1822.] CALIFORNIA SUBJECT TO MEXICO. 365 . 



ment, independent of the Hudson's Bay Company, which might be 

 deemed proper. Whether this last provision was introduced with 

 some special and immediate object, or with a view to future contin- 

 gencies, no means have as yet been afforded for determining. The 

 British government, however, insisted strongly on retaining the 

 above-mentioned privileges ; and it is most probable that the 

 Columbia countries were in view at the time, as the remainder 

 of the territory included in the grant, and not possessed by the 

 company in virtue of the charter of 1669, is of little value in 

 any way. 



In California, few events worthy of note occurred during the 

 whole period of fifty years, from the first establishment of Spanish 

 colonies and garrisons on the west coasts of that country, to the 

 termination of the revolutionary struggle between Spain and Mex- 

 ico. Before the commencement of the disturbances, the missions 

 were, to a certain extent, fostered by the Spanish government, and 

 supplies of money and goods were sent to them, with regularity, 

 from Acapulco and San Bias ; but, after the revolution broke out, 

 these remittances were reduced, the missionaries lost their influence 

 over the natives, and the establishments fell into decay. Upon the 

 overthrow of the Spanish power, in 1822, California was divided 

 politically into two territories, of which the peninsula formed one, 

 called Lower California ; the other, or Upper California, embracing 

 the whole of the continental portion. By the constitution of 1824, 

 each of these territories became entitled to send one member to the 

 National Congress ; and, by subsequent decrees, all the adult Indians, 

 who could be considered as civilized or capable of reasoning, (gente 

 de razon,) were freed from submission to their former pastors, had 

 lands assigned to them, and were declared citizens of the republic. 

 These seeming boons were, however, accompanied by the with- 

 drawal of nearly all the allowances previously made for the estab- 

 lishments, and by the imposition of taxes and duties on all imports, 

 including those from Mexico. The authority of the missionaries 

 thus dwindled away, and those who had been long in the country 

 either returned to Mexico or Spain, or escaped to other lands : the 

 cultivation of the mission farms was abandoned, and the Indians, 

 freed from restraint, relapsed into barbarism, or sunk into the lowest 

 state of indolence and vice. 



Whilst the number of civilized Indians in California was by these 

 measures diminished, the white population was at the same time 

 somewhat increased. Immediately after, and indeed before, the 



