History of California, Volume II, Part 42

Author: Bancroft, Hubert Howe
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: San Francisco, Calif. : The History Company, publishers
Number of Pages: 826

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Only one point remains to be noted in mission his- tory-a proposition to write that history, or to have it written, at this period. In August 1818 Comisario General Bestard instructed the prefect to release Padre Señan from other duties in order that he might be induced to prepare a historical account of the mis- sions, a work which he was exhorted to begin in the Lord's name and with the comisario's benediction. In September 1819 President Payeras, having consulted Señan and obtained his consent to undertake the task, instructed the padres to render him every possible

36 The places mentioned were El Cajon de les Difuntos and Tejon, inland from San Fernando; San Antonio de Pádua between Pala and Temecula, San Bernardino, and Santa Isabel, at each of which three latter a beginning had already been made.

37 Payeras, Memorial á los Padres sobre la cesion propuesta de las 9 misi- ones del sur, 1820, MS. Dated June 2d and divided in 29 articles and writ- ten in a very able and business-like manner.

38 In December 1820 the bishop writes that the transfer has been suspended by the viceroy. Arch. Arzob., MS., iv. pt. i. 25; Vallejo, Doc. Hist. Cal., MS., xxviii. 31.

411

ECCLESIASTICAL AFFAIRS.

assistance. 39 Probably Señan collected some material for his missionary chronicle; but he died in 1823, and there is no evidence that he left any part of his work completed.

Ecclesiastical affairs afford but few items of suffi- cient interest, or sufficiently intelligible to the secular mind, to claim a place in the annals of the period. Bishop Francisco Rouset de Jesus died in December 1814, and was succeeded by Bernardo del Espíritu Santo in May 1818.40

The president, as usual, held under the bishop the position of vicar, and in that capacity issued at least two formal circulars of instruction on public morality and compliance with church duties.41 Authority to administer the rite of confirmation was not secured for the California prelate, though there was some cor- respondence with a view to obtain either a renewal of the old facultad de confirmar, or at least a visit from the bishop in person.42 Respecting chaplain duty by

39 Arch. Sta B., MS., ix. 69-70; xii. 404; Doc. Hist. Cal., MS., iv. 446-7; Vallejo, Doc. Hist. Cal., MS., xxviii. 24.

40 Arch. Arzob., 76, Arch. Sta B., MS., vi. 304.

11 Señan, Circular del Vicario Foraneo, 1815, MS., dated Jan. 28; Payeras, Instruccion del Vicario Foraneo 1817, MS. In 1812 Antonio Briones is put in the stocks for failure to 'cumplir con la iglesia.' S. José, Arch., MS., iv. 30. In 1817 Sarria says the whites seem disposed to promote the establishment of the third order of penitencia at the presidios. Arch. Sta B., MS., iii. 92. At a ball given at San Francisco in 1816 the music stopped at the stroke of eight o'clock to allow time for prayer. Foreign visitors were, however, not favor- ably impressed with the prominence given to St Francis in comparison with Christ at a fiesta. Chamisso, Reise, i. 135; ii. 25.

42 This correspondence was in 1815, 1817, 1819-21. At one time it was said that there was a disposition to grant the faculty on petition of the gov- ernor, who was urged by the president to exert his influence. Arch. Sta B., MS., iii. 92; xii. 97; Arch. Arzob., MS., iii. pt. ii. 59-61; St. Pap., Sac., MS., vi. 20. Another fruitful matter for correspondence was the obtaining of holy oil from the bishop; which oil the padres had to pay for by assuming certain masses for which the bishop had been paid; but which, being thus paid for, there was much difficulty in obtaining. Arch. Sta B., MS., xii. 276-98; Prov. Rec., MS., x. 48. The matter of Russian Indian converts, their instruction and baptism, was likewise referred to the bishop, who advised great cantion in receiving Russians or other heretics into the true church, and approved the refusal to bury in holy ground a Russian prisoner who had died suddenly, though the Greek church rite of baptism differed but little from the Catholic. Arch. Sta B., MS., x. 171-9. The bishop had also to decide now and then a case where a criminal claimed the privilege of church asylum, as in the case of the Indian murderer of the majordomo at San Diego in 1814. Prov. St.

