257
Establislement and Early Progress of San Xavier iltfissions
gathered there, it would carry out the will of the king so often repeated in his cddulas that the heathen be converted at any cost. 15 From the inception of the San Xavier project a difference of opinion appeared in the views of the Fis cal and the Auditor. Both men were capable, experienced, and judicious advisers who, during their long years of service had acquired considerable knowledge concerning the problems involved in the extension of the Spanish frontier in the remote regions of the north and east. Of the two, the Auditor, Marquis of Altamira, was the most influential. The two men were sincere in their recommendations and guarded zealously the interests of the royal treasury. The chief reason for hesitation in regard to the San Xavier Missions was the vast extent of the frontier activity that confronted viceregal officials at this very time. Students of Texas history have been inclined to consider the San Xavier Missions as an independent episode. In fact it was intimately related to the more ambitious project of Jose de Escandon, already discussed in a previous chapter of this book; to the exploration of the trackless region from Eagle Pass to Presidio with a view to the establishment of Presidio del Sacramento and Presidio del Norte de la Junta de los Rios, as well ac; the refounding of the missions in the vicinity of the latter; to the exploration and occupation of the coastal area from La Bahia to the Trinity, which resulted in the ultimate establishment of Presidio de San Agustin and the missions for the Orcoquisac Indians; and last but not least, with the plans for the subjection of the Apaches and the eradication of French influence among the tribes of east and central Texas. Disagreement of tlee two viceregal advisers. It was in the years between 1746 and 1749 that all these plans, projects, and attendant problems were presented for the consideration of viceregal authorities. It was during these same years that Escandon carried out his vast plan of colonization, that the Big Bend country was explored by half a dozen different expeditions, that several campaigns were waged against the Apaches from San Antonio and Coahuila, that the San Xavier project was finally approved and ordered put into execu- tion, and that Orobio y Basterra explored the Gulf coast not only from La Bahia to the mouth of the Rio Grande but from La Bahia to beyond 15 Fray Mariano to Fray Giraldo, July 30, I 7 46. Sa11 Francisco el Grande Arclrivt1, Vol. 1 9, pp. 7 5-77. This letter was not sent until August 19, however, for lack of a messenger. It was from this report that Fray Ortiz secured the list of nations that appears in his later petition to the king and which is reproduced in the royal cedula of 1748, approving the project and ordering that it be put into execution.
Powered by FlippingBook