352 
VOYAGE TO THE 
CHAP, to each of the padres : the support the former government had given to 
the missions amounted, according to Langsdorlf, to a million piastres 
Nov. a year. Another grievance was, the requisition of an oath of allegiance to 
the reigning authorities, which these holy men considered so egregious 
a violation of their former pledge to the king of Spain that, until he re- 
nounced his sovereignty over the country, they could not conscientiously 
take it ; and, much as they were attached to the place in which they 
had passed a large portion of their lives, and though by quitting it they 
would be reduced to the utmost penury — yet, so much did they regard 
this pledge, that they were prepared to leave the country, and to seek 
an asylum in any other that would afford it them. Indeed, the Prefect 
preferring his expulsion to renouncing his allegiance, had already re- 
ceived his dismissal, and was ready at the seaport of Monterey to embark 
in any vessel the government might appoint to receive him. A third 
grievance, and one which, when duly considered, was of some importance, 
not only to the missions but to the country in general, was an order to 
liberate all those converted Indians from the missions who bore good 
characters, and had been taught the art of agriculture or were masters 
of a trade, and were capable of supporting themselves, giving them 
portions of land to cultivate, so arranged that they should be divided 
into parishes, with curates to superintend them, subservient to the 
clergy of the missions who were to proceed in the conversion of the 
Indians as usual, and to train them for the domesticated state of society 
in contemplation. 
This philanthropic system at first sight appeared to be a very ex- 
cellent one, and every friend to the rights of man would naturally join 
in a wish for its prosperity; but the Mexican government could not 
have sufficiently considered the state of California, and the disposition of 
the Indians, or they would have known it could not possibly succeed 
without long previous training, and then it would require to be in- 
troduced by slow degrees. 
The Indians whom this law emancipated were essential to the sup- 
port of the missions, not only for conducting their agricultural concerns, 
but for keeping in subordination by force and example those whom dis- 
obedience and ignorance would exempt from the privilege ; and as a 
