283
Establishment and Early Progress of San Xavier 1Jfi.ssions
was increasing, resented the reply and issued a public statement that he would not give a transcript of the proceedings to Fray Benito or to anyone else, and ordered that the investigation be carried out at San Xavier with or without the assistance of the Padres. 54 Fray Benito's ,protest. Fray Benito registered a formal protest on July 6, in which he recorded the accumulated grievances against the governor. He declared that to his petition that the Cabo (corporal) at San Xavier certify the investigation conducted by the Padres, the governor had replied that Fray Benito should abstain from excesses. On three occasions a request for a copy of the testimony gathered by the governor in I i48 had been refused. When a transcript of the new investigation was requested, the governor had again refused the petition, whereupon the request had been repeated through the Cabildo, but again denied. He consequently declared that any investigation carried out now without his participation should be considered valueless. Referring to the visit made by the governor in 1748, he stated that the soldiers had induced the Indians to declare that they did not want to live in missions and that the Padres were fooling them; that all they wanted was to make the Indians work for them; that the land at Sar Xavier was no good and too exposed to the attacks of the Apaches. Th, very soldiers who did this were the witnesses in the new investigation and the ones who were to serve as experts at San Xavier. For these reasons he was opposed to the new investigation and would hold the governor responsible for consequences. The continuous unrest created by frequent investigations might cause the abandonment of the new missions by the Indians. The character of the land, the abundance of water, and the number of Indians congregated had been sufficiently proved. If a new investigation was necessary, it would be best to commission two men, any the governor chose, and let them make a survey and determine the amount of water at Paso de los Apaches, the practicability of irrigation, the extent of arable land, and the character of the country in the vicinity where Las Animas (Brushy Creek) joined the San Xavier. The missionaries would conduct a similar survey independently. The findings of the two could then be compared. If found unsatisfactory and the fault was attributable to the missionaries, Fray Benito agreed to pay the expense of the new survey. He concluded his energetic protest with a vehement assurance that
M/bid., Vol. 4, pp. 135-143.
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