412

MISSION AFFAIRS.

the friars at presidios and pueblos, the old difficulties still existed, and indeed became constantly greater as the friars became old and infirm. Yet this difficulty was not made the subject of any general controversy, though the friars were obliged to refuse a regular attendance at Los Angeles. The soldiers often com- plained because their own leisure and disposition for spiritual matters did not always coincide with the convenience of the padre, and the urgent need of supernumeraries for chapel service still had a place in communications to Mexico. 43

The prefect was also representative of the inquisi- tion, but the duties of that position were not arduous. An occasional ediet had to be published, generally having no special force in California. Ramon Sotelo was threatened with a trial before the dread tribunal for having expressed views about some religious mys- tery which "not even a Protestant would have dared entertain." Sotelo's weakness was a tendency to ar- gue with the friars; and it was deemed by the prose- cuting attorney a sufficient punishment to condemn him to the chain-gang for a time, with daily lessons in Christian doctrine from the padre whose arguments he had failed to appreciate; but the culprit simplified matters by breaking jail at Los Angeles. 44 The con- version of John Rose, the Scotchman, so far astray that it was deemed unsafe to expose the Indians of San Diego to his influence, seems also to have been effceted by the efforts of Comisario Payeras.

Pap., Ben. Mil., MS., Ixxi. 47-51. Prayers ordered on death of king's rela- tions and on pregnancy of the queen, 1818-19. Arch. Sta B., MS., x. 288; xi. 438. Bulls of papal indulgence ordered to be sold to people of San José in 1820, whether they had money to pay or not. Dept. St. Pap., S. José, MS., i. 120. 43 March 20, 1820, Lient. Estudillo gives a historical account of chaplain service at Monterey since 1796, his aim being to secure the services of a friar on fixed days and not according to convenience as Sarria insisted. Prov. St. Pap., xx. 276-9. Monterey to have a bautisterio in 1811. Arch. Arzob., MS., ii. 84. For the trouble at Los Angeles, see Prov. Rec., MS., ix. 187-8; Arch. Sta B., x. 491; xii. 93; Arch. Arzob., MS., iii. pt. i. 67-8. May 9, 1820, the president asks governor to revoke the order for soldiers to confess at the pre- sidios instead of missions. Arch. Sta B., MS., xi. 183.

# Prov. Rec., MS., xii. 114; Prov. St. Pap., Ben. Mil., MS., xlix. 10-12; Arch. Sta B., MS., xii. 136-7, 74. Case of Rose, Arch. Arzob., MS., iv. pt. i. 24, 30-1.

CHAPTER XIX.

INSTITUTIONS AND INDUSTRIES.

1811-1820.

PUEBLOS-NO COLONISTS OR CONVICTS-RANCHOS AND LANDS-SPANISH DE- CREE ON PUBLIC LANDS-INOPERATIVE IN CALIFORNIA-LABOR AND LABORERS-NATIVES BEAR THE BURDEN-MANUFACTURES-ROADS AND BRIDGES-PRIMITIVE MILLS-MINES-TRADITIONS OF GOLD-AGRICUL- TURE-FLOOD AND DROUGHT-PESTS -- SPECIAL PRODUCTS-LIVE-STOCK- COMMERCE-FREE TRADE-DUTIES-LIMA SHIPS-EXPORT OF TALLOW --- FURS-RETAIL SHOPS AT MONTEREY-PRICES-FINANCE-HABILITADO GENERAL-GERVASIO ARGUELLO-MILITARY-FORCE AND DISTRIBU- TION -- PROVINCIAL AND MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT-ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE-CRIMES AND PENALTIES-SOLA'S EFFORTS FOR EDUCATION- SCHOOL-BOY DAYS AT MONTEREY.

THE white population of pueblos, villa, and ranchos increased in ten years from 540 to 930, the figures not being entirely satisfactory, and all other statistics being practically lacking. The source of increase was still from children who grew up to manhood in Cali- fornia, and from soldiers who retired from military service in their old age. There was no influx of colonists from abroad; not even convicts were sent from Mexico to swell the criminal population;1 and no measures whatever were adopted by the authori- ties to promote the settlement of the province by Spaniards, though there was as usual an occasional allusion to the importance of such promotion. In the methods of pueblo management there was no essential variation, the few regulations issued being copied in substance from those of former time. I do not there-

1 On the contrary there are indications that several vagrant ' leeches' were in some way gotten rid of by the governor and Capt. Guerra. Prov. St. Pap., Ben. Mil., MS., xlix. 16; Guerra, Doc. Hist. Cal., MS., iii. 259.

