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54
ECHEANDÍA'S RULE — POLITICAL AFFAIRS.

Padrés and Rafael Gomez were sent to California as ayudante inspector and asesor, respectively.[1] The military command of Lower California was detached in the middle of 1829 and joined to the comandancia general of Sonora;[2] and about the same time Colonel Antonio García was appointed to succeed Echeandía in the governorship.[3] For reasons that I suppose to have been connected with Bustamante's accession to the presidency in January 1830, García did not come to take possession of his office; and on March 8th Lieut.-colonel Manuel Victoria was made gefe político of Alta California, the gefatura política of the peninsula being now detached as the mando militar had been before, so that now the two territories were again distinct.[4] Victoria had been previously for a time comandante principal of Lower California; he came up from Loreto by land, arriving at San Diego perhaps in December 1830; but he did not take possession of his office until the next year. Meanwhile in these last years Echeandía was busied chiefly with mission affairs and commercial matters. He had been

  1. ↑ Padrés had been comandante at Loreto and sub-gefe político of Lower California. I find no record showing the date of his appointment as ayudante inspector; but in Feb. 1829 he seems to have been made sec. of the comandante general. Sup. Govt St. Pap., MS., v. 1; and in July 1828 was ordered to assume the command in Echeandía's place. Id., vi. 9. Apr. 3, 1829, Rafael Velez was approved as secretary of the comandancia, instead of Padrés, but he never came. Id., v. 3.
  2. ↑ June 1, 1829, gov. announces this change. The two territories were still subject in civil matters to the same gefe político. Dept. St. Pap., Ben. Mil., MS., lxix. 2.
  3. ↑ Feb. 17, 1829, Moctezuma to Echeandía. Orders him to deliver the command to García. Sup. Govt St. Pap., MS., vi. 2. May 1st, Gervasio Argüello writes from Guadalajara that García has been appointed comandante general. Guerra, Doc., MS., v. 227. June 8th, Moctezuma to García. Vessels are ready to take him to California, and the president desires him to sail at once. Sup. Govt St. Pap., MS., v. 11. July 17, 1828, Echeandía had been ordered to give up the command to Padrés and proceed to Mexico. Id., vi. 9. Doubtless the political changes in Mexico had much to do with these successive and confusing orders. The records of this period are moreover very incomplete.
  4. ↑ March 8, 1830, Victoria's appointment. March 11th, Minister Facio to Echeandía, ordering him to surrender the gefatura of California to Victoria, and of Lower California to Monterde. Sup. Govt St. Pap., MS., vi. 6-7. March 6, 1830, Capts. Juan Zamora, Juan Aguayo, Gerónino Hernandez, and Luciano Muñoz; Lieut. Leonardo Diez Barroso, and Alf. Mariano Crecero have been destined to California. Id., vi. 5-6.
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