of the Isra elites .
Fr. Ga rcia Diego,
“Suplica s,” M ay 2 9th,1 83 5. Sta . Ba rb .
Arch ”;“Ca l. Arch., St. Pap. , M is . Col. ii, 540-542 . Ma rgina l
note on the Sa n ta Ba rba ra copy by Fr. Duran , who however didnot sign the documen t . Fr. Ga rcia Diego presen ted it in his own
name to the governor, when the la tter in June a rrived at Sa n taBarbara from a tour of in spection in the south, a s per the Fr. Com
missa ry’s“In forme
”of July 20th, 183 6.
“Sta . Ba rb . Arch. Figue
roa wa s, of course, made aware tha t Fr. Duran concurred with Fr.
Garcia Diego.
580 M issions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
object moved me than the welfa re of souls, the peace, security, and tranquillity of this territory ; for Your Honor mustbe awa re that without Religion there a re no mora ls, withoutmora ls there a re no good manners, and without these societyis impossible. Likewise it w ill be pla in to Your Honor that,if the min isters a re not respected, and have not the necessarysubsistence, they become an object of deprecia tion to carnalpeople. Your Honor knows very well tha t our subsistenceand support for Divine Worship must of div ine right befurn ished by the fa ithful ; and that, if they do not supply it,we a re not obliged to rema in nor to attend them in spiritualma tters.
”
Nevertheless, as a lready sta ted, Figueroa , true to his“lib
era l” tra in ing, thought expended annua lly for the honor
of his God and Crea tor too much ! He wanted the missionsspa red this outlay, or as much of it a s possible. The sa idamount, indeed, and much more, under the
“anti-monastic”
system introduced by him, was consumed by superfluous ad
ministrators or comisionados ; but that in his opin ion was
quite proper. However, as public worship could notbe eliminated entirely, and some means had to be prov ided lest hissystem lose justifica tion and he appea r as persecutor of Re
ligion , Figueroa dev ised another scheme. He resolved to
establish ranchos at each mission for the support of the priestand the ma intenance of public worship. The beginn ing was
made at the missions of San Ca rlos and Santa Cruz. Be
lieving that this a rrangement would make the missionariesindependent of the a lready overbearing admin istra tors, Fr.
Garcia Diego, in the petition just quoted, at first approvedthe project, and recommended its extension to all missions.
Fr. Garcia Diego, “Stiplicas . See preceding reference.
” The Fr. Guardian of the Za ca teca s College, June 1 5th 1835.
wa rned Fr. Garcia Diego tha t the missions must not be constdered
nor ca lled pa rishes, nor the missiona ries termed cura tes, because nolega l a nd forma l tra n sfer had been efiected. Libro de Pa ten tes, San1 086. The Fernandinos had received simila r instruction s. Theseesta blishmen ts were accordingly never anything else tha n missionsdown to their sa le by Pico in 1846, save a few tha t had been turnedover to secular priests when the first bis p arrived .
582 Missions and M issionaries of Ca lifornia
a fter day grievances are multiplying, and even developinginto public anti- religious and indecent acts I cannot but laybefore Your Patern ity some incidents which, if I should a llowthem to pass in silence, would burden my conscience, and Ishould not comply w ith the duties of my min istry.
“Almost from the very day when the admin istration of
the spiritua l and tempora l a ffa irs of Mission San FranciscoSolano was divided there ha s been mute but continuous dissension , which, I believe, ha s proceeded from the comisiona
dos Guada lupe Va llejo, Anton io Ortega , and Sa lvador Va llejo from the first-named not in so blunt a manner, fromthe second with the grea test coa rseness, incivility, and irreligion ; from the third w ith boldness, insolence, and impu
dence.
“I n order to in form Your Pa tern ity the better, it will be
necessa ry to begin at the time when I surrendered mycharge. I had not yet made the transfer of the land or of
its belongings , when they bega n to give orders to the mayor
domo, laborers, etc. , so that when on one occa sion I told themayordomo to take out two yoke of oxen , he replied tha tthe comisionado had given orders not to obey me any more
in anything I commanded in the future.
“ To avoid troubleI had to bea r this and leave the ma tter as it was. The same
happened concern ing the property in the field, for be dis
posed of it as though he had a lready obta ined control beforeI had made the transfer.
“The sma ll launch, which I used w ith the consent of Your
Patern ity and the permit of the governor, who told me thatI could keep it till he should determine otherw ise, has in a
3 1 H e wa s the jun ior of his brother Ma riano by six yea rs. Arough, ha rd-drinking, unprincipled fellow ; often inhuma n ly cruel inhis India n wa rfare. H e dicta ted some
‘Nota s H istorica s’ for myuse, but his good qua lities a s a historia n did not include truthfulness. Ba ncroft, v, 759. The la st rema rk may be applied to a ll the
pa isa no chiefs.
‘ 3 the predecessor of An ton io Ortega .
Mariano Va llejo.
“que habia dado orden el comisionado pa ra que en nada se obe
deciese lo que yo en adela n te manda se.
”
Fr. Sa rrl a s Death ; Awful Indictment 583
manner been taken away from me. At a ll even ts , I have not
been considered worthy of being notified in the lea st rega rding the many and continuous trips it is making. On the
contrary, I am compelled to go a round begging to let me
have it when sometimes I need it. Then they loan it to mew ith bad grace.
“When the governor charged me to select some blackcolts, I informed him that I should like to take on account ofmy stipend about twelve horses or colts . He agreed to it ;but as I deferred till a fter the transfer in order to avertslanderous ta lk, they have flatly refused to letme have them,
notwithsta nding tha t I asked for them as pa rt payment ofmy a llowance.
The Honorable Genera l ha s given orders tha t the apa rtments should be divided, that three horses should be a ssignedfor my use, and that work on the church should continue.
Nothing of this has been executed . I have asked that theyard belonging to my house be div ided, tha t four cows be
given me on account of my a llowance, and to the same ac
count one cow a week for slaughter in order to have enough
mea t and fat to pay the expenses of the week, and a lso to
derive some ga in from the hide.
“ All these three requestshave been refused ; and if at some time the la st was gra nted ,Ortega told me it was as a favor from him. For being de
prived of the ya rd and porch I am obliged to suffer not a
little. It rea lly seems as though I am living in a stranger’
s
house, as everything is closed up and I am forced to have
even my little reception room turned into a pa ssage way so
tha t whoever w ills may go in and go out, because the ordinary passage way is continua lly closed . For this rea son some
disagreements have risen such as the following.
‘ 3 This title Fr. Quua s applies to Figueroa throughout.“A cow wa s va lued at less tha n Fr. Quijas had to pro
vide for his servan ts ; and w ith presents of mea t he could ga in a c
cess to the Indian hea rt. Doubtless, too, the Indians under such
a system, now tha t heartless hirelings were in charge, would oftenapproa ch hungry. I n truth, the once govern ing missionaries werenow in the position of dependen t housewives w ith tyra nn ica l,miserly husbands l
584 M issions and M issionaries of Ca lifornia
I sent some one to ask Anton io Ortega for the key to
the ha llway in order to bring water and two sheep, and, since
on the preceding day other reasons had turned up, I sen tword to him a s follows : ‘ that he should send me the key to
the passage way ; that if others a llowed their apa rtments to
serve as a pa ssage for everybody I would not, because the
ha llway was for the common use of a ll who lived in the
house, and more especia lly for those who like myself hadsomething to say there ; tha t he should obey or give ordersto execute wha t perta ined to him, beca use I was not in the
mission to carry out the will and orders of every one.
’
For
this message, Sa lvador Va llejo,
" (who, as I believe, has no
other connection with the mission except tha t he is the brotherof the comisionado) , presumed to come to me w ith the
grea test boldness and impudence. Reproaching me for sending such a message to Ortega , he ra ised his hand as if to
strike me, uttered many shameless words, and pulled me bythe sleeve of the habit as if he would defy me. I f it hadnot been for the holy habit, and the sacred character of a
priest which I though unworthily bear, I would nothave gonevery fa r for the reply.
“ However, I suffered it a ll, but ina dign ified manner I reproved him to his face in somewhat
strong words for his audacity and efi'rontery, and for his med
dling with things that did not concern him.
“Yet a ll this is as nothing, and I have not even thought of
compla in ing ; but I am bound to do so by rea son of the manyand abominable deeds of Ortega who in an unbridled and
ba refaced manner ha s given free rein to the in famous v ice of
lust. He spa res neither young girls nor ma rried women or
widows, neither hea then nor Christian , a s is aflirmed by the
‘ 7 Sa lvador then coun ted just twen ty summers !
To a pply the sound thra shing which the young bully Sa lva dordeserved, a nd which Fr. Quija s felt like admin istering, wa s be
nea th the dign ity of the religious or priest ; but the fria rs, nota blythe Fernandinos, tolera ted such indign ities far too meekly and thusemboldened the ofienders. Fr. Duran , we know, disa pproved of
such silence. The priests owed it to their position a nd to theirneophytes, tha t they resen ted and exposed unworthy trea tmen t ; forsuch a ssaults could not be rega rded a s mere persona l insults whichshould be overlooked.
586 Missions and M issionaries of Ca lifornia
ties tha t he makes use of in his speech whenever he givesorders or speaks to the neophytes. He not only utters themhimself, but makes the neophytes repea t them, as IgnacioAzevedo rela tes, and I myself have heard . The following isa sample : He made a recent convert named Christophorofirst say
‘Gracias a Dios l’ and then he added something shame
less he a lso told him that a man should know everything.
In short, he ha s taught these poor people such bad wordsthat many of them do notmention him among themselves inany other way than a s—
‘That Fellow.
’
“The narra tive now takes another course. One day, a fter
I had celebrated holy Mass, while the people were sayingtheir priva te prayers as was customary, before they fin ishedtheir devotions Ortega ordered them to stop and to go to
work. I pretended not to have noticed it at the time, but
this on ly emboldened him. On the 1 5th of last month,on
which day began the Novena of San Francisco Solano,the
patron sa int of the mission ( I had told him in advance on the
preceding day that on the morrow the Novena would begin ,
and that I intended to fin ish ea rly in the morn ing, so thatthe people might be ready to perform their work throughthe day) , he assumed such an inconsiderate manner and was
J eff/m y:
Signa ture of IN . Jose L orenzo Quija s .
guilty of such want of respect and reverence tha t, just a s Ihad concluded holy Mass and wa s about to kneel down to
say the prayers of the Novena ,he commanded a ll the Indians
to go out of the church, thus leav ing me a lone with the two
servers, the sacristan ,Pablo Pacheco, and one woman . He
thus prevented solemn izing the Novena as far as possible,
as has a lways been the custom not only at this mission but
a “afiadié una osadia
”in this connection hardly mean s a nything
Fr. Sarr1 a s Death ; Awful Indictment 587
in the whole Christian world for the honor of the holypa trons.
“
“When I took him to ta sk for this, he replied tha t it didnot concern him whether the Indians prayed or not; that itwa s his business to make them work ; that for this the governmenthad placed him there ;“ that the Indians were freethat nothing of this was binding upon the Indians w ith the
exception of holy Mass on Sundays ; and that if they wentto church on work days it was because he would have it ;for even Guadalupe Va llejo had warned him that
,since the
feast of San Solano was athand itwas likely that the Father
would want to cause delay with his N ovena , as he had done
at Dolores ; but that in such a case he should drive the I n
dians out to their work as soon as M ass was finished. Thisin effect he did, notwithstanding that I concluded holy Massand the Novena devotions before six o
’
clock in the morn
Fr. Quijas wrote in August. The feast of Sa n Sola no occurs
on July 24th. A n ine days’ devotion formerly preceded the fea st.The occasion wa s utilized to inculca te lesson s of Religion a nd vir
tue, besides giving the neophytes an additiona l day of relaxa tion .
Hence grea t prepara tions were made for the annua l fea st of thepa tron sa in t at a ll the missions. The Indians looked ahead to the
festivities as do children now for the sea son of Christma s. Ortega ,
by order of Va llejo a nd on his own accoun t, bruta lly spoiled thisoccas ion of joy ! Under the circumsta nces Fr. Quija s confined himself to reciting a few additiona l prayers very ea rly in the morn ing.
Even this was tabooed by Va llejo, Ortega 8: Co. l It wa s work,work now ; no prayers ; no applica tion for consola tion from above ;no diversion of a noble na ture. Truly, the Fa thers had workedeffectively if the Indians could submit to such tyra nny and notturn
upon their tormen tors.
This wa s un true ; Ortega wa s an appoin tee of Ma riano Va llejoa lone. Ban croft, i ii, 3 54.
‘ 3 On ly free to work, work ; not to pray. They had not been toldas much before the confisca tion . The neophytes now were slaves
indeed.
The rule of the Fa thers had been denounced a s slavery by theseyoung upstarts l No friar ever cla imed such absolute con trol.
‘ 7 “Que aun Gua da lupe Va llejo le habia preven ido, que estandoya proxima la funcion de San Solano, era regular, que cl Padre qui
588 Missions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
From a ll this Your Patern ity will understand the presentsituation in which the poor neophytes find themselves, of thereligious, civ il, and politica l tra in ing which they are receiv
ing, and the harsh and merciless trea tment which they suffer
to such a degree that this has been the cause why the ma
jority of the gentiles, who had come last yea r, has fled as
well as many of the old Christians. I a lso believe tha t theywill continue to run away if the treatment is not changed.
These a re facts upon which we cannot look with indiffer
ence, for, inasmuch as our chief aim is to increase the flock
of Jesus Christ, this is not on ly frustra ted, but even what hasbeen ga ined is being destroyed . In fine, as I am not able tobea r this any longer, I have resolved, with Your Pa tern ity
’s
consent, to withdraw to this Mission of San Ra fael untilYour Pa tern ity succeeds in obta in ing a remedy a long the lineof the following articles, subject to your approva l . Fr.
Quijas under ten heads then ofiers certa in propositions whichin his opin ion would effect a decided improvement. Severa lof them had a lready been presented in Fr. Garcia Diego
’
s
“Stiplica ,
”and as no notice was taken by the government
of any of them any way, it is unnecessa ry to reproducethem. The last one, however, demanded
“tha t Anton io
Ortega , the mayordomo, should be removed in pun ishmen t forhis many abominable and scanda lous misdeeds in the missionto the dishonor of the holy Religion of Jesus Chri st. In case
he is not removed, Your Pa tern ity may hold for certa in that Iwill not go back there, not even by force ; for, even though
others can witness all this w ith cold indifference, I am not of
that class . I sha ll ra ther flee to my College than return
there before everything has been entirely set aright. May
Your Patern ity be pleased to excuse my long letter, over
look my mistakes, and command me, your lea st subject and
siera en chinchar con su Novena como lo hizo en la de Dolores:
que esto supuesto luego que se acabase la M isa , echase la gente 5sus traba jos, como en efecto lo hizo s pesa r de haber yo concluidoMisa y Noven a antes de la s seis de la mafia na .
”Yet this same Val
lejo never tires of pra ting about liberty, about his sweetness to
wards Indian s, and about the bruta lity of the missionaries!See note 27, this chapter.
CHAPTER XVII .
Why Va llejo and Ortega Wen t Unpun ished.-A Sample of Va llejo’
s
Ungovernable Van ity and Audacious Fa lsehoods.— Fr. Ga rcia
Diego Protests Aga inst Ofiicia l Arrogance — Beneficiaries of
M ission Confiscation .— L os Angeles as Ca pita l of Ca liforn ia .
Election s — La st Address of Figueroa .— Resign s .
— H is La stWill.— His Dea th and Funera l.— Resolutions of the Territoria lAssembly.
— Wha t the Result Wa s .—Figueroa ’s Buria l at Sa n ta
Ba rba ra .— Fr. Ga rcia Diego’s Sta tement— He Journ eys to
Mexico.
T might be supposed tha t a report, such as Fr. Qu1 jas presented through Fr. Commissa ry Ga rcia Diego, would have
resulted in the immedia te dismissal of the profligate Ortegaa s well as of his master Va llejo. Surely, those who ever
lastingly pra ted about wanting to free and benefit the Indians,would v isit with sw ift pun ishment such crimes aga inst theirbeloved fellow-citizens, the emancipa ted neophytes . Nothingof the kind followed in this ca se, at any ra te. Two reasons
may be assigned for the governor’
s inaction . He had but a
short while before returned from the south broken down inhea lth, and doubtless thoroughly discouraged at sight of the
consequences of his“secula riza tion” act. In this condition ,
and with the fate of Victoria still fresh in mind, he probablydreaded to cope with the clique of which Mariano Vallejoproved himself the most noisy. It was a poor excuse, butwehave ere this lea rned tha t those who displayed such un
limited fea rlessness in dealing with helpless priests and re
ligious, a re not at a ll as courageous in dea ling with thosewho may in jure physica lly or politica lly.
The other rea son is not pleasant to state, but we see no
a lterna tive. The crimes of which Fr. Quijas accused the
shameless mayordomo of un fortunate Mission San FranciscoSolano, in the eyes of those in control of Ca liforn ia afia irs at
the time were not crimes at a ll, though they were such in theface of the Religion of whose influence these men had eman
cipated themselves. Figueroa would have had to condemn
Death and Burial of Gov . Figueroa 59 1
himself, as well a s many others in prominence, if he hadremoved Ortega who was on ly more brazen about his immora lity.
1 H ad Fr. Quijas putmore stress upon other thingsin the conduct of the Va llejo henchman , such as would haveappea led to the governor, it is possible tha t his compla intswould have received some considera tion . This we may in ferfrom Figueroa
’
s action in another case reported some monthsprev iously from San Francisco, and which ofiers a glimpse of
the comisiona do trea tment of Indians a fter the confisca tion .
We let H ittell relate the story .
“About the beginn ing of
1 83 5, José Joaquin Estudillo was commissioner of San Francisco de Asis and Pedro del Castillo his associa te. A
quarrel arose between them ; and, a s was usua l upon such
occasions many facts came to light which might otherw isenever have been known . Among other things, it appea redtha t Castillo had arbitra rily ordered some of the Indianboys to be cruelly flogged. Figueroa , as soon as he hea rdof it, wrote a letter reprhn anding him in the severest language and decla ring that neither Ca stillo nor any otherperson would be permitted to infringe the laws, which prohibited the flogging of Indians even though they were mereboys .
‘
Return ing to Ortega , we find tha t he was not on ly not
molested, but, when , a fter Figueroa’
s death, Mariano Va llejo,
December 1 5th, resigned his position as comisionado, Ortegasucceeded him as admin istrator of the mission at a sa lary of$500
! Fr. Quijas accordingly sta id at San Ra fael and
attended San Francisco Solano as a mission sta tion . Suchwas the outcome of the compla ints aga inst Va llejo, the same
who since his appea rance in public, for rea sons which are a
1 “Figueroa wa s not a model in respect of priva te mora lity ; hisfavorite v ice wa s gambling ; and, though there is some evidencetha t he had a family in Mexico, he kept a mistress, and left a nat
ura l daughter in Ca liforn ia .
” Bancroft, iii, 738 ; 297.
2 Associa te commissioner for secula riza tion of M ission Doloresin 183 5, says Hittell, iv, 743 . Bancroft ( iii, 3 77; 700) says this Ca stillo wa s receptor of government revenues at San Francisco in
183 3 - 183 5.
