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LIEUTENANT-COLONEL MANUEL VICTORIA Was appointed March 8, 1830, to succeed José María Echeandía as gefe político of Alta California, and three days later official notice was sent to the incumbent.1 Victoria was then at Loreto, where for several years he had been comandante principal of Lower California; but nothing is known of his career on the peninsula, nor of his previous life beyond the current and probably accurate belief in California that he was a native of Acapulco, and commandant there in 1825, who had won his rank by personal bravery in the war of inde- pendence.2 Antonio García had previously been
1 Supt. Govt St. Pap., MS., vi. 6-7. Vietoria's appointment and Minis- ter Facio's communication of Mar. 11th to Echeandía.
2 Com. at Acapulco 1825. Gac. Me.c., June 15, 1825. In June 1825, when Victoria was about to leave Acapulco for Loreto, Enrique Virmond pro- ( 181 )
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RULE AND OVERTHROW OF VICTORIA.
named to succeed Echeandía, and the substitution of Victoria is believed to have been due to the success of Bustamante in Mexico, and to Franciscan influ- ence on the new administration. While there is no positive proof of the Californian friars' intrigues in the matter, yet Bustamante's revolution was widely regarded as a reactionary movement in favor of the old Spanish institutions. The padres were very bitterly opposed to the mission policy of Echeandía, or of the administration that he represented, and they openly rejoiced at the new appointment as a glorious 'victory' for their cause.3
Having notified Echeandía of his coming, and named a day for the transfer of office at San Diego, Victoria started northward from Loreto by land in the autumn of 1830, arriving at San Diego in Decem- ber, or possibly in November. He was disappointed at not finding either the governor or any message from him; but a despatch sent post-haste to the north elicited from Echeandía a reply, to the effect that the command would be turned over at Monterey, the capital. A later despatch, however, named Santa Bárbara as the place, and thither Victoria went, arriving the 31st of December. Here he remained about three weeks, engaging in a sharp correspond- ence with Echeandía, some of whose orders he coun- termanded, though not yet legally invested with authority; but at last he came to Monterey, and on January 31, 1831, assumed the formal command, tak- ing the oath in presence of the ayuntamiento, assem- bled for the purpose.4
nounced him, in a letter to Guerra, 'un sujeto de las mejores prendas.' Guerra, Doc., MS. Osio, Hist. Cal., MS., 160-2, says he failed to gain the confidence and esteem of the people in L. Cal .; but not much importance is to be attached to this statement.
8 Sec p. 108 this vol., with quotations from the statements of President Sanchez on this subject.
4 Robinson, Life in Cal., 97, says V. arrived at Sta B. on Jan. 10th. The rather meagre official correspondence on V.'s arrival and assumption of the command is as follows: Jan. 14, 1831, V. to E., complaining of the delay in turning over the office, and of the secularization decree. St. Pap., Miss. and Colon., MS., ii. 35-6; Jan. 19th, V. to min. of rel., narrating all that had
1S3
A GOLPE DE ESTADO.
In explanation of the situation at the time of Vic- toria's arrival, of Echeandía's strange conduct in de- laying the transfer of command, and of the bitter controversy that now began between the Californians and their new ruler, I must here refer briefly to a subject which will require full treatment in a subse- quent chapter, that of mission secularization. The reader is familiar 5 with the Mexican policy on that matter, with Echeandía's investigation, experiments, and difficulties in attempting to carry out his instruc- tions, and with the action of the diputacion in the summer of 1830 respecting a plan of secularization which was submitted to the national government for approval. Thus far proceedings had been strictly
occurred since his departure from Loreto, including the matter of seculariza- tion. Sup. Gort St. Pap., MS., viii. 8-10; Jan. 19th, E. to V., in reply to letter of 14th, reserving full explanations for a personal interview, but con- plaining of V.'s conduct in opposing his acts without legal anthority, and announcing his intention to await his arrival at Mont. instead of marching to Sta B. as he had been ready to do. St. Pap., Sac., MS., x. 76-8. Jan. 29th- 31st, summons to ayuntamiento, and E.'s announcements of having given up the command. Id., xiv. 23; Dept. Rec., MS., ix. S9; Dept. St. Pap., MS., iii. 5-6; Id., S. José, MS., iv. 94.
