The Open court . ttlers arrived they were not permitted to settle in this im-mense country as a colony. The Church party held that theywould in time become too powerful. In consequence the colonydisbanded and the emigrants, after drifting around for severalmonths, settled at various points, the majority of them at Los An-geles. The Governor, who was one of the Church party, actuallyrefused the emigrants the necessary food when their supply be-came exhausted, and exiled the leaders from the country. As anevidence of the priestly opposition, the Natalia was scuttled onedark, stormy night at Mont
The Open court . ttlers arrived they were not permitted to settle in this im-mense country as a colony. The Church party held that theywould in time become too powerful. In consequence the colonydisbanded and the emigrants, after drifting around for severalmonths, settled at various points, the majority of them at Los An-geles. The Governor, who was one of the Church party, actuallyrefused the emigrants the necessary food when their supply be-came exhausted, and exiled the leaders from the country. As anevidence of the priestly opposition, the Natalia was scuttled onedark, stormy night at Monterey, by which the emigrants lostmost of their household effects. This was charged to the Churchparty. It was certainly done by persons inimical to the colonists,who had become unpopular in consequence of the stories set afloatthat they had come to take possession of the mission property. The missions were secularised, or confiscated, by the MexicanGovernment in 1835, and in a few years all of the property of the. 6lO THE OPEN COURT. vast estates was wasted by the administrators. Tlie Governmentreceived little or nothing. Then followed a series of revolutions : A Governor who at-tempted to enforce the degree of secularisation was deposed, and aChurch Governor installed, to be in turn deposed. No soonerwould a Governor arrive from Mexico than he found a revolutionon foot to depose him. The year of revolutions, 1836. witnessedfive such changes in the gubernatorial office. The friars, who wereloyal to Spain, and refused to take the oath of allegiance to Mex-ico, sided with the revolutionists when they happened to be pro-nouncing against an enemy of the Church. Finally, the priestswere sent out of the country, and the decay of the missions, whichhad outlived their doubtful usefulness, soon sank into that decayand ruin which overtakes all institutions founded upon ignoranceand slavery. Prior to the arrival of this colony there were not more thanabout 7,000 settlers in California—a
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade188, booksubjectreligion, bookyear1887
