critics, and that the so-called indolent and stupid masses compared favorably with the stupid and unscrupulous masses of their successors. In this connection it is not amiss to remind the student of these times of the fact that the better class of the Spaniards were cultured people, fond of literature, music, the arts, and the many pleasures of life. In an essay entitled "Some Regrets," the immortal synthetic philosopher, Herbert Spencer, says: "I detest that conception of social progress which presents as its aim, increase of population, growth of wealth, spread of commerce. * * * A prosperity that is exhibited in board of trade tables year by year increasing their totals, is to a large extent not a prosperity but an adversity.

*

But the ideal (material wealth) we cherish is a transitory one-appropriate, perhaps, to a phase of human development during which the passing generations are sacrified in the process of making easier the lives of future generations."

It is exceedingly doubtful whether the average of the new settlers exceded the average of the old residents in the higher qualities of honesty, respect for neighbors, and general intelligence, though the new population was moved far more strongly than the old one with the greed for material possessions.

To resume the story of the territory's development, it may be said that the idea of Americanization was in the air at an earlier date than is generally recorded in histories. In 1829 some unpaid soldiers at Monterey undertook, with the aid of a handfull of native Californians, to put the country into Californian hands, though still professing allegiance to the central Mexican government. One Solis by name, a convict ranchero, led the revolt. It had no general support, and soon collapsed.

Manuel Victoria became governor in 1830, succeeding Echeandia, but he did not take charge until January, 1831. Victoria proved arbitrary and unpopular, and a successful revolt soon ended his career. Two men were killed in a conflict near Los Angeles, and the fallen governor consented to return to Mexico.

Governor José Figueroa succeeded Victoria, and he was an able and popular executive, though the Hijar and Padres party put forth a colonization scheme that resulted in a quarrel between the governor and Hijar regarding policies and authority. In 1835 the colonization plan collapsed;

it had, however, added about two hundred to the population of the country. Governor Figueroa died in September, 1835.

José Castro's reign followed immediately after Figueroa's death, but the term was brief because the central government in Mexico soon appointed Mariano Chico as Figueroa's successor, ignoring Castro's claims. Chico soon showed that he was unfit and unpopular, so the public denounced him as a tyrant. He was forced to retire in July.

By this time the foreigners and Americans were becoming bitterly opposed to Mexican rule and were beginning to feel that the country was theirs. Like all other Anglo Saxons they became aggressive, and in many cases highly ungrateful for the treatment they had received at the hands of the better original Californians. In their opposition to Mexico they were quietly aided by the holy fathers, for these religious devotees had suffered wrongs at the hands of the Mexicans, who had stripped them of many of their possessions. The fathers longed for the old Spanish days and really welcomed a change from their oppressors' hands to the supervision of the pale strangers. The people at large were ripe for revolt, and the Alvarado revolution of November, 1836, was the result. By a display of forcethough without one drop of bloodshed-the insurgents got possession of Monterey and at once banished Gutierrez, the ranking military officer of the country, to Mexico. The territory was then declared a sovereign state. A union with Mexico was really Alvarado's ambition as well as the popular idea, but the task of conciliating the people of Santa Barbara and Los Angeles required considerable diplomacy, likewise a show of real force. The conciliation was effected, however, at Los Angeles, in January, 1837.

After some delays and parleying with Castillero, a Mexican commissioner sent to pacify the country, and after successfully resisting Carlos Carrillo, who had been appointed chief executive by Mexico, Alvarado found himself in almost undisputed command of the country. He worked his plans so successfully that he was soon confirmed by Mexico as the constitutional governor of the country.

Alvarado ruled quite successfully and peacefully. In 1840 he quarreled with the eminent General Vallejo, his former partisan supporter.

During this same year nearly one hundred American citizens, British subjects and others, were carried to Monterey after a forcible seizure. At

Monterey they were confined in prison for a brief period, though some were mysteriously released without a word of explanation. Some were sent to Santa Barbara under a close guard. Finally a few more were released without explanation. Others were sent to San Blas or other Mexican villages, but many died under the severe treatment. The last were released more than fifteen months after their original capture. Some historians have cited this as an extreme instance of Spanish cruelty. It is believed, however, that the Mexican course had a reasonable justification, for the character of some of the men was undoubtedly bad, and their actions were suspicious with reference to their attitude toward the government. Probably one of the purposes of Mexican harshness was to frighten foreigners away and fill the minds of those about to come from the east with disgust and fear. There is some evidence to sustain the charge that a few of the banished men had been plotting against the government. One of the expelled men was Isaac Graham, doubtless a great villain, as were a number of his companions.