On the same topic a few extra-official statements may also be noted. Ban- dini, Hist. Cal., MS., 72-3, tells us that V. on his arrival impressed the peo- ple of S. Diego as a simple, unostentatious man with benevolent ideas-but they were soon undeceived. Vallejo, Ilist. Cal., MS., ii. 137-8; Osio, Ilist. Cal., MS., 160-2; Vallejo, Reminis., MS., 111; and Alvarado, Ilist. Cal., MS., ii. 168, state that on his way V. called on P. Peyri, at San Luis Rey, by whom he was most hospitably entertained, from whom he borrowed $6,000 more or less, to whom he promised all that the friars desired, and who at onee wrote to his associates 'ya lo tenemos en el manguillo.' No doubt relations were most friendly between the two, but the authors named are bitterly prejudiced against V. and all his acts. Vallejo and Alvarado say he got large suins also at S. Juan and S. Gabriel-in fact, that avarice was one of his weak points, and that the padres were willing to buy him. In his diary of Ocurrencias Curiosas, 1830-1, MS., Guerra notes the presence of V. at Sta B. on Jan. 7th; declines to make predictions about his prospective rule; but says he seems a great friend of Pacheco, has very judicious views on the subject of missions; and in stature and flesh bears some resemblance to Echeandía. Carrillo (J.), Doc., MS., 33. Mrs Ord remembers that V., instead of lodging as was enstomary at the comandante's house, went straight to the mission. Here Guerra went to call on the new governor, showing him every attention, and presenting his daughter, the writer. Ord, Ocurrencias, MS., 38-41. Osio, Ilist. Cal., MS., 162-4, says that V. arrived unexpectedly at Monterey, dismounting before the gov.'s house, and demanding, in an abrupt and offensive manner, an immediate surrender of the office. Echean- día promised the transfer for 9 A. M. next morning, and V. went to S. Carlos to sleep.
5 Sec chap. iv., this volume.
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RULE AND OVERTHROW OF VICTORIA.
legal, and marked by no imprudent or hasty steps. The friars, however strongly opposed to seculariza- tion on general principles, had no just cause for com- plaint against Echeandía. There was now, however, a popular feeling in favor of the proposed changes far in advance of Echeandía's personal views, and largely due to the influence of José María Padres, the newly arrived ayudante inspector. Padrés was a man of considerable ability, personally magnetic, and more- over a most radical republican. He soon became a leading spirit among the young Californians just be- coming prominent in public life, intensified their nas- cent republicanism, taught them to theorize eloquently on the rights of man, the wrongs of the neophytes, and the tyranny of the missionaries; and if he also held up before the eyes of the Carrillos, Osios, Vallejos, Picos, Alvarados, Bandinis, and others bright visions of rich estates to be administered by them or their friends, their young enthusiasm should by no means be termed hypocrisy or a desire for plunder.
But events in Mexico seemed to favor the friars, and were not encouraging to the views of Padres and his disciples. It is not apparent whether or not the success of Bustamante or its bearing on Californian matters was known in July and August 1830, the date of the diputacion's acts; but when the day of Victoria's arrival drew near, and no approval of the plan came from Mexico, Echeandía was persuaded, probably without much difficulty, to essay a golpe de estado. Accordingly he issued, January 6, 1831, a decree of secularization, which he took immediate steps to carry into execution before turning over the com- mand to his successor. Victoria was known to be more a soldier than a politician, and it was hoped with the aid of the diputacion in some way to sustain the decree and reach a result favorable to the anti-mission party. Echeandía's act was wholly illegal, uncalled for, and unwise. It was simply a trick, and an absurd
185
THE GOVERNOR'S ADDRESS.
one. The opponents of Victoria were thus in the wrong at the beginning of the quarrel.6
While at Santa Barbara Victoria heard of the de- cree of January 6th and prevented its publication in the south; while he reported the matter to the national authorities, denouncing Padrés, whom of course he had known well in Baja California, as the real author of the trick and as a man who was very dangerous to the best interests of the territory.7 In the north, where the decree had been already published, the new ruler took immediate steps to prevent its execution. Nothing more need be said here of secularization,8 but the wrath of the ayudante inspector and his party may well be imagined by the reader, and will be constantly apparent in the subsequent record.
Having assumed the command, Victoria issued the 1st of February an address to the people, a brief document, in which the author made known to his 'beloved fellow-citizens' his purpose to reform the evils that most afflicted the country, and his hope for cordial support from the inhabitants. "The laws must be executed, the government obeyed, and our institutions respected," he writes; "I have to favor honesty and to punish perversity, the first being in accord with my character, the second demanded by my honor and conscience."9 All of this officer's com- munications, or at least all that have been preserved, were brief and to the point, showing the writer to be more of a soldier than politician, and lacking some- thing of the usual Mexican bombast. Of his personal
6 In a letter to the padres dated Nov. 18, 1832, E. says that V. factiously removed him from the command, and that he gave it up to save the country from disturbanees (!), little thinking V. would 'audaciously prevarieate and break his oath.' St. Pap., Miss. and Colon., MS., ii. 61. To Figueroa, on Mar. 19, 1833, he says that V. treated him with the greatest contempt in matters of government. Id., ii. 55. The only defence of E. and his friends is the justice of their general views on the mission question and the Indians' rights, which of course has no real bearing on the matter at issue.
