San Benito County CA Archives History - Books .....Chapter IV Decadence Of The Missions 1893
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Book Title: Memorial And Biographical History Of The Coast Counties Of Central California.

CHAPTER IV.
DECADENCE OF THE MISSIONS.

FROM the commencement of the era of Mexican independence, in 1822, or perhaps a
little later, till the acquisition of California by the United States, the
missions gradually declined, the policy of Mexico, after attaining independence,
being to encourage the settlement of the country, which made necessary the
curtailment, and finally the secularization, of the missions.

  From about 1825 or 1830, to 1846, a large and increasing number of persons,
who became settlers, had been pouring into California; these included Mexicans
by land and by sea, American trappers and hunters, who had emerged from the
deserts east of the Sierras; Russians from Russian America; sailors and
adventurers of all nationalities, who had escaped from merchant ships, or who
had been left here at their own request; and occasionally a citizen of the
Eastern States more venturesome or more restless than his neighbors.

  With the coming of Mexicans, and of foreigners who became Mexican citizens,
naturally there arose a demand for land; and as the missions practically claimed
all the land, although they occupied it only by permission of the government,
these citizens complained to the authorities of the difficulty of acquiring land
to cultivate or to live on.

  Governor Figueroa and some of his successors sought to distribute the lands of
Alta California to the Indian neophytes in severalty. But these attempts were
utterly impracticable, and of course were utter failures: first, because the
Indians were incapable of self-government; and second, this plan left no room
for the settlement of the territory by Mexican citizens and foreigners, in other
words, by gente de razon (literary people of reason) who were capable of
developing the country, and of local self-government, which is what Mexico
desired. The logic of the situation plainly required the secularization of the
missions long before that policy culminated in the passage of the law of 1883. 

  Therefore, it is a matter of congratulation and commendation, instead of
censure and regret, that the United States Land Commission and United States
Courts followed both the spirit and the letter of the Mexican law in their
decisions concerning the tenure of title to lands in California.

  The original aim of both the Spanish and Mexican Governments, of converting
the California missions into pueblos or towns, having, by actual trial, for more
than half a century, proved a palpable failure, the alternative policy of
granting the public lands of the territory to actual settlers, who were capable
of governing themselves without the aid of paternal or clerical guardians, was
finally forced on the Mexican Government.

  In looking back, we can now clearly see that this policy ought to have been
adopted long before. Therefore, it was plain that if California was to ever have
a future - with her magnificent natural resources and climate unequaled anywhere
in the world - it must be by a system other than that under which the
inhabitants were little better than peones, or, more properly speaking, wards,
who were incapable of becoming full-fledged, self-sustaining, self-governing
citizens.

  Hence, a change from a monastic to a civil, - from a religious to a political
system of government of the Territory, - became a necessity. Hence the necessity
of secularizing the lands, i. e., providing for the granting of legal titles to
lands to actual occupants - which in reality was what secularization meant; the
tenure of ownership of the soil was to vest thenceforth in men, able to perform
their civic duties as citizens and capable of building up a commonwealth,
instead of in children* in trust, who must ever depend upon overseers (either
clerical or secular) to manage for them.

  Certainly, three-quarters of a century was long time enough in which to try
the experiment of testing whether the Indians of the Californias were capable of
building up a State or not.

MEXICAN LAND GRANTS.

  The following is a list of confirmed land grants wholly or partly in San
Benito county, with names of coniirmes, dates and numbers of acres each.

NAME OF GRANT                  DATE       ACRES     GRANTEES
Aromitas y Agua Caliente,      1835       8,659    F. A. Mac Dougall, et al.
Ausaymas y San Felipe,         1833      11,744    F. P. Pacheco
Bolsa de San Felipe,           1840       6,795    F. P. Pacheco
Cienega del Gabilan,           1843      21,874    J. D. Carr
Cienega de los Paicines,       1842       8,917    A Castro, et al
Los Carneros,                  1842         236    F. A. Mac Dougall, et al.
Llano del Tequisquite,         1835      16,016    Sanchez heirs
Lomerias Muertas.              1842       6,660    Sanchez heirs
Los Vergeles,                  1835       2,085    James Stokes
Mission S. Juan Bautista,      1797          55    Bishop, etc. J. S. Alemany
Real de los Aquilas,           1844      31,052    F.A. Mac Dougall, et al.
San Antonio,                   1846       4,493    M. Larios
Santa Ana y Quien Sabe,        1839      48,822    M. Larios, et al.
San Joaquin,                   1836       7,425    C. Cervantez
San Justo,                     1839      34,619    F. P. Pacheco
San Lorenzo,                   1846      23,843    R. Sanchez
Tract near Mission S. Juan     1839         401    P. Breen

The status of Panoche Grande, about 17,000 acres, 1844, to V. P Gomez is given
elsewhere

Total area of Mexican grants                     232,100 acres
Total area of public lands,                      442,900    "
Total area of S Benito county,                   676,000    "


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

Memorial and Biographical History of the Coast Counties of Central California.

Illustrated.

Containing a History of this Important Section of the Pacific Coast from the
Earliest Period of its Discovery to the Present Time, together with Glimpses of
its Auspicious Future; Illustrations and Full-Page Portraits of some of its
Eminent Men, and Biographical Mention of many of its Pioneers, and Prominent
Citizens of To-day.



HENRY D. BARROWS,
Editor of the Historical Department.

LUTHER A. INGERSOLL,
Editor of the Biographical Department.

"A people that take no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors will
never achieve anything worthy to be remembered with pride by remote
descendants."-Macaulay.


CHICAGO: THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY.
1893.

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