Establislmzent of San Fernando de Bejar, 1723-1731
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would be better to establish a separate and independent municipality than to allow the settlers to be distributed among the missions_: 3 Reason wl,y no more settlers were sent. The influence which Rivera's usually sound judgement and powerful intellect exercised upon the viceroy is evident from the course followed throughout the matter. He not only accepted his recommendations as to the guide who was to conduct the families from Veracruz to Cuatitlan, but he adopted every measure he advocated with regard to the conveyance of the settlers from Mexico to Texas. The site he suggested for the establishment of the new muncipality became the final destination of the settlers, and his conclu- sion as to the futility of any more settlers for Texas from the Canary Islands was responsible for the discontinuance of every effort to settle the new province with Spaniards. In a letter to the king, written on August r, 1730, the viceroy incorporated all the arguments presented by Rivera against the sending of more families from the Canary Islands or Spain for the purpose of settling the Province of Texas. He assured the king that if it became necessary to introduce settlers, these could be recruited and sent from New Spain much more easily and without so much expense. He declared that in view of the circumstances described he had instructed the Governor of Havana, subject to the king's approval not to send any more families to Veracruz should they arrive in tht meantime, but to keep them there until further notice. He informed His Majesty that the ten families who had arrived in Veracruz on June 19, had been provided with all they needed and would be sent as soon as possible to establish a settlement in the vicinity of the Presidio of San Antonio, agreeable to the orders received. In closing, he begged the king to reconsider the whole matter in the light of the facts presented_:, The request of the viceroy that no more families be sent was received in Spain and referred to the Council of the Indies on March 22, r732. It is here that the explanation for the abandonment of the policy to colonize Texas with Spanish families is found. It accounts, in no small degree, for the slow development of the province in subsequent years. Rivera, like the Marquis of Aguayo, was sincere in his recommenda- tions, but he failed to see the far-reaching implications of his short- sighted policy, dictated by his mania for economy and to some extent 23 /bid. 2AViceroy Casafuerte to the King, August 1, 1730. A. G. /., Audiencia de Mex- ico, 67-3-23 (Dunn Transcripts, 1730-1736).
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