Tlee Secttlarization of the iJfissions
37
at once to the location chosen for the first new mission on the coast. Father Reyes doubted seriously the practicability of the proposed con- version of the Tawakonis by the establishment of a new mission on the Colorado. These Indians, he claimed, were as faithless and disinclined to accept Christianity as the Lipan-Apaches with whom they had the closest ties. The Tawakonis and Taovayas lived too near the French and the settlement of Nacogdoches. The proximity to and association with French and Spanish traders had vitiated them. There was little hope for successful missionary activity among them. The Comanches could, he conceded, be Christianized, but the task would require much time and considerable expense. 3 Opinion of Count of Sierra Gorda. At this time the Count of Sierra Gorda was in San Antonio, temporarily acting as governor of the province while certain charges brought against Governor Manuel Munoz were being investigated. The viceroy, at the suggestion of the fiscal, sent both the memorial of Father Silva and the objections of Father Reyes to the governor ad interim whose intimate acquaintance with frontier conditions in Nuevo Santander and Texas qualified him to give an authoritative opinion. After a careful study of the two proposals, the Count rendered a detailed report which became the basis for the subse- quent action taken by the viceroy. He favored the proposal of Father Silva respecting the site chosen for Refugio Mission at or near the confluence of the San Antonio and the Guadalupe rivers. If the new establishment was intended for the Karankawa Indians as indicated, no better location could be found, because this area had been the native habitat of these Indians for many years." Plans for sewlarization of Mission San Antonio de Valero. Father Silva in his memorial to the viceroy had formally expressed his willingness to give up Mission Valero, one of those placed under the care of the College of Zacatecas, and had agreed to the reduction of the other four to two. He did not, however, suggest the manner in which Valero was to be secularized, nor how the reduction of the other four was to be accomplished. As soon as his memorial was referred to the Count of Sierra Gorda, Father Silva immediately seized the oppor- lPJan of Fray Jose Mariano de Jos Reyes, summarized in report of Conde de Sierra Gorda, September 7, 1792. Nacogdoches Arc/sives, Vol. VI, pp. 235-243. 'Conde de Sierra Gorda to the Viceroy, September 7, 1792. Saltillo Arc/rives, Vol. V, pp. 227-234.
Powered by FlippingBook