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Tlze Beginnings of Civilized Life in Texas, r73r-1745
Joseph Bueno de Rojas and Marcelino Martinez to report to Mission Concepcion for duty, fully armed and equipped, to replace two of the guards in the mission. 27 But the difficulty in regard to the soldiers furnished to the San Antonio missions does not appear to end here. Ever since the removal of the three Queretaran missions from East Texas to San Antonio in 1731, when the Presidio of La Bahia was first required to furnish three soldiers for each one, this duty had been reluctantly performed. The action of Urrutia in 1740 remedied the situation only temporarily. In a long complaint to the viceroy in 1743, Father Benito explained that ever since 1741 the new Captain of La Bahia, Don Joaquin Orobio y Basterra, had attempted to evade sending the guards as provided by repeated royal orders and decrees ever since the time of Viceroy Casafuerte. Such as had been sent had been instructed not to work or help the missionaries in any way. He argued that it was evidently the royal will, as shown by the various decrees, that the soldiers assigned to the missions should cooperate in the propagation of the faith and the reduction of the Indians to mission life. This implied that the guards should accompany the Indians to the fields and in their other tasks and act as teachers and supervisors. This ~as not below their dignity, for the missionaries had always done it, setting the natives an example by wielding the plough, or the hoe, or the axe. 28 The reason for the reluctance of the Captain of La Bahia to furnish the guards and to allow them to help has been attributed to greed. "The missionaries had been in the habit of com- pensating the guards not only with provisions but also with clothing. In consequence, the soldiers were relieved of the necessity of purchasing supplies from the captain's store." 29 This is alleged to have been the motive for the action of Captain Orobio y Basterra. Be that as it may, the matter was referred to the Fiscal, who on June 27, 1743, recommended that the Captain of La Bahia should be instructed in the strictest terms, that it was his duty to furnish nine soldiers from his garrison for the three Queretaran missions in San Antonio, and that they were supposed to assist the missionaries in the l7Qrder of Urrutia to Diego Ramon and corresponding Autos. May 31, 1 7 40 , In Ibid. 2BFray Benito Fernandez de Santa Ana to the Viceroy, March 4 1 17 43 , A. G. M., Provincias lnt,rnas, vol. 236, pt. 1. 29Bolton, Te:cas in the Middle Eighteenth Century, 23.
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