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PART II. CHAPTER III. POLITICAL LIFE IN MEXICAN DAYS
Although twenty-three Governors--ten Spanish and thirteen Mexican--ruled California
before the days of American dominion, only two of these impressed themselves
upon the history of San Diego. Governor Echeandía loved the place so well that he virtually
made it the capital during his administration, and Governor Pico was himself a
San Diegan in whom his neighbors felt considerable pride. Several of the others appeared
for a moment upon the stage of picturesque local life, but few exerted any influence
upon the course of events in this neighborhood. It must be remembered that for
sixty-six years San Diego lived under military rule and that it was not until the establishment
of the pueblo in 1835 that civil government became dominant. Less than a
dozen years then remained to the Mexican power, but this brief period was crowded
with interesting political episodes. As we study the record, we are strongly reminded that
the men of that time were of the same race as those who have made the turbulent politics
of Central and South American states, for there is the same story of mimic wars and
of the rise and fall of ambitious rulers. There were but few people to govern, but relatively
many who desired to govern them, and the energies which Americans have given
to the development of natural resources the Mexicans preferred to spend on the stormy
field of politics.
When the Spanish flag went down, and gave place to the emblem of Mexico, on
April 20, 1822, the people of San Diego submitted gracefully, but without enthusiasm.
Only far echoes of the revolutionary struggle had reached them during the previous
decade and their sympathies clung fondly to the Spanish tradition of the country. It is
related that there was no flagstaff upon which to hoist the new colors; that the soldiers
grumbled because there was no distribution of money; and that the next day they cut off
their queues as an expression of their disgust. In December, the imperial commissioner,
charged with the change of government in Upper California, stopped in San Diego for a
week on his way home, but there is nothing to show that he transacted any business at
this place. He gambled with a
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[Pio Pico]
rollicking priest, named Fernandez, quarreled with Santiago Argüello about it, and departed
in an unhappy frame of mind.
It was in 1825 that General José María Echeandía, who was both political chief
and military commandant of Upper and Lower California, arrived with a detachment of
soldiers and a number of subordinates and established himself at the Presidio. This was
after the fall of the Emperor Iturbide and at the very outset of the effort to establish republican
institutions. The task he had undertaken was by no means easy. The troops
were destitute and mutinous; the old Spanish population was still unfriendly to the new
order of things, and the region lacked capital and population and was far from prosperous.