Page:History of California, Volume 3 (Bancroft).djvu/298

280 He advised, however, that on account of scanty means and the general unfitness of the men for frontier settlers, the idea of a new town be abandoned, and the colonists be allowed to select, each for himself, their own residence and employment. Híjar protested against this plan, as opposed to the views of the Mexican government; but Figueroa insisted, and issued the corresponding orders. The colony was thus disorganized, but there are records of aid furnished to families at different points throughout 1835. There is no more to be said of the colonists as a body. Most of them remained in the country to constitute a very respectable element of the population.

In a defence of his own course, written later, Figueroa, presenting the documents in the case chronologically, interspersed among them his own comments. From his remarks it would appear that almost from the day of arrival, in September 1834, to the outbreak in March 1835, soon to be noticed, certain members of the colony under the leadership of Padrés were engaged in plots to secure the territorial government by force, Híjar being meanwhile an indifferent spectator, if not an active participant in these intrigues. I suspect that Figueroa's fears at the time were to a considerable extent unfounded, and that his subsequent presentment of them was much exaggerated in detail to suit his own purposes. The colonists