extracts from the work of m. duflot de mofras, entitled “exploration of the territory of oregon and the californias,” etc. work published by order of the king: paris, 1847.
What is remarkable in the foundations of these missions is that they cost the Government no sacrifice. At the beginning of the settlement of Lower California the viceroys furnished some aid. Philip V allowed them during the first years of his reign thirteen thousand dollars, but in 1735 the Jesuits, having received large donations, knew so well how to employ them that not only were they able to provide for the needs of their missions, but to buy some new lands. In 1767 a lady of Guadalajara, Dona Josef a de Miranda, left by her will, to the College of the Society of that city, a legacy of more than one hundred thousand dollars, which the Jesuits, being already the objects of the calumnies of all Europe, had the delicacy to refuse.
The properties of the Pious Fund with their successive gains are composed today of:
The estates (haciendas) of San Pedro, Torreon, Rincon, Las Golondrinas, including many mines, buildings, and immense herds and lands of more than five hundred square leagues, all situated in the new Kingdom of Leon, or the province of Tamaulipas. These properties were freely given to the society by the Marquis of Villapuente, high chancellor of New Spain, and by his wife, the Marchioness of Torres, on the 8th of June, 1735.a
[Page 370]Other legacies enriched the Society of Jesus with large properties, existing near San Luis de Potosí, Guanajuato, and Guadalajara.
The estate known by the name of the “hacienda of Ciénega del Pastor,” which is situated near the last-named city, notwithstanding its state of dilapidation and its poor administration, is still rented annually for more than twenty-four thousand dollars. Another estate belonging to the society, the hacienda de Chalco, is part of the Pious Fund, which possesses, besides, a very large number of houses and other real estate situated in the cities, particularly in Mexico.
In 1827 the Government forcibly took the sum of eighteen thousand dollars in specie, deposited in the mint at the capital, and which resulted from the sale of the Arroyo Zarco, a property belonging to the society. The Pious Fund was also despoiled of immense estates by the Congress of Jalisco, and we have already said that President Santa Anna had sold as a whole the Pious Fund to the house of Barrio and to Messrs. Rubio Brothers.
Under the Spanish Government the income amounted to nearly fifty thousand dollars, which served to pay the salary (sinodo) of the friars, fifteen Dominicans, at six hundred dollars, and forty Franciscans, at four hundred dollars. This total of twenty-five thousand dollars being deducted, the remainder was employed in buying clothes, machines, implements, vestments, and ornaments for religious worship. The Royal Government repaid to the agent of the missions in Mexico the value of the supplies furnished to the soldiers in the presidios. The agent converted this money into supplies, which he sent overland, at his expense, to the port of San Bias, and from there twice a year vessels took them free of charge to the several ports of California.
During the flourishing reign of Charles III the port and arsenal of San Bias became of great importance. An intelligent agent, sent by the Spanish Government, went to teach the religious to raise and market hemp, and as many of the mission lands united conditions favorable to the cultivation of this plant, the friars applied themselves with a good deal of success, so that they began every year to send large quantities of rope to San Bias. The value of these products was punctually paid to the agent of the missions in Mexico by the royal treasury.
For twenty years this valuable branch of industry has remained inactive, and in all the ports on the western coast of Mexico ships can only procure, often at a very high price, cordage coming from Europe or the United States.
From 1811 to 1818, and after 1823 to January, 1831, the missionaries ceased to fulfil regularly their appointments, on account of the political troubles which during these periods agitated Spain and Mexico, so that, in adding to the sums due the Franciscans of Upper California alone, and these amounted to one hundred and ninety-two thousand dollars, the seventy-eight thousand dollars forcibly confiscated from the religious, the two hundred and seventy-two thousand dollars of which the missions of Upper California were despoiled for supplies furnished the troops of the presidios, and the revenues from the estates of the Pious Fund during more than ten years, a total of more than one million dollars would be obtained, of which the Mexican Government has despoiled the association of missions in defiance of the intentions of the testators.a
[Page 371]On the 25th of May, 1832, the Congress of Mexico rendered a decree by which the executive power was charged to rent for seven years the estates of the Pious Fund, causing the proceeds to be paid into the national treasury. A second decree of Congress of the 19th of September, 1836, ordered that the Pious Fund be placed at the disposition of the new bishop of California and of his successors, to the end that these prelates to whom the administration was entrusted might employ it to the development of the missions or analogous enterprises, respecting, always, the will of the founders.
