Escandon and Settlement of Lower Rio Grande, 1738-1779
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difficult of travel and the distance intercepted by many rivers; and that the same is true with regard to Santiago de los Valles, San Esteban de Panuco, and Tampico, which belong to the Archdiocese of Mexico; and that this applies also to the twelve Franciscan missions, now converted into Doctrinas of the Custodia of Rio Verde, which belongs to the Bishopric of Michoacan or Valladolid; and that the Diocese of Guada- lajara exercises jurisdiction over Nuevo Leon, whose capital, Monterrey, is one hundred and forty leagues distant, and over Coahuila, whose capital, Monclova, is about one hundred and ninety leagues . . . and the Presidio of San Antonio and Villa de San Fernando with its five missions are more than three hundred leagues away, and the Presidio of Nuestra Senora del Pilar de los Adaes in the Province of the Tejas is more than four hundred leagues ... it is almost impossible for these prelates to visit them. Aside from the spiritual need of such visits, experience has shown that it is undeniable that the proximity, presence, and personal contact with the bishops exercise on the temporal side a most active and direct influence on the pacification and reduction of the unconverted Indians and the apostates ... The new province (Santander) has, as already stated, eighteen new settlements and their respective Indian pueblos along the coast region. There are furthermore the Spanish and Indian settlements of the Huasteca, Nuevo Leon, Coahuila, and Tejas. It is not improbable that the prelates themselves [exercising jurisdiction over them] may actively desire to be relieved of such distant dependencies. "These different points should be discussed in the /tmta General, as well as the advantages that will accrue to both Majesties from the erection of a new or several bishoprics in such distant areas which would, no doubt, facilitate to a great extent the so much desired settlement of those vast, rich, and productive regions, the subjection and conversion of the heathen natives and the apostates to our holy faith, and the establish- ment of towns and missions with more substantial results and much less expense to the royal treasury ..." He then pointed out that the revenue from the new settlements was sufficient for the maintenance of the new bishopric suggested. The tithes alone in the provinces mentioned amounted to forty thousand pesos, which could be easily increased by further settlement and development. Thousands of Indians could thus be converted and before long the royal treasury would be saved one hundred and eighty thousand pesos annually,
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