Revolutionar,y Lull
45
each year two a/,caldes (municipal judges), a city attorney, and an ad- ministrator of city property. The institution of the latter office brought up another question. Seem- ingly when th~ city was originally founded, egidos (common lands) had not been assigned to the municipality, or if they had been, the records had been lost. Herrera suggested, therefore, that this was the proper time to remedy the situation. In order not to inconvenience any of the settlers, the egidos were to be surveyed out of the lands of Mission Concepcion, 'located about a league from the city. The old mission, he went on to explain, was practically deserted. The one family on the mission lands had readily agreed to move to San Jose so as to permit carrying out the project. Once the city was endowed with its commop lands, part was to be rented and the funds derived therefrom were to be used to erect public buildings in conformity with the new dignity of the old municipality. 5 Whether the new honor granted to the city was ever formally approved by the King is not known. Nevertheless, from this time until the fall of San Antonio to the forces of Gutierrez and Magee, almost two years later, the City Council and the Governor were careful to designate all communications "Ciudad de San Fernando de Bejar." Militar,y reforms- suggested.-Less than two weeks after the overthrow of Casas, Zambrano proposed to the Junta certain reforms for safety. A complete reorganization of the military, he said, was essential to the preservation of order, the security of the city and the maintenance of royal authority. He maintained that with but few exceptions the troops in Bejar-officers and men alike-were unreliable. The principal complaints concerned their indifference, their questionable loyalty, and their physical unfitness for service. They were, ostensibly, retained on the rolls only because of personal considerations of some of the officers. Zambrano was well aware, he pointed out, that some members of the Council believed it would be better to postpone reorganization until receipt of more en- couraging news of success against the Revolutionists. If events were to take a bad turn, reorganization of the military might incline the troops to open hostility against the Junta. Zambrano proposed, therefore, reducing the number of the various units in San Antonio and their officers. He added that the auxiliary militia from Nuevo Santander, the unit in which Casas had been a captain, should be reduced to two companies with two captains, four lieutenants, four en- signs, six sergeants, and sixteen corporals: He recommended the election 1 Slm6n Herrera to Brigadier General Nemesio Salcedo, Chihuahua, January ◄, 1812, Nacogdocl,es Arcl,ives, XVI.
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