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Tlte Beginnings of Civilized Life in Texas, r73r-r745
records the government building, originally planned in 1742, had not been completed by 1749. Disputes between t/1e Canary I slanders and the missionaries over tl,e l1ire of Indians. Hardly was the Villa de San Fernando formally established, when the settlers began to eye with envy the orderly and systematic progress of the missions and to conceive the idea of utilizing the mission Indians to work their farms. Governor Franquis, during his short and tempestuous administration, attempted to force the missionaries to supply neophytes to work for the settlers, and on several occasions boasted he had secret instructions from the viceroy to put all the Indians to work on private farms. It was in justification of this pretension that he tried to show, by his spurious investigation of the maltreatment of the neophytes. that they would be much better off if they were allowed to work for wages outside of the missions. The result of Franquis' activities was a strong conviction on the part of the Cabildo of San Fernando that the prosperity of the settlement depended upon the use of the mission Indians by the Canary Islanders. The Cabildo, therefore, appealed to the viceroy in 17 40 for authority to put their plan in operation, sending Vicente Alvarez Travieso and Juan Leal to Mexico to present the case of the Canary Islanders. But the efforts of the two agents proved futile and the request was refused. There is little doubt that the earnest and frank report of Captain Toribio de Urrutia made on December 17, 1740, had a decided effect in thwarting the ill-advised request of the petitioners. In a long letter to the viceroy, Urrutia explained that to permit the hiring of mission Indians to the settlers would have very serious consequences. The Indians were extremely lazy by inclination. If they were subjected to hard work by the settlers, they would inevitably run away to avoid the unbearable tasks. This would result in the decline of the missions, because with the reduced number of neophytes, sufficient food for their maintenance could not be raised, nor the necessary clothes made, nor the building of permanent structures completed. Furthermore, Urrutia wisely pointed out that the runaways would take refuge in the rancherias of unconverted Indians, and their stories of overwork and maltreatment would make it impossible to secure new converts. 55 This unbiased opinion of a government official, who had spent all his life in San Antonio, is very illuminating.
55 Captain Toribio de Urrutia to the Viceroy, December 17, 1740. A. G. ,JI., Provillcias /11ternas, vol. 32.
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