A history of California and an extended history of its southern coast counties, also containing biographies of well-known citizens of the past and present, Volume I, Part 16

Author: Guinn, James Miller, 1834-1918
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Los Angeles, Cal., Historic record company
Number of Pages: 1184

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With the downfall of Spanish domination in Mexico came the beginning of the end of mis- sionary rule in California. The majority of the mission padres were Spanish born. In the war of Mexican independence their sympathies were with their mother country, Spain. After Mex- ico attained her independence, some of them refused to acknowledge allegiance to the repub-

lic. The Mexican authorities feared and dis- trusted them. In this, in part, they found a pre- text for the disestablishment of the missions and the confiscation of the mission estates. There was another cause or reason for secularization more potent than the loyalty of the padres to Spain. Few forms of land monopoly have ever exceeded that in vogue under the mission system of California. From San Diego to San Fran- cisco bay the twenty missions established under Spanish rule monopolized the greater part of the fertile land between the coast range and the sea. The limits of one mission were said to cover the intervening space to the limits of the next. There was but little left for other settlers. A settler could not obtain a grant of land if the padres of the nearest mission objected.

The twenty-four ranchos owned by the Mis- sion San Gabriel contained about a million and a half acres and extended from the sea to the San Bernardino mountains. The greatest neophyte population of San Gabriel was in 1817, when it reached 1,701. Its yearly average for the first three decades of the present century did not exceed 1,500. It took a thousand acres of fertile land under the mission system to sup- port an Indian, even the smallest papoose of the mission flock. It is not strange that the people clamored for a subdivision of the mission estates; and secularization became a public necessity. The most enthusiastic admirer of the missions to-day, had he lived in California seventy years ago, would no doubt have been among the loud- est in his wail against the mission system.

The abuse heaped upon the Mexican authori- ties for their secularization of these institutions is as unjust as it is unmerited. The act of the Mexican Congress of August 17, 1833, was not the initiative movement towards their dis- establishment. Indeed in their foundation their secularization, their subdivision into pueblos, was provided for and the local authorities were never without lawful authority over them. In the very beginning of missionary work in Alta California the process of secularizing the mis- sion establishments was mapped out in the fol- lowing "Instructions given by Viceroy Bucarili August 17, 1773, to the comandante of the new establishments of San Diego and Monterey.

HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

Article 15, when it shall happen that a mission is to be formed into a pueblo or village the comandante will proceed to reduce it to the civil and economical government, which, according to the laws, is observed by other villages of this kingdom; their giving it a name and declaring for its patron the saint under whose memory and protection the mission was founded."

The purpose for which the mission was founded was to aid in the settlement of the country, and to convert the natives to Christian- ity. "These objects accomplished the mission- ary's labor was considered fulfilled and the es- tablishment subject to dissolution. This view of their purpose and destiny fully appears in the tenor of the decree of the Spanish Cortes of September 13, 1813. It was passed in conse- quence of a complaint by the Bishop of Guiana of the evils that affected that province on ac- count of the Indian settlements in charge of missions not being delivered to the ecclesiastical ordinary, although thirty, forty and fifty years had passed since the reduction and conversion of the Indians."

The Cortes decreed Ist, that all the new reduciones y doctrinairs (settlements of newly converted Indians) not yet formed into parishes of the province beyond the sea which were in charge of missionary monks and had been ten years subjected should be delivered immediately to the respective ecclesiastical ordinaries (bish- ops) without resort to any excuse or pretext conformably to the laws and cedulas in that respect. Section 2nd, provided that the secular clergy should attend to the spiritual wants of these curacies. Section 3rd, the missionary monks relieved from the converted settlements shall proceed to the conversion of other heathen."

