Oter Catholic Heritage in T e:xas
their perm1ss1on. They expressed regret and promised to punish the offenders and return the loot, but their promises were seldom if ever fulfilled. Governor Salcedo informed Bonavia that the inhabitants of San Fernando de Bexar were determined to abandon the villa and return to Coahuila unless they were given adequate protection. Alarmed at the increasing hostility of the natives, which was naturally attributed to the activities of American agents and traders, the governor warned Bonavia that the whole plan for the development of the province would be seriously thwarted if the Indians were not controlled sufficiently to permit the settlers to cultivate their lands and tend their cattle. 4 Bonavia protested to the various chiefs and made preparations for a campaign against the marauders. The serious tone of the commander and the angry attitude of the enraged settlers convinced them of the Spaniards' determination to stop these forays, and they sent a delega- tion to San Antonio to negotiate a new peace. Governor Salcedo was so anxious to come to an understanding that, instead of demanding repara- tions before making peace, he welcomed their overtures and gladly forgave them. The hatchet was buried and the peace pipe smoked. The settlers abandoned the plan to leave their homes and a period of false security followed. 5 The Indians were interested primarily in gifts. They lacked a sense of loyalty or attachment; they had no feeling of gratitude to either Spaniards or other Europeans. When in April, 1810, a French vessel surreptitiously entered the mouth of the Sabine with a cargo of goods to trade with the Indians, the news soon brought all the natives from far and wide. Miguel Crow, in reporting the incident, reclared that every man, woman, and child had gone to meet the foreigners in the expectation of gifts. 6 Tlte missions. It will be recalled that when the missions were secularized, there were a number of neophytes still under instruction and that the two missions at La Bahia were exempted from the secu- larization decree. In June, 1809, the governor made a detailed report on the San Antonio missions. In Concepcion there were nine men and twelve women; in San Jose, twenty-nine men and twenty-six women; in San Francisco de la Espada, fourteen men and ten women; and in San Juan Capistrano, nine men and eleven women. Altogether there were one
'M. de Salcedo to Bonavia July 3, 1809. Bexar Arcllives. 5 Bonavia to M. de Salcedo, July 4 Bexar Arcl,ives. 6 Ruiz to Guadiana, April 4, 1810. Bexar Archiv!s.
1 1809; M. de Salcedo to Bonavia, July 1 S, 1809.
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