Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 11.djvu/24

 NEW MEXICO

NEW MEXICO

can Friar, Augustin Rodrtguos!, entered with a few companions, and lost his hfe in tlio cause of (Christian- ity. In 15S1 Espejo ('aUed New Mexico Niieva An- dalucia. By IMS the name Nuevo Mejico was evi- dently well known, since Villagrd's epic is called "Historia del Nuevo Mejico".

The expediticiii.s of Isspejo and Father Agustin Ro- driguez were followed by many more of an unimpor- tant character, and it was not until 1.598, when Don •luan de Onate, accompanied by ten Franciscans under Father .\lonso Martinez, and four hundred men, of whom one hundred and thirty were accompanied by their wives and families, marched up alongside the Rio Grande, and settled at San Juan de los Caballeros, near the junction of the Chama with the Rio Grande, thirty miles north of Santa Ft'. This was the first per- manent Spanish settlement in New Mexico. Here was established, also, the first mission, and San Juan de los Caballeros (or San Gabriel a few miles west on the Chama river?) was the capital of the new province until it was moved to Santa F6 some time between 1602 and 1616. The colony prospered, missions were established by the Franciscans, new colonists arrived, and by the middle of the seventeenth century general prosperity prevailed. In the year 16S0, however, a terrible Indian rebellion broke out under the leader- ship of Pope, an Indian of the pueblo of San Juan. All the Spanish settlements were attacked, and many peo- ple massacred. The survivors fled to Santa Fe, but, after three days' fighting, were compelled to abandon the city and were driven out of the province.

Thus was destroyed the work of eighty years. The Spaniards did not lose courage: between 1691 and 1693 Antonio de Vargas reconquered New Me.xico and en- tered it with many of the old colonists and many more new ones, his entire colony consisting of 800 peo- ple, including seventy families and 200 soldiers. The old \-illages were occupied, churches rebuilt, and the missions re-established. A new villa was founded, Santa Cruz de la Canada, around which most of the families which had come with De Vargas untler Padre Farfdn were settled. The colonies, no longer seri- ously tiireatened by the Indians, progressed slowly. By the end of the eighteenth century the population of New Mexico was about 34,000, one-half Spaniards. The first half of the nineteenth centurj' was a period of revolutions — rapid transformations of government and foreign invasions, accepted by the Spanish inhab- itants of New Mexico in an easy-going spirit of sub- mission unparalleled in history.

In 1821 the news of Mexican independence was re- ceived, and, although the people of New Mexico were ignorant of the events which had preceded it, and knew absolutelj' nothing of the situation, they cele- brated the event with great enthusiasm and swore allegiance to Iturbide. In 1824, just three years after independence, came the news of the fall of Iturbide and the inauguration of the Republic of Mexico: throngs gathered at Santa F6, the people were ha- rangued, and the new regime was applauded as a bless- ing to New Mexico. When war was declared between the United States and Mexico — an event concerning which the New Mexicans were ignorant — General Stephen Watts Kearny was sent to conquer New Mexico. In 1846 he entered the territory, and Gen- eral Armijo, the local military chiei, fled to Mexico. Kearny took possession of the territory in the name of the United States, promising the people all the rights and liberties which other citizens of the United States enjoyed. The people joyfully accepted American rule, and swore obedience to the Stars and Stripes. At one stroke, no one knew why or how, a Spanish colony, after existing under Spanish institutions for nearly three centuries, was brought under the rule of a for- eign race and under new and unknown institutions. After the military occupation by Kearny in 1846, Charles Bent was civil governor. He was murdered

at Taos, in 1847, by .some Spaniards whom he had gro.ssly offended. In 1847-48 Donaciano Vigil was civil governor.

In 1S4S, by the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, New Mexico was formally ceded by Mexico to the United States, and in 1850 it was regularly organized as a ter- ritory (which included Arizona until 1863), and James S. Calhoun was the first territorial governor. The first territorial Legislative Assenibly met at Santa F6 in IS.'jl : most of the members were of Spanish descent, and this has been true of all the Assemblies until the end of the century. Up to 1910 the proceedings of the Legislature were in Spanish and English, interpreters being always present. During the years 1861-62 the Texan Confederates entered New Mexico, to occupy Albuquerque and Santa F6, but Federal troops ar- rived from Colorado and California and frustrated the attempt. During the years from 1860 to 1890 New Mexico progressed very slowly. Education was in a deplorable state (no system was established until 1S90), the surrounding Indians continually harassed the inhabitants, and no railroad was constructed until after 1880. In 1860 the population was 80,567; in 1870, 90,573; in ISSO, 109,793. Nine-tenths of the population in 1880 was of Spanish descent: at pres- ent (1911) this element is only about one-half, owing to the constant immigration from the other states of the Union. Since 1890 New Mexico has progressed rapidly. Education is now enthusiastically supported and encouraged, the natural resources are being rapidly developed, and the larger towns and cities have all the marks of modern civilization and progress. Since 1850 many unsuccessful attempts have been made to secure statehood; at last, in June, 1910, Congress passed an Enabling Act: New Mexico is to adopt a Constitution, subject to the approval of Congress.

MissioN.s OP New Mexico. — The Franciscan Friar Marcos de Niza, as we have seen above, reached New Mexico near the pueblo of Zuni in 1539. This short expedition may be considered, therefore, as the first mission in New Mexico and what is now Arizona. With the expedition of Coronado (1540-42) several Franciscans under Marcos de Niza entered New Mexico. There is some confusion about their exact number and even about their names. It seems rea- sonably certain, however, that Marcos had to abandon the expedition after reaching Zuni, and that two Franciscan priests, Juan de Padilla and Juan de la Cruz, and a lay brother, Luis de Escalona, continued with the expedition into New Mexico, remained as missionaries among the Indians when Coronado re- turned in 1542, and were finally murdered by them. These were the first three Christian missionaries to re- ceive the crown of martyrdom within the present hmits of the United States. Forty years after the Niza and Coronado expeditions of 1539-42, it was again a Franciscan who made an attempt to gain the New Mexico Indians to the Faith. This was Father Agustin Rodriguez, who, in 1581, left San Bartolome in Northern Mexico and, accompanied by two other friars, Juan de Santa Maria and Fr. Francisco L6pez, and some seventeen more men, marched up the Rio Grande and visited many of the pueblos on both sides of the river. The friars decided to remain in the new missionary field when the rest of the expedition re- turned in 1.582, but the Indians proved intractable and the two friars received the crown of martyrdom.

When news of the fate of Agustin Rodriguez reached San Bartolome in Nueva Vizcaya, Father Bernardino Beltrdn was desirous of making another attempt to evangelize New Mexico, but, being alone, would not remain there. It was in 1.598 that Don Juan de Onate made the first permanent Spanish settlement in New Mexico, at San Juan de los Caballeros. Ten Francis- can friars under Father Alonso Martinez accom- panied Ofiate in his conquest, and established at San Juan the first Spanish Franciscan mission. Mission-