The decree of the Mexican Congress, passed November 20, 1833, for the secularization of the missions of Upper and Lower California, was very similar in its provisions to the decree of the Spanish Cortes of September, 1813. The Mex- ican government simply followed the example of Spain and in the conversion of the missions into pueblos was attempting to enforce a prin-

ciple inherent in the foundation of the mission- ary establishments. That secularization resulted disastrously to the Indians was not the fault of the Mexican government so much as it was the defect in the industrial and intellectual training of the neophytes. Except in the case of those who were trained for choir services in the churches there was no attempt made to teach the Indians to read or write. The padres generally entertained a poor opinion of the neophytes' intellectual ability. The reglamento governing the secularization of the missions, published by Governor Echeandia in 1830, but not enforced, and that formulated by the diputa- cion under Governor Figueroa in 1834,approved . by the Mexican Congress and finally enforced in 1834-5-6, were humane measures. These reg- ulations provided for the colonization of the neophytes into pueblos or villages. A portion of the personal property and a part of the lands held by the missions were to be distributed among the Indians as follows:

"Article 5-To each head of a family and all who are more than twenty years old, although without families, will be given from the lands of the mission, whether temporal (lands depend- ent on the seasons) or watered, a lot of ground not to contain more than four hundred varas (yards) in length, and as many in breadth not less than one hundred. Sufficient land for water- ing the cattle will be given in common. The outlets or roads shall be marked out by each vil- lage, and at the proper time the corporation lands shall be designated." This colonization of the neophytes into pueblos would have thrown large bodies of the land held by the mis- sions open to settlement by white settlers. The personal property of missionary establishments was to have been divided among their neophyte retainers thus: "Article 6. Among the said in- dividuals will be distributed, ratably and justly, according to the discretion of the political chief, the half of the movable property, taking as a basis the last inventory which the missionaries have presented of all descriptions of cattle. Arti- cle 7. One-half or less of the implements and seeds indispensable for agriculture shall be al- lotted to them."

The political government of the Indian pu-

*William Carey Jones' Report.

HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

eblos was to be organized in accordance with existing laws of the territory governing other towns. The neophyte could not sell, mortgage or dispose of the land granted him; nor could he sell his cattle. The regulations provided that "Religious missionaries shall be relieved from the administration of temporalities and shall only exercise the duties of their ministry so far as they relate to spiritual matters." The nunner- ies or the houses where the Indian girls were kept under the charge of a duena until they were of marriageable age were to be abolished and the children restored to their parents. Rule 7 provided that "What is called the 'priest- hood' shall immediately cease, female children whom they have in charge being handed over to their fathers, explaining to them the care they should take of them, and pointing out their obligations as parents. The same shall be done with the male children."

Commissioners were to be appointed to take charge of the mission property and superintend its subdivision among the neophytes. The con- version of ten of the missionary establishments into pueblos was to begin in August, 1835. That of the others was to follow as soon as possible. San Gabriel, San Fernando and San Juan Capis- trano were among the ten that were to be secularized first. For years secularization had threatened the missions, but hitherto something had occurred at the critical time to avert it. The missionaries had used their influence against it, had urged that the neophytes were unfitted for self-support, had argued that the emancipation of the natives from mission rule would result in disaster to them. Through all the agitation of the question in previous years the padres had labored on in the preservation and upbuilding of their establishments; but with the issuing of the secularization decree by the Mexican Congress, August 17, 1833, the or- ganization of the Hijar Colony in Mexico and the instructions of acting president Farias to Hijar to occupy all the property of the missions and subdivide it among the colonists on their arrival in California, convinced the missionaries that the blow could no longer be averted. The revocation of Hijar's appointment as governor and the controversy which followed between

him and Governor Figueroa and the diputacion for a time delayed the enforcement of the de- cree.

