Page:History of California, Volume 3 (Bancroft).djvu/351

Rh bands, to state what missions were in a condition to be secularized under the law of 1813; what objections to secularization existed; and what would be the best means to be employed. The diputacion held no session this year, or at least has left no record of its reply; but both Duran and García Diego gave their views on the subject, the former in several communications, the latter in a single one dated September 24th. There was nothing in the argument of the Zacatecan prefect that demands extended notice. He admitted that all the missions under his charge — except Solano, which lacked some weeks of the required ten years — were subject to secularization according to the law of 1813; but he believed that law could not be applied to California without inevitable ruin to the missions and to the neophytes.

President Duran of course opposed the change, and used to some extent the old arguments, with which, coming from him and others, the reader is familiar; but he also seems to have put himself as fully as possible in the governor's place, and admitting for the time that a change was inevitable, to have given in good faith his views respecting the best means to be employed. He noted two great obstacles to be overcome: first, the natural apathy, indolence, and incompetency of the neophytes, acknowledged by every intelligent man who had any experience in the matter; and second, the burdens imposed on the missions by circumstances, chiefly that of supporting the troops