"  Liberty  throughout  the  world  "  ought  to  be  the  cry  of  every
good  citizen.  But  the  Indians  of  California  did  not  possess  the
qualifications  for  liberty;  and  it  was  necessary  for  their  preser-
vation that  something  should  be  done  to  protect  them  against
themselves.*

Though  Figueroa  had  thus  prepared  and  passed  through  the
deputation  his  plan  of  secularization,  it  was  doubtful  for  a  time
whether  he  would  himself  carry  it  into  operation.  His  health
continued  bad  and  his  desire  to  be  relieved  from  the  office  of
political  chief,  upon  which  the  execution  of  his  plan  in  great
part  depended,  did  not  diminish.  In  the  meanwhile,  when  his
letter  of  March  25,  1833.  asking  to  be  allowed  to  retire,  reached
Mexico,  Gomez  Farias  then  acting  as  president  of  the  republic
issued  two  orders;  one,  dated  July  12,  1833,  ^^  the  effect  that
Jose  Maria  Padres,  the  same  individual  who  had  made  himself
prominent  in  Echeandia's  time,  should  proceed  to  California  and
relieve  Figueroa  of  the  military  command  in  case  he  still  con-
1  Cal.  Archives,  M.  XI,  658-661.
JOSE  FIGUEROA.  191

tinued  ill  and  insisted  upon  retiring^;*  and  the  other,  dated  two
days  afterwards,  appointing  Jose  Maria  Hijar  to  succeed  to  the
office  of  political  chief  and  also  to  act  as  director  of  a  new
scheme  of  colonization  for  Alta  California,  which  had  just  been
broached  at  the  national  capital.'

The  colonization  scheme,  of  which  Hijar  was  thus  appointed
director,  was  the  outcome  of  recent  machinations  of  Padres.
That  active-brained  projector,  after  the  failure  of  the  seculariza-
tion plan  of  Echeandia  of  which  he  was  said  to  have  been  the
originator  and  moving  spirit,  had  drifted  back  to  Mexico.
