USA > California > A picture of pioneer times in California, illustrated with anecdotes and stores taken from real life > Part 2
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Dr. Stillman's attack on the Missions is more wholesale than that of the " Annals," because the " Annals " give the facts of history, and those facts contradict their own assertions. The Doctor tries to avoid this, and does avoid it, except in one in- stance. On page 304 of his book he quotes from his great Catholic witness, La Yseronse, who says, " There was no attempt made to teach them [the natives] the most common arts. Their grain was ground by women in the primitive Indian method."
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On page 315 the Doctor gets his Greek Catholic witness to tell us that when the Missionary rule ceased, " Not a solitary memo- rial of benefit conferred remained. No mill, not even a black- smith, and the commonest wants of civilized life were not sup- plied to mitigate the rigorous despotism." Then, on page 320, in speaking of this same period, the Doctor calls up an English witness, who says: "They [the Indians] had been taught in many of the arts, and there were, in almost every division, weavers, tanners, shocmakers, blacksmiths, carpenters, bricklayers and other artificers."
What now becomes of the Doctor's great Catholic witness, as quoted from page 304? It surely cannot be that one whole divi- sion of Christendom lied. This quotation from page 320 also puts the Greek Catholic division of Christendom in a very ques- tionable light-in fact, it looks to me as if it let both these divi- sions out, as witnesses worthy of credit, particularly as we all, here in California, know, of our own knowledge, that the quota- tion from page 320 is true, and the other untrue.
Bu' what is the use of further notice of such misrepresenta- tions of the Missions as these of Dr. Stillman, who bases his accusations on such testimony as that of long since dead sailors. who visited this coast only for a few days, and who were filled with national prejudices against the Missionaries and the nation to which they belonged, while he ignores or refuses, or neglects to hear, the testimony of witnesses, many of whom have not yet passed away from among us, and who flatly contradict the repre- sentations of those roving sea captains of long ago.
We cannot help feeling pity for men who allowed themselves to be so governed by their prejudices as to make them seek to rob the glorious dead of the good name they so fairly and justly won. We should all be sure to have an authentic history of those wonderful Missions in our family library, and when our heart sickens, as it sometimes must, at the daily exhibitions all around us of selfish, cunning, plotting, hypocritical men, each trying to outreach and get the advantage of the other, crushing out, in their mad struggle with each other, all the teachings of Christianity, and all the natural benevolence of the human heart. When every one, as he rushes by in his frantic pursuit of selfish, worldly joys, cries fool to him who is yet humane and unselfish, and who seeks, in the light of the teachings of the Cross, to share all with all. Yes, when our faith is shaken by this disgusting
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aspect of our humanity, which makes the beasts of the field seem superior to us, let us take from the shelf that book and read the story of the Missions of California, and it will restore firmness to our faith and admiration and respect for our humanity. For there we will find men of education and of the highest order of ability, resigning home, friends and every prospect of worldly comfort, dedicating their whole lives, without any reserve for self, to a struggle in a foreign land, to rescue a nation of misera- ble, degraded savages from hunger, nakedness and the lowest depths of superstition. As the worldly-proud white man reads the first line of the story of the Missions, which announces the landing in California in 1776 of these Missionaries, he is sur- prised how sane men could undertake such a task with any hope of success, and exclaims, perhaps, " You will not succeed; and if you do, what are those red savages to us?" The Missionary answers, "In them I see brothers, human beings like ourselves, every one as dear to God as a prince on his throne." In such faith- a faith that knows no doubting-the Missionary works, strives and toils; and, as we behold their wondrous success, our astonishment and admiration are mingled with pride and grati- tude to God that He has endowed our humanity with such hero- ism in charity; and its contemplation inspires us with a desire to do our part in efforts to drive back and stay the flood of selfish teaching that threatens to stifle every noble aspiration of our humanity. As we' lay the book down-no matter what our peculiar views in religion may be-we feel that the virtues and triumphs won by the Missionary Fathers of California belong alike to Christian civilization, and that their memories should be guarded by all from misrepresentation. It may not be out of place here to quote a few passages from the late Hon. John W. Dwinelle's address, delivered on the occasion of the Centennial Celebration of the founding of the Mission church in San Fran_ cisco. It will show how such men as Mr. Dwinelle sympathized with the authors of the " Annals " and Dr. Stillman, in their foolish attempts to belittle the work of the Missionaries:
"The immediate results of the Mission scheme of christianization and colonization were such as to justify the plans of the wise statesmen who devised it, and to gladden the hearts of the pious men who devoted their lives to its execution. At the end of sixty-five years (in 1331), the Missionaries of Upper California found themselves in the possession of twenty-one prosperous Missions, planted upon a line of about seven hundred miles, running from San Diego north to the latitude of Sonoma. More than
