Over the
mountains, across the plains, by the Isthmus, and by the Horn they
came, that wonderful procession which Bret Harte has made so familiar
to us--Truthful James, Tennessee's Partner, Jack Hamlin, John Oakhurst,
Flynn of Virginia, Abner Dean of Angels, Brown of Calaveras, Yuba Bill,
Sandy McGee, the Scheezicks, the Man of No Account, and all the rest.
And the California of the gambler and the gold-seeker succeeds the
California of the Padre.
Numerous causes had meanwhile contributed to the decline of the Spanish
missions. They had been supported at first by a Pious Fund, obtained
by subscriptions in Mexico and Spain. After the separation of these
two countries, this fund was lost, its interest being regularly
embezzled by Mexican officials, and, finally, the principal, it is
said, was taken in one lump by the President, Santa Ana. Still the
missions were able to hold their own until the Mexican Government
removed the Indians from the control of the Padres, for the benefit, I
suppose, of the "Indian ring." The secular control of the native
tribes was, in Mexican hands, an utter failure. The Indians, now no
longer compelled to work, no longer well fed and comfortably clothed,
were scattered about the country as paupers and tramps.
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