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 influence 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.[1]
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 December, 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 correspondence with Echeandía, some of whose orders he countermanded, though not yet legally invested with authority; but at last he came to Monterey, and on January 31, 1831, assumed the formal command, taking the oath in presence of the ayuntamiento, assembled for the purpose.[2]
- ↑ See p. 108 this vol., with quotations from the statements of President Sanchez on this subject.
- ↑ 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
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.