3 Hittell, 1 1 , 2 10-2 1 1 .
4 Bancroft, iii, 720.
592 Missions and M issionaries of Ca lifornia
mystery, never cea sed to accuse the fria rs of cruelties towa rdsthe Indians, and continuously boa sted of his gentlenesstowa rds the na tives. The following letter to the governor
may serve as a specimen . For self-glorification ,persona l
van ity, and lying cha rges aga inst the poor missionaries itprobably ha s no equa l. I have made va rious a ttempts to
penetra te to the interior, he reports two years before the
above mentioned episode, but I could not succeed . I sent
word to the pagans and Christians, assuring them that theyshould not be molested if they rema ined quiet, and I madeuse of a ll tha t I thought would be to the purpose for ga ining their confidence. La tely I have been in formed tha t mypromises and assurance have had a good effect, ina smuch a s
the good trea tmen t which they have received from me and
my troops is a good proof. The ma jority of them wonderat seeing themselves treated gently and with sweetness ( so
tha t they look upon me a s a grea t capta in ) , even by some cor
pora ls now under my command who had unceasingly and nu
duly persecuted them while under the command of the mis
siona ries.
“
“It is necessa ry to con fess, Your Honor, that grea t violencea nd injustice ha s been committed aga inst the unhappy natives
by those entrusted w ith the administra tion of justice in tem
pora l and more so in Spiritua l matters, and tha t the abuse of
these people is the origin and prima ry cause of the deplora bleresults which are experienced, and which have rendered our
true Religion , the mildness of the Gospel, and true mora l ityridiculous.
‘
5 The soldiers commanded by the missiona ries l A monstrosity,to use Va llejo’s term, which on ly such as he could cha rge . We
know tha t, since the Mexican independence at lea st, the soldiergua rds would ta ke no orders” from the friars even to go a fterrunaways. It wa s the missiona ries who ever had rea son to com
pla in oi milita ry disregard for the poor neophytes, a s these pages
have demonstra ted time and aga in . The Indians, by the way, wereadepts at
“Bla rney.” They knew Don Ma ria no to be fond of it, sothey applied it thickly. Hence the “gran Capita n .”Wha t “true mora lity” must be in Va llejo’s opin ion ca n be seen
from his own example and tha t of Ortega . The Fa thers, of course.abhorred it. Va llejo could have given the pha risees lessons inhypocrisy.
594 Missions and M issiona ries of Ca lifornia
accustomed to ra il, because it appea red to be the fashion
with the appa rently educa ted men whom he had encountered,such as Echeandia , Padres, the Frenchman Prudon , and sim
ila r unscrupulous practica l infidels . It seems sufi ciently pla inthat the worst slanders circula ted aga inst the missiona ries maybe traced to Ma riano Va llejo. That is enough to disgracehim for a ll time to come.
Un like the mission enemies of Va llejo’s stripe, the missionaries specified the cha rges, compla ints, or protest which theymade in beha lf of their Indian wards, or when they had to
remonstra te aga inst the encroachments of civil or milita ryofficials. We sha ll here adduce on ly one instance of a kindtha t was of common occurrence at this period . It shows towha t length the insolence of the admin istrators would go,
and how, as in the case of Va llejo, they con trived neverthe
less to make the missionary appea r the culprit . It happenedat San Francisco, the very place whence the pompous DonMariano addressed the just quoted ca lumn ies to the gov
ernor, though twenty-one mon ths later. Fr. CommissaryPrefect Ga rcia Diego on Februa ry 3 rd, 1 83 5, found himselfcompelled to compla in as follows to the governor :
“From the
accompanying transcript you w ill lea rn of the excesses com
mitted by Joaquin Esta dillo and Pedro de Castillo of Sa n
Francisco. Supposing the misdeed, which they charge aga instFr. Jose' Gutierrez, to be true, the comisionados are not his
superiors tha t they may reprimand him and a rrogate to
themselves an authority which in these missions under myjurisdiction belongs exclusively to me ; and aga inst this au
thority they have made an a ttempt.“I f the missionary Fa ther be culpable, they should notify
me so tha t I myself may examine his fault and may correct
him according to my powers. I, and I exclusively, mustqua lify the grav ity of such a fault, and must act accordingto the laws tha t govern us. It is clea r that sa id gentlemenknow not, nor have they the duty to know, when and in
which ca ses a priest is delinquent who refra ins from administering the Sacraments, and when and in which circum
stances he is not bound to admin ister them. The duties of
sa id gentlemen a re la id down in deta il in the Reglamento
Death and Burial of Gov . Figueroa 595
Provisional, and therein is not conta ined tha t they must re
prove the missionary Father for his faults, and must act indefiance of the authority of the prelate.
“The comisionados are pa rishioners of the missiona ry
Father, and his subjects in spiritua l things. They must therefore respect his sa cred cha racter and not reprehend him, for
it is not in order tha t he who is subject should reprimandthe superior. From what has been sa id Your Honor ca nnotfa il to perceive tha t J . Estudillo and Pedro de Ca stillo haveinsulted, wronged, and provoked the missiona ry Fa ther of
San Fra ncisco, and at the same time they have usurped myauthority by reproving one of my subjects in a ma tter whichperta ins exclusively to my inspection . I therefore presen tmyself to Your Honor, as the governor of the territory, andthe protector of the Church, and a sk in justice tha t sa id gentlemen be obliged to render the Father as well as myself thesa tisfaction due to our character, and to the dign ity of our
min istry.
” Wha t the result of this dign ified protest was,we a re un able to say. The reader will here remember an
other instance where Don Mariano accused the missionary,and where Fr. Ga rcia Diego too hastily accepted the accusa
tion which la ter on proved to be fa lse. The Fr. Commissary,meanwhile, had lea rned to be cha ry about accepting the wordof any of the Ca liforn ians at its face va lue.
1 1 Bancroft, too,
has discovered that their assertions are of no va lue un lesscorroborated by documentary evidence.
”
We must now return to the subject of politics in order tokeep in clea r v iew the beneficiaries of mission spolia tion ; foras H ittell, who favored the confisca tion out of pure enmityto monks in genera l, at la st acknowledges,
“The mission prop
erties, instead of being applied for any length of time for thebenefit or the advantage of the Indians, soon began to find
their way into the hands of private individua ls ; and the com
missioners and oficials in general began to grow rich . The
1 ° Fr.Ga rcia Diego to Figueroa , February 3 rd, 183 5. Archb.
no. 2 192 .
1 1 See case of Fr. Mercado, cha pter ix, this section .
Bancroft, iv , 762 .
596 M issions and M issionaries of Californ ia
gente de razon were a ll , genera lly spea king, more or les s
interested in the admin istra tion , such as it was, of the mission properties . I f not interested directly, they were interested indirectly. I f they derived no personal advantage to
themselves, their relatives or friends did. The Indians werean ignorant race inca pable of asserting their rights ; theytherefore had no voice ; nor were they prov iden t enough to
rega rd the future or the future of their children .
" Underthese circumstances the commissioners could act very much a s
they plea sed ; and there was no one to compla in or ra ise hisvoice aga inst their abuses except here and there a missionary, who, however, cried out w ithout ava il .” 1 ‘
At the election held in Mon terey October 1 6th, 183 4, theelectors chose José A. Carrillo delega te to the Mexican Con
gress. Mariano Va llejo was elected substitute. Ca rrillo seems
to have been athis post early in 183 5. At a ll events, his influence is appa rent in the promulga tion of a decree of Con
gress by President ad interim Miguel Ba rragan , da ted Mex
ico, M ay 2 3 rd, 183 5, which declared that “The Pueblo of
L os Angeles in Alta Ca liforn ia is erected into a city, and itwill in the future be the capita l of that territory. Althoughthis governmental resolution was not officia lly published in
Ca liforn ia until the month of December, the news reachedMonterey in October. The effect there may be imagined.
The town council was ca lled to meet on October 1 2th, a nd
on the 14th decided that “the reports of the territoria l con
gressman were based on selfish interests . The legisla tive
1 3 “People of rea son . The term comprised a ll who were not
Indians.
1 4 For tha t rea son ,if for no other, they should ha ve been left in
cha rge of those who would defend the rights of the India ns to
their property, and who without compen sa tion had preserved a nd
increa sed it for them heretofore.
1 " All the more rea son why the India ns should not have been deprived of their gua rdia ns who would, a s in the pa st, ha ve regardedthe future for them. The charge tha t the fria rs made no effort to
advance the neophytes wa s proven fa lse by M rs. H . H. Jackson inher
“Glimpses of Ca liforn ia , pp . 66 ; 70-71 . We may a lso refer the
reader to chapters xv-xvi, vol. ii, section 1 , this work.1 ° H ittell, ii, 209.
598 Missions and M issionaries of Ca lifornia
Ca liforn ia , to the capita l in order to assume the position of
comandante-
general or milita ry commander.
n On the 2 7th
of September Figueroa made his last will . It conta ined the
follow ing instruction :“In the first place I commend my
soul to God, its Crea tor and Redeemer, a nd the body to the
ea rth a s the common mother of a ll morta ls. Nevertheless, Iw ish my body to be deposited, if it sha ll be possible, in the
church of the Santa Barba ra Mission , and I solicit its bettercon serva tion through the ca re of the Fernandino religious,whom it may plea se to do me this charity, and a lso to pre
serve my a shes if the Supreme Government, to which an
account sha ll be sent at the first opportun ity, does not directotherwise.
”
So the man , who had deprived the devoted missionariesof the homes which they had rea red at their own expensew ith the help of the neophytes, and who had subjected thesebenefactors of Ca liforn ia to the mercy of unsympa thetichirelings, himself in his la st moments begged his victims fora resting-place for his rema ins among those of their brethren ,
in the buria l place reserved for priests and religious ! Itlooks very much like retribution . It is somewha t strangethat Figueroa should prefer to have his body rest w ith the
Span ish friars ra ther than with the Mexicans, and that, too,
at the headquarters of Fr. Presidente Duran , whose ban ishment he like Echeandia had recommended to the MexicanGovernment ! However, the more we penetrate the subjectwe come to the conclusion that, as in the matter of the con
fiscation of the mission s, the late governor was goaded intothis unwarranted act of hostility to Fr. Duran by the relentless Ca liforn ia chiefs. Itmay a lso be tha t the late governor
3 1 Bancroft, iii , 295, 2 98 ; Hittell, 1 1,2 1 3 . This author makes the
governor die at San Juan Bautista , which is a n error.
3 ’ “En primer luga r encomiendo mi a lma a Dios, quien es su
Criador y Reden tor, y el cuerpo a la tierra como madre comun de
los morta les ; y no obstan te quiero que mi cuerpo se deposite, si
fuera posible, en la Iglesia de la Mision de Sa n ta Ba rba ra , proeurando su mayor conserv acion a l cuidado de los religiosos Fern andinos que gusten ha cerme la ca ridad, tambien de con serva r mi
s
cen iza s si el gobierno no dispon e otra cosa é quien se da ri cuen taen la primera oportun idad .
” “Ca l. Arch Dep. St. Pap. iv, 1 8 1 .
Death and Burial of Gov . Figueroa 599
knew that Santa Ba rba ra mission church was the on ly one
which had buria l vaults beneath the sanctua ry.
When he saw his end approaching, the dying governor
ca lled for the spiritua l min istra tions of Fr. Comisa rio-PrefectoGa rcia Diego of Santa Cla ra ; but, as the la tter fa iled to arrivein time, Figueroa received the last Sacraments, except holyCommun ion , at the hands of Fr. José Rea l, then in cha rge
of the parish of Monterey and Mission San Ca rlos . HolyVia ticum was not admin istered beca use of the inclination to
vomit which Figueroa suffered . Fr. Ga rcia Diego at lastarrived just as the governor was about to surrender his soul
to its Crea tor, between four and five o’
clock in the a fternoonof September 29th, 183 5. The funera l rites were apparentlyperformed by the Fr. Commissa ry, a ssisted by Fr. BernardinoPérez, his secreta ry, and Fr. José Rea l, as we learn from the
en try in the pa rish register of Monterey which reads a s
follows : “On October 2 nd, 1 83 5, there wa s deposited," in the
vacant room of the church fron ting the sacristy on the Gospelside,“ the body of Don José Figueroa , Brigadier-General,and Governor of this Territory. He died on the 29th la stpast a fter receiv ing the holy Sacraments of Penance and
Extreme Unction . Ow ing to the nausea which he suf
feted, Holy Via ticum wa s not admin istered to him, but he
passed away in an edifying disposition . The funeral was
held with the solernnity and pomp due to his merit, fivesquads of soldiers marching ahead of the rema ins. The bodywill be transferred to Mexico, as he has commanded in histestament. In testimony whereof I affix my signa ture. Fr.
José Maria del Refugio Suarez del Real . Monterey, October2 nd,
On October loth, while the body of the deceased governorlay in the room adjoin ing the church wa iting to be transferred to its destination , the terri toria l assembly met atMon
tetey, and on the 1 3 th passed resolutions in keeping withthe pompous style usua lly adopted by the Mexican and Ca li
a fter the funera l serv ices, of course.
This room w ith the sa id sacristy on tha t side has disa ppea red.
3“Libro de En tierros de Mon terey.
600 M issions and M issionaries of California
fornia leaders of those days, but too exaggera ted to be sin
cere ; for if they had been sincere something might haveresulted from them. After a long preamble of fulsome
pra ise, Juan B . Alvarado closed a s follows : Let us irn
morta lize his glory and our gra titude,“ and encircle his
brow with a crown of‘
siempre viva .
’
Yes , Most Excellen tSirs
,listen , and please approve of the follow ing proposition s
or resolutionsl st.
“The portra it of Genera l Don José Figueroa sha ll be
placed in the Ha ll of the Sessions of this Exeelentisirna Diputacion in proof of the esteem they bear for his distinguishedmerit.2 nd. To perpetua te his memory, and the gra titude of
this Corporation ,
"a durable monument sha ll be erected, w ith
an appropriate inscription , in one of the most public unoccu
pied sites in the capita l ; and to fulfill which the !lustre Aya ntamiento shal l be authorized to have its sole direction and
ca re.
3 rd. Three copies of these proceedings sha ll be drawnup. One sha ll be delivered to the executors of our beloveddecea sed General and Chief, another copy sha ll be trans
mitted to his widow and children , and the third sha ll bepassed to the printer tha t it may be annexed to the M ani
fiesto of sa id Genera l, which is now in course of publication .
”
These resolutions were adopted, then Manuel Jimeno on
the 14th of October offered two others :l st. That the three resolutions of Sei
'
ior Alva rado sha llbe put into execution immediately.
2 nd.
“That atthe bottom of the portra it of Schor GeneralDon José Figueroa sha ll be a ffixed the title of
‘
Bienhechor
del territorio de la Alto Ca lifornia .
’
“Tha t wa s about the rea l object of these legisla tors : the immorta lizing of themselves, for the whole a ction ended w ith these
words.
3 7 Figueroa had done the bidding of the Ca liforn ia chiefs and
given them the missions a s their prey. Surely, they should havebeen gra teful .
3 9 The I llustrious Town Council of Mon terey.
3 ° “Benefa ctor of the Territory of Upper Ca liforn ia .
”
602 Missions and Missionaries of California
a ising the honors of the sa id Schor,” Comandan te Ibarra
sign ificantly closes his report to Gutierrez .
“
We have related the circumstances of Governor Figueroa’
s
dea th and funera l somewha t minutely for the reason that allwriters, including Bancroft, a re at sea on the subject, especia lly as to the buria l place. With the documents before us
it is possible to remove a ll doubts once for all. The bodywas never taken from the crypt where it had been la id on
the date mentioned . On August 2 4th,19 1 1 , all the n iches in
the vault which had been wa lled up yea rs before were opened.
It was discovered tha t one of them conta ined a well-preservedcoffin . On remov ing the lid it wa s seen tha t it held the
rema ins of a military officer of the highest rank. The uni
form was rich and, though soaked w ith the water which hadpenetra ted the place, it was in good condition . The shoulderstraps seemed to be of silver. The chapeau lay over the
lower limbs. The sword, however, had rusted away to
within about eight inches of the hilt. On the right side laya gold-headed cane. The body itself had decayed as the
un iform lay flat and shriveled, but the skull still had a thickgrowth of long dark ha ir. It was very sma ll and corre
sponded with the size of the corpse which mea sured notmore
than five feet, or at most five feet two inches . Only one
other milita ry person , Capta in José de la Guerra , had beenburied in another niche of the crypt, and it was identified , a swell as tha t of his son Pablo. With many other members of
the commun ity, besides two laborers, we viewed and examined the conten ts of the coffin , so tha t there can be no doubtw ith regard to the whereabouts of Governor Figueroa
’
s re
ma ins. A record was drawn up of the contents of the sev
““L os Rev . Padres se han portado lo mejor que se ha n podidoen solemn iza r la s honra s de dicho Schor.
” Poss ibly he expectedthem to resen t the proposition of pla cing the body in their vaults ,
or to show some sign of ill feeling. They felt only pity for him.
3 ‘ Comanda n te Ibarra to Comandan te- Genera l Nicolas Gutierrez,
October 29th; Gutiérrez to the Secreta ry of Wa r and Navy, November 1 3th, 183 5.
“Ca l . Arch. , Dep. St. Pa p. iv ,
1 57- 1 59 ; 1 81 ;“Libro
de Inventarios, S an ta Barba ra M ission , p. 47.
604 Missions and Missiona ries of Ca lifornia
era l n iches, and then they were aga in wa lled up by the two
stonern asons mentioned before.
It wa s rumored in Mexico tha t the late governor had not
died a na tura l death, but that he had been poisoned ! When ,
therefore, Fr. Ga rcia Diego in the follow ing year reached
the capita l, the Supreme Government requested him to reportwhat he knew on the subject.
“Comandante-Genera l JoséFigueroa .
”he replied in writing, grea tly agita ted on account
of the disturbances which the colonists of the territory caused
or were about to cause,“
undertook to journey from Monterey to the port of San Francisco, and from there, a lmost without resting,
he went to San Diego in order to tra nquillize theminds, and to prevent any disturbance of the peace. Whenhe had accomplished his desire, he in June returned to Mon
terey ; but he wa s a lrea dy a iling, and without that robustness which one was wont to recogn ize in him at first sight .I myself, when I met him at Santa Barba ra ,
"noticed as
much, and even told him so. This illness and weakness con
tinued until September 6th when he took to his bed. His
sufferings increased until the 29th of the same month, when
he died between four and five in the a fternoon , the same hourin which I athis request a rrived to a ssist him.
“I n compliance with the w ish expressed in his testament.
steps were taken to preserve his rema ins. For tha t purposethe corpse was opened by Dr. Manuel de Alva in the presence
3 5 “E l coma nda n te-genera l Don José Figueroa , con motivo de
los tra stornos que causé,6 iba é ca usa r, la colonia en aquel depa r
tamento.
” This efiectua lly refutes the a ssertion of the sha llow
Robinson , who w ithout wa rra n t chiefly blames “the repea ted a tta cksof the missionaries and the representa tion s of the Indian s.