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414

INSTITUTIONS AND INDUSTRIES.

fore deem it desirable to reproduce here to any extent the items that have been presented in connection with local annals elsewhere. The same remark may be made respecting private ranchos and land-grants. It is likely that one or two pieces of land were newly occupied, as elsewhere noted, and that some of the old ones were abandoned; but in this last decade of Span- ish control the changes were few, and the system remained monotonously in statu quo. The padres still opposed the granting of private ranchos and kept up here and there a minor local quarrel with the occupants.2 To some extent ranchos of neophytes had been formed in connection with the missions; but this practice was not encouraged, because the neophytes' chief object was found to be removal as far as possible from the watchfulness of the mission- aries.3

One important act of the Spanish government re- quires notice here in its chronological order, though without practical effect in California in this decade. This was the decree of the cortes, 1813, on the re- duction of public lands to private ownership.4 The avowed motives of this decree were: first, the welfare of the pueblos and the improvement of agricultural and industrial interests; second, to relieve public necessi- ties and reward the country's defenders. There were

2 Arch. Arzob., MS., iii. pt. i. 18; Prov. St. Pap., Ben. Mil., MS., Ixiv. 4-5. Zavalishen, Delo o Koloniy Ross 19, says a rancho of San Pablo was established north of the bay in 1819-doubtless an error.

3 May 16, 1816, Zalvidea to governor. Arch. Arzob., MS., iii. pt. i. 38-0. The writer says it would be better to attach the ex-neophytes to the pueblos than to let them live on distant ranchos. April 3, 1818, Sola to viceroy: The experiment was a failure at Santa Clara. Prov. Rec., MS., ix. It would be desirable to have more information about these early experiments, but none is extant. Payeras, in a report of 1820, speaks of 38 ranchos in California, Arch. Sta B., MS., iii. 142; but this doubtless includes the farms cultivated by neophytes living at the missions as well as those occupied by Spanish rancheros.

4 Decreto de las cortes sobre reducir los baldíos y otros terrenos comunes & dominio particular, 4 de enero de 1813, in Mexico, Leyes Vigentes, 56, etc .; Trans- lation in Dwinelle's Colon. Hist. S. F., add., 20-3; Hall's Hist. S. José, 105-10; Jones' Report, No. 7; Wheeler's Land Titles, 6. I find no copy in the Californian archives. Since the two objects of the decrce are set forth with equal clear- ness, it is hardly just to term one of those objects a 'pretence,' as writers have been disposed to do.

415

PUEBLO LANDS.

reserved only that class of pueblo lands known as egidos, or necessary suburbs; but any revenues thus lost by the pueblos were to be made up in some other way. Residents of the pueblos were to be preferred in the transfer; they were also to have the preference in the payment of their claims against the government; lots were to be assigned to such residents as had none, and lots were also to be assigned as 'patriotic rewards' to invalid officers, and to officers and soldiers who served the king in the late wars. All these grants, for the most part gratis, were to come from one half the public lands, and were to be in fee simple after four years, but not subject to entail or transfer by mortmain title. The other half of all the public domain was to be sold or hypothecated for the pay- ment of the national debt according to some plan to be proposed later by the territorial deputations. This decree, as I have said, was inoperative and perhaps unknown-like the secularization decree of the same year -- in California before 1820; but it was a prominent element in later discussions.

Of labor and manufactures there is little to be added to what has been said of these topics for the preceding period. Spaniards showed an undiminished willingness to have all work save military service per- formed by Indians. At the presidios imprisoned crimi- nals, both neophytes and gentiles, were largely utilized, and for the rest, reliance was placed on the hiring of savage and Christian servants. That gentiles were regularly hunted with the reata, and dragged in to toil at the presidios, as is charged by certain for- eigners, there is no good reason to believe. At the pueblos a large part of the settlers were content to be idle, giving the Indians one third or one half the crop for tilling their lands, and living on what remained.5

5 Dec. 31, 1814, receipt of padre of Soledad for $485 for neophyte labor at Monterey. Prov. St. Pap., Presid., MS., ii. 29. 1814, Indian servants male and female employed by troops and families at San Diego, by whom they are

416

INSTITUTIONS AND INDUSTRIES.

