182 
SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 
church at Loretto, and appoints to the command of the garri¬ 
son, Juan Baptiste Escalante, a distinguished warrior, against 
the Apaches on the Gila, and Nicolas Marques, as Lieutenant, 
to fill respectively the places of the worthy Captain Estevan 
Lorenzo and Ensign Isidro, who, to the sorrow of the Pa¬ 
dres, have resigned their posts on account of some bitter feel¬ 
ings towards them among the soldiers 
These matters being settled to the satisfaction of all parties, 
he appoints Padre Juan Ugarte to the supreme government of 
the garrison and missions, and on the first of October sails for 
the continent. He goes to Guadalaxara, confers with the Audi- 
encia of that department, passes on to Mexico, and finds him¬ 
self appointed Provincial of New Spain, and missionary of 
California. The good Padre, overwhelmed with this unex¬ 
pected distinction, urges, with sincerity and zeal, his unfitness 
for the office, and his desire to labor and die a simple mis¬ 
sionary among his Californian Indians. But the Padres assure 
him that the rules of his order will not permit him to decline ; 
and persuade him, that under so good a man as Provincial, 
the church will cheerfully further his pious desires for the 
conversion of the Indians of California. The Padre Juan 
Maria de Salva Tierra, therefore, in hope of bettering the 
condition of his converts in that forlorn wilderness, enters 
upon the duties of Provinical Bishop of New Spain. 
Padre Salva Tierra in his official character communicates 
with the Viceroy, and lays before him his views of the proper 
measures of his Government for the furtherance of the mis¬ 
sionary enterprise in the territories under his charge. He 
states, generally, the advances of the Spanish power in those 
vast realms by means of the Jesuits, and that in order to hold 
these conquests, the power by which they have been obtained 
must still be exercised. The honor and benefit of the Crown 
and of the Catholic Church demand this of his Excellency’s 
Government. He is favorably heard, and all classes of peo¬ 
ple second his views. But the delay and selfishness which 
have ever characterized the Spanish power in America and 