On the 8th of February, 1842, General Santa Anna, provisional president, acting by virtue of his discretionary power, withdrew from the bishop of California, notwithstanding his protestations, the administration of the Pious Fund, and, by a decree of the twenty-first of the same month, gave charge of it to General Valencia, chief of staff of the army.a
For those who knew the county, the word administrate had a very plain signification. This was before the actual sale, the last blow aimed at the organization created by the Jesuits. Nevertheless, to be just, we add that up to the present the few Franciscans who remain in California have received the assistance of four hundred dollars annually, in merchandise, quoted at exorbitant prices. (Vol. 1, pp. 266, 271.)
Last account of the goods of the Pious Fund which the sale of the properties el Torreon, Huerta de Santa Cruz, Rio Chico, Baño de Atotonilco, Juana Gonzales, Labor de la Natividad, Hacienda del Maguey, y Estancia de Organos produced, all which properties belonged to the civilization and conversion of the heathen, and which account was last given to the viceroy and is to be found in the report made by the royal junta of auctions. The treasury, which only held these sums in deposit, disposed of them and owes them up to now.
Inform me what is the state of the proceedings in the estate of Dona Francisco de Paula Arguelles, who left large properties for the purpose of founding pious works, in which were included the missions of California and of China; who is charged with this administration; to what sum the annual receipts into the treasury amount, and if there are any sums derived from this source in it. D. May 25, 1816. Rubric. Ministers of the general treasury.
[No. 3067.]
Your Excellency: An account of the proceedings concerning the estate of Señora Dona Josef a de Paula Arguelles is not to be found in this general treasury, nor was it ever deposited in it, except only that the quantities which were deposited by the attorneys and administrators of the estates, which consisted of several rural properties and two urban properties in this capital, were received. The Marquis of Santa Cruz de Ynguanzo, who was the administrator in the year 1804, made the last deposit of eighteen thousand dollars on the 9th of February of that year, but without any explanation to this treasury that we know of. In April of the last year the above-mentioned estates were sold, the price obtained being four hundred and thirteen thousand seven hundred and thirteen dollars two reals nine grains, of which amount [Page 372] there were placed in the treasury ten thousand dollars to the account of the pious work of the “Niños del Carro” of Manila, according to the disposition of the testatrix, and four hundred and three thousand seven hundred and thirteen dollars two reals nine grains to the account of the missions of the Californias and of the Philippines, half to each, following out the tenor of her will. In the years 1805, 1806, and 1807 nothing appears to have been deposited by the Marquis of Santa Cruz de Ynguanzo, nor since the time that he has been administrator of the estates of Don Juan Antonio Ayerdi. The greatest part of said goods was sold at the auction of December 15, 1808, as follows:
The hacienda of Torreon, Huerta de Santa Cruz, and Baña de Atotonilco, Rio Chico, Juana Gonzales, and Labor de la Natividad, to Doña Josefa Gonzales Guerra, who deposited on various dates one hundred and eighty-eight thousand dollars. The haciendas of Maguey and Estancia de Organos were knocked down to Don Fermin Antonio de Apecechea, who also, upon different dates, deposited one hundred and eleven thousand three hundred and fifty dollars, five reals, six grains, over and above fifteen thousand seven hundred and two dollars, seven reals, and nine grains of interest from the time that he made no payment on the principal. The hacienda of Ciénega and the urban properties appear to have remained unsold, concerning which the said Ayerdi, now handling what ought to be deposited on account of their products, could give an explanation. This same individual is the attorney for the heir of Señora Argüelles, who is interested to the extent of a one-fourth part in the estate left by her will, and to whom twenty thousand three undred and thirty-seven dollars, five reals, four and one-half grains remain owing, on account of the fourth part of the properties sold, and out of which he has received fifty-four thousand five hundred dollars. In the treasury there ought to be left two hundred and fifty-nine thousand five hundred and fifty-three dollars, five reals, three grains; of which twenty thousand three hundred and thirty-seven dollars, five reals, four and one-half grains belong to the heir, and to the missions of California and Manila and the Philippines, half to each, two hundred and thirty-nine thousand two hundred and fifteen dollars, seven reals, ten and one-half grains, which is as much as we can tell your excellency in compliance with your superior order of the 25th instant. God guard your excellency many years. Mexico, May 25, 1816. To His Excellency José Montér, Antonio Batres, His Excellency Don Felix Maria Calleja. In the margin. Mexico, June 12, 1816. To the attorney of the royal treasury for the service of the Government of Count del Valle. Wherever the proceedings concerning the estate of Marchioness de Paula Argüelles may exist, considering the desire of the attorney Don Juan Antonio de Ayerdi, in which he asks permission to leave this capital, without designating any time, in order that he may move in the premises, and concerning the last, state if the stay of Ayerdi is necessary here. Rubric.