Our Catholic Heritage in Texas
obligation to make productive the lands received. Any Indian who failed to cultivate his property for a period of two years lost title to it. Such land could then be granted to someone more industrious. With the exception of the governors, the chiefs, and the alcaldes, all other members of the Indian pueblos formerly in missions, were obliged to labor in the common fields for a stated period of time each year without pay. In the administration of communal property, the provisions of the Ordinances for Intendencies, article 28 and the following, were to be observed. All missionaries and parish priests in Indian communities were to be formally released from the administration of temporal property, which henceforth was to be under the jurisdiction of the royal justices appointed for that purpose. Upon receipt of the new regulations, the missionaries were to proceed without delay to the formal delivery by inventory of all communal property held and administered for the benefit of the neophytes. 10 Useless warning. The decree was sent to Governor Munoz, as well as to the bishop of Nuevo Leon and all the other officials of the Interior Provinces. Wisely and with justified apprehension the bishop pointed out the serious consequences that might result from the great powers given to the justices by the new regulations. On May 11 he wrote to the commandant general setting forth his opinion. The bishop, while grant- ing that the justices selected to guard and protect the interests of the natives proved to be wise and honest men, and charitably inclined, asserted that the powers given them were such that without some check or other means of holding them responsible, grave abuses were inevitable. The paymasters of presidia} troops, who were given an adequate salary, made bond and were under constant supervision; they were, nevertheless, frequently found guilty of embezzlement. Even officers of the royal treasury had, in recent years, been found guilty of forgery. What could be expected of the justices placed in charge of the temporal goods of Indian pueblos, far removed from any super- vision, assigned no salary for their services, and not required to make bond? How could they be expected to dedicate their full time to the supervision of the labor of the Indians in the field and to the sale of
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zooecreto de secularizacion del Comandante General Pedro Nava, April Io, 1794. Saltillo Arcnives, Vol. VI, pp. 99-106.
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