1 Sup. Govt St. Pap., MS., viii. 8-10.
8 The subject is fully treated for the years 1831-5 in chap. xi .- xii., this volume, q. v.
9 Victoria, Manifestacion del Gefe Político de la Alta California á sus habi- tantes, 1831, MS.
1S6
RULE AND OVERTHROW OF VICTORIA.
movements during the nine months of his stay in the north, we know but little, except what can be gathered from the dates of successive official documents to be noticed incidentally in the record about to be pre- sented. He is said to have gone to San Francisco soon after taking the command, and subsequently to have spent some time on different occasions at Santa Clara.1º In addition to his few letters on special topics, the governor made in June a general report on the industrial condition of California, a document which presents no matter for comment.11 Echeandía retired to San Diego a few days after turning over the office, but did not yet leave the territory, as we shall see.
The annals of 1831, and of Victoria's rule, are con- fined to the revolutionary movement by which that rule was brought to an end, there being nothing else wor- thy of notice in the records of the year, so far at least as general history is concerned. The development of the revolution may best be explained by presenting as successive topics the several charges against the gov- enor, which may be regarded as in a certain sense the causes of the popular feeling on the subject, though it is well to bear always in mind the chief cause, under- lying all others as already shown. I begin with what was in reality the most serious and best founded ac- cusation.
10 Vallejo, Hist. Cal., MS., ii. 137-40, speaks of a party given in V.'s honor at the house of Lieut Martinez, at which politics was more or less dis- cussed. Amador, Mem., MS., 122, mentions a tour of inspection before settling at the capital. Apr. 7th, Jose J. Gomez writes to Juan Bandini that V. had arrived at Monterey (from the north?) the day before, and was talking of going south soon. S. Diego, Arch., MS., 18. Alvarado, Hist. Cal., MS., iii. 7-8, tells a story to the effect that V. attempted to prosecute himself and José Castro for the part they had taken iu publishing the secularization decree, authorizing Pliego, their enemy, to commence criminal proceedings. But when summoned-so says A .- they rode up before Pliego's office on horseback, refused to hear the documents read, and dashed off to Sta Clara. V. subsequently treated them very well, however, giving them a profitable license to take otter at S. Francisco.
11 Victoria, Informe General sobre California, 1830, MS., dated June 7th. A general report on government with recommendations of reform may also be mentioned under date of Sept. 21st. Dept. Rec., MS., ix. 146-9.
187
REFUSAL TO CONVENE THE DIPUTACION.
Victoria neglected to convene the diputacion, and even when urged to do so, flatly refused, greatly to the disgust of the members and their friends, the most influential element of the population. His conduct in this respect was doubtless illegal as well as impoli- tic, and gave the Californians just cause for complaint. He knew, however, that the vocales were for the most part the followers of Padres and the promoters of Echcandía's golpe de estado, regarding their desire to assemble as merely a continuation of the trick, and supposing with much reason that the sessions would be largely devoted to schemes of interference with his own policy and measures. On January 29th, the day of Victoria's arrival at Monterey, Echeandía had sum- moned the vocales to assemble in the interests of pub- lic tranquillity.12 I have no doubt the plan was in some manner to insist, with the aid of the diputacion, on the carrying-out of the secularization scheme. Efforts to convene that body were continued all the spring and summer. At first the ayuntamiento of Monterey, aided to some extent by that of San José, was the medium of appeal, though the governor in February assembled that body to explain how inop- portune had been the petitions of Alcalde Buelna, and warned the municipal authorities not to meddle with matters that did not concern them.13 The 30th of July diputados Vallejo, Osio, Ortega, and Castro pe- titioned the governor directly to convoke the assembly, and apparently some of the southern members either signed this petition or sent in another similar one; but Victoria showed no signs of yielding.14
12 Jan. 29, 1831, E. at the request of the ayunt. of Monterey in extra session, to José Ortega, Tiburcio Castro, M. G. Vallejo, and suplente Francisco Haro in place of A. M. Osio. Dept. Rec., MS., ix. 88; Vallejo, Doc., MS., i. 216; Monterey, Actos del Ayunt., MS., 30-1. Probably a similar summons was sent to other members.