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thirty thousand Indian converts were lodged in the Mission buildings, receiv- ing religious culture, assisting at divine worship, and cheerfully performing their easy tasks. Over seven hundred thousand cattle, of various species, pastured upon the plains, as well as sixty thousand horses. One hundred and twenty thousand bushels of wheat were raised annually, which, with maize, beans, peas, and the like, made up an annual crop of one hundred and eighty thousand bushels; while, according to the climate, the different Missions rivaled each other in the production of wine, brandy, soap, leather, hides, wool, oil, cotton, hemp, linen, tobacco, salt and soda. Of two hun- dred thousand horned cattle annually slaughtered, the Missions furnished about one-half, whose hides, hoofs, horns and tallow were sold at a net result of about ten dollars each, making a million dollars from that source alone; while the other articles, of which no definite statistics can be obtained, doubt- less reached an equal value-making a total production of the Missions them- selves of two million dollars. Gardens, vineyards and orchards surrounded all the Missions, except the three northernmost-Dolores, San Rafael and Solano, the climate of the first being too inhospitable for that purpose; and the two latter, born near the advent of the Mexican Revolu- tion, being stifled in their infancy. The other Missions, according to their latitude, were ornamented and enriched with plantations of palm trees, ba- nanas, oranges, olives and figs, with orchards of European fruits, and with vast and fertile vineyards, whose products were equally valuable for sale and exchange, and for the diet and comfort of the inhabitants of the Missions. Aside from these valuable properties and from the Mission buildings, the live stock of the Missions, valued at their current rates, amounted to three mil- lions of dollars of the most active capital, bringing enormous annual returns upon its aggregate value, and, owing to the great fertility of animals in Cali- fornia, more than repairing its annual waste by slaughter.
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"It was something, surely, that over thirty thousand wild, barbarous and naked Indians had been brought in from their savage haunts; persuaded to wear clothes; accustomed to a regular life; living in Christian matrimony; in- ured to such light labor as they could endure; taught a civilized language; instructed in music; accustomed to the service of the Church; partaking of its sacraments, and indoctrinated in the Christian religion. And this system had become self-sustaining, under the mildest and gentlest of tutelage; for the Franciscan monks, who superintended these establishments, most of whom were from Spain, and many of whom were highly cultivated men- statesmen, diplomatists, soldiers, engineers, artists, lawyers, merchants and physicians before they became Franciscans-always treated the neophyte In- dians with the most paternal kindness, and did not scorn to labor with them in the field, the brickyard, the forge and the mill. When we view the vast constructions of the Mission buildings, including the churches, the refecto- ries, the dormitories, the workshops, the granaries, and the rancherias- sometimes constructed with huge timbers brought many miles on the shoul- ders of the Indians-and look at the massive constructions at Santa Barbara, and the beautiful sculptures and ribbed stone arches of the church of the
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Carmelo, we cannot deny that the Franciscan Missionary monks had the wis- dom, sagacity, absolute self-denial, self-sacrifice and patience to bring their neophyte pupils forward on the road from barbarism to civilization, and that these Indians were not destitute of taste and capacity. It is enough that the Franciscan monks succeeded in all they undertook to accomplish. It matters not that the Spanish theory of the available capacity of the Americo-Indian races for final self-government and independent citizenship was a false one; after having shown that these people could be christianized and civilized by the attraction of kindness and the imposition of systematic, regular and easy tasks while in a state of pupilage, the destruction of the Missions of California seems to have demonstrated the converse proposition that these are the only conditions of the proximate christianization of these races. * * * * * *
"But although the Missions, as such, were destroyed, although the Mission system thus disappeared and the body of the neophytes was absorbed in one general cataclysm of drunkenness, mendacity and disease, still some results remained, which were worth all that they cost. Taking the number of 30,- 000 Indians, who resided in the Missions at the hight of their prosperity, and estimating the life of the average Indian as a short one, as it undoubtedly was, I calculate that during the sixty-five years of the prosperity of the Mis- sions no less than 50,000 christianized Indians were buried in her campos santos-her consecrated cemeteries. I estimate that during the last hundred years no less than 20,000 whites-native and foreign-were buried, as bap- tised Catholics, in the same holy soil. I know that during all this period, the Mission Churches filled the office of Secular Churches to the native and foreign populations; and that when people came into California as emigrants, from England, Scotland and the United States, they almost always were bap- tised into the Catholic Church. So that when the Mission system reached its period by limitation, and the United States succeeded to the political do- minion of Spain and Mexico, something still remained, which had not died, and which can never die. It was a series of Catholic churches, extending from San Diego to Sonoma, with the altars, the vestments and the parapher- nalia of worship. It was the solemn Registers of Births, Marriages and Burials, extending backward for a hundred years, and invoking the mysteri- ous solemnity of religion upon those acts upon which repose domestic hap- piness and the security of property. This was the position which the Church occupied in California; a position which she did not choose, which she did not contend for-which came to her by inheritance.
