Page:Mexico, Aztec, Spanish and Republican, Vol 1.djvu/240

224 ritual which was sent from the Spanish court, and, whilst the people were thinking of the festivities which were to signalize Philip's accession to the throne, the Conde de Montezuma returned to Spain after four years of uneventful rule.

The brief period during which the archiepiscopal viceroy exercised his functions in Mexico for the second time, is chiefly, and perhaps, only, memorable, for the additional efforts made by the worthy Jesuits in California to subdue and settle that distant province. The colonists and clergymen who had already gone thither complained incessantly of their sufferings in consequence of the sterility of the coasts. But Salvatierra remained firm in his resolution to spread the power of Spain and of his church among the wild tribes at the feet of the western sierra along the Pacific coast. His labors and those of his diligent coadjutors were slow but incessant. Trusting confidently in Providence, they maintained their post at the Presidio of Loreto, and gathered around them, by their persuasive eloquence and gentle demeanor, large numbers of natives, until the success of their teachings threatened them with starvation in consequence of the abundance of their converts, all of whom relied upon the fathers for maintenance as soon as they abandoned their savage life. Yet there was no other means of attaching the Indians to the Spanish government. The authorities in Mexico had refused and continued obstinate in their denial of men or money to conquer or hold the country; so that, after various efforts to obtain the aid of the government, the pious mendicants resolved to return again to their remote missions with no other reliance than honest zeal and the support of God. At this juncture Philip V., and a number of influential people in the capital, volunteered to aid the cause of Christianity and Spain, by supplies which would ensure the final success of the Jesuits.