Page:History of California, Volume 3 (Bancroft).djvu/439

Rh was appointed December 16, 1835, to succeed Figueroa, apparently before that officer's death was known, and arrived at Santa Bárbara on the Leonor, as I suppose, after the middle of April 1836, the exact date being unknown. Beyond the facts that Chico was a diputado, and that members of his family in Guanajuato had taken a somewhat prominent part in the revolutionary struggle, I know nothing of the man before his arrival in California. As we know, the people had a strong feeling against Mexican officials as a class, and were opposed to centralism so far as they had any political opinions; it is also stated that letters and newspapers from Mexico had given Chico an unfavorable reputation in respect of both political and private character; yet I do not think there was any prejudice against him or his politics that would have proved a serious obstacle to a man skilled in the art of gaining popularity.

Having spent a few days at Santa Bárbara at the house of Carlos Carrillo, whom he had known in Mexico, Don Mariano started north by land, escorted by about eighteen soldiers, and accompanied by Jacob P. Leese, the company also including, I presume, Doña Cruz, a woman introduced by the governor as his niece, of whom more anon. He arrived at the capital May