USA > California > San Francisco County > San Francisco > The annals of San Francisco; containing a summary of the history of California, and a complete history of its great city: to which are added, biographical memoirs of some prominent citizens > Part 6
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ANNALS OF SAN FRANCISCO.
mares, 200 yoke of working oxen, 500 mules, 30,000 sheep, 200 goats, 2,000 swine, a thrifty orchard, two rich vineyards, $35,000 in foreign goods, $27,000 in specie, with church ornaments and clothing valued at $61,000 :- San Fernando, in 1826, owned 56,000 head of cattle, 1,500 horses a: : mares, 200 mules, 400 yoke`of working oxen, 64,000 sheep, and 2,000 swine. It had also in its stores about $50,000 in merchandise, and $90,000 in specie. Its vineyards yielded annually about 2,000 gallons of brandy, and as many of wine :- San Gabriel, in 1829, had 70,000 head of cattle, 1,200 horses, 3,000 mares, 400 mules, 120 yoke of working oxen, and 54,000 sheep. It made annually from four to six hundred barrels of wine, the sale of which produced an income of upwards of $12,000 :- San Luis Rey, in 1826, had 70,000 head of cattle, 2,000 horses, 140 yoke of tame oxen, 300 mules, and 68,000 sheep :- San Juan Capistrano and San Diego were reputed to be among the most opulent of the missions, and their possessions were not inferior to those of the others named.
Let the reader contrast these statements with those of Mr. Forbes, and consider what havoc must have been produced among the missions in the short space of six or seven years. It was the impending secularization, or, in other words, the confiscation of their property, which seems to have produced this lamentable state of affairs, and made the Fathers quite careless in the man- agement of their property. The large occasional grants, also, out of which the laity either wheedled or bullied the Fathers, mightily helped the disastrous result. The ravens had been long gather- ing round the carcass of the still breathing creature. In its last spasms, it recklessly threw aside all decorum, and thinking nothing of the future only endeavored to share in and for the moment enjoy its own spoils, along with the grasping and sacri- legious Mexican officials and their Californian favorites. Soon lands and stocks were all swept from the reach of the Fathers, the very Indian converts disappeared, and nothing was left but their huge empty churches, stripped of most of their valuable and gaudy ornaments, and fast crumbling into ruins. With the general disappearance of the stock of domestic cattle, those lay- men who had acquired grants to the different parts of the mission possessions now turned their attention more to tillage.
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CHAPTER V.
Pious Fund of California-General description of the Missions-Patriarchal kind of life of the Fathers-Reflections on the subject-General description of the Presidios, Castillos, and their gar- risons, and of the free Pueblos and Ranchos.
THE missions of Upper California were indebted for their begin- ning and chief success to the subscriptions which, as in the case of the missionary settlements of the lower province, were largely bestowed by the pious to promote so grand a work as turning a great country to the worship of the true God. Such subscriptions continued for a long period, both in Old and New Spain, and were regularly remitted to the City of Mexico, where they were formed into what was called "The Pious Fund of Cali- fornia." This fund was managed by the convent of San Fer- nando and other trustees in Mexico, and the proceeds, together with the annual salaries allowed by the Crown to the missionaries were transmitted to California. Meanwhile, the Spanish Court scarcely interfered with the temporal government of the country. It was true that some of the ordinary civil offices and establish- ments were kept up; but this was only in name, and on too small a scale to be of any practical importance. A commandante- general was appointed by the Crown to command the garrisons of the presidios, but as these were originally established solely to protect the missions from the dreaded violence of hostile Indians, and to lend them, when necessary, the carnal arm of offence, he was not allowed to interfere in the temporal rule of the Fathers. He resided at Monterey, and his annual salary was four thousand dollars.
In every sense of the word, then, these monks were practically the sovereign rulers of California-passing laws affecting not only property, but even life and death-declaring peace and war
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ANNALS OF SAN FRANCISCO.
against their Indian neighbors-regulating, receiving, and spend- ing the finances at discretion-and, in addition, drawing large annual subsidies not only from the pious among the faithful over all Christendom, but even from the Spanish monarchy itself, almost as a tribute to their being a superior state. This surely was the golden age of the missions-a contented, peaceful, be- lieving people, abundant wealth for all their wants, despotic will, and no responsibility but to their own consciences and heaven ! Their horn was filled to overflowing ; but soon an invisible and merciless hand seized it, and slowly and lingeringly, as if in ma- licious sport, turned it over, and spilled the nectar of their life upon the wastes of mankind, from whence it can never again be collected. The golden age of another race has now dawned, and with it the real prosperity of the country.
