Our Cat!tolic Hc,·itage in Texas
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The attempt, however, was renewed in 1743, when the Cabildo again sent two representatives to plead their case before the viceroy. From the order obtained from that official this time. it seems the agents not only demanded authority to secure the ser\'ices of the neophytes to cultivate their farms, but that they justified their demand by alleging that the missionaries were able to sell supplies to the captain of the presidia at lower rates than the settlers, on account of the free labor of the Indians. Whatever their arguments were, they succeeded in getting an order from the viceroy instructing the missionaries to furnish the settlers such Indian labor as they might require, to abstain from trading in farm products, and to curtail their agricultural endeavors to their immediate needs. The captain of the presidia was ordered, at the same time, to buy hereafter such provisions as he needed from the citizens of San Fernando instead of from the missions. 56 The viceregal decree was a direct rebuke of the missionaries and a reflection upon their integrity, as there were stringent regulations against their agents engaging in trade. It is not surprising, therefore, that they should have made a strong protest through their prelate and demanded an investigation to prove the falsity of the accusations that had resulted in the unmerited setback. It took two years to prove their innocence. Finally in January, 1745, the viceroy, convinced of the misrepresentations of the agents of the Cabildo, rescinded the orders issued in 1743, publicly acknowledged his implicit faith in the unselfish character of the mis- sionaries, ordered the captain of the Presidio of San Antonio de Bejar to purchase such supplies as he needed either from the settlers or the missions, depending on convenience, and emphatically declared that the Indians must not be taken from the missions under any circumstances. Furthermore the Canary Islanders were instructed to fence their fields, abstain from killing mission cattle and from trading with the Indians without permission from the Padres. 51 Disputes triJer cattle. The fields of the civil settlers during these ea~ly years were naturally unfenced. Not infrequently the stock of the missions, which was now increasing in number, entered the cultivated fields of the Canary Islanders and caused considerable damage in view of the particularly trying conditions of the owners. The early records of the Cabildo are filled with complaints against this evil. Governor Franquis,
56Bolton, Te:ras ;,, the Af;dd/e Eig!tteentli Cent11r,y, 25. 51/bid., 26; Morfi, Memorias. Book VIII, paragraphs 16-17.
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