01'r Catliolic Heritage in T ezas
Modification of the order of February 14, 1747. The unexpected circumstances that prevented the execution of the orders of the viceroy gave the College of Queretaro an opportunity to modify its original request for a suitable guard and to demand the establishment of a formal presidio to protect the missions on the San Xavier. Early in the year, Father Fray Francisco de la Santisima Trinidad had been sent to Mexico to cooperate with Marquez in securing aid for the San Xavier missions. The objections presented by Urrutia were immediately made known to him and shortly before June 28, 1747, Fray Francisco presented a long petition. He declared that he had been commissioned to solicit the neces- sary aid for the establishment of the new missions. He was in accord, however, with the just reasons alleged by Captain Urrutia and the Cabildo of San Antonio for not sending the twelve men ordered by the viceroy. He explained that the various Indian nations for whom the new missions were designed, lived on the French border and had long been under the influence of the French from whom they obtained guns and ammunition. This fact could not be denied, since the guns which they used with great dexterity were of unmistakable French manufacture. This circumstance should be kept in mind. Should hostilities with France break out, it would be to the advantage of the Spaniards that these Indians should have been brought under the influence of Spain by con- gregating them in the proposed missions. Their reduction would obviate this imminent danger in case of invasion. But it would do more than that. It would check the inroads of the hated Apaches. This fierce enemy should be curbed in their depredations before the use of rifles became general among them. All this could be accomplished by the erection of the proposed missions under suitable and adequate military protection. A guard of twenty-five or thirty men was not sufficient. A regular presidio of not less than sixty men would be required for that purpose. The site on the San Xavier, when formally occupied, would be the nearest outpost to the land of the Apaches. He, therefore, begged the viceroy to issue the necessary orders for the establishmnt of a formal presidio at San Xavier. 23 The sponsors of the San Xavier project now began to advocate openly the need of a formal presidio. / As usual Urrutia's representations and Fray Francisco's petition were referred to the Fiscal and Auditor. The Fiscal gave his approval to the
Z3Memorial en que insiste la Iicencia para fundar_ San Xavier, June 1747 (?). ArcMvo del Colegio de la Santa Cruz (Dunn Transcripts, 1 1 16 - 1 149).
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