Handicaps to Mission Development, 1731-1750
65
he soon attempted to assume full command as usual, while the commander- in-chief was absent. 58 In a little more than a year, Governor Franquis came very nearly ruining the entire Province of Texas, doing more harm than the continuous attacks of the implacable Apaches. The best and most impartial account of the effect of his administration is found in the report which Fernandez de Jauregui, the judge of his Residencia, made to the viceroy. Jauregui did his work quickly and without arousing antagonism or resorting to arbitrary measures. He began the investigation in September and by October 15 he had concluded it. That he was absolutely impartial is demonstrated by the way in which he allowed both the friends and the enemies of Franquis to file their testimony. The Vicario Juan Recio de Leon filed an impassioned plea for his friend, but it was so overdrawn that it defeated its own purpose. He declared in glowing terms that Franquis was so noble, so generous, and such a friend of the people, that everybody regarded him as a being like the legendary heroes of antiquity, not as a mere man. 59 But this was the only defense of the Governor filed. Evidently the warmth of the vicario found no response. Jauregui, who, because of conditions in Nuevo Leon, had to leave immediately after the investigation was concluded, wrote the viceroy his private opinion concerning the con- ditions he had found. Since he was not a religious and had no political or personal interests in Texas, he could afford to be frank and impersonal. He explained to the viceroy how he had been obliged to exercise the greatest caution and tact to prevent serious trouble. He said he had shown Governor Franquis all the courtesies due his rank, and treated the missionaries the same way, giving neither party cause for complaint. Speaking of the conditions found, he said: "It is true that he [Franquis] had everyone subservient to his will. To win the soldiers he made use of his authority to allow them absolute freedom without requiring them to observe the duties of their calling ... To the citizens of the Villa [de San Fernando] he gave full power to kill all cattle that entered their · Conditions at tlie close of Franquis's ad-ministration. 58 The detailed account of these new pretensions and the resultant wrangle of Franquis are found in a long ex,Pediente entitled "Autos fhos Sre. el nobramto de Oficial Subalterno del Govor. de la Plaza de Veracruz en el Coronel Dn. Carlos de Franquis Venites de Lugo, y pretencion de el Suso dho en orden a que se le guarden los fueros que le corresponden," A.G. Al., Afisiones, vol. 21, pt. 2, pp. 459-480. 59 Requisitorio del cura, October 12, 1738, in Testimo de las diligencias executadas, A. G. Al., Audiencia de Guadalajara, 67-2-27, pp. 163-167.
Powered by FlippingBook