At Length,
In 1876, He Gave Up Active Life And Took Residence Abroad, With
The Idea Of Finding Leisure For The Preparation Of A Treatise On
International Law.
He was still engaged in collecting his material
when, on January 6, 1882, death overtook him.
He was buried in Rome
in the Protestant Cemetery, whose cypresses cast their long shadows
over the graves of many distinguished foreigners who have sought a
last refuge of health and peace under the skies of Italy.
Such a career as his would seem far enough from being a failure.
Yet, in retirement, Dana looked back upon it not without regret.
As a lawyer, he had felt a justifiable desire to see his labors
crowned by his elevation to the bench; as an active participant in
public affairs, he had felt that his services and talents rendered
him deserving of a seat in Congress. Lacking these things, he might
have hoped that the practice of his profession would yield him a
fortune. Here again he was disappointed. In seeking the fulfillment
of his ambitions, he was always on the high road to success; he never
quite arrived.
It is remarkable that, having written one successful book, Dana did not
seek further reward as a man of letters. Two Years before the Mast
appeared in 1840, while its author was still a law student. Though
at the time it created no great stir in the United States, it was most
favorably received in England, where it paved the way for many pleasant
and valuable acquaintanceships. The following year, Dana produced
a small volume on seamanship, entitled The Seaman's Friend. This,
and a short account of a trip to Cuba in 1859, constitute the sole
additions to his early venture. He was a copious letter-writer and
kept full journals of his various travels; but he never elaborated
them for publication. Yet, long before his death, he had seen the
narrative of his sailor days recognized as an American classic.
Time has not diminished its reputation. We read it to-day not
merely for its simple, unpretentious style; but for its clear
picture of sea life previous to the era of steam navigation, and
for its graphic description of conditions in California before
visions of gold sent the long lines of "prairie schooners" drifting
across the plains to unfold the hidden destiny of the West.
California and her Missions
It is not easy to realize that, during the stirring days when the
eastern coast-line of North America was experiencing the ferment
of revolution, the Pacific seaboard was almost totally unexplored,
its population largely a savage one. But Spain, long established
in Mexico, was slowly pushing northward along the California coast.
Her emissaries were the Franciscan friars; her method the founding
of Indian missions round which, in due course, should arise towns
intended to afford harbor for Spanish ships and to serve as outposts
against the steady encroachments of Russia, who, from Alaska, was
reaching out toward San Francisco Bay.
Thus began the white settlement of California. San Diego Mission
was founded in 1769; San Carlos, at Monterey, in 1770; San Francisco,
in 1776; Santa Barbara, in 1786. For the general guardianship of
these missions a garrison, or presidio, was in each case provided.
It was responsible not only for the protection of the town thus
created, but for all the missions in the district. The presidio of
San Diego, for example, was in charge of the missions of San Diego,
San Gabriel, San Juan Capistrano, and San Luis Rey. So, likewise,
there were garrisons with extensive jurisdiction at Santa Barbara,
Monterey, and San Francisco.
The Indians in the immediate vicinity of a mission were attached
thereto by a sort of gentle enslavement. They were provided special
quarters, were carefully looked after by the priests, their religious
education fostered, and their innate laziness conquered by specific
requirements of labor in agriculture, cattle raising, and simple
handicrafts. It was an arrangement which worked well for both parties
concerned. The slavery of the Indians was not unlike the obligation
of children to their parents; they were comfortable, well behaved,
and for the most part contented with the rule of the friars, who,
on their side, began to accumulate considerable wealth from the
well-directed efforts of their charges.
The supposition was that in the course of years the Indians might
become so habituated to thrift and industry as to be released from
supervision and safely left to their own devices. But that happy
consummation had not occurred when, in 1826, Mexico succeeded in
separating herself from the mother country and began her career as an
independent republic, of which California was a part. Nevertheless,
the greed of politicians suddenly wrought the change which was to
have come as the slow development of years. By governmental decree,
the Indians were declared free of obligation to the friars; the latter
were stripped of their temporal powers, their funds seized under the
guise of a loan, and their establishments often subjected to what was
little short of pillage. This state of affairs had scarcely begun at
the time of the author's visit to California; still, as he points out
in Chapter XXI, the decline of the missions had already set in.
The final blow to their power and usefulness came, however, with
the upheaval accompanying the Mexican war and the acquisition of
California by the United States. Although this country returned
all mission buildings to the control of the Church, their reason
for being had vanished; they were sold, or destroyed, or feebly
maintained on funds insufficient to forestall dilapidation.
Fortunately the Franciscan friars had built for beauty as well as for
use; the architecture which they devised in skillful adaptation of
their native Spanish type displayed originality and picturesque charm.
Hence, of late years, Californians have come to feel a worthy pride
in the monuments of the early history of their state, and have taken
steps to preserve such of them as survive.
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