The most northerly
presidio is San Francisco, the next Monterey, the next Santa
Barbara, including the mission of the same, San Luis Obispo, and
Santa Buenaventura, which is said to be the best mission in the
whole country, having fertile soil and rich vineyards. The last,
and most southerly, is San Diego, including the mission of the
same, San Juan Capistrano, the Pueblo de los Angeles, the largest
town in California, with the neighboring mission of San Gabriel.
The priests, in spiritual matters, are subject to the Archbishop
of Mexico, and in temporal matters to the governor-general, who is
the great civil and military head of the country.
The government of the country is an arbitrary democracy, having no
common law, and nothing that we should call a judiciary. Their
only laws are made and unmade at the caprice of the legislature,
and are as variable as the legislature itself. They pass through
the form of sending representatives to the congress at Mexico, but
as it takes several months to go and return, and there is very
little communication between the capital and this distant
province, a member usually stays there as permanent member,
knowing very well that there will be revolutions at home before he
can write and receive an answer; and if another member should be
sent, he has only to challenge him, and decide the contested
election in that way.
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