The missions were originally formed on the same general plan, and they were planted at such distances from each other as to allow abundant room for subsequent development. They were either established on the sea-coast, or a few miles inland. Twenty or thirty miles indeed seems all the distance the missionaries had proceeded into the interior ; beyond which narrow belt the coun- try was unexplored and unknown. Each mission had a consider- able piece of the best land in the neighborhood set aside for its agricultural and pastoral purposes, which was commonly about fifteen miles square. But besides this selected territory, there was generally much more vacant land lying between the bounda- ries of the missions, and which, as the increase of their stocks required more space for grazing, was gradually occupied by the flocks and herds of the Fathers, nearest to whose mission lay the previously unoccupied district. Over these bounds the Fathers conducted all the operations of a gigantic farm. Their cattle generally numbered from ten thousand to twenty thousand, and their sheep were nearly as numerous-though some missions had upwards of thrice these numbers-which fed over perhaps a hun- dred thousand acres of fertile land.
Near the centre of such farms were placed the mission build- ings. These consisted of the church-which was either built of stone, if that material could be procured in the vicinity, or of odobes, which are bricks dried in the sun, and was as substantial,
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DESCRIPTION OF THE MISSIONS.
large, and richly decorated an erection as the means of the mission would permit, or the skill and strength of their servants could construct. In the interior, pictures and hangings decorated the
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Mission of San Carlos.
walls ; while the altars were ornamented with marble pillars of various colors, and upon and near them stood various articles of massy gold and silver plate. A profusion of gilding and tawdry sparkling objects caught and pleased the eye of the simple con- gregations. Around, or beside the church, and often in the form of a square, were grouped the habitations of the Fathers and their household servants, and the various granaries and workshops of the people ; while, at the distance of one or two hundred yards, stood the huts of the Indians. The former buildings were con- structed of adobes, and covered with brick tiles, frail and misera- ble materials at the best. The huts of the Indians were occa- sionally made of the same materials, but more commonly were formed only of a few rough poles, stuck in the ground with the points bending towards the centre like a cone, and were covered with reeds and grass. An adobe wall of considerable height sometimes inclosed the whole village. The direction of the affairs of the settlement was in the hands of one of the Fathers,
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originally called a president, but afterwards a prefect ; and each prefeet was independent in his own mission, and practically supreme in all its temporal, and nearly in all its spiritual mat- ters, to any human authority.
Thus the Fathers might be considered to have lived something in the style of the patriarehs of the days of Job and Abraham. They indeed were generally ignorant and unlettered men, know- ing little more than the mechanical rites of their church, and what else their manuals of devotion and the treasuries of the lives of the saints taught them ; but they seem to have been person- ally devout, self-denying, and beneficent in their own simple way. They thought they did God service, and perhaps much more the Indians themselves, in catching, taming, and converting them to Christianity. That was their vocation in the world, and they faithfully obeyed its calls of duty. If ever stern necessity, or sometimes a forgetfulness of the value of life to the wild Indians prompted them, or their military guards and executioners, to the slaughter of a tribe, now and then, of the more fierce, thievish, and untractable natives, they were scrupulously careful first of all to baptize the doomed ; and, therefore, though the hapless aborigines lost earthly life and the freedom of a savage state, their souls were saved, and they entered into and enjoyed paradise for ever. Towards the converts and actually domesticated servants, they always showed such an affectionate kindness as a father pays to the youngest and most helpless of his family. The herds and flocks of the Fathers roamed undisturbed over numberless hills and valleys. Their servants or slaves were true born chil- dren of the house, who labored lightly and pleasantly, and had no sense of freedom nor desire for change. A rude but bounteous hospitality marked the master's reception of the solitary way- farer, as he travelled from mission to mission, perhaps bearing some seanty news from the outer world, all the more welcome that the Fathers knew little of the subject and could not be affected by the events and dangers of distant societies. All these things have now passed away. The churches have fallen into decay, deserted by the old worshippers, and poverty-stricken- the adobe houses of the Fathers are in ruins-and there is scarcely any trace left of the slightly erected huts of the Indians, who
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PATRIARCHAL LIFE OF THE FATHERS.
themselves have deserted their old hearths and altars, and are silently though rapidly disappearing from the land. But the memory of the patriarchal times, for they were only as of yester- day, still remains fresh in the minds of the early white settlers.
