originally called a president, but afterwards a prefect; and each prefect was independent in his own mission, and practically supreme in all its temporal, and nearly in all its spiritual matters, to any human authority.

Thus the Fathers might be considered to have lived something in the style of the patriarchs of the days of Job and Abraham. They indeed were generally ignorant and unlettered men, knowing 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 personally 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 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 children 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 wayfarer, as he travelled from mission to mission, perhaps bearing some scanty 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. these things have now passed away. The churches have fallen into decay, deserted by the old worshippers, and poverty-strickenthe adobe houses of the Fathers are in ruins-and there is scarcely any trace left of the slightly erected huts of the Indians, who

ever.

All

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 yesterday, still remains fresh in the minds of the early white settlers.

The quiet beauty and peacefulness of such a life make a delightful subject of contemplation to the wearied spirits who labor X 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 flourished 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 intellectual 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 capturing 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 little 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

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 complete, and generally they were ridiculously short of that number. Undisciplined, 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 banishment. 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 retirement, after a certain number of years, from active service, received grants of land from the Fathers, upon which they settled, 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

were established in the most fertile places of the country, they began gradually to attract other white settlers to their neighborhood, 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 California), and those of San José, near the mission of Santa Clara, and Branciforte, close to the mission of Santa Cruz.

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 Pious Fund.-Increasing riches of the Fathers.-Changes of 1883 and 1834 in the Missions, and attempts by the Mexican Congress to secularize their property.-Santa Anna.--Attempted Centralization of the Mexican Government.-Overthrow of the old Federal Constitution in 1886.-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 constitution 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 representative 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 functions, 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 authorities proclaimed the manumission of the Indians, and sent in