USA > California > San Francisco County > San Francisco > San Francisco, a history of the Pacific coast metropolis, Volume I > Part 10
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Simplicity of Dense Ignorance
Eager for Luxuries
No Aptitude for Trade
Spanish Re- straint not Resented
Trade with the Philip- pines
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modern times, and which has for its object the prevention of great riches being acquired by traders. The king was insistent that the vessels in the Philippine trade which had formerly made Cape San Lucas their port of call should continue to make regular visits to the coast of California, and in 1782 had made an order that they should put in at San Francisco or Monterey, but as the interdictions of trade remained in force, there was little or no disposition on the part of the colonists to accumulate for the purpose of making exchanges.
Abatement of Trade Restrictions
The necessities of the missions and the colonists in 1786 caused the Crown to remove restrictions for a period of five years, during which transports were per- mitted to trade more freely, and this permit was further extended in 1794, but it is significant of the spirit of the times and the attitude of the people that Governor Fages in 1791 expressed apprehension that the relaxation would prove conducive to luxury. His warning voice must have been heeded in Madrid for in 1797 pleas for more commercial privileges urged by Borica and Manuel Carcaba received no attention, and the same inattention to colonial needs was manifested as during the years prior to the temporary removal of restrictions.
Dread of Luxury
If the Spanish, in attempting to hold the trade for themselves, had imitated the examples of the English, and vigorously sought to cultivate their opportunities for commercial profit, the outcome would have been different. But their jealousy accomplished nothing more than to prevent anyone deriving advantage and kept the people of California in a condition bordering on absolute stagnation. This jealousy exhibited itself in many forms, sometimes, as in the case of Fages, who was perhaps inspired by the missionary idea that the people might become cor- rupted by luxury, it was based on considerations for the moral welfare of the inhab- itants of the coast; but in most instances it was due to the apprehension that if the foreigner was permitted to trade with Californians he might pave the way to seizing the country.
In 1788 Martinez actually recommended to the viceroy a plan for the acquisi- tion of Hawaii and the planting thereon of an establishment, and the reduction of the islanders so that the possibility of the island being used as a port of refuge by foreigners would be destroyed. He urged in support of his recommendation that the facilitation of commerce which would follow the use of Hawaii as a port of refuge must prove a menace to California, and while his suggestion was not acted upon there is every reason to believe that his arguments were sound. Nothing was done in the premises, for long before Martinez sounded his warning Spain had dropped out of the habit of doing things.
The failure to take steps to prevent encroachments were wholly due to the cause last mentioned and not to any feeling of security. That was non existent, but the apprehension, which seemed to be a pervading state of mind in Madrid, Mexico and in California, was not of the kind calculated to interpose obstacles to the accomplishment of the dreaded result. The attempts of the Russians to secure a foothold in California, to all appearances, were regarded with alarm, and there are documents in which may be found vigorous instructions imposing upon , someone the necessity of getting rid of them; but for a long period, comparatively speaking, they were allowed to do pretty much as they pleased in the vicinity of San Fran- cisco bay; probably because there was no force adequate to the carrying out the rec- ommendations made by superiors located at the seats of government.
Encroach- ments not Resisted
Proposal to Acquire Hawaii
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The inaction in the case of the Russians affords another illustration of the ineptitude of the Californians which was scarcely disguised by professions of fear for the integrity of the Spanish territory on the Pacific coast, or by moral consid- erations such as those put forward by Fages. The suppression of trade had no effect in repressing desire; it simply made it difficult or impossible to obtain things eagerly longed for by all classes, even the padres sharing in the longing.
