Our Catl,olic Heritage in Texas
report of the Fiscal was read, and after listening to his recommendations, the Junta unanimously agreed they should be put into effect without delay. With regard to the first, the Junta requested the viceroy to repeat the orders previously issued to the governors of Nueva Vizcaya, Nuevo Reino de Leon, and Nueva Estremadura, as well as to the captains and commanders of presidios on the frontier, urging them to prevent by all means in their power all commerce and trade in clothes, or goods of any description, whose introduction might be attempted, and to proceed to the confiscation of all such goods wherever found and the arrest of all persons connected with their introduction. His Excellency was to give immediate orders for Father Francisco Hidalgo, Father Olivares, and one other religious of the same Order, to go without delay to the province of the Tejas, escorted by twenty-five soldiers, the selection of the com- mander of this force being left to the discretion of the viceroy, who was to exercise all care in choosing a man of ability, skill, and experience and one in whom were found the qualities and virtues necessary to aid in founding a mission, in congregating the Indians, in introducing our holy faith, and in procuring the spiritual welfare of their souls. The mis- sionaries and the soldiers were to be provided with everything needed for their entrada and permanent residence out of the royal treasury. The viceroy was requested to urge the missionaries and the soldiers to do their duty in reducing the Indians to civilized life and in establishing settlements, by which means the incursions of the French would be pre- vented, the introduction of their merchandise avoided, and the observation of the number of French settlements from the Tejas to Mobile and their strength made possible. Keeping in mind that with the pretext of coming for sorely needed supplies of horses, cattle, and other necessaries for the colony of Louisiana, Frenchmen had been in the habit of entering the dominions of the king, the viceroy was advised to instruct the governors of Nueva Vizcaya, Reino de Leon, and Coahuila, and all commanders and public officers on the frontier not to permit any foreigner to secure either cattle, grain, food, or supplies of any kind, even if they offered to pay in cash for them, but to inform them categorically that only with the expressed consent of the king of Spain could anything be provided, and that under no other condition or pretext were they to be allowed to enter the province. 5 Presumably at the request of the viceroy, who lost no time in putting into effect the resolutions adopted by the Junta, Domingo Ramon pre-
5Acuerdos de la Junta General, San Francisco el Grande Archive, VIII, 37-45.
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