In the meantime, with the energy born of de- spair, eager at any cost to outwit those who sought to profit by their ruin, the mission fath- ers hastened to destroy that which through more than half a century thousands of human beings had spent their lives to accumulate. The wealth of the missions lay in their herds of cat- tle. The only marketable products of these were the hides and tallow. Heretofore a certain num- ber of cattle had been slaughtered each week to feed the neophytes and sometimes when the ranges were in danger of becoming over- stocked cattle were killed for their hides and tallow, and the meat left to the coyotes and the carrion crows. The mission fathers knew that if they allowed the possession of their herds to pass to other hands neither they nor the neophytes would obtain any reward for years of labor. The blow was liable to fall at any time. Haste was required. The mission butchers could not slaughter the animals fast enough. Con- tracts were made with the rancheros to kill on shares. The work of destruction began at the missions. The country became a mighty shambles. The matansas were no longer used. An animal was lassoed on the plain, thrown, its throat cut and while yet writhing in death agony, its hide was stripped and pegged upon the ground to dry. There were no vessels to con- tain the tallow and this was run into pits in the ground to be taken out when there was more time to spare and less cattle to be killed. The work of destruction went on as long as there were cattle to kill. So great was the stench from rotting carcasses of the cattle on the plains that a pestilence was threatened. The ayunta- miento of Los Angeles, November 15, 1833, passed an ordinance compelling all persons slaughtering cattle for the hides and tallow to cremate the carcasses. Some of the rancheros laid the foundations of their future wealth by ap- propriating herds of young cattle from the mis- sion ranges.

Hugo Reid, in the letters previously referred to in this volume, says of this period at San Gabriel, "These facts (the decree of secularization

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

and the distribution of the mission property) being known to Padre Tomas (Estenaga), he, in all probability, by order of his superior, com- menced a work of destruction. The back build- ings were unroofed and the timber converted into fire wood. Cattle were killed on the halves by people who took a lion's share. Utensils were disposed of and goods and other articles distributed in profusion among the neophytes. The vineyards were ordered to be cut down, which, however, the Indians refused to do." After the mission was placed in charge of an administrator, Padre Tomas remained as min- ister of the church at a stipend of $1,500 per annum, derived from the pious fund.

Hugo Reid says of him, "As a wrong im- pression of his character may be produced from the preceding remarks, in justice to his memory, be it stated that he was a truly good man, a sin- cere Christian and a despiser of hypocrisy. He had a kind, unsophisticated heart, so that he be- lieved every word told him. There has never been a purer priest in California. Reduced in circumstances, annoyed on many occasions by the petulancy of administrators, he fulfilled his duties according to his conscience, with be- nevolence and good humor. The nuns, who, when the secular movement came into opera- tion, had been set free, were again gathered to- gether under his supervision and maintained at his expense, as were also a number of old men and women."

The experiment of colonizing the Indians in pueblos was a failure and they were gathered back into the mission, or as many of them as could be got back, and placed in charge of ad- ministrators. "The Indians," says Reid, "were made happy at this time in being permitted to enjoy once more the luxury of a tule dwelling, from which the greater part had been debarred for so long; they could now breathe freely again." (The close adobe buildings in which they had been housed in mission days were no doubt one of the causes of the great mortality among them.)

"Administrator followed administrator until the mission could support no more, when the system was broken up." *

* "The Indians during this period were continually run-

ning off. Scantily clothed and still more scant- ily supplied with food, it was not to be wondered at. Nearly all the Gabrielinos went north, while those of San Diego, San Luis and San Juan overrun this country, filling the Angeles and surrounding ranchos with more servants than were required. Labor, in consequence, was very cheap. The different missions, however, had alcaldes continually on the move, hunting them up and carrying them back, but to no pur- pose; it was labor in vain."

"Even under the dominion of the church in mission days," Reid says, "the neophytes were addicted both to drinking and gaming, with an inclination to steal;" but after their emanci- pation they went from bad to worse. Those at- tached to the ranchos and those located in the town were virtually slaves. They had bosses or owners and when they ran away were cap- tured and returned to their master. The account book for 1840 of the sindico of Los Angeles contains this item, "For the delivery of two Indians to their boss $12."

In all the large towns there was an Indian village known as the pueblito or little town. These were the sink holes of crime and the favorite resorts of dissolute characters, both white and red. The Indian village at Los An- geles between what is now Aliso and First street became such an intolerable nuisance that on petition of the citizens it was removed across the river to the "Spring of the Abilas," but its removal did not improve its morals. Vicente Guerrero, the sindico, discussing the Indian question before the ayuntamiento said, "The In- dians are so utterly depraved that no matter where they may settle down their conduct would be the same, since they look upon death even with indifference, provided they can indulge in their pleasures and vices." This was their con- dition in less than a decade after they were freed from mission control.