When the "Juno" entered the harbor of San Francisco in 1806 on her errand of securing supplies for the employes of the Russian establishment in Alaska, she brought many articles which Langsdorff, the chronicler of the voyage, says the missionaries were well pleased with. Among them were linen cloths, Russian tick- ing and English woolen cloth. But the things inquired for which the "Juno" was unable to supply, when enumerated give a better idea of the combined results of restriction and inefficiency. There was a demand for tools for the mechanical trades, implements of husbandry, household utensils, shears for shearing sheep, axes, large saws for sawing out planks, iron cooking vessels, casks, bottles, glasses, fine pocket handkerchiefs, leather, particularly calf skins and sole leather, and the ladies at the presidio sought cotton fabrics, shawls, striped ribbons and other articles of adornment. 1
There is a suggestion in the not unnatural demand of the women for articles of finery of the decided formation of habits of luxury, but in the long list of almost indispensable things we discover evidence of needs, the failure to meet which must be held responsible for the backwardness of the province. In it we also have pre- sented a picture, the details of which may easily be filled in, of a community liv- ing in the midst of a region of plenty, yet unable to command the simplest articles of common use, such as are found in the household of the least rewarded mechanic or laborer of the present day. And it must be borne in mind that this deprivation was not merely felt by the poor; it was also suffered in common by all the inhabit- ants from highest to lowest.
It is from the study of such demands and the inadequate fashion in which they were met that we may obtain the best knowledge of the actual conditions existing in California during mission days, and not from loose statements suggestive of Ar- cadian simplicity. And the inquiry will not be made in vain if it serves to make clear the fact, which is too often lost sight of, that the theories respecting the difficulties of an increasing population gaining a livelihood are untenable. The accuracy of the Malthusian assumption that population must ultimately press on the limit of subsistence may be demonstrated mathematically, but it is far easier to prove that people invite suffering and want by their failure to guard against them.
Had the early Californians made use of their opportunities they could have provided themselves with most of the things which they so eagerly demanded, and which they were only permitted to obtain under suffrance. After the year of the arrival of the "Juno," and even before that date, the enterprising Yankee had gained a knowledge of their needs, and what they had to offer in order to obtain the things necessary to satisfy them. The cargoes brought by these enterprising purveyors tell a story of their own which is very interesting and throws valuable side lights on the mode of life and even affords some illuminating hints respecting re- ligious usages and the attitude of the people towards those managing their spirit- ual affairs.
Russian Advances
Cause of Backward- ness
Yankee Trad- ers Visit the Coast
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It has been mentioned by the chronicler of the "Juno's" voyage that the padres were well pleased to obtain certain articles brought by that vessel from Sitka, but the privilege was reserved for a Boston skipper to make a plea in extenuation of an infraction of the custom's laws, that he was actually making it possible to prop- erly perform the ceremonies of the church by smuggling into the country many things imperatively required.
A Yankee Smuggler
This man fertile in excuses was Captain George Washington Eayrs, whose ves- sel, the "Mercury," was seized for smuggling in 1813. When caught in the act Eayrs did not bother the United States government to help him out of his diffi- culty, but set up the plea that he was not conscious of having done anything wrong. On the contrary he asserted that he should be regarded as a benefactor rather than as a malefactor as he had "provided the priests with what they required for instructing the natives and for the ceremonies of religion." He added, "they have paid me with provisions and some few otter skins. I have clothed many naked, and they have given me in return products of the soil, as the officers of this dis- trict can inform your excellency."
Padres En- courage Smuggling
The padres and the officers appealed to were quite ready to back up Captain Eayrs, but when we examine the list of the articles brought to the coast for trad- ing purposes by the "Mercury" we discover that it embraced many things not usually regarded as the necessaries of life, nor as essentials of Arcadian simplicity. Among them we find mention of hardware, crockery, fish hooks, gunpowder, cotton cloth and blankets, camelshair shawls, Chinese silks of various colors, and a par- ticularly admired rose shade, white lady's cloth, fine kerchiefs, decorated water jars, gilded crystal stands, flowered cups for broth, porcelain plates, platters with red and green flowers upon them, shaving basins, black mantillas, etc., etc.
Helping the Church
We fail to discern in the long list any articles particularly devoted to church uses, but there is no doubt that the claim was justified, and that the kindly inter- vention of Captain Eayrs helped the padres to make their churches more attractive in appearance, and their ceremonials impressive. These were the chief diversions on the religious side of the Californians, every feast day being signalized by pro- cessions in which the most magnificent vestments attainable were brought into requisition, together with silken banners and other religious insignia.