”He
men tions the disorders in the land, a lso, but only in the thirdpla ce. Robin son ,
“Ca liforn ia ,” 1 75- 1 76. Neither the fria rs nor theirun fortun a te wa rds a tta cked the governor. He could for himselfsee the ruinous consequences of his decree, and they may have
troubled him somewha t, but it wa s the threa tened disorders and
those a lready existing tha t worried him and caused the killing trip.
3 0This wa s a fea t in his weakened condition , and doubtless wasthe immedia te cause of his dea th, or at lea st ha stened it.87 Fr. Garcia Diego wa s at San ta Ba rba ra in M ay and June, a s
we know .
606 Missions and Missiona ries of Californ ia
the dying governor, as a lready stated. Fina llythe Fr. Presidente of the Zacatecans
,Fr. Ra fael Moreno,
his
v ice-prefecto w ith the faculty of giving Confirmation , and
then with Fr. Berna rdino Pérez he on November 1 7th, 183 5,
emba rked atMonterey for San Bla s, Mexico.
“
‘ 1 Fr. Ga rcia Diego, In forme, July 20th, 1 836 . Sta . Barb.
Arch.
”
N ecessity of L ea rning the L anguage of the I ndian s.
(To Pages 5 a nd
Fr. Comisa rio- Prefecto Vicen te Sa rria must have had good rea
sons for issuing the circula r urging the Fa thers to a cqua in t themselves with the la nguage of the neophytes in their charge. Thoughthere is no direct documen ta ry evidence, from stray rema rks in the
reports and occa siona l correspondence it may be inferred tha t some
of the fria rs con tinued to ava il themselves of in terpreters in publicaddresses a nd sermon s. This method of impa rting religious in struction is atbest but a makeshift, a nd never sa tisfa ctory to the zea lous
messenger of Christ who desires to rea ch the hea rts of the peopleen trusted to him.
It cannot be doubted, a s the ea rliest writers, among whom is the
lea rned Solorza no, poin t out, tha t prea ching in the la ngua ge of the
hea rers renders the missionary’s message far more acceptable a nd
eflective, and the missionary himself much more agreeable, than the
same message conveyed through a second person , even if tha t person could reproduce the prea cher’s mea n ing exa ctly, which is
sca rcely possible. Especia lly is this true in the ca se of aborigines.
The messenger of the Gospel who speaks the language of thesepeople will find himself forthw ith on familia r terms w ith them
,and
confidence and a ffection a re likely to result from his first appea ra nce. On the other hand, diversity of language, a s Soldrza no oh
serves, is liable to cause estrangemen t and dislike of the man a s
well a s the message so much so tha t his efforts may be in va in .
N ay, he may find tha t, a s St. Augustine ha s it (“De Civita te Dei,”lib. xix, cap. men would prefer to be a lone w ith their dogs thanw ith a stra nger whose language they do not understand. I n truthwe a re a ll pra ctica lly dea f, a s Cicero (Tusculum lib. v ) says, in the
languages which we do not understa nd ; a nd according to St. Paul( I Cor. xiv ) we a re a s much barba rian s to those whose la ngua gewe do not know a s they a re to us. (Solorzano,
“Politica Indiana ,”lib. ii, cap. xxvi, nos . 5, 3 2 ; Pa rra s, “Gobierno de los Regula res,tom. ii, cap. vi. Both these authors go deeply in to the ma tter, andthe works of both were to be found in the Ca liforn ia M issions.)
608 Missions and Missiona ries of California
It ca nnot be expected tha t the India n , for in sta nce, should give uphis la nguage a nd lea rn the idiom of the stranger in order to ac
quire the necessa ry knowledge of the Gospel truths. Tha t wouldrender holy Religion doubly difi cult, a nd therefore odious, to him,
wherea s it should be made ea sy of comprehen sion and a ttra ctive.
For, if we w ith brighter minds, say our authors, find it diflicult,a nd therefore neglect to learn the Indian ’
s langua ge in order to
commun ica te the truths of sa lva tion, how ca n we expect the dullmind of the indolen t sa vage to learn the la nguage a s well a s the
Religion,when he is not conv inced of the necessity of either, nay
which he rega rds a s superfluous ? This would be pla cin g a doubleload upon him, wherea s we ha ve to shoulder but one : the India n ’stongue or dia lect. I n elderly Indian s the difficulty would be insuperable.
All this goes w ithout saying. Hen ce it wa s tha t in beha lf of thefirst missiona ries, the Apostles, Almighty God worked a mira cle so
tha t represen ta tives of the va rious n a tion s at Jerusa lem should beable to understa nd the Glad Tidings announced to them on tha tfirst Pen tecost Sunday. We do not read tha t these men understoodthe la nguage of the Apostles, but tha t ea ch one understood theApostles to speak in the la nguage of the various hea rers . This
wa s a clea r lesson for a ll mission aries. They were to a da pt themselves in their speech to the people to whom they might be sent.
This being so,writes Solorza no (tom. i, lib. ii, ca p. xxvi, no.
a nd ina smuch a s we ca nnot a lways expect to receive the gift oftongues which the Apostles possessed, though Almighty God gra n tedit sometimes to others among H is serva n ts, the missiona ry mustsubmit to the drudgery of lea rn ing the language of the people in a
more or less laborious way. All zea lous missiona ries, especia llythose who devoted themselves to the conversion of the na tives inAmerica , a ccepted this burden a s a ma tter of course, a nd made ittheir first duty to a cquire the la nguage of their prospective con
verts . Wha t difficulties this involved among a n aborigina l peoplew ithout a ny litera ture wha tever, a nd wha t ra re pa tience this re
quired, the reader may ga ther from the reports of the Jesuit Fa thersa s rela ted in the first volume, pa ges 67-68 ; 101 1 58—1 59.
The ma tter, however, w a s not left to the zea l of the indiv idualmissiona ry. At a very ea rly period laws were formula ted whichma de the lea rn ing of the Indian ldnguage obliga tory upon a ll who
had the ca re of souls in Span ish America . On e of the first regulation s ena cted on the subject wa s pa ssed by the Second Provin cialCouncil of Lima , Peru, a s ea rly a s the yea r 1 567. Ca non 49 forbadethe hea ring of con fession s by mean s of a n in terpreter. The ThirdCouncil of Lima
, held in 1 583 , comma nded tha t the ordin ary prayers and the ca techism should be taught in the language of the n a
tives w ithout obliging them to acquire our own idiom. Que les
6 1 0 Missions and Missiona ries of California
outside their own clan : the Span ish language. This a s a rule wa s
spoken by the men at lea st.Probably the ea rly missiona ries were driven to adopt a simila r
course w ith regard to some of the various dia lects or languagesspoken within their jurisdiction . There wa s sca rcely one missionwhose neophytes a ll used the same language. At some of these
esta blishmen ts severa l tota lly difierent tongues were represen ted secordingly a s the converts ha iled from difierent rancheria s, oftennot more than ten leagues distant. Tha t the Fa thers were ableto overcome the obstacle implied is addition a l proof of the kindtrea tmen t the Indian s received at the hands of the missiona ries.
Some one tongue probably predomina ted . This the priests doubtless ma stered sufliciently to prea ch in it, and of the others theylearned enough to hea r the con fessions of those tha t knew no other.
La ter, a ll, especia lly the children and young people, became famil
ia r with the Spa n ish. Such wa s the si tua tion at the mission s.
Whether a ny of the missiona ries rema ined en tirely ignoran t of oneor the other na tive idiom may be doubted. There may have beenamong the fria rs those who despite a ll their efiorts found it impossible, especia lly in the absence of anything written in the native
idiom, to gra sp the construction of the Indian jargon , pronouncethe words, or reta in anything. With neophytes a lready somewhatinstructed, a nd a n expert compan ion atha nd, this drawba ckwas not
serious. With the aid of the un iversa l Span ish, a nd by mean s of
sign s, especia lly the a lways in telligible sign of gifts, the poor
missiona ry would work with considerable success, a s the numberof converts on the Pa cific Coa st proves clearly enough.
Some of the missiona ries may, in the midst of the multiplicityof duties, have taken this ma tter more ea sy tha n plea sed the liv elyzea l and the wonderful ta len t of Fr. Sa rria, but it is not possible toname them. At a ll even ts, in stead of prea ching through an interpreter we should w ith his a ssista nce have composed short in structions of about five minutes, a ll tha t the dull mind of the India nscould gra sp on any subject, un less it be a simple story. This weshould have read in the language of the Indians every day of 0i
gation . Such w a s our practice in the beginn ing un til a fter two
years it was pra cticable to speak extemporaneously a nd at more
length. Some of the fria rs may have pursued this method, butthere is unfortun a tely no record of it, nor of many other in terestingthings of which nothing is now known , because the friars refrained
from recording their experiences, their successes or their fa ilures.
We must infer much from the rules tha t were prescribed, and thegenera l reports which the reticen t missiona ries were compelled tomake to the Fr. Presiden te, and through him to the government orthe College of San Fernando.
Besides the discouraging multiplicity of languages, the mission
Appendix 6 1 1
aries found themselves fa ce to fa ce with another most formidableobstacle, the lack of adequa te terms in the native ja rgon to expla inthe mysteries of Religion . The emba rra ssmen t increa sed with thefounding of every new mission , for tha t mean t one or more a dditiona l dia lects or distinct languages w ith the same dearth of suitable words. The rude Ca lifornia savage’s thoughts moved on lywithin the range of wha t is ma teria l. He had no conception of
things spiritua l. Hence his vocabula ry included only such words a sreferred to ma teria l things. It is a pity, and the historian ca nnot
feel thankful, tha t the Franciscans, ever shy of rela ting their personal experiences and hardships, have left us en tirely in the da rk
on this pha se of their missiona ry life. We must, therefore, ca ll
the reader’s a tten tion to wha t ha s been rela ted on this subject involume i, pp. 67-68 ; 101 , and 1 58 - 1 59, for it is certa in tha t the missionaries in Upper Ca liforn ia fared no better than the Jesuits inLower Ca liforn ia .
Two Fa thers, Fr. Buenaven tura Sitia r of Mission San An ton ioand Fr. Felipe Arroyo de la Cuesta of M ission San Juan Bautista ,
have excelled in the knowledge of Indian languages, in tha t eachcomposed a copious vocabulary of the idiom spoken at their te
spective mission , a s the reader will know from the In troduction to
volume ii of this work.
Religious I nstruction of the Settlers.
(To Page
The white popula tion , composed of soldiers a nd colon ists w iththeir families, origina lly settled a round the four presidios of San
Diego, San ta Barba ra , Mon terey, and San Fra ncisco. La ter on
immigran ts from Mexico loca ted at Sa n Jose and L os Angeles. Afew shiftless Mexicans were a lso ga thered at Bra n ciforte oppositeM ission Sa nta Cruz. Outside of these colon ies , some discha rgedsoldiers and a few others possessed ran ches in va rious pa rts of the
territory ; but the whole white popula tion at the close of 1830
sca rcely exceeded 4M , including about one hundred and fiftyAmericans, Englishmen , etc.
During the early years the people a ttended holy Ma ss and hea rda Span ish sermon on Sundays and holydays of obliga tion a t the
nea rest mission . Subsequen tly they had their ow n cha pels wherefor their conven ience one of the two missiona ries from the nea restmission celebra ted holy Mass and preached the Span ish sermon .
6 1 2 M issions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
With pe0p1e a lready well instructed this answered the purpose ;but it wa s difierent w ith the children , and in this ca se, when the
elders were so a bjectly ignoran t, a ltogether in sufi cient. Yet there
is no good evidence tha t the priest on these occa s ion s ga ve any
systema tic ca techetica l in struction to the little ones. The Fa therscla imed tha t the missionaries were given charge of the Indianson ly, tha t they were not the pa stors of the gente de razon or white
people, and therefore not in justice bound to a ttend them, but tha tit wa s the duty of the governmen t to provide secula r priests for thecolon ists and soldiers. This wa s true, but ina smuch a s no pa storswere provided, it became the duty of the missiona ries to a ttendthese aba ndoned sheep, a nd to admin ister the Sa cramen ts to themfor charity’s sake. This wa s the view held by Fr. Sa rrii a nd Superiors ; and this view preva iled in pra ctice, so tha t the settlers al
ways could receive the Sacramen ts at the ha nds of the mission a rieswhenever they desired. (See vol. 1 1 , Whether it wa s possiblefor the Fa thers to do more while they had to provide for the cor
pora l a s well as spiritua l wa n ts of the India n , their first duty,
and la ter when one missiona ry, w ithout a compan ion , wa s compelledto provide for the corpora l necessities of the soldiers and their
families a lso, the a tten tive reader of the pa st cha pters may decidefor himself. The need for more instruction for the white a dultswa s gla ring enough, and Fr. Sa rria therefore urges the fria rs to
make every efiort in this direction . The question is, were the people eager enough to be en lightened on wha t they must believe a nd
do in order to secure life everla sting? Well, the priests who ha veany number of the descendan ts of the ea rly colon ists within theirjurisdiction , we da re say a re not in a mood to blame the early mis
siona ries. I f a s early a s 1 798 (see vol. ii, 543 ) Fr. Presiden teL asuén bitterly compla ined of the religious indiflerence among 901
diers a nd settlers, wha t must be sa id of the period when withEcheandia
’s coming the floodga tes of indifference a nd irreligion had
been set wide open ? at the time when the Picos, Va llejos, Alva rados were still boys ? Doubtless more than one mission ary in dis
gust may ha ve felt tha t his charity wa s wa sted, and tha t be betterconfine himself to his Indians in order to preserve them at leastfrom con tagion .
Whether the overburdened Fa thers tried to preserve the childrenof the white pe0p 1e by in structing them sepa ra tely is not clear.
We sha ll have to come to a conclusion by judging the conditionamong their descenda n ts at this day. Of Fr. Amorés atSan Ca rloswe know from tradition tha t he would have little presen ts rea dyfor the boys and girls who knew the ca techism whenever he ap
pea red at Monterey for Div ine Serv ice. Whetherthe pa ren ts sen ttheir children to the mission for instruction is not very probable.
The children of the mission gua rds may and may not ha ve joined
6 1 4. Missions and Missionaries of California
Likew ise, he says, at M ission Sa n Diego Fr. Fern ando Martin ,
a most ignora nt man hombre nada instruido made me learn
on ly how to serve Mass in La tin w ithout understa nding one wordof wha t he sa id.” Fr. Ma rtin did wha t priests do now : he taughtthe boys to an swer the respon ses at Holy Ma ss in lieu of a priestor some one else in Orders. The boy needs not understa nd “oneword” of tha t pa rt of the service, though he ca n find the transis
tion in the prayerbooks. Pico on ly threw this rema rk in for the
benefit of Ba ncroft to confirm the foolish notion of such a s Ban
croft tha t priests tea ch and preach only in Latin . At any ra te,Pico shows tha t it is possible like a pa rrot to recite the whole
ca techism by hea rt, a nd not practice one of its tea chings, notablythe one tha t forbids lying and such things a s a re forbidden in the
Sixth Commandmen t of God. Hen ce the necessity of religiousexplana tion by an ecclesia stic or by other thoroughly in formedand God- fearing persons.
To show wha t little good Pio Pico derived from being a ble to
recite the“whole ca techism, a s he cla ims, we sha ll repea t here
wha t Fr. Mariano P ayera s, Comisa rio-Prefecto of the Ca l iforn iamissionaries, reported to the Commissa ry-Genera l of the Indies inSpa in rega rding Fr. Fernando Ma rtin , whom Pico vilifies .
“For
his zea l a nd applica tion his merit is above the a verage, a nd his
aptitude for the min istry which he exercises is ev iden t. He coulda lso be sta tioned among the white people, and w ith honor and edi
fication preside over his brethren , tha t is to say, Fr. Martin was
fit for the position of Superior. Yet Pio Pico dares to style him“hombre n ada in struido.
" Well, we ha ve a lready discovered withBa ncroft wha t the testimony of the pa isa no chiefs is worth. Theyhave certa in ly not taken the rules for their conduct from the
Ca tholic ca techism.
Sometimes the Span ish governors persua ded the colon ists of the
necessity of primary schools, but for wan t of teachers they n ever
became a brillian t success. Some old soldier, who had receivedhis elemen ta ry know ledge of letters from a missiona ry, or a ny
other availa ble man would be utilized to teach rea ding, writing.a nd ciphering. By order of the governors, notably of Boriea , itwa s the tea cher’s duty to give in structions in ca techism. How
agreeably to the children he would impart wha t little he knew in
a ny branch, especia lly Religion , a nd wha t exa lted idea s the pupilsca rried away w ith them of the beautiful truths of sa lvation , maybe in ferred from a description Ma riano Va llejo gives of the school
at Mon terey. Ordin arily we would not accept Va llejo’s un sup
ported sta temen t for a nything. I n this we must agree with Ba ncroft. The rea son why his version is used here is because it cor
responds so much w ith‘
his own manner in dea ling w ith those who
Appendix
in the ea rly days in any way were un fortuna te enough to comeunder his sway. We believe be adopted the ma nners of the tea cher.“Rude ben ches extended along the sides of a long, low , adobe
room,with dirty wa lls,” Va llejo tells us.
“On a ra ised pla tform
at one end sat the soldier-master, of fierce and wa rlike mien , w ithferule in hand. On the wa ll over his head or just at one side wa sa grea t cross and the picture of a sa int, to which each boy cameon en tering the room to say a bendito a loud . Then he a pproachedthe pla tform to sa lute the ma ster by kissing his hand, and receiveda
‘bellowed’ permission to take his sea t, which he did a fter throwing his hat on a pile in the corner ; and, a s soon a s a la rge boy hadshown him the pla ce, began to rea d his lesson a s loud a s his throa tand lungs would permit ; or, if learn ing to write, he ruled a sheetof pa per with a piece of lea d, and wen t to the ma ster for quill andcopy. At a certa in hour the copies were examined, and the ferulewa s in constan t motion at tha t hour.
‘Here is a blot you youngra sca l.
’ ‘Pa rdon , master, I will do better to-morrow .
‘Hold out
your hand’— thus ra n the usua l prelimina ry conversation . A moreterrible implemen t of torture tha n the ferule,
however, lay on the
ma ster’s table— a hempen scourge of ma ny iron - poin ted la shes, heldin reserve for such serious offenses a s laughing a loud, runn ing inthe street, playing truan t, spilling ink, or, worst of a ll, fa iling to
know the Christia n doctrine. The guilty child w a s stripped of his
shirt, often his only ga rment, a nd stretched on a bench, with a
handkerchief stufied in his mouth, to receive the dread infliction .
“The course of study wa s six mon ths or a yea r of primer, or a ,
b, c ; six mon ths of the Christia n Caton , or second rea ding-bookreading manuscript letters of officers , padres, old women , or the
ma ster himself ; writing from eight grades of copies, from stra ightmarks to words ; and fina lly, the four rules of a rithmetic, w ith moreChristia n doctrine. This la st-named branch wa s lea rned chieflyfrom Ripa lda
’s ca techism, the bugbea r of every Spa n ish child, to
be lea rned en tire by hea rt, and recited in a monotonous sing- songa perpetua l torment, every page of which involved more than on e
scourging. Sa turday wa s a day of examin a tion a nd especia l torture, when each pupil had to tell a ll he kn ew of Ripa lda . Motherssometimes showed sympa thy for a child’s sufferings ; but fa thersnever.
