393
Missionary Activity Among tlze Apaches, 1743-1758
Terreros' pl,ilantlzropic offer. Having worked out the preliminaries, Don Pedro Romero de Terreros, in his name and that of his wife, solemnly bound himself and his heirs to bear for a period of three years all the expenses that might be incurred in the founding of missions for the conversion of the Apaches living in the territory lying beyond the confines of the government of Coahuila to the north. At the end of the time stipulated the missions founded were to be turned over to the government. His cousin, Fray Alonso Giraldo de Terreros, was to be placed in charge of the new establishments and the missionaries were to be selected alternately from the College of La Santa Cruz in Queretaro and the College of San Fernando in Mexico as previously arranged. The military expenses for the protection of the proposed missions were to be borne by the royal treasury, but the mission property of the suppressed establishments on the San Xavier River were to be turned over, according to an inventory, to Fray Alonso, and Don Pedro was to pay for them a just price determined by qualified appraisers.8 3 Up to this time Fray Alonso and his cousin had developed a plan for the conversion of the Apaches independently of the San Saba project, which had been formally approved on February 27, 1756, by the Junta General and authorized officially by the viceroy on May 18 of the same year. But when Terreros' proposal was referred to the Fis cal and the A 11ditor, these two officials saw the similarity of purpose in the two plans and recommended naturally that the two be combined. By this means the work, so long sponsored and urged by Fray Mariano, would be now carried out on a much larger scale without much expense to the treasury. That Fray Mariano, who had labored incessantly for more than fifteen years, would be deprived of the satisfaction of having charge of the conversion matt~red not. A few modifications were made, the final details were worked out. and the formal approval of the agreement was signed on August 20, 1756. Four days later the viceroy issued new instructions to supersede those of May 18. These placed Fray Alonso at the head of the new field of missionary endeavor in Texas and embodied the modifications that merged the two plans." Tlze San Saba and t/1e Terreros plans merged. 13 Testimonio de los autos hechos a pedimento de Don Pedro Romero de Terreros. San Francisco el Gra11de Arc/iive, Vol. 11, pp. 94-137. "The full text of th~ Terreros' offer and the opinions of the Fiscal and Auditor are translated in Castaneda, Alorfi's Histor,y of Texas, pt. :i, pp. 353-370. The
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