The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 8, July 1904 - April, 1905 Page: 289
xiii, 358 p. : ill., maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Municipal Government of San Fernando de Be&iar. 289
response to the suggestion of the padres. Disgusted with Alarc6n's
failure to execute orders,' one of them went to Mexico and made
a report to the viceroy. By representing the imminent danger of
French invasion and the consequent necessity for settlers this re-
ligious, Fr. Mathias Sanz, succeeded in obtaining from the viceroy
an order that families be sought for at once to settle in villas.
The plan was not carried out at this time, and nothing further
was done in this direction until Padre Espinosa took the matter
in hand.
Some time after Aguayo entered Texas, this priest went to
Mexico, and laid before the viceroy his plan for making the Span-
ish hold on the country permanent. * He says: "I had sufficient
opportunity for conferring with the Marques de Valero and with
others in high positions concerning the condition of that poor
province-Texas; and I shall never have to feel regret for not hav-
ing proposed, as far as my limitations would permit, the most suit-
able means for the settlement and permanent occupation of that
fertile country. That the plans of all the missionaries, counting
Padre Margil in this number, might be evident to all, [I stated
that] it was our opinion that, in accordance with the Leyes de la
Nueva Recopilacion de las Indias,2 married men with their families,
who should desire to volunteer as settlers," should be taken instead
of conscripts--as were the majority of those previously taken
(although I am not speaking of all). To the men was to be given,
for two years, the pay of soldiers, to their wives and to their chil-
dren over fifteen years of age half pay-this to be furnished in
money in order that they might carry everything necessary for
settlers. Upon their arrival in the province, land was to be as-
signed each family to cultivate4-this to become the property of
'One of the chief complaints they made against him was his failure to
bring mechanics as the orders given him had directed. That such men
should be sent out to Texas had been recognized by Padre Manzanet in
1690. (Dictamen Fiscal, Mexico y Noviembre 30, de 1716, 183 vta.) Now
after this long interval of waiting they were disappointed.
2The word Nueva in this reference must be due to some inadvertence.
(See p. 300, post.)
C"f. Recopilacion, lib. IV, tit. V, leyes v, vi, and x.
'4f. ibid., ley x.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 8, July 1904 - April, 1905, periodical, 1905; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101033/m1/296/?rotate=270: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.