”(Ba ncroft, ii, 42 7
Stripped of the exaggera tion s a nd distortion s cha ra cteristic of
Va llejo,we ca n well understa nd from this story how , un like wha t
it should ha ve been , Christia n doctrines were in stilled in to the
minds of the children , a nd how they must ha ve loa thed the ca techism which in the ha nds of the kindly messenger of Christ is a
foun ta in of the noblest and sweetest a spira tion s. We can a lso uh
dersta nd how under such circumstances the v ile and stupid va porings of infidel writers could have a ppea led to the hea rts of such
6 1 6 Missions and Missionaries of California
boys a nd transformed them in to oppressors of the min isters of Religia n , and robbers of Indian property. Though this ca nnot excuse them, it expla in s in a mea sure how they could so ea sily fa ll aprey to design ing politicia ns and specula tors of the Echea ndia a nd
Padres stripe.
Religions Orders and Their Enemies.
(To Page
It is a singula r fact tha t wherever, in German and La tin coun
tries, the ao- ca lled Libera ls a nd Freethinkers obta in control of the
governmen t they straightway begin to make wa r on Ca tholic Religious Orders. Why this should be so is w ithin the prov in ce of
the historia n on the missions to elucida te, because the Ca liforn iamissiona ries, being religious, likewise became v ictims of such politicia ns. Besides, the narra tive itself will thereby ga in in clea rness .
We sha ll, therefore, in a simple manner, so tha t a ll may un derstand, and a s briefly as possible, endeavor to solve the mys tery .
There must be some radica l difierence between the prin ciplesguiding the members of religious Orders and the principles of the
ao- ca lled Libera ls and Freethinkers, to whom may be added the
infidel Socia lists, because on this poin t they a gree perfectly withthe sa id Libera ls. On ly this will a ccoun t for the relentless Oppression a nd persecution exercised aga inst Ca tholic religious whereverLibera lism by fa ir mean s or foul seizes the rein s of governmen t.There is such essen tia l difl’eren ce. It is so absolute tha t the prin
ciples of the one cla ss necessarily exclude those of the other cla ss
like the day excludes the n ight .Wha t clearly distinguishes the religious from their bitter oppo
neuts above a ll is the object, a im, or end in view, and the mea n s
or methods employed to a tta in such end. Here we find tha t thereligious a nd so- ca lled Libera ls ha ve absolutely nothing in common .
The prime object or a im of the members of religious Orders, asindeed of every serious Christian , is ultima te un ion w ith the Crea
tor. The fa ithful observa nce oi God’s Commandmen ts w ill a ecomplish this w ith every Christia n . The religious, a s his name indica tes, goes further. H e endea vors in spirit to a n ticipa te un ion withAlmighty God even in this world by volun ta rily, a s fa r a s possible.
deta ching himself from wha tever might impede ultima te un ion with
God, the destiny of every human crea ture.
Now the things tha t hinder this un ion of the creature with its
6 1 8 M issions and Missionaries of California
it tha t so-ca lled Libera ls and Freethinkers, who pra te so much aboutliberty, tolerance a nd the rights of man , forever open ly and secretlyha ra ss and persecute the members of religious Orders for nothingmore than exercising their right to life, liberty, and the pursuit ofha ppiness ? I n order to comprehen d this we must examine the
tenets open ly promulga ted and pra ctised by sa id Libera ls a nd Freethinkers in the territories under their domina tion , such as Fran ce,Portuga l, Mexico, a nd some of the Cen tra l and South America nSta tes. Here we find the essen tial diflerence between the Ca tholicreligious a nd their enemies sta nding out clear. The libera l a nd freethinking pa rties fla tly deny tha t there is a God, or tha t if there isa God, He ca res n aught for His crea tures, hence is a mon strosity.
Moreover, they deny tha t ultima te un ion with Almighty God is theend and destiny of the crea ture. Tha t, of course, is a ma tter whichconcern s them. Being free agen ts, they may hold wha t view s theylike and settle the a ccoun t with their Crea tor, who in spite of theirmouthings, a s sound rea son demonstra tes, exists a nd w ill even tua llydemand an a ccoun t ; but with this freedom to hold a ny views theyplea se Libera ls a nd so-ca lled Freethinkers a re not sa tisfied. Unlikethe Christian s and especia lly the religious, who will not and ca nnotforce their Fa ith or their religious practices upon others, the l ibertypra ting Libera ls and a ssocia tes w ill not permit a mode of life,
for
in stance, tha t implies a closer un ion w ith God on the ba sis of the
coun sels enuncia ted by the Savior. The mean s adopted to preventa ny such life in commun ities a re ridicule, sla nder, and even physica lforce. The coun tries mentioned are in evidence, not in pa s t centuries, but a t the presen t day ; for more a trocious cruelties a ga insthelpless monks and nuns than have been perpetra ted in Portuga l ofla te years have not been committed by the very Turks, and tha t,too, in the name of liberty of thought ! There is no need to ca rrythe para llel any further. It is pla in enough tha t the rea l motivefor the war of the Libera ls and Freethinkers a ga in st the religiousOrders is recogn ition and love of God on the one side a nd sa tan icha tred for God on the other ; and this ha tred of Libera lism for the
religious, to use Fa ther Faber’s words, (Grow th in Holiness, 2 74) isan index of the devil’s dislike of them, and tha t, in its turn ,
is a
mea sure of their power a nd of their acceptableness with God.
Appea rances, of course, must be preserved. The world must bepersuaded tha t there is cause for oppressing and suppressin g re
ligious Orders. I f, therefore, on ly one monk or one nun prove
unfa ithful, which un fa ithfulness invariably is the con sequen ce of
con tamina tion w ith the cardin a l doctrines of Libera lism itself, thenthe ca se is exaggera ted out of a ll semblance to the truth. The
whole commun ity or Order, n ay the whole Church is blamed. I f no
such opportun ity offers, ca ses a re manufa ctured and widely circu
la ted . I n the next volume we sha ll furn ish some insta nces of this
Appendix 6 1 9
kin d concern ing the missionaries of Californ ia . Ina smuch a s the
Libera ls and Freethinkers do not hold themselves accountable to
Almighty God, they do not hold themselves bound to observe the
one of the Ten Comma ndmen ts which forbids lying. Such a ctionon the pa rt of these enemies of religious Orders may therefore a l
ways be expected. It is in strict con formity with the tenets of
infidel Libera lism.
Nor does Libera lism rea lly care when a religious ha ppens to forget or renounce his vows, (save tha t such an occurrence is a ba lm,
a ndmay be utilized a s an excuse for oppressing whole commun ities)prov ided tha t such an unfaithful individua l ema ncipa tes himself fromthe Church a s well. I n tha t ca se he is hera lded a s a pa ragon of
learn ing and virtue. It is not the un fa ithful religious who is hounded and ban ished for mora l corruption , but the loya l religious forrefusing to be corrupted. Thus it is tha t under the rule of rabidLibera lism strumpets a re lega lized whilst the pure little Sister of
Charity is outlawed. The rea der need but turn to Fra nce a nd Portuga l to find this sta temen t verified . I n Portuga l the infidel governmen t puts a premium on v ice among the clergy, in tha t it offerspensions to such priests a s take women in “ma rriage.
”The truth is,
the very presence of monks and nun s who lea d pure a nd abstemiouslives, who sha re their bread with the poor, a llev ia te sufi‘erings, tea chthe little ones, console aching hearts, protect the innocen t, etc., is a
silen t rebuke to their enemies. Hence their rage, a nd their determina tion to remove these silen t mon itors.
Much more might be sa id to show the utter hypocrisy of thosewho persecute religious Orders ; but this much will suffice in a nswer
to the question , which wa s pertinen t to our subject, why the re
ligious in Mexico, and per con sequence the missionaries of Ca liforn ia , were objects of ha te to Libera ls and Freethinkers.
Of course, we a re awa re tha t numerous others besides infidelLibera ls, Freethinkers, and libertines decry monks a nd nun s. Somecla im to be sincere Christians, and possibly they are in good fa ith;but they certain ly know not wha t they a re ra iling at. I n theirsimplicity they take for gran ted tha t wha tever is prin ted, sermonized, and speechified aga in st Ca tholic religious must be true, wherea s, if they would but approa ch the figure which like timid birdsthey have been led to fear, like thousands of converts they woulddiscover to their confusion tha t it is only a hideous dummy or sca recrow ; a nd they would laugh at themselves ever a fter for havingbeen so gullible a s to believe it to have been anything else.
There are others far more culpable because they ca nnot be ingood fa ith. They proudly style themselves
“libera l” Ca tholics, (see
vol. ii, Appendix I) tha t is to say,such a s w ith a ll their might
strive to do wha t St. Paul cautions Christians not to do : (Rom. xii,
2 .
“Nolite con forma ti huic adapt themselves to the wild
62 0 Missions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
notion s of the world in religious ma tters. They, on the con trary,
yield one poin t of Fa ith a fter another in order to be a greeable to
those whose company, esteem, business, sa tisfa ction , etc. , they desire, in short, because it is profitable. Thus they a re in the positionof the un fa ithful bank ca shier who disposes of the funds en trustedto him not in accorda nce with the in terests of his employers , butfor his own profit. On this cla ss of con temptible crea tures we ha venothing to add to the following quotation from the
“Register-Extension ,” Toron to, Canada : “We have never yet met a Ca tholic‘libera l’ who did not wan t the Church curbed in some way or an
other. The Church, from his standpoin t, enjoys too much liberty,and he himself not enough. Where the
‘
libera ls’ a re numerous
enough to have things their own way, the first thing they begindoing is to rob the Church of her property, which merely goes toshow tha t a Ca tholic ‘
liberal’ at bottom is one who wa n ts to see a
libera l in terpreta tion given to the comma ndmen t, “Thou sha lt not
stea l.” This is corrobora ted by the action of M in ister Ca na lejas
of Spa in atthe presen t day. He is just prepa ring an onslaughtuponreligious Orders — After the preceding note had been sen t to the
prin ter, the en emy of law- abiding religious wa s sudden ly rushed tomeet his Eterna l Judge by an ana rchist. Ca n a leja s wa n ted foreignborn monks a nd nun s ba rred out of Spa in . It would have beenw ise if he had ben t his energies on ameliora ting the condition of
the working cla sses, a nd on excluding revolutionary elemen ts. The
monks and nuns whom he sought to oppress on ly pity him.
L a Bula de la Santa Cruzfida .
(To Page
The Bula Cruzada,Bulla Cruciata e, or Bull of the Crusa des, wa s
a Papa l documen t con ta in ing privileges, indults, a nd fa vors gra n tedto the Kings of Spa in to a id them in ca rrying on the wa rs aga instthe Moslem, a nd la ter for the promotion of Div ine Worship a nd
works of piety and benevolence w ithin the domin ion of the Span ishCrown .
It was ca lled Cruzada , because it con ta in ed privileges simila r to
those bestowed upon the soldiers in the expeditions for the recoveryof the Holy La nd . These expeditions were styled Cruzadas (Crusades) , a nd the soldiers were termed Cruzados (Crusaders) , a n ame
derived from the red or purple cross which, a s a ma rk of their holypurpose, they wore sewed upon the right shoulder.
62 2 Missions and Missionaries of California
The chief poin t to bea r in mind is tha t the Pa pa l Bulls were
granted not in favor of the Church, a s ha s been a sserted by dealersin fiction , but to the Span ish Kings. Hence the money wa s col
lected by roya l ofi cia ls, in Ca liforn ia by a milita ry person design ated by the governor. The missiona ries or priests had nothing todo w ith the collection or the money collected. This wen t in to the
roya l treasury. With the end of the Spa n ish domina tion in America
the privileges of the Bula de la Cruzada likew ise cea sed. No more
certifica tes of this kin d were issued a fter the Mexica n independence.
On accoun t of the grea t dista nces of some Spa n ish provinces, a sin Cal iforn ia , the certifica tes or “Bulls” were issued every two years.
We herew ith reproduce the text of such a“Bull” for the two yea rs
of 1 818- 1819.
LA BULA DE LA SANTA CRUZADA.
For the Years 18 16 -1 81 9.
Wherea s our Most Holy Fa ther, Pius VII ., by means of his
Brief da ted Rome June 1 4th, 1805, (addressed exclus ively to our
predecessor the Commissa ry-Genera l of the Cruzada ) ha s deign ed toextend for n ine yea rs the Apostolic Indult so tha t a ll the fa ithful ofboth sexes, a nd of either the secular or ecclesia stica l sta te, whoreside in these domin ions and islands, may eat wholesome desh
mea ts, eggs, and other an ima l food (but observ ing the fas t) on
Len ten days a nd other days of abstinence during the yea r, with theexception of those to be men tioned below , which privilege a ccordingto the tenor of the Edict of our predecessor of December 4th,began to be en joyed in these domin ions with the two years’ term of
18 10- 181 1 , and con sequen tly expiring in the year 1818 ; and by mean s
of another Brief issued a lso at Rome on March 20th, 181 5, (likewiseaddressed to us, as Commissa ry-Genera l of the Crusades.) the
same Holy Fa ther wa s plea sed to extend for the next ten yea rs
only the sa id Indult, the first of which yea rs in these domin ion s isthe one of 1 819, at the same time decla ring tha t in this Indult arenot included the Religious who are obliged by their vow to the
perpetua l use of Len ten food; therefore you N . N ., who have con
tributed the a lms of two silver rei leo, which we have orda ined invirtue of the Apostolic Authority conceded to us through sa id Briefof our Most Holy Fa ther Pius VII ., you who receive this Summa rywe dispense so tha t you may eat wholesome fleshmeat, eggs, a nd
other an imal food on Len ten days and other days of abstinence forthe next term of two yea rs, 1818- 1819, w ith the exception only of
Ash-Wednesday, the Fridays of each week in Len t, Wednesday,Thursday, Friday, a nd Sa turday in Holy Week, the Vigils of the
Na tivi ty of our Lord Jesus Christ, of Pen tecost, of the Assumption
Appendix
of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, and of the Blessed ApostlesPeter and Paul, w ith this wa rn ing tha t in order to use this priv ilegeyou must have the Bula de la San ta Cruzada ( i. e. Certifica te) , and,moreover, if, being an ecclesiastic obliged to Len ten food, you havecompleted the sixtieth yea r. Given at Madrid, Ja nua ry l st, 181 7.
Don Fra ncisco Yafiez Bahamonde.
”(Origina l in “Archbishop’s
Archives,” no.
(To Pages 1 70,
The Inquisition concerned Ca liforn ia but slightly. Like a ll Spa nish provinces, the territory had its Commissary of the Holy Office,or Inquisitor. The appoin tmen t to the oflice wa s first thrust uponFr. Fermin Fra ncisco de L a suen , the presiden te of the missions, bythe Commissary-Genera l of the Inquisition in Mexico under da teof October 1 5th, 1795. Therea fter the presiden tes a s vica rs to the
bishop a lso held the position of Inquisitor. The va rious decreeswere sen t to him from Mexico, and he would forwa rd them to the
Fa thers who performed cha pla in duties at the four presidios and
the towns of L os Angeles and San José, for such edicts afleeted
only white people ; the Indians were exempt. Further than tha tFr. L a suén a nd his successors had occa sion to exercise their ofliceon ly by confiscating books and other prin ted ma tter which were
heretica l, immora l, and subversive of law and order. Thus, for instance, the works of the un speakable Volta ire were confisca ted at
Mon terey. Governor Borica (“Ca l. Prov . Rec. vi, 279) onJune l st, 1 798, a lso gave orders to closely examine certa in Frenchbooks which a French pilot tried to smuggle in to the coun try. The
laudable object was to preserve the territory from contamina tion .
He eviden tly held tha t unwholesome menta l food might be as dis
a strous for the mind and heart as certa in poisonous drugs or pla n tsare for the body. Despite the dia tribe of Hittell a nd his kind, thiswa s nothing more than wha t the Un ited Sta tes Governmen t is prscticing when it closes the ma ils to indecen t and scurrilous books andperiodica ls, or to swindling schemes.
Though the Inquisition touched Ca liforn ia so little, itis well to helpthe readers, who have no access to works tha t trea t the subjecthonestly, to a clear idea about this institution ,
in v iew of the w idespread misa pprehension en terta ined by even ao-ca lled educa ted people who have permitted themselves to be victimized ; for history on
62 4. Missions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
this ma tter w ill have to be rewritten in order to brin g it within the
lines of truth.
The popula r idea a ssocia tes w ith the Inquisition a huge bonfireround which Span ish kings, bishops, nobles , a nd even la dies a ssem
bled like so ma ny cann iba ls, to behold a number of poor wretchesroa sting a nd broiling. All these en joyed the execution of heretics
w ith a s much plea sure a s they would a bull-fight! This is wha t ha sbeen told, pictured, and passed a round a s Auto-de-Fé ever sin cewe ca n remember. The truth is, a n Auto-de-Fé (Actof Fa ith) consisted neither in burn ing nor putting to dea th, not necessa rily ; butpa rtly in the acquitta l of those who had been fa lsely a ccused, andpartly in the reconcilia tion to the Church of those who repen ted.
Then a lso it wa s simply a solemn“Sermon , which the heretics.
a nd those found guilty of va rious crimes, a bout to be condemned
had to a ttend, before being delivered to the secula r authority .
Hence the dea th pen a lty wa s not a lways inflicted at these solemn i
ties, which were in tended to impress the imagination of the people.
Thus seven out of eighteen Autos-de-Fé presided over by the famous Inquis itor, Berna rd Gui, decreed no severer pena lty tha n
imprisonmen t. Even H . C. L ea , the la test non - Ca tholic writer on
the Inquisition (quoted by Va canda rd, “The Inquisition ,
” Englishby B . L . Conwa y, C. S . P ., p. is forced to acknowledge :“The stake con sumed compa ra tively few victims
”(i. e. heretics) .
As to the Inquisition itself, the bogy of non - Ca tholics , it wa sa court of inquiry established by the Pope at the urgen t requestof King Ferdinand a nd Queen Isabella of Spa in for the purpose of
ferreting out heretics a nd such Jews and Moors a s pretended to
be Christia ns, whilst they secretly con tinued their a llegia nce to
their belief and planned the overthrow of the Christian power or
governmen t. Neither Jews nor Moors were molested for theirbelief on ly. Heresy, on the other hand, wa s a ga in st the law of the
Sta te and regarded a s trea son , for it wa s a rgued tha t whoever isa tra itor to God’s Church would likewise be a tra itor to the governmen t or the Sta te. Besides heresy, however, va rious crimes came
under the jurisdiction of the Inquisition , such a s witchcra ft, sor
cery, astrology, superstition , bla sphemy, and sacrilege.
Those who were found guilty a fter a close examina tion , if stubborn , were delivered to the secula r authori ty for pun ishment. In
many respects, therefore, the Inquisition corresponded to our
Grand Juries. Like them, its duty wa s to make a secret inquirya s to the guilt or innocen ce of the a ccused . In the prelimina ryexamina tion , in order to obta in a con fession of guilt, if possible,the inquisitors pursued the custom un iversa l at tha t time, and whichcorresponds w ith the methods employed by the police in our day
and coun try under the name of“swea ting process,” or the torture
of the cruel“third degree.
