The records of the meeting, and the resolutions condemning the statements of the Superintendent of Indian Affairs, which were unanimously adopted, and were published in the “Mariposa Chronicle” after its establishment, I have preserved as a record of the times. The meeting expressed the general sentiment of the people, but it accomplished nothing in opposition to the Superintendent’s policy, for the people soon discovered that the great “_Agitator_” at these meetings was a would-be rival of the Superintendent. We therefore bowed our heads and thought of the fox in the fable. I never chanced to meet the gentleman who was at that time Superintendent of Indian Affairs, and know nothing of him personally, but upon reading an official letter of his dated at Los Angeles, August 22nd, 1853, in which he speaks of “The establishment of an entire new system of government, which is to change the character and habits of a hundred thousand persons.” And another letter dated San Francisco, September 30th, 1853, saying that his farm agent, Mr. Edwards, “Had with great tact and with the assistance of Mr. Alexander Gody, by traveling from tribe to tribe, and talking constantly with them, succeeded in preventing any outbreak or disturbance in the San Joaquin Valley.” I came to the conclusion that the Superintendent of Indian Affairs was under astute management, or that he was one of the _shrewdest_ of the many _shrewd operators_ on the Pacific Coast. The schemes of the _Indian Ring_ were not endorsed by Governor Weller, but were practically condemned in a public letter. The charges against the people of Mariposa by the Superintendent of Indian Affairs were absurd and grossly insulting to their intelligence. There had been no assault upon the Indians, except that at King’s river, led by the hangers-on at one of his own agencies. These men continued to be honored guests at the tables of his employes, and one of his most vigorous assailants was given employment that silenced him. The estimates made by him in his letters and report, were on an assumed probability of a renewal of Indian hostilities. It was true, murders were occasionally committed by them, but they were few as compared with those committed by the Mexicans and Americans among themselves. The estimate of a hundred thousand Indians in California, was known by every intelligent man who had given the subject any attention, to be fabulous. There was probably not a fifth of the number. But that was of no consequence, as the schemes of the “Ring” were successful. Large appropriations were made by Congress in accordance with stipulations of the treaty made between these ignorant tribes, and the Republic of the United States of America. The recommendations were generally carried out _in Washington_.