Destmction of tlte San Xavier 1Wissio11s
321
ra3·e of Don Carlos de Franquis," they unanimously declared, "the impostures of Barrio, the craftiness of Don Jacinto (Jauregui), the plots of the islanders, the machinations of Don Juachin (Joaquin Orobio y Basterra) and the entanglement of the provinces, all combined, are outdone by the malice of this man.''· 13 It was at this time that Fray Mariano, who had been the moving spirit in the founding and establishment of the missions and presidio on the San Xavier, candidly proposed that it would be better to abandon the presidio. In a long and detailed memorial to the viceroy, he declared that in view of the attitude of Captain Rabago and the character of the garrison, the presidio of San Xavier, established after so many vicissitudes and so many hardships and at such expense to the royal treasury, was absolutely useless. It would be better to abolish it entirely. In its place a civil settlement could be organized. The forty-eight soldiers or as many colonists could be asked to sta.y as settlers, sixteen in each mission. To each one of the forty-eight the royal treasury could allot two hundred forty pesos a year instead of four hundred fifty to help them establish themselves and in payment of their services in defence of the missions. To compensate the former soldiers for their loss in salary, they should be granted land, the privileges of first settlers, and water rights on the ditches built to irrigate the mission lands. A judicial officer of recognized ability could be appointed as chief executive of the new colony with jurisdiction in cases involving the civil settlers as well as the Indians of the missions. This would insure the administration of justice and the preservation of order in the proposed settlement with a civilian group under obligation to protect the missions in case of danger. This duty they would naturally perform with much more interest, since the protection of the missions under the circumstances described would mean the safety of their own homes and private property. If the two hundred forty pesos were paid in cash to the forty-eight heads of families, this would insure the success of the settlement because it would put money in circulation. The present system of paying the troops, chiefly in kind, through the commissary department, adminis- tered by the captain of the presidio for his own interests. made the economic development of a civil settlement in this outpost impossible. The plan proposed, Fray Mariano pointed out. would result in a saving to the royal treasury of ten thousand pesos a. year; the Indians could be
43 Carta de los Padres de Sn. Javier al Discreto. Dando razon de las cosas de Rabago, January 12, 1752. (Cited by Bolton, Texas, 2 53.)
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