” Instead of the exquisite and“refined
”
62 6 Missions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
now appea red, wa s con trary to the decrees of the holy Fa thers a nd
the genera l practice of the Church. (Hefele,“Ca rdina l Ximenez,”
La ter on , the Inquisition became an“in stitution for the ah
solutism of the king ” (Hefele, ibidem) , and wa s therefore not at
a ll a tribuna l for whose acts the Church ca n be held responsible,
even though ecclesias tics con tinued at the head . The reader, whow ill but examine Appendix G in the preceding volume, will understand how absolutely in the power of the Spa n ish king lay the
Church, and how much more be con trolled the ecclesias tics of
the Inquisition whom he himself a ppoin ted. Itwa s very soon pra etica lly a purely roya l court, wha tever itwa s in the beginn in g.
This is the view taken a lso by the non - Catholic historian LeopoldVon Ranke. (
“Ottoman and Span ish Empires,” pp. 78-79. Edition
Philadelphia , 1 845, quoted in Tra ct Fifteen ,
“Society of the Holy
Spirit,” New Orlea n s.)“I n the first pla ce," the historian says,
“the inquisitors were roya l officers . The kings had the right of
appoin ting and dismissing them. The courts of the Inquisition were subject, like other magistra tes, to roya l visitors.
‘Do you know ,
’
sa id the king (to Ximenez) , ‘ tha t if this tribunalpossesses jurisdiction , it is from the king it derives it ?’ (Ca rdinalX imenez died November 8th,“I n the second pla ce, a ll the profits of the confiscation s by the
court accrued to the king. These were ca rried out in a very nuspa ring man ner. Though the fueron (priv ileges) of Ara g6n forbadethe king to confisca te the property of his conv icted subjects, bedeemed himself exa lted above the law in ma tters perta in ing to
this court. The proceeds of these confisca tions formed a
sort of regular income for the roya l exchequer. It wa s even be
lieved and a sserted from the beginn ing tha t the kings had beenmoved to establish and coun tena nce this tribuna l more by theirhankering a fter the wea lth it confisca ted than by motives of piety.
“I n the third place, it wa s the Inquisition , and the Inquisition
a lone, tha t completely shut out a ll extra neous in terference withthe Sta te. The sovereign now had at his disposa l a tribun a l fromwhich no grandee, no a rchbishop, could withdraw himself. As
Charles knew no other means of bringing certa in pun ishmen t onthe bishops, who had taken part in the insurrection of the Comun idades, (or commun ities tha t were struggling for their rights and
liberties) he chose to have them judged by the Inquisition .
“It was, in spirit and tendency, a politica l institution . The P0pe
had an in terest in thwa rting it, a nd he did so ; but the king had a n
in terest in constan tly upholding it.”Hence the a ttempts to fa sten the a cts of the Spa n ish Inquisition
upon the Popes and the Ca tholic Church, in the fa ce of historica ltruth, must be rega rded a s fa ilures. With rega rd to the pena ltiesimposed by the Inquisition , truth likewise compels us to say tha t
Appendix
they were in keeping w ith the spirit and usa ges of the times, andnot more cruel than those inflicted in other parts of Europe forsimila r crimes. This is notmean t a s an excuse ; for we abhor tortures of any kind no ma tter by whom or for wha t committed ; buton ly in order to expose the utter ignorance or ma lignan t hypocrisy of those who everlastingly poin t to the Spa n ish Inquisitiona s the embodimen t of everything cruel and frightful. Frenziedmobs in our day, in the very hea rt of these en lightened Un itedSta tes, have frequen tly perpetra ted bruta lities which exceed a ny
thing tha t the most severe Span ish in quisitor is sa id to ha ve beenguilty of. The sanctimon ious Puri tan s in New England ha ve lefton record samples of merciless ba rba rities a ga inst reputed witches,aga inst Quakers, priests, a nd dissiden ts, which would shame the
savages whom they have hounded and butchered out of existence.
Whenever there is question a s to where in Christendom the worstbruta lities have occurred in the name of Religion or loya lty to thegovernmen t, those who a ccuse the Span ish Inquisition simply barkup the wrong tree. The stigma should be placed where it belongs.
As most of these cha rges origina te with English a nd some America n authors, it is but right to invite them to look up the recordsof their own ancestors. The embodimen t of a ll tha t is savage,un just, and merciless, if truth be their a im they w ill discover inHenry VII I . and Elizabeth of England, for 1nstance.
I n the a cts of these two rulers they will discover everything of
which they charge the Span ish Inquisition : the ra ck, stake, dungeon s, confisca tion of property, and worse for refusing to acknowl
edge the lewd King Henry or his fema le facsimile Elizabeth as
successor of St . Peter and head of the Church of Christ !“The follow ing,” says Linga rd, (“H istory of Engla nd, vol. viii,
Appendix, Note E) “were the kinds of torture chiefly employed inthe Tower.
“1 . The ra ck, which wa s a la rge open frame of oak, ra ised three
feet from the ground . The prisoner wa s la id under it, on his back,on the floor ; his wrists and ankles were a ttached by cords to two
rollers at the ends of the frame ; these were moved by levers inopposite direction s till the body rose to the level with the frame.
Questions were then put; and, if the an swers did not prove sa tisfa ctory, the sufferer wa s stretched more and more till the bonessta rted from their sockets .
“2 . The scavenger’s daughter so-ca lled, wa s a broad hoop of
iron , consisting of two pa rts, fa stened to each other by a hinge.
The prisoner was made to kneel on the pavement, and to con tracthimself in to a s sma ll a compa ss a s he could. Then the execu
tia ner, kneeling on his shoulders and having in troduced the hoopunder his legs, compressed the victim close together, till he wa sable to fasten the extremities over the sma ll of the ba ck. The time
62 8 M issions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
a llotted to this kind of torture wa s an hour and a ha lf, durin g
which time it common ly ha ppened tha t from the excess of com
pression the blood started from the nostrils ; sometimes, it wa sbelieved, from the extremities of the hands and feet.
3 . Iron gaun tlets, which could be contracted by the a id of a
screw . They served to compress the wrists, a nd to suspend theprisoner in the a ir, from two dista n t poin ts of a beam. He was
placed on three pieces of wood, piled one on the other, which,
when his hands had been made fa st, were successively withdrawnfrom under his feet. ‘ I felt,’ says F. Gera ld, one of the sufferers,‘
the chief pa in in my brea st, belly, arms, and hands. I thoughttha t a ll the blood in my body had run in to my a rms, and began
to burst out atmy finger ends. This was a mistake ; butthe arms
swelled, till the ga un tlets were buried within my flesh. After
being thus suspended an hour, I fain ted ; and when I came to myself, I found the executioners supporting me in their arms. They
replaced the pieces of wood under my feet ; but a s soon as I was
recovered, removed them aga in. Thus I con tinued ha nging forthe spa ce of five hours, during which I fa in ted eight or n ine times.
‘
“4. A fourth kind of torture wa s a cell ca lled ‘
little ea se.
’It
wa s of so sma ll dimensions, and so constructed, tha t the prisonercould neither sta nd, wa lk, sit, nor lie in it at full length. H e was
compelled to draw himself up in a squa tting posture, and so re
ma ined during severa l days.
”
One would thin k tha t under the rule of gen tle woma n such tor
tures would have been imposs ible. Not so under Henry’s daughter.
Speaking of the bloody sta tute aga inst Catholics Hallam says :“This sta tute exposed the Ca tholic priesthood, and in grea t mea sure the la ity, to the con tinua l risk of martyrdom. It is
worthy to be repea tedly inculca ted on the reader, since so fa lse a
color ha s been often employed to disguise the ecclesia stical tyrann yof this reign , tha t the most cla ndestine exercise of the Romish"(Hallam must be excused for the n ick-name. He wa s not friendlyto the Ca tholic Church) “worship wa s severely pun ished.The rack seldom stood idle in the tower for a ll the latter pa rt ofElizabeth’s reign . Such excessive severities, under the pretext of treason , but susta ined by very little evidence of any otheroflense than the exercise of the Ca tholic ministry, excited indignation throughout a grea t part of Europe.
"
(“Constitutiona l His
tory, 87-95, a s quoted by Spa lding, “H istory of the Reformation,
”
vol. ii,
The kind of execution to which the priests in particula r were
condemned, wa s no less bruta l to the v ictims than shocking to thespecta tors. For diabolica l inhuman ity it surpa sses the atrocities
of the human sa crifices of Mexico at the time of Cortes . I n en
630 Missions and Missiona ries of California
superficia l closet-historian s, and sensa tiona l maga zine writers se
cured a shadow of justifica tion for the robbery which they dubbed“secula riza tion .
”How well they succeeded may be in ferred from
the follow ing quota tion from the v icious “San Fra ncisco Anna ls,"published by Frank Soule, John H . Gihon , M . D., a nd James Nisbetin 1854.
“I n every sen se of the word these monks were pra ctica lly the
sovereign rulers of Ca liforn ia— passing laws aflecting noton ly property, but even life and dea th— declaring peace and wa r again st theirIndia n neighbors— regula ting, receiving, and spending the fin a ncesat discretion— a nd, in a ddition , draw ing la rge a nnua l subsidies not
on ly from the pious among the fa ithful over a ll Christendom , but
even from the Span ish mona rchy itself, a lmost a s a tribute to their
being a superior sta te. This surely wa s the golden age of the
mission s— a con ten ted, pea ceful, believing people, a bunda n t w ea lthfor a ll their wan ts, despotic will, and no responsibility but their
own con sciences and heaven ! Their horn was filled to overflow
ing .
”(67
How little this agrees w ith the truth, nay, how it is at va ria nce
w ith truth in every particular, the a ttentive rea der of this volume
knows. I f he turn s to another work published thirty years a fter
the“Anna ls,” he will find the same absurdities rela ted with addi
tiona l unwarran ted bruta lities, and reta iled a s sober historica l fa cts,we mean Hittell
’s cha pters on the miss ionaries.
Now says Mofra a correctly : (“Explora tion Du Territoire De
L’
Oregon , Des Ca liforn ica, etDe la Mer Vermille,” vol. ii, 3 3 5-447.
The author visited Ca liforn ia in “It wa s the fundamental
law of the Spa n ish mission establishmen ts tha t the product of thelabor and of the soil itself belonged to the Indians . The religious
were on ly the admin istra tors a nd directors. The sacred principle :Pater est tutor ad bona I ndorum, obta ined a strict interpreta tion ,
a nd the Superiors wa tched closely tha t the missiona ries took not
more from the revenues tha n wa s strictly needed for food a nd
clothing. The Fra nciscan s observed the vow of poverty and could
not possess anything in their own n ame.
”
Under such a system of un sa la ried and abstemious managers, themission Indians in time, besides being selfsupporting, might ha vebecome exceedingly wea lthy. Wha t of it ? The property wa s a c
cumula ted on India n soil by Indians under w ise and lawful gua rdians. The jea lous and covetous Ca liforn ian s so-ca lled might a lsohave grown rich, had they been industrious and sav ing instead of
gambling a nd w a sting their days in vice-breeding idleness. At a nyra te, the mission property wa s Indian property, a nd should ha vebeen regarded a s sacred and inviolable just a s much so a s other
priva te property is held to be inviolable and sacred to the owners.
We still see very sma ll tribes of Indians under the gua rdia nship of
Appendix
the Un ited Sta tes Governmen t in possession of much la rger tractsof land than any Ca liforn ian mission ever cla imed, and enjoyingthe revenues of la rge amoun ts of money held in trust for them bythe Un ited Sta tes authorities. Nevertheless, no one in his sen ses
now thinks of depriving such Indians of wha t is considered theirsunder such pretext a s the Ca liforn ians held forth in order to obta incon trol of Indian mission property and enjoy the fruits of Indianindustry andmissiona ry prudence, abstemiousness and unselfishness.
However, a ccumula tion of wea lth at the Ca liforn ia missions wa srendered impossible a fter 181 1 , when , in addition to ma in ta in ingthemselves, the Indians and their guardians had to sla ve in order tokeep in food and clothing and idleness the milita ry of the whole
territory, a s is ev iden t from the na rra tive in this volume. I f
Echeandia and the un scrupulous Ca liforn ians, nevertheless, con
tinned to cla im tha t the missiona ries were ama ssing riches forthemselves, this wa s on ly for the purpose sta ted at the beginn ing.
L et us take a glance at some of these cha rges, which even the
honest Mofra s wa s led to believe, in order to expose their utterabsurdity from the officia l records . This for the presen t w ill besuflicient to characterize the men who endeavored to concea l theirselfish aims behind such wild a ssertions.
A word on Bancroft in this connection which shows the utterduplicity of tha t historian . I n the
“H istory of Ca liforn ia” the
author disdained to utilize the follow ing sta temen ts and figures , butin his
“Pastora l” (cha pter vi) , which is his “very own
”work, a s
the reader will remember from the In troduction to the precedingvolume, Ba ncroft repea ts them a lbeit with this caution : “Peoplea re apt to tell a nd believe grea t stories about money. La rge sums
in specie have been reported a s existing at the missions, especia llyat San Gabriel, but such sta tements should be taken with a llow
ance. Where wa s the money to come from ? Most of the tran saction s w ith merchan ts were in exchange of goods . Therefore, letit be understood tha t when I give the amoun t of specie at a mis
sion , I on ly repea t from the record, but w ithout fully believing itmyself !” Bancroft knows very well tha t n either the missionnor the governmen t records con ta in any such sta temen ts . He takesthem bodily from a Rev . Wa lter Colton , Protestan t preacher, whoafter the a rriva l of the Un ited Sta tes troops held the oflice of
a lca lde or magistra te at Mon terey from 1846- 1848, and la ter published Three Yea rs in Ca liforn ia ,” the la st chapter of which con
ta ins these revela tion s 0) about the riches of the“
missions.
Whence he culled the a ssertions it is difficult to say w ith certa in ty ;but, since he dedica tes his book to Gen . Mariano Guada lupeVa llejo,” the suspicion tha t this Muenchhausen of Ca liforn ia deceived the simple-minded preacher seems to be well founded .
Beginn ing with San Diego M ission Moiras wa s deceived in to
63 2 Missions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
writing tha t at the height of its prosperity it had ca ttle,
sheep, and 1 500horses ; whereas the correct figures a re 9245
hea d of ca ttle, sheep, and 1 190horses. Colton has no figureson this mission .
For San Luis Rey Colton cla ims ca ttle, sheep, and2000horses in 182 6. The correct oficia l numbers a re for tha t year
ca ttle, sheep, and 1 3 65 horses . Mofra a for 183 4 givesca ttle and sheep. There a re no records for that
yea r, but in 1 83 2 Sa n Luis Rey possessed eattle and but
sheep. See Appendix J for report of 183 2 .
On San Jua n Capistrano Colton rema ined ignoran t, but Mofraais w ild w ith 7O,O(D ca ttle, 2000 horses, a nd sheep ; wherea sthe highest numbers a re ca ttle, 1 3 55 horses, and sheep.
San Gabriel w ith Mofra s ha s 1051 1 10 ca ttle, sheep, and
horses ! Colton wa s told tha t in the miss ion hadca ttle, sheep, 4200 horses , a nd 4G) mules. According to the
oflicia l reports to the governmen t and the College it possessed insomewha t less, tha t is to say, ca ttle, 1 510) sheep, 2 000
horses a nd 1 50mules.
Sa n Fern ando M ission in according to Colton , own ed
ca ttle, 64010 sheep, horses, 200mules, and 2 ,(K)0 sw ine. The
Fa thers certa in ly kn ew , a s well a s the governor, but they reportedfor tha t yea r just ca ttle, sheep, 780horses, 70mules, and100 sw ine. Nor did the la rgest number in a ny yea r exceedca ttle and 10,0(X) sheep. This is not a ll. Colton gravely in forms us
tha t in 182 6 it had “in its stores about in mercha ndise and
in ca sh. Nay,
“the hills, at the foot of which this miss ion
sta nds, have, w ithin the la st ten years ( i . e. before producedcon siderable qua n tities of gold . One house exported aboutof it. This wa s the first gold discovered in Ca liforn ia , and the discovery wa s ma de three or four yea rs previous to tha t on the America n Fork.
”All of which is news, but a ccounts for the cra zy belief
among the Mexican s tha t the Fa thers possessed gold mines. Coltonadds the marvelous rema rk, “The marvel is the sea rch for it did notextend furtherl” Nay, the ma rvel is tha t such a story could bepa ssed around . The Fa thers knew of no gold at Sa n Fern an do or
at any other mission . As to the ca sh at the mission ,it may be
sa fely asserted tha t there wa s not tha t amoun t in whole Ca liforn ia .
It may be doubted tha t this mission then possessed a s much a s
$900. At a ny ra te, San Fernando M ission on ly four yea rs ea rlier,182 2 , could con tribute but one ba rrel of gra pe brandy, which wa s
sold for the benefit of the L os Angeles church building, now the“Pla za Church.
”How during four yea rs in ca sh could ha ve
been saved, w ith the soldiers ever clamoring for food and clothing ,
expla in who will.San Buenaven tura Mission , according to Colton , in possessed
634 Missions and Missionaries of California
gives Fr. Luis Ma rtinez (who wa s ba n ished in 1 830) headof grown ca ttle, tame horses, ma res, mules, eightsheep- fa rms, averaging sheep to each farm.
”The ofi cia l
records of the mission know nothing of such figures . The highestnumber reported at a ny time wa s ca ttle, sheep, a nd
horses of a ll kinds. The veracious Colton asserts furthertha t, “when its presiding priest, Fr. Luis Ma rtinez, returned to
Spa in he took w ith him of mission property l” This must
be ca lled the limit of gullibility and credulity. See for the truthchapters xv ii and xviii, section i, this volume.
San Miguel M ission in 1 834, a ccording to Mofra a , ownedca ttle, sheep, a nd horses. The officia l reports for 1834a re not extan t ; but in 183 2 they ga ve the mission just headof ca ttle, sheep, and 700 horses. After tha t herds and flocksdecrea sed, so tha t Mofraa must have been led in to error. Colton.
however, was hoaxed in to writing tha t San M iguel in 1 82 1 possessedca ttle, 2 51 1 ) mules, tame horses, ma res, and
sheep. The exact figures a re: head of ca ttle,sheep, horses of a ll kinds, and on ly 61 mules . See fa csimile
report at the end of this volume.
Sa n An ton io M ission , Mofras tells us, in 1834 had ca ttle,horses, and sheep. I n 183 2 the officia l report ga ve this
mission ca ttle, sheep, and 700horses. I n two years thesecould not have increa sed ma teria lly, ra ther a decrea se must beexpected under the circumsta nces. The gullible Colton generouslygran ted San An ton io for the yea r 182 2 as many as eattle,
tame horses, ma res, 500 yoke of working-oxen , 6m mules,sheep, a nd sw ine. The oflicia l reports find on ly 59m
ca ttle, sheep, 884 horses , 45 mules, and 80 swine in the yea r
1 822 .
Soledad Mission in 1834 receives from Mofras ca ttle.horses, a nd sheep. The exa ct figures a s reported
for tha t yea r a re ca ttle, sheep, and 1 38 horses.
