being unpopular, he might as well have been all three, so far as results are concerned.
On his arrival in California he had to encounter the ordinary inherent difficulties of his position, which were by no means trifling, as had been discovered by all his predecessors. As a Mexican he had to meet a strong prejudice, and as a centralist a still stronger opposition, there being a party of young men in the country who claimed to be ardent federalists, and for whom revolution, as a word, had no terrors. Chico succeeded Figueroa, a man distinguished for his arts of flattery and conciliation; having himself none of those arts, and no extraordinary ability with which to overcome difficulties. He was perhaps personally petulant and disagreeable; at any rate, he made enemies and no friends, and the current was started against him. His pretty 'niece,' Doña Cruz, turned out to be his mistress; and the respectability of Monterey was easily persuaded to consider itself shocked by such immorality in high places.[1] The restrictive bando of May 11th on commerce may have displeased a powerful element among the foreigners, and his persecution of Abel Stearns, of which and its motives little is really known, tended in the same direction, though there is very little in support of the charge that he was specially hostile to foreigners.[2]
- ↑ Stories are told going to show that Doña Cruz was not altogether faithful to her lover, and gave the governor no end of trouble by her freaks of inconstancy.
- ↑ Chico's orders against Stearns are dated May 16th, June 26th, and July 30th. Dept. St. Pap., MS., iv. 120; Id., Ben. Pref. y Juzg., vi. 5-6; Id., Angeles, xi. 52. No motive is given; but by Stearns and others it is implied that the cause was his connection with the movement against Victoria. From the haste of both Victoria and Chico to proceed against Stearns on their arrival, it is not unlikely that each had some secret instructions on the subject from Mexico. Stearns came to Monterey, and was allowed to go back, under bonds, to settle his business in a month and leave the country. July 8th, Stearns writes to Chico complaining of the injury done him, and threatening to hold the govt responsible. Dept. St. Pap., Ben. Pref. y Juzg., MS., vi. 2-3. Eulogio Célis, a Spaniard, who seems to have been supercargo of the vessel on which Chico came, was also forbidden to re-enter Cal. S. Diego, Arch., MS., 114, 120.
Osio, Hist. Cal., MS., 234-6, narrates that Stearns, hurrying to obey the order, came to Monterey and was at first politely received with others, not
