Page:History of California, Volume 3 (Bancroft).djvu/333

Rh was intended to apply only to the four southernmost missions. It did not go so far in some respects as was provided by the decree of January, and introduced some new features not authorized by that decree. It was not apparently published in regular form as a bando, but was rather submitted for approval to the friars. It was prefaced with an argument on the necessity of secularization under superior laws and instructions, a statement of the enthusiasm with which the Indians had welcomed the author's efforts, a presentment of their complaints of injustice and a general discontent under the padres' management which threatened serious consequences, a mention of good results at San Juan Capistrano, where the padres were said to have voluntarily given up the temporalities, and a plea to the missionaries to accept their duties as parish priests.

Padre Sanchez replied in a long series of critical notes on both preface and reglamento. This criticism is one to which it is impossible to do justice