Figueroa received his appointment as comandante general and inspector at a salary of $4,000 April 17, 1832, and that of gefe superior político on May 9th, with instructions from the different ministries the 17th. His general instructions took the form of supplementary articles to those formerly given to Echeandía, not literally extant, as we have seen. Figueroa was to work for the perfect restoration of tranquillity, and to inspire confidence in the national government by explaining the causes which had led to certain changes in the system of republican administration. He was to supply complete statistics about California and all its institutions and industries. He was to give much attention to the neophytes, with a view to improve their condition and fit them for a change in the mission system. To give an impulse to trade, he must favor the exportation of surplus products and induce the missions to build small vessels. Colonization and the distribution of lands both to citizens and foreigners were to be encouraged in accordance with the laws, several special grants being recommended, as were active efforts to extend settlement toward 42° in the north. Indian policy toward the gentiles, movements and aims of the Russians and Americans, illegal operations of hunters and trappers, and abuses in connection with the rearing of cattle were among the matters to which the new ruler's attention was directed.[1] Special instructions were given on the subject of secularizing
- ↑ Figueroa, Instrucciones Generales para el Gobierno de California dadas ál Gen. Don José Figueroa, 1832, MS. Dated May 7, 1832, and signed by the minister Ortiz Monasterio.
ico, he was soon released to be exiled to California as governor. He held the honorary position of vice-governor of the state of Mexico until Dec. 7, 1833. St. Pap., Miss. and Colon., MS., ii. 285, 203-4. He left Sonora in debt to the fondo de temporalidades to the amount of $3,000, which sum was ordered to be collected in 1834. Dept. St. Pap., Ben. Mil., MS., lxxvii. 11. Cárlos Carrillo, when the appointment was first made, was told by a deputy from Sonora that Figueroa was a despotic fortune-hunter, and Virmond also spoke against him; but Minister Alaman spoke in the highest terms of the new appointee, and Carrillo himself after an interview formed a favorable opinion of him, freely expressed in his letters to Guerra, whom he advised to conciliate Figueroa's friendship by presenting him with a span of mules. On his appointment, see Dept. St. Pap., Ben. Cust.-H., MS., ii. 18; Id., Angeles, xi. 2; Id., Monterey, ii. 21.