13 Monterey, Actos del Ayunt., MS., 31-4, 38-40. Sessions Jan. 29th; Feb. 5th, 18th; Aug. 3d, 4th. Also vague allusions in the proceedings against Duarte, the alcalde of S. José. Dept. St. Pap., Ben. Mil., MS., 14-51. Of the Duarte case I shall speak a little later.
1+ The petition is alluded to in Leg. Rec., MS., i. 305-9, 332, but no de- tails are given. On Aug. 24th V. writes to Alcalde Sanchez of Los Angeles.
1SS
RULE AND OVERTHROW OF VICTORIA.
The northern members repeated their petition Sep- tember 11th, urging that the regular time for meet- ing was March 1st, claiming that urgent business required attention, and even threatening rather mys- teriously, in case their request were denied, " to pro- ceed according to law."15 This brought out from Victoria on the 21st an address, or manifiesto, to the public. In this document he defined in a very straight- forward manner his position, alluding to the criminal motives and seditious plans of the opposing faction, "personal interests disguised in the habiliments of philanthropy," declaring his intention to thwart the schemes of his predecessor, and reminding good citi- zens that the way to prosperity and happiness lay in the direction of submission to law, and not of sedition. He stated that a majority of the diputados had been illegally elected, that he had reported everything to the national authorities, without whose orders he would not convoke the assembly, and that he counted on resources unknown to his enemies.16 In a report bearing the same date Victoria announced his suspen- sion of the diputacion, and earnestly recommended the abolishment of all elective ayuntamientos and the restoration of military rule, except that certain judges might be appointed for Los Angeles and San José.17 This radical overturning of all civil authority seemed a simple and effective measure to this honest soldier, who felt that he could preserve order more easily if
'As you are probably on good terms with Pico, persuade him to withdraw his petition for convoking the dip. . . It is my privilege to convene the assem- bly when I find it necessary; and up to the present time it has not been so; for I have just reasons which require me to await the decision of the sup. govt on my inquiries.' Id., i. 329-30. Sept. 7th, V. writes a very curt and plain letter to Juan Bandini in reply to his of Aug. 7th. The subject is os- tensibly financial matters, but it is apparent that Bandini was reckoned among the enemies of the new gov. on general principles. Dept. Rec., ix. 43-5. 15 Petition dated S. Francisco, in Leg. Rec., MS., i. 330-2.
16 Victoria, Manifiesto a los Habitantes de California. 21 de Setiembre, 1831, MS .; Vallejo, Doc., MS., i. 245; Pico, Ilist. Cal., MS., 3; Bandini, Doc., MS., 16. V. expressed like sentiments in a letter of Oct. 24th to the alcalde of Los Angeles, copied in Leg. Rec., MS., i. 335-6.
17 Sept. 21, 1831, V. to min. of justice, in Dept. Rec., MS., ix. 146-9. The writer claimed that there were few if any persons fit for alcaldes, and that the offices were sought mainly for purposes of personal gain or revenge.
IS9
ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE.
the territory were made a mere military comandancia. Small wonder, however, that the Californian republi- cans were unprepared for such a change! The four diputados, Vallejo, Ortega, Osio, and Castro, sent, September 18th, a representation to Mexico, complain- ing of the refusal to convoke the diputacion, of his evident hostility to the federal system, and of several arbitrary acts to be noted later. The 7th of Novem- ber they sent another memorial in reply to Victoria's manifiesto, in which they called upon the supreme government to protect the people against the gov- ernor's oppressive usurpations. 18 Juan Bandini, sub- stitute congressman from California, also wrote a reply to Victoria's proclamation, dated at San Diego Octo- ber 10th, in which he refuted the charge of illegality in the elections, and argued very eloquently against the governor's right to deprive the country of the services of its diputacion on account of mere suspicions respecting the members. Pio Pico, senior vocal of the diputacion, issued a similar protest.19
The administration of justice was a subject which carly claimed the new ruler's attention. It had been much neglected by the easy-going Echeandía, and crime had gone unpunished. Criminal proceedings had been often instituted, as we have seen in the local presidial annals of the last six years, but penalties had been rarely inflicted with fitting severity. Victoria had strict ideas of discipline, and no doubt of his ability to enforce the laws. He is said to have boasted soon after his arrival at Monterey that before long he would make it safe for any man to leave his handker- chief or his watch lying in the plaza until he might
18 Copies of these documents in Vallejo, Doc., MS., i. 215, 238, 241.
19 Bandini, Contestacion á la Alocucion del Gefe Politico D. Manuel Victoria, 1831, MS .; Pico, Protesta al Manifiesto de Don Manuel Victoria, 1831, MS., dated Oct. 15th. Oct. 17th, J. M. Padres in a private letter congratulates Vallejo and the other deputies on their efforts to throw off the ugly epithet of 'seditious' applied by the gefe político. He thinks the southern deputies have failed to do their whole duty. Vallejo, Doc., MS., i. 239.