What did six decades of mission rule accom- plish for the Indian? In all the older missions between their founding and their secularization three generations of adults had come under the influence of mission life and training-first, the adult converts made soon after the founding; second, their children born at the missions, and

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

third, the children of these who had grown to manhood before the fall of the missions. How great an improvement had the neophytes of the third generation made over those of the first? They had to a great extent lost their original language and had acquired a speaking knowl- edge of Spanish. They had abandoned or forgotten their primitive religious belief, but their new religion exercised but little influence on their lives. After their emancipation they went from bad to worse. Some of the more daring escaped to the mountains and joining the wild tribes there became the leaders in frequent predatory excursions on the horses and cattle of the settlers in the valleys. They were hunted down and shot like wild beasts.

What became of the mission estates? As the cattle were killed off the different ranchos of the mission domains, settlers petitioned the ayuntamiento for grants. If upon investigation it was found that the land asked for was vacant the petition was referred to the governor for his approval. In this way the vast mission domains passed into private hands. The country im- proved more in wealth and population between 1836 and 1846 than in the previous fifty years. Secularization was destruction to the mission

and death to the Indian, but it was beneficial to the country at large. The decline of the mis- sions and the passing of the neophyte had be- gun long before the decrees of secularization were enforced. Nearly all the missions passed their zenith in population during the second decade of the century. Even had the mission- ary establishments not been secularized they would eventually have been depopulated. At no time during the mission rule were the number of births equal to the number of deaths. When recruits could no longer be obtained from the Gentiles or wild Indians the decline became more rapid. The mission annals show that from 1769 to 1834, when secularization was enforced --- an interval of sixty-five years-79,000 con- verts were baptized and 62,000 deaths recorded. The death rate among the neophytes was about twice that of the negro in this country and four times that of the white race. The extinc- tion of the neophyte or mission Indian was due to the enforcement of that inexorable law or decree of nature, the Survival of the Fittest. Where a stronger race comes in contact with a weaker, there can be but one termination of the contest-the extermination of the weaker.

CHAPTER XIII. THE FREE AND SOVEREIGN STATE OF ALTA CALIFORNIA.

G OVERNOR FIGUEROA on his death- bed turned over the civil command of the territory to José Castro, who there- by became "gefe politico ad interem." The military command was given to Lieut .- Col. Nicolas Gutierrez with the rank of comandante general. The separation of the two commands was in accordance with the national law of May 6, 1822.

Castro was a member of the diputacion, but was not senior vocal or president. José An- tonio Carrillo, who held that position, was diputado or delegate to congress and was at that time in the city of Mexico. It was he who secured the decree from the Mexican Congress May 23, 1835, making Los Angeles the capital

of California, and elevating it to the rank of a city. The second vocal, José Antonio Estudillo, was sick at his home in San Diego. José Cas- tro ranked third. He was the only one of the diputacion at the capital and at the previous meeting of the diputacion he had acted as pre- siding officer. Gutierrez, who was at San Ga- briel when appointed to the military command, hastened to Monterey, but did not reach there until after the death of Figueroa. Castro, on assuming command, sent a notification of his appointment to the civil authorities of the dif- ferent jurisdictions. All responded favorably except San Diego and Los Angeles. San Diego claimed the office for Estudillo, second vocal, and Los Angeles declared against Castro be-

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

cause he was only third vocal and demanded that the diputacion should meet at the legal capital (Los Angeles) of the territory. This was the beginning of the capital war that lasted ten years and increased in bitterness as it increased in age. The diputacion met at Monterey. It de- cided in favor of Castro and against removing the capital to Los Angeles.

