126 NEW TRACKS IN NORTH AMERICA. 
ledge, and not an article of value was stolen by them from | 
any one. When the Imperialist cause was entirely lost, the 
Opitas. returned to their own lands, and left the turn of 
events to take its course. 
The present state of Sonora is almost as deplorable as can 
be conceived. Before the war, a number of powerful families 
contended amongst each other for the spoils of office. In a 
territory so remote, whatever faction gained the State 
governorship obtained almost absolute power to crush and 
ruin those who had opposed them. : 
The people—humble, indolent, and averse, above all things, — 
to the hardships and dangers of war—were made by force to 
fight the battles of their masters. Ground down to the dust, — 
these peons are still in the most abject state of almost feudal 
bondage ; their rights are unrecognised, they are never men- 
tioned except as slaves, they can vote only as their masters 
direct, and they dare hardly call their lives their own. 
Before the war Pesquera’s party had for some years been all- 
powerful, and he had been governor during three successive - 
terms of two years. During the Imperial ascendency he fled” 
to the States, and there became a shrewder and more far- 
seeing statesman ; so that on his return he had no difficulty im 7 
’ regaining his power and greatly strengthening his position. | 
He banished his enemies as Imperialists, pardoned those” 
whom he thought might serve his interests, and snapped his” 
fingers at Juarez or any other man who should attempt to 
interfere with him in Sonora. One-third of the leading 
families are still in exile. 
A feeble remonstrance was made, by the representatives | 
chosen by universal suffrage, about his extravagance. 
Whereupon he met his ministers, and told them that he 
also thought the expenditure too great, and therefore should 