Mexico's last serious attempt to govern the new country without much reference to the people's wishes was by the appointment of Governor Micheltorena, a general, in 1842. He was a well-meaning executive, but his Mexican recruits were highly unpopular. The people rebelled against his authority in 1844. By 1845 Micheltorena abandoned the fight and Mexico recognized Pio Pico as the lawful ruler of the country. There was some petty quarreling, with many intrigues, after this, but the Mexican war soon introduced a new factor in the controversy-and with the results of that factor we shall deal hereafter.

CHAPTER IV.

HABITS AND AMUSEMENTS OF THE NATIVE CALIFORNIANS OF EARLY TIMES -AMERICANS BEFORE THE CONQUEST-CHARACTER OF THE EARLY TRAPPERS AND PATH-FINDERS-CAPTAIN JOHN A. SUTTER AND HIS ACHIEVEMENTS--THE COMING OF FREMONT-ETHICS OF THE CONQUEST, AND OTHER THOUGHTS.

So short a time ago as the year 1846-short in the life of a stateCalifornia was a far away and neglected Mexican province, a country little known to the great world of commerce and adventure. In view of its marvelous resources and its many forms of wealth-gold mines, forests, climate-it is wonderful that it was so long regarded as worthless. At the period under consideration-1846-the formerly prosperous missions were all secularized and moribund, some of them in ruins.

The power of the church had waned and the mission Indians were scattered, except those that had married soldiers, sailors, trappers, and others of the early visitors to the country. Lucia Norman, a clear writer on this phase of life, truly says:

"Life at the missions was wearisome to those who through all their lives had been accustomed to roam untrammeled from one portion of the country to the other; to climb in quest of game the snowy peaks of mountains in summer, and in autumn to descend to the warm sequestered valleys to pluck the ripened fruits for their winter store; and then, again, to stand by the rapids of a mountain stream and spear the fish that came leaping down, or to sit idly by the seashore and draw in their rude nets laden with finny treasures. This excess of freedom must often have been remembered with a sigh by these apparently thoughtless creatures, as they filed into the church at dawn, and listened, without understanding a word, to the monotonous tone of the priest as he said mass, or catechised them like so many children, and then dismissed them to their breakfast of atole (a sort of gruel made of corn). After which they toiled in the fields until dinner, at which they were supplied with pozoli. After partaking of this meal they attended

mass, and then returned to the gardens or fields until vespers, when they were again served with atole, and dismissed early to their little adobe huts, of each one of which the fathers kept the key.

"So the missions were conducted for a long series of years—the fathers gradually becoming more and more selfish, and the Indians slowly decreasing in numbers under this foreign rule.

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"The missions, meanwhile, were falling to decay. The priests, perceiving that all of the administrations concurred in desiring their complete removal, grew disheartened and neglected their work, and soon left the country. In 1845 their final ruin came. Part of the missions were sold at public auction, and the others were rented. The proceeds of the latter were divided into three parts. The first paid the salaries of the remaining priests; the second was given to the converted Indians; and the third was set by as a Pious Fund for charitable purposes."

Early in the year 1846 the white population of San Francisco proper was about two hundred, and these were chiefly colonists of an adventurous spirit. They were from Spain and Mexico. By 1847 there were about two thousand people in San Francisco and vicinity, including the settlements around the bay. The city proper had but seven hundred inhabitants. Many of the people were a peculiar mixture of Spanish and Indian, or Mexican and Indian. Spanish customs and Spanish words were quite common.

It will be well to understand the peculiarities of the people and the condition of the country before narrating the events that soon made California the most famous land of the age.

The natives were a careless and free people, fond of sports, not ambitious for worldly goods, and given to indolence. They lived a life of idyllic simplicity, somewhat after the fashion of many southern and island people. They delighted in gay dress, as do negroes and many native races. Their hospitality to strangers was remarkable, and when tradesmen were afterward established among them-men from Boston and the east-it was discovered that the Californians of that early time were honest, though slow in settling their accounts. It will seem surprising to many that hides were still the currency of the country.

It was an event of the age when ships arrived from eastern American ports with "Yankee notions." The people welcomed the traders and their