The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 9, July 1905 - April, 1906 Page: 93

Spanish Abandonment and Re-Occupation of East Texas. 93
too friendly toward the Apaches, the worst enemy of the Spaniards.
Ripperdd, therefore, favored establishing a closer surveillance over
these tribes.'
It is not surprising, therefore, that the governor, entertaining
for the frontier such plans as these, should use his influence in
behalf of the Adaesans, whose wish accorded so well with his. He
replied to the petitioners that he could not grant their request
without the infraction of a royal command,-that is, the king's
order of 1772,-but that he sympathized with their cause, and
that if they could not find suitable lands at San Fernando, at
Arroyo del Cibolo, or in any of the old ranches in the neighbor-
hood, they might carry their petition to the viceroy.2
3. Ybarbo and Flores sent to Mexico.--After some delay, dur-
ing which an attempt may have been made to find lands to their
liking, although this is doubtful, the Adaesans acted upon the gov-
ernor's suggestion. On December 10, barbo and Gil Flores, the
two most prominent of their number, were formally made the
authorized agents of the citizens to carry the petition to the vice-
roy.4 When they left B6xar they carried with them letters from
the governor to the viceroy and Hugo Oconor. To prove the need
of a minister on the frontier they carried a certificate taken from
the records just brought to B6xar of the number of baptisms per-
formed at the missions at Adaes and at Nacogdoches during
their existence. This statement could hardly be considered the
most convincing evidence, for it showed that in over half a century
the aggregate number of baptisms at the two missions had been
only three hundred and forty.5
In these letters to the viceroy and the inspector general, Rip-
'Expediente sobre proposiciones, 1-3, 11-17; Ripperda to the viceroy,
July 5, 1775, in Expediente sobre proposiciones, 19-21.
'Autos, 5.
""We who have most to lose" (Petition of Ybarbo and Flores, May 10,
1774, in Quaderno que Corresponde, 30.
'The certificate of authority is signed by fifty-two persons (Autos, 6),
The agents were elected by majority vote (Los Vecinos, etc., 7.)
'The report for the mission at Naoogdoches extended from June 24,
1717, to April 17, 1768, and for that at Los Adaes from August 6, 1716,
to Feb. 12, 1773 (Autos, 17, 18).