No more is heard of artisan instructors from Mexico. The prevalent want in the country must naturally have had an effect to stimulate manufactures, in quan- tity if not in quality; but we have no definite record on the subject save that Padre Ripoll at Santa Bar- bara was somewhat successful in improving the quality of home-made clothes.6 There are a few allusions to work on the roads and bridges, especially between San Francisco and Monterey, where Sergeant Pico was commissioned to bridge the Pájaro in 1816. All the lumber used was hewn by hand, there being no saw-mill. At several places one millstone was turned upon another by the direct application of horse-power without mechanism; and I suppose that equally rude water-power mills were running at San José, Branci- forte, and San Gabriel, though there is no record on the subject; but most of the flour consumed in the country was yet ground by women on the hand me- tates. A visitor in 1816 says the wind-mill of the Russians at Ross was an object of wonder but found no imitators.

In the last decade it will be remembered that Arri-

fed, clothed, and educated. Arch. Sta B., MS., iii. 35. Work at the pueblos, 1815. Id., vii. 207-9. Sept. 30, 1815, padres of San Francisco refuse to furnish 20 Indians as boatmen because Indians are scarce, and because, being poor oarsmen, they will surely be drowned. Arch. Arzob., MS., ii. 102. June 20, 1816, Guerra says there are plenty of Kodiaks who would make good servants if baptized; wants two of them himself. Prov. St. Pap., MS., xx. 108. 1817, Sarria complains of the non-payment of neophyte laborers, who are counted on for all work, the white people scorning to learn trades or to do any but military service. Arch. Sta B., MS., iii. 84-5, 90-1. 1818, Golovnin, Voyage, 120, gives a very highly colored account of the lassoing of Indians for servants. 1820, the $8 per month allowed each neophyte in the maes- tranza should be paid to the Indian community fund. Arch. Arzob., MS., iv. pt. i. 28. Never any armorers in California, only very bad blacksmiths. Id., iii. pt. ii. 132-3. In 1819 Sola asked for invalid mechanics from Mexico, but there were none to be had. Prov. St. Pap., MS., xx. 79.

6 Mention of the usual mission industries. Arch. Sta B., MS., x. 298; Prov. Rec., MS., ix. 179, 182, 185. Oct. 16, 1819, Sola complains to the pres- ident that the Indians do not do all that they might for the troops; implying that laziness, bad supervision, and lack of energy on the part of the padres were the cause. Arch. Sta B., MS., xi. 433-7. In 1819 Payeras circulates a 'recipe' for making cloth 'suitable to remedy the present urgent need, if not presentable on a connter.' Arch. Arzob., MS., iii. pt. i. 5. Ripoll's efforts. Id., iii. i. 50-1, 54. Road and bridge making. Id., iii. pt. i. 21-2. St. Pap., Suc., MS., viii. 64; Vallejo, Ilist. Cal., MS., i. 143. Remarks on industries in 1816. Chamisso, Rcise, i. 129; ii. 29.

417

GOLD IN CALIFORNIA.

llaga had reported against any prospect of mineral wealth in California; but Sola, on the contrary, in his report of 1818 declared that most of the mountains showed indications of metal, alluding also to the ex- traction of eight or nine marks of silver by smelting a few years before, doubtless in the Ortega mine. It was also about 1820 that some English captain is said to have obtained from this country a splendid specimen of gold in quartz, which was preserved by Edward Ellice in 1850, and by him exhibited at the Royal Institute. The popular rumors of gold near San Luis Obispo would seem to date back to this decade; since José de Jesus Pico narrates that he and his boy com- panions knew of certain mysterious operations with flasks of quicksilver in the mission cuadro where none but the initiated might enter.7