In the accounts we have of the equipment of the expeditions formed for the purpose of reducing Upper California, there is frequent mention of the provision of vestments, altar utensils, and other articles demanded by the elaborate cere- monial of the Catholic church; and occasionally there are intimations that the sup- ply was not as great as desired. It is not improbable that the silks and some of the other articles brought by the "Mercury" were employed to replenish the store which must have become depleted by years of wear. The powder, too, we may as- sume, was requisitioned for the church feasts, in which musketry discharges as well as music played a part.
The population of the locality in which the Mission of St. Francisco was situated was not sufficiently large to afford the necessary actors for the morality plays which are described by some of the early visitors, but the old church still standing in the mission had its share of celebrations, which were probably as instructive to the neophytes as the religious spectacle of "Holy Night," which we are told was produced in San Diego with great splendor and much realistic effect. This drama was enacted after the midnight mass and was participated in by several persons,
Customs Evaded
Morality Plays
San Francisco Water Front.
Pacific Ocean, from the Land's End.
The Golden Gate, from Boulevard.
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male and female, who took the parts of Lucifer, the Archangel Gabriel, a hermit, a lazy vagabond and shepherdesses. The action represented a conflict of Satan with the angel, in which the champion of the heavenly hosts always won.
The music in the mission chapels was of a somewhat better order than that produced at the dances. The padres taught the Indians to play on several instru- ments and helped out themselves. It is related of Pius X, that he took serious exceptions to the use of airs derived from operatic scores by Catholic church choirs, but the missionaries were not so particular. If we may accept the assurance of Duflat de Mofras he heard the Marseillaise played as an accompaniment to a mass at the Mission Santa Cruz. He did not mention the fact censoriously but rather as a curious matter; perhaps because the sentiment back of the French revolutionary hymn was so much at variance with the extreme conservatism of the padres. 1
There were other practices of the native Californians which gave them a repu- tation for unconventionalism, but most of them may be set down to ignorance of the usages of polite society rather than any desire to adhere to the tenets of the simple life. The desire to make a display was sufficiently pronounced, but the equipment was defective. The etiquette of the table varies greatly in different lands and what is good manners in one place may easily be regarded as bad form in another. Therefore it is unnecessary to dwell with too much emphasis on such stories as that related of a visitor on board one of the trading ships who was much disappointed in not obtaining the same aromatic result from grating the end of his thumb nail into a glass of punch as his neighbor who used a spicy nutmeg; or that of the other ranchero who found the sauce of the pudding so much to his liking that he consumed the contents of the sauce dish and asked for more.
It is idle to discuss the question of the morality of the sexes; and certainly it is unwise to make sweeping assertions. Dana spoke slightingly of the women, but he was contradicted point blank by other writers, who had better opportuni- ties for observation and whose knowledge of Spanish and of Californian manners made them better qualified to pass judgment. The duena system prevailed, but more as a tradition than because its necessity was recognized. Perhaps the earlier writers are not entitled to as much consideration in determining the matter as ob- servers who came much later. It may be affirmed with positiveness, that unless twenty years of American rule in California vastly changed the character of the native women the standard of morality was as high among them as in any other modern nation.
There is no doubt that after the secularization of the missions, and when the padres had completely parted with their powers, there was a marked change in the devotion to religious observances which in many cases, especially when unions were formed with Protestants, approached close to the border of absolute indiffer- ence, but native California women were not singular in that regard, and their indifferentism did not appear to undermine their morals; as for the men, religion never was their strong point, and the padres had to be content with their outward observances of its forms, and a more or less lukewarm compliance with the de- mands of the church.