The quiet beauty and peacefulness of such a life make a de- lightful subject of contemplation to the wearied spirits who labor through the turmoils, anxieties, and vexations of the great world. But the Indian neophytes had no such contrasts to show them the inherent charm of their contented life. They grew and flour- ished as the cabbage on the rich soil of their own land ; but they also were as dull and earthly as the same cabbage. It may be very true, the more knowledge, the more sorrow ; yet we cannot avoid thinking that the more sources of intellectual enjoyment a man has, the keener and more numerous also his moments of pleasure. Even in many of the natural anxieties of civilized society, there is a sense of power and heroic endurance which softens the blow. The mere memory of past pains has almost always something cheerful in it ; while the remembrance of intel- lectual and refined enjoyments gilds the last and setting hour of our existence. On the other hand, the hopes of the intelligent being are infinitely more agreeable and ennobling than those of the untutored, brutal savage. Therefore it may be concluded that, apart from sickly sentimentalism and Rousseau-like theories, the sooner the aborigines of California are altogether quietly weeded away, the better for humanity. Yet the Fathers would retain them : then sweep away the Fathers too.
Like the missions, the presidios were established on one general plan. They were originally formed, as we have seen, to give military protection and the aid of the carnal arm to the Fathers in their conquest and civilization of the country, and in cap- turing and taming the wild Indians. These presidios were four in number, viz. : those of San Diego, Santa Barbara, Monterey, and San Francisco. They were built in the form of a square of about three hundred feet on each side, surrounded by a wall twelve feet high, made of adobes, and most of them are now lit- tle better than a confused heap of dried mud, rapidly crumbling into dust. Within these bounds were included the commandante's house, barracks for the troops, a church, store-houses, and various
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ANNALS OF SAN FRANCISCO.
other buildings. At some distance from the presidio was the castillo, or fort, which might be sufficient to overawe the simple Indians, but was too defenceless a structure to prevent a superior force of white men taking easy possession of it. A few guns of small calibre were mounted on the ramparts, which, however, seemed more for show than use, since they were never attended to. Soon, therefore, from the ravages of time and the weather, their carriages fell to pieces, and the guns themselves became honey-combed by rust and rot.
The soldiers assigned to each presidio were cavalry, and seem always to have been of the worst kind of troops. As soldiers, they were of little account ; as men and settlers, absolutely worthless. There were supposed to be two hundred and fifty attached to each presidio, but their complement was never com- plete, and generally they were ridiculously short of that number. Uudisciplined, wretchedly clothed, and irregularly paid, they were indolent, riotous, and good for nothing but to hunt, and shoot, or capture for new converts and servants, the wild Indians, and to act as policemen over the converts already made. Yet even in these capacities, they generally gave more trouble to the meek Fathers to manage and keep in decent order, than the wild or disobedient natives themselves. These were the soldiers of California in the days of the Spanish monarchy, and they were no better under the Mexican republic. They are represented to have been commonly the refuse of the Mexican army, and were generally either deserters, mutineers, or men guilty of military offences, who were sent to California as to a place of penal ban- ishment. To these presidios also the convicted felons of Mexico were often transported. Such was a considerable portion of the white population of California. We have already seen of what nature the Indian inhabitants were.
Occasionally, the old soldiers of the presidios, upon their re- tirement, after a certain number of years, from active service, received grants of land from the Fathers, upon which they set- tled, married, and left descendants. These formed the nuclei of a few free towns (pueblos), which were not under the control of the missions, but under the immediate government, first of the Spanish and afterwards of the Mexican authorities. As they
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PRESIDIOS, CASTILLOS AND RANCHOS.
were established in the most fertile places of the country, they began gradually to attract other white settlers to their neighbor- hood, and soon exceeded in population and importance most of the original mission villages themselves. These pueblos, however, were only three in number, viz. : that of Nuestra Señora de los Angeles (the principal one, and indeed the chief town in Califor- nia), and those of San José, near the mission of Santa Clara, and Branciforte, close to the mission of Santa Cruz.