Statistics of agriculture and stock-raising have already been given in this chapter for the missions, and there are no reliable data for anything more. Weather reports show 1816-17 to have been a year of heavy rains, causing some damage from inunda- tion; while 1820-1 was remarkable for drought.8 The chapulin, the chahuistli, ground squirrels, gophers, and rats-these animals having rapidly multiplied since the Indians had no longer need to hunt them for food-were the agricultural pests still complained of occasionally in different parts of the province, to say nothing of the mustard, which sometimes choked the crop and furnished a hiding-place for live-stock.9 Re-

7 Sola, Observaciones, MS., 190-I; Quarterly Review, 1850, Ixxxvii. 416-17; Pico, Acontecimientos, MS., 15-16. The writer in the Review does not fail to expatiate on what England might have gained, and what troubles avoided, to say nothing of how Mr E. might have become the 'richest individual in Europe,' had he realized that 'such a lump must have many companions.'

8 Weather reports and items relating almost exclusively to 1817 and 1820 in Prov. St. Pap., MS., xliii. 6-7; xliv. 12-13; xlvii. 5-6; xlix. 56; Pror. St. Pap., MS., xix. 361; Guerra, Doc. Hist. Cal., MS., iii. 234-5; v. 207-8; Vallejo, Sequias en Cal., MS., in Arch. Arzob., MS., iii. pt. ii. 9-16, 22; Prov. Rec., MS., ix. 169.

9 Prov. St. Pap., MS., xix. 34]; Id., Ben. Mil., xlii. 5; Prov. Rec., MS., ix. 189; Arch. Arzob., MS., i. 105. Great scarcity of agricultural implements in 1819. Prov. St. Pap., MS., xx. 73.

HIST. CAL., VOL. II. 27

418

INSTITUTIONS AND INDUSTRIES.

specting the cultivation of special crops I append a few minor items.10 A slaughter of horses to keep the numbers within limits was ordered on several occa- sions at different places; but there was no general slaughter throughout the province.11 Meat was plen- tiful for all classes, there being large numbers of wild cattle to be had for the hunting. The padres, however, complained that their herds did not increase as rapidly as they ought, because many cattle were killed as wild that were not so, soldiers and not Ind- ians being in most instances the culprits. Gentiles and bears still made inroads, however, on the live- stock.12 On the superiority of California-bred stock

10 In 1810 olives had begun to be planted at many missions; and in 1818 olive culture was already an assured success, especially in the missions of the San Diego district which furnished other missions all the oil they needed. Arch. Sta B., MS., x. 299, 304; Prov. Rec., MS., ix. 189. Lands of San Fer- uando deemed well fitted for sugar-cane 1817. Arch. Arzob., MS., iii. ii. 6. Dec. 1816, President Payeras asked for 20 laborers from Mexico to cultivate vines. Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, March 21, 1862. Los Angeles had 53,686 vines in 1818, and all the missions south of Sta Bárbara made wine of different kinds. Prov. Rec., MS., ix. 187-9. A little hemp was raised and made into coarse stuffs during the hard times; but although the commanders of San Blas vessels were ordered to load with hemp if possible, it does not appear that any considerable quantity was obtained. Prov. St. Pap., MS., xx. 131, 242; Arch. Arzob., MS., iv. pt. i. 31; Arch. Sta B., MS., x. 304; Prov. Rec., MS., x. 44. Oranges abundant at San Gabriel, Angeles, and Sta Bárbara in 1820. Vallejo's Letter to Warner. There was an effort made to raise cotton and with a little success at San Diego, despite the fogs. Prov. Rec., MS., ix. 189; Arch. Arzob., MS., iv. pt. i. 3, 32-3; Prov. St. Pap., MS., xx. 281; Vallejo, Doc. Hist. Cal., MS., xxviii. 25.

11 Dept. St. Pap., S. José, MS., i. 145-6; Prov. St. Pap., Ben. Mil., MS., xlvi. 16-17; Prov. Rec., MS., xi. 52, including a reprimand to Juan José Nieto for allowing his caballada to increase, with a threat that he will forfeit his rancho.