Colton , on the other ha nd, writes this piece of nonsense aboutCa liforn ia ’s poorest miss ion for the yea r 1 82 6 : “Soleda d, in I“.
owned about hea d of ca ttle, and a grea ter number of
horses a nd ma res tha n any other mission in the coun try. The
increa se of these a n ima ls wa s sa id to be so grea t, that theywere given away to preserve the pa stura ge for ca ttle and sheep.
This mission had about 70,0(X) sheep and 300 yoke of oxen .
”For
tha t same yea r, 1826, the officia l report, however, ha s ca ttle.horses of a ll kinds, sheep, and 52 mules.
San Ca rlos M ission , stra nge to say, according to Mofras in 1834
had ca ttle, horses, a nd sheep. The inven toriesa nd the officia l reports know nothing of such herds at any period.
I n tha t year the mission owned 3 1 2 ca ttle, 491 horses, and 9 mules.
Appendix
Other items are not reported, a sign tha t there wa s nothing to
report. Colton surpa sses himself on San Ca rlos.
“This mission ,
”
he writes, “in 1 82 5 branded ca lves, had head of ca ttle,horses and ma res, 3 65 yoke of oxen , n ine sheep- fa rms w ith
an average of about 61 1 10 sheep on ea ch, a la rge a ssortmen t ofmerchandise, a nd is specie, which w a s buried on the reportof a pira tica l cruiser on the coa st.” Fa n cy the Mon terey pa isanochiefs knowing tha t there w ere locked up in the mission coffers
"
in cash! It is not likely tha t the Fa thers in 1825 had on
ha nd $400 w ith which to meet the curren t expen ses. However,a ccording to the officia l report in tha t yea r there belonged to thismission on ly ca ttle, 570 horses and ma res, 1 8 mules, 10 goa ts,1 9 sw ine, and sheep. The Montereya ns hoaxed the Rev .
Preacher’ a nd a lca lde most unmercifully.
M ission Sa n Jua n Bautista in 183 4 is given ca ttle,horses, and sheep by Mofra s . The officia l report of tha t yea ris missing, but at the beginn ing of 183 3 the mission possessed61 1 1 1 ca ttle, 61 1 14 sheep, and 296 horses. Colton , a s usua l is veryspecific.
rHe says : “I n it owned head of ca ttle,
tame horses, ma res, colts and fillies. It had a lso seven
sheep- fa rms, con ta in ing sheep, while the India n s a tta ched tothe mission drove 3 2 1 yoke of oxen . I ts storehouse con ta ined
in goods , and in specie.
” Imagine the governor not
far away and know ing in ca sh lying a round at San JuanBautista while his soldiers wa lked about in rags for the la st eightyea rs ! According to the honest reports of the mission a ries thismission possessed in just ca ttle, sheep, and 675
horses.
Sa n ta Cruz M ission , one of the poorer establishmen ts, in 1834
according to Mofra s had 8000 ca ttle, sheep, and 800 horses.
The fact is, a ccording to the officia l report the miss ion at the be
ginn ing of 183 3 owned but ca ttle, 52 1 1 sheep, and 400 horses.
No increa se took pla ce. Colton wa s certa in tha t “so la tely a s 1 830,Sa n ta Cruz had head of ca ttle, 3 2 10horses and mares,sheep, 200mules, large herds of sw ine, a nd worth of silverpla te.
” Wha t the poor friars wan ted to do with a ll tha t silverpla te, Colton forgot to say. The officia l report for 1830 has thesefigures : ca ttle, 276 horses, sheep, 107 mules, and no swinewha tever. It had no swine to report sin ce the year 1819. The
inven tories know nothing of silver pla te, save a cha lice or two and
other minor church a rticles.
San ta Clara M ission stock in 1834 is somewha t less erroneouslysta ted by Mofra s, a s ca ttle, 1 200horses, sheep. I n 183 2
it had a ccording to the officia l report ca ttle, 9500 sheep and
730horses. Colton , however, keeps at it in this fashion : “I n 1 82 3
Sa nta Cla ra Mission branded, a s the increa se of one year,
63 6 Missions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
ca lves ! It owned hea d of full-grown ca ttle, 407 yoke of
working-oxen, sh‘
eep, 1890 tra ined horses, 42 3 5 mares, 725mules, 10& hogs, a nd in goods !” This a ll is news, indeed ;for the officia l reports have told a diflerent story concern ing theyea r 1 82 3 , a nd it wa s the sa in tly Fr. Ca ta la who coun tersign ed them.
It then possessed 6050ca ttle including the ca lves (the highest numher a t any time wa s in sheep (highest number
in 760horses of a ll kinds, 20mules, a nd only 20 hogsor sw ine. The stock of goods in the storehouse doubtless is also
exa ggera ted . For ten yea rs the mission had been a iding the troopsw ith difficulty, so tha t the Indians could sca rcely be provided withwha t wa s necessary.
San Jose M ission , says Mofra s, in 1 834 possessed cattle,1 1& horses, and sheep. This is sca rcely possible, for in 1832the oflicia l report, the la st extan t, gave the mission ca ttle,
sheep, though a s many a s 1 3& horses. Colton , however,
finds tha t “in 1825 this mission had Indian s, head of
ca ttle, 840 tame horses, 1 500ma res, 420mules , 3 10 yoke of oxen,
and sheep. The oflicia l report, on the other hand, for tha tyea r ha s 1 796 India n s (highest number 1 886 in ca ttle,650 horses and ma res, 28 mules, a nd sheep.Mission San Francisco in 183 4, a ccording to Moira s, had 501 1
ca ttle, 6& horses, and 40& sheep. This w a s probably true, for in1 83 2 the report ha s 50& ca ttle, 3 5& sheep, but horses. Coltonkeeps on improving the situa tion in this way : “
I n this mission is sa id to have possessed head of ca ttle, 950tame horses ,20& breeding ma res, 84 stud of choice breed (as though the poorfria rs had engaged in horse-ra cing) , & 0mules, sheep , 2 000hogs, 456 yoke of working-oxen , bushels of whea t a nd ba rley, in mercha ndise, a nd in specie!” It is a mysterywhere these sta temen ts origina ted, for there is nothing in ofi cia l
documen ts to warran t them. L et a lone the cash and the merchan
dise, the former of which especia lly is a myth, the figures fora re a s follows : 3 3 3 1 head of ca ttle, 287 horses of a ll kinds, 2 2mules, 4034 sheep, no hogs wha tever, about 1 5& bushels of wheat
a nd barley.Sa n Ra fa el M ission , says Moira s, at on e time had ca ttle, 5&
horses, a nd 45& sheep. Colton is silen t. The oflicia l reports havethese figures : La rgest number of ca ttle, 2 1 20, in 183 2 ; la rgest flockof sheep, head, in 182 2 ; la rgest herd of horses, 454, in 1 825;the la rgest whea t crop, 2458 bushels, in 1822 .
Sa n Francisco Solano M ission , the la st one, at some time a ccord
ing to Mofra s possessed ca ttle, 7& horses, and 4G!) sheep.
This is nea rly correct except as to the ca ttle. The largest number
63 8 Missions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
L and Grants in California .
(To Pages 386,
As soon as the territory of Ca liforn ia w as occupied by Spa in in1769 (we follow Bancroft, i, 607-608, in the ma in ) , the absolute titleto the la nd vested in the king. No indiv idua l ownership of lands,but on ly usufructua ry titles of va rious grades, existed in Ca liforn iaduring Span ish times. The king, however, wa s actua lly in posses
sion of on ly the ground on which the presidios stood and of such
adjoin ing lands a s were needed in connection w ith the roya l service.
The natives were recogn ized as the owners, under the king, of all
the territory needed for their subsistence ; butthe civilizing processto which they were to be subjected would grea tly reduce the area
from tha t occupied in their savage sta te ; and thus there wa s no
prospective lega l hindrance to the establishmen t of Spa n ish settlements. The genera l laws of Spa in , indeed, provided for such establishments of white people, and the a ssignmen t to ea ch town of
lands to the exten t of four square leagues, but a lways withoutprejudice to the rights of the Indian s, and therefore fa r enough
away from either India n missions or pa ga n rancherias.
Mea nwhile the missiona ries prepa red their neophyte India ns to
take possession a s indiv idua ls of the la nds they now held in com
mon or a s commun ities. Indeed the fria rs frequen tly a dvert tothis ultima te a im of their temporal labors, though the progress wa sso slow tha t no time could be fixed for its a ccomplishment. Whenthis sta ge of the civilizing process ha d been reached, and the mission s had become regula rly organ ized Indian town s govern ed byofficia ls of their own choice a nd race, the church buildings and
a ppurtenances would by right become the property of the Churchunder the Spa n ish law a s they were in fact from the founda tion of
the mission s, secula r priests would take the places of the fria r
priests, and the la tter would move on to new spiritua l conquestsamong savages elsewhere, in order to pa ss through the same proc
ess with the same purpose. Four square leagues of land wa s thea rea to be a ssign ed under ordina ry circumsta nces to ea ch of such
civilized Indian pueblos, just a s wa s the ca se wi th white settlemen ts. The rema inder of the land owned and cultiva ted by the
la te mission , a s much a s needed, would be held in common for
agriculture a nd stock- ra ising as before, and the surplus wa s open towhite settlers. The mission wa s then secula rized in the true sense
of the word, and in a ccorda nce w ith the Span ish law s and custom.
Tha t the Spa n ish laws fully recogn ized the rights of the India nsto the soil and jea lously protected the Indians aga in st a ll encroachc
Appendix
men ts upon their la nds, may be ga thered from the follow ing prov isions con ta ined in the
“RecOpila cion de Leyes de la s Indias” or
Collection of the Laws of the Indies. Book iv , title 1 2 , law 9,
reads : “We comma nd tha t the residences and lands which may
be gra n ted to the Spa n ia rds sha ll be so given a s not to prejudicethe Indians, and tha t those which have been gra n ted to their prejudice and in jury sha ll be returned to those to whom they lawfullybelong.
”
L aw 1 8 of the same book and title is in pa rt a s follows : We
order tha t the sa le, gran t and adjustmen t of la nds be made withsuch care tha t the Indian s may be left with even more than thosetra cts which belong to them, both a s individuals a nd commun ities.
”
L aw 10, title 1 7, of the same book, furthermore directs : “L et not
our judges a llow stock to be pla ced on fa rm lands of the Indian s,and let them cause to be removed those tha t may be there, a nd
let them impose a nd execute heavy pen a lties a ga inst those viola tingthis provision .
”(See for a protest of the College of Sa n Fernando
aga in st a v iola tion of these laws vol. ii, pp. 51 7-518, this work.
See a lso Ca se of Ha rt vs . Burn ett, Land Titles in Sa n Fran cisco,
Notes 1 8:Ma levolen t writers, who merely repea t the slanders of the covet
ous pa isano chiefs, charge tha t the missiona ries “cla imed a ll the
land, extending their possessions from one extremity of the territory to the other, making the bounds of one mission form those of
another, and fighting every gran t made to an individua l. Thisa ccusa tion is of a piece with another which a sserts tha t the
Fa thers discouraged ma rriages of Span ia rds w ith Indian girls.
The an swer to one w ill suflice to disprove the other. Ha ving at
hea rt the tempora l a s well a s the etern a l welfare of the Indians,the missiona ries na tura lly sought to sa fegua rd both. Hence theycould not rema in indifferen t with regard to the cha ra cter of thosewho desired to squa t or to settle in the n eighborhood of the mis
sion establishmen ts . People of qua lity to-day, even the very criticsand traducers of the friars, do not admit in to their society or in totheir neighborhood every on e w ithout distinction , nor w ill theya llow their children to a ssocia te w ith the ill-bred or vicious. Whydo not critics exercise, we sha ll not say charity, but a little judgmen t and common sense, and in the ca se of Ca tholic missionariesa pply the rules by which they themselves w ish to be judged ? Whydo they not put themselves in the place of the missiona ries, andexamine a ll the circumstances?The missiona ries in Ca liforn ia , it w ill be remembered, underSpan ish law stood to their Indian converts “in loco pa ren tis,” tha tis to say, they held the pos ition , and were burdened w ith the re
spon sibility, of pa ren ts. They were the gua rdia ns a nd stewa rds of
640 Missions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
the la nds a nd property of the Indians. As such, and in order to
a ccomplish the purpose of Christia n iza tion a nd civ ilization , the
fria rs had to preven t encroachmen ts upon the property of the I n
dian s and a s far a s possible preserve their neophyte wa rds fromcon tamina tion . Hence it wa s tha t the fria rs strenuously, and justlyso, objected to the gran ting of a ny Indian la nd to a ny one ; and
they especia lly objected to the gra nting of land nea r India n settlemen ts to vicious and idle adven turers, whether such land belongedto the missions, and con sequen tly to the neophytes, or not. Be
yond this the objection did not proceed, a nd so fa r it had to go inaccorda nce w ith the Span ish laws a s quoted before. Outside the
mission boundaries there lay plen ty of uncultiva ted la nds which
might be gran ted and were gran ted to those who a pplied for themunder the laws of Spa in, for Spa in had laws for the coloniza tionof bon a fide settlers a s well a s the Un ited Sta tes. Nay, even land
belonging to the mission s, and con sequen tly to the India ns (notto the missiona ries a s unjust critics pra te, for the fria rs did not
cla im nor could they cla im a n inch of ground for themselves) , wasgran ted to those who were en titled to such a gran t for havingma rried India n mission girls, a nd the miss iona ries did not object.or if they objected it wa s on mora l grounds. Indeed the very firstgra n t of land, Indian la nd, to a white man wa s effected by Fr.
Jun ipero Serra a s fa r back a s the yea r 1 775. Though i t may ap
pea r tedious reading, we herewith presen t the Expediente, tha t isto say the collection of a ll the papers concern ing the ca se, of the
first priva te lan d gra n t in Upper Ca liforn ia . (See Dwinelle,“Ad
denda ” No. LXXXV.)“To Coma ndan te Don Fernando Rivera - I , Manuel Butron , a
soldier of the a rmy, at your feet ea rnestly supplica te tha t you maybe plea sed to gra n t me my discha rge, and permit me to rema in inthis M ission , giving me tha t which H is Ma jesty a llows to everysettler. I would a lso represen t tha t the Rev . M issiona ry Fa thers inthe name of the India n s ( 1 being married to Ma rga rita , a daughterof the M ission ) , ha ve a ssigned to me, a nd to a ll my descendants,a piece of land perta in ing to sa id M iss ion , of the length and
breadth of 140 va ra s, in the form of a perfect squa re, where at
presen t I have corn pla n ted, commencing the mea suremen t at thefirst corner, a nd follow ing the sides un til the squa re is com
pleted, under the condition of not being able to a liena te it fromthe possession of my sa id descendan ts, or the children of the Mis
sion , to which it must revert, in default of heirs, to me or my w ife,join tly, or separa tely, by reason of the dea th of one of the two.
The M issiona ry Fa thers, in the name of sa id Indian s, likewiseagree tha t you, in the n ame of the King, our Sovereign , may give
me the possession tha t is requisite and necessa ry. I a lso hOpe that
642 Missions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
pla n ted at this time, in order tha t sa id family and the descenda n tsthereof may possess the same in a ccorda nce w ith the Roya l Orders :tha t they sha ll not be able to sell
,dona te, or a liena te the same to
others beyond the chi ldren or descenda nts of sa id M ission . Wherefore, so fa r a s we a re concern ed in the ma tter, you ca n , in the name
of Roya l Justice, give the desired possession ; this is not to be reckoued or included in the a llotmen t of the Roya l Doma in tha t theSupreme Authority may determine to make to simila r families of
settlers, among which to you and to the other Officia ls of the King,our Sovereign , we recommend this family a s being the first in a ll
these establishmen ts which ha s chosen to become a perma nen tsettler of the same ; a circumstance which ha s a lso influenced us ina ssign ing him a place so commodious and conven ien tly situa teda s tha t which w e have a llotted to him . I trust tha t you may con
tinne in the en joymen t of perfect hea lth, and tha t you will com
ma nd me in wha tever I can serve you. Pray, in the mea n time, tha tGod may extend to me the blessing of H is Divin e Gra ce. M issionSa n Carlos, November 22 nd, 1775. Fr. Jun ipero Serra .
”
“The free con sen t of the Rev . M ission a ry Fa thers hav ing been
shown ,I order tha t the proceedings con tinue ; thus I provided,
ordered, and sign ed, with those of my a ssistan ce.
Fernando de Rivera y Mon ca da .
Hermenegi ldo Sa l.Anton io Joseph Pa tron .
“Mon terey, November 2 7th, 1775. For the conclusion of theseproceedings, I wen t to-day to the M ission of Ca rmelo, a nd withthe a ssista n ce of the Rev . Fa ther Fr. Junipero Serra , Presiden te of
the M issions, and of the party in terested, Ma nuel Butron , the Cor
pora l .Hermen egildo Sa l a nd my own , there were mea sured the 140va ra s squa re of la nd, runn ing the lines from north to south, a nd
from ea st to west, and placing a stake at ea ch corner, a nd the
in terested party being in formed as to the ma nner of esta blishingbounda ries, I retired ; lea ving the sa id Ma nuel Butron and his wife,
Ma rga rita Ma ria , a nd their descenda n ts in Roya l a nd legitima tepossession of the sa id 140 va ra s squa re of la nd, in which a ct Ihave proceeded by virtue of the authority con ferred on me the
1 7th of August, 1 773 , by H is Excellency, Sefior Don An ton ioBuca reli y Ursua Viceroy, Governor and Ca pta in -Genera l of thisKingdom. It bemg understood a s applicable, not a lone to thiscla ss of person s, but a lso to the na tives of the coun try. Not
being in possession of a copy of the ‘Recopila cion ,
’ I ha ve solicitedthe Rev . Fa thers for the same to serve me a s a guide in these
ma tters, but ha ve fa iled to obta in it.” (The Fa thers at tha t timehad no copy ; but la ter it is evidence in disputes with subsequen tofficia ls.)
“Wherefore I supplica te the Justices of His Ma jesty
Appendix 643
tha t may succeed me tha t they may hold and recogn ize, for a ll
time this possession a s legitima te a nd va lid, a nd tha t they may
con srder a s expressed a ll the forma lities and requisites tha t the lawsprovide. I n order tha t it may now a nd forever herea fter have itsdue va lidity, force, and strength, I sign it w ith two w itnesses, w ithwhom I a ct, for wa n t of a Roya l Public Nota ry, and on this ordina rypaper, for wan t of tha t which bea rs sea l. I n witness thereof,
Ferna ndo de Rivera y Moncada .
Hermenegildo Sa l.An ton io Joseph Pa tron .
On the other ha nd, the missionaries, like the w a tchful gua rdiansthey were, would ma n ifest their solicitude for their wa rds by objecting to la nd gran ts when such concession s were not in a ccorda ncewith the in ten t of the roya l law s
,tha t is to say, when they en
croa ched on the rights and the welfa re of the India n s, whetherpaga n s or n eophytes. A ca se in poin t, which became somewha tnotorious, wa s the applica tion , the second on record, of Fran ciscoCayuela s, a retired corpora l, who had ma rried a n I ndia n neophyte.
It is well to follow the documen ta ry evidence, a s is our custom.
