Page:History of California, Volume 3 (Bancroft).djvu/453

Rh with the padres, it has left no trace in his written communications, which are dignified in manner and matter. He reported the matter to the junta, and that body decided before his return to Monterey that the missions were under obligations to aid the government; and expressed much regret and surprise at the offensive conduct of the padres toward the chief magistrate of the territory, something that had never been witnessed in the country before, even in the case of a private traveller. After Chico's return it was decided by him and approved by the junta that Duran should be ordered to Monterey and expelled from California, for having refused to celebrate mass at the swearing of the bases, and for publicly maintaining that the national independence was illegal, unjust, and anti-Catholic. This action was consistent. enough with the past policy of the diputacion, and, as will be remembered, had been recommended by Figueroa; yet it is not unlikely that the chief motive of this support of Chico by the junta was to promote, through Duran's well known popularity at Santa Bárbara, the disaffection of that conservative people, hitherto unmanageable in the interest of political agitators. The order was sent to the alcalde July 25th; and all that we know of the result by contemporary records is that on August 4th, after Chico's departure, Padre Duran announced to the alcalde that he could not go to Monterey by land, but must await the Leonidas. It is stated, however, by several persons who must have known the facts, that when an attempt was made to put the padre prefecto on board a vessel, the people of the town rose en masse, women in the front ranks, and prevented the