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"I have not, on this occasion, uttered a word in praise of the Catholic Church. If I had been one of her sons, I should have given her such a trib- ute, as full of gratitude as of truth. But, as it is, this might seem like adulation, and she does not need to be patronized by me."
During the last fifteen years of the existence of the Missions, the Mexican population of California was considerably increased, and had become very influential with the home government.
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Prominent citizens among them entered into active intrigues to overthrow the Missionary system, seeing in its destruction for- tune and power sure to fall into their own hands. Of this class Mr. Dwinelle says :
"This new class of adventurers, characterized by the exuberance of their noses, their addiction to the social game called monté, and the utter fearless- ness with which they encountered the monster aguadiente, were both con- stant and consistent in their denunciations of the monks who bad charge of the Missions. They were accused of being avaricious, these poor monks who had taken the vow of perpetual poverty. They were said to be indolent; they who roused themselves at the morning Angelus, Summer and Winter, and to whom the evening Angelus was only a signal that their evening task was only begun and not ended."
From this time forward there were two political parties in California-one sided with the Missionaries ; the other sought their overthrow. The anti-Mission party, as it might be termed, was finally and completely successful in 1845. Then came a general scramble for the property belonging to the Missions, with a shameless disregard for the rights of the Indians. They were robbed of everything-land and all, and sent adrift with- out a place to lay their heads. The Mexicans divided up their lands among themselves, allowed the Indians to put miserable shanties in the neighborhood of the houses of the new owners of the land, and gave them employment at almost nominal wages. Every Saturday night the pittance allowed them was paid- mostly in whiskey. The consequence was, that the Indians lay drunk until Monday morning, when they were kicked out to work by their self-constituted masters. When we came to Cali- fornia, in 1849, this was the almost universal condition of the Mission Indians. Is it surprising, then, that the whole Indian community, once so industrious and happy, should, under this new system, have sunk to the lowest depths of degradation, and soon almost disappeared from the face of the earth. Nor is it surprising that the community, the race who robbed and plun- dered these poor human beings, depriving them of their daily wages, and crowding them by scores, drunk, into their graves, should now themselves be fast passing away. Yes; one by one, they disappear. Where now are those Mexicans and Califor- nians who in 1849 owned their four, five and ten league ranchos, and immense herds of stolen Mission cattle ? Yes; where are they now ? No one can answer, for no one knows. The destruc-
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tion of the Indians, which they accomplished, was only a fore- shadowing of their own fate. I will conclude these remarks on the Missions by quoting Miss Skidmore's beautiful little poem, delivered at the Centennial celebration already spoken of :
'Tis well to ring the pealing bells, And sing the joyous lay, And make this glad Centennial year One gleeful gala-day; For Freedom's sun, that floods the land With Summer's golden glow, Dawned brightly on the night of gloom. One hundred years ago.
And dwellers in this favored land, Beside the Western Sea, Be yours an added thrill of joy, A two-fold jubilee! For (sweet and strange coincidence) The bright, benignant glow Of Faith dispelled a deeper gloom, One hundred years ago.