WELL DEL
Mission Rancho.
Besides the missions, presidios, castillos, and pueblos, it may be remarked that there were certain public farms, called ranchos, set apart for the use of the soldiers. They were generally four or five leagues distant from the presidios, and were under the control of the different commandantes Little use, however, seems to have been made of these farms, and they commonly were left in a state of nature, or afforded only grazing to the few cattle and horses belonging to the presidios.
CHAPTER VI.
Independence of Mexico in 1822, and gradual changes in the character and constitution of the Missions. -Manumission of the Indians in 1826; but plan found unworkable, and return to the old state of things-Gradual disappearance of the Pions Fund .- Increasing riches of the Fathers .- Changes of 1833 and 1834 in the Missions, and attempts by the Mexican Congress to secularize their pro- perty .- Santa Anna .-- Attempted Centralization of the Mexican Government .- Overthrow of the old Federal Constitution in 1836 .- Revolt and Declaration of Independence of the Californians. -Continual sinking of the Fathers, and final fall of the missions in 1845 .- Indian converts sent adrift, and Mission property sold or rented .- Cost of the support of the Missions to the Spanish and Mexican Governments.
THE state of things described under the missions continued without alteration until the overthrow of the Spanish power in Mexico in 1822, and the establishment of a republican constitu- tion in 1824. At that time, as population formed the basis of the Federal States, New California was only admitted into the Union as a territory, it not having the necessary population to constitute a State. Under this character, it had a representa- tive in the Mexican Congress, who sat in the assembly and shared in debates, but who was not entitled to vote on any question. The republic was represented in the territory, as the Spanish monarchy had previously been, by a commandante-general, who was nominal governor of the country. However, the practical legislative powers and virtual government remained in the hands of the missons as before. The commandante-general indeed had a kind of advising or privy council given him by law, called a deputation, and which was chosen by the people ; but their func- tions, although appearing to take the form of a local and free government, were very limited, and their meetings accordingly seldom took place.
In 1826, the federal government first began to tamper with the ancient state of affairs. In that year, the Mexican authori- ties proclaimed the manumission of the Indians, and sent in-
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MANAGEMENT OF THE FATHERS.
structions to California that all those should be liberated "who had good characters, and were supposed able to maintain them- selves from having been taught the art of agriculture or some trade." Certain portions of land were allotted to them, and the whole country was divided into parishes, under the superintend- ence of curates. The old salary of the missionaries (four hundred dollars per annum) out of the national exchequer was also sus- pended, as the country was expected to maintain its own local establishments.
This plan, however, was quickly found to be unworkable. The simple Indians were quite incapable of standing alone, and rapidly gambled away, or otherwise squandered the little pro- perty assigned to them. Beggary or plunder was only left them to subsist upon. Such a state of things soon restored the Fathers to their former position. The most respectable white settlers entreated them to receive the beastly Indians back into the old fold ; and this, in the following year, the Fathers did. But they first took occasion to make the circumstances the ground of petition and complaint to Congress, who subsequently, and in consequence of their remonstrances, ordered not only the old salaries to be continued, but the arrears then due to be paid in full. Thus the reign of the Fathers was prolonged for a few years.
Meanwhile, the old Pious Fund of California was become only a name. After the separation of the Mexican provinces from Spain, the ancient subscribers got lukewarm in their pay- ments, and new ones were not easily to be had. In the dis- turbed state of the country, and in the change of ideas arising from political circumstances, there were more tempting channels for the application of loose money than in riveting the chains of Christianity on poor heathens, or securing the Fathers in their comfortable domicils. But, to compensate for the loss of these subscriptions, the real and personal estate of the missions was rapidly rising in value. Traders had come on the coast, who purchased the hides and tallow of their cattle, and the produce of their fields. The Fathers were becoming excellent men of business, and began to drive a thriving trade. They were now independent, in the fullest sense of the word ; so much so, that,
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ANNALS OF SAN FRANCISCO.
whereas formerly they were indebted to foreign contributions and royal or republican assistance to support their missions, they now not only could manage to subsist without these aids, but were enabled, and in truth obliged, to support the Mexican forces and civil establishments in their territory at a vast annual expense.