Castro executed the civil functions of gefe politico four months and then, in accordance with orders from the supreme government, he turned over his part of the governorship to Comandante General Gutierrez and again the two commands were united in one person. Gutierrez filled® the office of "gobernador in- terno" from January 2, 1836, to the arrival of his successor, Mariano Chico. Chico had been ap- pointed governor by President Barragan, Decem- ber 16, 1835, but did not arrive in California until April, 1836. Thus California had four governors within nine months. They changed so rapidly there was not time to foment a rev- olution. Chico began his administration by a series of petty tyrannies. Just before his ar- rival in California a vigilance committee at Los Angeles shot to death Gervacio Alispaz and his paramour, Maria del Rosaria Villa, for the mur- der of the woman's husband, Domingo Feliz. Alispaz was a countryman of Chico. Chico had the leaders arrested and came down to Los Angeles with the avowed purpose of executing Prudon, Arzaga and Aranjo, the president, sec- retary and military commander, respectively, of the Defenders of Public Security, as the vigi- lantes called themselves. He announced his intention of arresting and punishing every man who had taken part in the banishment of Gov- ernor Victoria. He summoned Don Abel Stearns to Monterey and threatened to have him shot for some imaginary offense. He fulminated a fierce pronunciamento against foreigners, that incurred their wrath, and made himself so odious that he was hated by all, native or foreigner. He was a centralist and .opposed to popular rights. Exasperated beyond endurance by his scandalous conduct and unseemly exhibitions of temper the people of Monterey rose en masse against him, and so terrified him that he took passage on board a brig that was lying in the

harbor and sailed for Mexico with the threat that he would return with an armed force to punish the rebellious Californians, but he never came back again.

With the enforced departure of Chico, the civil command of the territory devolved upon Nicolas Gutierrez, who still held the military command. He was of Spanish birth and a cen- tralist or anti-federalist in politics. Although a mild mannered man he seemed to be impressed with the idea that he must carry out the arbi- trary measures of his predecessor. Centralism was his nemesis. Like Chico, he was opposed to popular rights and at one time gave orders to disperse the diputacion by force. He was not long in making himself unpopular by at- tempting to enforce the centralist decrees of the Mexican Congress.

He quarreled with Juan Bautista Alvarado, the ablest of the native Californians. Alvarado and José Castro raised the standard of revolt. They gathered together a small army of ranch- eros and an auxiliary force of twenty-five Amer- ican hunters and trappers 'under Graham, a backwoodsman from Tennessee. By a strategic movement they captured the castillo or fort which commanded the presidio, where Gutierrez and the Mexican army officials were stationed. The patriots demanded the surrender of the presidio and the arms. The governor refused. The revolutionists had been able to find but a single cannon ball in the castillo, but this was sufficient to do the business. A well-directed shot tore through the roof of the governor's house, covering him and his staff with the debris of broken tiles; that and the desertion of most of his soldiers to the patriots brought him to terms. On the 5th of November, 1836, he sur- rendered the presidio and resigned his authority as governor. He and about seventy of his ad- herents were sent aboard a vessel lying in the harbor and shipped out of the country.

With the Mexican governor and his officers out of the country, the next move of Castro and Alvarado was to call a meeting of the diputa- cion or territorial congress. A plan for the independence of California was adopted. This, which was known afterwards as the Monterey plan, consisted of six sections. the most im-

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

portant of which were as follows: "First, Alta California hereby declares itself independent from Mexico until the Federal System of 1824 is restored. Second, the same California is hereby declared a free and sovereign state; es- tablishing a congress to enact the special laws of the country and the other necessary supreme powers. Third, the Roman Apostolic Catholic religion shall prevail; no other creed shall be allowed, but the government shall not molest anyone on account of his private opinions." The diputacion issued a declaration of independ- ence that arraigned the mother country, Mexico, and her officials very much in the style that our own Declaration gives it to King George III. and England.

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A history of California and an extended history of its southern coast counties, also containing biographies of well-known citizens of the past and present, Volume I, Part 16

Author: Guinn, James Miller, 1834-1918 Publication date: 1907 Publisher: Los Angeles, Cal., Historic record company Number of Pages: 1184

Author: Guinn, James Miller, 1834-1918
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Los Angeles, Cal., Historic record company
Number of Pages: 1184