It ha v ing been determined,” writes Governor Pedro Fages to
Fr. Presiden te Fermin de La saen ,July 1 3 th, 1 790, “by the superior
authority, ( i. e. Uga rte, the Coma ndan te-Genera l) , to aw a rd a lot
a nd la nds to Corpora l Fra ncisco Cayuela s, retired , w ithin the
bounda ries of M ission Sa n Luis Obispo, w ithout prejudice to the
India n s, in v irtue of the right possessed by his w ife a s neophyteof sa id M ission , in con formity with the in struction given me for
tha t purpose a nd for other ca ses of the same na ture tha t maya rise ; a nd,
in a smuch a s it seems to me tha t the site ca lled San taMa rga rita is suitable for settling this individua l a s well a s others inhis circumsta nces, because the cation a nd the moun ta in pa ss tha t liebetween w ill preven t the damage tha t might otherw ise be doneto both sides by ca ttle, I ha ve notified the Rev . Fr. M iguel Giribetof it, and to Your Reverence I commun ica te it for your properin forma tion , a nd tha t at a conven ien t time I w ill give orders tha tthe superior ordinan ces be executed.
”
According to the law in such ca ses the la nd must not be neededby the mission , a nd the mission a ry a s gua rdia n of the neophytesof the respective mission ,
had to give his con sen t. Fages over
looked this essen tia l forma lity, and selected a nd conceded n eophyte.
land w ithout a s much a s con sulting the missiona ry. Wha t Fr.
Giribet’
s a ction wa s, we do not know ; but Fr. Pres idente L a suen ,
a s Superior of a ll the mission s, at once in terposed his objection ,
as w ill be seen from the follow ing curta iled reply of July 26th.
The letter of Your Honor of the 1 3 th instan t surely isnot in tended to obta in my consen t, ina smuch a s the ma tter ha s
644 Missions and Missiona ries of Ca lifornia
a lready been decided . I n ca se, however, tha t my consen t wereneeded, I could not give it. I f Your Honor commun ica tes thisto me on ly tha t I should be in formed, I understa nd ; but if it betha t I should express my Opin ion ,
it is a s follow s. As soon a s
Cayuela s had ma rried the sa id neophyte, which ha ppened very
soon a fter she wa s baptized, he took her out of tha t commun ity,a nd made her en tirely independen t of tha t M ission a nd of the
guida nce of its mission a ries . ( I n so doing she severed her con
nection with the mission , a nd thus forfeited her rights, if indeedshe had a ny, for being but a new - comer. ) H e took her away and
sepa ra ted her from con tributing in the lea st to the benefit a ndutility of the la nd. Hence
,those who ha ve deserved well of the
mission , a nd ha ve given their serv ices a long wi th their submiss ionand con tinua l labor in favor of the common good, will be wrongedthrough sa id gran t and their descendan ts a fter them, when at some
day there w ill be question of distributing those la nds, (“cua n doa lgun dia se trate de repa rtirles la s tierra s. Thus the Fa thersa lways looked forwa rd to the distribution of the la nd in severa lty
to the own ers) , which at the cost of indescribable ha rdships the
India n s made productive a nd profitable for ra tiona l society, so
much so tha t those who a re converted a nd those who sha ll be
converted may be able to subsist with comfort on the common
property while living together a s n eophytes at the mission , a nd
a fterwa rds in due time, when each receiv es his sha re from whichthey may make their liv ing a nd ma nage their own a ffa irs a s PuebloIndia n s. Nothing of this ha s been observed by Cayuela s .
“Moreover, Schor, M ission Sa n Luis Obispo is utilizing the pla ceca lled Sa n ta Marga rita for ma ny purposes
,one of which is the ra is
ing and herding of sw ine.
Furthermore at this pla ce there is a ra n cheria of pa ga n India n s ,many of whose members a re Christia n s at sa id Mission .
“It is a lso to he rema rked tha t the long dista nce a nd bad roa dsfrom sa id mission to sa id pla ce w ill pla ce Cayuela s a s well a s
those who with him wa n t to take possession of such la nd in da nger,a nd in ca se of mishap the missiona ries w ill be put to in tolera bleha rdship a ttending such settlers. I pa ss over for the presen t thelikelihood tha t the pla ce may become a bawdry a nd a haun t forboth neophytes a nd vicious paga n s w ith pern icious results .
”
Fr. L a suén closed his lengthy represen ta tion by telling the govcruor tha t he would submit to the a ction of the governmen t, butwould report the ma tter to the College of Sa n Ferna ndo , whichof course would presen t Fr. L a suén
’
s a rgumen ts to the viceroy.
It seems the viceroy thereupon revoked the gran t ; at a ll events
San Luis Obispo M ission reta in ed possess ion of the Sa n ta Ma r
ga rita district down to the time of the confiscation .
It is unnecessa ry to dwell further on the practice of the mis
M issions and M issiona ries of California
made in or about 1 795, one to Pa tricio Javier Pico a nd M iguel Picofor a stretch of la nd ca lled Sa n José de Gracia or Simi, con ta in ingnea rly a cres in Ven tura Coun ty, a nd one to Jose Da rioArgiiello for an indefin ite tra ct of land known a s El Pili r on the
ocean coa st between Poin t San Pedro a nd Poin t Aho Nnevo. (SeeHittell, ii, 748 ; Ba ncroft, i, 609 In 1802 Viceroy Ma rquinaconceded to Ma ria no Ca stro L a s An ima s or Sitio de la Brea in
San ta Clara Coun ty. It comprised a cres of land ! I n the
same yea r Governor Arrillaga gra n ted upwa rds of acres of
the Pa ra je de Sa n tiago in wha t is L os Angeles Coun ty to An ton ioYorba a nd others in confirma tion of a previous gra n t imperfectlymade in 1801 . I n 18 1 3 Governor Arrillaga gra n ted to José Ortegaand others the tract ca lled Nuestra Sefiora del Refugio or RefugioRa ncho consisting of six squa re lea gues on the Sa n ta Barba raCha nnel in Sa n ta Barba ra Coun ty. About 18 14 Governor JoséDa rio Arguello a llowed An ton io Ma ria Lugo to take up
a cres in L os Angeles Coun ty. The loca lity was ca lled San An ton io.
Between 1 817 a nd Governor 5012 made severa l gran ts. One
wa s to Jua n José Dominguez for over acres . This stretch,
known a s Sa n Pedro, wa s in L os Angeles Coun ty. Another gran tw a s to Igna cio Va llejo a nd others for two squa re leagues ca lledBolsa de San Cayeta no in Sa n ta Ba rba ra Coun ty. An ton io Ma riaCa stro received some a cres at Vega del Rio del Paja ro in
Mon terey Coun ty. Luis Pera lta came in for about eleven squa relea gues ca lled Sa n An ton io in Alameda Coun ty. Fina lly JoséH iguera obta in ed about acres ca lled L os Tula rcitos in Sa ntaCla ra Coun ty. (See H ittell, i i, It will be observed tha t thesegran ts da te from Span ish times, before the Mexican independen ce.
Wha t happened under Mexica n rule will be reserved for the loca lhistory of ea ch mission .
Comandan te-Genera l Ja cobo Uga rte in 1 786 authorized gran tingtra cts not to exceed three leagues, four lea gues awa y from any
existing pueblo, and a lways w ithout prejudice to the missions or
India n ran cheria s . Governor Borica , writing to the viceroy in
1795, did not favor such gra n ts . It would be difficult, he sa id, totell wha t la nds the mission s rea lly n eeded, since converts were
con sta n tly coming in ; troubles between the owners of ranchos a nd
ra ncheria Indian s would lead to excesses a nd w a r ; the an ima ls of
settlers would do in jury to the food- supply of the gentiles ; and the
ra n cheros or white settlers would be fa r removed from spiritua lca re a nd from judicia l superv ision . Borica had some experien cein the ma tter ; for in 1 795 there were about sixteen ranchos in the
region s of L os Angeles and Mon terey held prov isiona lly by abouttwen ty men . (See Ba ncroft, i, 6 1 1Enough. It is pla in the cha rge tha t the Fa thers or Padres
cla imed a ll the la nd from one extremity of the territory to the
Appendix 647
other, a nd tha t they made the bounds of one mission form those of
a nother in order to exclude a ny white settlers, must proceed fromw ilful ign orance or from un rea son ing bigotry.
L as Memoria s or I nvoice of Goods Annua lly Forwa rded to Each
M ission. (Sample L ist.)(T0 Pages 74 and
From the con ten ts of this Memoria for M ission Santa Ba rba rafor the yea r 1 804 the reader w ill understa nd how eagerly bothmission a ries a nd India ns must have looked for the a rriva l of thevessel from Sa n Bla s . The feeling w a s akin to the expecta tionsof our presen t day children for the Fea st of Christma s. When a fter1 8 1 1 these goods ceased to come a nd the neophytes had to be
con ten t w ith wha t could be ra ised or manufactured at the mis
s ion s, we ca n ima gine the wistful coun tena nces of the India nsa nd the hea rta che of the mission a ries w ith whose stipends and
w ith the dra fts received for mission products sold to the soldiersa nd others the goods had been procured . The fria rs genera llyindica ted the a rticles they desired . These were then purchasedby the college procura tor, cha rged up to the respective missiona nd pa id w ith the sa id stipends from the Pious Fund or w ith draftson the roya l trea sury. The invoice w ith the price of ea ch a rticlea n nexed wa s tra nsmitted to the missiona ry in charge. Here follow sa sample list.
I n the first place I book $403 and 7 reales,
tran smitted to this miss ion la st yea r by DonEsteba n La zca no 403
3 Ordos (prin ted directories) sen t by ma il inJuly 1
1 ba rrel of gra pe wine for holy Ma ss 34
1 ba rrel of refined brandy 34
4 a rroba s of fine chocola te (a rroba 2 5 3 6
4 a rroba s superfine chocola te 48
4 a rroba s ordina ry chocola te 19
2 a rroba s of prepa red wax 59
648 M issions and M ission a ries of Californ ia
1 a rroba of a n ise3 bottles of table oil
2 bolts of blue flann el
8 bolts of wide ca lico1 bolt of striped ca lico1 bolt of pure white brama n te ( lin en )2 pieces of w ide Fren ch linen1 bolt of Queréta ro cloth .
2 ha bits, cords, 2 cow ls , a nd 3 tun ics1 2 lbs. of wicks . .
1 2 lbs. of tw ine or string1 8 ordina ry1 2 gross of Rosa ries and 2 gross of crosses
1 2 bundles of toba cco1 ca n of snuff
1 ream of fine pa per8 fine China ha ndkerchiefs6 pieces of tape1 gross of fire- crackers1 gross of run n ing fire or serpen ts , 4 wheels .
6 dozen of ca rretilla s (probably another speciesof fireworks)
10dollars worth of soap .
24 bundles of blue gla ss beads2 silver candlesticks for St. Joseph1 ca rved sta tue of St. Micha el, 6 span s high .
1 simila r sta tue of the Angel Gua rdia n1 ba ss drum1 bandola (musica l in strumen t)1 set of strings for v iolin and guita r .
8 ounces of sa ffron
1 2 pa ir of scissors for the dressmakers2 lbs. violet ochre, 2 lbs . yellow ochre, and 2
lbs . red ochre
8 ounces of vermillion3 bottles of linseed oil2 lbs . of Isis oin tmen t2 lbs. yellow oin tmen t a nd 2 lbs. of ma llow .
1 lb. of oin tmen t for hern ia2 lbs . of ba lsam .
2 lbs. of verdigris .
1 2 lbs. of v iper- root
650 M issions and Missionaries of California
Credit
Pesos
1 5 bundles of lea ther ba gs at 6 rea les . . 1 1
1 8 bundles of pa ck- cloth, ropes, ma ts, bags, etc . 2 7
Cha rges of $2 10 a nd 2 rea les for the freightfor 140 a rroba s a nd 4 lbs ., the weight of thegoods for this M ission , at 1 2 rea les the
arroba 2 10 2
Credit of $75 a nd 2 rea les due from the a c
coun t of la st yea r . 75 6
Credit for $3& received la st yea r by DonEsteba n La zcano from the missionCredit for $141 1 , 5% rea les, received in favor
of this mission by Don Raymundo Ca rrillo on
December 3 l st, 141 1 556Paymen t of the stipend from the Pious Fundfor the two missiona ries, due September 3oth,1804
$2 661 5 2 587 3 562587 3 56
Ba la nce 74 1 54
As shown on the ma rgin this mission owes $74, NA rea les. I n
testimony of which I sign it here at San Fern ando de Mexico, on
Februa ry 2 1 st, 1805. Fr. Thomas de la Pei'ta .
”
Two Sandwich I sla nd Exiles, Victim of Bigotry.
(To Pages 478 and
It wa s on Ja nua ry l t, 1 83 2 , tha t the brigWaverly, Ca pta in William Sumner, from Honolulu, Sandw ich Isla nds, en tered the desola teBay of Sa n Pedro, a nchored, and landed two pa ssengers on the
ba rren strand w ith but two bottles of wa ter and one biscuit. Here,
more tha n thirty miles from a ny habita tion , save a sma ll but two
leagues away, the unfortun a te men pa ssed a sleepless n ight. An
India n , who next morn ing happened to stroll a long in sea rch of
shells, discovered them, a nd notified the missiona ry of San Ga briel.
Appendix 65 I
The Fa ther welcomed a s brothers the two stra ngers who turnedout to be the Very Rev . J . A. Ba chelot, prefect a postolic of the
Sa ndwich Isla nds, a nd Rev . Pa trick Short. Both priests were
members of the Congrega tion of the Sa cred Hea rts of Jesus and
Ma ry, or Picpus Fa thers. I n 182 7 they had been sen t from Fran ceto prea ch the Gospel to the na tives in the Sandw ich Islands. Un
fortuna tely for their work , in 1 820 some bitterly hostile Ca lv in isticpreachers from New England had preceded them. These America n
Signa ture of Very Rev . Alejo Ba chelot.
preachers had ingra tia ted themselves w ith the na tive King Ka shuamanu, who at their instiga tion ordered the two priests to be banished.
Fr. Narciso Duran , the v ica rio fora neo of the bishop for Ca liforn ia , gladly permitted them to exercise the min istry in the territory .
Very Rev . Ba chelot wa s sta tioned at L os Angeles, and Rev . P.
Short soon came up to Mon terey, where in compa ny w ith Ha rtnellhe conducted a school. The two priests labored in ha rmony withthe Fra ncisca n s un til April 183 7, when , to the regret of the fria rsand the people, both sa iled away in the English brig Clementinein order on ce more to try to secure a foothold in the Sa ndwichIsla nds. The Rev . Robert Wa lsh of the same Society of Picpus
had a rrived at Honolulu on September 30th, 183 6. As a Britishsubject the a uthorities da red not deport him, but he wa s not a l
lowed to prea ch to the n a tives . When the two Fa thers came fromCa liforn ia they were ha rassed a nd ill- trea ted un til they resolved todepa rt. Rev . Short on October 3oth, 183 7, depa rted for Va lpa ra iso.
Signa ture of R ev . Patrick Short.
A Rev . Ma igret of the same Society rea ched the ha rbor of Honolulu on November 2 nd, 183 7, but he wa s not permitted to set footon la nd . With Rev . Ba chelothe therefore purcha sed the Honolulu,
652 M issions and Missiona ries of Ca lifornia
a sma ll old vessel of thirty- n ine ton s. Rev . Ba chelot, ema cia teda nd his reason impa ired, wa s a ssisted to emba rk on November 2 3 rd.
The ship sa iled immedia tely, and eleven days la ter the noble missiona ry and victim of sen seless bigotry brea thed his la st. “
The
power and gra ce of God have hitherto preserved us from thesera ven ing wolves," unctuously wrote one of the so- ca lled Christia nprea chers to his New Engla nd employers . As ra ven ing wolves theycerta in ly did treat,the poor priests. The body of Rev . Ba chelot
wa s ha ppily preserved a nd given buria l on Ascension Isla nd. An
humble monumen t ma rked the grave. After freedom of worship in1 83 9 had been forced from the deluded king by Ca pta in La pla ceof the Fren ch friga te L ’
Artemise, Rev . Ma igret a nd other PicpusFa thers returned to the Sa ndwich Islands, where the Rev . Ma igretbecame vica r apostolic. (
“H istory of the Ca tholic Religion in the
Sa ndw ich Isla nds, 182 9 Reprin ted at San Fra ncisco in July1897. M ofra s, ii, 293 - 295; Mission Records of San Gabriel, L osAngeles, a nd Mon terey ; Bancroft, iii, 3 1 7
654. M issions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
Alleged Wanton Slaughter of M ission Cattle.
To Page
I n the mea n time, w ith the energy born of despa ir, ea ger at any
cost to outwit those who sought to profit by their ruin , the mis
sion fa thers ha stened to destroy tha t which through more thanha lf a cen tury thousands of human beings had spent their lives toa ccumula te. Hitherto ca ttle had been killed on ly a s their mea t wa sneeded for use, or, at in terva ls, perha ps, for the hides a nd ta llow
a lone, when an overplus of stock rendered such a ction necessa ry.Now they were slaughtered in herds by con tra ct on equa l sha res
w ith a ny on e who would underta ke the ta sk. It is cla imed by somewriters tha t not less than head of ca ttle were thus sla in fromthe herds of San Gabriel a lone. The same work of destruction wasin progress at every other mission throughout the territory, a nd
this va st coun try from end to end, wa s become a mighty shambles ,drenched in blood a nd reeking w ith the odor of decaying ca rca sses.
”
No, dea r reader, this is no pa rt of a spread- eagle campa ign speech.
I t is taken from page 68 of “Southern Ca liforn ia " a nd page 99 of
the“Cen tra l Coa st,” both having a s sub- title “Historica l and Bio
graphica l Record, by Prof. J . M . Guinn , A. M ., Author of A H istory of L os Angeles a nd Vicin ity, H istory of Southern Ca liforn ia ,Secreta ry a nd Cura tor of the Historica l Society of Southern Ca liforn is , Member of the America n Historica l Association , Wa shin gton ,D. C.
”One should think tha t a ll these titles would in sure
aga in st— well, let us put it mildly— erroneous sta temen ts, the moreso a s the author in his prefa ce w rites : “
I n na rra ting the story of
Ca liforn ia , I have endeavored to dea l justly w ith the differen t era sand episodes of its history ; to sta te facts ; to tell the truth w ithoutfavoritism or prejudice ; to give credit where credit is due and
blame where it is deserved . I n the prepa ra tion of this history Iha ve tried to make it readable.
”L et us see.
The first- n amed work is a bulky tome weighing eleven poundsand con ta in ing 1 295 roya l qua rto pa ges. On eighty-five pages theauthor essays to give a history of Ca liforn ia and the mission s ;eighty- eight pages a re devoted to the loca l history of the southerncoun ties, and on 1089 a ll those a re canon ized a live who con tributedatthe ra te of $2 5 per page. As the dead missiona ries found no one
to adva nce tha t amoun t or a ny pa rt of it, they could, of course,
not expect to receive the ha lo at the hands of the biogra phica lsketcher who just tells the truth “
without prejudice.
”The gen era l
history con ta in ed in the second a nd sma ller work is but a duplica te of the first, a s fa r a s the missiona ries are concerned.
