Page:History of California, Volume 3 (Bancroft).djvu/217

Rh after affirming that the leading Californians aimed solely at securing mission plunder and rejoicing at Victoria's opportune arrival and suspension of the law, wrote: "Interested parties, including some vocales of the diputacion, sure of their prey, were disappointed, and disappointment turned into hatred for the equitable Victoria. Never had they pardoned this just chief for having rescued the booty already within their grasp. They began to intrigue and hold secret meetings, and for ten months of 1831 symptoms of sedition have not ceased to keep the illustrious chief in constant trouble. They sought to force him to convene the diputacion, in order that with a semblance of legality they might accomplish their desires, ... ungrateful for the sacrifices of the poor Indians; but Victoria never consented; and in November they proclaimed a plan of attack." The foreign residents are equally silent, but I suspect that their views were more favorable to the governor than they cared to admit generally to the strong element opposing him. The Californians have weakened their cause by their unfounded and exaggerated attacks on Victoria's personal character, for politically the cause was a strong one. Victoria went far beyond the authority of his office, in refusing to convoke the assembly, in trying an alcalde by court-martial, and in banishing Mexican citizens without forms of trial. He was not in sympathy with constitutional government; and his acts were not to be defended by reason of the reactionary character of the administration that appointed him, the trick that was attempted by Padrés and Echeandía, the formidable opposition which forced him to a more arbitrary policy than he would otherwise have shown, or the promptness and frankness with which he submitted all to the national authorities. Perhaps his proceedings might even have justified revolt after a