1/andicaps to Jlissiou Developme11t, 1731-1750
53
whom Divine Providence has brought into the fold of the Church through the hardships of the missionaries and the blood they have shed." He then hinted rather broadly that it was strongly rumored that the mail of thl! missionaril!s in San Antonio had been tampered with, hut assured his Lordship that he could not belie\·e such a thing. "I cannot bdieve it is true, for your Lordship well knows the penalties imposed for such a crime by law 7, of volume 2, title 16 of the Ltrd.'S of tl1e l11dies ... Those who govern need have leaden feet. Great is their need of counsel and thought." 36 As was natural, the governor who was unusually sensitive, took the gentle advice of the good friar as an insult and his hints as threats. On November 30, he replied to the Padre in a scorching letter. "It is not your place," said the governor, "to meddle in the attributes of my office." With regard to his authority to give orders to the captain of San Juan Bautista. Franquis assured Father Sevillano that this officer was subject to the orders of both the Governor of Coahuila and himself, but more particularly to himself. He closed his letter by declaring "I warn your reverence not to take such liberties, as I am not in the habit of tolerating them. Should you persist in ·them, I shall resort to such measures as I may deem con,·cnient for my own satisfaction." 37 There could be no reconciliation after such a letter. The general tone of the communication of Father Se"illano had been dignified and kind, but it had met with unmerited rebuke. The experienced and patient missionary did not take immediate action. He suffered the insult and waited, hoping that the governor would mend his ways after venting his wrath upon him. W1'angle over the bridge across tlze San Antonio. Another instance that increased the ill feeling already existing, was the removal of a bridge across the San Antonio River which permitted the soldiers of the presiclio and the inhabitants of the Villa de San Fernando to attend services in the mission chapel of San Antonio de Valero. This bridge had been built in May, I 736, by the mission Indians under the direction of the Padres, using for the purpose six large beams which Father Fray Mariano de los Dolores had brought to repair the chapel. Before the arrival of Governor Franquis, the bridge had already begun to prove a nuisance. The soldiers and the settlers freely came and went to the mission at all times and many neophytes had complained that the visitors stole many of their belongings.
36 Fr. Miguel Sevillano Paredes to Governor Franquis, November
22, 1736, in
Ibid., 98-102. 37 Governor Franquis to Father Sevillano, November 30
1 1736 1 Ibid., pp. 103-105.
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