Indians Taught Music
Ignorance of Polite Usages
Sexnal Relations
Religious Sentiment Relaxed
CHAPTER X
BEGINNING OF THE AMERICAN INVASION OF CALIFORNIA
THE FIRST SETTLERS OF SAN FRANCISCO-MEXICAN OPINION OF CALIFORNIA-AMERICAN CRITICISM OF SPANISH METHODS-RESTRICTIONS ON IMMIGRATION-FOREIGNERS WELCOMED BY CALIFORNIA WOMEN-THE FIRST AMERICAN INTRUDERS-RUMORED SEIZURE OF THE PORT OF SAN FRANCISCO-FRICTION WITH FOREIGNERS-INTRIGU- ING AMERICANS-TRADE WITH NEW MEXICO-ADVANCE GUARD OF THE AMERICAN INVASION-AGGRESSIVENESS OF AMERICAN IMMIGRANTS.
HE composition of the population during the mission period has been indirectly alluded to in the preceding chapters, OF but its changing complexion at various intervals, especially after the successful Mexican revolution, makes it more fit- SEAL ting to attempt to describe its source and peculiarities by DRO LN P OF SAN F including the immigrants whose presence in the country ISCO anticipated and to a considerable extent promoted the scheme of American occupation.
It is quite clear that the animating purpose of the Franciscans who assisted in the work of reducing the province was the conversion of the Indians and not the opening of the lands to settlement. Whatever may have been the views of the Spanish authorities in the premises they were completely subordinated to the exigencies of the situation which compelled the acceptance of such settlers as of- fered themselves, and they were as a rule of an inferior character and sometimes very disreputable.
The first expeditions were military rather than industrial, and those composing them had no stomach for work, and they soon fell into the habit of shifting every- thing like exertion onto the Indians who accepted Christianity and by so doing placed upon their necks the yoke of slavery. Perhaps had they been formed of better material the men composing the garrison of the presidio might have assisted in forwarding the work of development in spite of their disinclination for work, but unfortunately for the country they were in large part, in the beginning, mem- bers of the poverty stricken region of Northern Mexico, the backward condition of which was due to the general incapacity of the inhabitants who were in a constant state of pauperism.
It may be inferred from a publicly expressed opinion of one of the governors of Upper California that it was a place too good for convicts but not inviting enough for decent people to make their home in it, that it had a bad reputation in Mexico and perhaps a worse one in Spain. Those who have paid any attention to the subject will recall that for a time after the discovery of gold a like impres- Vol. 1-5
First Settlers of San Francisco
Prime Ob- ject of Missionaries
Soldiers Disinclined to Work
California Traduced
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sion prevailed in the Eastern states of the Union, derived from the statements of those who misjudged the capabilities of the country because it did not present the same characteristics as the regions with which they were acquainted, and whose absence they assumed would offer insuperable obstacles to agricultural productivity.
The Spaniards and the Mexicans had little excuse for making such a blunder, for in its general aspects Upper California closely resembled many parts of Spain, and did not essentially differ from a good deal of Mexico except in one particular. In both of the countries named successful efforts had been made to bring under cultivation land which, however uninviting it may appear before the application of water, after it is applied surpasses all other kinds in productivity. As the earliest settlers could not have been unaware of this fact it must be assumed that it was an unconquerable aversion for work of any sort which caused the neglect that occasioned the bad reputation which they perhaps welcomed because it afforded them immunity from adverse criticism.
Habite Easily Acquired
It is quite certain that they enjoyed such immunity during the entire period from the establishment of the first mission in San Diego until four or five years after the American occupation. The first Americans who entered the country neither by word nor example rebuked the Californians. Unless the records are very misleading they promptly fell in with the customs of the country, and soon learned to adopt the fallacies of the inhabitants among which were embraced the settled conviction that its chief if not its only value was for grazing purposes.
Early Comers Sharp Critics
When criticism began it was of the sharpest. The Americans regarded with scorn the inefficiency of the earlier occupants of the land and sweepingly asserted that the soldiers at the presidios were of no value as settlers and even of less account as warriors. They declared that they were utterly without discipline, were wretchedly underpaid and that they were riotous and indolent and gave the mission fathers more trouble than the Indians. They were commonly, they asserted, the refuse of the Mexican army, or deserters, mutineers or men guilty of military offense who were sent to California as a place of penal banishment. Not infre- quently convicted felons were sent to the presidios and their presence was not cal- culated to elevate the general tone of the society.
