Our Catlwlic Heritage in Te:rns
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the royal treasury to reimburse him for this great expense in maintaining this important post and the two new missions. 49 Desperate before an enemy that was growing constantly bolder, disgusted with the fickle nature of the Apaches for whom the animosity of the fierce enemy had been incurred, confronted with the necessity of admitting his failure unless the viceroy and his advisers came to the aid, Rabago y Teran decided on one supreme effort to save his reputation and maintain Spanish supremacy in the San Saba region. He made an ardent appeal to the viceroy to allow him to lead an expedition against the northern tribes similar to that of Colonel Ortiz Parrilla. If he was given three hundred men fully equipped for a three months' campaign against the Comanches and their allies, he assured the viceroy he would penetrate to the very heart of their lands, inflict such punishment upon them, and chastise them so severely that they would learn once for all to respect the might of Spanish arms. Furthermore. the treacherous and fickle Apaches would then gain respect for the Spaniards and would be left with no valid excuse for postponing their reduction to formal mission life. He declared that he fully realized that the men could not be recruited either in San Antonio or in any of the presidios in Texas; nor could they be brought from New Mexico, which was too far away. But they could be enlisted in Coahuila, Nuevo Santander, Nuevo Leon, and San Luis Potosi. Suggestions for 11ew campaign. He then played his last card. He assured the viceroy that in the attacks made during the winter the Comanches and their allies had been led and directed by European officers, possibly French or English. All Rabago could tell with certainty was that the guns used by the Indians were made by the English. The Apaches claimed that the officers were English. It is curious to note how he attempted to revive the old ghost of the fear of foreign aggression. Although he did not know that by this time Louisiana had been a Spanish possession technically for four years, he had become aware that the animosity against the French had decreased in proportion as the fear of the English grew with their proximity. 50 Neither the viceroy nor his advisers responded to the appeal. The fear of foreign aggression had lost some of its potency. Furthermore, even as Rabago was writing his impassioned appeal, the observant and penetrating "Informe de! Capitan Rabago y Teran, February 26-April :n, 1767; Rabago y Teran to the Viceroy, April 26, 1767. A.G. M., Historia, Vol. 94, pt. 1, pp. 75-76; 78-108; 119-120. 50Rabago y Teran to the Viceroy, April 26, 1767, and July 18, 1767. A. G. M., Historia, Vol. 9·4, pt. 1, pp. 124-127; 119-120.
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