12 Complaints of the padres. Arch. Arzob., MS., iii. pt. i. 15-17, 30, and passim. P. Amorós is especially bitter, mentioning instances within his knowledge, and not hesitating to pronounce the soldiers worse than the Indians. Yet the soldiers say 'all is the king's and the Indian is a thief.' "El Indio todo para todos Indio es, Indio morirá, y por esto tenemos padre.' The governor complains that the yield of tallow was much less after the license to hunt wild cattle in 1818. St. Pap. Sac., MS., vi. 51. Much meat taken to the plains and burned at slaughtering times, so says the president in 1815. Arch. Sta B., MS., vii. 182. Number of cattle much diminished since the yerba de puebla could no longer be obtained to poison wolves. Roquefeuil's Voy., in Nour. An. Voy., xviii. 248. Ravages of bears. Boronda, Notas, MS., 13. Price of cattle in 1816, $4 to $6. Guerra, Doc. Hist. Cal., MS., vii. 13-14. Some changes in regulations for branding, and clipping ears. Prov. Rec., MS., ix. 143; Prov. St. Pap., MS., xx. 136; Id., Ben. Mil., xlvi. 36; Arch. Arzob., MS., iii. pt. i. 117; S. José, Arch., MS., i. 23. Martiarena asks for a team of carriage mules from Cal. Guerra, Doc. Hist. Cal., MS., vi. 129. One of Gov. Sola's first acts was to issue an order forbidding the burning of pasture lands

419

COMMERCE.

in these early days I may note the request of a gen- tleman at Tepic that Captain de la Guerra would send him a span of mules for his carriage.

Spanish commercial regulations were not modified,13 but there was little need for a resort to smuggling, especially during the last half of the decade. The provincial authorities were glad to purchase every cargo, Spanish or foreign, that could be paid for in mission produce, deeming themselves especially for- tunate when a seller could be induced to accept a draft on the treasury. Sola insisted on the collection of duties on all exports and imports according to a tariff apparently devised to meet the needs of Cali- fornia,14 but otherwise there was practically no obstacle thrown in the way of free trade after 1816, though there is very slight evidence that any trade, even con- traband, was carried on with foreign vessels except by the government.15 The Lima trade in Spanish ves- sels assumed considerable proportions, tallow being the chief article of export, with small quantities of grain, soap, and hides, though the era of the hide- trade had not yet begun. There is nothing to be re-

without permission of the authorities, except by the padres. Sta Cruz, Arch., MS., 49; S. José, Arch., MS., iii. 20.

13 In 1820, on complaint of Sierra, a Cádiz merchant orders that the old decrees of 1793, 1794, 1795, and 1818, relieving national goods and products sent to or from the Californias in Spanish vessels, be strictly enforced. Printed decree in Pinart collection. Bustamante, Medidas, MS., i. 141-56, has much to say on the importance of Californian trade.

14 In August 1817 Sola ordered that imports pay the same rates as they had paid at the ports of exportation as shown by their manifests; and in Novem- her it was decreed that foreign goods pay 12 per cent on the price of salc. The export duty was 19 cents per arroba on tallow; 37 cents on soap; 37 cents per fanega on corn and beans; and similar rates according to value on other articles. Roquefeuil paid 7.5 per cent on imports, 15 and 16 per cent on corn and tallow. On imports the duty was reduced to 6.25 per cent in 1820. Hemp exported paid 12.5 per cent. There was some opposition to the pay- ment of the duty on tallow, or rather the foreigners thought it ought to be paid by the padres. Sola exempted from duties all articles bought for the use of church or padres. Prov. St. Pap., MS., xx. 154, 168, 212, 285; Id., Ben. Mil., xlvi. 17; Guerra, Doc. Hist. Cal., MS., iii. 250; iv. 11-12; v. 209; Pror. Rec., MS., ix. 131; xi. 51-5; Sta Cruz, Arch., MS., 44; S. José, Arch., MS., i. 26; Arch. Sta B., MS., ix. 376; Roquefeuil's Voyage, 109.

15 In a later report, Figueroa, Cosas Financieras, 1834, it is stated that Sola opened the ports to foreign trade in 1819 with excellent results.

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History of California, Volume II, Part 42

Author: Bancroft, Hubert Howe Publication date: 1885 Publisher: San Francisco, Calif. : The History Company, publishers Number of Pages: 826

Author: Bancroft, Hubert Howe
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: San Francisco, Calif. : The History Company, publishers
Number of Pages: 826