He Had Always Been
His Master, And Had Nothing To Gain, And Everything To Lose;
While The Other Fought For Honor And Freedom, Under A Sense Of
Wrong.
It would not do.
It was soon over. Nat gave in; not so
much beaten, as cowed and mortified; and never afterwards tried
to act the bully on board. We took George forward, washed him
in the deck-tub, complimented his pluck, and from this time he
became somebody on board, having fought himself into notice.
Mr. Brown's plan had a good effect, for there was no more quarrelling
among the boys for the rest of the voyage.
Wednesday, January 6th. Set sail from Monterey, with a number of
Spaniards as passengers, and shaped our course for Santa Barbara.
The Diana went out of the bay in company with us, but parted from
us off Point Pinos, being bound to the Sandwich Islands. We had a
smacking breeze for several hours, and went along at a great rate,
until night, when it died away, as usual, and the land-breeze set in,
which brought us upon a taught bowline. Among our passengers was a
young man who was the best representation of a decayed gentleman
I had ever seen. He reminded me much of some of the characters
in Gil Blas. He was of the aristocracy of the country, his family
being of pure Spanish blood, and once of great importance in Mexico.
His father had been governor of the province, and having amassed a
large property, settled at San Diego, where he built a large house
with a court-yard in front, kept a great retinue of Indians, and set
up for the grandee of that part of the country. His son was sent
to Mexico, where he received the best education, and went into the
first society of the capital. Misfortune, extravagance, and the
want of funds, or any manner of getting interest on money,
soon eat the estate up, and Don Juan Bandini returned from
Mexico accomplished, poor, and proud, and without any office
or occupation, to lead the life of most young men of the better
families - dissolute and extravagant when the means are at hand;
ambitious at heart, and impotent in act; often pinched for bread;
keeping up an appearance of style, when their poverty is known to
each half-naked Indian boy in the street, and they stand in dread of
every small trader and shopkeeper in the place. He had a slight and
elegant figure, moved gracefully, danced and waltzed beautifully,
spoke the best of Castilian, with a pleasant and refined voice
and accent, and had, throughout, the bearing of a man of high
birth and figure. Yet here he was, with his passage given him,
(as I afterwards learned,) for he had not the means of paying
for it, and living upon the charity of our agent. He was polite
to every one, spoke to the sailors, and gave four reáls - I dare
say the last he had in his pocket - to the steward, who waited
upon him. I could not but feel a pity for him, especially when I
saw him by the side of his fellow-passenger and townsman, a fat,
coarse, vulgar, pretending fellow of a Yankee trader, who had
made money in San Diego, and was eating out the very vitals of
the Bandinis, fattening upon their extravagance, grinding them in
their poverty; having mortgages on their lands, forestalling their
cattle, and already making an inroad upon their jewels, which were
their last hope.
Don Juan had with him a retainer, who was as much like many of
the characters in Gil Blas as his master. He called himself a
private secretary, though there was no writing for him to do,
and he lived in the steerage with the carpenter and sailmaker.
He was certainly a character; could read and write extremely well;
spoke good Spanish; had been all over Spanish America, and lived in
every possible situation, and served in every conceivable capacity,
though generally in that of confidential servant to some man
of figure. I cultivated this man's acquaintance, and during
the five weeks that he was with us, - for he remained on board
until we arrived at San Diego, - I gained a greater knowledge
of the state of political parties in Mexico, and the habits
and affairs of the different classes of society, than I could
have learned from almost any one else. He took great pains in
correcting my Spanish, and supplying me with colloquial phrases,
and common terms and exclamations in speaking. He lent me a file
of late newspapers from the city of Mexico, which were full of
triumphal receptions of Santa Ana, who had just returned from
Tampico after a victory, and with the preparations for his expedition
against the Texans. "Viva Santa Ana!" was the by-word everywhere,
and it had even reached California, though there were still many
here, among whom was Don Juan Bandini, who were opposed to his
government, and intriguing to bring in Bustamente. Santa Ana,
they said, was for breaking down the missions; or, as they termed
it - "Santa Ana no quiere religion." Yet I had no doubt that the
office of administrador of San Diego would reconcile Don Juan to
any dynasty, and any state of the church. In these papers, too,
I found scraps of American and English news; but which were so
unconnected, and I was so ignorant of everything preceding them
for eighteen months past, that they only awakened a curiosity which
they could not satisfy. One article spoke of Taney as Justicia
Mayor de los Estados Unidos, (what had become of Marshall? was he
dead, or banished?) and another made known, by news received from
Vera Cruz, that "El Vizconde Melbourne" had returned to the office
of "primer ministro," in place of Sir Roberto Peel. (Sir Robert
Peel had been minister, then? and where were Earl Grey and the Duke
of Wellington?) Here were the outlines of a grand parliamentary
overturn, the filling up of which I could imagine at my leisure.
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