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of Comanches. Not satisfied, Cordero had sent Lieutenant Antonio Toledo to protest formally to the Comanche chiefs living in San Saba Canyon against the repetition of these outrages by irresponsible young warriors. It had already become a common practice for the Comanche chiefs to excuse these depredations by explaining that they were the unauthorized actions of independent and irrepressive young warriors wh'.> grew restless under prolonged peace. Pedro Nava wrote Governor Munoz, therefore, suggesting that he impress upon all Comanche chiefs who visited in San Antonio that the Spaniards would henceforth hold them responsible for the action of their young warriors and that unless they were restrained effectively, the Spaniards would have to retaliate by discontinuing the distribution of gifts. 20 These instructions were emphatically repeated by the commandant general in May, 1798, and made known not only to the Comanches but also to all the northern tribes. The occasion for this repetition in much more stringent terms was a second report of Governor Cordero of Coahuila in which he informed Nava that the depredations by desultory bands of Comanches all along the Rio Grande from San Juan Bautista to Laredo had continued in spite of protests. He had, consequently commissioned Captain Jose Menchaca, of the Presidio de Agua Verde, to go to San Antonio with one hundred twenty-one men to demand restoration of stolen property from such Comanche chiefs as were there and to proceed to the ranclienas of the Comanche chiefs, as well as to those of all northern tribes, to make a similar request for the return of stolen horses and cattle. 21 Spanish officials, fully aware of the inadequate force at their disposal to command obedience or respect from the numerous Indian nations, whose actual strength was unknown, were obliged to be cautious. This wariness, excessive at times, perhaps, was misunderstood by the insolent and simple-minded natives, whose primitive processes confused it, as many others have, with cowardice or lack of spirit. But the fact is that the officials realized clearly that they, like an animal trainer in a cage of roaring lions, were unable either to abandon their precarious position, or permanently appease the hunger of their wards for gifts, or command the means to reduce them to impotency. This explains the half-hearted approval of the aggressive policy adopted by Governor Cordero in Coahuila. Nava approved his actions in principle but pointed out that
11 Pedro Nava to Manuel Munoz, April 4 1 1797. Bexar Arcni-ves. SIPedro Nava to Manuel Munoz, May 24, 1798. Bexar Archives.
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