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Our Catlzolic H eritagr. in Texas
Orcoquisac proposal. The Presidio of La Bahia was to be moved to Santa Dorotea, near which a colony on the Nueces was to be established. The complaints of the captain of this presidio had been ignored and his request for the return of the thirteen men assigned to San Xavier had been denied. Without rendering any definite information on all these projects and plans, the Padres appear to insist, he said, on the need of a formal presidio at San Xavier with a garrison of eighty or ninety men. It is probable that a similar request will soon be made for the Orcoquisac mission also. Although the Christian zeal of the monarch had repeatedly commanded the conversion of the natives at any sacrifice, this, Altamira, declared, did not justify the waste of royal funds in attempting the impossible. He, therefore, urged that Fray Mariano be peremptorily ordered to make a detailed report of conditions at San Xavier and that Captain Orobio at La Bahia be ordered to transfer the Presidio of La Bahia to Santa Dorotea with the twenty-seven soldiers under his command."$ On tlie verge of despair. When the wrathful opinion of Altamira became known to Father Ganzabal, who had been in Mexico pleading the cause of the San Xavier missions for eight months, he became sick at heart. A few days later he made his weary way back to Queretaro, worn-out and broken down by the endless struggle against calumny and deceit schemed by certain government officials. In a despondent mood he informed Fray Mariano on January 22, 1749, that many enemies had continuously misrepresented the facts. But the chief objector was Governor Barrio, who had been given private instructions before he entered the province. He had written a letter to the Auditor, says Father Ganzabal, "that deserves to be confined to the flames." 46 It was an unfavorable report condemniQg on false evidence the entire project. Governor Barrio, who appears to have been a gambling man from the frequency with which he made bets, wagered his head that the missions would not be maintained at San Xavier. Father Ganzabal entreated Father Mariano to secure new testimony to prove the unfairness of the governor's report. Should the project be abandoned now, the good friar exclaimed, the College of Queretaro would 45 Parecer del Auditor Marques de Altamira, December 31, 1748. San Francisco el Grande Archives, Vol. 1 9, PP· 100 - 104 · "'He evidently refers to the report of July 2 S, 17 48, which has been previously cited. See page 274.
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