The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 21, July 1917 - April, 1918 Page: 223

THE
SOUTHWESTERN HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
VOL. XXI JANUARY, 1918 No. 3
The publication committee and the editors disclaim responsibility for views expressed by
contributors to THE QUARTERLY
THE GOVERNMENT OF AUSTIN'S COLONY, 1821-1831
EUGENE O. BARKER
1. The Eastern Interior Provinces, 1820
In 1820, when Moses Austin made his memorable journey to
ask permission to settle three hundred families in the Spanish
province of Texas, the territory was one of the Eastern Interior
Provinces (Provincias Internas de Oriente), and it is therefore
necessary to notice briefly the political history of this adiminis-
trative division of New Spain. By a royal order of August 22,
1776, all the northern provinces of Mexico ha.d been separated
from the jurisdiction of the viceroy and placed under the author-
ity of a commander who was responsible directly to the crown.
The division thus. created was the Provincias Internas. Another
royal order of May 30, 1804, directed the division of this into the
Eastern and Western Provinces, but was not carried into effect.
It was renewed in 1811 and was finally effected in 1813, when
General Joaquin de Arredondo became the first Comandant of
the Eastern Interior Provinces. Texas, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon,
and Santander or Tamaulipas constituted this district.' The com-
mandant was both civil and military head of the provinces, and
was independent of the viceroy, though the financial administra-
'This information is derived mainly from the royal orders of Novem-
ber 22, 1792, and May 30 1804, 'and an extract of an order of the Regency
quoted by Salcedo in a letter to M inister of War, November 22, 1812,
in the Bexar Archives. Bancroft, 1H. H., North Mewican States and Texas,
I, 636-45, and II, 27, supplements the documents.