THE Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo confirmed the title to Upper California which the United States had gained by war. Although the geographical position of that region, the security of its harbors, and the supposed value of its soil, had attracted the attention of our people at an early day, it was not imagined, at the period of the cession, that the new territory would so soon become the nucleus of the first Anglo-Saxon empire on the shores of the Pacific. Its rapid development was owing rather to circumstances of an extraordinary character, than to the commercial and progressive spirit of our citizens; but the national energy which is always alive to individual interests, was never more completely illustrated than by the alacrity with which all classes rushed to the new scenes of labor, and turned to gold the soils that Indians and Mexicans had trodden for centuries as worthless sand.

Lower California was discovered, visited, and partly settled by the Spanish adventurers soon after the Mexican conquest, and although the coasts of Upper California had been explored in 1542, it was not until the eighteenth century that the "spiritual conquest" of that distant region was undertaken by the Roman clergy, under whose directions the missions were founded upon a "pious fund," created by the zealous Catholics of Mexico. At that time it was supposed that the civilizing influences of religion would not only win thousands of savages to the worship of God, but that by blending agriculture and trade under the tutelage of the church, the Indians might be rendered valuable subjects of the Spanish crown. The government well knew that the Spaniards were neither sufficiently numerous nor adventurous in Mexico to throw large bodies of hardy men into so remote a province on the shores of the Pacific, and it was, therefore, imagined that the actual native population of the district might be tamed by religion to supply the place of Christian immigration.

All the explorers who visited Upper California reported favorably on the character of the country. It was known to possess inducements to a profitable trade. The golden east opened its gates in front of it; and the country was supposed to contain valuable metallic deposits which might be slowly and surely developed. But the labors of the clergy did not respond to the expectations of the government. The priests were contented with present comfort rather than anxious for future success. The mass of the Indians were brought into a state of comparative vassalage, as we have seen in the chapter on the church of Mexico, and all the most valuable or accessible lands were rapidly absorbed, to the exclusion of hardy, persevering, and thrifty white men.[78]

Although the clergy were the virtual proprietors of the agricultural and cattle raising districts, the viceroyal government contrived to retain a loose and limited control over this district, until the period of the revolution. In 1824, on the adoption of the federal constitution, as the Californias did not possess sufficient population to become States of the federation, they were erected into Territories, with a right to send a member to the general congress, who, though suffered to participate in debate, was not allowed to vote in its decisions. As Territories they were under the government of an agent styled the Commandant-General, whose powers were very extensive.

After the revolution the first progressive step was made by the secularization of the missions. In 1833, under the vigorous lead of Gomez Farias, the salaries of the monks were suspended, the Indians were released from servitude, the pious fund was confiscated, the division of property among natives and settlers decreed, and an extensive plan proposed to fill the country by immigration. These blows fell heavily upon the monastic farmers and herdsmen of those trading churches. The missions were speedily deserted, their edifices and establishments decayed, and, near the period of their close, the whole result of this abortive ecclesiastical civilization, was summed up in the paltry numbers exhibited in the following statement:

MISSIONS AND THEIR POPULATION IN UPPER CALIFORNIA IN 1831.
Names of the Jurisdictions, Missions, and Towns.PEOPLE OF ALL CLASSES AND AGES.
Men.Women.Boys.Girls.Total.
JURISDICTION OF S. FRANCISCO
Presidio of S. Francisco124858973371
Town of San José de Guadalupe166145103110524
Mission of S. Francisco Solano2852428890705
id.of S. Rafael4064101051061027
id.of S. Francisco146651313237
id.of Santa Clara75249168601371
id.of S. José8236591001451727
id.of Santa Cruz222943020366
JURISDICTION OF MONTEREY
Presidio of Monterey31119011097708
Village of Branciforte52342717130
Mission of S. Juan Bautista4803518571987
id.of S. Carlos102793421236
id.of Na. sa. de la Soledad210812320334
id.of S. Antonio3942095117671
id.of S. Miguel3492924661748
id.of S. Luis Obispo21110387329
JURISDICTION ON STA. BARBARA
Presidio of Sta. Barbara167120162164613
Mission of La Purissima1512184734450
id.of Sta. Ines1421368296456
id.of Sta. Barbara3742675170762
id.of Buenaventura3832836659791
id.of S. Fernando249226177181833
Town of la Reyna de los Angelos5524212132021388
JURISDICTION OF S. DIEGO
Presidio of S. Diego295—19116836215686
Mission of S. Gabriel574
id.of S. Juan Capistrano464
id.of S. Luis Rey1138
id.of S. Diego7505201621461575
Totals[79]10,27276322623249823,025

Agriculture had always been most carelessly conducted. The implements used in the fields were nearly the same as those introduced by the earliest settlers. The mills were few and primitive; and although the same extent of ground yielded nearly three times as much wheat as in England, and returned corn at the rate of one hundred and fifty fold, yet nothing was cultivated that was not absolutely needed for the maintenance of the missions and their immediate neighborhoods. There was no commerce to carry off the excess of production, and no enterprise to create a surplus for the purposes of trade.

At this epoch the whole cereal production of Upper California did not exceed—

63,000bushelsof wheat.
28,000"of corn.
4,200"of frijoles or brown beans.
2,800"of garabanzos or peas.
18,500"barley.

The Californians, of that period, seem however, to have particularly delighted in the care of cattle. The idle, roving life of herdsmen, who might wander over the plains and mountains in search of their flocks, was peculiarly suited to a population emerging from the nomadic state; and accordingly we find that the region was well stocked, whilst the missions and their dependencies flourished. In 1831, Mr. Forbes tells us, that there were in this province,—