BAXTER
Portrait of one of the Fathers-Antonio Peyri (aged 67 years), Missionary at San Luis Rey, from 1799 to 1832.
Up to this time, and so late as 1833, the Mexican govern- ment had not sought, or rather was unable, to interfere materi- ally with the management of the Fathers. In that year indeed a body of eleven Franciscan friars was ordered by Congress to be sent to the missions to strengthen their establishments. At this time, General Don José Figueroa was appointed military gover- nor, or commandante-general. Some time later, in the same year, the democratic party being then in power, the Mexican Congress passed a law for entirely removing the missionaries, and dividing the lands among the Indians and settlers, and appropriating the
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REVOLT OF THE CALIFORNIANS.
funds of the Fathers in Mexico to state purposes. Commissioners were appointed to see this act carried into effect, and free emi- grants were engaged to proceed from Mexico to settle in the country. This was the most serious blow the missions had ever received, and would have been a deadly one, but for one of those revolutions or party triumphs which so frequently occur in Mexico. Santa Anna, who was opposed to the democratic party, happened to come into power before the provisions of the act could be carried into execution. He immediately overturned all that had been arranged on the subject, and forwarded, by ex- press, counteracting instructions to California. When subse- quently the emigrants from Mexico arrived in the country, Gene- ral Figueroa received them so coldly, and gave them so little encouragement, that soon the greater number of them returned to Mexico. The missions therefore continued as before ; and so ended this attempt on the part of the Mexican Government to secularize the property of the Fathers, and augment the popula- tion and resources of the country.
In 1835, the party at whose head was Santa Anna deter- mined to remodel the Mexican republic, and centralize the gov- ernment, thereby destroying, in a great measure, the federal con- stitution of 1824. But no time was allowed him to make the necessary changes and their exact nature therefore was never known ; for, in the following year, 1836, by one of the usual coups d'état, and while he himself had been defeated and taken prisoner by the Texans, another party opposed to his general views of policy came into power. This party, however, agreed with the previous administration on the necessity or propriety of remodelling the federal system. The old constitution was therefore abolished, and a new one adopted. By this change, the separate states were deprived of many of their former pre- rogatives, and nearly the whole rights and duties of government were confined to the general Congress and executive. This sweeping alteration of the federal constitution was opposed in many parts of the republic, and in no quarter more vigorously than in California. The people of Monterey rose en masse, and at once declared themselves independent until the federal con- stitution was re-adopted, and passed formal resolutions to that
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ANNALS OF SAN FRANCISCO.
effect. Their example was quickly followed by the inhabitants of the other towns and villages. But while the people of the southern parts of the country were inclined to adhere to Mexico, upon certain conditions, those of the nothern districts were determined henceforward, and for ever, to sever the connection with the other States, and to stand alone, free and independent of Mexican domination.
Mexico, meanwhile, was not exactly idle, for it answered the Californian proclamations, addresses, and long inflammatory speeches, by epistles and speeches of a similar nature on the opposite side. California and Mexico-the local and general governments-cach party appealed to the patriotism of the people in support of their cause. Señor Don Mariano Guada- lupe Vallejo, whose name will again occur in our pages, was ap- pointed commandante-general on the part of the Californians, and forthwith the whole train of congressional officials was forcibly expelled from office and the government troops disbanded, and before long transported to the Mexican territories. The Mexicans threatened an expedition to chastise the rebels, and recall them to repentance and duty ; while the Californians defied their menaces, and resolved to abide the consequences of their first steps to freedom. However, General Urrea, who had been charged by the Mexican Government with the conduct of this expedition, soon afterwards joined the federalist party, and wil- fully delayed the execution of his orders. At the same time, as the rebels were so far away, and the opposite factions in Mexico had so many more pressing matters to settle among themselves at home, somehow all about California appeared to be forgotten, and it was left, for a time, to any constitution, or none at all, and anarchy, just as its people pleased. About the end of July, 1837, the excitement among the Californians had subsided so far, that they then quietly accepted the new Mexican constitu- tion without a murmur, and voluntarily swore allegiance to it.
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