CHAPTER VII
DESTRUCTION OF THE SAN XAVIER MISSIONS
It will be remembered that Fray Benito Fernandez de Santa Anna was still in Mexico when Eca y Musquiz was commissioned to carry out the new investigation proposed by the Fiscal and the Auditor. The zealous friar, fearful of the effect of another investigation, presented a long escrito (representation) pleading that a new survey would cause further delay, stimulate unrest among the natives now at San Xavier, and cause unnecessary additional expense to the royal treasury. He vigorously ex- pressed his conviction that a fair investigation could not be instituted as long as Governor Barrio was still in office, and he politely suggested that the survey be suspended. 1 Fray Benito seems to have written at about the same time to the mis- sionaries at San Xavier, appealing to them for help in suspending the new investigation. His main fear appears to have been that the missions would be moved to the San Marcos. In a letter of April 12, 1750, of Fray Mariano to Lieutenant Galvan, the friar declares that he has received news that affairs have taken a new turn in Mexico. It seemed, he went on to state, that doubts were still entertained as to whether the San Marcos offered better facilities for the permanent establishment of the missions than the San Xavier. It is surprising to find Fray Mariano admitting in this letter that the San Marcos was better and that perhaps much would have been gained had the missions been originally founded there. But it was equally true, he argued, that the San Xavier had adequate lands and water; in fact, it was superior to the San Antonio River in both respects. It was essential, furthermore, to keep in mind that the site had been chosen by the Indians themselves, that the San Xavier was the natural gateway to the land of the Tejas, and that the natives congregated there now might refuse to go to the San Marcos. But the missionaries had no mind of their own. If it was thought advisable to occupy the San Marcos and the viceroy ordered it, they were ready and willing to obey his command. He took occasion to point out the lack of cooperation on the part of the soldiers and its effect on the slow progress made by the mis- lCastaiieda, Morft's Histor,y of Te:ras, pt. 2, p. 236; Bolton Te:ras, 216; Petition of Fray Benito to the Viceroy, prior to March 2, I 7 so, San Francisco el Grande Arcllive, Vol. 4, pp. 244-252.
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