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.
The second morning after leaving Monterey, we were off Point
Conception. It was a bright, sunny day, and the wind, though strong,
was fair; and everything was in striking contrast with our
experience in the same place two months before, when we were
drifting off from a northwester under a fore and main spencer.
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