ancies between the decree and the law of 1813 on which it purported to rest, and strong points were made by ridiculing the pretended desire to civilize and educate the Indians in view of what the gente de razon had accomplished in that direction for themselves. In a note I give some brief quotations from Padro Duran's epílogo.[1]
There was no trouble about the furnishing of supplies in 1831. Naturally the padres were disposed to do their best, and the only records in the matter are one or two orders from Victoria to comandantes, intended to prevent excessive demands on the missionaries. [2] At the beginning of the year, and probably in consequence of the secularization movement, a passport for Habana was tendered to Duran as soon as a successor at San José could be procured. He apparently had asked license to retire.[3] Three missionaries died at their posts, padres Boscana, Barona, and Suñer, while no Franciscans came to fill up the de-
- ↑ Duran, Notas y Comentarios al Bando de Echeandía sobre las Misiones, 1831, MS. Dated Dec. 31, 1831. 'It would be better, with less bluster about the Indians, to begin with the gente de razon. Let the latter begin to work, to found establishments and schools, and to practise arts and industries; then will be time to lead the Indians to follow a good example. Are they, but yesterday savages, to go ahead and teach the way to civilized men? To form such projects of giving freedom to Indians after having taken a million dollars of their hard earnings for the troops, and to leave in their endemic sloth the others, who as a rule know nothing but to ride on horseback? Truly, I know not from what spirit can proceed such a policy, or rather I know too well. Why not write what all say? Why say á medias palabras what all say á voca llena? What all believe is that, under the specious pretext of this plan, there was a secret plan for a general sack of the mission property, the leaders in the plot intending to convert as much as possible of the booty into money, to be enjoyed in foreign lands. But God willed that Victoria should arrive,' etc. 'The interested parties, including certain members of the diputacion, who counted on the spoils, were disappointed, and their disappointment changed into hatred for Victoria, whom they have never pardoned for having rescued the prey which they deemed already within their clutches.' Then follows an account of the revolution down to Victoria's overthrow. I suppose a copy of this document may have been carried to Mexico by P. Peyri, who accompanied Victoria.
- ↑ Dept. Rec., MS., ix. 5; Dept. St. Pap., MS., iii. 6-7.
- ↑ Dept. Rec., MS., ix. 86. Mofras, Explor., i. 272-3, tells us that in 1831, P. Sanchez having died of grief at the invasions of the civil powers, most of the other friars being subjected to indignities, determined to retire; and thus these venerable men, who had devoted 30 or 40 years of their life to civilizing Indians, were driven from a country 'qu'ils avaient arrosée de leurs sueurs et fécondée par la parole apostolique,' taking nothing with them but a coarse woollen robe — all of which is very pathetic and inaccurate.