Views of Americans
These were the views entertained by the Americans who thronged into the country after the discovery of gold, and they might properly be suspected of ex- aggeration if they were not amply corroborated by the testimony of the padres, Mexican officials and others whose disinterestedness is not open to question. They, perhaps, more nearly described the condition existing after the Mexican revolu- tion, but with some modification they apply equally to the whole period of Spanish and Mexican rule.
Restrictions Upon Immi- gration
In the Fifties when the municipal troubles of San Francisco assumed such pro- portions that drastic measures had to be taken to suppress them the condition was attributed to the mixed character of the population, but no such excuse could be offered by the Spaniards or Mexicans for their shortcomings. Jealousy of for- eigners had always characterized the Spanish and the feeling was inherited by their Mexican successors. There were laws which permitted immigration, but there were so many restrictions accompanying them they were practically with- out effect. As a consequence there never was any considerable number attempting to enter the country, and the few who did would not be regarded as the flower of the lands to which they owed their origin.
Mistaken Opinions of Mexicans
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Outside of the Russians who penetrated California in the early part of the nineteenth century, and who were not absorbed in the general society, the first foreigners to make their homes in the province were deserters and shipwrecked sailors. The earliest of these was a young Briton who in 1814 reached the coast in a British vessel and found it sufficiently to his liking to remain. The town of Gilroy is named after him. He became a Catholic, married and was admitted to citizenship a few years later. About the same time an American carpenter and an Irish weaver took up their abode and assumed Spanish names, a practice very generally resorted to by the settlers of this period.
A nominal acceptance of the Catholic faith was a prerequisite to toleration, and if the conversion was complete, and accompanied by marriage to a Californian girl there was an approach to something like a welcome at least by the women who showed a decided inclination for the strangers, while the males of the fam- ily usually regarded them with distrust until their superior energy won for them a place in the community. It is a matter of record that the most of these mar- riages turned out fortunate, probably because the foreign husbands had a keener appreciation of the necessity of providing for their wives and offspring, with the result that they became forehanded, often converting the land poverty of the girl and her relatives into comparative affluence.
In 1826 a law was passed by the Mexican congress prohibiting foreigners from entering the country without a proper passport. It was not called for by any great influx of outsiders, for as late as 1829 there were only 44 foreigners in Monterey. Its probable inspiration was the arrival in the first named year of a party of Americans who came into the country overland. It was headed by Jed- ediah Smith, who had been authorized by the United States executive authorities to hunt and trade west of the Rocky Mountains. They entered the desert country near the Colorado river and were in grave straits because of the failure of their supplies. They managed, however, to reach San Gabriel in Los Angeles county where they encountered trouble owing to the suspicions of the native Californians, which were only appeased by the representations of the captains of foreign ves- sels who certified to the honesty of their intentions. Subsequently they made their way to San Francisco in search of supplies and were summoned before Gov- ernor Echeandia at Monterey, and again were delivered from surveillance by the interposition of sea captains. Smith and his party left San Francisco and pushed toward the Columbia. Later he was killed by Indians.
The presence of Smith and his party caused a rumor to become current that the United States had seized the port of San Francisco. Echeandia took occasion to deny it, and in doing so intimated pretty broadly that the disposition to do so undoubtedly existed, as it was by far the best harbor belonging to the Mexican republic, and he cited in support of his belief that the Americans did not hesi- tate to take the Floridas from Spain, and added that he had no doubt that they would cheerfully round out their possessions by seizing California.
These foreigners who entered the country in a more regular fashion than the deserters from ships were chiefly attracted by the colonization laws already re- ferred to which provided for the disposition of vacant lands. The provisions were very liberal and would undoubtedly soon have resulted in adding a considerable number to the sparse population of the province if it were not for the interposi-
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