a man of considerable talent and good education, affable and kind-hearted, but weak, irresolute, and lacking energy. He was disposed to be upright and faithful, but lacked strength of principle for emergencies. In the administration of justice and the enforcement of military discipline he was notably ineffective. He has been abused extensively by partisans of the friars, but no man could have escaped such abuse without a complete surrender to the mission monopoly and a reckless disobedience to his instructions. He favored secularization, and his views were sound, but he was not hasty or radical in effecting the change, but rather the contrary. True, at the very end of his rule he was induced by Padrés to do an illegal and unwise act, but that act did not go into effect, and the padres had no good cause of offence. No man in Echeandía's place, and faithfully representing the spirit of Mexican republicanism, could have treated the friars better. His faults lay in another direction, as already indicated.
Figueroa's early relations with the diputacion, the last of the powers he had to conciliate, are not clearly recorded, but were doubtless altogether friendly.[1] Before Figueroa's arrival some steps were taken by the ayuntamientos for holding primary elections, and
- ↑ Pico, Hist. Cal., MS., 46, says that F. sent a special communication to each of the members, announcing the amnesty. Pico replied with a defence of his acts. Vallejo, Hist. Cal., MS., ii. 200-3, relates that Osio, Alvarado, and himself came at once to Monterey to offer their aid in maintaining order. A long conference took place, and a dinner followed, and cordial relations never ceased between the parties. Osio, Hist. Cal., MS., 223, tells us that F. issued orders for an election and hastened the meeting of the diputacion.
lxxix. 23. Taylor, Odds and Ends, no. 14, says, with his usual inaccuracy, that E. died in 1852. Mrs Ord, who knew him well in California, saw him frequently in Mexico in 1855-6. He said that the allowance of half his pay as director of the college of military engineers, which he left for his wife, had not been paid while he was in Cal., and that he never succeeded in getting it. He had some oil-mills and other property on which he with difficulty supported himself until in 1835 providence sent an earthquake which so damaged certain convents and dwellings of rich men as to render his profession of engineer very lucrative. In 1855 he was arrested for some opposition to Santa Anna, but soon released. In 1871 Mrs Ord made inquiries for him, and learned that he was dead, as were two step-daughters who had taken care of him in his old age. Ord, Ocurrencias, MS., 42-3.
