A f termat/1 of San Saba Massacre
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March 18, 1759. The viceroy immediately referred them to the Fiscal and the Ateditor. The first of these officials reported favorably on March 23, and the second recommended the approval of the plan submitted by the /tmta on March 25. While agreeing in general with the plan outlined, the two advisers raised questions as to how the undertaking could be financed. But they both were emphatic on the necessity of doing something to curb the growing pride and boldness of the savage Indians of the north. The viceroy himself was hesitant to authorize so vast and expensive an expedition. He was fully convinced, however, of the imperatiye need of chastising severely the impudence of the northern tribes in ordet to restore the prestige of Spanish arms. To confirm his own conviction he decided to consult the dean of the Attdie11cia, the experienced and capable Oidor Don Francisco Antonio de Echavarri to whom he now submitted all the documents. The learned and judicious Oidor was in complete accord with the recommendations of the trusted advisers of the viceroy and whole- heartedly urged, on March 30, 1759, the immediate adoption of measures that would humble the pride of the emboldened natives. His recommenda- tion would have been much stronger had he known that on that very day the same daring tribes of the north had committed fresh depredations on San Saba in far-away Texas. Satisfied with the opinions rendered to him, the viceroy formally authorized the officers of the treasury on March 31, to pay eight thousand ,pesos to Diego Giraud and forty-three thousand three hundred forty-two ,pesos to Jose Gonzalez Calderon, agents of the governors of Coahuila and Texas respectively. At the same time he issued instructions that orders be dispatched at once to the different governors, commanders, and officers who were to contribute with quotas of men and supplies for the proposed campaign. The formal decree authorizing the expedition and naming Colonel Diego Ortiz Parrilla, its leader, was issued on April I, 1759, at Cuatitlan, a suburb of Mexico City.H Whatever misgivings the viceroy may have had in authorizing the expedition were removed shortly after, when the decree of the king of March 29 of the same year arrived, approving in principle the proposed campaign, which had been recom- mended by the Junta de Guerra " Hacienda as early as June 27, 1758. The king recommended that the campaign be carried out with the greatest caution and care in order not to run the risk, should the undertaking fail, 16 Dlctamen del Fiscal y auditor y del oidor decano, March 2 3, 2 5, 30, I 7 59: Decreto del Virrey, April 1, 1759, A. G. /,, Audu11cia d, M1zieo, 92-6-22 (Cun• ningham Transcripts, 1763), pt. 2, pp. 276-293, 302-318.
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