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TEXAS STATE LIBRARY
Spain under the superintendance of a number priests & monk:-;, for the purpose of civilizing & christianizing the Indians, These :Missions Commencing at Bexar extend clown the rin~r, at the distance of one league from each other, they may be said to be now in an advanced state of decay- That of San Jose 2 leagues below town being the only one which· seems has been able to bea~ up against the rarnges of nearly one Century, The walks & principles arches ot' all however remain unimpaired, This History of these missions, is very interesting, It rnn he found in manuscript in that of San Jose, At one period there were more than 3000, Indians belonging to that of San J uan-3 leagues below town, this was from 1790 to 1809-but the experiment proved the often remarked fact, That the Savage cannot flourish in civilized life, And the many thousands that were once in those missions have passed away & left not a remnant behind I gath- ered these fact from M. S. history above mentioned, & from various in- dividuals, at Bexar Any discription of the soil &c-would here unnecessary- No one has visited Bexar, seen the fountains that burst out of the hills, within a short distance above and after running a few miles form one of the beautiful rivers in Texas, with having given glowing discriptions o~ them, I will only mention one fact, which may have escaped you about 3 miles •above Bexar, is a silver mine said to be rich, . It has been worked is is [sic] now entirely neglected. We proceeded on to :Monclova, at which place we were politely received by Govr Elguizibel & the Secy of State Juan Anto. Padilla. The Govr gave us a letter of presentation to the Supreme Govt of Mexico, and ac- companied it with a :Memorial to the Govt. of Mexico, declaring that Texas was in a perfectly quiet state, & that our citizen were an honest orderly & industrious people-& concluded with expressing a hope that Gen! A- should be speedily set at liberty & permitted to return to Texas Gov. E. had been placed in the gobernatoral chair by a few military .officers Say 15 but a short time before we reached Monclova, There had been before this a very rapid succession of Govrs in the state before that, The Govr Latona, & Vic Govr Berrimendi having died during their term of service, & I think Elguizibel was about the fourth Govr The year previous a fracus had been kicked up in Saltillo the former seat of Govt. & the Congress were turned out of doors, by the mob. The Congress then adjourned to Monclova, which brought about a war between these rival Towns, The people of Saltillo refused to recog- nize the authorities in Monclova, Matters were carried to such a pitch that both towns called out the Militia of the Country to sustain their respective pretentions for power, Saltillo had when we passed thro, 400 regular soldiers under the pay of the City, besides volunteers & militia, At the time we were in Coahuila (1834) there was exhibited the singular spectarle of two Govrs & two Congresses in session, in the same State & not more than 100 miles distant from each other, In the contest Col Bowie took an active and decided part in farnr of the Govt in )fonclo,·a. ancl at one time when the armies of the two towns Jay within a few m'nes of each other nearly on the halfway ground Bowie did even· thinu in his power to bring on a battle, • 0
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