O"r Catl,olic Heritage in Texas
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northern provinces of New Spain. His pamphlets and proclamations had previously produced astounding results in Natchitoches, Nacogdoches, and La Bahia, and he expected this new barrage of high-sounding proclama- tions would have a similar' effect in preparing the way for his triumphant march into the interior of Mexico. A sense of security descended upon him. He occupied himself with civil affairs and permitted the filibusters to return to Louisiana on furlough. Remembering that Colonel Ignacio Elizondo had once been favorable to the Revolution, Gutierrez wrote the hero of Baj.in. After enumerating many advantages, Gutierrez attempted to impress upon Elizondo the favorable circumstances that made success certain. He emphasized that he was expecting three shiploads of munitions and supplies to arrive any day in Matagorda Bay, and that some three thousand volunteers would soon cross the Sabine from the United States to help win independence for Mexico. . A etempt to win Elizondo. Elizondo replied angrily. By Bartolo Perez, the messenger who had brought the "repulsive" proposal, he returned a scathing denunciation of Gutierrez and his friends. After branding Gutierrez a traitor, he swore that he would personally come to bum him and his Protestant and heretical followers, reminding him that he was excommunicated by the Holy Inquisition and the Bishop of Nuevo Leon. In the final outburst of rage and righteous indignation, Elizondo exclaimed: "... were you to hide in hell itself as the last refuge, from there will I drag you by the hair, cast you into the flames, and when you are burnt to ashes, scatter your remains to the four winds." 41 Spanish officials raJ.l,y. Arredondo, a fearless but eminently practical military man, had been watching the developments in Texas. He had been hesitant about coming to the aid of the Governor, because Viceroy Venegas had given him explicit instructions, shortly after he had left Tampico, that since the northern Interior Provinces were under the jurisdiction of Commandant General Nemesio Salcedo, he was to stay out of that region. In March, just after receiving the latest reports of the Fabian policy of Bustamante, he also learned that Viceroy Venegas had been replaced by General Felix Maria Calleja del Rey, a man like himself who had made the army his career and who, likewise, had seen service in northern New Spain. He promptly congratulated the new Viceroy on his succession and placed 41 Gut!errez to Elizondo, San Fernando de Bexar, April 6, 181 3, Hernandes y Davalo,. Documentos •• . , V, 31-3:i; Elizondo to Gutierrez, April 19, 1813, Naeog- doclles Af'cll;v,s, XVII, 1.16-117.
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