Our Catholic Heritage in T exa.s
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munitions, and other supplies from there. Gutierrez informed him, fur- thermore, that he was sending an officer to take command in Nacogdoches, and to contract with the printer to come and set up the press in San Antonio. By the time this message reached Nacogdoches Shaler had arrived. He and Toledo were astounded at the suggestion that they withdraw. Toledo wrote a flippant note in which he addressed Gutierrez as plain "citizen." He told Gutierrez that he was leaving Texas and taking the printing press with him, as also the format of the first Texas paper, the Gaceta de Texas, which was printed in Natchitoches on May 25, 1813. Shaler also wrote Gutierrez expressing amazement at the treatment accorded Toledo and warned him that if he continued to allow himself to be misguided, "all capable men" would abandon him." The authority of Gutierrez now began to be questioned by the volunteers from Louisiana in San Antonio. Shortly after the defeat of Elizondo, Gutierrez ordered a detachment of three hundred men to occupy the towns along the Rio Grande. When the troops were ready to march, American officers countermanded his orders. Gutierrez called a council of army officers and civil officials to discuss the need for immediate action, but the council refused to take action, principally because of the intrigues of the "refined crooks," as the frustrated leader called his opponents. He insinuated that the Americans feared such policies would defeat their plans to seize Texas. A meeting of the Governing Council was called by the President- Protector. Dramatically, he declared that unless action were taken im- mediately, they would all be ruined. He then offered his resignation, but it was not accepted. He accused the Americans of criminal inactivity throughout that fateful summer of 1813. The Americans, on the other hand, according to Shaler, blamed Gutierrez. The Republican Army numbered 800 Mexicans and 400 Americans. As the summer wore on, General Arredondo assembled an army of 1,500 Loyalists at Laredo. Disaster threatened Gutierrez from within and without." While a crisis was rapidly developing in San Antonio, a campaign of defamation was carried on in Natchitoches by Shaler and Toledo. In El Mexicano, a paper printed by Toledo, Gutierrez was blamed for all misfortunes. It was boldly stated that this incapable, cruel and tyrannical "Shaler to Monroe, May 7, 1831; General Bernardo Gutierrez to Citizen Toledo, San Fernando de Bhar; Toledo to Citizen Gutierrez:, Nacogdoches; Gutierrez to Shaler, San Fernando de Bexar, May 18, 181 3; Shaler to Gutierrez, Nacogdoches, May ::18, 1813, Shaler Pa;,rs, State D,;artment Records, N. A. W. "J. B. Gutierrez de Lara to the Mexican Congress, Lamar Pa;,rs, I, I 5-18.
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