190
RULE AND OVERTHROW OF VICTORIA.
choose to come for it. How he carried out his ideas in this direction will be apparent from a few causas célebres of the year.
The case of Atanasio was pending when Victoria came. Atanasio was an Indian boy less than eigh- teen years of age, a servant in sub-comisario Jimeno's office, who had in 1830 stolen from the warehouse property to the extent of something over $200. The prosecution was conducted by Fernandez del Campo, Padrés, and Ibarra as fiscales; and the last-named demanded, in consideration of the youth and ignorance of the culprit, as well as on account of the carelessness with which the goods had been exposed, a sentence of only two years in the public works. The asesor, Ra- fael Gomez, after having sent the case back to the fiscal for the correction of certain irregularities, ren- dered an opinion April 18th, in favor of the death penalty; and by order of the comandante general Atanasio was shot at 11 A. M. on the 26th.20 Gomez was an able lawyer, and I suppose was technically correct in his advice, though the penalty seems a severe one. Naturally the Californians were shocked; and though an example of severity was doubtless needed, Victoria was not fortunate in his selection. The circumstance that led to the culprit's detection seems to have been his using some military buttons for gambling with his comrades; and the popular ver- sion of the whole affair has been that an Indian boy was shot by Victoria for stealing a few buttons.21
In May 1831 the warehouse at San Carlos was robbed on three different occasions, perhaps entered three times the same night, by Simon Aguilar, a Mex-
20 Atanasio, Causa Criminal contra el Indio Atanasio y ejecucion del reo, 1831, MS.
21 Estévan de la Torre, José M. Amador, Jesus Pico, Inocencia Pico de Ávila, José J. Vallejo, Juan B. Alvarado, and others give substantially this version. I have no space for minor variations, most of which are absurdly inaccurate. Osio, Hist. Cal., MS., 165-6, says that Gomez sent a despatch to stay the execution an hour after the boy had been shot; and Vallejo, Hist. Cal., MS., ii. 143, that Atanasio was a servant of Pliego, caused to be con- demned by his master without the proper legal forms, and without any speci- fication of the crime.
191
THE RUBIO CASE.
ican convict in the service of Gomez, and Eduardo Sagarra, a native of Lima. A neophyte boy, An- drés, furnished the keys, which he had managed to steal from Padre Abella, the complainant in the case. There was no doubt about the guilt of the accused, and the fiscal, Rodrigo del Pliego, demanded for the two men the death penalty, and for the boy, in con- sideration of his being only thirteen years old, two hundred blows. Gomez, the asesor, also decided that Aguilar and Sagarra should be shot, and that Andrés, after witnessing the execution, should receive one hundred blows, and be sent to the mission to work for six months, wearing a corma. The sentences were approved by Victoria, and executed May 28th at the presidio of Monterey.22
The famous Rubio case dates back to 1828. On the night of August 15th of that year, Ignacio Olivas and his wife, on returning from a fandango at San Francisco, found their little daughter aged five years, and son of one year, dead in their beds, the former having been outraged and both brutally treated. The soldier, Francisco Rubio, a vicious man who had been convicted of serious crimes while serving in the mis- sion escoltas of Santa Inés and Solano, was suspected and arrested. The case was prosecuted in August and September by Lieutenant Martinez, and the testi- mony has been preserved. It was in evidence that Rubio had learned by inquiry that the parents were to attend the fandango without the children; that he knew how to open the doors; that tracks about the house agreed with his boot; that his clothing bore
22 Records of the case in Dept. St. Pap., Ben. Mil., MS., Ixxiii. 8-11. No- tice of the execution in Dept. Rec., MS., ix. 25; Guerra, Doc., MS., v. 102. Notices by P. Sarria of spiritual consolations and burial in the presidial cem- etery of these two men, and also of Atanasio. Nos. 2784, 2892-3, in the register of burials at Monterey, copied in Torre, Remin., MS., 23-6. Larios, Convulsiones, MS., 11, witnessed the execution and the flogging administered to the boy. So did Rafael Pinto, Apunt., MS., 6-8, who was a boy at the time, and who received a terrible flogging from his brother-in-law, in order that he might never forget the day nor the solemn lesson taught by the event! Ama- dor, Mem., MS., 122-6, tells us that one of the padres interceded most earnestly with Victoria for a pardon.
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