istration, and they leave no doubt as to what manner of man he was. Personally brave, honest, energetic, straightforward, and devoted to what he deemed the best interests of the territory, he was yet more a comandante general than a gefe político. His idea of his duty was to preserve order and administer justice by military methods, removing without regard to constitutional technicalities such obstacles as might stand in the way of success in carrying out his good intentions. All the Californians in their narratives credit him with personal courage, but with no other good quality, save that a few admit he paid better attention to the comfort as well as the discipline of his soldiers than had his predecessors. Nearly all, after mentioning more or less accurately some of the acts which I have chronicled, express the opinion that Victoria was a cruel, blood-thirsty monster, at whose hands the lives of all honest citizens were in danger, some adding that he was dishonest and avaricious as well, and others asserting that he was a full-blooded negro. So strong is popular prejudice, fostered by a few influential men.[1] There is a notable lack of missionary correspondence in the records of 1831, and I find only one contemporary expression of the padres' opinion respecting Victoria's acts, except that of course they approved his abrogation of the secularization decree. Padre Duran, in the epilogue of his comments upon that measure,
- ↑ I shall give later references to all the Californian writers who have treated of Victoria's rule. Their sentiments are so uniform, that it is not necessary to cite individual opinions. In the memorial of the diputados to the Mex. govt of Sept. 18th, Vallejo, Doc., MS., i. 215, 238, the charges against V. are his exile of Carrillo and Stearns, his arrest of Duarte, his refusal to convoke the diputacion, his general opposition to the federal system, and his insults to diputados and inhabitants. A very complete résumé of V.'s acts and troubles, made up from his despatches and those of Echeandía and others, is found in Alaman, Sucesos de California en el año de 1831, MS., the same being an appendix to the minister's instructions to Gov. Figueroa in 1832. The whole subject is also fully treated in Vallejo and Argüello, Expediente sobre las Arbitrariedades de Victoria, MS., presented to the dip. on Feb. 17, 1832. To the usual charges Bandini, Apuntes Políticos, 1832, MS., adds the sending of some Angelinos far among the savages toward Sonora to drive stock for a favorite padre of the governor's, tampering with the mails at Monterey, and abrogating the faculties of hacienda employees to the prejudice of the administration.
