CHAPTER VII
RIVERA'S INSPECTION AND THE REMOVAL OF THE QUERETARAN MISSIONS TO SAN ANTONIO, 1723-1731 Shortly after his arrival in New Spain, Viceroy Casafuerte, one of the most able and energetic colonial officials that ever came to Mexico, informed the king that in accordance with his instructions, he had made a preliminary study of the excessive drain on the royal treasury. This had convinced him that the root of the evil was to be found in the rampant abuses that existed in the man- agement of the frontier presidios, extending all the way from the Pacific to far-away Texas. In the beginning, these posts had been established to protect the young and exposed settlements on the outskirts of New Spain against the frequent incursions of the fierce Indians who constantly threatened them; to make the roads safer for the Spaniards who carried on trade with those remote regions; and to enable prospectors to explore the country for new mines. Some presidios, however, had had for their main purpose to afford adequate protection to the new missions founded in the unconquered wilderness by the zealous missionaries in their efforts to civilize the natives and bring them into the fold of the Church, shielding the neophytes from their more obstinate brethren and helping to keep them from committing depredations and causing those already congre- gated to revolt and return to their former savagery. There were twenty presidios in all, besides three unattached companies of soldiers stationed at strategic points to give aid where it was most needed. Of the twenty presidios, four had been recently established in Texas by his predecessor, the Marquis of Valero, at a cost to the royal treasury of three hundred and seventy thousand pesos. 1 Abuses of tlte presidial system. Every soldier on the frontier was paid on an average four hundred and fifty pesos a year, but unfortunately about one-fourth of this amount never reached them. Such salary as they received was paid in kind, the goods and supplies being charged to them at exorbitant prices by the captains. The soldiers had often complained against this evil, which the mission- aries and settlers had confirmed by observations and testimony in their numerous private and confidential reports. So lucratiYe was the trade in 1 Casafucrte to the King, Mexico, May 25, 1723. A. G. I., Audi,mci<J d,1 J/h·ico, 63-1-41 (Dunn Transcripts, 1723-1729). [ 211 ]
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