All honor to our noble sires -- The tried and true-souled band-
Whose valor loosed the Gordian knot That bound their native land ! Who crushed the tyrant's haughty host And laid his standard low, And bade the Starry Banner wave, One hundred years ago!
All honor, too, and deathless fame Unto the brown-robed band, Whose hands released from fetters dread Our glorious Golden Land ! Who gained a bloodless victory Against the demon foe, And lifted high the Cross of Faith, One hundred years ago!
The sons of Francis journeyed far From wave-washed Monterey, To labor where his saintly name Had blessed our shining Bay. And well those holy toilers wrought To bid Faith's harvests glow And Truth's sweet vineyards ripen fair, One hundred years ago.
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Nor San Francisco saw alone That fondly toiling band; Their Missions blest full many a spot Within our favored land. And Peace Divine, at their behest, Here arched her Sacred Bow From North to South, from East to West. One hundred years ago.
And not alone one chosen clime Obeyed this meek control; In Earth's remotest realms they wrought To tame the savage soul. From many a land that wondrous band Had chased the fiendish foe, Long ere they won meek Conquest here, One hundred years ago.
How blest the Children of the Wild Beneath their gentle sway! Not theirs the harsh command that bids The trembling slave obey. Not theirs the stern, despotic tone, The tyrant's cruel blow; By love the meek Franciscans ruled, One hundred years ago.
Ah! well the ransomed savage loved The kind, paternal care That with his simple joys could smile, And in his sorrows share; That could the blessed Baptism give, The Bread of Life bestow, And cheer the darksome vale of Death, One hundred years ago.
Within the rude adobé shrine, What holy calmness dwelt! How fervent was the savage throng That round its altar knelt! How lowly bowed the dusky brows, When, through the sunset glow, Rang out the sweet-toned Angelus, One hundred years ago!
Pure, Eden-like simplicity, Forever passed away! For, o'er the Missions came at last A fierce, tyrannie sway;
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And sacrilegious hands could dare To strike, with savage blow, The band that brought Salvation's boons, One hundred years ago.
But we, who know how rich the gift That holy band bestowed Upon the land where stranger hosts Since made their fair abode; Aye, we who hail the beams of Faith In radiant noonday glow, Will fondly bless the dawn that rose One hundred years ago.
O Sovereign City of the West! Enthroned in royal state, Where bows the Bay his shining crest Within thy Golden Gate! Thou'lt ne'er forget, though o'er thy heart Vast living currents flow, The herald steps that trod thy soil, One hundred years ago!
And, though the lofty steeples rise From many a sunlit hill, Where through the air, at dusk and dawn, The sweet bell-voices thrill, Thou'lt fondly prize thy Mission shrine, For o'er its portal low First rose the Cross and rang the chime One hundred years ago!
CHAPTER II.
"REFLECTIONS" OF THE "ANNALS"-THE FUTURE OF THE AMERICAN REPUB-
LIC-OUR TRUE POLICY-THE LONDON TIMES AND THE CIVIL WAR .
The authors of the " Annals," in closing their history of the Missions, on page 54 of that book, give us some of their " reflec- tions " as to the future of the American nation, which we find hard to pass without comment. That the manifest destiny of this nation of ours is to gather under the protection of its wise and benign government every foot of territory of this great con- tinent, no reflecting person can question. That all the inferior and weak races now found on it are destined to pass away and disappear, there is not a shadow of doubt. But how is this to come to pass ? The " Annals " talk as follows:
" Indians, Spaniards of many provinces, Hawaiians, Japanese, Chinese, Malays, Tartars and Russians must all give place to the resistless flood of * Anglo-Saxon or American progress. * *
" The English in India have already shown how a beginning may be made; the Americans on the California coasts and farther west will still more de- velop the modern system of progress. People may differ in opinion as to the equity of the particular steps attending the process. * * *
"Even while we write its extensive dominions are being separated by a widespread and hitherto successful rebellion into detached kingdoms, under the sway of military chiefs. These, standing alone, and mutually jealous of their conquering neighbors, may be easily played off one against another by a white people skilled enough to take advantage of the circumstances, and direct the moves of the political chess-board. So it was with the English in India, and so it may be with the Americans in China. Only give us time. England has not been very scrupulous in her stealthy progress over Hindostan, Ceylon and Burmah. Then neither need Americans fear her reproaches if they, in like manner, acquire, conquer or annex the Sandwich Islands, those of the great Malayan Archipelago, or the mighty "Flowery Empire " itself. A few years and a few millions of Americans may realize the gigantic scheme. * * And then San Francisco, in the ex- * ecution and triumph of that scheme, will assuredly become what Liverpool, or even London, is to England, and what New York is to the Middle and Eastern States of America. * * *
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" Long before that time, the English and American people will have fin- ished the last great struggle, which must some day take place between them, for the commercial and political supremacy of the world. It is more than probable that the hosts of English from India and Americans from Califor- nia will meet on the rich and densely-populated plains of China, and there decide their rival pretensions to universal dominion."
