253 
SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 
elevation, and happiness of virtue; all these, the Padres have 
scattered—seeds, bearing the fruits of the social and religious 
relations, and the numberless comforts of the civilized state. 
These integral laws of immortal rationality, have germinated 
among the wastes of man, under the kind planting of the Pa¬ 
dres, on the Californian Peninsula. A mighty deed of moral 
suasion ! Not by the steel of conquest, which drinks the blood 
of the weak, and opens the red pathway to physical suprema¬ 
cy ; slaying body and mind; enslaving and murdering. This 
conquest of the Padres is a victory of Love. Instead of the 
torpedo, they plant the rose of Sharon ; instead of the starless 
night of bondage, they bring the full day of knowledge—filled 
with the industry, trust, faith, hope and energies, of a ripened 
freedom. Who can contemplate these Missionaries, enduring' 
the hardships which have been partially related on these pa¬ 
ges, and not venerate their memory ? They have voluntarily 
come from the shrines of early remembrances, and torn from 
the heart its young and tender impulses. They have left on 
the cold fields of the past, every tie of kindred, and the natu¬ 
ral hopes of humanity. They have taken the vows of God on 
their souls; separated their hands and thoughts from every 
selfish service; and with bosoms bared to every shaft of possi¬ 
ble events, entered the abodes of savages, shielded only by 
their good deeds and holy purposes! They have conquered 
Lower California. It has become a part of the domain of the 
Spanish crown. 
From 1745 to 1767, the Jesuit Padres continue their labors 
at these missions. The Spanish government, meanwhile, give 
them small relief from the famines occasioned by the failure 
of their crops. They mainly depend upon the products of the 
mission plantations, and the rude manufactures of the Indian 
artizans, for every comfort of life. And not only do they sus¬ 
tain themselves, but every year brings in the ships from the 
Philippine Islands, with crews rotting of the scurvy, for the 
Padres to feed, clothe, restore to health, or bury in their ceme¬ 
teries 
