The famous missions of California . as transferred,appropriately enough, from St. Francis of Assisi to that otherSt. Francis who figures in the records as the great apostleof the Indies. Such is the simpler explanation of the way in which the lasttwo missions came to be established. It has, however, beensuggested that, while all this may be true as far as it goes,other causes were at work of a subtler character, than thosespecified, and that these causes were involved in the devel-opment of political - affairs. It will have been . noted that,though the: threatened encroachments of the Russia;n
The famous missions of California . as transferred,appropriately enough, from St. Francis of Assisi to that otherSt. Francis who figures in the records as the great apostleof the Indies. Such is the simpler explanation of the way in which the lasttwo missions came to be established. It has, however, beensuggested that, while all this may be true as far as it goes,other causes were at work of a subtler character, than thosespecified, and that these causes were involved in the devel-opment of political - affairs. It will have been . noted that,though the: threatened encroachments of the Russia;ns had beenone of the chief reasons for this Spanish occupation of AltaCalifornia, there had hitherto been no attempt to meet theirpossible advances in the very regions Avhere they were most tobe expected—that is, in the country north of San Francisco. Incourse of time, however, always with the ostensible purposeof hunting the seal and the otter, the Russians were found tobe creeping further and further south; and at length, under. InteriorSanta Barbara 52 The Famous Missions of California. 53 instructions from St. Petersburg, they took possession of theregion of Bodega Bay, establishing there a trading post Fur Company, and a strong military station which theycalled Fort Ross. As this settlement was on the coast, andonly sixty-five miles, as the crow flies, from San Francisco,it will be seen that the Spanish authorities had some genuinecause for alarm. And the mission movement north of SanFrancisco is considered lay some writers to have been initiated,less from spiritual motives, than from the dread of continuedRussian aggression, and the hope of raising at least a slightbarrier against it. However this may be, the two missions werenever employed for defensive purposes; nor is it very clear thatthey could have been made of much practical service in caseof actual need.
Size: 1779px × 1404px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectmission, bookyear1901