Appendix 655
The author says he tried to make the book readable, tha tmea ns he threw in enough fiction to gra tify the most imagina tiveromancer. At a ll even ts, the pa ragraph quoted from his a llegedhistory rega rding the wan ton destruction of property and slaughterof ca ttle by the miss ion Fa thers is pure fiction . This may be
proved by his own sta temen t a s found on page 47 of the eleven
pounder and on page 58 of the sma ller work . There he says :“The number of ca ttle belonging to Sa n Gabriel in 1830wa sTha t is nea rly true, for the exact figures in the ofiicia l return s a re
hea d . At the close of 1 829 there were or w ithin1 300 of the highest number ever own ed by tha t mission , i . e.
I n 1 83 1 the mission possessed a decrea se of 3 000 from the
prev ious yea r. I n 1 83 2 , the la st of which there exist ofiicia l re
turn s, there were a decrea se of 4000. It will be observedtha t since 1828 the herds steadily decrea sed . This may be ac
coun ted for by the slaughter for weekly con sumption which re
quired between fifty a nd s ixty hea d a week, by the theft of ca ttleon the pa rt of sa vages , and by destruction through w ild bea sts .
The ca relessness of the stea dily decrea sing mission India ns doubtless a lso wa s cause of much loss of stock. At any ra te, how could
ca ttle be slaughtered at San Gabriel a lone when tha t mission n ever owned more tha n on e- fourth tha t number in a ny one
yea r? N ay,in 183 2 the twen ty-one mission s of Ca liforn ia to
gether possessed on ly head of ca ttle, a nd the number wa sstill dw indling because there wa s at ea ch mission on ly one mis
siona ry who had grown feeble with age a nd ha rdships, and who
through the ma china tion s of the mission en emies no more en joyedfull con trol of the neophytes so a s to keep the esta tes in repa ira nd the herds in condition . Indeed the tw en ty-one mission s to
gether n ever owned more tha n head of ca ttle in any one
yea r, a nd tha t wa s in 182 8. How then in the yea r of the a llegedwa n ton slaughter, 1 834, could be killed atone mission a lone ?
This explodes the a ssertion of Guinn tha t Ca liforn ia from one
end to the other was become a mighty shambles, etc.
” We mighthave expected a s much ; for when we found him, three chaptersback, expa tia ting on “
the sha ckles of creed a nd the fetters of priestcra ft,” we were conv inced tha t this writer “
w ithout prejudice”knew not wha t he wa s ta lking about, a nd yet had not w isdomenough to hide his ignora nce by keeping silen t. A religion w ithout creed is a rithmetic w ithout the multiplica tion table, a nd a re
ligion w ithout clergy or priests is a school w ithout a tea cher.
One is a s cra zy a condition a s the other. Ha ving been a publicschool teacher the author “
without prejudice” will be able to ap
preciate tha t much. Wicked boys, of course, ha ve no love for
the conscien tious teacher, not any more tha n w icked adults ha vefor the law and its represen ta tives. People of sen se, however,
656 Missions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
leave ra iling at tea chers and laws a nd courts to the vicious. Bythis time Guinn w ill ha ve learn ed wha t “priestcra ft ” is. He kn ewnot before. It is sta ting the truth a nd exposing falsehood. Of
any other priestcra ft we know nothing.
Guinn does notmen tion his authorities, but we fa ncy H ittell tobe one of them. By mean s of some juggling, or let us say throughmisundersta nding, he somehow managed to rea ch the 100,1l l0 at
on e mission a lone. H ittell writes : “The missions a t the begin
n ing of 1 834 con ta ined upwards of 30,(l )0 neophytes ; they had up
wa rds of ca ttle, over horses and mules, and over
sheep, goa ts , a nd hogs. ( ii, p. We ha ve the ofi cia l
returns before us a nd they read for the close of 183 2 a s follows
neophytes, ca ttle, horses a nd mules,sheep. After this da te Indian s and herds decrea sed. “
I n
says K ittell, “the missions slaughtered about ca ttle,” (sonot at one mission a lone, a s Guinn dreams) “a bout tw ice as manya s usua l.
” This too is fiction . Nevertheless we sha ll a llow thesecloset historia ns to kill off in addition the grazing in theirfertile imagina tion so a s to come down to the rea lity, ca ttlein existence at the mission s in 1 83 2 , a nd a llow tha t to be the im
probable number in 1 834. We sha ll now examine wha t ha ppened inrea lity at the time of the grand slaughter.
" Happily we can tra cethe source of these stories . They origin a ted w ith An ton io M .
Osio, P io Pico, J. M . E studillo, Jr. , a nd Juan Ba ndin i, a ll, sa ve
Estudillo Jr. , members of the gang tha t engin eered the confisca
tion of the mission s, con sequen tly bitter enemies of the missiona ries , a nd of whose writings Ba ncroft (iv ,
762 ) a ffirms tha t “noneof them, nor a ll combin ed, would be a sa fe guide in the absen ceof the origina l records .
”For a wonder Mariano Va llejo a nd J . B.
Alva rado a re en tirely silen t on the subject, which of itself is ex
cellent proof tha t no extraordina ry slaughter took pla ce, at lea st
not in the mission s of the north. An ton io M . Osio in the notes w ri tten for Ba ncroft says : “It is notmy in ten tion to put a ny blem ishon the conduct of those Rev . Fa thers when I rela te no more tha nthe fa cts, concern ing which if a ny proofs a re a sked the first on ewould be the gen era l dissa tisfa ction ; and the second an order fromthe Fr. Prefecto to the Fa ther of M ission Sa n Luis Obispo, in
which he told him to see how he could destroy the property of
the mission a s quickly a s possible (una orden del Prefec to a l
Padre de la M ision de San Luis Obispo, en que le decia viera
como podia destr uir los in tereses de la Mis ion lo ma s brev e pos ible) , a nd tha t the India n s should have the benefit of i t . The
Fa ther con sidered the ma tter for severa l days, a nd fin a lly, believing tha t he had hit the ma rk of his Prela te’s w ishes, he ma de a
purcha se exceeding the va lue of in fine goods of cotton ,
woolen , a nd silken cloths, which he distributed among his n eo
658 Missions and Missionaries of Ca lifornia
Bandin i’
s charge, then , is of no va lue un til he names the missiona nd the time.
Estudillo Jr. , Bancroft writes, tells us tha t a fter a time nothingbut hides wa s saved. Some head were killed at the Sa n
Ja cin to ra nch of Sa n Luis Rey.
” Since E studillo fa ils to in formus a s to who ordered the slaughter or in wha t yea r it took place,a nd who performed the ta sk, his a ssertion is nothing but ba lda ssertion , and therefore worthless .
Fin a lly there is Pio Pico, the chief of the pa isa no con spiratorsa ga in st the mission s a nd mission a ries.
“I n he cla ims, “I
wa s working at the Ra ncho Sa n José of M ission Sa n Luis Reyslaughtering ca ttle for ha lf sha res w ith the mission . My con tra ctw ith the Fa thers had n o limits. I wa s to kill a s ma ny head of
ca ttle a s I could, but to turn over one- ha lf of the hides. I broughtten cowboys and thirty India n s on foot from the mission s of Sa n
Luis Rey a nd Sa n Diego with more tha n 300 horses . I firstslaughtered 2 500 head at the Coyotes rancho. Then I moved overto tha t of San José rancho a nd killed about the same number.
”
Pico is not specific. It is difficult to see which mission herds hemean s. However, we sha ll suppose the ca ttle he killed belonged to San Luis Rey, a s seems to be the ca se. These with the
SM ) Osio cla ims were killed at Sa n Gabriel amoun t to head,
which is fa r from the Kittell a nd his copyists let the Fa therskill in one yea r. It is true tha t Pico a dds the rema rk:
“These
slaughters were done by con tra ct a nd they were genera l at the
mission s of the south for the rea son tha t it had come to the hea r
ing of the Fa thers tha t the governmen t wa s thinking of secula rizing the missions. At some of these in the south they not on ly
killed ca ttle in va st numbers, but they destroyed the v ineya rdswhich formerly they had cultiva ted w ith the grea test ca re.
”(Pico’
s
Notes, Ba ncroft Collection . )The mission enemies themselves do not furn ish evidence that a n
unusua l number of ca ttle were killed in any mission outside of
San Gabriel and San Luis Rey, and even at these two mission stogether Pico and his fellow con spira tors cannot prove a la rger
number tha n and in the killing of one-ha lf of these Picohimself was particeps crimin is (partner in the crime) and ben e
ficia ry, if there wa s any fault in the transa ction at a ll. With re
ga rd to the wa nton destruction of v ineyards for the motive a lleged,it is too absurd to refute ; but it will be refuted presen tly, nevertheless.
The mission enemies profess to find some proof in the a ction of
the legisla tiv e a ssembly which in June 1834 forbade the slaughter
of ca ttle except in the usua l quan tities, and by members of the con»
mun ity. The notorious a ssembly, which a lso passed the act of con
fisca tion ,la ter directed Gov . Figueroa to address the following noti
Appendix
fication to Fr. Na rciso Duran , presiden te of the Fernandinos, and toFr. Ga rcia Diego, prefect of the Zacateca n Fa thers : “
The grea tslaughter of ca ttle tha t has been done in va rious mission s, and thedestructive ma nner in which it has been performed to the publicsca nda l, ha s a ttra cted the a tten tion of the Illustrious Territoria lDeputa tion . Desirous of preven ting so much wa ste, a nd makinguse of its jurisdiction , it ha s resolved on the 1 2 th of the presen tmon th as follows :
1 . The unusued tra cts of mission lands sha ll be distributeda ccording to the laws of coloniza tion .
“2 . The Hon . Governor sha ll suspend the extensive slaughter of
ca ttle which is bein g ca rried on at the mission s, and he shall per
mit it on ly when informed of the urgen t n ecessity.
“3 . I n ca se it is permitted, it is forbidden to the Rev . Fa thers
to order the slaughter to be done through pe0p1e who do not be
long to the commun ity.
“By order of the sa id Deputa tion I commun ica te this to YourReveren ces in order tha t it may have its fulfillmen t at the missionsunder your cha rge with the rema rk tha t under this da te I com
mun icate this order directly to the mission a ries of San Luis Rey,
San Gabriel, a nd Purisima so tha t they may suspend the slaughterthey a re ca rrying on now . Mon terey, June 16th, (
“Ca l
Dep. St. Pap. , L os Angeles, Off . Cor. p. 1 3 3 ; Records,Clerk’s Office, Sa n ta Cruz Coun ty, Book A ; Bancroft Collection ,
Archives of Sa n ta Cruz, pp. 10- 1 1 , Un iversity, Berkeley.)
Without delay Fr. Vicen te Pa scua l Oliva of Sa n Luis Rey repliedunder da te of July 2 nd, 1834, a s follow s :
“I n respon se to the officia l
note, which Your Honor ha s been plea sed to direct to me underda te of June 1 6th of the curren t yea r, I ca nnot do less tha n presen tto Your Honor the follow ing facts : This mission was in grea tn eed of clothing, and not hav ing a ny other mea n s of covering thedebts con tra cted w ith va rious ships, the mission ava iled itself of
the slaughter of ca ttle. This is being done by two persons of
honorable conduct in every way. They kill on ly the old and wildor unbra nded ca ttle. They a lso use their own horses in the roundup a nd slaughter, because for la ck of horses the mission could notfurn ish them. For the same rea son , la ck of horses, no bra ndingof ca ttle could take pla ce in the pa st yea r.
“I f it is not a llowed to con tinue w ith this slaughter through the
sa id men , who have a sufficien t force of horses for this work, thenmost a ssuredly my credit a nd liability w ill be put in a bad lightw ith those shipping merchan ts . I f it cannot be done, I beseechYour Honor to plea se in struct me a s to wha t mea ns I must employto pay the debts.
”
Another letter of the same July 2 ud, 1834, a nd addressed to Gov
660 Missions and Missionaries of California
cruor Figueroa , throws additiona l light on the subject. “I re
ceived your favor of the filth of Jun e,” Fr. Oliva writes, “and at
the same time I received a n Order from the Illustrious Deputation to suspend the slaughter which is being done at this mission .
Supposing, then , tha t this same order may be interpreted to per
mitthe slaughter if a necessity is shown , I have to tell Your Honortha t I am bound a nd pledged to the ships for the amoun t ofa nd I ha ve no other mea ns to sa tisfy this debt. This slaughter isca rried on in an en tirely orderly manner within the inclosure of
the ca ttle, a nd only old and wild ca ttle are killed. I have ma de use
of the two neighbors for the rea son tha t this mission has not a
suflicient number of horses to efiect the slaughter. I hope you
w ill permit the work to go on by means of the two men until thenumber is complete to redeem me.
”
It is plea sa n t to note tha t Governor Figueroa on July 8th con
sen ted to have the debt, which Fr. Oliva con tracted for the benefitof the mission , pa id in the w ay reported. (
“Ca l. Arch., St. Pap.
M iss ions, iv , 779, Doubtless the slaughter at San Gabrielfound a similar expla na tion , though the reply of the missiona ry isnot exta n t, and both were therefore en tirely legitima te. At Purisima no unusua l slaughter of ca ttle took pla ce, nor at any othermission . Fa thers Durftn a nd Ga rcia did not respond by letter ;they protested aga in st the ca lumn ies in person , a s will a ppearn ea r the close. Hence the story peddled a round by Guinn that
Ca liforn ia from one end to the other “was become a mighty shambles” is nothing but a mighty fiction . The whole afia ir aga in shows
forth the w icked cha ra cter of the covetous mission enemies, who
sta pped at nothing in order to find justifica tion for their crimes
aga in st their helpless victims : the neophytes and missionaries.
Such, then ,is the mole-hill out of which the greedy conspira tors
con structed a moun ta in , a nd succeeded in persuading thoughtlesswriters to picture the scrupulously conscien tious friars as w ilful destroyers of public property ! This w a s not a ll. The enemies liedfor effect ; the w icked story therefore reached Mexico, and ma y
have in fluenced legisla tors not a little. The following Defen ce”which during 1836 appea red in one of the pa pers of the ca pita l willmake this clea r. We do not know the author ; but he must ha vebeen conversant w ith afia irs in Ca liforn ia . With it we close our
lengthy disquisition .
“Editors of the‘Diario del Gobierno’
“My Dea r Sirs z— I n your esteemed pa per of September 3oth,
183 6, I ha ve seen the address which Colonel Ma ria no Chico madeat the open ing of the Depa rtmen ta l Legisla ture at Mon terey, Ca liforn ia .
”(This speech wa s made on M ay 27th, 183 6. More about
it in the next volume. )“Its con ten ts have filled me w ith just indig
na tion , because I see therein sta temen ts which are con trary to the
662 Missions and Missionaries of California
the miss iona ry religious . Ra ther say tha t the motive is the desirefor the property of the Indians. Ra ther say pretexts a re soughtfor eluding the law of November 7th.
”(This law , pa ssed by the
Mexica n Congress on November 7th, 183 5, revoked the confisca tiondecree of Figueroa and restored the mission s to the fria rs. The
subject w ill be ven tila ted in the n ext volume. ) Ra ther say tha tsome of those who hold miss ion property res ist surrendering it,beca use they know tha t they sha ll sufler hun ger and need a s theysuffered before on a ccoun t of their notorious lack of applica tion to
work. Ra ther say a ll this , but do not sla nder missiona ries whoseconduct ha s a lways been irreprehensible, and whose a ims had n o
other object tha n the welfa re a nd happiness of the India ns a s we lla s of the white people.
“I have not expressed myself properly. I w ill speak correctly.
The fria rs ha ve been very crimina l. They ha ve aba ndoned theircoun try, their pa ren ts, their brothers and sisters, their friends a nd
rela tives, solely for the sake of the missions. They have embra ceda life full of priva tion s and almost w ithout society among a pe0p1eby whom they a re hardly understood and a pprecia ted. They ha veendeavored to extrica te these poor India n s from ba rba rism, and
they have given them secular a s well a s religious in struction . Theyhave supplied them w ith suitable tea chers who give in struction s inthe arts tha t a re beneficia l to the whole territory. Indeed, thosemissiona ries have made slaves of themselves. They ha ve admin is
tered the Sa cramen ts to a ll pe0p1e in the town s a s well a s in dis
tan t ranchos anywhere. Yet they have never molested the set
tlers for fees or con tributions on beha lf of Div ine Worship. Theyhave been the consola tion of the a fflicted who obliged throughmisfortun e arrived at their doors. They have been the refuge a nd
relief of the tra vellers whom they sheltered, tenderly refreshed,
and conducted to the n ext mission to be there received in the same
way, a nd enjoy the like services of Christian charity . They a n d
for the India n s a s a fa ther cares for his beloved children . Theydefended them aga in st the in sults, in jury, and ill- trea tmen t whichit wa s the fa shion of the white pe0p1e to inflict upon India n s .
They looked a fter the property in terests of their India ns a s thoughthey were their own . They fed them, clothed them, and attendedthem in s ickness. They took grea t pa ins to keep the neophytesfrom in tercourse w ith v icious white pe0p1e in order to preserv ethem from corruption . I n fine the missiona ries have kept theneophytes orderly for more tha n sixty yea rs, so much so tha t itcould notbe sa id tha t their wa rds a re vaga bonds who wa nder aboutstea ling ca ttle for the purpose of susta in ing their vices.
“These a re the crimes which the missiona ries of Upper Ca liforn iaha ve committed ; unpa rdonable crimes in the eyes of a certa in cla ss
of indiv idua ls ; a nd they a re those tha t have aroused the persecu
Appendix 663
tion , vilification , a nd outrages which the friars sufier, and whichembitter their existence. These, 0 Sa cred M in isters ! a re yourfaults. M ay the Most H igh never permit you to repen t of them,
or to cha nge your ways so as to receive the a pproba tion of yourenemies, ihe men tors of Don Chico. I n spite of them, con tinue toprotect the unhappy neophytes. Sacrifice yourselves for them byresuming cha rge of the mission s which the Supreme Governmen t,sa tisfied w ith your pra iseworthy conduct, aga in en trusts to you.
”
(The writer, whoever he may have been , presumed tha t the decreeof Congress of November 7th, which annulled Figueroa ’s confisca
tion decree, would take effect. Un fortuna tely for the Indian s, suchwa s not the ca se. It wa s disregarded in Ca liforn ia un til little morethan ruins were left, which some yea rs la ter were delivered to the
fria rs ; but tha t story belongs to the next volume.)“I know very
well tha t this w ill make you objects of the jea lousy of some. Iknow tha t at some mission s you w ill find yourselves in the midstof ruins, which you will have to build up a s in the beginn ing, a ndit w ill be more difficult on a ccoun t of the demora liza tion of the
India ns ; but rest a ssured tha t you a re making a grand sacrifice forReligion , and tha t your coun try w ill recogn ize and apprecia te yourserv ices. I promise myself a s much from the wise and just Government which happily governs us . As for yourselves, if you see
yourselves sla ndered in a distan t land, know for your con sola tiontha t there a re ma ny who esteem your merit, and who will rise indefence of you, a s I ha ve don e, a nd w ith better weapons than mine.
”
“A Lover of Truth a nd of the Mission s of Upper Ca liforn ia .
”
(San ta Ba rba ra Archives.)