Are we American republicans to acquire territory in this way ? Are we to do, as they say the English have done, cross the wide ocean in quest of conquest and booty, embroiling simple and unsuspecting nations in feuds and wars-" playing off one against another," in the way the authors of the " Annals " so much admire-until these people become an easy prey to pil- lage and robbery, with cruelty beyond belief ?
My young readers, recall to your memory the history of this, your great young republican nation, and see if you can find in any one page of it a warrant for the implications in the above quotation: that we could so forget our great mission, assigned to us so plainly by Providence, of building here, on the virgin soil of this continent, a secure and happy home for the people of all the earth to fly to when down-trodden and oppressed by their own selfish and tyrannical governments. The centennial year finds us in possession of more than six times the extent of terri- tory we had at the close of the War of Independence. Have we acquired a single acre of this great addition with the sword? It is our glory to be able to say we have not. We acquired Louisiana and the immense extent of country in the valley of the Mississippi by purchase from France; the Floridas in the same way from Spain; Texas had acquired her own indepen- dence and existed some years as an independent state before we admitted her into our Union. When Mexico made war on us for admitting Texas our armies drove hers before them, until General Scott found himself at the head of a victorious army in the City of Mexico. The whole country lay at our feet, yet what did we do ? Did we do as Germany did to France under like circumstances, annex some of her states and then lay her for years under contribution, grinding down her people with taxa- tion ? No; we bought California and New Mexico from the con- quered people, and paid for them with gold. Alaska we bought from the Russian government. Do we have to keep a standing army to hold all this vast territory ? No; not a single man. If we did, the territory would be worthless to us, and we would not retain it, against the will of its own people, a single year. 2
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We have got nearly half this continent to bring under our flag. , Will our American Congress ever sanction our drawing the sword to do this? No; our past history and the genius of our institutions forbid it. We will gradually and surely acquire every acre of it, but our means will be peaceful and truly Amer- ican. We will keep on in the even tenor of our way-with our free churches, with our system of encouraging universal educa- tion, with our great national mottoes always in sight, upon which may be said to rest the whole structure of our govern- ment : " Equal and exact justice to all;" " The greatest good to the greatest number;" " Freedom to worship God according to the dictates of conscience."
Who can doubt but that the moral influence of a government thus guided will soon cause State after State to glide quietly into our Union, where they know they will be received as sisters and equals, to share with us all the blessings of such a govern- ment ? Is this the sort of government or people that the authors of the " Annals " see in their visions of the future of our coun- try, when they see us crossing the great ocean to imitate Eng- land's infamous and treacherous tactics of hatching out inveter_ ate hates in the midst of nations, so that when, maddened to half insanity, brother will strike down brother, leaving the insti- gator of the strife to flap her dark wings over the bloody field of slaughter she inaugurated, and, like all foul birds of prey, there to glut herself on the spoils such contests are sure to bring her ? No, my young readers ; let us rather see in our visions of the future of the Republic, a united continent under one national banner, so powerful in its physical resources and means of de- fence as to insure its safety against a united world of enemies; so just, so wise in its dealings with the people of the earth as to challenge universal admiration ; so true and faithful to its early history and our great national mottoes as to inspire confidence in the most skeptical. Then we see in this vision of the future a nation with influence and power that will drive tyrants and tyranny from the earth, without shedding one drop of blood, or bringing sorrow to a single household. That influence and power will be felt the world over, hated by injustice and tyranny, loved and extolled by justice and virtue. England will then drop her bloody sword in the Indies, and cease her plundering of those Eastern nations ; and forego at home her injustice to
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